Overrated, but still a fun day at the San Diego Zoo.
Written: Jan 13 '06 (Updated Jan 13 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Wide variety of animals, enjoyable bus tour, baby panda, sea lion show
Cons: Strange layout, easy to get lost, expensive, some cages are too small/old
The Bottom Line: It isn't quite as good as you would think, but still a nice zoo.
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| chelledun's Full Review: San Diego Zoo |
I am a huge fan of zoos, aquariums, and other animal attractions. I’ve been lucky enough to visit several very good ones but the holy grail of zoos to me has always been the San Diego Zoo. This zoo is much hyped and literally a household name, so I expected it to surpass every other zoo I’d been to in terms of quality and animal variety. My visit to the zoo was January 9th, 2006. While my mom and I enjoyed our day at the zoo, I did find it to be a bit overrated and it certainly doesn’t pass up either the Cleveland Zoo or Shedd Aquarium as my favorite animal attractions.
General Information
The San Diego Zoo is located in huge Balboa Park. Hours at the zoo vary, but when we visited it was open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Last admission is an hour before guests must leave the zoo. Prices at the San Diego Zoo are relatively high as compared to other zoos. Admission only for adults is around $21. For $10 more, Best Value Admission includes use of the express buses and skyfari ariel trams as well as a double decker bus tour. When we visited the sky cabs were down, so Best Value Admission only cost $7 extra. We decided to include these transportation options and I’m glad we did because the double decker bus tour was very enjoyable.
Crazy Layout: Prepare to Get Lost!
My primary complaint about the San Diego Zoo is that I just didn’t enjoy the layout. Much of this is probably attributable to the zoo’s age. Newer zoos tend to be organized by the geographic origin of the animal species. For example, an Australia exhibition area will have kangaroos, dingos, and rainbow lorikeets. An African savannah will have giraffes, zebras, and lions, sometimes sharing an environment. The San Diego zoo for the most part is organized by types of animals. “Horn and Hoof” animals are in one place, “Cats” are in another. This makes it difficult to get a sense of animals’ natural environments or places of origin, as you might have a deer species from Afghanistan next to one from Africa. Some of the newer exhibits are more accurate animal groupings but the format of the zoo seems to be pretty well set.
Also regarding the layout, I found it strange that roads run all throughout the zoo. This is nice for the double decker bus tour but not so nice for just walking around. Particularly on the northern side of the zoo it is necessary to cross back and forth over the road frequently to view the exhibits on both sides. My mom and I kept accidentally going down roads that were just intended for vehicles and having to backtrack. The zoo is very sprawling, and there are some escalators that go up but not down. We got lost five or six times and had to head back basically to the entrance to start again. I imagine this is a tough zoo to take small children to, between all the walking and keeping them out of the middle of the road. My advice is to formulate a plan with your map as soon as you enter, and make sure to take the bus tour to cover what you missed walking.
The Buses
There are two different types of buses. If you have a best value ticket, you can ride any of them. The EXPRESS busses are clearly marked. They have limited narration and provide transport around the park with five distinct stops. The stops are Elephant Mesa, Birds of Prey, two in Hoof and Horn Mesa, and near the Giant Panda Discovery Center. If you have small children, definitely plan your day so you can take advantage of these buses. We didn’t want to mess with them much but did hop on once.
The other type of bus is the TOUR bus. All tour buses depart from an area to the right of the entrance. They run about every twenty minutes. I have read other reviews mentioning long lines for the bus, but we walked right on at 1:30. Of course, we did visit on a Monday and the zoo was fairly empty. The tour lasts about 35 minutes and the guide narrate and makes frequent stops. I was surprised how good the view was from the bus, the higher vantage point helped us see things we hadn’t been able to see when viewing the exhibits close up. This tour was very enjoyable and covered over 75% of the zoo’s animals. If you’re very crunched for time at the zoo, hop on this tour and then just pick the zoos most interesting animals to visit on foot.
The Animal Exhibits
Some of the animal exhibits are very good, while some of the cages are distressingly old fashioned. The following is a summary of some of the main areas of the zoo, but there are too many animals to cover everything.
Giant Panda Research Station - This is what many people, including me, are really here for. Visitors can get quite close to the pandas as the research area is pretty small, but it is hit and miss when the popular pandas will be on display. It wasn’t very crowded when we visited so we went through the exhibit two different times and got to see mom and the brand new baby moving around. Your odds are better in the morning, especially for the younger pandas.
Monkey Areas - These include Gorilla Tropics, Absolutely Apes, and Monkey Trails. Quite a lot of varieties are on display and these environments are pretty new and nice. The gorillas are my favorites and were really playing up to the crowd on the day we visited.
Polar Bear Plunge - This area is quite a long hike uphill from the front but worth the climb. The large male polar bear was sitting on a rock pressed against the glass the day we visited, scoping out the visitors. If you are lucky you may see the young polar bears play with their balls. The tank shows above water and below from several different viewing areas.
Koala Exhibit - As you can tell from my userpic (taken at the Cleveland Zoo), I am a sucker for koalas. SO cute and cuddly. There are a whole bunch here to enjoy, some behind glass and some outside for a total of about 10. The young ones were quite active and we were lucky enough to stop by first thing in the morning during feeding time to see them scamper around. (Koalas sleep about 21 hours a day!)
Children’s Zoo - One of the nicer areas of the zoo, the Children’s zoo offers a petting area, hummingbird aviary, and other hands-on exhibits for kids. If you have children you might want to hit this early in the day before everyone is tired and grouchy.
Reptiles - The reptile area seemed to be under some renovation when we visited. There are several indoor buildings and a few outdoor ones, some of which had no animals on display. I always enjoy seeing the big snakes, turtles, iguanas, and frogs but some people don’t. My mom skipped this and waited for the seal show while I wandered around.
Elephant Mesa - In this area you can find elephants, rhinos, and tapirs. There were plenty of these large mammals to see, but I thought the elephant enclosures seemed kind of small and sparse compared to other zoos. I’m hoping a facelift is coming for these areas in the near future.
Bear Canyon - A lot of bear species are on display here, with a special emphasis on Sun Bears from Asia. Many of these species can be seen at other zoos so this is kind of a “skip if you don’t have time” area to me.
Cat Canyon - Generally at zoos I love looking at the cats because they remind me of my own cat, Muffin. I was expecting a wide variety of exotic cat species, but not so much. A few small species are on display, while the lions are actually located in a different area. The cat enclosures look like some of the oldest in the zoo.
Horn and Hoof Mesa - This area was the most unpleasant part of my zoo visit. There are a LOT of species of deer, cattle, and buffalo at this zoo, and the road past them is very long once you start on it. I guess I’m just not that into hooved mammals, and all the environments look alike. Exhibits here include ankole cattle, takins, bongos, and a whole lot of pigs. Highlights are the zebra and giraffes. The double decker bus spends a lot of time in this area, so unless you are a deer enthusiast, skip walking this are and just ride through it.
Shows
There are a few different shows at the zoo, but not everything is shown every day. You will receive a daily schedule with your park map so be sure to check out show times for your day. We missed the Wild Ones Show featuring some cats and other exotic animals, but did get to enjoy the Wegeworth National Park Sea Lion Show. The show was not very crowded at all and we got great seats. Some trained birds made an appearance as well as two trained sea lions. My favorite part was the sea lions “seal impressions.” Too funny! My only complaint is that these wonderful sea lions aren’t on display when they are not performing in the show.
Restaurants
There are plenty of places to eat at the San Diego Zoo. Choices include the Canyon Cafe with Mexican influences, the Flamingo Cafe with deli sandwiches, or Sydney’s Grill with fried shrimp and steak sandwiches. We ate at the Safari Kitchen because of its view of the Monkey Trails exhibit. Our bill was pretty reasonable, about $12 for hot dogs, fries, and drinks. The food was perfectly fine for a zoo setting. There is one full-service restaurant called Albert’s where you can get a beer and enjoy a nice vantage point for a view of the zoo, but most people don’t have time for a sit down meal.
Shops
Souvenir stores abound here. Some are inside and some are outside. One thing that kind of annoyed me was that much of the animal-specific merchandise could only be found at the store near that animal, not at the main entrance. This means if you want a certain polar bear t-shirt you have to buy it and carry it around or risk having to trudge back to Polar Bear Plunge if it is unavailable at the main entrance shop.
I didn’t think the prices for the merchandise were too bad, really. Mom and I got a couple of postcards and a panda t-shirt for about $16.00. In addition to t-shirts, post cards, and logo mugs, there is a nice variety of stuffed plush animals in each store that your kids will surely beg you for. Cuddly panda plush was on sale the day we visited, and I kind of wish I would have bought one.
Overall…
So now to wrap up this ridiculously long review…this is definitely not a bad zoo. It is an above average zoo in terms of the number and variety of animals. However, it is not quite as good as the hype and admission price imply. Some of the animal habitats are distressingly old fashioned, and the layout is convoluted and frustrating. I had fun at the zoo and I’m glad I went, if only to see the pandas. One visit, though, was really enough, I doubt I’ll go back any time soon. Overall, I won’t try dissuade anyone from a visit to this famous zoo, but I do recommend adjusting your expectations because this zoo is definitely a bit overrated. For a really great zoo, head to Cleveland.
*We stayed at the Westgate Hotel, an easy five minute taxi ride from the zoo.
Recommended:
Yes
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