Wilstem Wildlife Park — Attraction in Paoli

My wife and I did the elephant rise and shine experience and it was AMAZING! The man who leads it did an incredible job - it’s very apparent that he cares a lot for the elephants. He had mentioned that he had been with one of the elephants for I believe 27 years, and it shows!

We originally started with a very small group, and the group got larger as the day went on, which is fine as people pay for different experiences and our package included all of the time slots from the private morning feeding to the afternoon elephant education. I really appreciated that between our group, and the host of the experience, we were all able to get plenty of time with the elephants!

There is a review here that made me nervous about the experience because it says the experience isn’t as personal as advertised, but that wasn’t our experience at all. I appreciated how much thought they put into the encounter to make sure everyone got a chance to do just about every role. There are two elephants and they allow 4 people to scrub EACH SIDE of the elephant, which means 16 people can scrub the elephants. They also allow people to spray water on them at the beginning, spray soap, then rinse after the scrub so there are 12 additional chances to participate (you do both sides of each elephant). In our experience, my wife was able to do each role and also still scrub twice. The other reviewer seemed upset that they have 4 people scrubbing at once, but honestly it wasn’t an issue for us at all… the elephants are literally like 10 ft tall and there was more than enough room for 4 adults to stand side by side scrubbing the elephant. The staff even goes out of their way to take photos / videos of you doing each activity with your own phone and makes it clear that they are willing to do so at the beginning, without being asked. We were able to get plenty of amazing photos of my wife scrubbing the elephant without a single person in the shot (probably easier if you take the front or back of the elephant).

In addition to all of this, they gave us about 30 minutes of completely unstructured time to pet, feed, interact, and take photos with both elephants. They gave us so much time that most people left before the experience was completely over and they took the elephants away.

It’s clear that Wilstem cares a lot about the animals and about the experiences. Yes, the experiences can be pricy, but this is one of only six places in the entire United States where you can have this kind of experience with an elephant. I think the experience was more than worth the price. Not only do you get a great experience, but you see that the animals are so well cared for - and I think that’s worth the price.

If you’re like me and read all of the reviews before going somewhere and get hung up on negative reviews, please trust the majority here. This place is INCREDIBLE!

PS: All my best photos have my wife in them and I think it’s weird to upload those, so please enjoy these photos of the elephant covered in hay 10 minutes after we gave her a full...

My wife and I visited Wilstem on July 5 and took the wagon tour of the safari and the Otter Educational Encounter. Kevin was the tractor driver for the wagon tour. Kevin clearly knew the animals well, and he told us all sorts of interesting things about many of the different animals. He put an emphasis on safety without being overbearing, had fun with the guests each time we stopped to feed new animals, and always made sure that the kids on the wagon got a chance to feed any animals they wanted too. Did I mention how funny he was? Highly recommend Kevin. The groups of families on the wagon with us were also a great bunch that made the experience better. We had a lot of fun on the hour+ tour of all the safari animals. In a lot of ways, we were very lucky with the Otter Encounter. First, we happened to be the only two signed up for that activity at that time, so my wife and I got a half hour or so with the otters and with trainer Michael. The otters have so much personality, and we had fun feeding them fish and holding their little hands. Michael is a superstar. He genuinely made the whole trip. He knew just about all there was to know about otters generally and the sweet pair of them at Wilstem, but he also knew loads of information about other species (at the park and just in general), and about other zoos and wildlife parks. Michael was so kind and personable and genuine. He's someone I would love to be friends with. I'm just some guy that's always loved all animals, but I really think Michael may even love them more than I do. After the otter encounter, Michael invited us to stick around in the Roos and Crews Barn to see the last couple presentations for the All Access group from a distance. He brought out the gorgeous bearcat to show the group and feed her snacks. It was obvious the affection that the two had for each other. The bearcat was shaking hands with him and climbing on him for treats, similar to a dog. It was amazing to see. Speaking to Michael after the demonstration, I wasn't surprised that he took no credit for the training of the majestic animal, but I'm sure he and any other trainers deserve a lot of the credit. I didn't have the opportunity to interact with any other trainers on this trip, but my interactions with Michael and his high praise for the other trainers we passed on the way to and from the otters gives me high hopes that Wilstem has many other great trainers around. We cannot wait to see the wolves and the bears (hopefully this fall!!). Thanks, again, to Michael, we got just a bit of insight into how much work has been required to get their habitats just right and ready to open. We look forward to returning many times in the years to come and meeting more wonderful animals...

This was a great way to spend the afternoon. We took the guided wagon ride thru the park. It was approx 1hr long (remember to tip the driver afterwards) There were so many animals that you could look at and feed. A bowl of feed was included in the cost but I wish I would of had more food to feed them. The food didnt last very long for me because the best part was getting to feed them - a lot right out of my hands. This is perfect no matter the age! They have a few building that house animals that you can check out while you're waiting. It was nice all the animals were clearly marked with what they were and a little bit about them. Check the website and look at all the different experiences you can do with the animals. They are fairly pricey so we didn't do them. They have a giraffe that you can feed along with several elephant experiences. The grizzly bear experience was getting ready to open a few days after we were there. There was also a drive thru dinosaur experience after we drove ourselves thru after the wagon ride. The dinosaurs were suppose to be animated but were not while we were driving thru. They are very good replicas tho. They have a nice gift shop and it had a little café in there as well. Overall great experience! I'd of given it 5 stars but the girls working in the gift shop were rude and not helpful when we were trying to ask questions. The driving trail to the dinosaurs was not marked as clearly as I feel it needed to be and that is what our questions were about... how to get to the dinosaurs because it was hard to figure out. Customer service can make or break your trip sometimes and this one left a sour taste with us. Would visit again however and drive our own vehicle...