The first full day of our Southern California trip we headed to the San Diego Zoo. October is a perfect time to go to the zoo because it is kids free month presented by Mission Fed. It doesn’t matter how many adult tickets you buy. It is kids free no matter what.
San Diego Zoo – Kid Free October
The zoo is open from 9:00 am-6:00 pm everyday and is open later on weekends. I have only been to the San Diego Zoo once about 12 years ago and thought it to be such an amazing place. I knew it was somewhere I wanted to take my kids. This last year in our school we studied Australia and Islands of the sea and we’ve learned a lot about different animals. And last year we studied Asia and learned about a lot of other animals to. It is so amazing to be able to go somewhere and see animals that you will probably never be able to see in the wild unless you paid lots of money to.
The San Diego Zoo is huge. I feel like I walked a marathon that day. There are a lot of ways to see the San Diego Zoo. The first way is walking, which is what we chose to do. The second way is to go on the Guided Bus Tour, the Kangaroo Bus or the Skyfari aerial tram. Those are all a little extra onto your regular entrance fee. We decided to just walk it so that we didn’t miss a thing.
The first tip about navigating the San Diego Zoo that I want to share with you is to get a map. You will get lost. And you will end up at the same place or think that you’re going somewhere but not really get their. If your religious to looking at your map you will be able to see the whole zoo in a day.
They San Deigo zoo does so much research and puts a lot of money into helping save endangered species. They send numerous scientist and experts out to research and save the animals. One thing I was most impresses by with the zoo was all the volunteers that come and stand at different stations to teach you about different animals in the zoo. The first volunteer taught my children all about the difference between African elephants and Asian elephant. Surprisingly my kids already knew most of the answers. Gotta love Wild Kratts!
We were able to bring our lunch in and eat it at one of the tables they have there. In 2016 is their anniversary, and they will be doing some wonderful shows. They have built a large stadium and are practicing shows the animals that they have at the zoo. We went to a demonstration of one of their shows, and they showed some amazing animals waking on stage with their trainers. My kids thought that was really fun to see some of the animals out of their cages.
My daughter’s favorite thing was the giant panda bears. Those are pretty spectacular creatures. I am totally fascinated by the flamingos, which is funny because I actually am terrified of birds, but the flamingos are gorgeous. I can’t tell you what all my other kids favorites where because everything was there favorite. Every thing we went by we could have sat and looked at them for a long time! 
San Diego also has a San Diego Wild Animal Park. We did not make it there, but when I went 10 years ago with my husband it was an amazing place to see. You actually get to get on the big Safari bus and drive thru the park and see a huge area designated to wild animals that kind of live like they are in the wild. They’re not in cages and get to roam on larger amounts of land. Next time we go we will have to take our kids there!
I have to say how much I loved riding the escalator from the bottom of the zoo up to the top at the end of the day. I was so tired! 
I would totally recommend the zoo any time of year, but especially in October to save money! Have you ever been to the San Diego Zoo or Wild Animal Park? What is your favorite animal to see there?
Read more about our San Diego family trip Here, Here, Here and Here
We received free or discounted tickets in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are 100% mine and I was not paid to write this post.
