Phoenix Zoo Noon Year's Eve on New Year's Eve Day - Fun for the Family

The Phoenix Zoo offers a family event on the morning of New Year's Eve with a toast at noon to celebrate the New Year as Noon Year's Eve.

They brought in snow for everyone to play in and had a separate pile for the little kids under 5, away from the piles for the bigger kids.

They had a Star Wars theme this year (2015) and labeled the area Hoth. There were Storm Troopers and other Star Wars characters walking around and offering photos with them.

The zoo is open all day on New Year's Eve day so after the morning snow fun there is plenty of time to play in the play house area by the carousel, check out the animals and watch one of their 4D movies. 

It was a pretty busy day but was not too crowded that it was uncomfortable. It added to the fun for our kids to have some other kids there to play with. The tent below was set up for a New Year's countdown and toast at Noon and had a board to write your resolutions for 2016.

We stayed until almost sunset and then headed home. 

This is the view from the zoo Starbucks, great spot to get a last treat of the day.

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Phoenix Zoo - Starbucks - Yakulla Caverns - Mexican Food - Orangutan Habitat

There is now a Starbucks near the front of the Phoenix Zoo and they have our favorite

Starbucks handcrafted coffee drinks as well as pastries and some breakfast items like Burritos that look amazing.

We tried the Latte (with a little chocolate on top at my request) and a Mocha and they were very good. It was such a treat to have Starbucks at the zoo.

We walked with our Starbucks drinks over to Yakulla Caverns splash area for the kids to play and for us all to cool off a bit. If you head up the row with the zebra's and flamingos then turn right at the restaurant/snack bar at the end of that row you will find this area.

The stairs lead through the caves and then they can come down the slide on the right.

There are other caves behind that one they can walk through to the other side

There are some nice shady areas with little water squirters that are great for the little guys and girls to get wet. Please note this area usually has many kids running around so there is also the water area by the pirate ship playground near the carousel where there is less activity and might be good for the littlest ones.

Behind the water area there is a shaded artificial grass area with benches for the parents to sit and watch the kids. 

There is a tree trunk they can play in and many areas of water jets that spray into the air.

Here is another view of the area. It was very popular the day we were there. 

Also, there is a restroom area and changing areas for boys and girls right next to the splash area so you don't have to go far for potty breaks or to get the kids changed into dry clothes.

The little snack bar/restaurant right by Yakulla Caverns served Mexican food. They have tacos, nachos, burritos and more. We tried the Burrito and the Barbacoa Tacos. 

The tacos sauce was amazing. We also had chips and salsa not shown in the photos but it was very good. We paired it with our Starbucks drinks and it was a very enjoyable lunch!

This was our view of the lake while we were eating. 

More views from our lunch table. 

There were monkeys across the island and beautiful birds in the lake that we watched while we were eating.

This is the farm play area by the Children's portion of the zoo, near the petting zoo. There was not a water area there so keep that in mind if it is a warm day, you may want to go to the water area on the way to the kids area to cool off. 

One of our favorite exhibits is the Orangutan area. This is the beautiful sign at one of the entrances. Each time we visit we see a new area of the zoo and have been very impressed by all the advances they have made.

It says Orang - Hutan People of the Forest.

This is at the center of the exhibit. there are windows all around and boards with information about the Orangutans and their natural habitat.

At this exhibit you can walk through a center portion with the grass areas all around and look through windows to see the Orangutans from all different areas. We counted five including the young baby who just turned 1. 

There were 2 adult Orangutans and the baby here on this structure.

This is from inside the house like portion at the center of the exhibit. 

This was one of our favorites. He climbed down the netting and found some bamboo he managed to pull through the netting to eat. 

The exhibit allows you to walk all around from many different sides of the habitat. It was one that really kept all of our attention, even the kids. 

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Fourth of Zooly at the Phoenix Zoo

This year we attended the 4th of Zooly at the Phoenix Zoo for the first time and had a great time.

Some of our kids' favorite highlights were the free carousel rides, the splash pads, the cookies and the music during the fireworks and dinner.

The area of the zoo you can explore is limited to the front and by the lake on the lawn with the 4D Theater and the Splash Pad by the Pirate Ship play area.

They had the buffet dinner set up upon opening and also had the Carousel, Stingray Bay and 4D Theater open. There was a bit of a line to wait in upon opening of the event so be aware even if you arrive early you will have to wait for the gates to open. The line moved quickly at 6pm when they opened and they used scanners to quickly verify everyone's tickets. These had sold out by the time we left home to go so we were glad we purchased tickets a week ahead of time. The kids tickets were $35 each for ages 3-12 and the adult tickets were $45 each for ages 13+, ages 2 and under were free. This included the meal and all the rides and events inside.

The tables were all decorated with animal print tablecloths and a DJ group was playing music and coordinating activities for the kids like dancing and musical chairs. There were raffles for some great giveaways including Disney's Teen Beach Movie 2 Posters, Star Wars Puzzles, and Spiderman small sandwich containers for the lunch box.

The buffet dinner was barbecue pork and chicken that you could build your own BBQ sandwich with as well as salad, sides, chips and cookies for dessert. They also had veggie burgers.

It was pretty humid so the splash pad came in handy, even for the parents.

The music was fun, the food tasted great and the kids could just run around and be kids. There were no inflatable slides or bouncy houses but we have seen they are offered at some of the Phoenix Zoo Prowl and Play events. They had a small bar open but none of the snack bars or Starbucks were open for purchasing extra treats. (Did you know they now have a Starbucks window at the zoo! It is great. Such a treat!)

At around 8:30pm they started running the zoo train to a location back in the loading dock area of the zoo that was positioned so we could see the fireworks display at the Tempe Town Lake. They had chairs set up for everyone and moved the DJ team over there.

We had a large double stroller with us. Our kids are 6 and 4 but still use the stroller for large events like Disneyland trips or the Zoo just to take a break for long distances. It also comes in handy to store our gear and food.  The stroller wouldn't fit on the zoo train without emptying it and folding it so we chose to take the guided flashlight trail with the Zoo staff who were very nice and helped us find our way back through a secret staff only path to the fireworks viewing area.

We bought glowsticks for the kids from the $1 bin at Target and a couple of our own flashlights which helped them feel safe on the dark walk through the secret zoo pathway.

At the fireworks viewing area they had complimentary popsicles for everyone and the music changed to patriotic songs for the fireworks show. We could see the fireworks well but you should know that you can't see the actual lake from the zoo. The music from the DJs with the fireworks was just right for a nice, uncrowded, safe family friendly fireworks show.

Since they sell a limited number of tickets at a moderate investment the people attending all had an attitude of wanting to be there and share in a peaceful and fun evening. We and our kids all felt safe and there was nobody smoking or overindulging in alcohol to make us feel uncomfortable.

We would recommend grabbing a few extra bottles of water from the dinner area before you make the trek over to the fireworks viewing area and also bring a small motorized fan to stay cool. We have those squirt bottle/fans we bought at Disneyland a few years back and they really come in handy.

You can learn more about events at the Phoenix Zoo here: http://phoenixzoo.org/events/events-calendar/

Some events are discounted for members or have special member only nights like Zoolights.

(This was not a sponsored post)