Greedo the Frog at the San Diego Zoo ~ Semi-Wordless Wednesday!

The boys and I headed down to the San Diego Zoo today and I snapped this amazing pic of a blue frog at the newly remodeled Reptile Walk. 

We have unofficially named him Greedo for his uncanny resemblance to the character from Star Wars!

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San Diego Wild Animal Park - Part 3

Part 3



(You can find part 1 here and part 2 here)

What I found most complicated about the San Diego Wild Animal Park (& Zoo actually) was it was really hard to figure out what is included in the cost of your ticket and what you had to pay extra for. The Wild Animal Park in particular has a large amount of extra cost adventures you can take that can add a ton of cost to your day (Segway Tours for example can add an additional $70 per person, but also have age minimums). There is the Flightline (Zipline ride), Wilderness Ridge Mule Ride, Savanna Safari and Ride on the Wild Side, Roar & Snore (overnight onsite camping), Balloon Safari and Zoowerks – The Ride. All of these cost extra and will definitely enhance your day, but quickly add up. If you’re interested in any of these activities, you can research them on the website and do be aware that many do have age minimums as well. Also feel free to ask at the Safari Booking Station (at the entry) for any tips about what adventures would be right for your family. They are very friendly and happy to help you.


This time we came prepared! I’d checked the weather forecast, grabbed several water bottles, the kids had our water spray fans (picked up at one of our many Disneyland trips), tons of sunscreen, everyone had sunglasses, ultra light clothing and a plan.

We arrived at the park at about 9:30 am and headed straight for the Journey into Africa tram. A ticket is required for this, but if you paid regular admission to the park or have a membership (great value especially because you also get membership to the San Diego Zoo!), it is included. Doing this first in the morning was great timing because it wasn’t too hot and all the animals were still active. The views are awe inspiring and leave you with the feeling you have truly just been on an African Safari!

After the Safari ride, we mostly followed the Kilimanjaro Safari Walk for the rest of the day. The Jameson Research Island was another cool stop on our walk. There are several feeding dispensers (bring quarters!) and you can feed the birds along the floating bridges. The birds definitely knew what was up and as soon as they heard the dispenser, they began coming towards us. The boys loved feeding the birds! There’s also a misting station for the kids to get wet and a Dino Dig area.

Instead of following the Kilimanjaro Tour to the left (west) of the Lagoon, we went to the right wanting to see the Lemurs again. As we were walking past Lemur Island, I saw one of the Zookeepers parking her cart and pulling a large bucket out of the back, I knew it had to be feeding time for something. We followed her to the overlook area just in time to see her feeding small fish to all of the birds. That was really neat because we got to see a lot of the birds come up close to us and it was just plain entertaining watching the birds steal from each other and do fly-bys! I’d highly recommend taking note of which animals are being fed when and making the effort to watch. In the couple of times we have gone to the Wild Animal Park now, we’ve seen several different feeding times and have always really enjoyed them.

Our family’s favorite find of the day without a doubt was the Animal Care Center. My kids could have spent hours there alone! Three baby cheetahs were running around the playrooms having a ton of fun. They were hilarious to watch and so cute!

If it’s your first time at the park, I’d highly recommend taking the “Kilimanjaro Safari Walk” as your main route for the day (veer up to check out the Tigers if you’re ambitious and it’s not a hot day). Due note that The Kilimanjaro Safari Walk is a 2 mile walk, but the park is quite accommodating for strollers and joggers, so if you have you have kids under 5 I’d highly recommend bring something for them to sit in!

I can’t emphasize enough how much easier it makes your day to arrive at the park early… when we arrived we were able to park at one of the first few aisles, but as we left the park (just before 2pm), people were still arriving and they were parking at the bottom of the hill! The Wild Animal Park handles crowds very well. We were actually really surprised to see how many cars had arrived after us because the park just didn’t feel that busy. Taking a few minutes to prep ahead of time made our day FANTASTIC!


Have you been to the San Diego Wild Animal Park? Any tips I missed?

Family Travel Tips
San Diego

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The San Diego Zoo!

I worried that I wouldn‘t be able to capture the magic of our visit to the San Diego Zoo, but then I realized that wasn’t really important - Each person will take something different home from their visit, whether it is the knowing looks from the Guerillas or the quiet Zen of the Pandas or the sheer size of the Elephants.

I had been to the San Diego Zoo before - I was one of the lucky Mom’s who was able to chaperone my sons’ class on their field trip to the Zoo last year. Picture one mom carrying six children’s lunch and double water bottles for each child the day in our backpack... Yes, that was an interesting day!

I knew that our first stop for the day had to be the double decker bus tour around the park. My husband balked at it, but I assured him this was an absolute must to begin the day because it would give us a great overview of the park and allow the kids to get a lot more sightseeing done in a short amount of time.

Along the thirty-five minute bus tour (included in the price of admission) we were able to see most of the popular exhibits with amazing bird’s eye view of many of the animals. The ohh’s, ahh’s and cool’s were nonstop. A couple of our family favorites were the Polar Bear exhibit and the newly opened Elephant Odyssey.

The SkyFari tour was breath taking, but I recommend catching it near the Polar Bear Exhibit as a great way to get back to the main entrance area to avoid long waits.

I must admit though, one of my sentimental favorite surprises of the day was finding the Dr. Suess story statue garden (The Lorax is one of my absolute favorite stories!).

At the end of the day we have been left with more memories than I can write about, but most importantly, I now have a playroom that is being turned in to a small scale San Diego Zoo (using stuffed animals and other various toys as the exhibits) – and that is priceless!

Admission for the day: $122 for a family of four (but we opted to upgrade for full year memberships for the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal park for an additional $67, an awesome value if you ask me! So expect a post about the Wild Animal Park in the near future!)

A few tips for a good day:
-Arrive as soon as the park opens. This is because there is a tremendous amount of walking to do and as the sun rises higher in the sky, it can become more difficult for younger children to keep up with walking.

-Coat children in sunscreen at the beginning of the day and again frequently, as it is easy to forget how much you are in the sun and the sunburns are not fun!

-Pack a couple extra water bottles or juices in a back pack. There are ample places to purchase drinks, but this can add up throughout the day. We were shocked at the reasonable rates for snacks and meals but found the prices of sodas and waters at the carts to be a bit high.

-I’m sure I don’t need to say it, but bring comfortable walking shoes and be prepared for a workout!

Helpful Link: http://www.sandiegozoo.com/

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