Adventures in Public Transport:The Return - Day Nine - San Diego Zoo

[Disney Wishing]

Today was DS 13th Birthday so first job to do when we woke was some card opening and FaceTime calls to home. After this we got ready for the day. We were off to the Zoo for the day, we knew it was open until 9pm so the decided to risk not getting there for opening and ending up the ordering an Uber at 10.15am. One turned up a few minutes and 14 minutes later we were pulling up outside the entrance (Cost $8.25).

The day started off on a high by spotted some more humming birds fluttering around a bush. It was great to see these lovely birds so close up. We had already purchased tickets with our Go Pass so we skipped the line and headed straight to the turnstiles. Once though we grabbed a map and worked out how to get to our first port of the call; The Pandas. We knew from Aims that they are best to be seen early on. A staff member saw us looking at the map and asked if he could offer any help. I have to say the staff all day long here were great. He told us the quickest way was through the fern valley so off we went.

We were impressed with the Zoo from the start. The planting everywhere was beautiful. Down into the valley to went and before long we came to the Panda Trek. By now it was around 10.50am but still quiet in this area of the Zoo. We started along the path where we saw a few smaller animals before coming across a Sun Bear. This chap was fantastic and was sat in the tree licking his paws just like Baloo from Jungle Book. We carry a short way along the path and soon we came to the main highlight, the Pandas! This is the first time any of us had ever seen a live Panda and we loved them. One was fairly far forward lazing in a tree platform. With not many people about we weren’t rushed along so could take our time looking.

After these we pass the grizzly bears before coming out at the top of the trail. From here we made our way back uphill and grabbed a coffee and a churro, as we had skipped breakfast, before heading to board a guided tour bus as recommended by Aims that was included with our ticket. You could choose to wait for either the upper deck or lower deck so we opted for the upper. The buses seem to continually keep coming so before long we were boarding. The tour takes you around a good part of the zoo so we could get a feel for things.

After the tour we headed the to the Urban Jungle part of the park where we saw the Giraffes, Rhinos, Kangaroos and other new animal for us, Koalas. These fellows were so cute and we were luckily to find one of them awake.

From here we made our way around to the Elephant Odyssey section where we saw meerkats, camels, Californian condors and of course the elephants. We stopped for lunch at the Sabertooth Grill with actually really tasty. Disney sort of prices but I don't mind if it tastes good. I also liked that all the drinks are a reusable cup and that you can have a re-filled later in the day for 99cents. There’s an option to upgrade to a free refills cup but we are not big soda drinkers so we just with the cheaper option. They would also refill your water bottles for free throughout the zoo at any of the cafe locations.

After lunch we carried on along the path seeing the lions, llamas and cheetahs among other things eventually ended up at the Polar bears. When we had past earlier on the guided tour the polar was swimming but by now he was having a great time covering himself in mud. It was nice to see the animals so active.



From here we took the Skyfari down to the other end of the zoo, again this was included free with the tickets we had. You could see all the way back to downtown off here. We quickly past through the retile house and onto the giant tortoises. We have a pet tortoise so it was lovely to see its giant cousins. There was one cheeky one that was trying to seek food from the visitors.

After spending some time with the Tortoises we started out on the Monkey Trail which joins onto the Tiger Trail. It’s another beautiful trail but I was aware we were go down and down and down and I knew at some point we were going to need to come back uphill.

We stopped for a bit by the Tigers and pulled out the map to figure out where we were. We had two options of routes we could continue with so we decided to make our way up towards the treetops cafe and grab a drink. Up and Up we went and came out to a lovely little spot with various balconies and seating. It was 5 o’clock by now so we refilled on water, purchased some melon to share and got a refill of coke. We then rested up for a while and studied the map to see what we still had left to do that we wanted to see.

We decided to make our way along the treetop trail which would take us along by the gorillas and one of the aviaries with a quick diversion to see the new bridge that had recently opened. We also still needed to see the penguins which were back down by the pandas so that gave us an excellent excuse to pop back in to see them again too.

When we eventually got back to the Pandas they were awake and munching on Bamboo. There was a keeper there chatting to people so we spoke to her for a while. She had worked at the zoo for a long time and was interesting to chat to.

Legs starting to feel all the walking we had done today we decided to make use of the Kangaroo Shuttle to take us back up towards the front part of the zoo. We got on at stop 2 and stayed on until we got back to the area near the Koalas.

We stopped in at the cafe here and got some chill cheese to share nachos and a chicken sandwich for DS. After calling in to say hello to the Koalas again we made the walk back to the entrance plaza to how a look in the shops. There was a live band playing here as part of the nighttime zoo and they were pretty good. We eventually left the zoo at just after 8pm having had a brilliant day. We ordered an uber and before long we were back at the hotel getting ready to settle down for the night. This was our last full day in San Diego and we had fallen in love with the city. We decided that a return visit would definitely be on the cards at some point.

[Melbatb]

Wow - you had a fantastic day and saw lots!

So happy you liked San Diego! It seems to be a fabulous city!

[kateh134]

Glad you had a good time; that's my favourite zoo!

[flo-tinka]

Just checking out your report as we are 'considering' West coast next year.
Me and DH did a couple days in San Diego years ago and said we would come back one day to do things like the zoo. It looks amazing and I'm sure we would love a day here as a family 😀
Thanks for posting all about your adventure (including the ease with which you are using Uber)

[marypoppins38]

So excited reading this as we will be there in a few weeks. Thanks for sharing.

[mrsdjh]

You certainly had a full day there today.