I've heard the San Diego zoo is good, but is it worth $34? Any place to get discount tickets? How does the zoo look as far as comfort for the animals? I'm not a big zoo fan since I've seen some where the conditions seem cruel to these incredible animals.

It is definitely worth the $34 as that includes the bus tour and the Gondola ride. The zoo has some of the biggest enclosures for animals and provides a lot to their enclosures to make the animals comfortable. The animals are definitely confined to a smaller area than they would like, but that is every zoo. If you want to see a more natural setting, go to the Wild Animal Park where the animals have lots of room to roam. The zoo "guarantees" you that you will see the animals up close whereas at the WAP, you see them in the distance. Personally, I would go to the zoo unless you have time to do both. Plus the zoo is closer to the city.

On a side note, on a previous thread here, it was mentioned that Cat Canyon was closed. May just have been for the day but does anyone have further info?

aggiegirl,

We were just there two weeks ago, arrived around 1P on a Friday afternoon--admission then was $24.50; active duty personnel with ID are admitted free.

The zoo is awesome, and definitely worth the price of admission, imo--I left there wishing all zoo animals were so fortunate. My money, the little I contributed that day, is being well spent.

I believe it has some discount fr. AAA if you are a member; also, I've seen coupons on some local magazines that has 8$ off on the deluxe ticket. If I find the name, I'll post it here. Or I can send you the coupon. We have annual membership.

I think the San Diego Zoo is awesome.

This website has a coupon which expires on 03/31
http://www.cafunspots.com/downloads/SD_Coupon.pdf

Maybe they will have an updated one at a later date if you are not going before then. Don't miss the gorillas!

This zoo is different than all other zoos. The animals are far more active and seem happier there. The Wild Animal Park is owned by the zoo and in my opinion is even better than the zoo if you do the photocaravan tour which is expensive. Without the tour, I would probably stick with the zoo.

"This zoo is different than all other zoos."

Not really. It may have helped serve as a model, but many zoos today have very similar enclosures (or lack of). Yes, San Diego's is very large and very fine,but there are other zoos not that different. If you want to see a really spectacular one -- go to Singapore. There's also a real reason that one is called a "zoological gardens".

Have you looked into the San Diego Wild Animal Park? We found this park to be so much roomier for the animals and much more natural. Many animals are mixed together in a "safari-like" enclosure. We loved the all-day safari pass where you actually go inside the enclosure and feed some animals. This is not cheap, but we really liked it.

"Not really."

That's what I thought too, NeoPatrick.

If I had seen the San Diego Zoo and compared it to the Kansas City Zoo in the 1980s, I would have been saying Wow! But I went to the San Diego Zoo in 2000 after major renovations were done to K.C.'s zoo in the 1990s, and my thought while in the San Diego Zoo was, "What's the big deal?". There were some species at the San Diego Zoo that weren't at our local zoo but, overall, the zoo itself struck me as similar to many other zoos I have been to.

In my opinion, if you don't get to many zoos or the one you do go to is still a "bars and cages" zoo, you might be impressed by the San Diego Zoo. If you've been to zoos that have embraced the more open areas for their animals, you may be thinking I've already seen this.

-- Rob

Thanks vjpblovesitaly! That the web site the magazine shares the same coupons.

Baby panda. That's all I need to say.

I went to the San Diego Zoo and had the same concerns for the animals. For the most part, I found it acceptable. When I got to the big cats, I was disappointed. Their enclosures were small and they all behaved nervously.

I had a private tour of an exotic animal sanctuary once and the owner explained that when a cat paces back and forth along the cage, it means that they are nervous, stressed, unhappy, etc. So far, the only zoo I've been to where I didn't see that behavior in the cats was the Toronto Zoo. I don't know if it was a fluke that they were all relaxed or if it's because the zoo is doing something right (I've only been once), but it made an impression.

Try going to the KC Zoo anytime in the next month or the past 3 months and you likely won't find many animals other than the penquins or polar bears outside. Yes there are other good zoos, but there is a reason why the SD zoo is the only zoo people compare to others.

Thanks for the comments everybody!