Phoenix, AZ: Phoenix Zoo

Phoenix Zoo is one of the many places that are family friendly in the Phoenix valley area.

It is located in Phoenix on Galvin Parkway, north of Van Buren, right next to Hole in the Rock.  Phoenix Zoo currently has special exhibition displays called, “Nature Connects: Art with LEGO Bricks”. This special LEGO exhibition has been running since September 17th and will continue until January 2nd of next year. It does not cost extra, for it is included with any zoo admission.

In all the years I’ve lived in Phoenix, this was my first time there! It is bigger than I expected and very well maintained. We arrived around 11am and it was already warm out. We attempted to walk the entire thing and see all the animals, but truthfully, we probably missed a few because by sometime between 2 and 3pm, it was HOT out! We were melting and didn’t want to keep subjecting baby CJ to that same miserableness we were feeling.

When we arrived it was already pretty busy even though it had only been open for a couple hours before we got there. We were getting ready to start our journey when we realized that the sun was on baby CJ no matter how the sun visor thing on the stroller was positioned. We then ran to the gift shop to get some sunscreen to spare his delicate skin.

* Please keep in mind and always remember to bring your own sunscreen! Baby CJ has his own sunscreen, but because we left it at home, we had to buy theirs for $12! *

Food-wise, they have many stops throughout the zoo for both snack and beverages. I cannot speak to the prices because we had our own water and didn’t really need to stop anywhere.

There is a wide variety of animals to see and things to do. Although general admission gets you through the door, if you want to do anything else besides looking at the cute animals, it will cost you. There are different rates depending on what you want to do.

We purchased the general admission because there’s not a whole lot you can do with an infant and a stroller. The map they give you at the time you purchase your tickets has the locations of where to find the LEGO sculptures. We opted out of the map, which made it more fun and exciting when we ran into the LEGO sculptures. The LEGO sculptures include fun facts about how many LEGOs the sculpture is made of and how many hours it took to put together!

We had a great time as a family and it was a great way to spend some time outdoors!