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Jungle Island
Rating Details »
- Hours:
Mon-Fri. 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sat-Sun. 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
12 reviews for Jungle Island
Worth-the-heavily-discounted-price-of-admission. Otherwise...
There was a fair amount of controversy and hurt feelings when this zoo-but-not-a-zoo moved from its longtime, quaint, 'old Miami feel' location of Pinecrest Gardens to the more tourista Macarthur Causeway. The huge increase in admission and parking prices certainly did not help.
Jungle Island seems to have responded with some fairly good discounts (for locals, at least) and this past Labor Day weekend, we tried it out and found it to be a very enjoyable time. It is very clean, well laid out (if you have been to Pinecrest Gardens, it has an eerily similar feel and layout - even the sidewalks have the same curves), and the staff is very friendly and welcoming. The animals seem well cared for and eager to put on a show (check out the monkeys!).
But, considering the larger Metrozoo nearby - and Disney, et. al., a few hours drive north - paying full price here is simply not worth it. The Labor Day weekend deal was a killer though - $10 admission or $25 for a year round pass. Normally, admission is $30 and a year round pass is $40, so it was a fairly steep discount.
They also have a beautiful picnic and playground area (which can be rented out for parties) and the year round pass will make this a great stop for an outdoor picnic going to or from the beach.
I had a great time, but I'm pretty sure that was my own doing.
The short version: Worth seeing once but you get nickled and dimed at every turn.
The longer version: Admission is $30 and parking is $7. Um, what? Yeah, so just to get through the front gate, you've spent $37 and you haven't even seen anything yet.
Then you see some stuff. But if you want to see the stuff without squinting between bars and crates, you have to, you guessed it, pay some more.
When you first walk in, there's a slew of beautiful, colorful parrots awaiting your entrance. There's a couple of staff members standing with them and you're immediately whisked away for a photograph, whether or not you want it.
Then you walk through a narrow walkway that's lined with approachable but hungry parrots. There's food available for purchase to silence the parrots and provide a closer encounter.
There's a petting zoo with the usual suspects: llama, sheep, goats. There were pigs, too, but the swine flu has destroyed all their petting zoo cred. They stayed in the shadows.
I got into a bit of a tussle with a goat. He kept trying to eat my dress. I kind of found it endearing after a while, though.
There were adorable wallabies. $5 if you want to see them from the other side of the fence. They give you some food you can feed them [wallabies are even cuter when they're eating]. Then you'll be rushed by the staff because "it's supposed to be quick." I didn't know I was euthanizing the poor things, jesus. I ignored the rude, hurrying staff and named a couple of wallabies since I don't ever plan on having children.
There was a huge, 20" foot crocodile; the largest in captivity in North America. I feared for the poor little turtle they kept in the same enclosure. I bet he suffers massive anxiety.
The monkeys were cute and are usually my favorite animal but they must spike their water with diuretics. I saw them mischievously pee and point at least 3 times while I was there. They're considerably less cute when sprouting a leak.
We went to a couple of shows. The first was solely to get out of the hot sun and cool off for a second. The show didn't really have a theme, as far as I could tell, because they showed us penguins, a snake, a monkey, a lizard, and a skunk. Um, yeah.
The Tale of the Tiger show was a lot better. Then you're given the rare and unique opportunity to take a photo with a Gibbons or the lion cub. For $60. Now, that might seem worth it because you reason, "when else will I have the chance to hold a lion cub up close and stick a bottle in it's mouth and have a great [if not cheesy] new Facebook photo?"
But the entire experience lasts only 1.7 seconds. And that's what bothers me about how it's presented: it's not an experience; it's solely a photo op. The entire time, a trainer is trying to keep the cub focused on not eating your face by holding something up for it to distract it [on this day, it was a plastic shopping bag], a photo is hastily taken [few of them are any good], cute but dangerous animal is removed from your lap, and the next person takes your place.
Meh. For $60, I want 60 seconds with the creature.
All in all, you'll see some cool stuff, especially if you're willing to keep paying for it long after you've paid the pricey admission rate. There's enough variety to keep it interesting and the grounds are well maintained.
Jungle Island really sounds like the epitome of tourist trap. My first thought was "Oh, wonderful. A 'zoo' where I have to squeeze through lines of overly-enthused tourists and catch a glimpse of the poor caged animals through the many head infront of me". However, Jungle Island is actually much different than I originally thought.
The animals are happy, which is always nice to see when visiting a zoo-like establishment. And it isn't really a zoo, its more of a habitat. The different types of animals they had in captivity there were really amazing, I can't believe there is actually a liger in existence?! And the gigantic crocodile that's something like 20 feet long is really cool. Intimidatingly and unbelievably huge, but cool. Apparently it's the largest one in captivity in North America? But their animal shows were really entertaining, Tale of the Tigers was my favorite, they're just such majestic and powerful cats. I loved it. I saw a ton of really cool colorful birds as well, and besides the persistent squaking I enjoyed getting to see them. The baby red kangaroos were ADORABLE and the petting barn was alright as well, I just get tired of nosy, nudgy, usually stinky goats, llamas, pigs, etc following me around.
All in all, a great and educational experience, I think I would even go again. The entrance fee is a little pricey, but I found a ticket for up to $18 off of general admission, so that was reall helpful. (You can find it at http://www.destination...). I would definitely reccommend this to anyone with kids as well, I know if I had been that age and came here I would have been in hog heaven.
One of the best things about Miami is that on a "bad" weather day there is still plenty to do. With the skies overcast and the temperature a chilly for Miami upper 60's we took my three year old son to Jungle Island. After you get over the sticker shock (It cost us about $90 for four of us), Jungle Island is a great place to spend a few hours.
Formally Parrot Jungle, Jungle Island has expanded. A petting Zoo, playground, a few different shows and of course Parrots. My son loved feeding the goats and cows their bottles of Milk and laughed as the Birds ate out of his hands. He also loved seeing the Monkeys.
Jungle Island is a perfect activity for kids and very different from most anything else they will ever do.
I just want to let everyone know that Jungle Island is a great place to spend the day with or without kids. I've gone 4 times already and this year I decided to get the Year pass for only $10 more than the price of a 1 day admission.
I really like taking my friends and family to see the Liger and the crocosaurus. I love seeing the penguins and the shows are really cool too.
I really look forward to going on the giant water slide too next time I take my niece. I also look forward to the lemur experience, I need to make reservations to see them. They are too cute!
Lastly, your staff are really knowledgeable and you can see they love the animals very much. Thank you for making Jungle Island a great place to visit.
Not exactly a zoo: we saw lots of beautiful and colorful parrots, parakeets and cockatoos. There was a petting zoo with mostly goats and a couple of sheep. The cool fun animals were the primates. Monkeys, orangutans, lemurs. One monkey peed and aimed at us. That was exciting. I don't think he liked having his picture taken. The Serpentarium was really cool. (not the snakes) The crocosaurus was fricken rad.
Not exactly a beach: there was a beach, but you're not allowed to go in. The hippo water slide that's 3 stories tall is a giant moon bounce slide with a really long garden hose. After you go down, you're done. There's no pool to land in.
Not exactly a playground: the playground equipment was the same ones you would find at a public park. There were 2 moonbounces in the same area.
We didn't see any of the shows. So, I can't comment on that.
We were in and out within 3 hours. Parking is now $7. $108 for a family of 4. Not exactly worth it.
my business holds an annual event every year down here. I enjoy the ballroom space (tree top ballroom). The staff is very friendly and does not get annoyed when an "outsider" speaks English instead of Spanish. Rates are pretty reasonable and you can bring your stuff to load in the loading dock and store in the office the day before the event. Parking is very easy too.
I had one of the best zoo experiences ever at little Jungle Island! (although this place can't compare to the size and variety of animals at the San Diego Zoo) Spotting animals at a zoo is usually like playing Where's Waldo, but at Jungle Island I saw more animals awake, active, and up close than I have ever seen at ANY zoo (and I go to a lot of zoos). The admission was typical for a zoo, but still hefty compared to, say, the National Zoo's ($0) - I think it was $27, minus a few bucks w/ a coupon we found online.
We went early on a weekend, around 10am, when it's best to spot animals. Once through the gates we were greeted by a gallery of colorful parrots and macaws, each on its own perch and uncaged and unchained. The liger and white tiger both went right up to the edge of the cage and paced back and forth about 5 feet away from me. The gibbons were swinging to and fro with acrobatic feats explosive enough to rival Olympic gymnasts. The baby orangutan (sooo cute, like a wrinkled little old man / E.T.) clung to the wall of the cage, 5 feet from me, and his mom sat right up against the chain link too. The petting zoo was very interactive, and I got to hand-feed and pet a little red kangaroo (feels like a sherpa rug! Unfortunately, I have no pictures of this bc the zoo takes photos and holds them hostage until you paid for them, but I got to pet the 'roos!)! The gigantic crocosaurus actually moved (very scary) and the penguins waddled and played with plastic decoy ducks in the water. Finally, the flamingos as we exited reminded me that I was in Florida.
I have seriously never been to a zoo that was so... ALIVE! I'd actually been trying to convince my friend (whose idea it was to go) that we should spend our short time in Miami doing other things, but I'm so glad she changed my mind. Jungle Island definitely left a positive impact on me -- I learned a few things about animals, and it gave me plenty of prime photo ops!
One of my organization held one of their meetings at the Parrot Jungle Convention Center after the park closed. The facilities were very nice and the food service and bar excellent.
To get there, take the Watson Island / Parrot Jungle exit going east on 395. You will veer to the right and go under the freeway and continue on the frontage road. You will make a left turn into the parking garage. For the event I attended, parking was $6.00. You drive up to the top floor of the garage and take the elevators directly into the Convention Center.
The parrots were incredible there and it's a great place to go when you don't have anything to do on that day. They even allow you to put them on your shoulder and they take pictures. The only thing that I was a bit disappointed with was some of their animal shows weren't up to my expectations. Other than that it's worth seeing. And the monkeys are also super cute.
Parrot Jungle Island is not technically a zoo, but more of an amusement park where you actually get to interact with a lot of the animals, including kangaroos, baby tigers, several different types of birds and snakes. It costs around $25 to get in and it is totally worth it, considering the facilities are very nice, the food stands actually have decent food and you could easily spend a whole day at Parrot Jungle Island because of all of the cool shows they have with the different types of animals. I've never been much of a bird person, but I walked out of Parrot Jungle Island with a completely new awareness and sense of appreciation as to how beautiful and intelligent some birds can be.
i'm not a huge fan of confining animals into cages and such... but i went to parrot jungle when my little cousins came down. it was after parrot jungle moved onto it own islands and also after they substantially dropped the price. it's now even cheaper ($28).
i was a bit surprised. it was very well kept. not many cages to be seen and when they were, they were a decent size. all the employees seemed very knowledgeable. we sat in on every show and demonstrations.
i actually got in to some very lengthy discussions with the handlers and was impressed by their backgrounds and credentials. i think those talks were what helped to change my mind.
this is a great place for kids, with tons of educational stuff going on. i'm sure if i was a child again, this probably would be one of my favorite places in miami... as an adult and my conscience still questioning the place, i have to give it 3.
