San Antonio Zoo Tickets

Having previously had a great time at the San Antonio Zoo, as soon as bookings became available, we signed up to stay at Spekboom Lodge, the lodge nestled inside the zoo, looking out on the giraffe enclosure. This was our first overnight vacation as a family of three (two adults and a two year old) that wasn’t with/to see other family, and we couldn’t have chosen a better place for it! Many people would look at the price and think it couldn’t be worth it, but they would totally be missing out, as it absolutely is worth it, and more! The key to remember is that Spekboom Lodge isn’t just another place to stay the night. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience! In addition to a beautifully built and appointed lodge, complete with a private deck that faces the giraffe barn and the part of their enclosure that they spend most of the day in, and a window seat/trundle bed/mini-sunroom that is three-sides glass and juts into the enclosure, as well as bathroom and main bedroom windows that face the enclosure, there are so many other unique perks that come with staying there. First, you have access throughout the day to an outstanding hospitality team who can get you anything you need, and/or get you anywhere you need to go. Just send a text, and they’ll make it happen. Evelyn, Luke, and Krystal all went above and beyond to make sure everything about our stay was comfortable. Thanks y’all! Second, you get 3 hours of private access to the whole zoo. You literally just get to roam around the whole zoo for an hour before it opens and for two hours after it closes, with no one else there but the occasional (very friendly!) staff member wandering around. We told our 2 year old that he was the official “night night ambassador” for our stay, and he got to run around and say “nai nai” to each of the animals, which will be a core memory for the entire family forever. Third, you get a private guided tour of the zoo, where you can learn all kinds of interesting things that regular zoo-goers don’t know, and ask any questions you want (bring your questions!). You can also arrange other behind-the-scenes experiences as well: we did a hippo drop feeding, and our 2 year old loved chucking lettuce and apples down to the them from the balcony. Fourth, you get unlimited free access to all of the ticketed attractions, like giraffe feeding, kangaroo petting, flamingo feeding, the carousel and train, etc. If you use this privilege correctly, it’s a huge value. Find the thing you or your family members like to do, and you can do it as many times as you want! Finally, while “an exclusive deck/window bed/windows that face the giraffe enclosure” already sounds cool, it’s hard to put into words HOW cool it is to be able to spend as many hours of the day as you want just hanging out with these gentle giants: as you eat, as you lounge, as you go to sleep, as you wake up. It’s totally different from seeing them as a regular zoo guest, or even doing the regular giraffe feeding. You literally get to be roommates with three giraffes, in the coolest possible way. As we were driving in, I said to my wife “I know nothing is guaranteed, but what I want to happen is for a giraffe to walk right by the window.” Just goes to show just how little I appreciated what I was actually in for - because a giraffe, or two, or three, is going to be walking by, standing by, or maybe even licking your window, over and over again throughout the day. If you decide to do it (and you absolutely should!), here are a few pro tips to make the most of your experience: - They’ll tell you this when you get there, but you won’t know beforehand (though now you do!): in addition to the room service dining, they’re also happy to take you back to your car to go out to eat, or to bring you a DoorDash delivery, so you don’t need to worry that all you’ll have to eat is “zoo food” the whole time. Though on that note, the “zoo food” was much better than we expected. It might get old if you’re staying longer than two nights, but it’s actually good food, and we were perfectly happy with it for our two nights. The breakfast tacos are particularly good! - We did our private zoo tour (by golf cart) the first night, and felt that it was a great introduction to where everything was, and who all of the animals were (many by name, age, family relationships) for the rest of the trip. So we felt really in the know while we overheard other people saying things like “oh, he must be going into the barn to get out of the sun,” we could think to ourselves “oh, HER name is Waffles and she’s 2 years old,” etc. If we’d waited until the second night, the tour would’ve still been great, but we would’ve had one less day of feeling super in the know. - Potentially radical, but revolutionary for us: put the person who is going to be awake the most in the top bunk of the window seat trundle bed, and the person who is going to be asleep the most in the main bedroom. For us, this meant putting our 2 year old’s pack and play in the main bedroom, and staying out in the trundle bed ourselves (one night on the top bunk each, to be fair). Staying up late, waking up early, or even getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, it’s so cool to see the giraffes wandering around late at night or early in the morning. Some of our best moments, including a sneak-attack window-licking by Cosmo the giraffe, were in the window seat bed late at night or early in the morning, and we would’ve missed these if we adhered to the logic of “parents obviously belong in the king bed in the main bedroom.” My wife suggested we make the switch right before putting our son down in the living room the first night, and it was the best decision we made the whole trip. If you have an older kid who’ll be able to appreciate it, and want to give them the highest value accommodation, that’s great too, but in any case, be sure to consider that that top window bed is the highest value accommodation, by far. - The giraffes go in the barn around 7:20/7:30 am for enclosure cleaning, so if you want to wake up to them, wake up before that. The giraffes aren’t regularly required to, and usually don’t, go in the barn much outside that time, so they’re pretty much on view 23 hours of the day. - Walk the park from 8-9 am, before ordering breakfast (which also becomes available at 8). The private access to the zoo in the morning and evening is one of the coolest parts of the experience, so you don’t want to miss it waiting for breakfast to be delivered. (We made this mistake the first morning, and remedied it the second.) Also, we found out the second morning that you can actually have breakfast delivered anywhere in the zoo, not just to the lodge, so you can have breakfast with your favorite animal, if you want. - Take advantage of the unlimited experiences! As long as there isn’t a long line, you can feed the giraffes as many times as you want (you could literally be there for the full 4 hours it’s open, if you wanted to be), ride the carousel as many times as you want, or do any of the other ticket-based things as many times as you want. We only fully came to appreciate the value (both experiential and monetary) of this special power halfway through our trip. If you’re the kind of person who might wonder “is it really unlimited?” Yes, it is. The staff is all super friendly and supportive of you living your best zoo life, whatever that might be! A few things to keep in mind: - For 11 am checkout, they pick you up at 10:45 (to get you back to your car at 11), but that allows one final giraffe feeding right as it opens at 10:30, if you want, and your hosts can help you jump the line for that, if it’s busy. - With the lodge being *in* the zoo, during the day, on the deck or in the window seat with the blinds open, you might feel a bit like the “Homo sapiens exhibit,” but we thought that was actually kind of a cool vibe. Even if that’s not your vibe, most of your time in the lodge is when the zoo is closed, and even during zoo hours, the blinds provide full privacy, if you prefer. - After the zoo closes to the public, they shoot off some loud flares and bang some blocks of wood together to scare aware non-zoo birds. It didn’t bother us, but if you’re super sensitive to sound, you might want to know that ahead of time. - Very occasionally, when the wind is just right, there’s a slight manure smell that wafts across the deck. Totally expected, being in a zoo with tons of animals, but if you’re super sensitive to smells, you might want to know that ahead of time. Overall, we highly recommend staying at Spekboom, and will definitely come back again ourselves in the future! It’s such a cool, unique experience, so if you’re at all thinking about it, go ahead and book it - you won’t regret it!