Looking for an easy weekend getaway? How about Indianapolis, IN? A couple of weeks ago, my boyfriend and I decided to kick off our kids’ Spring Break by taking them on an overnight trip to Indianapolis. The destination was chosen primarily because of its relative proximity to Cincy (roughly a two hour drive) and because it has two major attractions for family fun – the Children’s Museum and the Zoo! This post will focus on the Indianapolis Zoo because this seems to be the lesser known attraction to those of us living in the Queen City.
Indy knows that people come from near and far to visit the world’s largest children’s museum and its triple accredited zoo, therefore they have conveniently put together a Family Fun Adventure Getaway package that includes four tickets to the zoo, four tickets to the children’s museum, and an overnight stay at one of several hotels around the city. Extra tickets can be purchased at the front desk if you happen to have a group of five or more, which we did. As a group of five, this package deal ended up saving us a lot of money. It was also a time-saver. After quickly checking into the hotel, I was handed an envelope with all of our tickets – no waiting in lines! They had even printed out maps and directions to the two attractions from the hotel and had the hours of operation and parking fees listed.
The Indianapolis Zoo is smaller than the Cincinnati Zoo, but it’s impressive nonetheless. It is triple accredited as a zoo, an aquarium, and a botanical garden. The animals are clustered in groups with similar habitats called biomes of which there are five: forests, oceans, marine mammals, deserts, and plains. Some of our favorite exhibits were the shark touch pool, the Orangutan center, the dolphin show, the Deserts Dome, and the Hilbert Conservatory.
In the Oceans exhibit, guests are invited to touch the country’s largest dogsharks. The kids had fun doing this, although my son didn’t want to get his arm wet. The Orangutan center lets you get close to several of these great apes and there is a 50-floor-high structure built around the center called the Oases that allows the orangutans to move around high above the zoo. There is also a Skyline aerial ride (March-October) that allows you to see the zoo from their perspective. We didn’t ride, but we saw several orangutans hanging out and climbing around high above our heads. It was cool to see.
The dolphin show, featuring the zoo’s bottlenose dolphins, was the favorite exhibit for our little – and not so little – ones. The show is free with zoo admission, but, due to limited seating, you must get tickets at the window as you enter the front gate. The show is informative as well as entertaining.
The Zoo’s other animal presentation is the All Star Dog Challenge (March-October, free). It’s presented by two dog enthusiasts and several of their rescue dogs performing acrobatic and aerial tricks. At the end of the show, two dogs competed in an agility course. It was lots of fun for the kids and adults alike. It even rivaled the dolphin show for favorite part of the day for the two youngest.
One of my favorite exhibits was the Deserts Dome. It was a chilly day and the dome allowed the animals (and me) to bask in natural sunlight and its lovely heat. We saw cool habitats with lots of snakes, lizards, turtles, tortoises, and birds. We also got to see some adorable slender-tailed meerkats, which reminded me how much I miss Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet.
The overall appearance of the Indianapolis Zoo reminded me of the Cincinnati Zoo from about 25 years ago. Big open spaces, divided up by big rocks. They have a good variety of animals and I was impressed with how many of them were on exhibit. I think there was only one animal that was off exhibit. There are a couple of play areas for the littles, as well as a carousel, train, small coaster, and Splash Park (open on days 70 degrees and above). Located in the Plains, is a Race-A-Cheetah ($0.50) game. People – I only saw kids – got to run as fast as they could to see if they could outrun a cheetah. No one I saw managed to beat this swift cat; the kids were lined up though. (All rides are $3.00 each or $10.00 for an all adventure package that includes animal feeds, 4-D Theater, and the Zooper Challenge. The Zooper Challenge is a series of 14 stations located throughout the zoo that test your zoo IQ.)
On the way out of the zoo, we stopped in at the Hilbert Conservatory (included in your zoo admission), located in the White River Gardens. The towering glass enclosure is a tranquil, tropical home to lush greenery and, now through September, lots and lots of butterflies. There was even a little hatchery for the growing and emerging butterflies. This and the surrounding gardens are a must see. I definitely want to come back when the gardens are in full bloom.
Zoo admission fluctuates based on projected attendance and can be as high as $22/17 or as low as $15/12 for adults/children (2-12). Tickets can be purchased online. Parking in the zoo lot is $6.00.
