SDZ Reviews

SDZ showed locations of the attractions, but if you click on the attraction and got directions, it kept giving incorrect walking paths. As an example, when we first got through the front gates, we clicked on the safari tram. It gave us directions of exiting the park and walking through the parking lot to get to the tram. In reality, you needed to walk through the park toward the back of the park to get to the tram.

After five years we went back and had a blast. Since 2020 my now 5 yr old kept asking about the zoo and due to Covid we felt safer keeping her home. The safari park has new attractions that we hadn’t seen. Super. easy to use app, very convenient and much more eco friendly than the park maps. The only downside is that the map routes don’t have a left or right directive. All you see. is a blue road which is ok for those of us who are more or less familiar with the park. But for first time users it’s hard especially when you come to a fork on the road. My sisters came with us for the first time we got a bit separated at the African tram and when using the map in SDZ they kept going back to the Gorillas instead of butterfly enclosure.

Here are suggestions to improve SDZ:
When you click on a new category (go from Dining to Restrooms), the map should not zoom out
Map needs to have names of the larger buildings on them eg: Nairobi Village, Sambutan Longhouse. Currently it has names of the major waking paths but not the destinations.
Dining should have hours listed, or at least a link to the website which would have hours.

I did find SDZ useful in planning our trip, but it still needs to be improved.

Love that I can type in a location and get walking directions like google maps. However, major issues with the special tour tickets. The valid through times makes things very confusing and many people have missed their tour. (Speaking as an employee who checks people in for their tours).

We had a great time at the Safari Park!. If there was any feedback it would be to open the aviary and run the African tram. The balloon was open, with covid cleaning added. The same could be done for the African tram ride, just seat each family every other row with the plastic to divide the rows.

We enjoy Supporting the zoo/safari animals however if there are going to be main attractions closed, then a discount in price needs to be applied. Covid can’t be the crutch for keeping things closed...I say this because the San Diego zoo had their aviaries and sky attraction open with added covid cleaning.

Coming full circle, we love going to the zoo and safari park, and this time was especia
lly neat because we had our nieces and nephews to share the experience with.

We appreciated that the animals were kept in large spacious areas to roam. All zoos should follow this model. The wait for the tram was 1 1/2 hours, way to long. I felt sorry for the parents trying to stop their kids from having a melt down from the long wait. On the plus side much of the waiting line area had shade and benches. I liked the design of the gardens in the waiting area making good use of many native plants. Many of the walking exhibits were closed but the tram around Africa park as great and worth both the wait and the admission price. We ate at a really nice full service restaurant on the premises that actually served good tasty food and cocktails. It was difficult to find but worth the search!

We went early in the am. But many of the exhibits were still being cleaned and prepared for the animals that hadn’t even been brought out yet. ( elephants, cheetahs, etc)

Around 1:00. They were being hand fed by the staff. So elephants and were not interested in coming over to viewers.

Many of the animals were sleeping and laying around.

Dont recommend coming in the am. After 2:00. The rhino and giraffe were running around. The gorillas started play fighting.

So all in all. I would avoid the mornings. Yes its less people, but not much excitement as far as exhibits. Until after lunch time.

Another option bring your kids to tire them out in the am with the parks, enjoy a nice sit down lunch AND THEN go to see the animals.

Nice experience to see animals. Nice day. Great for kids.

Bring your walking shoes!!

SDZ is useful when visiting but I have two issues,
Please allow adding zoo passes to Apple wallet.
This would be extremely convenient as you can easily open Apple wallet instead of having to open SDZ and it would also add support for passes on Apple Watch.

My second issue is the map in SDZ is a little confusing, the scale is strange and it’s hard to figure out where everything is.

Went to the SD Safari park today, it is a beautiful park that is spread out with a lot of walking area. I would have given it 5 starts except several of the exhibits I really wanted to see were closed. Hoping to go back soon and see the exhibits that were closed. Not sure if the current Covid circumstances were part of the reason. Looking forward to seeing the whole park.

This was my first time visiting the safari park with my family and I downloaded the map right away. I loved that it gave updates and events that day and knew my current location. I also loved that I found filter the map by animals, attractions, food, etc. The problem I had was the map wouldn’t face the way I was going or even adjust to recently as I walked from place to place, so I often found myself taking a wrong turn and not realizing it until the blue line starting growing instead of shrinking on my directions. There were also a few times when the map said I wasn’t even on a path and I definitely was. I ended up using the paper map by the end of the day.

I really liked using SDZ . Mainly I used it for the map, but the one thing I really wanted I couldn’t find. We wanted to look for shows and showtimes, but there wasn’t anything about that I could find. And I didn’t see much on the website, though there was QR codes in the park that did help. Very useful otherwise.

What a spectacular place and lots of little baby animals today.

This was amazing and i will come back every day until i die. also the tigers didn’t attack me so i thought it was a win win

Love SDZ easy to use! As a local the ticket upload was easy for the whole family. Love you can have everyone on one device

We brought a dear friend who was pregnant and were able to use the ADA services pick-up spots! That made it possible to ride the tram & select from multiple food options. Kudos!
We LOVED seeing the only platypuses on display in this country & glad that the San Diego Zoo has been entrusted to breed them! Close access to the tiger family was fascinating & exciting. The Australian walkabout (kangaroos, wallabies, etc & the red panda) clearly offered a view into what it might be like in the Outback!
Thank you!

This is the best zoo experience there is. I’ve been to many a zoo and none approach this Safari Park! Thoroughly impressed by its cleanliness, staff professionalism, animal enclosures, etc…plus we did the balloon ride which was amazing as well! Just go!!!!

I took my 94 year old mother to have lunch at the Watering Hole overlook restaurant during Feb when Seniors have free admission. Everyone was so nice and helpful and my mom was thrilled seeing giraffe, rhinos, herds of antelope and lots of birds. It was one of her best days! Thank you for the free admission that made it possible for us to go have lunch at the overlook. Good was very good, too.

Wouldn’t you know it. Soon after we get there there is a sudden downpour. We were all soaked. Couldn’t tough it out we were just too wets and needed to leave. We rented a stroller and when we returned it they gladly gave us a refund. They also refunded our tickets at the ticket counter. I am extremely thankful and so pleased with the wonderful customer service. I

The animals are most active in first or last tram when it is cooler and animals are being fed. Seeing the animals with the sunset as a background is AMAZING!! I encourage you to spend the extra $97 and take the truck Safari where you get to ride inside the “enclosure/up close and personal tour.” It is well worth the money! Again take earliest or latest “truck” safari” for extra $97!!

We really enjoy our visit, definitely we will be back! ♥️