Zoo tomorrow..
Zoo tomorrow..
Go ahead, sing along. You can’t help it. If you’re a mom you’ve heard Raffi. I’ve listened to Raffi’s music so much over the last 6 years that I can’t even hear the word “zoo” without singing this song either out loud or internally for at least the following 30 seconds.
But I’m digressing, already. My friend, our children and I recently went to the World Wildlife Zoo with some buy one-get one free tickets. If you’ve been out there, you know it’s quite a drive. It easily took an hour from the East Valley, but with four kids in the car and a friend for mommy to talk to, the time really just flew by.
And then you arrive and you’re not quite sure if you’ve just come to a zoo or a farm, because the area looks remarkably like Schnepf Farms with jungle animals. But once you pay the entrance fee, slightly higher than the Phoenix Zoo, you begin to look around and really get an idea of the size and value of the place.
The animals are so much more up front and personal at the World Wildlife Zoo. For $.50 a pop your children can feed the giraffes pellets from a tree house look-out and they don’t even have to get licked if they don’t want to. At scheduled times of the day, for no cost at all, you and your kids can head into a bird aviary and feed the birds apples out of the palms of your hands. I have gorgeous pictures of my son and daughter covered in beautiful birds with these great smiles on their faces.
On top of this, there is a sky tram, a boat ride down the canal and a choo-choo train that will take you through, around and literally over the animal exhibits.
It’s a once in a lifetime experience that I have not found anywhere else. We were there for over 3 hours and did not even have the energy to check out the giant playground and the petting zoo - where I hear there are deer and goats just waiting to be loved.
As always, the food inside is overpriced - but a bucket of popcorn lasted us long enough to get us to McDonald’s just down the road afterward. Almost everyone napped on the ride home, and our children were stockpiled with stories to tell that weekend.
I hope we can go back soon. But even if we never do, we’ll never forget our day at the zoo.
