At 6 p.m. on Sunday, November 29, the lights at The Living Desert will be off. Thanksgiving weekend guests will still be in town, and the zoo's WildLights season will be closed for five straight nights. Half an hour later, the McCallum Theatre will start its final performance of The Who's Tommy.
That night reflects how the whole season is built. Between Thanksgiving and mid-December, WildLights runs mostly Thursday through Saturday. The McCallum's holiday shows mostly land on the Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays the zoo is dark. If you're a Bighorn Golf Club owner with a full guest room, the two schedules fit together, and you can plan most of the season around them.
Sixteen dark nights, and where they fall
WildLights 2026 runs on select nights from November 24 through December 30, 6 to 9 p.m., with last admission at 8:30. The public nights are November 24, 25, 27 and 28, then December 4 and 5, December 10 through 12, December 17 through 24, and December 26 through 30. Members get a preview night on November 23.
From November 24 through New Year's Eve, that's 22 public nights and 16 dark ones. The dark nights fall in four places:
- Thanksgiving night, November 26
- The five nights after Thanksgiving weekend, November 29 through December 3
- Two midweek runs in early December, December 6 through 9 and December 13 through 16
- The two biggest holiday nights, December 25 and December 31
From December 1 through 16, the lights stay off every Sunday through Wednesday. Starting December 17, they're on almost every night until the season ends. A five-day visit that starts on a Sunday in early December can miss WildLights entirely.
The McCallum picks up the dark nights
The McCallum's December calendar falls almost exactly in WildLights' gaps. Here's how the two line up from Thanksgiving week through mid-December, using the dates and times on the McCallum Theatre's event calendar and The Living Desert's WildLights page.
Date | WildLights | McCallum Theatre |
|---|---|---|
Sun., Nov. 29 | Dark | The Who's Tommy, 1 and 6:30 p.m. |
Mon., Nov. 30 | Dark | Andy Grammer One Man Show, 7 p.m. |
Thu., Dec. 3 | Dark | College of the Desert Symphonic Band, 7 p.m. |
Fri., Dec. 4 | Open | Jim Caruso's Holiday Cast Party, listed as sold out |
Sat., Dec. 5 | Open | Phat Cat Swinger, 8 p.m. |
Sun., Dec. 6 | Dark | Swing Into the Holidays, 7 p.m. |
Tue., Dec. 8 | Dark | The Wiz, 7 p.m. |
Wed., Dec. 9 | Dark | The Wiz, 7 p.m. |
Sun., Dec. 13 | Dark | The Wiz, 1 and 6:30 p.m. |
Tue., Dec. 15 | Dark | Mariachi Herencia de México, A Mariachi Christmas, 7 p.m. |
Wed., Dec. 16 | Dark | The Nutcracker! Magical Christmas Ballet, 3 p.m. |
Prices for The Wiz start at $64, the same as The Who's Tommy. Tickets for Phat Cat Swinger's Not So Silent Night start at $50.
The sold-out December 4 show is your cue on timing. Jim Caruso's Holiday Cast Party with Billy Stritch on piano is already listed as sold out. The McCallum's weeknight holiday shows are the backbone of this plan, and they won't stay open until your guests' flights are confirmed.
What a lit night looks like
On the nights it runs, WildLights is a full evening. The zoo describes millions of lights and brings back the Giant Present, a 30-foot-tall Christmas tree, the Tunnel of Lights and the G-Scale model train decorated for the season, plus new exhibits and photo spots. The African Safari pathways stay open after dark, with rhinos, giraffes, zebras and African painted dogs along the route.
There's also dinner, at a spot with a familiar name. The Bighorn Cafe serves dinner during WildLights, there are s'mores at Pronghorn Picnic Place, and guests 21 and older can order beer, wine and specialty cocktails. The cafe opened in spring 2025, along with a splash pad. If you eat at the zoo, a lit night doesn't need a separate dinner reservation.
Tickets cost $25 general, $23 for members and $20 for children ages 3 to 17. Children under 3 get in free. The day-plus-evening bundle is $64.95 per adult and $49.95 per child. Day and night are two separate visits. Every daytime visitor, including members and bundle holders, has to leave by 5 p.m., and WildLights entry starts at 6. The zoo is at 47900 Portola Ave. in Palm Desert. Capacity is limited each night, and the zoo recommends booking ahead.
Some lit nights are built for a particular group:
- December 10, Jingle Pups. Dogs are welcome, and both dogs and their people need an event ticket.
- December 17, adults only. The night is limited to guests 18 and older.
- December 18, Pride Night.
Free photos with Santa run through December 24. From December 26 through 30, the Grinch takes over. If your guests arrive after Christmas, the photo will have the Grinch in it.
Thanksgiving week runs through Rancho Mirage
From the public opening on Tuesday, November 24, through Saturday the 28th, Thanksgiving night is the only dark night. The Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage has a full Thanksgiving Day schedule. It starts with a Desert Turkey Trot Hike on the trails around the resort, ending with a mimosa at Mountainside Concourse. For the main meal there are three options: a buffet in The Ritz-Carlton Ballroom, Thanksgiving specials at State Fare Bar & Kitchen, and Thanksgiving dinner at The Edge Steakhouse.
The resort's holiday calendar fills more of the zoo's dark nights. Its annual Tree Lighting Ceremony is Sunday, November 29, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., with refreshments and local carolers. That's early enough to fit in before the 6:30 p.m. Tommy at the McCallum, though the drive between the two takes some planning. On Wednesday, December 2, at 5 p.m., a visiting rabbi leads a Menorah Lighting Ceremony in the lobby, and the resort invites the local community. The lobby atrium is also set up as Santa's Village, with a holiday train and a North Pole mailbox for children's letters.
Daytime plans fit around the dark nights too. Magical Breakfast with Santa runs December 12, 13, 19 and 20, from 9 a.m. to noon in the Ballroom. On Sunday the 13th, that breakfast and the 1 p.m. Wiz at the McCallum make a full day without WildLights.
If you want to start the season before the zoo opens, The Shops on El Paseo holds its free Light Up The Holidays tree lighting on Saturday, November 21, from 4 to 6 p.m. The event includes entertainment, children's activities, seasonal treats, letters to Santa and visits from Santa and Mrs. Claus. That's three nights before the first public WildLights night.
After December 17, the two schedules compete
The weekend-and-weeknight pattern ends in the last two weeks of the year. WildLights runs every night from December 17 through 24, and the McCallum's biggest holiday names are booked in the same stretch. That includes A Charo Christmas on December 18, the Los Angeles Master Chorale's Festival of Carols on December 19, Dave Koz & Friends Christmas on December 20, Mickey Guyton + Friends on December 22 and the Pacific Jazz Orchestra on December 23. Howie Mandel plays December 27, during the post-Christmas WildLights run.
In early December, the two calendars spread your guests' evenings across the week. In late December, you're choosing between them. A visit that stays through the 24th can do both, with WildLights early in the stay and a McCallum show later, but only if you book both early.
The Ritz-Carlton covers the last two dark nights. Chestnut roasting and lawn games on the Springs Lawn run December 18 through January 3, from 4 to 6 p.m., including Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. On Friday, December 25, State Fare serves a Christmas brunch buffet from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with Beef Wellington and Colorado rack of lamb on the menu. Christmas dinner runs from 5 to 8:30 p.m. on both December 24 and 25.
New Year's Eve, with the zoo closed
The zoo's season ends December 30, so New Year's Eve gets its own plan. There are three options at three different paces:
- Michael Feinstein, An Elegant New Year's Eve, at the McCallum Theatre, 7 p.m.
- Champagne Dinner at The Edge Steakhouse, at The Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage, 5 to 9:30 p.m.
- New Year's Eve at Vicky's of Santa Fe in Indian Wells, 5 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Dining room seatings are at 5, 7:30 and 10 p.m., lounge seatings are at 6 and 9 p.m. with live music and no cover, and dinner requires a reservation.
The McCallum show and an early Edge dinner can't both happen, because the times overlap. Vicky's 10 p.m. seating is the only one of the three that runs to midnight.
For Bighorn owners, the dates above fill in the calendar we sketched in our fall season playbook for Highway 74. Book the McCallum shows on the dark weeknights first, then fill in the WildLights nights around them.
If you're hosting this season and wondering whether your house would show as well as it entertains, Rich Nolan and the team are glad to talk it through over coffee before the lights come on. Schedule a design-first marketing consultation and we'll show you how we'd present a Bighorn home to the buyers who come here in December.
