I have always wanted to see the San Diego zoo do to it's ENORMOUS size and the fact that they have Pandas (which is one animal I have always wanted to see but haven't). It was nice. It wasn't number 1- but it was good and we had a great time!
Amount of Animals: 6/10
Alright- the official stats for the amount of animals in this zoo is 4,000 animals of more than 800 species. I am fairly certain they are counting every fly and insect species as well because we did NOT see or find 4,000 animals. The San Diego zoo is MASSIVE and goes for miles and miles but for the amount that you walk- there was not a whole lot to see as far as animals go. Maybe we went the wrong way. Maybe we weren't going in a good flow. But it was disappointing. In addition to that- the San Diego zoo has ZERO penguins and no seals or sea lions. Now- I understand if you want to see a sea lion you can probably just walk down to the bay and go see one but still...
Type of Animals: 8/10
I had to rank them a little higher here. Reason number 1- there were Pandas. There are only 4 zoos in which you can see Giant Pandas so it is kind of a big deal. To go with this- I may be ranking them a little high because there was a BABY panda which is even better. It was only 8 months old and cuter than ever and there was a 3 year old sibling panda in the neighboring exhibit who was actually active and playing and being cute.
Reason number 2- they had a honey badger. I don't feel that I need to further explain the awesomeness of that.
They have most of your standard other animals- lions, tigers, and a crap ton of bears OH MY! (Seriously- one half of that zoo felt like it was dedicated to bear exhibits) but, as I said before, they were missing penguins and seals and that's kind of a big deal! Yes I realize Sea World is close by and that is where they probably take them when injured and all but I didn't go to Sea World... I went to the zoo.
Size of the Zoo: 7/10
If this ranking were just based on how big it is- it would get a 10. This place is ridiculously huge. But- it gets a 7 in size because I really did not feel it used it's space proportionally. It was a little frustrating to walk up this half mile, super steep, winding awful hill only to find ONE polar bear sleeping on a rock. Boooo. I highly recommend handling the size of this zoo in a couple of different ways. 1) Get tickets to do the bus tours. We didn't do this but by the 4th mountain climb with a 4 year old, we wished we had. There were various drop off places and they give you valuable information as you ride. 2) Ride the "Skyfari" gondola ride to the top to see the stuff up there and then work your way down to see the rest of the zoo. 3) Get a map and plot out the different ways to travel up and down the zoo without killing yourself in the first hour. There are moving walkways (although one was broken when we were there) that get you up to the Elephants and such as well.
Foliage/Landscaping: 9/10
It's beautiful. There are millions of trees, plants, grasses, bushes, flowers... EVERYTHING! You name it- it's probably at the San Diego zoo. It is short one point of a perfect score because it was almost too much! For example- when riding the gondola, you can't hardly see any animals or exhibits below you because they are completely blocked by trees! Often the foliage blocks viewing of animals and it also makes it difficult to see where you are and where you are heading at times.
Exhibits/Habitats: 7/10
They were average. I don't think they were super spectacular but very normal. The elephant spot was MASSIVE and took up a lot of space which made them pretty far. I am used to our elephants being so close you can nearly touch them. Now- that being said, there were several exhibits of cats (leopards, bob cats, lion, etc...) that had signs such as "Do not touch, this animal will bite" and "Caution: Lion can spray 7-10 feet" telling you that those animals were within human reach which I found very bizarre. There was no exhibit that made me go "WOW! This is AWESOME!" It all looked the same... trees, trees, bush,massive hill, cage...trees, trees, bush, massive hill, cage.
Pricing: 6/10
It's expensive, folks. Luckily we used my husband's airline discount which got all of our tickets at half price so we walked in there for $60 (that was two adults and one child admission). Admission includes the skyfari gondola which you can ride all day if you want. Anything else is an additional fee. Regular one day admission is $44 for adults and $34 for children. However- after seeing the enormity of the place and imagining the cost of upkeep and food for the animals and electricity and everything else- the price is understandable. Not sure I would ever pay full price to go again- but I would certainly go back for half price again!
Entertainment: 7/10
There were several areas that appeared to have shows that happen in them but we never saw one and the map never had a schedule of them. I have to assume they are probably pretty decent because the space for them was great! The Skyfari gondola is AWESOME. We really had a lot of fun on this thing! Our 4 year old son was enthralled and called it the "sky train" and we rode it for the last 30 minutes of our stay there. Definitely a high lite of our trip to the zoo! There is also a great "kid" area which includes and free playground AND free petting zoo. You can grab your lunch and have a little picnic by the playground to give mom and dad a rest and let kiddo go run-a-muck. There is a carousel and toddler swing ride OUTSIDE the zoo in balboa park that is another $2.50 to ride. The carousel plays music from Star Wars and we swear that thing was going 25 miles an hour. if you are sensitive to spinning rides- stay away. We did get to see the long nosed crocodiles and turtles get fed with a demonstration and that was pretty cool. The crocs didn't do a whole lots but, man! I have never seen turtles move so fast in my life! Whatever was in those little pellet things must be delicious!
Food: 5/10
We should have gotten stuff to pack a lunch. But alas. We did not. My recommendation- pack a stinkin lunch! $5 for an ice cream cone and $8 for a small hot dog and fries! The kid meal wasn't too bad. $7.50 and it included a refillable souvenir cup and re-usable lunch bag and had animal crackers and apple slices with the hot dog. It's fairly standard pricing for a zoo but- Yeowsa! Also- there were several different places to go to but not many options. Burger, hot dog, chicken sandwich. If you were by the Pandas- there was an Asian alternative and I believe I read on the map that there was a restaurant near the eagle walk that had lasagna and ravioli but if the hot dog was $8, I shutter to imagine the cost of lasagna.
All in all it was a wonderful trip and we will probably go back sometime. I think next time we would like to check out the safari park instead- but that is for another blog another day!
No comments:
Post a Comment