A lot of writers have written about the ideal day at the Bronx Zoo but what happens when it rains? What should you expect and should you even go?
We went on a bus trip to the Bronx Zoo with New London Adult Ed recently and it rained all day. A bus trip is a great way to enjoy a place like the Bronx Zoo because you don’t have to drive (and in this case drive in the rain), deal with all of that traffic getting into the city, or pay to park. The bus trip ticket includes the bus ride, a pit stop for coffee or food, and tickets to all exhibits at the Bronx zoo. When you go on your own you will also have to pay $17.00 for parking for one car (yeh, that’s a lot) and also extra for some exhibits. The general ticket doesn’t get you into all of the exhibits like the 4D movie or carousel ride. So, taking a bus trip to the Bronx Zoo actually saves you money and a lot of headaches.
Another thing I liked about the bus trip was that there were outlets in the front of each seat so you can charge your devices. You just have to make sure you bring your charger cables and wall adapters. Our guide was super helpful and announced everything we needed to know several times throughout the trip.
If you are interested in taking a bus trip and are in the New London area (Waterford, Mystic, New London, Groton, Lymes) you should check out the trips New London Adult Ed has to offer. If you aren’t in this area you can also find bus trips by visiting your local adult ed’s website – usually you will find them through your town’s website.
Another way to find a one-day bus trip to visit the Bronx Zoo or other awesome destinations, is to go to the bus company’s website. The bus we took was a Peter Pan bus but the tour was run through Friendship Tours. Visit their website and you will find that they have similar trips at the same price offered by the adult ed and also other trips the adult ed does not offer.
We had nasty weather – I mean Noah’s ark kind of rain coming down all day long. However, it was warm enough outside and we prepared by bringing umbrellas and rain jackets. The only thing we didn’t plan were our shoes, which got soaked all day long. Thank goodness the Bronx Zoo has clean portable restrooms with blower dryers. Picture me with my shoes off in the restroom drying my shoes under the dryer. When things don’t go the way you want, just improvise.
Because of the rainy weather a lot of exhibits were closed because the animals didn’t want to come out of their enclosures. This meant we missed seeing about half of the exhibits. If it is going to rain all day you should check ahead of time and try to postpone your trip because you may miss a lot of exhibits. While it was fun to see gorillas sleeping in their enclosure, it would have been a lot more fun to see them hanging from trees in the large outdoor enclosure.
Bronx Zoo is well maintained with lots of parking spaces, places to eat both indoors and outdoors, clean bathrooms and helpful guides. On rainy days, only one indoor restaurant will be open. They don’t care if you bring your own food so you may want to save a little bit of money and pack your lunch.
The monorail was also closed and the shuttles didn’t run so we didn’t see the outer areas either. We saw a couple of gorillas in their inside closures but every time we came by they were sleeping. Maybe they didn’t like the rain either. We spent the entire day there and made sure to go back to several exhibits twice. So, if it rains you may want to reschedule your trip. The Bronx Zoo does have a lot to offer and it is beautifully maintained. It was still an amazing day even though it rained and we will definitely plan another trip when the weather is better so we can view the exhibits we missed.
A few of our favorite areas were the butterfly indoor gardens, watching the funny lemurs, gorillas, Komodo dragon exhibit, and the Inca Tern birds (you can get very close to them, about a foot away).