Review - Texas - Tyler - Caldwell Zoo

 

The Caldwell Zoo is the only AZA credited zoo in this area of East Texas and is worth a visit.

Unfortunately at the time we visited, some of the zoo was closed for construction of the new Amazon River's Edge area (see the southern area of the map). Also the food vendors were closed. So perpare for that by having a picnic outside. Only bottled water is allowed inside the gate. Also, this zoo closes earlier than other zoos so be sure to check out the operating hours below.



One of the first things you'll notice as you pull into the parking lot (parking is free) is the breadth of natural plants and African-style themed decor. The thatched umbrellas along the stairs are nice. There are a ton of stairs down to the entrance but there is a wheelchair/stroller friendly path just to the right that winds through more plants. The ticket windows on the outside are closed so just walk straight to the gate inside where you can purchase your tickets under the cover. There are some nice rocking chairs if going down the stairs wears you out (or you can take a break on the way out). The gift shop and exit are directly across the ticket windows on the left side of the building.

What really impressed me where the directional signs. They depict the animals visually so young kids can follow them.



The penguin exhibit is excellent - the penguins swim right up against the glass for great photo-ops. The fish tank is also fun. The tanks do smell fishy.



Even though the zoo feels small, they feature all the major animals - lions, giraffes, elephants, and rhinos. Their exhibits are well-sized and offer nice viewing windows.



I really like the covered viewing areas like this one beside the Black and White Colobus monkeys and the Bongos. Keep in mind that summers are super-hot in Texas and even though the temperature was high 80's it felt hot. Bring plenty of water bottles.



We lucked out during our visit and got to witness the feeding of the Alligators and the SoftShelled Turtles.



The savannah area is located right next to the main restaurant/food court (which was closed at the time of my visit). They had a nice patio with chairs. Normally the giraffe feeding is open during the day except the lunch hours ($5 per feed) but it was also closed on our visit.

 

The Herpetarium is located right across from the Bison, Deer and Longhorns. Warning for those with kiddos that are afraid of the dark or snakes, you may want to skip the herpetarium. Inside you will find lizards, frogs, snakes and fish. The air conditioning is nice too!



The zoo is divided into two loops, so depending on which way you go in the middle, you may have to circle back to visit the other side which is what we ended up doing especially since South America was closed off. Since it was late in the afternoon and pretty hot, many of the animals were sleeping, relaxing or hiding in trees for shade. Best time to go would be earlier in the day when it's not quite hot and sunny.



These cute goats were relaxing near the closed-off entrance to South America. The petting zoo and playground are closed as part of the construction mentioned above, but it's fun to watch the little goats in their climbing equipment.

 

And, lastly, the beautifully formed exit doors. I wish there had been a photo prop at the entrance/exit like many zoos now have for posting to social media.

The zoo has a lot of extra activities (such as giraffe feeding, penguin encounters, black bear encounters, but availability may be limited. If you're interested in one of these, call ahead to verify they are running. Details:
Address: 2203 W Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Tyler, TX 75702
Hours: 9am-3:30pm Daily
Admission: Adults (12-54) $16.50, Children (3-12) $12.50, Under 2 free, Over 55 only $14.50; Reciprocal AZA Members get 50% discount.

Get more information from the official website, https://caldwellzoo.org/

Overall Family Review:

• 17 year old - Liked the rocking chairs at the entrance pavilion
• 12 year old - Liked the alligator feedings
• 8 year old - Liked the penguins
• 2 year old - Liked the penguins and walking along the trails

Review - Texas - Tyler - Things to Do Around Town

Tyler, Texas is about an hour and half away from Dallas (three hours from Houston and four hours from Austin) which makes it a great location for a day trip.

If you take Interstate 20, keep an eye out for the exit to Tyler. It's listed with Lindale and is not directly off the highway. You have to drive south for a bit before you start seeing signs pointing you to the city.

Tyler is a relatively small city but Saturday afternoons feel rather crowded as you drive around the busier areas (such as the mall). The major tourist spots are located in the northern area of the city - The Caldwell Zoo, The Discovery Science Place Museum, and the Tyler Rose Garden.

 

The first stop on your tour should be the painted Wings mural located in downtown, specifically at 110 S Broadway Ave which is just a few blocks North from the The Discovery Science Place. Step on up on the sidewalk and take photos with the different styles and sized wings (they even have a pair for the kiddos).

 

You'll notice a lot of artwork around town. There's an Art Museum at the Junior College on 1300 S Mahon Ave. If you have a little bit of time, stop by during their business hours Tuesday-Saturday (10a-5p) or Sunday (1p-5p). $5 for guests over 13 years old; $3 for seniors; free for children or city employees.

The Discovery Science Place is at 308 N Broadway Ave. The museum is open Tuesday-Friday (10a-5pm), Saturday (10a-5pm) and Sunday (1pm-5pm). Please note from 9/12/22-9/30/22 they will be closed for maintenance. Admission is $10 for guests 13+; $8.00 for children 2-12; and free for those under 2. This is a fun hands-on museum. For more info, check out https://www.discoveryscienceplace.org/.

Also nearby is the infamous Tyler Rose Garden Center and Rose Museum located at 420 Rose Park Dr. Admission is free during their regular garden hours - Monday-Friday (8a-5p), Saturday (9a-5p) and Sunday (1p-5p). Roses are in bloom from mid-April through mid-October depending on the weather conditions. A little bit of additional info in listed on the CityOfTyler.org website. This is a small but family-friendly garden. The inside building hosts a variety of vendors. The very best time to visit is during the annual Texas Rose Festival in October. There will be all kinds of decorations and pagentry. Get more info here: https://www.texasrosefestival.com/

If you have time, drive around downtown and check out the Brickstreet District (you can't really miss the area since there are big signs and bricked streets turning off the main concrete roads). These buildings were erected between 1890 and 1940. Some will have plaques on their front porches. For specific details, check out the website, HistoricTyler.org. This site offers a colorful map of the historic landmarks or Click Here to download/print it yourself. Too bad the map doesn't include dates.

The University of Texas college system has a campus here in the southeastern area of town. They have a well-known baseball team so try to catch one of their games if you can.

My next review will be of the Caldwell Zoo located in the northwestern corner of Tyler.

Review - Florida - Orlando - Hollywood Studios - DVC Member Moonlight Magic Event (July 2022)

The past few weeks I've been in a back-to-school cloud so this post is very overdue! But hopefully you will enjoy the photos and details of the Disney Vacation Club (DVC) member event we attended back in July.

Throughout the year, Disney offers Disney Vacation Club (DVC) (their version of a timeshare program) members the opportunity to visit one of their four parks or a selected waterpark after it closes for the day to the general public (usually around 9pm). The events are free and this year they offered members and their guests free snacks, a popcorn bucket, and special character meet-and-greets (we'll talk about all those in a bit).

First, the DVC members has to register for the event. In order to register, the member must have a valid Disney-owned Resort reservation for that day. All guests staying with the member are eligible to join. Children under 3 do not need to be listed. Keep in mind, if you cancel your resort registration, your event registration will be cancelled as well (this is to keep down the amount of fraudulent registrations). Registration is done through a link found in an email the company sends out. When you click the link, you are placed into a virtual queue and you will wait (sometimes hours) until it's your turn to register for the event or until you get a nasty-gram that the event has reached capacity and sold out. Boo!
The best part is you don't need a park ticket or a park reservation to attend. If you do have a ticket already (like AP'ers) you will need to get a wrist band to stay after the park closes.

So for this review, our family attended the Hollywood Studios Moonlight Magic event on July 14th.


Here's the brochure they handed to us at the gate. We had to wait in a special event line, show them our registration confirmation and member ID. They then give each person in your party a wrist band (which you will show cast members throughout the night).

 

Each member of our party received a special trio of certificates. The first certificate was good for either a popcorn bucket or a snack. The last two were good for snacks. The back of the certificate sheet listed the locations where you could redeem popcorn bucket or snacks. It was vital to note that some locations closed early! And a lot of locations did not list out what snacks were available. You had to wait in line to find out which was a little frustrating.

Important tip - snack lines got longer towards the end of the evening and, yes, things sold out.

Here's a photo of the free member popcorn bucket. It came with a plastic lid that attaches to the handle. It also came with a separate box of popcorn if you preferred not to dump it in the bucket.

Important tip - don't stock up on popcorn boxes to save for later. The popcorn was very stale by the next day. Yuck!

 

Here are two snacks we got in Star Wars land - Hyperiod Popcorn for flavored popcorn (the line was very long and slow) and a special chocolate dessert at the Docking Bay 7 (which the kids did not like).
The best part, IMO, are the free ice cream bars (Chocolate-covered Mickey-shaped bar or a strawberry-flavored popsicle). You don't need to use snack certificates for those, but they closed down early. Boo hoo!

The event also had two DJ-led dance parties which the younger kids loved. One was held in the main stage area (in the center of Hollywood) and the other was inside the Disney Junior theatre. Rare characters Scrooge McDuck and Launchpad were wandering around the Disney Junior theatre taking photos with families. Goofy and his son Max were dancing on the main stage for a short time.

Just outside the Indiana Jones area, there was a socially-distanced meet-and-greet with rare characters Monterey Jack and Fat Cat from Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers. They switched out with the Rescue Rangers (who wore Indiana-Jones type gear). The lines were pretty long for either and they went on long breaks so the opportunity to meet was limited. If you see rare characters, always stand in the long line! They might not come back out as we found out with the Chip and Dale characters. Boo hoo!


Some other characters - Chewie and R2D2 in Star Wars land (a lot of people had brought glow-in-the-dark props or lit up their lightsabers for cool photos), Woody and Jessie at Toy Story land (outside the 3D ride), Kylo Ren and storm troopers wandering around Star Wars land interacting with guests, and Darth Vader on the stage just next to the Star Tours ride (he wasn't there very long either).

 

One of the nice things about Moonlight Magic or any after-hours party is the chance to wait in shorter lines for rides, especially more popular rides. We did find ourselves waiting forever in a broke-down Mickey and Minnie Railway (we ent the older kids off to get on other rides).

In summary, if you are a DVC member and are able to join, try to attend! I wish I could attend all the parties, but since I live so far away and have other obligations, we cannot. Hopefully they continue to offer these through the upcoming year. It's fun. Plus, how else can you stuff your mouth on free Mickey-shaped ice cream bars?