By Kevin
“What kinds of outings work well with
not-quite-two-year-olds?” my wife and I wondered. We often bring
our daughter to parks or take her to play with friends. And Juliana
loves those things. But we figured it was high time for her first
visit to one of Southern California's many attractions.
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| Juliana plays some peekaboo near the Hippo exhibit |
Disneyland will undoubtedly be fun, but
the price-to-enjoyability-over-other activities-ratio seemed like it
wouldn't make it worthwhile for another year or two. She'd probably
have just as much fun digging in the sandbox and going on the slide
at the local park. Same with just about any other amusement park we
conjured up. Our then 20-month-old daughter just isn't old enough to
maximize the fun factor.
But we knew she loves animals. After
all, she had recently entered the phase of life in which she is
grabbing hold of every opportunity to name her world, particularly,
every giraffe, horse or cat that pops up in her picture books.
So when our friends and their three
daughters mentioned that they had a San Diego Zoo membership and were planning to make a trip, it didn't take us long
to figure out where we should go.
The 100-acre zoo was fantastic. It's
easy to see why the San Diego Zoo is generally considered one of the
best zoos in the world. Although it is home to more than 4,000
animals and 6,500 plant species, the habitats are spacious. The
animals are easy to spot and well-cared for.
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| Giant Panda Bai Yun gnaws on some bamboo |
One of the highlights – given our
connection to China – were the panda exhibits – one of the few
exhibits at the zoo you have to wait in line to see because of their
popularity. As we entered the line, I was excited that one year of
Chinese studies meant I could actually read the Chinese characters
for the panda's names, written at the entrance. Of the zoo's now four
Giant Pandas (a baby was born just after we visited in July), we were
able to see two: 白云 (Bai
Yun or White Cloud) and 高高 (Gao
Gao or Tall Tall). Unfortunately, we arrived while Gao Gao's cage
was being cleaned, so we had to wait about ten minutes for him to
arrive back in his cage. Then we only had a few minutes to snap a few
photos before being urged on to make more room for other visitors to
get a glimpse of the black-and-white bear as he lazily gnawed on
sticks of bamboo.
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| Juliana gazes at an orangutan |
Our daughter also loved other exhibits.
She gazed adoringly at the orangutans. She eagerly pointed out the
giant elephants. She giggled at how much bigger the giraffes are in
person than in her picture books. She smiled as colorful birds
whizzed past in the spacious aviaries, then picked up the tropical leaves that had fallen onto the walkway.
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| Orangutan rests between swings |
She particularly enjoyed the polar bear
and hippo exhibits, which allow you to look at the animals from
multiple vantage points – both below the surface, through a giant
aquarium-like window and above it. There's also a small play area which a hippo statue outside the hippo exhibit, which Juliana eagerly explored, popping her head from behind a tree in a game of peekaboo.
It didn't hurt that the polar bear
exhibit was also surrounded by faux-ice caves for kids to play in.
Juliana followed her older friends in and soon was emulating them as
they popped their heads out of “holes” in the “ice.”
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| Juliana pops her head through the "ice" at the polar bear exhibit |
Previously, every time she saw a bear
in a picture book, she called it a dog. On the ride home, she was
identifying them correctly, also adding words like “snake,”
“rhino,” “panda” and “zebra” to her vocabulary.
I can't find much to fault about the
San Diego Zoo. One slight negative, however, is that it is a bit
tricky to navigate the hilly terrain with a stroller. Thankfully, the
zoo has installed moving sidewalks that weave up and down along the
hills, making it a breeze to climb them if planned out correctly. The
Skyfari aerial tram is also helpful for seeing the polar bears.
However, since we couldn't bring strollers on the aerial tram, we
didn't explore much further than the zebra exhibit in that section of
the park.
Families planning a trip to the zoo can
save money by purchasing zoo memberships. Members are entitled not
only to unlimited entrances to both the zoo and the San Diego Safari
Park (formerly known as the Wild Animal Park) for a year, but they
also receive a pair of “Super Discount Admission Coupons” to use
on guests (which reduce the gate price to $15, making them worth $27
if used on adults or $17 for kids). They also get a subscription to
the ZOONEWZ magazine and several other discounts. Through a deal available to California residents, we bought a dual
membership, which covers two adults from the same household for $109
(a single membership is $88). Since my parents were also along for
the trip, buying the membership was a no-brainer.
Regularly, adult tickets are $42
apiece. Children ages 3-11 are $32. Admission for younger kids is
free, so when you factor in the discount passes, buying a dual
membership is much less expensive if four or more adults are going together. Since
four $42 tickets would cost $168 and the total cost of a dual
membership plus two $15 “Super Discount Admissions” comes to a
grand total of $139, it saves money from the getgo (for two adults
and two kids it would actually cost $148 – making it slightly more
expensive to buy the membership). And, on top of that, we can go back
again for free. Additionally, parking is always free at the zoo.
However, a potentially even better deal is on the
horizon: Kid's Free Days.
In honor of the Zoo's founding, from Oct. 1 through 31, 2012, kids
ages 3-11 will get free admission when accompanied by an adult. However,
tickets to use the guided bus tour and Skyfari Aerial Tram (which are
included with other ticket fees) cost extra.
Another way to save a few bucks is to
bring your own food and water. Yes, the San Diego Zoo is one of the
few amusement parks that actually allows you to bring your own food.
And when you're pushing kiddos around in strollers, it's easy to pack
meals for the whole family.
