Dallas Zoo Monorail tours

[jbnbsn99]

I am doing a bit of reconnaissance work for some proposals I am working on for the Dallas Zoo's Monorail, and thought that there would be no better place to go than ZooChat. What I am working on is an update of the current monorail tours that we give at the zoo. I know most of you have not ridden on our train, but I know a lot of you have ridden on other similar rides at San Diego, Bronx, and a few others.

Here is what I am looking to develop: themed tours. The goal of this would be to focus the ride's 20 minute length to a particular topic and have some variety to repeat riders.

For those of you who don't know, our monorail tour is about 20-22 minutes long and as far as I know is the only place outside of Africa where every major habitat is represented (except the upcoming Savanna). We have focused on this aspect pretty much since the inception of the tour. While I am not looking to get rid of this aspect, I think it would be beneficial to add to it.

Here are some of my ideas. Have a tour schedule. This way visitors can pick and choose what kind of a ride they would like to have. Also since the zoo is in a largely Hispanic neighborhood, the addition of an all Spanish tour would be greatly needed.

Here is what I am thinking about developing.
1. A tour focused primarily on the habitats and the ecosystems of Africa. This would be a slight tweaking of what is currently in place.
2. A tour focused entirely on conservation efforts. It would include the role of zoos in this aspect, what is going on in the wild, and what you can do to help.
3. A tour focused entirely on food and feeding and how different animals eat and avoid being eaten.
4. A Journey to Africa. Based on history, geography, and exploration.

In addition to these 5 tours (habitat, conservation, food, history, and Spanish) I have added two more exclusive tours. The first would be for zoo lovers and photographers and would last approximately 40 minutes (double the normal tour length) and include stops for photos and observations when such a stop is allowable. A 2nd tour would be by a guest speaker. This could be a keeper or a curator or maybe even the director. This last one might not be an everyday event.

What I need is some input on these ideas. I have extensive outlines drawn up for each tour (except the two special tours). I know that a normal ZooChatter would love the idea of an extended length tour, but what about the others. Which would you ride? Why? Which would you choose not to ride? Why?

 

[Arizona Docent]

All fantastic ideas. However, I think the average visitor will ride when it fits their schedule and not based on the theme necessarily. Of course for members and hardcore zoo fans (aka ZooChat members), it would be a real treat and might encourage repeat rides on the same day.

All the rides I've been on, monorail and new JIA at SDWAP, monorail at Bronx, tram at NW Trek, basically are just point out the animals to riders and tell them what they are. I think your ideas are definitely more interesting. I agree a Spanish-speaking tour is almost a necessity.

Of course, I LOVE the idea of a photo trip with stops. If you did this perhaps on weekends (once a week or once a month), maybe just before the zoo opens to the public, I guarantee you could charge extra and have no trouble getting signups. Provided, you advertise it well (camera clubs, local camera stores, in addition to your own member magazine).

I am very much looking forward to riding it whenever I go back there. The one time I was in Dallas it was closed for the winter (even though it was a sunny 70 degree day!). But I think since then you have expanded the hours to make it run year-round.

 

[jbnbsn99]

Of course I realize that the main factor would be the timing on when people arrive to the station. As with just pointing out the animals, I hate this aspect, but sometimes it is all you can do. What I think this could be geared toward is the numerous school groups that come through. If a class is studying African history, then we have a tour aimed at that. Maybe another is studying conservation or ecology. With the photo safaris, we do those maybe 3 or 4 times a year and only have a few visitors who pay the extra, but if it were something offered every weekend and maybe select weekdays then more people could enjoy it.

BTW, I don't think you will have to worry again about not being able to ride the train when the weather is nice as it was during your visit. The only thing prohibiting it from running every day now is weather and maintenance.