A Day at the San Diego Zoo

We moved to California a little over two years and it's taken us this long to take the time on one of our typically downtime weekends, to go visit the San Diego Zoo.  I'm honestly not sure why it's taken this long.  My husband surprised me the night before by stating at dinner, "Hey, why don't we go to the zoo tomorrow?"  We got up really early this past Saturday and hit the road. It's nice that it's only about 30-40 minutes from our home and the Safari Park is only about 20 minutes. 

One day tickets for two of us would have been around $125 total, so we opted to get the Keepers Club membership which is more like being a donor rather than the normal annual passholder.  This gets you unlimited entry to both parks, access to early morning Saturdays each month at each park, free bus and skyway access, 2 free guest passes, 10% discount on food and merchandise and a special donor entrance.  The total for this was around $225.  If you're going to go to the zoo at least 2 times in one year, it pays for itself. 

The San Diego Zoo is absolutely beautiful.  You can easily notice the older parts of the park and the new or newly remodeled sections.  The zoo has been around since about 1912.  The park is lush and feels like you're in a jungle for most of the older sections of the park.  Some of the newer sections feel more sparse and have little shade, but should be better after a few more years. The park is really large and full of beautiful winding treks through various exhibits.  Many of the areas of the parks feel so intimate.  You'll definitely need a park map to make sure you don't miss anything.

Be prepared to walk 5 miles or more easily on your average visit, that is full of drastic up and down slopes throughout most of the park. My 53 year old legs which have had both hips replaced, made it difficult at times.  It took us quite a while to make the long trek back to the top, with multiple stops to rest. We weren't the only people having this issue. We did see an elevator after the fact, that might have helped with a portion of the way up.  I think future visits will be done in smaller portions, visiting a few sections at a time, limiting our walking time.  

To be perfectly honest, we just over did it.  Especially since it was a hot day in Southern California. 

One issue that's pretty glaring for me, is that half of the exhibits are or felt empty, or the animal could not be seen.  We spent half of our time searching the exhibit for a paw or a mound of fur.  Often, that's all you would see. Popular exhibits for giraffe's, elephants and rhino's were of course, full of animals and easily seen. We looked forward to seeing Otters and Polar Bears, but they were nowhere to be seen. You will easily see the differences between old and new cages/exhibits in the park.  The old cages, are difficult to see anything.  Towards the end of our day, we found ourselves walking past them and not taking the time to try and see what was in there.

I typically have a lot of empathy issues at zoo's.  Do the animals seem happy? Are their cages/exhibits good for them, allowing freedom of movement and giving them the feel of being in the wild?  I had some minimal empathy issues at the park. There were a few, that I wish were better for the animal, but I think that you'll see that at most any zoo around the country.  None of them are perfect, but most seem to all be getting better over time.

Overall, we really loved the San Diego Zoo.  You can easily see why it's considered to be one of the best in the country. We will enjoy going back multiple times, experiencing early morning hours, special occasions/exhibits and checking out the Safari Park.  I hear they have a zip line, so I'm really excited to experience that. 

I wasn't in a picture taking mood like I normally am, but did manage to take a few pics. 

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge - A visit to Batuu

It's really hard to describe fully, what it felt like to line up in Critter Country at Disneyland, to wait in line to visit Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge for the first time.  I will openly admit that I'm not a huge  Star Wars fan, unlike my husband Steven.  I have enjoyed the movies over the years.  I can tell you the names of the original characters.  But please don't ask me to tell you names of planets, supporting characters, creatures, or anything else related to Star Wars.  I will say though, that being a huge fan, doesn't mean you can't enjoy Galaxy's Edge for all it's stunning beauty,  level of detail, gorgeous views and the feeling of being transported to another time and place.

Disney did things right when it came to planning the opening with reservations.  Signing up was a breeze and checking in took only minutes.  Once we were ushered into SWGE, initially the land was extremely crowded with a lot of confusion.  The reservations overlap for an hour, so the previous group was mostly still there when we arrived.  We didn't see cast members directing people for the attraction, or the Cantina, just lots of "Welcome!" and "Please move this way!". 

We had been given a lot of tips from friends on trying to get into the Cantina.  The number one place we wanted to visit.  There were no directions, and no cast members helping direct people unless you were close to the Cantina itself.  By then we were told where the end of the line was and when we got there, the "CM with a Big Stick" told us that we probably wouldn't actually get in and to try another time.  Disappointing. 

We decided to spend our 4 hour time slot wandering, taking tons of photo's, shopping and taking advantage of PhotoPass.  We would ride Smugglers Run, later when the wait was only about 20 minutes long.

Of course, the star of the land is seeing the Millennium Falcon and getting a photo in front is a must and totally worth the wait.  I had to share this first.  I could photograph this area for hours. The great part is the Photopass is set up so well, that you can get a great photo with tons of guests around, unlike anywhere else in Disneyland.  If people somehow get in your photo, the CM's asked them to move. 

The most detailed part for us was throughout the marketplace.  You can spend hours searching out all the nooks and crannies, soaking in all the details and won't even come close to catching everything.  That's the beauty of this land and what will bring you back over and over.  You will continue to notice new details and undiscovered areas for multiple visits to come.

Wandering around the market and in the shops, the level of detail truly is astounding.  You feel like you're on another planet.  We spent the majority of our time, trying to take it all in.  It can almost be a bit overwhelming at times, not knowing where to look and hoping you don't miss anything.

My only compliant about the marketplace, is the shopping.  We're the type of Disney fans that spend a lot of money in almost anything.  Shirts, hoodies, shorts, ornaments, pins, key chains, mugs.  I understand that the immersive part of Batuu is to make it feel authentic.  Most of the very tiny shops carry creatures, costumes, collectibles, and a handful of few of the normal stuff (but not much).  If you want to build yourself a droid and/or a light saber, get yourself a Jedi robe and a creature to sit on your shoulder, some high end collectibles to put in your curio cabinet, this marketplace is for you. 

If you want a really cool Galaxy's Edge tshirt, you will have to go elsewhere in Disneyland to buy your standard Disney Park merchandise.  You won't find it in Batuu.  Don't get me started on the fact that every single shop had only 3XL Galaxy's Edge shirts.  It was a very frustrating shopping day. 

The dining and snack options for us seemed to be very limited.  We wanted an actual meal, so our only option was Docking Bay 7.  The menu seemed limited and very specific.  They seemed to try too hard to make unique, other worldly food, inspired by the planet you're visiting.  When we placed our order, the cashier was on another planet.  He kept looking around and not paying attention to us as we ordered.  When we got our order, our drinks were wrong, one of the main dishes was wrong and one of our desserts was wrong.  They apologized and said they'd fix it immediately.  They put our tray on a ledge behind them, while they continued to help around 10-12 more customers get their food.  We asked 3 times, if it was being worked on.  CM's came and went, so we had to explain our issue 3 times.  It took 20 minutes before we finally got our food with a lot of pushing and prodding them.  Our food was cold.  There was no place to sit or stand.  Probably the worst dining experience we've ever had at Disneyland.  Due to the limited food options, very little snack options, we won't be dining in Galaxy's Edge again.

When not in the marketplace, we were trying to check out every square inch of the rest of Galaxy's Edge. It feels so old, lived in and authentic.  Everywhere you turn, there's something to photograph, beautiful doorways, signage, banners, cables, junk and those petrified trees!  I can't get enough of them.  The colors, shapes and the sheer magnitude of them is a beautiful thing to see. 

As it is in Disneyland, the Golden Hour when the sun starts to set, is also my favorite time on Batuu.  The entire area seems to come to life as lights come on and the buildings and ranges and petrified trees are bathed in such beautiful colors.  We started our photo tour all over again.  We recommend visiting when you can experience it from day to night. 

When we initially heard about SWGE, there was so much talk about walk around characters, citizens of Batuu, and droids everywhere.  We saw Chewie, which our experience with him was magical.  I saw Rey, but no one knew who she was and she seemed lost.  There was a general and 2 Stormtroopers and Kylo makes a 30 second appearance ever so often.  I remember talk about becoming a part of the story, opting in or out of participating.  Is this portion of the land coming later?  Being introduced over time? I missed this part of Batuu.  I wanted more interaction, or at least the opportunity to watch. 

Chewie on the other hand, absolutely made our night.  You can't help but love this huggable guy.  We were wearing our Chewie Mickey Ears and he walked right up to us.  He immediately started rubbing and playing with our beards and put his hand over his heart, indicating how much he loved our fur.  Then he rubbed our chests and did the same thing.  A crowd around us was watching by this point.  After a bunch of hugs and pats on our heads, he leans back, puts his paws up and growls really loudly.  We were dying.  Someone in the crowd around us said, "Did Chewie just out you both as Bears?!"  I responded red faced, and said yes.  Another person responded, "You have to love Disney and how far we've come as a society!"

 I couldn't agree more.

That put a permanent smile on our faces for the rest of the night.