The Bronx Zoo, Bronx, NY

“I wanna see wuaneemos, mama.” said NYCity Mama’s 3 year old this past Saturday afternoon.  She hears this from him at least once a day, every day.  The animals he is so eager to see are the ones he has seen many times before at the Bronx Zoo.  Before Mama had children, and even when she just had one, living as a single mom in the city, she had never been to the zoo.  In part because it isn’t very easy to get to on public transportation outside of the Bronx, and she always thought a zoo in the middle of the then not so nice area of the Bronx would be more depressing then entertaining.

However, when living in the city with 3 kids, two of them toddlers, you are often game for anything kid-oriented, no matter how far.  Granted, she has a car, but she knows that even without one, she would have ventured through this seedy part of town on a bus from her own ghetto just to get there.  She and her family spent almost every other weekend this past summer at the zoo, as it seemed that the little ones could never get enough of it, and it is a matter of great pride to Mama that she thought of buying a family membership pass ($150) which has since paid for itself 3 times over at least.  The membership pass comes with a few parking passes as well, but once these are used up it is $12 to park in their lot.  Since then, Mama and her husband have parked on the outer skirts right of the zoo, which has always been convenient and with plenty of available space.  But when they don’t feel like driving North, they drive or commute South, to the Central Park Zoo, a much smaller version of the Bronx facility, but where their pass is also valid and where the visits are often followed by long walks and hours of play in the park.  They have spent many Saturdays before, if not in the Bronx, then in Central Park picnicking on the Great Lawn, or climbing rocks, or watching horse led carriages pass by.

But this Saturday was a particularly cold one, with the temperature on Mama’s iPhone reading 40 degrees and windy.  Brrrr!  But they had just experienced a long week of rainy weather, and though it was cold, it was also incredibly sunny, and that, in combination with the gigantic green eyes staring at her with the shimmer of hopeful plea was something she couldn’t resist.  So, she and her family covered themselves in layers upon layers of warmth, packed the bag as usual, and loaded up in the car, with the boys full of excitement over the long awaited visit to the zoo.

During the ride there, her 3 year old started listing out the animals he wanted to see first. “I wanna see the scary bats.” “Ok,” said his father.  ”And I wanna see the tiger!  Rrrrrrroar!” he growled.  ”Rrrrrrrr!” responded the 2 year old with an excited smile.  ”And I want to see the snakes!” he stated firmly. “Ssssssssss!!” hissed his younger brother.

By the time they reached the zoo, her 3 year old had listed all the animals there were to see, and once the car was parked and the doors opened, it seemed to her little ones as if the seat belts couldn’t come off fast enough.  So her 11 year old helped unstrap them as Mama and dad set up the stroller and got everything ready to go.

The cold breeze hit their faces immediately.  ”Oh man,” she thought, “there is no way these kids are going to enjoy this.”  Part of Mama was dreading the visit.  And that’s because almost every visit this past summer had several bouts of fits and tantrums throughout, often leading them to cut their visit short and leaving exhausted.

However, she had hoped that this trip would be different because during the winter, before Christmas, The Bronx Zoo hosts a Wild Winter Wonderland which promised to be tons of fun.

As they venture inside, the boys are all excited, talking about their favorite animals and immitating their sounds.  Her 11 year old likes the gorillas, her 3 year old is still aiming to see the bats, and her 2 year old kept chanting, “Ribbit! Ribbit!”, letting her know he wanted to see the frogs.

The park was a stark contrast from their summer visits.  Most vending booths were closed. No one greeted them at the entrance for photos, and it seemed like there were only a handful of people there.  They don’t take more than 3 steps in when the 3 year old says, “I want chicken, mama.”  It seems tradition now, that the first thing to do when in the Bronx Zoo, before all else, is to head over to the cafeteria and order boneless chicken fingers with fries ($7.50 with 10% discount for members).  It is much better than anything else offered at the cafeteria and the boys love it.  NYCity Mama and her husband laugh at this realization and head over to the food court.  It was crowded. “So this is where everyone is!” she said to her husband.  But the truth was that everyone was in there because on a far wall off the seating area there was a performance of The Nutcracker going on.  ”Ooooooo mama!!  Wook!” exclaimed the 2 year old.  And so they all sat eating their chicken fingers and fries watching the free performance before them.

After lunch, they headed out to The World of Darkness to see the bats, but not before stopping in to see the “Ribbits” (frogs) which came before.  There were no crowds, no cluster of people blocking the little ones’ view, no pressure to keep moving along to make room for the incoming stream of people.  It was like NYCity Mama and her family owned the Zoo that day.

And the walks were so much more pleasant too.  Because there were no crowds, the boys had the paths all to themselves and were able to run freely, without bumping into anyone in the process, while Mama and her husband would steal little moments of kisses and hand holding.

They stop at the Children’s Petting Zoo, only to realize they just missed Storytelling Time, and the Reindeers.  They headed over to the the horse drawn wagon rides.  At $5 per person for those 3 and over, it was a short ride around Astor Court, but pleasant and “long enough” for the smaller ones.  Once off the wagon, they were able to pet the horses, greet Frosty the Snowman and a walking Teddy Bear, and watch the sea lions being fed.

 

And this was one of the highlights of the entire visit.  Mama noticed that for the first time they had visited when the animals, including the snakes which are almost always sleeping, are alert and active.  They had at last managed to be there during  feeding time!  It was about 3:00 in the afternoon, definitely their longest visit to date, and it was worth every second.

The sea lions performed for ever fish they got, the crocodiles pounced and opened their teethy jaws for the little mouse snacks, and the tigers and bears walked around waiting for their dinner to arrive.  It was exciting for everyone to see.

Though none of the rides (the trolley, the skyfary, or the carousal) were open, it was by far one of the most fun days spent at the zoo for them.  So much so that they forgot all about the cold weather and had walked off the chicken fingers and fries without breaking a sweat.

They left the zoo as it was closing for the day, with a smiling 11 year old talking about how cool it was to watch a mouse being ravaged by a croc, a 3 year old flying around like a bat, and a 2 year old chanting “Ribbit! Ribbit!” all the way home.

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Tags: family friendly, nyc
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