Put Me In The Zoo: Happy Hollow Park and Zoo Review
Visit date: August 13, 2012.
The Happy Hollow Zoo is a small zoo in San Jose, California. It is a zoo and a small theme park combined in one facility, and is built for kids and their families. It opened in the 1950s and evolved into a funky little zoo-play park that had some decent animal exhibits and some cool, somewhat kitschy rides and playgrounds that were time warped from the 1970s. In 2008 the park and zoo closed for a two year, multi-million dollar renovation. The result is spectacular and has resulted in a wonderful zoo-theme park-playground for kids (babies to 10ish year olds I would think). The theme park-play ground area has a small roller coaster, an endangered species carousel, and a ride called “Danny the Dragon” ( a dragon shaped tram that travels through several fairy tale scenes) which is a community favorite for generations of visitors. There are also some spectacular play areas with a multi-story playground built into a redwood forest that features rope and net climbing, bouncing bridges, and 3-story tall slides to go down. All of the rides and attractions and the zoo are included with park admission, which seemed very reasonable at $12.95/adult as of August 2012. I visited with my wife, sister, 7-year-old niece, and 5-year-old nephew. We all had a great time riding the roller coaster, romping through the maze, and visiting the zoo.
Does this zoo satisfy the reviewer’s Inner-3-Year-Old by featuring his lifelong favorite animals, giraffes and elephants?
There are no giraffes or elephants, nor is there room for any large species like these. The largest animals are a jaguar and some larger domesticated animals like a dwarf zebu cow and miniature horses. Once upon a time this zoo did have a baby African elephant back in the late 1970s when I first visited it. At that time it also had a lion, California sea lions, black bear cubs, and baby chimpanzees. In the early 1990s the last black bear died and its exhibit was rebuilt as a meerkat exhibit. The zoo’s solo pygmy hippo moved to another zoo to be with another pygmy hippo and its exhibit is now a collared peccary exhibit. The sea lion exhibit has now been converted into a capybara exhibit.
Does this zoo have any animals that would excite a zoo aficionado?
The animal exhibits are all geared to small to medium sized species. There are two parts of the zoo, the Zoo on the Hill, which is entirely new, and the Zoo in the Hollow, which is a slightly remodeled zoo area built in the 1970s and 1980s. The Zoo on the Hill has a barn and animal contact area with several domesticated and farm animal species including goats, sheep, bunnies, a zebu, miniature horses, guinea pigs, and a Sicilian donkey. There are aquariums with a black widow spider and a corn snake in the barn. This new zoo area also features a nice parma wallaby exhibit and a red-ruffed lemur exhibit with a playground in which kids can bounce around on springy platforms like lemurs and climb like a lemur on climbing structures.
The older part of the zoo features an eclectic mix of species including meerkats, squirrel monkeys, capuchin monkeys, a jaguar, a fossa, ring-tailed lemurs, black and white ruffed lemurs, macaws, a walk-through aviary with red-billed hornbills, cattle egret, and ducks, collared peccaries, fennec foxes, a spurred tortoise, and capybaras. All of these animals live in pretty good exhibits, although many of them are smallish. All of the exhibits are landscaped with real plants with areas for the animals to hide and shade themselves from the California sun exposure.
I can’t think of any species at this zoo that would be particularly exciting for a zoo aficionado, but it makes for a great “starter zoo” for kids and young zoo aficionados.
Does this zoo have any immersion exhibits that would impress a zoo aficionado?
The Zoo on the Hill is shiny and new. The parma wallaby exhibit is a lush grassland. The new lemur exhibit is tall and lushly planted, albeit not very naturalistic.
The whole park has great landscaping with mature trees and gardens. It is extremely pleasant and there are many places to picnic, sit in the shade, and enjoy nature. There is a nice butterfly garden and a flower garden with a glass-fronted bee hive.
Does this zoo have any good basic exhibits?
All of the exhibits are pretty good.
Does this zoo have any exhibits that should be bulldozed?
That was done a couple years ago when the whole park was closed for over a year and renovated.
Does this zoo have any elements that make it particularly family friendly?
This may be one of the most family friendly zoos in the U.S. It was all built with kids in mind and is geared towards active play, enjoyment of nature, and appreciating animals and their habitats.
Does this zoo have any interesting plans for the future?
New species pop up in the zoo sometimes, but I think that this zoo is pretty much as it will be for the next several years, as part of it is brand new and the other part is newly renovated.
Would a zoo aficionado like this zoo enough to go out of his or her way to visit it?
I would think that anybody with kids would love this zoo and associated play areas and rides. Adults without kids who just want to visit a zoo would likely be underwhelmed, although the whole park is extremely pleasant and if you like Madagascar exhibits there are lots of lemurs and a fossa. If you like farm animals there is a great farm animal area. The roller coaster, though very small, is quite fun, especially with excited kids riding their first coaster.
Visit date: August 13, 2012.
The Happy Hollow Zoo is a small zoo in San Jose, California. It is a zoo and a small theme park combined in one facility, and is built for kids and their families. It opened in the 1950s and evolved into a funky little zoo-play park that had some decent animal exhibits and some cool, somewhat kitschy rides and playgrounds that were time warped from the 1970s. In 2008 the park and zoo closed for a two year, multi-million dollar renovation. The result is spectacular and has resulted in a wonderful zoo-theme park-playground for kids (babies to 10ish year olds I would think). The theme park-play ground area has a small roller coaster, an endangered species carousel, and a ride called “Danny the Dragon” ( a dragon shaped tram that travels through several fairy tale scenes) which is a community favorite for generations of visitors. There are also some spectacular play areas with a multi-story playground built into a redwood forest that features rope and net climbing, bouncing bridges, and 3-story tall slides to go down. All of the rides and attractions and the zoo are included with park admission, which seemed very reasonable at $12.95/adult as of August 2012. I visited with my wife, sister, 7-year-old niece, and 5-year-old nephew. We all had a great time riding the roller coaster, romping through the maze, and visiting the zoo.
Does this zoo satisfy the reviewer’s Inner-3-Year-Old by featuring his lifelong favorite animals, giraffes and elephants?
There are no giraffes or elephants, nor is there room for any large species like these. The largest animals are a jaguar and some larger domesticated animals like a dwarf zebu cow and miniature horses. Once upon a time this zoo did have a baby African elephant back in the late 1970s when I first visited it. At that time it also had a lion, California sea lions, black bear cubs, and baby chimpanzees. In the early 1990s the last black bear died and its exhibit was rebuilt as a meerkat exhibit. The zoo’s solo pygmy hippo moved to another zoo to be with another pygmy hippo and its exhibit is now a collared peccary exhibit. The sea lion exhibit has now been converted into a capybara exhibit.
Does this zoo have any animals that would excite a zoo aficionado?
The animal exhibits are all geared to small to medium sized species. There are two parts of the zoo, the Zoo on the Hill, which is entirely new, and the Zoo in the Hollow, which is a slightly remodeled zoo area built in the 1970s and 1980s. The Zoo on the Hill has a barn and animal contact area with several domesticated and farm animal species including goats, sheep, bunnies, a zebu, miniature horses, guinea pigs, and a Sicilian donkey. There are aquariums with a black widow spider and a corn snake in the barn. This new zoo area also features a nice parma wallaby exhibit and a red-ruffed lemur exhibit with a playground in which kids can bounce around on springy platforms like lemurs and climb like a lemur on climbing structures.
The older part of the zoo features an eclectic mix of species including meerkats, squirrel monkeys, capuchin monkeys, a jaguar, a fossa, ring-tailed lemurs, black and white ruffed lemurs, macaws, a walk-through aviary with red-billed hornbills, cattle egret, and ducks, collared peccaries, fennec foxes, a spurred tortoise, and capybaras. All of these animals live in pretty good exhibits, although many of them are smallish. All of the exhibits are landscaped with real plants with areas for the animals to hide and shade themselves from the California sun exposure.
I can’t think of any species at this zoo that would be particularly exciting for a zoo aficionado, but it makes for a great “starter zoo” for kids and young zoo aficionados.
Does this zoo have any immersion exhibits that would impress a zoo aficionado?
The Zoo on the Hill is shiny and new. The parma wallaby exhibit is a lush grassland. The new lemur exhibit is tall and lushly planted, albeit not very naturalistic.
The whole park has great landscaping with mature trees and gardens. It is extremely pleasant and there are many places to picnic, sit in the shade, and enjoy nature. There is a nice butterfly garden and a flower garden with a glass-fronted bee hive.
Does this zoo have any good basic exhibits?
All of the exhibits are pretty good.
Does this zoo have any exhibits that should be bulldozed?
That was done a couple years ago when the whole park was closed for over a year and renovated.
Does this zoo have any elements that make it particularly family friendly?
This may be one of the most family friendly zoos in the U.S. It was all built with kids in mind and is geared towards active play, enjoyment of nature, and appreciating animals and their habitats.
Does this zoo have any interesting plans for the future?
New species pop up in the zoo sometimes, but I think that this zoo is pretty much as it will be for the next several years, as part of it is brand new and the other part is newly renovated.
Would a zoo aficionado like this zoo enough to go out of his or her way to visit it?
I would think that anybody with kids would love this zoo and associated play areas and rides. Adults without kids who just want to visit a zoo would likely be underwhelmed, although the whole park is extremely pleasant and if you like Madagascar exhibits there are lots of lemurs and a fossa. If you like farm animals there is a great farm animal area. The roller coaster, though very small, is quite fun, especially with excited kids riding their first coaster.
