Brookfield Zoo’s Boo! at the Zoo promises fang-tastic fun

For a howling good time, experience Brookfield Zoo’s annual Boo! at the Zoo, a family-friendly Halloween celebration.

On Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 23, zoo-goers of all ages can enjoy creatures, memorable photo opportunities, sweet treats and autumn fun.

Guests will be treated to a number of spooktacular pop-up events, including Howl-O-Scenes, sponsored by Faegre Drinker. You’ll find plenty of seasonal photo opportunities, such as a large inflatable spider on a web and not-so-scary cutout characters of ghosts, dragons, witches, vampires and alien creatures, as well as hay bales and pumpkins. Additionally throughout the zoo, there are Halloween-themed photo frames, cutouts and peek boards featuring a black cat, snake, stacked pumpkins, scarecrow and a monster. After visiting Boo! at the Zoo, guests can share their photos on social media with the hashtag @BrookfieldZoo.

Guests also can take a chance at finding their way through the “Crazed Maize” corn maze or take a spin on the carousel (fee applies) decorated in not-too-scary Halloween-themed decor. Seasonal fall food and drinks are on sale at food carts around the zoo for those who work up an appetite.

At Boo! at the Zoo weekends, several of the zoo’s animals will be treated to pumpkin feedings at 10:30 a.m. These animals can play with, eat and smash the gourds as part of the zoo’s enrichment program. The special feeding events will feature goats on Oct. 15 at Hamill Family Wild Encounters, sloth bears and big cats on Oct. 16, western lowland gorillas on Oct. 22 at Tropic World: Africa, and polar and brown bears on Oct. 23 at Great Bear Wilderness.

The animals will not be the only ones receiving special Halloween goodies at Brookfield Zoo. Guests will be treated to items, courtesy of Ferrara Candy Company, as they exit the park each event day until 4 p.m.

Discover fun facts about creatures of the night during special Zoo Chats held each day during Boo! at the Zoo. Hear about the screech owl at 11 a.m. at the Hamill Family Play Zoo, snakes at 11:30 a.m. at Feathers & Scales, ravens at 1 p.m. at Hamill Family Play Zoo and the Rodrigues fruit bats at 3:30 p.m. in Australia House.

Boo! at the Zoo guests will be among the last to experience the Ice Age Giants before the limited-time exhibit goes extinct Oct. 30. You can encounter more than 30 life-size animatronic re-creations of giants that once roamed North America and Eurasia, including a 15-foot-tall woolly mammoth, a 20-foot-long giant ground sloth, a 12-foot-tall giant bird and a 5-foot-long saber-toothed cat.

Admission to Brookfield Zoo costs $24.95 for adults, $17.95 for children ages 3-11 and $19.95 for seniors age 65 and older. Parking is $15.

To avoid confusion with Brookfield Zoo’s costumed characters, full-body costumes that cover faces are not permitted for guests over the age of 13.

For more information, visit CZS.org/BooAtTheZoo.