The show that replaced the lantern festival
Glow Wild opens November 13, 2026 and runs nightly through January 3, 2027, 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM, at Nashville Zoo, 3777 Nolensville Pike. The zoo describes glowing wildlife, festive displays and an 85 foot-tall synchronized Christmas tree.
The zoo canceled Zoolumination for 2026 and named the cause on its own page: visa issues affecting the event partner. The Zoolumination page still carries the prior lantern copy and the canceled show's calendar. It also carries the Glow Wild line, Nov. 13, 2026 to Jan. 3, 2027.
Four prices at the gate
Single-Night Admission costs $27 per person and covers the night selected. The Platinum Pass costs $39 per person and covers unlimited visits across the run. Children under age 2 enter free.
Two charges sit beside the gate. Parking costs $10 per vehicle, and members and Platinum Pass holders park free. The Smashville Ice Rink costs $12 for a non-member and $10 for a member, and each skating ticket buys a 45 minute session with skate rentals.
Two adults on one night pay $54 at the gate, $10 for parking and $24 for skating, which is $88 for the visit before any room. The same pair on two Platinum Passes pays $78 at the gate, nothing for parking and $24 for skating, which is $102. The pass pays on the second visit, where two single nights cost $54 and the pass costs $39.
Members pay $22 for a single-night ticket, which is the $5 discount the zoo publishes. Members park free as well.
The zoo publishes no housing programme
Five pages on nashvillezoo.org carry the show: the Glow Wild page, the Zoolumination page, the hours and directions page, the group outings page and the visit page. Across those five pages the words hotel, lodging, accommodation, room block and shuttle return zero hits. Glow Wild publishes no hotel partner, no room block and no shuttle.
Group sales is the one published channel that touches volume. The zoo invites groups of 20 or more to email its Group Sales department for discounted tickets, and publishes no rate for them.
The calendar the room has to match
The run covers 52 nights between a Friday opening and a Sunday close. Santa visits nightly from November 27 to December 24 at The Holiday Square. The Sumatran tiger, Andean bear and flamingo exhibits stay up until 8:30 PM, and Unseen New World stays open all night except on selected weekend nights set aside for Night Owls.
The zoo's hours page lists Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day as closures. A room request for those dates needs the zoo's answer first.
Two notes on the tickets page need the same call. The ladder lists children under age 2 as free, and the line below it requires a ticket for every guest including kids under 2. The page also prints three sale dates: September 17, Wednesday September 13, and a line reading tickets on sale now.
Anchor the ask on the ceiling
The General Services Administration sets Nashville lodging at $230 for every month of fiscal 2027, with meals at $86. The Metro Nashville notice of June 14, 2023 sets the local occupancy levy at 7% with a nightly fee of $2.50, in addition to all other taxes and fees. The levy adds $16.10 and the fee adds $2.50, which puts one night at $248.60 before state sales tax.
Two nights at that ceiling cost $497.20. Two adults on two passes with parking pay $78 at the gate across the same two nights. The room carries the larger share of the bill, and the gate ladder is the published number a buyer can set beside it.
What the buyer puts in writing
Ask for the nights. The show sells a dated single-night ticket, so the request can name the same nights and skip a week rate that spreads across dates the guest will not use.
Ask for the transfer term. Single-night tickets move from person to person, and a date change is possible where the target night has inventory. A sold-out night takes no transfer. That term belongs in the room agreement as well.
Ask about the peak window. Santa runs November 27 to December 24 and the last week of December sits inside the run. Ask for one rate across the window and a separate rate for the holiday nights.
Ask for the pass as a separate line. The pass costs $39, and the zoo states that a used single-night ticket cannot be credited toward it. A guest who plans two visits buys the pass at the start.
Ask about transport. Glow Wild publishes no shuttle, so a property that runs one to 3777 Nolensville Pike supplies a service the organiser does not carry.
Submit through hotelhaggle. One request reaches 50 or more hotels in the destination, hotels respond within 24 to 72 hours, and the platform adds no commission to the rate. Tennessee does not appear on the seller-of-travel restriction list, which names Florida, Hawaii, Iowa and Washington.
