San Diego Safari

I liked that they had everything there on site from restaurants (ice cream to fine dining), specialty shops, tours, dinner theater, and activity centers.

Resort Experience:
The Welk Resort is nestled in the side of a mountain. Although it is off the beaten path, it is also out of the traffic and mess that is the California roadways.

It is definitely a top-notch resort. The rooms are well decorated and stocked. The resort staff is pleasant and accommodating. There is a beautiful golf course and the grounds are well kept. They are about to open what looks like a really cool pool; it was under construction when we were there, but it looks like it will be great. We enjoyed everything.

• Unit Type: 2 Bedroom
• Activities: Excellent
• Amenities: Very Good
• Unit Satisfaction: Very Good
• Family Friendliness: Not Available
• Service: Excellent

The zoo is a good size zoo. They went to great ends to make sure that you are surrounded by beauty everywhere you go. I found it nice to just wander around through all the nooks and crannies. We had fun in the bird aviaries, as the birds there are NOT shy. We had several close encounters with the very friendly feathered friends.

You have to wait in line to see the pandas and it gets over so quick that it is over shadowed by the other areas. They don't lack humor, especially by the rhinos. It seems that they have a rather large "back blast" area that you need to be careful of. Make sure to take a ride on the aerial buckets as you get a great view of the area. They do have a really large variety of plants and animals. I was surprised by the plants. . . I expected the animal part, but the plant variation surprised me.

If you are looking for a good workout, this may do the trick for you also. There are a lot of hills to walk up and down. If you don't want have as much exercise there are trams that go through the park.

The zoo employees are extremely nice and informative. Talk to them! They know quite a bit about the areas they work in. I was fascinated by the dwarf deer and it happened that one of the guys was there working in their area and was able to tell us all sorts of trivia about them.

The food wasn't bad either.

They have a really cool collection of cactus out front. Some of them looked like something out of a science fiction movie. I didn't know that they had some that flowered in black. Not being from California, I was amazed at the size and variety of the plants there.

There is an area across the road where they used to do the laundry. If you want to slow the pace and just enjoy the grounds, this is the place. If you take kids, your pace through the mission will probably go much faster.

There is a several block area where you can wander around through the different shops. I wouldn't get too far off the beaten path, as some parts aren't the safest. Also, don't pay the first price out of their mouth. Walking away will often make the price come down. There are also several shops that have the same thing so you can play them against each other.

Go to the back of some of the shopping areas. What may look like a small shop may really be an entrance to a nice courtyard. We found some fun stuff. I liked the snake boots with the snakeheads still on them. The big arch is really supposed to be a clock, only they tell us that it broke and they never fixed it. We ate in a nice restaurant that was in a department store that had really good food. If you don't speak Spanish, don't be intimidated as everyone that we ran into spoke English. It's not top-notch stuff in some places, but it is something to be experienced.

We got there about 30 minutes after opening and asked the ticket people what is the "not miss" things. They said to go straight to the Heart of Africa and feed the giraffes. This was the BEST advice. Walking into the "Heart of Africa," there are little books. Make sure that you find these, as it will tell you what you are looking at. As we walked to the giraffe area, we were totally blown away. It was like walking into Jurassic Park, zoo-style. As you come around the corner, you get your first glimpse and it has wild animals walking all around you. You can't see most of the enclosures, so you really feel like you are just out there in the open with them.

We sat on the terrace by the food area for hours just enjoying watching things walk by. A really big bird tried to steal my food when I wasn't looking, but he didn't get it. There are birds flying overhead. The giraffes only really come in to eat first thing in the morning and we were fortunate to get there when one wanted something to eat.

The rest of the day was dreamy, like we had walked into a safari. You have to see it to believe it. You can also take the tram ride when your feet get tired and get a look at the animals on the far end of the park. There was so much to walk through and so much to see that we could have easily spent another day there.

There is plenty of room for kids to run around, but they probably won't appreciate the view and the history as much. If you have a National Park stamp book, you can get another stamp in it. Oh, and there is a monument. . .