4 hours at the San Diego Zoo

[gargoyle999]

How much of the San Diego Zoo can we see in 4 hours? Instead of just sitting around waiting to board the ship I thought we'd hit the zoo before our cruise in Nov (we'd be there the day after Thanksgiving). We'd get there right at 9am when it opens stay till about 1 or 1:30pm.

 

We are going to be back in San Diego in April and will have a full day extra before our cruise so we plan to get a membership and go to the Wild Animal Park and the Zoo again.

 

We don't have kids so they won't be slowing us down! :)

[Cruise Raider]

The San Diego Zoo is huge with a lot of walking in between areas where the animals are housed. It is also not all that close to the cruiseship terminal, although much closer than the wild animal park. Both are amazinng...San Diego does such a good job. I don't know if you would be happy just spending 4 hours there...you might want to stay longer and see it all....not to mention, lines for parking and to get in.

I would actually suggest the tour of the aircraft carrier that is housed next to the cruise ship pier. I think I recently read it is still there. Just my opinion.

[Splinter]

You can do quite a bit of the Zoo in that time, but have you considered what you are going to do with your luggage? Are you flying in that day, or are you staying in a hotel the night before and can leave your luggage there and pick it up on your way back to the ship??

 

If you have that figured out, you can see quite a bit of the Zoo. Get there at 8:30AM if possible so you can be in the front of the line, and buy your tickets or memberships ahead of time, on-line, so you don't have to wait for the ticket booths to open to get in line for the entrance. Go straight to the bus tour, which takes about 45 minutes and is right across from the entrance. This will give you a good overview of most of the Zoo. You can then decide what you have time to walk back to. I would suggest sticking to the eastern parts of the Zoo (Monkey Trails, The Klauber Reptile House, the Koalas and the new Elephant Mesa exhibit perhaps) and then do the more western and canyon areas when you go back next spring.

 

Pretty easy to get a cab at the Zoo, and from the pier it is about 10 minutes and about $20.

[gargoyle999]

You can do quite a bit of the Zoo in that time, but have you considered what you are going to do with your luggage? Are you flying in that day, or are you staying in a hotel the night before and can leave your luggage there and pick it up on your way back to the ship??

 

We are flying in the day before. So if we go to the zoo I'll rent a car. Drive from the zoo back to the airport to drop off the car then get a cab to the pier.

 

I think the aircraft carrier would be neat to tour, DW not so much. That's why I was thinking about the zoo. Since we are already planning on going there next April I'd get the membership and thought it would be something more fun to do than just sitting waiting to check-in for the cruise.

 

I know we won't be able to see the whole thing in 4 hours. But it seems like we would be able to see enough that going there would beat out sitting in the hotel room or cruise terminal. :)

[alittlelost]

even though we live in Vegas we have been SD zoo members for many years. You can see a lot in 4 hours. I agree take the bus first. After that you are entitled to use the express bus, it isn't really a tour but stops in four or five spots. That way use can miss some of the hills (lot's of up and down walking).

your really only a few miles/ minutes from the car rental returns and most of them will take you to the cruise terminal in their shuttle. do it and have fun.

Walk through Elephant mesa it is great.

[PCruzer]

We went to the SD Zoo the day before our cruise departure. It was the first time we had been there. We spent all day at the zoo. We were dropped off about 9:30 am and picked up at 5:00 pm. We got to see the whole zoo in that time and had a nice lunch in a waitress service restaurant there. The one thing that we found about the zoo was that the maps and signage were not very helpful. We spent a lot of time trying to find different areas. Overall, we thought that the zoo was one of the best we had ever been to. I'm not sure that I would want to spend only 4 hours there. Someone suggested the Midway aircraft carrier tour. My husband enjoyed it and so did I! It is self-guiding, so you can spend as much or as little time as you want. I would suggest doing that instead of the zoo.

[cruiserbryce]

you wont by any means see all of the zoo but will be able to see a fair amount. I would say its definatly worth it if you have the 4 hours to spend there

[gargoyle999]

Thanks everyone for the input. I think we'll go to the zoo and see what we see! We have the Minnesota zoo but it isn't all that great. No Gorillas or Elephants or Rhinos or anything like that. The best zoo we have been to so far was the Columbus Zoo but it was right after a thunderstorm so a lot of the animals were inside.

 

How long is the Skyfari ride? I think I'll have to do that since I love those kinds of rides.

[cruiserbryce]

unsure in distance how far it is exactly but the view is great and its really worth doing in my opinion

[alittlelost]

Skyfari is no more than 5-10 minutes long but has a great view of the zoo, Balboa Park, and downtown SD. The added advantage is if you take it from the front of the zoo to the back when you get off if you turn right you are less than 100yrds. from polar bear plunge and if you turn left you are at the entrance to elephant mesa. Do both.

[April-in-NC]

Since you won't have kids to "slow you down" you should be about ot see the majority of the exhibits. I was there in June and spent about 4 hours and saw all of the major exhibits and most of the rest. I didn't visit the reptile house or the petting zoo and I rode the sky tram both ways.

[sarahuk]

Hi we are going to the Zoo on the 1st and 2nd Jan. Will it be very crowded on both these days as it is holiday season?

Are there big queues to see the Giant pandas.

We have nothing like this in the UK so I really want to see them

Sarah

[SDPadreFan]

Hi we are going to the Zoo on the 1st and 2nd Jan. Will it be very crowded on both these days as it is holiday season?

Are there big queues to see the Giant pandas.

We have nothing like this in the UK so I really want to see them

Sarah

 

It's possible that there will be a queue to see the giant pandas. Our giant panda Bai Yun just gave birth to her 5th cub just the other day (she is a rather prolific gal, in panda speak). Depending upon when Bai Yun and her newborn are let out into the enclosure, that is generally when the lines will swell. At 100 days, they will name the newborn. The zoo generally has a naming contest.

 

Here is the webcam for the Panda's.

 

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/pandacam/index.html

[sarahuk]

It's possible that there will be a queue to see the giant pandas. Our giant panda Bai Yun just gave birth to her 5th cub just the other day (she is a rather prolific gal, in panda speak). Depending upon when Bai Yun and her newborn are let out into the enclosure, that is generally when the lines will swell. At 100 days, they will name the newborn. The zoo generally has a naming contest.

 

Here is the webcam for the Panda's.

 

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/pandacam/index.html

 

Thanks for your help. We cant wait . The baby is soooo tiny!

[deepnite10]

do they still have the trolly tours in the zoo?..we had taken a

tour quite few yrs back and it ran about 3-4 hrs..

[Splinter]

do they still have the trolly tours in the zoo?..we had taken a

tour quite few yrs back and it ran about 3-4 hrs..

 

No, there has never been a trolley tour at the Zoo. There is a Zoo bus tour which takes 45 minutes. They have had this since the 1950s. There is the express bus which allows you to get on or off at 6-8 different locations. It also runs its route in about 45 minutes. There is the Skyfari cable car (5 minutes each way plus the wait in line on both ends). There is a accessible van transport service for people with disabilities. No trolleys.

 

Perhaps you are confusing the Old Town Trolley Tours (private tour buses) that run a fixed route around San Diego. If you don't get off at their many stops at all, the complete circuit around town (which includes stopping outside the Zoo) takes about 4 hours, but it does not go inside the Zoo.

[Billmont]

We are thinking of visiting the zoo for an afternoon before/after our November cruise.

 

The Zoo wouldn't happen to have a "half day" rate? I tried calling and couldn't get through to a live human.

[Splinter]

No, there is no short or half day rate for the Zoo. You must pay full price regardless of when you enter or leave.

[Billmont]

Thanks Splinter, I appreciate the info.