Zoomars at River Street Ranch — Attraction in San Juan Capistrano

I have seen Zoomars progress through the ages. Up until 2002, everything was free. It was a wonderful place for old animals to live out their last few years. By 2002, it cost about $4 to get in but everything else was free. Then they started charging $2 to $3 for pony rides and $1 for a carrot basket. Shortly after that they upped the prices again. A few years later, the owner sold the farm (which was not called Zoomars) to someone else and they turned it into the commercialized Zoomars that it is today. Back in the old days, animals were donated or rescued. I don’t know how they get their animals now, but they appear to be younger which probably means that Zoomars is buying them from pet stores instead of rescuing them. That's just a guess though. The animals aren’t really cared for any better now than they were before but in a different way. The animals are fairly clean but it doesn’t appear like they have a vet looking after them. I would like to see the llamas shaved, especially in the summer. I would also like to see more shade for the goats. Just enough shade so the whole herd can fit in the shade. The horses and ponies need a bigger area. The pens are kept much cleaner than they were which is good but I wouldn’t describe it as clean. Nothing around farm animals is clean. I wouldn’t describe it as safe either. Nothing is safe around animals. I would say that their animal’s behavior and the way they’re dealt with and handled (with the exception of the way the pony rides are) are pretty safe. Here are a few major safety problems with the pony rides that I would like to see change: The pony rides used to be in a big pen which has been reduced to a microscopic size because they put in the parking lot and the goat pen. The horse handlers almost always hold the very end of the lead rope and walk at the horses butt. They’re doing that because the horses will bite their leaders (all horses do this by the way) if the kid is bouncing around in the saddle. It’s not safe though. The width of that thing (notice I called it a thing and not a pen or trail) for most of the ride is smaller than the width of your car. The girths on the saddles are often way too loose causing the saddle to slip. The seat belts that they have the kids wear is a false sense of security. If that horse were to buck or something (which is very likely considering the circumstances) that belt will not hold you on. If you were to fall off you would get dragged by the seat belt. They can help a little bit though when the horses are trotting. They need break away seat belts so if something happened, it would break away. I would like to see them requite helmets too. Every rider can have a fall. The horses are really well behaved though and I have never seen one spook with a rider on. Still, they’re horses. Anything can happen so you always have to be ready. I have seen them spook when they’re standing there tied up. They don’t always tie up the horses well. They should use a quick release knot. Not wrapping the rope three times around the post. A horse can easily pull away from that. I have seen it happen there too many times to count. Despite the safety issue with the pony rides, it is a very fun place to go and I would highly recommend it. Leave your strollers in the car as well as umbrellas. There isn’t enough room for them there and it can spook the horses. Wear closed toed or tennis shoes that you’re okay with getting dirty. I am rating it with four stars because despite the squishiness and pony ride safety issues it is a fun...

As a mom, I’m so frustrated by Zoomars. Mainly because kids require a ton of supervision and I had to say “no” constantly, and the prices are astronomical.

I loved coming as a kid and decided to bring my kids today, but wow the prices are insane! And you don’t even get anything for your admission! And it’s CRAZY that they charge for adults — even more so that they charge more for adults ($15 adults, $12 kids). Who can even afford to come here regularly??

Entry includes looking at a few animals through wire fence, and petting goats and Guinea pigs. Children cannot hold any animals, cannot pet the bunnies, pigs or the horses, and the feed baskets are $6 each. They were antsy to pet all the animals, and it’s annoying as a mom to take your children to a children’s petting zoo and constantly say, “no you can’t pet that animal.”

Also, every activity costs money. My kids were frustrated/bored of the animals because employees/I kept telling them “no”, but the other side of the place is overpriced dinky activities.

Honestly just make it $5/kid to enter and let adults in free if they’re accompanying children, and then charge $12 for an all-inclusive experience wristband that gets them on everything. Also, create more “yes” spaces where kids can be kids. And let them at least pet every animal at the “petting zoo”. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

You would get so much more business, and much happier moms. And happy moms call each other to meet up at places like zoomars, and encourage each other to get...

Meh. $15 per adult, $12 per kid, then every. Single. Thing. Costs extra. You want some lettuce and carrots to feed the animals? That’s another $6. You want to ride the little tractor around? Another $4. AND you have to decide what your kid is going to want to do BEFORE you go in since there’s just one pay station. So wait for 20+ min in the blazing SoCal sun at 10:15am as the only-5-people ahead of you are also figuring out “okay do I want to spend $150+ or only $70” so you can then purchase the various specific item tickets then go in, see some animals (in the shade at least) then back to the sun with minimal shade covers for the train and tractor rides etc. hope that there’s at least an employee staffing them or you will wait even longer. Thanksgiving week Monday morning 20 min after they opened. Granted, probably busier than other Mondays but I can’t imagine the nightmare this would be on a weekend.

Had I known the majority of the morning was simply waiting to do something, would have skipped the whole ordeal but alas. Hopefully someone else can learn from my mistake (which I won’t be repeating)

Do yourself a favor and go to the OC zoo with a smaller petting zoo (no Guinea pigs but totally serves a similar purpose), next to zero lines, $2 a...