[Columbia, SC] - A South Carolina institution for 18 years, Riverbanks Zoo and Garden's Lights Before Christmas is set to be another holiday smash-hit.

"A holiday season without Lights Before Christmas is like a Christmas with no Santa Claus," said Satch Krantz, executive director of Riverbanks Zoo and Garden. "For a lot of people in the area, the season doesn't even officially start until they've seen the twinkling lights at Riverbanks."

Holiday merrymakers will be able to catch the Lights starting the day after Thanksgiving, and no matter what the weather, it'll be snowing at the Zoo. From the moment guests walk through the front entrance's Snow Palace, they enter a world where plenty of snow machines ensure that each night brings a fresh snowfall, turning the entire park into a Winter Wonderland.

Snow and the cold weather it brings is no fun, though, if guests can't warm up with something festive. A hot cup of cocoa and roasting their own marshmallows at Jingle Bell Bonfire will keep kids' and parents' tummies toasty as they take in the more than half a million lights strung throughout the Zoo. Add in the fa-la-la-la-las of carolers and guests are sure to have themselves a Merry Little Christmas.

Santa will be stopping by Holiday Village each night to pose for photographs with children, offering parents the opportunity to take their own photos using their personal cameras free of charge. While kids are at Holiday Village, they can also mail their letters to Santa courtesy of Riverbanks' Polar Post Office. And no one should miss this year's Christmas 3-D movie Santa's Polar Blast playing at Riverbanks' Adventure Theater, the only all digital 3-D theater at a zoo in the country.

Despite all the exciting extras, year after year it's the lights people come out to see. Light displays designed in the shapes of everything from flamingos to giraffes to fish make the Zoo come alive each night, long after the animals have gone to bed.

Each year, nearly 100,000 visitors walk through Riverbanks gates after hours to enjoy the magic of the season at Lights Before Christmas. The Lights will be on from November 25 through December 30 from 6 to 9 p.m. each evening and tickets are $5 for children and $7 for adults.