Animal Adventure Park
My husband and I are zoo people. Wherever we go, if there is a zoo or aquarium nearby, we will visit them. It is very much a tradition for us that we started when we were dating and now we go with our kids as well.
This past weekend we made the trip to Harpursville, NY – which is about an hour and 30 minutes from where we live to visit April the Giraffe and her calf, Taj. As many of you know and may have watched – April is the giraffe that went viral through a live Giraffe cam and gave birth on camera in April 2017. We were hooked watching it and made the decision to take the trip to visit once the zoo opens to see April and her new baby.
The zoo is in a rural location and as busy as it was it did not feel super packed inside. Entrance to the park I felt was reasonable – $12.99 for adults, $11.99 for seniors and $10.99 for kids 3-11 years old (children under 3 are free). We were able to have amazing interactions with April and Oliver – including petting and feeding April and feeding Oliver and we saw Taj frolicking around near his mom.
Although for us and I am sure for a lot of other people the giraffes were the main attraction – the park has many interactions with several other animals, some that I have never been that close to or even had the opportunity to feed before. We fed baby emus and ostriches, a baby camel, tortoises, monkeys and lemurs. We saw black bear cubs, arctic wolves, alligators, zebras, cougars, a lynx – they have over 200 animals – so there is plenty to see! We bought 3 “lunch pails” of food for $10 which included food for monkeys, lemurs, tortoises, and giraffes, camels and animals in the petting zoo. The lunch pails lasted us the whole day – but we did buy additional carrots for Oliver when he came out to feed him as well. There is also a pony ride available for $3, which my girls enjoyed thoroughly.
The kids loved every single second they were there. There was a lot to see and do and they were completely exhausted by the time we were ready to leave. There were zookeeper talks where we learned about the giraffes, monkeys and bears. The thing I enjoyed the most was that it was a close-knit community feel – the keepers were excited you were there, they wanted to make sure everyone had a good time. The owner of the park, Jordan, was walking around, hugging and interacting with people and even did the giraffe talk – that is something I have never seen before. All of the keepers were extremely nice, well-informed and truly passionate about all of the animals. It was an amazing experience and I know we will back in the future.
Disclosure: I am not affiliated with Animal Adventure Park and was not compensated for this post. This is just a reflection of a day trip that I took with my family.
