Southern California Returning to San Diego - Zoo or Safari Park?

[txdisneymom64]

We have been to San Diego once before but only to stay on Coronado Island and visit Legoland after a Disneyland trip. My kids are 10 and 17 and have been to several zoos in different parts of the country.
We only have enough time for one day at either the Zoo or Safari Park. Which would anyone suggest for those ages? I think the only reason they want to go to the Zoo is to see the pandas.
Thanks for any helpful opinions!

 

[endy]

While both places are great I would chose the Safari Park.
Reason being there is a zoo in most cities but there are not as many wildlife parks. It's nice seeing the animals with huge areas to roam, more of a natural setting.
Get there first thing in the morning before it gets too hot.

On a completely irrelevant panda note - Toronto has a pair of pandas on display now and in 5 years they're coming to the Calgary zoo to spend 5 years.

 

[Huff]

It's a tough choice as both are very good. The zoo is huge, one of the largest in the country. There is more to see and do at the zoo than the safari park. The panda exhibit is good although on a busy day there can be a line to the exhibit. They have an excellent double decker bus tour through the zoo thats well worth it. Theres a ton of walking and some parts involve rather steep hills to walk up or down but shuttle buses are available to take you around most of the zoo.

The safari park has animals in a much more natural environment than the zoo. They have safari trams that take you out for better viewing of the roaming animals. There are shows involving birds, elephants, small animals and cheeta run where as the name implies you watch a cheeta run up to 60mph.

Its a tough call. There is more to see at the zoo but the safari park offers a better way to see the animals and I prefer the animal shows at the safari park. Both have enough to take up most of a day. Parking at the zoo is free, but there is a fee at the safari park. Because the safari park is further inland it can be slightly warmer than the zoo. The safari park mostly focuses on safari animals, lions, giraffes, rhinos, cheetas etc) while the zoo has the pandas, polar bears, reptiles etc. The safari park also has a long zip line that suspends you high above the safari but its for an extra fee to ride and not cheap.

 

[Camonkeygirl]

Are you planning on renting a car? If so then either park will be great. If not, the stay with the Zoo. There is no public transportation to the Safari Park, and a tai from downtown is almost a hundred bucks each way.
Also, the Zoo just opened a new exhibit for the Koalas and other in males from Australia tat is really cool to see