On April 13th my dream of going to the Cincinatti Zoo finally came true! I have been wanting to go to the Cincinatti Zoo for YEARS ever since I heard about Fiona the hippos story. I have been following her story for years and really wanted to go see her. However, Cincinatti was always just far enough away that it required a bit too much time/planning to ever make it happen. For Christmas this year, dad told me that he was going to pick an experience off of my bucket list and we were going to do it. I choose the Cincinatti Zoo! Dad paid for the zoo tickets, a hotel, and a tour of the hippo barn for me!! Yippee!!
We drove down on Friday night and stayed at the Red Roof Inn. I made the mistake of picking this place... I was looking for a place that was a decent price and seemed to be in a good area, and I figured that a big chain would have some quality control... wrong! I must have missed the reviews on this place, because this place was not great at all. You can see the chair was all torn up, and the ground was FILTHY. Poor Kayla was walking around for a minute and had black feet. The bathroom was also pretty gross, and the room had a funky/moldy smell to it when we walked in. We got there after work so it was pretty late like 9ish and we were really tired so there wasn't much that could be done. The pillows weren't great on the bed either... but oh well... we were only staying there for a night (thankfully)!
The next morning we were up bright and early to go to the zoo. We rented dad a motorized scooter for the day so that he could enjoy his day. Kayla's main thing was that she wanted to feed the giraffes. So we went there first and waited in line to feed them...
And she chickened out! She was all about it until they were there to eat it and then she said "No you do it!" and let me hold her while I fed them instead.
She keeps saying that giraffes are her favorite animal at the zoo though and insists every time that we go that she wants to feed them. Maybe next time...
Then it was time for the hippos!! We had a walk all the way around the park, but we made it to their area.
They were all up and active! I guess it had been cold/rainy earlier in the week and they had been mostly inside... so they were excited to get out today. This was Fritz playing with his toys. The trainers said that he is very toy motivated.
Watching the hippos swim by.
HI!!!!
I was SO excited to be there!!
Hi Fiona! They were playing together.
Hi friend!!
Fiona took a selfie with me!
And with Kayla! Hi girl! She knows she's famous.
My girl and I! We were there for a while, because I was really enthusiastic and excited to see the hippos.
Then it was time for my hippo barn tour! I was with a small group and we got to go behind scenes and see where the hippos live.
This is one of the bottles that they fed Fiona with when she was a baby. I really enjoyed the tour and getting to learn a little bit more about the hippos and see the hippo bar that I've been watching online for years. Also, part of the proceeds from the tour goes towards hippo conservation in the wild, so I was glad to support that too.
After the tour, they gave us a tip that they were going to feed the hippos up against the wall... so I went there right afterwards.
Fiona posing.
Getting ready to get into the water. I guess the momma, Bebe, will let her babies, Fiona and Fritz, come up to the feeding wall with her, but she won't let the male hippo, Tucker come. He has to stand way back and get thrown some stuff.
Snack time!
Bebe and Fiona
Kayla watching them eat.
Both of us together!
Bebe is ready for her snack with Fritz on the side of her.
I adored watching these hippos interact and swim around.
Bye Fiona! After staying at the hippo area for a quite a while, it was time to move on. We grabbed a quick lunch and then walked around the rest of the zoo. There weren't too many areas that were very novel/exciting over the hippo barn. Everything else was pretty standard/we have better exhibits in Cleveland.
One area that we really liked was the Australian area. They had a penguin area and this guy was our little friend. I kept calling out to him and he kept calling back and swimming by us. We played with him for quite a bit and people around us were even laughing that he liked us.
I kept saying, "Hi Friend" in a high pitch voice and he seemed to like it.
Dad on his scooter!! Go daddy go!
Comparing his hands to the Gorillas.
The gorilla area was a fun spot too. We got there too late in the day though because they were already sleepy for the day. That's a big lesson learned at the zoo... animals are a lot more active in the morning and by the afternoon it gets hotter and they are more sleepy. So go see whatever you want to first thing.
This guy behind Kayla was a rascal! So glad that he didn't do it to her... but not too long after she left he came up and started pounding on the glass and startled people. He does look like he has a mean look on his face! Must have been annoyed, because he definitely made people jump.
The perfect day! We had such a great time. I picked this time of year because the tulips were in bloom too.
Family shot!
Kayla wanted to stand behind the flowers.
Momma and her girl.
She wanted me to go up behind the flowers too.
Daddy!
Love this picture of them!
After a while, we stopped and got some ice cream and bought Kayla a Fiona hippo stuffy. The line here took FOREVER, but I'm so glad that we got her the Fiona stuffy because she has really liked it since we got home... and I really like it too! I wanted to support the hippos/zoo.
Kayla was ALL about going on the train that went around the park. Since dad had trouble walking and he was in a scooter for the day, they gave him a disability pass where they tell you how long the line is and then you can walk in the exit area with no wait. Wish we had realized that sooner because we bought the tickets towards the end of the day and basically had to wait to go on the last train of the day. It was ok, because we went to the kids play area for a bit while we were waiting and Kayla got to play some. Kayla loved going on the train! Overall, it was a fantastic trip and such a great Christmas present idea! I love that idea of picking an experience off of someone's bucket list and getting it for them for Christmas. I absolutely loved the experience and had such a great time getting to visit the zoo. I'd like to go down to Cincinatti for a long weekend sometime and go to the zoo again and Kings Island.
