October Kids Free San Diego

2023.10.14 San Diego Zoo Safari Park

October was here. I let the kids pick where they would like to go for Kids-Free San Diego: Sesame Place vs. Safari Park 

This day, 10/14/2023, was also the solar eclipse that could be visible in the west coast. We spent about 10 mins in the parking lot observing the partial eclipse. The park ranger also showed us through a piece of hole-punches paper, where the sunlight streamed through; and we spotted the eclipse from the shadows!

African Tram

I thought it would be crowded because of the Kids Free promotion like our visit in San Diego Zoo two year ago. It was actually quite the opposite.

I have to say that I’m not a fan of zoos. The park was nice and clean but I just couldn’t see myself revisiting here again so we decided to go on the Balloon Safari as a thing-to-do souvenir. We missed the early bird discount when we passed by in the morning but I was glad we took the ride :) 

Balloon Safari

2022.10.08 In the year of 2022, we chose SeaWorld San Diego to visit for the Kids Free promotion.

It was funny when my oldest asked “Isn’t here the sea world? Why can’t I find any fish?” He was expecting the park to be like aquariums. SeaWorld in fact hosts more of the sea mammals like Orca, sea lions, otters, and dolphins rather than fishes.

I’ve been to SeaWorld several times as a kid and then as a college student. It was exciting to see those beautiful marine animals in real life; and then it was fun to hang out with friends and enjoy the thrill rides. Now as a mom, what I see or feel about SeaWorld has changed dramatically. Now I felt a lot more uncomfortable to see the big sea animals living in relatively small tanks and performing on stage almost daily… :( 

At the same time, it is such a place for young children to understand the importance of the ocean ecosystem and teach them to be kind to the environment. I don’t know how much information they actually took in but let’s focus on the fun part this time… :)