Otter Splash Experience
First off, I will go on record in saying that the Otter Splash Experience was great, and I have nothing but great things to say about the individuals running the experience, as well as the experience itself. However, I was left incredibly frustrated with the Wildlife Parks confusing website and lack of communication. Some context, North Georgia Wildlife Park and North Georgia Safari are one in the same, they are simply across the street from one another. When you book your experience, it may be at the Wildlife Park, or the Safari Park (tends to say on their website which location). For us, I noticed the "Otter Experience" is at the Wildlife Park, whereas the "Otter Splash" and all VIP Otter Experiences, etc are at the Safari Park inside the facilities "Otter Compound", affectionately known by employees as "Otterspace". I booked our otter experience a month ahead of time, I purchased an Otter Splash experience for my wife, and a Otter Splash Observer ticket for myself so I could accompany my wife on the experience, as well as take pictures. My only frustration with the entire process of booking this experience came down to the website saying observers are allowed cameras, However, a follow-up email sent after I purchased tickets stated no cameras allowed. My efforts to contact the park and clarify this issue were met with nobody at North Georgia Wildlife Park picking up the phone, returning phone calls, or answering multiple emails sent during the month long time span between booking and the experience. You absolutely WILL NOT be able to speak to someone here, period, so take that into consideration before purchase. There seem to be a multitude of other reviews saying the same thing and no change has been made. If you think you may need to contact anyone at the park for any reason, do not spend money with them until you have managed to get a hold of someone. With that out of the way, yes, observers are allowed to take photos, no, participants are not allowed to take photos on the Otter Splash and up experiences. (It is plainly obvious that this is the right call as soon as the experience starts) For the experience itself, we drove up to the "otter compound" and were met by one of our two guides, our group comprised of 7 people total, 4 participants and 3 observers. The group was not large enough to feel overcrowded and everyone received plenty of attention and experience with the otters. The experience starts off with time inside the otters dry outside area where you meet the first two otters which perform tricks, sit in your lap, and pose for photos with you all while the second very knowledgeable guide explains how they train the otters, and gives a multitude of interesting otter trivia facts. Afterwards, you are allowed a chance to change into bathing suits, etc before getting into the pool with two different otters. The observers are allowed to stand around the pool and take photos, etc as the two guides have the otters perform in pool tricks, etc. I am not nearly the "otter lover" that my wife is, but the experience is pretty neat and I enjoyed every minute of it even without any direct contact with the otters myself. The experience lasts about 1.5 to 2 hours and is very comprehensive, I did not leave feeling shortchanged. The two guides are very knowledgeable, and are extremely focused on making the experience as enjoyable and hands on as possible, I was really impressed with the experience as a whole. The experience is not cheap, however, we both left very happy with what we received for the price of admission. Our experience included interaction with 4 different otters, and the facility has two additional otters that are across the street at the Wildlife Park for a total of 6 otters. There are only a handful of facilities nationwide that offer this experience, with that being said we noticed the majority of people on the experience with us were from out of state, so this experience certainly draws people far...
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