I was looking at prices for the zoo and safari park and was utterly shocked. I thought I was looking at Disneyland ticket options. I understand that they both get a lot of visitors annually, but the prices seem to be a bit over the top. I especially feel that the price of admission is not worth the overall experience. For example, since they got rid of several ungulate species most of which you need an extra ticket to see its seems to me not worth the money. Besides, most of the safari park's field exhibits don't have a lot of foliage in them and you can see a lot of the species elsewhere at a more affordable price. Lastly, for the safari park, the different safaris are an add on to the $62 entry admission. Does anyone know why the prices at both the safari park and zoo are so much? I feel like I would rather just go see B. Bryan Preserve or Safari West.
You might want to look at Disney prices again. The cheapest you can possibly get for DAK is $109, with some days being $160+. Just for the one park, for one day. Not including parking ($25+) or anything else. Adult tickets for Safari West are $93-128, for the cheapest option. I can't speak for if the cost is worth it, since I haven't been to San Diego (or California), but their prices are in line with other bigger attractions in the area. People are willing to pay the cost.
Speaking on my experience from visiting both parks, I say it’s worth it to certainly do the Wildlife Safari aka the Caravan Safari that goes into the field exhibits. Disneyland is certainly more expensive just for entry, little to no tickets going less than 110 dollars especially after their recent talks of price increases. And that’s only for Disneyland and/or Disney California Adventure. For the price of one day to either Disney park, you can go to both the SD Zoo and Safari Park. That’s not to say that it’s a cheap ticket either, it’s perhaps amongst the most expensive zoo tickets in the country. But it’s a “steal” to be able to do 2 of what many consider amongst the best zoological parks in the states. San Diego comes with a huge price tag to run day to day, hundreds of species and thousands of animals split between both parks. Just the Safari Park alone has more species compared to Safari West and B Bryan Preserve combined along with many ABC animals and rarities all us zoo nerds can enjoy. Let alone their exhibits are in the bonkers range to build, rivaling some film productions just in the terms of costs. By having a reputation and location of their facilities drives up the costs of business, in turn increasing prices on tickets and tours. Do I agree with the increases? Not really but I’ve lived in Southern California all my life, this isn’t new to me unfortunately However, the choice to go to either aforementioned facilities squarely falls on you and what you will find more bang for your buck I love the SD Zoo and Safari Park but I’m not blind to the costly endeavor they may be on tourists or fellow zoo nerds, it’s a quite the price but worth it to do it once at least!
It's been just over a year since this thread began, but already tickets have shot up in price at the San Diego parks. A walk-up ticket is $71 (which is an eye-watering $96 Canadian for me!), although it's a few dollars less if one orders online before a visit. The San Diego Zoo Safari Park is the same cost as the zoo, which I find interesting. When I was last in southern California (2017), I went to the Safari Park and did the tram tour and saw everything, including taking hundreds of photos, and I was done and dusted in 5 hours. By contrast, on the same trip, at the San Diego Zoo I spent 13 hours there over two days and in truth some zoo nerds spend several days inside the zoo. Accumulating a list of all the reptiles and amphibians, or tracking all the birds in the Scripps/Owens/Parker aviaries, could be a day all by itself! Both places are fantastic, but judging from past ZooChat polls and conversations, my guess is that 80% or more of zoo nerds would opt for the zoo over the safari park. There's obviously far more to see there. It's always been like that, with the Safari Park being a money losing venture from 1972 to 1982, before it began to break even throughout the 1980s and it became a truly world-class establishment with a variety of new exhibits later on. The conservation success of the SDZSP is phenomenal. The multi-day tickets are the way to go because most people are going to visit both facilities anyway. The "San Diego 3-For-1 Pass" has been around for a long time and it's well worth buying because it allows SeaWorld to be an option and the pass is good for 7 days.
When I visited SDWAP, strangest were lots of tame exotic animals with their trainers and lots of extra payments everywhere: $11 to skip a queue to the safari ride, for going up and down in a balloon, for watching a cheetah running closer, for watching a cheetah running really close etc. It reminded me of provincial China many years ago. When one visited a giant Buddha sculpture, inside were about ten other small payments - for coming close to see legs, for going to the head, for standing on a hill to get a good photo-op of the whole statue etc.
SD is one zoo that it might make sense to buy a membership if you intend on going to the zoo for a day or two as well as the Safari park as you will also get discounts in food and gift shops, plus other benefits that may save you money.
When I went to both back in November I used Tickets at Work, and got admission to both for $100. I felt that was reasonable considering other facilities I visited (like Bronx that was over $50, with parking, or Mystic Aquarium and Clearwater Aquarium, again well over $50 dollars, with parking).
Unfortunately it might not be. If you're not a san diego resident, you're cheapest option is Protector at $149, which blocks out all weekends, holidays, spring/winter break, etc. The cheapest option for one person with no blackouts is $169.
Unless you're buying a Mystic ticket at the gate on a really busy day, Mystic is $30-35 with free parking.
At $169 you still save if you are going to do two days at the zoo and one day at the safari park. Otherwise you have to buy a two day zoo ticket at $118 and a one day safari ticket at $71 - and you don't get any member benefits. Even if you are only doing one day at each park it may work out if you are going to eat and buy some things with the discounts it gives you. Also you get free parking ($15) and a free ticket for a single admission and 50% off ticket coupons...so it still may work out if you have other people with you and you can wrap some of the coupons and ticket. Obviously if you are only doing one park for one day a single day admission is cheapest.
@TinoPup must have been a busy day then, $90 dollars for two people including paid parking, for honestly a place that wasn't worth the price
Their parking is free though, it always is? Even $90 split between two is $45 each, which isn't "well over $50". I'd consider the combination of spotted seal (only holder), steller sea lion (only permanent holder, ASC and MMC CA occasionally have), northern fur seal (1 of 4 holders), and beluga (1 of 6) to be well worth the price, given even places like the Ripley aquariums are $35+.
Definitely not always free and it was over 90 for two so it would have been over 50 for one with parking. Too each their own but not worth it to us. Have seen all those species before and more impressive individuals
Although its certainly not cheap, compared to the many overpriced generic aquariums out there I actually found Mystic to be a relatively good deal for the nice exhibits and rare marine mammals it offers. In the summer I bought my tickets a week in advanced online and paid around $32 a person. No special deals or anything like that. The Jurassic 3-D building, (which I later found out also has animal exhibits) wasn't included in the general admission which was disappointing. Did you get tickets for that? I don't remember the exact price of that add-on, I think it was around $10 or so. Also strange you were charged for parking, that wasn't my experience. Maybe there was a special event or something?
The Zoological Society of San Diego does not receive large amounts of tax money as other zoos do. San Diego relays on membership food retail concerts tours and donations. San Diego receives very little in Tax revenue and they prefer it that way. Tax supported zoos struggle and often do not want to make too much money as they could not ask for more tax support the next year. I greatly admire their entrepreneurial business model more than the tax base zoo model. They can provide more resources to animal care and less burden on the tax payer.
Personally, I think zoos should aim to find ways at reducing admission prices and generating revenue in other ways. Zoos have a number of missions, but two of the biggest are conservation education and community engagement. As educational and community institutions, zoos should aim to be as accessible to as many people as possible, as this would be the best way to support the mission of education, rather than only educating those who can afford to go. Even $30 a day, which may seem reasonable to many on here, would be $150 for a couple to take their three kids. For many families, spending $150 on a day outing to the zoo is prohibitively expensive, and that's before adding parking, food, etc. There are many kids in this country who have never visited a zoo, aquarium, or museum, and the reason isn't always that it's not something their family wants to do, but instead that it's not something their family can afford to do. It's just wrong in my eyes for an educational institution, which should be working as a community organization, should be inaccessible due to economics. I would love to see zoos opt to, in a mission to be accessible to all, decrease their ticket prices and find other ways to generate revenue. Have extra special events, offer paid animal encounters/behind-the-scenes experiences more frequently, offer more additional cost attractions (train ride, 4-D movie, budgie feedings, etc.), have more avenues for people to donate money, charge extra for select exhibits, have a "suggested admission price" instead of a required admission price, I'm sure there are many more innovative ways at revenue generating as well that I just haven't thought of. Tickets should not be the primary way zoos, or aquariums and museums, are making money.
