Taken 4-7-16. This is the new employee garage accessed from Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. It is built in a ravine behind the former Reptile Mesa in Discovery Outpost.
Taken 4-7-16. This is the new employee garage accessed from Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. It is built in a ravine behind the former Reptile Mesa in Discovery Outpost.
San Diego Zoo has so much money that the establishment can afford to spend $18 million on a parking garage for employees. It was apparently much needed and can hold 650 vehicles but small zoos must stare in awe at the financial capabilities of the mighty California facility in Balboa Park.
San Diego Zoo has so much money that the establishment can afford to spend $18 million on a parking garage for employees. It was apparently much needed and can hold 650 vehicles but small zoos must stare in awe at the financial capabilities of the mighty California facility in Balboa Park.
The San Diego Zoo has long been very expensive relative to most other zoos. Partly that is because of the size of their operation that needs to be sustained and also because they get no funding from the city of San Diego or other governmental support.
There is a relatively unknown zoo (outside of the USA) in Arizona with a long name: Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium & Safari Park. It is privately owned and charges approximately $40 per adult and almost $20 per child for entry and so for example if I was to visit with my wife and 4 kids in a few years from now it would cost us $180 just to get in the front entrance. Yikes! Then there is Indianapolis Zoo, which literally charges a different amount depending on the day of the week.
18 million seems really over the top for a parking garage IMO. However, I guess the price is due to the difficulty of building in a ravine and the higher construction costs in southern California (where everything is more expensive).
There is no logic to zoo pricing across the country. As mentioned, Wildlife World has homemade exhibits (some downright awful), is one third the size of San Diego, yet charges the same admission fee as the mighty San Diego Zoo. It would be like your county fair charging the same admission price as Disneyland.
St Louis Zoo is free and is easily a top ten US zoo (I think most on this forum would agree). San Diego Safari Park charges as much for parking as many zoos charge for their entire admission. Some zoos give half price admission to reciprocal zoo members, which makes those that do not offer it even more expensive (I am looking at you Wildlife World and Out of Africa and yes even you San Diego).
