The San Diego Wild Animal Park

My first visit to the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park was last week. We have passed it a bunch of times heading inland but for a variety of reasons have not made the trip for a visit. My nephews were in town visiting from Michigan and wanted to go so off we went. The weather was perfect, about 75 degrees.

Given the price of tickets ($28.50 for adults, $17.50 for children 3 - 11), and expecting we will be back, we decided to go ahead and get a membership for 1 year (using a $10 off coupon) which gave us 2 free guest passes, plus 4 2-for-1 passes to use during the year. Seemed like a great deal.

The park is about 25 miles inland from the coast, and 35 miles from San Diego, not far off the 15 near Escondido. There is plenty of parking ($6 for members, $8 for nonmembers) with a shuttle bus to get you to the gate unless you want to walk.

We were only there about 3 hours, so we didn't have time to do everything. You can easily spend the better part of the day if you go to all the exhibits (African Aviary was a favorite, along with lions, see the elephant show (lots of fun), go on the safari ride, and so on. Most things are no additional charge but certain attractions cost more. You can also get multiday passes.

The website has all the information you need, and a cool interactive map so you can plan your trip.

My only disappointment was that my digital camera died about 30 minutes after we got there (so, sorry I have limited pics) - no not the batteries, the LCD imaging. So, due to the cost of repairs, I have bought another camera.

If you get a chance to go, do it - worth the trip and different from the San Diego Zoo itself.