Kentucky Down Under Adventure Zoo

Reviews 3

R

R Whaley

I HIGHLY recommend KDU! We drove from middle TN to go to KDU specifically & had a wonderful time. My 3 children (ages 9, 7, &3) each really enjoyed the entire day here. It is well-worth the price of admission. The price includes the animal attractions & a cave tour. It is a unique experience versus a zoo. You can go into the enclosures with some of the animals & see them up close, and even pet many of them; at most zoos you just get to look at them from a distance. It was neat to pet a kangaroo & watch the kangaroos interact together. The tour guide, "Uncle Billy", shared a lot of interesting information about the animals. It is obvious that he is passionate about these exotic animals & it was also neat to see how the animals interact with him. The animals are well cared for & loved. We all really liked the Lorikeet enclosure, too. You get to hand feed the birds a cup of nectar & they perch on your arm to eat. They are beautiful! There are also many other animals (check out their website for a list of animals & interesting information about each of them--I recommend doing this before you go). The cave is impressive. It is relatively short in length but it has an abundance of unique formations. Chris was our wonderful tour guide & he provided great information about the history of the cave, the formations, and also the life forms that are found in caves. We were able to see two blind crayfish and cave crickets on our tour. We also shot air riffles at the Snowy River Range (in the park). I was not sure what to expect but it was a real treat. Randy, our instructor, is a retired police lieutenant who taught firearms training for police officers for many years. He is so knowledgeable yet he took his time teaching us how to shoot correctly. I was so proud of my oldest son--he had never shot at targets before but hit the bulls eye several times after the training. We had so much fun target shooting that we are considering setting up a target at our home! You can also pickup a good meal in the park. A staff member named Jody took great care of us in the concession area. We had sandwiches along with sides & drinks. Even my picky little eaters enjoyed it :). Jody is another staff member who really went above and beyond in making our visit great. She helped us make it to an animal encounter showing and was the one to let us know about the air rifle range. Afterwards, we picked up some yummy homemade fudge in the gift shop. This park is great! The animals are unique (who would imagine getting to pet kangaroos or see dingoes in KY?) & every staff member that we came into contact with was knowledgeable & very kind. It is refreshing to find a staff that obviously enjoys what they do. We cant wait to go back!

JU

JustKJB

We had planned a trip to the area for months much earlier when our daughter had to have emergency surgery just a couple of weeks before we were set to leave. Since we couldnt change the dates, we were going to cancel the trip when her doctor said she could go but to keep her from getting overheated or exerting herself. We had gone to several attractions in the area including Mammoth Cave and Dinosaur World and everything had gone well. The day we went to KDU, she seemed fine but as the day progressed I could tell she wasnt feeling well. While in the park, I became concerned and was in the concession area trying to cool her down with some ice when a park employee, I believe her name was Jody, noticed and asked about what was going on. I said I was cutting the visit short and taking my girl back to the hotel prompting a tearful, heartbroken crying on her part when Jody says to let her see if she could help. From that point on, they treated her like she was the most important ten year old on the planet. Without going into details that would take several pages, Ill just say that every staff member went on full alert and made sure she was well taken care of. (I found out later that one of the people who had helped was even one of the owners!) I dont think she walked more than a few steps after that thanks to the golf cart that would mysteriously just appear wherever we were. I would see an employee on a walkie talkie looking around, lock eyes on our group, and within a few seconds the cart was there. Aside from this, the whole zoo/park is just amazing. Petting a wallaby, feeding exotic birds, and an very easily hiked cave tour right in the middle of all of it all made for a most enjoyable day. That was seven years ago and Im online now booking a hotel for a return trip Im taking that same daughter and her best friend on during spring break. Even if the circumstances had been completely ordinary, I would rate this place at five stars but after what they did to make sure a little girls trip wasnt ruined, I wish I could give them ten! As for my daughter, even after going to DC, Chicago and St. Louis on band trips, family vacations to Orlando and Williamsburg, and lots of other short trips all over the place, she still says this was her favorite place weve ever gone. For a school project a couple of year ago about family memories, the picture of her petting a kangaroo was the main cover photo and when I gave her several options for spring break this year since its her last year in school, without hesitation she said she wanted to take her best friend to "Australia".

JI

Jill W

My fiance and I were looking for fun things to do with my two younger boys while on Summer Vacation and happened to find a Groupon for four tickets to Kentucky Down Under. The main draw of this place is the kangaroos.. I mean come on..a kangaroo petting zoo..that sounded like a great day, and it didnt disappoint. Feed is available to purchase and they come right up to you. There is also a bird area that you can go in and feed<--available to purchase.. the birds and possibly have them perch on your arm. My boys loved those things. The cave tour is nice. Very short but thats not bad with smaller children. Go early. The hotter it gets the less these animals are going to feel like interacting. Be prepared for a uphill walk to get there. Its a little rough if you are out of shape. Reasons it isnt a five star activity: #1 Nickles and dimes. $55 for 2 adults and 2 Kids is reasonable enough until you are paying for feed in the petting zoo..really lol..its only a buck for a tiny little pill dispenser cup like the school nurse uses, but with multiple areas to feed animals and mutriple kids it adds up. Im sorry but include feeding the animals in the tickets price. #2 Pack Lunch. I seen some good reviews of the food. It was not good at all. It is very overpriced and you would be better off packing a lunch or stopping before. Seriously dont. Overall it was a fun day. Probably never going back but a nice one time experience. If you plan ahead better then we did and make a few different choices your day should be great.

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