We will be in Phoenix this coming week.  We have  3 kids, all of them into animals.  (ok oldest  just likes to play zoo tycoon...but she does want to go to a zoo this coming week)
I know the area has 3 "zoos"...There is the Phoenix zoo, which I assume is like any other zoo (thinking LA zoo and san diego zoo), and then there is have World Zoo  and Out Of Africa. Last year our Hotel didnt have any of those cute hotel "go here" brochures to get any idea of what these places were like.
The youngest two are really into the africa animals (lion king and madagascar).

Can anyone tell me about the 3?    I dont want to go and find the place either a run down dump or something like our local Santa Ana zoo...(12 exhibits or so)

Also, I thought about hauling dr Frige to the Insect museusm just to have him go see any spider exhibits
and while we are at it.......is Rustlers Rooste any good?  

Quoted: We will be in Phoenix this coming week.  We have  3 kids, all of them into animals.  (ok oldest  just likes to play zoo tycoon...but she does want to go to a zoo this coming week) I know the area has 3 "zoos"...There is the Phoenix zoo, which I assume is like any other zoo (thinking LA zoo and san diego zoo), and then there is have World Zoo  and Out Of Africa. Last year our Hotel didnt have any of those cute hotel "go here" brochures to get any idea of what these places were like. The youngest two are really into the africa animals (lion king and madagascar). Can anyone tell me about the 3?    I dont want to go and find the place either a run down dump or something like our local Santa Ana zoo...(12 exhibits or so) Also, I thought about hauling dr Frige to the Insect museusm just to have him go see any spider exhibits and while we are at it.......is Rustlers Rooste any good?

PHX zoo is not bad, nothing like SD zoo.

The wild life park out on the west side is cool, in a small zoo way.  It has white tigers.

not sure what happened to "out of Africa", indians kicked them off the rez.

Rustlers Rooste is pretty cool.  They have fried rattle snake.  The Best steak here to me is "The T-Bone", it is south of baseline on 19th AVE.  A really down to earth cowboy stake house on the side of south mountain.

Quoted: Quoted: We will be in Phoenix this coming week.  We have  3 kids, all of them into animals.  (ok oldest  just likes to play zoo tycoon...but she does want to go to a zoo this coming week) I know the area has 3 "zoos"...There is the Phoenix zoo, which I assume is like any other zoo (thinking LA zoo and san diego zoo), and then there is have World Zoo  and Out Of Africa. Last year our Hotel didnt have any of those cute hotel "go here" brochures to get any idea of what these places were like. The youngest two are really into the africa animals (lion king and madagascar). Can anyone tell me about the 3?    I dont want to go and find the place either a run down dump or something like our local Santa Ana zoo...(12 exhibits or so) Also, I thought about hauling dr Frige to the Insect museusm just to have him go see any spider exhibits and while we are at it.......is Rustlers Rooste any good?   PHX zoo is not bad, nothing like SD zoo. The wild life park out on the west side is cool, in a small zoo way.  It has white tigers. not sure what happened to "out of Africa", indians kicked them off the rez. Rustlers Rooste is pretty cool.  They have fried rattle snake.  The Best steak here to me is "The T-Bone", it is south of baseline on 19th AVE.  A really down to earth cowboy stake house on the side of south mountain.

Thanks!  I just "googled" out of Africa and they have website here
It says the new location is in Camp Verde

I will start by saying don't expect any of them to be as good as The Wild Animal Park or San Diego Zoo.  With that said, They all have their advantages and disadvantages.

Phoenix zoo is cool in that the animals seem to be very close to you.  It is not as large as the places I mentioned in San Diego, but the animals are very close including the lions and tigers.  It is a very easy walk through the park.

World zoo is small. The animals are very close to the visitors. Not as much to see.  

Out of Africa I have not been to, but I have heard it is cool.

Hope this helps a little. Should be great weather to be outdoors.

Out of Africa is way cool, at least the old location was, you can get very close to the big cats unlike the zoo.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: We will be in Phoenix this coming week.  We have  3 kids, all of them into animals.  (ok oldest  just likes to play zoo tycoon...but she does want to go to a zoo this coming week) I know the area has 3 "zoos"...There is the Phoenix zoo, which I assume is like any other zoo (thinking LA zoo and san diego zoo), and then there is have World Zoo  and Out Of Africa. Last year our Hotel didnt have any of those cute hotel "go here" brochures to get any idea of what these places were like. The youngest two are really into the africa animals (lion king and madagascar). Can anyone tell me about the 3?    I dont want to go and find the place either a run down dump or something like our local Santa Ana zoo...(12 exhibits or so) Also, I thought about hauling dr Frige to the Insect museusm just to have him go see any spider exhibits and while we are at it.......is Rustlers Rooste any good?   PHX zoo is not bad, nothing like SD zoo. The wild life park out on the west side is cool, in a small zoo way.  It has white tigers. not sure what happened to "out of Africa", indians kicked them off the rez. Rustlers Rooste is pretty cool.  They have fried rattle snake.  The Best steak here to me is "The T-Bone", it is south of baseline on 19th AVE.  A really down to earth cowboy stake house on the side of south mountain. Thanks!  I just "googled" out of Africa and they have website here It says the new location is in Camp Verde

You may as well come see us if you going to drive all the way to Camp Verde. That is the half way point to Flagstaff. We'll be expecting you!! Just call me with a day.

Anywhere from roughly I-17 on Van Buren to 40th Street, great zoo.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: We will be in Phoenix this coming week.  We have  3 kids, all of them into animals.  (ok oldest  just likes to play zoo tycoon...but she does want to go to a zoo this coming week) I know the area has 3 "zoos"...There is the Phoenix zoo, which I assume is like any other zoo (thinking LA zoo and san diego zoo), and then there is have World Zoo  and Out Of Africa. Last year our Hotel didnt have any of those cute hotel "go here" brochures to get any idea of what these places were like. The youngest two are really into the africa animals (lion king and madagascar). Can anyone tell me about the 3?    I dont want to go and find the place either a run down dump or something like our local Santa Ana zoo...(12 exhibits or so) Also, I thought about hauling dr Frige to the Insect museusm just to have him go see any spider exhibits and while we are at it.......is Rustlers Rooste any good?   PHX zoo is not bad, nothing like SD zoo. The wild life park out on the west side is cool, in a small zoo way.  It has white tigers. not sure what happened to "out of Africa", indians kicked them off the rez. Rustlers Rooste is pretty cool.  They have fried rattle snake.  The Best steak here to me is "The T-Bone", it is south of baseline on 19th AVE.  A really down to earth cowboy stake house on the side of south mountain. Thanks!  I just "googled" out of Africa and they have website here It says the new location is in Camp Verde You may as well come see us if you going to drive all the way to Camp Verde. That is the half way point to Flagstaff. We'll be expecting you!! Just call me with a day.

UM no
dont we have plans next week?
not driving to camp verde for a zoo...
Prob going to World Zoo....
although the whole bike rental thing at Phoenix Zoo could be fun

The Phoenix zoo is cool if you want to go to a zoo full of illegal aliens and hear blaring Mexican music all day while you're there. Oh and it'd help if you like parking tickets, because the zoo does not have near enough parking spaces, so you have to park wherever you can, which in turn is a sure parking ticket. Obviously some sort of scam between the zoo and the Phoenix Police.

Other than that, it's alright. Personally I'm never going there again.

Quoted: The Phoenix zoo is cool if you want to go to a zoo full of illegal aliens and hear blaring Mexican music all day while you're there. Oh and it'd help if you like parking tickets, because the zoo does not have near enough parking spaces, so you have to park wherever you can, which in turn is a sure parking ticket. Obviously some sort of scam between the zoo and the Phoenix Police. Other than that, it's alright. Personally I'm never going there again.

Is there any aspect of your life that does not involve the "man"?

At the old location of Out of Africa, we got to feed the tigers, which was way cool.
Mind you, it was a pair of long tongs, through the cage. nonetheless, the kids were jazzed by how close they got, to the tigers. My oldest was obsessed with anacondas at the time. He got see and touch one at OoA.

We like the Phoenix zoo, because it's convenient. it's very centralized. So you can be at a special event in Phoenix (sports event, concert, monster trucks), within minutes.

We haven't made it out to the world zoo yet. So we have no feed back.

Enjoy, whatever you do.

Quoted: Quoted: The Phoenix zoo is cool if you want to go to a zoo full of illegal aliens and hear blaring Mexican music all day while you're there. Oh and it'd help if you like parking tickets, because the zoo does not have near enough parking spaces, so you have to park wherever you can, which in turn is a sure parking ticket. Obviously some sort of scam between the zoo and the Phoenix Police. Other than that, it's alright. Personally I'm never going there again. Is there any aspect of your life that does not involve the "man"?

The "man" as in illegal aliens? I don't usually have problems with the police.

I have problems with the illegals every single day, not cops though.

We ended up going to the wildlife world zoo on St paddy's day.  it is a nice zoo definitely not the San Diego....alot less commercialized and I have never seen any animal feeding areas at the San Diego zoo.  We enjoyed it.  They recommended 2-3hrs, we were there more then 3 and really could have used another hour easily.  We did not ride the train, take the kangaroo walk about, feed the birds or see the penguins.
Also we ended up at Rustlers Rooste on night for dinner.  The wait was a bit and the lounge area service AWFUL (we never could give an order...she was always going to be right there) but the meal service was great and the food pretty good for the price....and of course the kids liked the slide.  I personally enjoyed my dessert.  (Cow pie anyone?) and no, no one tried the snake....although DFD2 really wanted to.
Here are some pics from the zoo....for those that havent made it there.
Wildlife World Zoo

Somebody really should have talked you into going to the PHX Zoo. There are some kinda cool things about the World Zoo, but it has way too many cages... I hate cages.

Did you feed the Lorries? (do they still do that?) nothing like getting gang flocked for a slice of apple.

Quoted: Somebody really should have talked you into going to the PHX Zoo. There are some kinda cool things about the World Zoo, but it has way too many cages... I hate cages. Did you feed the Lorries? (do they still do that?) nothing like getting gang flocked for a slice of apple.

We looked at both...thought about doing both...(had directions with us to both) decided on the world zoo because of the white tigers, the giraffe feeding and the kangaroo walk.  (we didnt do the kangaroo walk in the end)

They still have the loris and there was avary that you could feed too....BUT we came in the zoo and went to the right and worked our way around.....those are on the Left and by the time we got there the zoo was closed.

Glad that yiou had a blast.  we are doing sea world and SD zoo next month.

Just curious.....would anyone entertain the thought of spending a few bucks to walk through a large, well layed out and informative live rattlesnake display in a museum setting?
I know not everyone shares the interest that I have in these critters, but if for nothing else to come face to face with a rattler (behind glass) and learn a littl;e in the process could be cool.
Would be interested in hearing some opinions.
Cheers!   h.gif

Quoted: Just curious.....would anyone entertain the thought of spending a few bucks to walk through a large, well layed out and informative live rattlesnake display in a museum setting? I know not everyone shares the interest that I have in these critters, but if for nothing else to come face to face with a rattler (behind glass) and learn a littl;e in the process could be cool. Would be interested in hearing some opinions. Cheers!

Prehistoric Pets
This is a place "near" us (actually next door to the gun store)
It is a petstore specializing in reptiles.  They have a large pond where you can feed mealworms to the turtles for a few bucks ($3 maybe?).  The place is PACKED on weekends.  
They also do birthday parties and school events...either at their place or yours.
Our local natural history museum has quite a few displays also it is included in the admission price.  They are a bit far for me to go "just to see" reptiles.  
I dont know about in your area but, around here (so cal) we have these free "parenting" magazines with ads in the back...under the party themes part there are currently 6 ads for reptiles/dinosaurs displays for parties.  So, I am sure there is some kind of market, you just have to find the "nitch"  Whether it be parties only, museum only  or perhaps displays with pet supplies.  Where I grew up, people drove many miles to go see the local snake expert for advise, food and new pets

MrsDrFrige, thank you for the reply!
This is something I've contemplated for many yrs now. Snakes have been a passion of mine all my life. Besides having the display in an educational, museum like setting I would also go out to schools, hiking clubs, etc for hand on educational talks.
Just need to come up with the funding to get it off the ground! Enjoy your visit to the Phx area!
Cheers!

azjeeper: Cool idea. When I was a kid in Texas we used to visit the Texas Rattlesnake Ranch in Forth Worth - huge pits filled with rattlers, coachwhips, copperheads, you name it. You could even buy live mice and rats and toss em' in the pit. Fun place to visit. I think you are on to something. Nothing like it as far as I know in Arizona.