Bronx Zoo and Splish Splash - August 23 and 24th respectively - Not Too Long

There has been a lot of talk about critters large and small lately, so "Someone told me it's all happening at the zoo..."

My wife had a bridal shower in City Island, which is a Very Unusual & nautical part of the Bronx. Preflux and I were to drive from City Island to the Bronx Zoo and then head back. THe biggest pain of the day was the traffic. It took 1.5 hours to make what would normally be a ten minute trip. We were slammed.

If you are an AAA member, you can use thier website and printout tix ahead of time at a discount.

We found on free street parking four minutes from one of hte gates.

WOW is this place nice! It was clean, busy and family friendly. OUr first stop was the children's zoo. (An extra 3 bucks each). It was very well done and it offered some educational displays for younger children about movement, habitat and domestic animals. The otters were cool and there were peacocks on top of some of the lower roofs. A rooster was crowing in the farm area. For what it's worth, these animals are well cared for.

A new exhibit was about Madagascar. It was a bit crowded, but very well done and you could stay at each display as long as you wanted.

The traffic cost us about an hour and that was all we had time for. I truly wanted to explaore this place.

Food: A hot dog, a pretzel and a soda was just under ten bucks. (I did feel a bit guilty eating meat at the zoo)

Rides: No time, but there is a skyway over Africa exhibit, a tram, an insect carosel and a couple of other things that are upcharges or you can spring for a POP ticket.

Thoughts: It was nice ot revisit a place that was a favorite of mine as a child. It is more modern, clean and something that everyone in hte area should do once. We would like to come back for a full day in hte fall. If you come on a Wednesday, you can pay what you wish. Truly a gem!

Splish Splash (Sunday): Weather had sun going in and out all day and a high in hte mid 80s.

I will not do a full rating of each slide deal but give you some overall thoughts and comments.

1) Lots of discount coupons at Wendy's or though local direct mail media.

2) When I bought the tix, I asked for two adults and a child. The cashier wanted to see the child. (mom and child were lotioning up somwhere else.) We stared at each other for 1 minute and he let me buy the kids ticket. (Preflux is not 48" in bare feet).

3) But he was ok to ride Dragon's Den and Alien Invasion. (Great slides - though no longer very original)

4) park was crowded with mostly family folks. Pretty long waits all day - with the longest being the twister (curving body slides). I don't know why.

5) A new ride was announced for 2009. There is a photo of it on the web site, but it doesn't provide details. It's unusual and some of it is shaped like a ball.

6) Food: For lunch we all had a chicken strips basket, fries and small drinks. Like Great Adventure, it came to 30 bucks, but it was decent and we were given a lot of food. (Above average for park fare) Finding a table in the shade was challenging though not impossible. There is also a new seafood stand, but I didn't try it in order to save time.

Changes from last year:

There is now a new rule that says all people under 48" MUST wear a life jacket in the wave pool. Also there is a new lifeguard chair in the very center of the shallow water as you walk in.

Mother Fluxer (who is not a swimmer) helped two different kids today. Apparently, the adults went up to the five feet area and left junior(s) to fend for themselves. One was seriously choking on water. The other was lost. THe lifeguards did not see any of this as the pool was very crowded. Clearly an unsafe condition.

There is now a new system for regular slides Requiring tubes. You now wait on line at the splash pool to get a tube from the exiting rider and then wait on the regular line.

It's still a fun place but VERY crowded on the weekends (Especially on nice days). Splish Splash doesn't have any new attractions this year, but they have always added things without taking things away, which impresses me.

Towards the end of the day quite a few children were cold, so that is when we packed up and went back home. Other than the (Animatronic Show and Stunt Effects Slide and hte "should-be-upgraded" play area, we did everything once.

Thanks for reading and have a great night, morning, day, evening, or dusk!

Leaving kids unattended in a wave pool is a very bad idea. The system of waiting at the splash pool for a tube was also done at a waterpark in Austin I went too, and it saves time, I think. A ball-shaped slide? Weird. Great tr.