City: Atlanta, GA

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (404) 624-5600

Description: Described more fully in our Attractions chapter, Zoo Atlanta offers a wide variety of kids’ attractions and activities after you’ve seen the pandas. The Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Ark Playground is open daily throughout the year, weather permitting. This smart playground features rocking elephants, turtles, bears, rabbits, and lambs, as well as a telegraph station, climbing nets, steering wheels, and compasses. The playground encourages kids to use their imaginations and helps educate parents about playground safety. The Norfolk Southern Zoo Express is a handcrafted replica of an 1863 locomotive. The natural-gas-burning train features wide, comfortable seats and covered passenger coaches. Passengers wait in the Victorian-style train station for their turn on the train, which costs $1.50 per person and runs several times a day. Kids younger than 2 ride free. Breakfast with a Keeper, scheduled on certain Saturdays throughout the summer, gives children 8 and older a chance to find out what it’s like to care for zoo animals. Nightcrawlers Family Overnight, scheduled throughout the year, allows parents and kids 6 and older to enjoy a night hike, animal commissary tour, and creature encounters. In October the zoo hosts a Halloween event that includes a costume contest, trick-or-treat stations, face painting, and more for little ghouls and goblins. Zoo Atlanta’s Summer Safari Day Camp opens doors to a world of animals, conservation, and environmental discovery for students as young as 4 years old up through seventh graders. Sessions last a week, and campers can enjoy special events, arts and crafts, games, and discovery activities. The zoo offers full-day and morning programs as well as extended care from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., $20 for half-day students, $25 for full-day students. Camp costs range from $105 to $225.