Nice place for family activity
Written: Jun 17 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice family atmosphere + laid back ambiance
Cons: Little small, but its in Alaska, You don't go solely for a zoo experience, right?
The Bottom Line: It the northermost zoo, why not go and see it and say that you were there?
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| skigt's Full Review: Alaska Zoo |
My wife and I just returned our Alaska trip last week and one of our stops was at the Alaska Zoo. Neither of us we're especting a Philadelphia zoo size area so we didn't have much of an expectation going in.
We were pleased with the zoo overall, and the things that we were disappointed about couldn't be helped. The disappointing aspect of the zoo was that the otter/seal lion exhibit was still being built (and a little while from completion as it looked like) as of 06/13/06. So no cool sea life for us.
Other than that previous reviews noted that it is a little run down and in need of funds. I can agree with that and in thier defense they are trying to run a zoo in an area that you wouldn't expect a zoo to be.
They do a good job in presenting thier displays which include: 2 moose, a polar bear, 2 black bears, 2 brown bears, 2 siberian tigers, a bald eagle, several owls, 2 ravens, a crow, 2 foxes, 2 wolverines, several deer, several cariboo, 2 yaks, 2 musk ox, an elephant, 2 snow leopards, 3 apalacas (2 of them were quite frisky and entertaining-especially when the children were asking thier parents "what are they doing"), 2 lynx, a goshawk, 4 porcupines, and 2 camels. If I forgot an animal or two my appologies to the zoo.
If you go on a Tuesday, they are open till 2100hrs which gives plenty of time to go out to dinner (our choice was the sourdough mining company between the new and old seward highways).
Over all inpressions were very g ood, the staff was very freindly and you can wonder around the wooded area and discover a new exhibit around each corner (or follow the map, but it more fun the other way, then look to see if you missed anything.
Like I said before the sea lion/sea otter display is still being built but it looks to be real cool once it is finished and we hope to return when it is, and also they are planning a wolf/coyote display at a later date as well.
While it is true that this is a zoo and some might say that you won't get to see them in the wild, I say, it's Alaska! You are almost 100% guarunteed to see a moose somewhere near the highways (we saw 4), and we saw a grey wolf in Denali park standing in the middle of the road and a porcupine (who I must say had very large quills and it was interesting to see out short the zoo had shorn then to keep from getting stuck).
If you go with a family to Alaska this definately be a stop for you. The kids will enjoy it and you just might as well. It may not be a huge metroplolitan zoo like the Philly zoo, San Diego zoo or the like, but this IS Alaska, where it gets a little cold from the majority of "regular" zoo animals. We think they did a very nice job considering the geographic location.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
skigt
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Reviews written: 18
Trusted by: 0 members
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