Visiting San Diego: San Diego Zoo

August 7, 2017

We visited San Diego during the summer with family and we got to experience 7 of their tourist attractions:

1. San Diego Natural History Museum
2. Sea World
3. USS Midway
4. San Diego Zoo
5. Legoland
6. San Diego Air and Space Museum
7. Museum of Man

Well, we first debated whether to visit the zoo or the safari, but since we had small, hyperactive kids in our party (ages 4 and 6) we decided that trapping them in a car for hours with the hope of maybe catching a glimpse of an animal was cruel. This is how we decided to go to the regular San Diego Zoo.
The family woke up late that day and by the time we got to the zoo it was already noon, which was a big mistake. The zoo opens at 9am, which would make for a cooler weather for a couple of hours in the summer days.
The entrance for the zoo was expensive. We opted for the one-day pass with a 4D movie (there are two), and it was $58 per adult and $48 per child (plus tax). Admission did include three “rides”, the bus tour, the skyfari and a bus that transports you from place to place – because this is one BIG zoo.
The Kangaroo Bus, which is the bus that helps you move faster around the zoo, was basically unavailable to us because we rented a stroller at the zoo for the kids and it was impossible to move that stroller around in those busses. If you decide to go to this zoo, bring your own stroller, at least you can move that one around.

We started our visit by riding the guided tour bus. It was a great tour, except it was hot and sunny and we sat on the upper deck. The lower deck has shade, but I don’t think you’d be able to see some animals as you drive next to their enclosures. It proved to be one of the best ways to see animals for us. We got to see the polar bear eating a melon, jaguars, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes, and more! If not for this ride, we would have missed these animals – for example, the polar bear was M.I.A. by the time we got to its enclosure.

There is also a panda bear at this zoo. We walked for a while to go see it, and by the time we got there, it was asleep. I know animals at zoos have lives and they are entitled to sleep, but we just had such bad luck trying to catch them playing around.

Later, we decided to ride the Skyfari to cross the zoo and get closer to the polar bear area and the 4D movie we wanted to see (the one with the Ice Age squirrel). We left the stroller parked to ride the skyfari, walked to the polar bear enclosure and then to the 4D movie. The 4D movie was pretty amazing. The skyfari in itself was pretty amazing, too! The kids enjoyed it and the adults did, too. We also managed to see a gorilla moving around from the top. Neat!

After about three hours we were ready to call it a day. The zoo is enormous and that means a lot of walking. Also some roads are steep and that made it a little worse for our feet. We really need to get in shape!

We don’t think we’ll ever return to this zoo. If we are ever back in San Diego, we’ll visit the safari park zoo.

cheers!

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