Exploring the Gulf Breeze Zoo

The Gulf Breeze Zoo is a 50-acre facility in Florida’s Panhandle that hosts a wide variety of animals and animal attractions. With entertaining animal encounters, feeding stations, and a wildlife preserve area, this is a great place to take friends and family of all ages.

Animals

“Zoo” by Steven Lilley is licensed with CC BY-SA 2.0

The Gulf Breeze Zoo houses more than 800 animals from almost every continent, including over 50 species of mammals, a variety of birds, including an exclusive aviary for budgies, and multiple snakes, lizards, and other reptiles. It also features a 30-acre preserve that hosts animals in a fenceless setting. Some of their most popular animals include gorillas, hippos, orangutans, and giraffes.

Gift Shop

The gift shop is a central building located at the entrance of the zoo and features a variety of souvenirs that you can purchase to commemorate your visit. It features unique products, such as plush animals, T-shirts, and collectibles such as ostrich and emu eggs. The gift shop also allows you to buy tickets for animal encounters and feedings for a number of animals in the zoo.

Animal Feedings

There are several feeding stations at the Gulf Breeze Zoo where guests can feed some of the animals. Here are a few of the animals that you can directly feed:

• Scottish cows.
• Camels.
• Giraffes.
• Alligators.
• Budgies.

You can feed all of these animals, except alligators, year-round. Alligator feeding is available from April to October. When visiting, you can find all the animal feeding locations labeled on your zoo map.

Animal Encounters

Animal encounters allow you to get up close and personal with some of your favorite animals. The Gulf Breeze Zoo offers some truly unique experiences that allow you to have personal encounters with some of their more popular and interesting animals. Most of these experiences are held outside, which means they can be affected by the weather. They also require all children 12 years and older to be accompanied by an adult. Here are some of the exciting encounters the Gulf Breeze Zoo provides:

Giraffes

The giraffe adventure allows you to go behind the scenes and experience a guided tour of the reticulated giraffe enclosure. You can feed and interact with the giraffes inside exclusive keeper areas, allowing you to get much closer to these animals. This encounter occurs at 1:30 p.m. every day, except for days when it’s raining, lasts for around 20 minutes, and only costs $25 per person.

Hippos

The new hippo experience introduces you to the Gulf Breeze Zoo’s two Nile hippos with exclusive access to their habitat. Feed these hippos under the supervision of an expert guide while you learn about their daily routines, diet, habits, and training programs. The hippo encounter is suitable for children over the age of eight and has a limit on how many people can join the experience each day. This experience starts at 11 a.m. each day and costs $30 per person.

Sloths

During the sloth encounter, you can participate in a unique experience featuring the Gulf Breeze Zoo’s two-toed sloths, Lady and Tramp. Unlike the other animal encounters, there are four available sloth experience time slots per day: 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. This is also an indoor experience, so it’s not affected by the weather. It’s an appropriate experience for all ages and costs $40 per person.

Galapagos Tortoises

The Galapagos tortoise is the largest species of tortoise in the world. In this seasonal experience that runs from April to mid-November, you can come close to these great animals and learn more about what goes into taking care of them. Experiences take place daily at 2:15 p.m. and cost $25 per person.

Elevated Boardwalk

The boardwalk is an elevated walkway that overlooks the preserve portion of the zoo, allowing you to observe animals interacting with no fences or enclosures. This provides a great view and a good potential photo area. You can also view the orangutan enclosure island from the boardwalk area as well as a few other animal areas.

Safari Express Train Ride

The Safari Train is a 15-minute narrated train ride that takes you around the Gulf Breeze Zoo’s fenceless wildlife preserve. Some animals you may see in the preserve include deer, antelope, and rhinoceros, and you may also catch a glimpse of the orangutan, gorilla, and hippo enclosures from the train. Train rides depart every hour, starting at 10 a.m. and ending at 4 p.m. The train is included with your price of admission and is a part of all membership levels.

Dining

Near the safari train depot is the zoo cafe, which provides family-friendly meal options such as pizza, cheeseburgers, and chicken tenders with a combo and kids’ meal options. If you’re feeling more in the mood for a light snack or beverage, it also offers funnel cakes, icees, pretzels, and churros. There is a beautiful picnic area next to the cafe if you want to bring your own meal while enjoying the zoo.

Farm

The Gulf Breeze Zoo offers a petting farm where you can feed and interact with barnyard animals. It features some farm favorites, including chickens, sheep, and pigmy goats. Interaction with these adorable animals is highly encouraged. While this attraction is particularly enjoyed by younger visitors, the farm is open to guests of all ages. 

Budgiery Aviary Adventure

Budgerigar, also known as budgies or parakeets, are colorful, friendly birds that live in the zoo’s aviary. In the adventure, you can have a personal experience with these gentle creatures. Birdseed sticks are also available at the gift shop so that you can feed the budgies, and they may get closer or even land on you to obtain the snack.

Events

The Gulf Breeze Zoo offers a series of events throughout the year during holidays, such as Halloween, Christmas, and even Mother’s and Father’s day. Events can include live music, activities, and vendor booths. Some events may also offer alcoholic beverages to guests over the age of 21.

So, there you have some of the main attractions of the Gulf Breeze Zoo and some reasons why you should visit presented by Allen Turner Hyundai. Did we miss anything you like about the zoo? Do you have any experiences at the Gulf Breeze Zoo you want to share? Let us know and we may add it to the list.