One of the “perks” of being a military family is that we travel a lot! We travel not just because the military moves us all over the place but also on our way back “home”. We have had the privilege to see many zoos, aquariums, and museums and have a passion for visiting them when ever we can. Thankfully the Maryland Zoo is fantastic all year around and great family fun!

 

Maryland Zoo Great Trip for a Big Family

 

While this holiday we didn’t end up traveling, we still got to go see something new to us, the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. We have been to the National Zoo many times and enjoy it but with the government shut down, that wasn’t possible sadly. The winter is still a great time to visit many zoos and I am glad we got to go see The Maryland Zoo. The kids had such a great time. They have asked for a Membership to it and I think we are going to do it!

 Maryland Zoo a great field trip for Homeschoolers too!

I was delighted to see tickets to the Maryland Zoo on discount online, for $12 each rather than the normal $19 for adults. I believe military families can get discount tickets on post but it was a last minute trip so I just got them online instead and printed the tickets. It was super simple to use the printed tickets and I am betting using the e-mail ones digitally on a cell phone, an option they have, would be simple as well.

Once inside the  zoo you can go left and walk around to the main part of the zoo or just past the prairie dogs on the right, you can take the trolley, a short bumpy ride the kids really liked and I really enjoyed, specially on the way back when we rushed to the exit of the zoo when it was closing! I should note, 4 hours was not enough time for our large family to see all of the zoo! We are going back again soon!

 Maryland Zoo is accessible for those with limited mobility!

Note: For those with chronic pain, fibromyalgia and those with limited mobility I think this zoo is very doable, specially because of the trolley ride (free) and the ample places to sit and rest in this zoo! 

On this trip we choose to do things a bit differently than normal. Often we see the animals or go to a learning experience before doing any kind of rides. As such, we sometimes miss the rides! This having been the case as of late, we went to the rides first, or rather, we meant to! There was no way to pass the Penguins playing and not stop to soak in their adorableness!

The penguins caught our attention right away and held us captivated by their antics. One was very friendly and enjoyed being close to the glass and admired. Others swam quickly in front of us and some even splashed, much to the delight of our youngest. When we managed to pull ourselves away from all the cuteness we got to enjoy a line-less Carousel. How a school vacation day we expected the zoo to be packed, but it wasn’t! The kids enjoyed the ride and even with having 5 kids, we didn’t find it too costly a trip.

   Maryland Zoo is an all day adventure!

We went to ride the mini train after but found it was out for lunch so we wondered over to the bard yard where I managed to get a sweet photo of our 3 year old. You can’t see that she is sitting on a saddle. Goodness she adores all things horses. The donkeys were so much fun to watch and the goats that we could brush so adorable too!

That caught our attention unexpectedly though was the swans. Three of them, possibly a mating pair and a young adolescent swan we think. This particular swan had more grey in him. He was very interested in us, or maybe wanted to chase us away. He was also very loud! We loved him. He shocked us all with how tall he was when he stretched up over the fence!

   The animals seem as interested in people as we are in them! 

We got a snack at the food shack, only one was open that day but many others in the Zoo. We loved the cheese fries! Then it was time to try the Maryland Zoo Mini Train!

Note: It is a rather loud ride and so those with some sensory issues might not love this. Otherwise it is a nice ride, we saw some deer in the woods. Not really other animals to see beyond a bull on this ride.

Then back to the farm area!

While they had two balls to play with, these two wanted to play with the same one. They walked in circles both biting this ball for so long! It was very funny to watch!

As you can see, there were many animals we didn’t get a chance to see and for sure we have to go back!

We had a wonderful trip and highly recommend going to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore as something to do with kids!