The Moonlight Forest Lantern Art Festival is a new event this year that is hosted at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. Similar to Enchanted, this botanical garden is transformed into a nighttime event. There are beautiful lanterns that show glowing dragons, flowers, peacocks and much more.
Contents
Hours
Moonlight Forest is open from Wednesday through Sunday.
October 26, 2018 to January 6, 2019
5:30PM to 10PM
Address/Directions
Address: 301 N Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007
Admission
Ticket prices vary depending on what day you go.
Wednesday & Thursday
Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for children ages 3 to 17, and $23 for seniors over 62.
Friday through Sunday
Tickets are $28 for adults, $23 for children ages 3 to 17, and $25 for seniors over 62.
Parking
There are 3 parking lots located at the LA Arboretum: Main Lot, South Lot, South Depot. On the day that we went, there were a lot of people so the parking lots were pretty full. We drove around several times before just stopping and waiting to catch people as they were leaving.
You can also park at the Santa Anita Mall (right across Baldwin Ave) and take a free shuttle to the arboretum.
Moonlight Forest Lantern Art Festival
Moonlight Forest is a walking event that is approximately 1 mile in length so wear comfortable shoes! Since the event is held during the nighttime, we would also suggest wearing warm clothes.
This event is more family oriented than any other events that we have gone to. It was packed with children and families on the day that we visited so it was more difficult to get the pictures that we wanted.
It is 1 mile packed with lantern art non-stop. The focus is primarily on animal shaped lantern art as well as some flowers, emojis, buildings and more. You can find almost any animal you can think of. Here were some of the highlights and more photographic art pieces at the lantern festival.
Magic Flowers Walkway
After you purchase your tickets (or get them scanned if you bought them online), you will begin to enter the festival. Depending on which entrance you enter through (there’s three), you will walk along some lit up flower lanterns for maybe 2 to 3 minutes. This is a nice and peaceful walk before you get to the more crowded and extensive lantern displays. This is the entrance we went through.
Moonlight Aquarium
The Moonlight Aquarium was an aesthetically pleasing art exhibit that featured sea animals made out of lanterns (sharks, octopus, jellyfish, etc). The archways made it seem like you were really walking in a real aquarium. This installation is popular so it can get crowded. You might have to wait a while to get a picture without anyone in it or wait in line with a specific creature.
Many of the families wanted to take pictures with the sharks. You will definitely hear “baby shark, doo, doo, doo” in the background. As you can see in this picture, there’s a line behind me for the shark.
Magical Dragon
As you walk further into the botanical garden, you will come across a big lake and, in the distance, a majestic dragon! You can get close to the dragon on the other side of the lake. The lighting to take photos of someone and the dragon in the background might be off. It was difficult for us to get the right lighting without any additional lighting gear.
Dragon Arches
If you weren’t satisfied with the gigantic dragon in the lake, don’t worry – you will encounter more dragons at this next exhibit. There are numerous dragons in the form of arches and you can walk along side them and take pictures. If there are too many people at the beginning of the arch walkway, just walk in further. You just might be in their photo later. We got lucky here.
Panda Forest
The panda forest was an alluring green color with cute pandas on the side. Even though it was not a real bamboo forest, it was still a nice art display using lanterns.
If you try to take a photo here, you will end up with a dark photo. You will have to edit it in post production (depending on your camera) and it should come out nicely like this.
Before:
After:
Chinese Red Lanterns
This was probably one of my favorite lantern installations. There were hundreds of Chinese red lanterns hanging in a big open field. There was also a lot of space so you didn’t have to worry about people being in your pictures. This was also a nice area to just sit and look up at the lanterns if you wanted to relax and enjoy the view.
Moonlight Forest Castle
The Moonlight Forest Castle was like something from a traditional Chinese movie. The castle was very enormous and colorful.
There is a line to take a picture in front of the castle but we didn’t wait in it. There was no need for additional artificial flash. They have a stage light for you to make your photos perfect as well as a platform to stand on.
Lantern Angel Wings
If you’ve seen the angel wings throughout Los Angeles, then you’ll understand what this art piece is about. City of Angels is known for having street art of wings on walls for people to take photos in front of to appear like angels. The added light in front adds depth to your picture as the wings cast multiple shadows behind you while keeping you in the light.
Peacock Bar
If you get hungry, thirsty, or just need a break, there is are a couple of nice cafe and bar areas where you can purchase food and drinks. There are tables that you can sit on as well. They take credit cards as well as cash.
The festival also has shows where there are acrobats and performers. It is a timed show so make sure to make time for it to grab a good standing area.
If you just walk around the festival, you will also come across some gift shops and random art.
Brea really liked this lantern display of the Terracotta Army since it reminded her of an art class she took explaining the history of the Terracotta Army Statues. She decided to pose with them with her hot cocoa as her weapon of choice.
The Moonlight Forest Lantern Art Festival is a fun and calm event if you are looking for something to do at night. The festival does get crowded, so it is not really a great place for a photo-op unless you wait in line to take photos at the big attractions. However, we still enjoyed ourselves looking at all of the different ways that lanterns can be used.
Places Nearby
Santa Anita Westfield Mall, Partywith a pop-up shop
