Getting Wild With The Safari At Great Adventures

Have you ever wanted to visit a Safari?

It’s that time of year where parents are looking for vacations or activities that are memorable. The lucky few; will be able to take off weeks from work and will travel to a real life safari somewhere.

For the rest of us, the closest we have to a safari is the zoo or a place like Six Flags Great Adventures.

We put our season membership to Great Adventures to use and visited their world famous Safari. Check out what you need to know below!!

No Additional Cost It Is Part Of The Overall Park

It used to be that you would pay for the safari separately and even got to drive your car through it. Now it’s actually part of the theme park and seems more packed than ever.

It took us 3 attempts to finally make it to the safari and to be honest that was the only attraction we were trying to do. We made the right decision focusing on one attraction as the line for this can get out of control real quick!

Don’t get distracted on your way to the safari by other rides, even if the lines are short! Like all attractions at Great Adventures, the more prepared you are the better your wait will be.

Come Prepared, That Heat Is Crazy

All Systems Go

The line for the Safari usually averaged about 90 minutes every time we tried to visit. With a baby in tow, it can feel even longer!

The 90 minutes suck big time, especially when the sun is on full blast and serving us with 90 degree weather.

Luckily for us, we visited midday on a Sunday when the line was less than 60 minutes. Don’t let that fool you though, 60 minutes in the heat will have you fully cooked. They barely have any shade covering people on the line, so be prepared to sweat.

Wear sun screen, comfortable clothes and have plenty of cold water. Invest in the unlimited drink cup!!!

If you have kids, mentally prepare yourself for them to complain about the heat, oh and no strollers allowed. So if you are bringing an infant, that baby carrier you fear wearing is a must!

Spend Some Money Inside

No parent wants to spend even more money at an amusement park after spending so much on tickets but for the safari you almost have to!

At least the kids will make you feel like you have to, but the safari itself is FREE with the parks general admission! Telling you the season pass is a great investment!

They do Giraffe feedings every couple of hours and it was worth the $5 to feed them.

It’s very intimate as they only let people who paid into the feeding area. They also make sure to let one family go at a time allowing you the opportunity to take some cool photos and let the moment soak in.

Nothing beats watching a kid’s hand get licked by a giraffe and then having them say how nasty it is. They say it’s nasty but immediately ask to do it again. Kids these days, they fool no one!

Bucket list item complete for both the adult and children!!!!

You Can Kill 2+ Hours At The Safari

Waiting to do the safari can be brutal at times but you can kill so much time at the actual attraction that it’s well worth it.

This isn’t one of the roller-coaster’s that last 30 seconds after waiting for 2 hours.

You hop on a big truck and explore the wilderness for the 1st portion of the trip. It takes about 15 minutes to reach the central location of the safari. Most of the animals are free to roam and get real close to the truck.

We had a Giraffe and small Rhino get within inches our hands. That experience alone had the kids and myself going crazy for the 1st portion of the trip.

You can spend hours hanging out at the central location or opt out and take the 2nd part of the tour. Unless you are in a rush, I wouldn’t opt out and continue the tour. Who wants to stand on a line for more than an hour and then not take full advantage of the ride anyway?

The 2nd half is a little better than the 1 st half of the trip as you get to see some of the more dangerous animals. The kids loved the second half since we saw bears, tigers, lions and the road was much more bumpier.

Petting Zoo

After the initial 1st 15 min ride you can hop off the tour truck and visit the petting area and feeding stations. It’s like a mini zoo there and kids can see snakes and lizards inside an air conditioned filled room.

Here you can also buy food for the various animals depending on the time, I use it to escape the heat for a while and refuel.

The zoo keepers take turtles, goats and other animals for small walks around the area so families can get familiar. They answer questions and tell you facts about the animals.

We went crazy talking and taking pictures with the goats before getting our chance to feed the giraffes.

Depending on the kids ages you can hang there for a while before jumping back on the truck for the 2nd half of the tour.

Over all I am glad we finally got to do the Safari at Great Adventures. Since we have a season pass, which is the best way to do it, we could focus on just doing that part of the park. I have been to many zoos around the country and the safari at GA beats many of them on the experience side. The price of entry is expensive since you pay for the full park, so I would stick to the regular attractions unless you have a season pass. Chances of us doing it again this season are slim due to the lines and heat unless by some miracle the lines are empty!!!

#FatherhoodIsLit