Okay, Where Did The Admission Money I Paid 6 Years Ago Go???
Written: May 13 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Um, I am still thinking...
Cons: Empty exhibits, terrible service, and an endless list of other things...
The Bottom Line: The S.F. Zoo might have been great when I was young, but it's terrible now. Between the high prices and the empty exhibits, it's a must avoid in S.F...
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| ChriseyB's Full Review: San Francisco Zoo |
For my birthday a couple of weeks ago, my husband and I decided to go on a family outing with our sons versus doing anything major to denote how old I am getting. What we chose to do is to take our boys to the San Francisco Zoo. Looking back, I think we would have had a better time had we just had a picnic in the park.
When we arrived on that Sunday, the first problem we ran into was parking—there was none! The closest parking we could find was literally almost a mile away. For two adults, that would have been fine; however, I had my two sons and my friend’s daughter whom I was babysitting. After numerous attempts to circle around the park area, my husband and I agreed to park in front of the zoo to let the kids and myself out, and then he would find parking and meet us inside.
We walk down a little hill to the admission area and wait in line. Of course, my kids wanted to immediately see animals; however, we had to wait in a rather long line to get our tickets. As we got closer to the window, my eyes began to bulge. It turns out that the admission price for the zoo was $10 for adults, $7 for my friend’s daughter who is 13, and $4 for each of my sons—my grand total being $35 for admission. This was double what I paid to get into the same zoo 6 years ago. Still, the zoo was supposed to be better than it was back then, and I wanted to see our admission money “at work” so to speak. Besides that, the carousel was supposed to be completely renovated by now and had opened the month before—or so I thought…
After we got our tickets, maps, and a head count to make sure we had every one, I went to rent a stroller for my youngest son since in our haste we had forgotten both of ours at home. This process took forever because even though we were in line and I protested, every one kept cutting ahead of us and the cashiers did not do a thing about it. They just watched and proceeded to help the “cutters”. Finally, someone does help me get a stroller and I paid my $5 rental fee and gave them the deposit of my driver’s license.
I put my son in the stroller and I start pushing it only to realize that the stroller was unbalanced. It had a tendency to pop wheelies. Thinking I had a defective stroller, I was starting to take it back until I realized that all the strollers were like that. All the parents pushing them were having trouble trying to keep the strollers wheels on the ground. So finally, I figured that if I lean on the stroller, it would not lift its wheels off the ground and, thus, stop popping wheelies. Unfortunately, this act did throw my back out, but if my sons had a chance to see animals, possibly even pet them in the children’s part, and ride the carousel, it was worth it in my eyes. So, we started to walk.
Since the first thing you see before the animals is the carousel, we figured that we would have our carousel ride first—WRONG! The carousel, which was supposed to be fully renovated and opened again in March of 2001, was still under construction even though it was April 22. Short of a miracle and seeing what I saw, I would be surprised if I went today and it was open! Of course, my kids were disappointed because they could not “ride the horsy”. Thank goodness, we have carousels at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk so I could make it up to them at another point in time.
We started to walk around to see the exhibits, but to our amazement, we noticed that many of the exhibits were empty. We covered more than 75% of the park and as we walked, we saw more empty cages than we saw animals. Sure we saw a couple of elephants, penguins, ducks, a polar bear, and a couple of seals; however, there weren’t any monkeys, lions, tigers, or bears (oh my!), etc. We have no idea where these animals were or if they even existed, and we had some very disappointed kids. Okay, so we decided to take them to the petting zoo. Maybe that would cheer them up.
Our idea was great in thought, too bad it could not happen. Why, you may ask? Well simple—it was CLOSED! This family outing was quickly turning into a nightmare and making me look bad because I promised my kids all these fantastic things to do and see, yet everything was falling through.
Well, now the kids were thoroughly disappointed, but something was overcoming that—hunger. We decided we would eat in the park, so we found a food stand and I told my husband I would stand in line to order—and that is exactly what I did. I was in line for over 30 minutes. You get quicker service at a ride in Disneyland! When I finally was able to order the food, to my dismay everything I wanted to order was sold out, and I had to order stuff I did not want but had no choice. I go to the cashier to pay for my order and was appalled that two kids meals, an order of fries, and an extra large soda was $20! I paid the man who was rather rude, walked over to my family, and distributed the “food”. Can you tell my birthday was not going all that great? At least the kids were happy with the buckets their food came in (they used them as hats).
After this, we decided that we had better start heading home. We still had a 2-hour car ride ahead of us, it was getting late, and it was Sunday. Still, like a typical mom, I made everyone take a potty break since I really did not want to stop unless I absolutely had to. My husband took the boys and I took my friend’s daughter into the bathrooms. My first thoughts of the women’s bathroom were how disgusting they were! There was water all over the floor from what looked like to be a flood, none of the doors had locks on them, and only a couple of stalls had toilet paper. Furthermore, it could not accommodate a handicap person. Normally, I would not have noticed; however, since I needed a handicap stall because of my friend’s daughter I immediately took notice. Disgusted and appalled, we left.
When I got outside, I asked my husband the condition of the men’s restroom. He said it was the same way. We both shook our heads in disgust and decided to take the kids to McDonald’s, and we would use the bathrooms there.
My husband made a head start for the car to drive it around to the front so the kids did not have far to walk. I went to return the stroller from hell (a good lesson to remind me to always bring my strollers). Like before, I still had problems because every one kept cutting ahead of me while the cashiers stood, watched, and did nothing about it. Oh well, it served as a learning experience; however, I did get it returned, got my license back, and was able to pay for a couple of “souvenirs” for the kids (another $20 and we only got 4 tiny toys).
We walked up the hill and my husband was already waiting for us (gives you an idea of how long it took to return the stroller). I told my husband that I was very disappointed by what I saw and he agreed. We do not intend to ever go back to the San Francisco Zoo.
I know that this may seem a little harsh, but here is one I look at. When I went 6 years ago and paid half the admission I did this time, yes there were exhibits that were closed. According to them, the admission we paid then was to help improve these exhibits and help the animals. Here I paid more money to get in this time (with the same premise that the admission money goes to improve the zoo) and more exhibits were closed than there were back then! So I ask you, where did the admission money go from 6 years ago and where is this admission money going? I, honestly, do not believe it is going to better the zoo.
Folks, if you are planning a trip and want to visit a zoo, do not bother with the San Francisco Zoo. The parking is atrocious, the admission is unreal, the customer service of their workers is pathetic, and the attractions are anything but that. You want to do something fun with your family? Save your money and have a picnic in the park. I bet you might even see more animals and have better tasting food—of course, this is just my Epinion…
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
ChriseyB
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 - Top 1000 |
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Location: Santa Cruz, California
Reviews written: 276
Trusted by: 157 members
About Me:
Just having a little fun while trying to make waves choke on ice...=)
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