Gulf Breeze Zoo | Gulf Breeze, FL

I don’t know about your kids, but mine LOVE going to the zoo! We have a membership to our local zoo but when we’re traveling, we like to check out the offerings from other zoos. The Gulf Breeze Zoo is a fun stop while you’re in the Pensacola area, and it’s conveniently located between Pensacola and Pensacola Beach.

Thank you so much to the Gulf Breeze Zoo for hosting us- we received complimentary admission, but all opinions are honest and my own.

Compared to the NC Zoo, the Gulf Breeze Zoo is quite small, but they manage to pack A LOT of fun into a small area. For most families, you’ll need 2-3 hours to do everything in the zoo making it great for a half-day of fun.

There’s an extensive petting zoo and you can feed many of the hooved animals. The kids had so much fun feeding the goats- and the goats seemed to enjoy it as well!

I’m pretty sure that Lexie wanted to take this one home with us! You can purchase the feed cups for a few dollars and I highly recommend getting one per person- we easily spent almost an hour feeding and playing with the petting zoo animals.

You can also feed the giraffes! It’s $5 for a cup of lettuce leaves and it is SO WORTH IT!

Check out that tongue! The kids had fun trying to get the giraffes to reach out their tongues to grab the lettuce- in a non-teasing way, of course!

Every once in a while they would get licked in the process, which they thought was HILARIOUS! And honestly, I thought it was pretty funny, too!

Hoppin’ around the Gulf Breeze Zoo! We were pleasantly surprised with the variety of animals at the zoo- everything from kangaroos hopping around . . .

. . . to tigers on the prowl!

Hands down, the absolute most entertaining part of the zoo was the Budgiery Adventure Aviary. It’s a free-flight aviary and the budgies are VERY friendly; plus, you can feed the birds!

And be forewarned, they will most definitely try to get in your pockets or go down the back of your shirt. For whatever reason Christopher’s jacket pockets were the hiding area of choice for quite a few little budgies- he handled it well and only shrieked like a little girl a couple of times!

Make sure to get a few of the feed sticks from the gift shop (they’re $1.75 each or 4/$6) because the budgies LOVE them! The sticks are a great way to entice the cute little birds to get out of your pockets.

All in all, we had a great time at the Gulf Breeze Zoo and would definitely go again next time we’re in town. We didn’t have a chance to do the Safari Express Train Ride through the 30-acre free-roaming preserve so that’s at the top of my list when we return!

Things to Remember When You Visit The Gulf Breeze Zoo

• The zoo is open 363 days a year, but the hours vary seasonally so make sure to check before you go.
• Get the Adventure Pass- it’s only $2 more than the admission-only ticket and it includes unlimited train rides (otherwise they’re $4 each).
• Make sure to get animal feed, budgie feeding sticks, and giraffe romaine so that you can feed the animals!
• No outside food or drink is allowed inside the Zoo but they do have a cafe if you’re interested in grabbing lunch while you’re visiting.

Looking for more Pensacola area ideas? Check out these posts:

• Things to Do in Pensacola With Kids | Florida
• National Naval Aviation Museum | Pensacola, FL
• National Park Bucket List

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