Jungle Island

The lady at the front desk where we bought the tickets was very nice. The veggie burger at the deli was delicious and the staff was very pleasant !!! Jungle Island is a must see attraction. The exotic birds were beautiful n my favorite where the monkeys… so funny. The shows were also very entertaining .a must see. Overall it was worth the money !!!

If I could give it negative stars I would. What a joke of an event that amounted to nothing more than frustration and wasted time/​money. The parking lot was full by 6:30 and despite being told by 2 different employees that the valet accepts credit cards, I still had to withdraw cash from an ATM to pay their $ 15 valet fee. I probably should have known then that the experience was unlikely to be pleasant but we ventured on nonetheless because we wanted the baby and our friends’ son to play in the snow, which is what drew us there in the first place. The lines were long but since we bought our tickets on groupon, we went right to the gate and got in. Once inside the disappointments rolled in one after the other. The holiday lights/​décor were minimal and many of the pieces with lights weren’t even lit. We saw about 10 minutes of a so-​called laser light show that left a lot to be desired and then made our way to the snow area around 7:30 only to encounter an enormous line and staff saying that nobody else would be allowed in until 10 pm. With an 8-​month old baby in tow whose bedtime was fast approaching and nothing else to do in the meantime because the animal areas were dark and most birds sleeping, it was pointless to stick around. I’m guessing whatever «snow» they might have had would have probably been long melted by 10 anyway so we left less than an hour and a half after we had arrived.
The kids and the adults left feeling cheated and extremely disappointed. The place was full of other angry/​disappointed customers too, most of whom were also unable to get a glimpse of the snow they had hoped to play in.
Perhaps they expected people to be disappointed because at the entrance gate upon arrival, each person was given a voucher for free admission to Jungle Island another day. We will be back to visit Jungle Island during the day with the voucher but will definitely NOT be making a repeat visit to Winter Wonderland and would not recommend it to anyone else either.

Winter Wonderland was not that impressive. We never made it to the snow area… based on reviews it seems like we were fortunate to miss it. The laser light show was super loud… I was worried about my 3 month old’s ears the whole time and the lights were just ok. Most of the animals throughout the park were sleeping although the lions were impressive. Couldn’t find the liger??? We did watch the bird show which is the same bird show that normally goes on at Jungle Island… nothing different. I barely remember the lights… don’t think there were many. I believe Metro Zoo does a better job of decorating and I enjoy the little snow blowers around the zoo. Jungle Island needs to rethink the planning… there’s room for improvement!