Santa Ana Zoo — Attraction in Santa Ana

We attended the Boo at the Zoo last night, which is a fundraiser for the primate habitat. The website promises "treats, decorations, costumes." It is close to $30 per person for non-members, which would be fine except the event itself only runs 2 hours. The decorations are scarce. They have a couple of inflatable pumpkins and scarecrows" that they light up. There are some others, like bats and cats that look like they were purchased at craft stores, and placed throughout the attraction. In other words: minimal effort was made in the organization if this event. My son suited up in his Spiderman costume, and thought he would go trick-or-treating, since the website promises treats, and lots of other attractions, i.e., Adventure City, Legoland, have special events where the kids trick-or-treat. Spoiler: there is no trick-or-treating. The staff gives you a bag at the end with a collectible toy and a stuffed character from "The Nightmare Before Christmas," which scared my son (photo below). When we asked where the candy was, the Zoo employee looked us up and down, pursed her lips, reached into a big bowl of candy, grabbed 3-4 pieces, and threw it into his bag. Kids don't want collectibles. They want candy, interaction, and fun experiences. The zoo could have saved whatever they spent on the stuffed animal and collectible toys, and bought several more bags of candy in order to make it a memorable experience.

There are also rides, which are not free: the ferris wheel, the train, and the carousel. We bought tickets for all of them (for 3 train rides, two carousel rides, and 2 ferris wheel rides, it totaled $36, which is not cheap). My son really wanted to ride the ferris wheel, which we did first. The ride operator was only loading 4 families on at a time (two on one end, two on the other). When we got to the front, I asked him why, and he said, "There's only one of me, and it's really hard to see in the dark," which doesn't make logical sense, and does instill much confidence or security in me as a rider. In any event, we only made it onto the ferris wheel, and did not get a chance to ride the others because the line took so long.

Some tips: extend the hours, and make it worth our while; start the trick-or-treating for the kids; and get creative - more activities for a more...

"What do they have there?" (I asked Eric 20 years ago, the dude who introduced me to cannabis at work for security guard at nightshift.)

"Nothing!!"

And that was my impression during my 20 odd years stay in Orange County. That it must be a shambolic zoo. But today I decided to take a chance and it was an amazing experience!!

Come to think of it, it is probably my 4th zoo trip in life. I was at Bronx Zoo when a kid, Pretoria Zoo in my teens and most recently Toronto Zoo which is on world class level. (Havn't been to San Diego nor the LA zoo - which seem to have OG status.) And Bangladeshi zoos don't count. I thought it will be like that.

But it was a great mini safari experience of about 45 minutes. I would batten down and tighten it up though. I would make sure every exhibit is in spac and span condition.

For instance, some are hit and miss. And that is okay. Ocelot was in hiding. One of my favorite, favorite sighting was the prehensile skink or whatever but due to foggy window it wasn't a great visual. But there is nothing you can do. It has to be rain forest simulation environment for it.

They seem to pretty big on membership. Instead I would just hike up the price to at least 17 for adults. The whole Sheeran effect. *If you say you have Sheeran in your basement or garage for 5 bucks, no one would come nor care. McDonald's meal cost around $10 bucks now. People sure will be able to afford it. AFter all I charge 10 bucks a piece for my books and they are all auto generated.

Heck if I wantd to be a jerk, I would jack up the price to $100. The whole "You need us we don't need you" business attitude. Martin Skrelization of American zoos. LMAO

After all, you don't see a dromedary camel walking around every day. Even if I charge $1000 I would make sure people get every bang for penny and stand by.

But that's enough armchair CEO-ing for the day.

p.s....

Overall I liked it a lot! You get exactly what is being advertised: a small zoo featuring animals from South and Central America.

I only wish it was more obvious on the website or at the zoo entrance that certain areas were closed. Had I known earlier that the petting zoo, rides, and their “Amazon‘s Edge” exhibit were closed and unavailable, I probably would have rather waited until they opened back up to enjoy them. I visited on Thursday, December 2 from 11 am to 2 pm; rides did not have any operators around despite the website giving the hours of operation. Amazon’s Edge at this time was being renovated into an otter habitat.

However, there was still a lot that I enjoyed from my visit. The aviary was a lot of fun! There were a few birds who were brave or docile enough to let you take a close picture of them. The highlight of the zoo was definitely all the monkeys. They were all really active and fun to watch. I’ve never heard of a tamarin before, but they were the most adorable exhibits in the zoo.

I went to a different small zoo once, The Reptile Zoo in Fountain Valley, and left feeling sad because their enclosures looked way too small for their animals. A lot of their reptiles were even pacing around and clawing at their walls, looking like they just wanted out. I didn’t feel this way about the Santa Ana zoo. A lot of animals, especially the primates, looked relaxed and were even playing. I couldn’t see all of the animals, but it just made me appreciate that they had enough space to hide from visitors if they became stressed out.

Honestly, if everything in the zoo was open and available, it makes the zoo a hidden gem in SoCal. There’s more to do than you might expect here despite the size. If they ever decide to introduce more exhibits, I hope they include more rainforest amphibians...