One of the great bargains for New Yorkers in my opinion is the Wildlife Conservation Society membership available at any of the five NYC area zoos (the bronx zoo, prospect park zoo, central park zoo, queens zoo, and the new york aquarium). For $120 to $150 (depending on the level you want to purchase) you and your family get free unlimited access to any of the five zoos for a full year, attraction passes for the special exhibits, parking passes and a free t-shirt. You also get 10% discounts at any of the zoo shops or food venues. Plus most of the cost is tax deductible. I haven’t done the exact math but if you have 2 kids and 2 parents and visit each one venue once a year you save something like $300.
Today is the kind of lovely fall day that you want to spend outside. About 65 degree made it cool enough to need a light jacket and yet warm enough to walk around comfortably for hours. We headed to the bronx zoo (which by the way opens at 10 am, we found out the hard way). We lucked out because by deciding to take an unusual backwards route we wondered onto the sea lion feeding and Nature’s Air Show where we got to watch various birds of prey fly over our heads (tomorrow is the last day for the airshow). I’ll definitely remember to check the events schedule next time we head over, there were several other events we would have loved to catch but didn’t know about.
After wondering around just the small part of the zoo adjacent to the sea lion exhibit (this took about 2 hours) we stopped by the new madagascar exhibit (check out the super view of the crocodiles) and took the shuttle (also included with membership for free) over to the wild asia monorail. Our 3 year old loved the idea of a one rail train and actually paid attention to most of the comments our guide made. We saw many rare species including rhinos, tigers, and a few others from an unusual vantage point – looking down instead of one our level. The ride took about 20 minutes, perfect for a short attention span. The monorail has several trains that depart every 5 minutes, and our wait was about 3 minutes in total. After this, with a pretty tired toddler in tow we stopped for a quick snack… unfortunately the zoo doesn’t offer a ton of healthy and yummy options, this is one area where i really think they could improve. Pizza, hot dogs and french fries does not a good lunch make and the salads and wraps are kind of awful both in taste and in look… We walked back to the parking lot, all in all spending a productive and fun 4 hours at the zoo.
For first time visitors i would definitely recommend checking out the congo (an amazing exhibit) as well as the butterfly garden. There is absolutely no shortage of things to do, and if you have a limited amount of time and don’t think you will be back for a while use the website before going to plan out your trip.
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