San Diego Wild Animal Park

[sblahars]

I'm sorry that I don't know of a better place to post this, but I figured someone might be able to answer.

 

How long does it take to see the Wild Animal Park in San Diego? Would going from opening 9am to around 3pm be worth while to see enough of it?

[spookwife]

Took us three trips( all day each) to see the entire thing when we lived there. of course, we were either there or the zoo every weekend.

 

If you have limited time: stick to the tram tour at first. Runs about an hour. During the season and on the weekends, trams run every 10-15 minutes. Off season and weekdays, maybe 20-30 minutes. gets you an overview of the main part of the park(inaccessible any other way, BTW) You may even get a glimpse of Vusmusi(Moose) the baby born after his mother was rescued from culling, although He's prolly rather big now...

 

Other Musts:

Feed the lorries. $2 gets you a small cup of nectar that will have the lorries flying and landing on your head to get some. I would easily go through 5 or six cups. Be warned.. they are VERY loud, and very small children can get frightened. they also like to bit, esp. if you spill nectar on your hand.

 

Lion Camp, especially if Koza( the cub) is out there playing.

 

Hidden Jungle if the butterflies are flying.

 

Heart of Africa: in the heart of the Park. Feed Giraffes Biscuits!!

 

Is this a separate tour you are taking? it's a good 45 minutes outside of San Diego, and while there is a single bus that goes all the way out there, I am not sure how often it runs.

[Splinter]

You can see most of it between 9AM and 3PM if you don't tarry over lunch. It is about a 45 minute drive (40 miles) from downtown San Diego. I would strongly recommend renting a car for this trip, as there is no fast route by bus and a cab would be very expensive. It can be very hot in the summer, so dress appropriately. There is a LOT of walking. The trams will be disappearing in the near future and will be replaced by truck bed tours, but I think that is still a year away.

[sblahars]

Took us three trips( all day each) to see the entire thing when we lived there. of course, we were either there or the zoo every weekend.

 

I don't mean this to be offensive, but I'm trying to understand the context of your answer. But are you the kind of person who feels you need to spend 9 days at Disneyland, when you really only need 2 days?

 

The reason I ask is because the person who responded after you said I could see most of it between 9am and 3pm.

 

And by the way, yes, i will have a car. This isn't even during a cruise, it is for a visit to San Diego in the fall for a wedding and we only have about 3/4 of a day to do something non-wedding related, so we figured the Wild Animal Park would be a good choice. I came to these message boards because I figured someone on here might know.

[jenjens1023]

One of my favorite parts of the park was the petting zoo. Not the usual sheep and goats but gazelles and the like. My DD loved feeding the lories. They were all over her and she just giggled. If you go to the zoo instead of the park you will save travel time, but if you have your heart set on the park, GO--you'll never forget it, Or regret it.

[spookwife]

I don't mean this to be offensive, but I'm trying to understand the context of your answer. But are you the kind of person who feels you need to spend 9 days at Disneyland, when you really only need 2 days?

 

The reason I ask is because the person who responded after you said I could see most of it between 9am and 3pm..

 

Well, partly, I am handicapped, and those hills are STEEP. We also partook of all the shows, some of which run at the same time or are at opposite points in the park. Thirdly.. well, we like to enjoy and savor just sitting in front of an enclosure for 10-15 at a time. heck, I've spent an hour at Lorikeet Landing without even noticing. Being members at the time, we also spent longer eating at the sit down restaurants since we got a discount.

 

The park is HUGE, and If you want to see each and every bit, including the rec trails(no exhibits, just flora left to run wild, mostly), you will be rushing all day. We don't like to do that. Additionally, there are spots like Heart of Africa and Condor Ridge where this only one way in or out, so you would have to retrace your steps. At the Zoo.. it was easy to spend hours watching Clyde the Orangutan and his ladies do their thing, especially since they were major attenion whores.;)

 

You get a nice map upon entering the park.. for first timers( and we could always tell who was and who wasn't) we recommended sitting down for the first ten minutes and deciding which aspects were most interesting. That way you could see what you absolutely wanted to see and skip the Kiwi bird who was always hiding anyway.

 

As for Disney: 3 day passes all the way.. One day Disney, one day California Adventure, One day to hit the parts we wanted to revisit( Soarin' Over California being top on the list) and to do our purchasing of souveniers.

[Splinter]

For the Zoo, take the bus tour first, then decide what else you want to see or go back to. Take the Skyfari to see the polar bears as it is a LONG walk otherwise. Same for the WAP with the monorail. Yes, you can spend hours walkiing the Kiliminjaro hiking trail, but you don't have to do that to see the WAP.

 

If you have a disability, at both the Zoo and WAP there is a shuttle service that will transport you up and down the hills for free.

 

I am a member too, and yes, that makes it easy to spend leisurely time at just one or two exhibits, but this is not necessary, and to tell visitors not to go just because they don't want to or can't do it this way is a dis-service to our beautiful Zoo and WAP. There are lots of ways to enjoy both.

[phabric]

We will have a whole day in San Diego. We have heard about the famous San Diego Zoo. What is the difference between the Wild Animal Park and the Zoo. We can only do one.

 

We have a hotel booked on Hotel Circle Road and there will be 5 adults. What else can we do.

[spookwife]

Splinter: woah, dude. I never ONCE tried to dissuade the OP from going out there. I was just merely relating MY personal experiences with the WAP and the fact that I found it easier for ME to take three trips to fully view/savor/enjoy it. Like I said, when we lived down there, literally every weekend we were at one or the other.. and many a time we hit BOTH.

 

Phabric: the WAP is about 45 minutes outside of SD proper in Escondido, so unelss you will have a rental, I would stick with the Zoo. easy to get to from Hotel Circle. At the zoo, my favorite places were Orangutans, Polar Bears and of course the Pandas. We left before the new Heart of the Zoo exhibit was finished, but it looked amazing. Also at Balboa Park are a bunch of museums and gardens, all of which are worth a look. Hit Old Town for some truly excellent bistro restaurants and margaritas. Gas Lamp district has great shopping and eating too. Seal Beach in La Jolla might be iffy.. from one week to the next you never know if they open it up to people on the beach itself, although the jetty should still be accesible to watch them sun themselves on the nearby rocks.

 

Dangit, now I am all reminiscing and stuff. I miss SD!:(

[phabric]

Thanks for the information. We will have a rental van. Any more information on California will be appreciated. We are spending 1 1/2 days in San Diego, 4 days in San Luis Obispo (for a family wedding) and 3 days San Fransico. It is always helpful to get information from people that live there.

[spookwife]

The only thing I have done in San Fran is Alcatraz. I can say I did it, the audio tour was interesting, but won't be rushing back to do it again. Fisherman's warf looks..well, touristy trap and overdone. The aquariam there did look interesting, though. as for the city itself, I have no clue, I am ashamed to say. If you want to get away, take the 2 hour drive up the coast highway and come visit us in Monterey!

 

San Luis Obisbo and Paso Robles have some great wineries.

[gumballz]

The trams will be disappearing in the near future and will be replaced by truck bed tours, but I think that is still a year away.

 

Do you know why they are going to truck bed tours instead of the tram? I lived in Escondido for many years and we were members of the zoological society and just loved going there and sitting back on the tram while we observed the animals. We were able to see a giraffe give birth once. The WAP offers such a nice opportunity for observing. We just love it and miss it! To the OP, if you have the opportunity to visit, do it. You won't be disappointed! :)

 

PS, the San Diego Zoo is a very nice zoo too. You really can't go wrong with either.

[Splinter]

The monorail is past its lifespan and has had some problems with breakdowns lately. The Zoo feels that truck tours will be more flexible, and they plan to have several so you will choose which to take. If you are a Zoo member, there has been a lot of information about this in recent ZooNews and member e-mails.

 

The Zoo has animals in relatively small enclosures, for the most part with each animal in its own enclosure. It is beautifully landscaped and some of the newer exhibits let you get very close to the animals. The Wild Animal Park is used for breeding endangered species. They are in much larger enclosure, grouped together by region of the world, and many animals share the same enclosure. More natural, but you are also further away from the animals. Both are great.

[spookwife]

so the truck tours will be like the Photo safaris? I may have to go re add the home page to my favorites and keep an eye on things..

 

will they allow people to feed the rhinos too?