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| - Ok, we live in San Diego, which has a pretty good zoo in its own right, plus an equally awesome Safari Park. But we were in greater Phoenix over the holidays and had never been to the Phoenix Zoo. It is definitely smaller than San Diego's but overall it is a great facility and our whole family enjoyed the visit. My favorite animals were the huge African lions - seriously those kitties looked as big as Budweiser Clydesdales. Huge.
What we didn't love about the Zoo was the nickel and diming. We bought the more expensive premium ticket, which did get us on to the carousel and safari train, but everything else was extra. Can we get close to the giraffes? Nope - that's extra. What about that fun-looking 5-second polar inner tube ride? Nope - that's additional too. If they are going to sell a premium ticket, they should be more clear about what is and isn't included.
The zoo also flubbed the family photo taken as we entered the park. We inputted our code after we returned home. $16 for a 5"x7"? Shouldn't they want to encourage folks to bring home a nice family memento of a great day at the Phoenix Zoo, to be displayed for friends and family to see and consider a visit of their own? At least we could send the photo to friends and family, right? After all, a nice low res photo for use on social media would have been a great inexpensive advertising and marketing opportunity for the Zoo. But when we hit the link to post the photo it had PROOF written all over it. No thanks. Swing and a miss.
Our experience was mostly great. Sure, the narration on the safari train was too soft to be heard over the chatty passengers, which was annoying, but the zoo was awesome, despite the a la carte pricing.
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