A good activity for the family that is indoors! We went on a Saturday and it was a little busy but…read morenot so busy that you couldn't enjoy seeing the animals up close. When you arrive you purchase your tickets and decide if you want to any add ons. You can purchase various sizes of feeding cups, experiences with the animals or opportunities to hold some of them. Once inside you can feed or pet any of the animals that are behind a single fence. Those further away or in glass enclosures are for observation. There are kangaroos, goats, lizards, chickens and more. There is a fun pulley system to feed some of the goats. They have an informational show that happens a few times a day where they discuss some of the animals and reptiles they house. It's not a huge space but we spent about an hour there. If you have real animal lovers you could be there longer. It's an interesting experience.

Walking into Maplewood Mall, the first thing you smell is strong marijuana--and it lingers…read morethroughout the entire mall. The bathrooms by the food court were filthy. That should have been our warning. Then we got to Sustainable Safari. Disgusting. Do not go here. Do not bring your kids here. We paid nearly $40 just to get in and were hit with an overpowering urine smell immediately. The place is dirty. The animals are being fed wilted, rotting produce--I watched a monkey dig through a whole bowl just to find something edible. Animals looked stressed and overcrowded: kangaroos in tiny enclosures, goats packed into filthy hay, turkeys missing feathers, lemurs pacing, and an armadillo clearly in distress. They also don't make it clear that you have to pay extra ($10+) just to interact with the animals. This place is not "sustainable"--it's depressing. Go to the Minnesota Zoo or Como Park Zoo and Conservatory instead

We have been members of the Minnesota Zoo for several years so we usually visit several times a…read moreyear. Our latest visit was last Sunday and both of our boys had a lot of fun visiting the farm animals and playing in the playground in that area. The Minnesota Zoo is a very family friendly place and it's nice to see families with kids of all ages enjoying time visiting animals and taking in a little bit of nature.

I know people have mixed feelings about zoos. If you like serious, I think you will love this one…read more It's very spacious and has lots of room for the animals to roam. The new elevator trail where the monorail used to be is a perfect walk to see the entire park. I think the biggest challenge with the same family is that it is a bit pricey, especially when you consider the Como zoo is free. I have been a long time member, because I can afford it and I really support it. I think it's worth visiting. And if you find it pricey, they do occasionally offer their discounts, etc. I also really enjoy their adult nights. Which are very fun and a great way to see the animals without huge crowds of littles.

It is no wonder that I love to visit the Conservatory in the dead of winter. There is no better…read morefeeling than going there when it's below zero, and your body does not even remember what humidity feels like. Sure, going to Hawaii is great, but if you want something closer and thousands of dollars less expensive (it's actually free, but they suggest you give them a small donation upon entry), I recommend a quick trip to the indoor conservatory. Save the zoo for a nice summer day. My two favorite areas are the topics, and the Sunken Garden. The tropics is the place to go for a hot, steamy reprieve from the Minnesota winter. It has lots of fun swimming animals, a sloth that is about as lively as a stuffed bear, but the biggest attraction, for me, is the incredible hot, moist area. But that's just one area of the Conservatory. Don't miss the larger part that includes jungle-type foliage, wonderful plants, and a display of orchids. We were there the weekend after the orchid show, but we were treated to the award winning and amazingly beautiful orchids. The highlight however, is the seasonal changes that take place in the Sunken Garden. This is an ever changing variety of seasonal flowers and can cheer up the crankiest of us who are just trying to make it through to Spring.

Visit here at least once a year Love that it is feee to the…read morepublic although it's nice to give a donation so it helps maintain the grounds Lots of good animal exhibits and the sunken garden is just beautiful every season! The conservatory dome is the perfect place to visit in the heart of winter , I'm talking negative temperatures because the dome is humid and hot (think Florida) because it helps the tropical plants Fun fact- Valentine's Day they do dinners in the gardens but sell out fast!

Cool place to check out of you or your kids are into snakes, lizards or gators! Kinda small and you…read morecan get through the place in about 30 minutes. The best parts of our visit were: 1. Watching staff feed the animals 2. For $5 you can hold and get a picture with a small gator or large snake Parking is free. The zoo is within an outdoor shopping mall so it took me a minute to find it. My GPS was leading me to the wrong building. It's in the front left corner of the shopping strip.

The first glimpse is a little deceiving. The front area is pretty good, but there are a substantial…read morenumber of displays in the back. They brought out a huge snake and a young alligator for us to see up close. You can also get pictures with some animals for an extra charge. Fun for everyone, but especially little kids.

Who knew there was a hands on alpaca farm right in the Twins Cities. Owner has a farm with full…read moregrown and baby alpacas plus a small gift shop with alpaca wool merchandise for purchase. For $10 you can take Salomon and Talledega out for a leisurely stroll around the marked trail surrounding the farm. 80% of the trail is pretty shaded so nice during the summer time but still hot. Sometimes our alpacas just wanted to stop and stare at the lady alpacas from across the trail. It was a moment trying to get them focused on the exercise. Lastly, we purchased some alpaca wool mittens and socks which were so soft and comfy. Check their website for events or appointments to visit.

So much fun! Who doesn't like baby animals, cookies & cupcakes?! The alpacas were so cute! Cutest…read moredonkeys, baby goats, chickens, turkeys, rooster & kitties! Surprise gift shop & bakery! Beautiful selection of alpaca yarn!

Wow! What is this place and how did I never know about it?!?!? Every city should have something…read morelike this. The park is very clean and maintained with tons of climbing objects for the little ones to be entertained. Also the best part is that there is a petting area where you can just get the food from coin operated machines to feed the animals. I highly recommend coming here

Wow! I am a park reviewer of over 100-parks and Sibley Park is a treasure of fun for kids of all…read moreages. Has to be one of the best parks in the region. All ages will appreciate its beautiful gardens, plants and flowers throughout the entire park. Everything is well groomed and maintained. My favorite is the barnyard fun without the piles of manure. The playground equipment is mostly barn themed and has creative climbing structures. The playground theming is manufactured by Landscape Structures, one of the highest quality playgrounds in the USA. The smaller playground is Game Time- low quality but it fits into the theming. They have a section of the park with workout machines that are available to use, instructions by each piece, which I think is a nice touch. There are plenty of farm yard animals to visit and feed. I observed adults and children enjoying this feature. Mankato should be very proud of this unique park. It's worth more than a few hours drive to play, enjoy and take leisure seriously. Play and smell the flowers.

My girlfriends and I went to check out the great pumpkin trail. Tickets can be purchased online or…read moreat the door. This trail was really cool, a mesmerizing trail, illuminated by over 10,00 0 intricately carved jack-o-lanterns! The trail was a Half-Mile long so it is not too long, we had fun and an enjoyable evening of pumpkin mania and seeing faces on pumpkins we've never seen before. Free parking.

I really loved heading over here - I will say that it's rare to experience something just as fun as…read morea kid as when you're an adult. Walking in, I made a bee line for the little coffee house after the drive from St. Paul out to Wyoming. It was good, and I was on a mission to find the funnel cake food truck. It's been a minute, and since I didn't make it to the fair this year, I was determined. We got the cookie monster, funnel cake topped with Oreo and Chips Ahoy cookies, chocolate drizzle and whipped cream. Pretty sure I had a week's worth of caloric intake, even with splitting it, and I didn't care. Next, we headed over to the apple launcher area. At first I couldn't see where the workers were, but the building is set back a bit. We had a blast launching apples at the farm equipment and barrels. We walked over to the pumpkin patch trailer area and had a great time picking our pumpkins. I immediately grabbed a pretty pink one. I was glad they had little wheelbarrows for us to transport our pumpkins as we continued walking around. Before we headed out, we checked out the farm animals and the gift shop. I loved the variety of jams, pickles, and salsas. I grabbed the blueberry jalapeno salsa, cherry jam, apple butter and dill pickles. I've had a chance to bake with the apple butter and it's delicious! Overall, a great time and something for everyone!

We love visiting Minnetonka Orchards every fall! It's filled with fun activities to do, yummy…read moredonuts, and plenty of space to run around with your little one(s). The staff is always kind and willing to answer any questions. We will be back next Fall for more!

My review is solely based on the pizza and wine night vs. other parts of the orchard such as kids…read moreplay and the special event tent. The wood-fire pizza concept is adorable and overall a fun experience as it's outside, served from a food truck, contains live music and lots to observe amongst the large area. The pizza once ordered and delivered is extremely fresh with the dough being rolled on-site. My friend and I split the pesto pizza and an appetizer of the caprese salad. The service was excellent once we got through the giant line. There are also a variety of tables and chairs to leverage. The negatives are that the pizza is ordered in one giant line which for us took 1-hour and the tables are hard to snag unless you do in advance. A beeper is provided once ordered and you walk up to claim when the buzzer goes off. I would return just to check out the other areas of the space as the land is gigantic. Contrary, I would probably pass on the pizza experience as once is enough. Parking was easy too which is always a worry for me with a big unpaved lot with lots of signs directing to the right area. Note: there is no admission fee. Enjoy!

Ferguson's Minnesota Harvest was a fun little fall outing. It wasn't very crowded when we stopped…read moreby, and even though a few of the shops were closed, there was still enough to do to keep us satisfied. The haunted house was pretty nice, just spooky enough to make it fun without being over the top. They have a lot of activities for kids, from the corn maze to the pumpkin patch and farm animals that everyone seemed to enjoy. The donuts and adult drinks in the Country Store were wonderful. They also have a good selection of other snacks and local goodies worth checking out. Mary in the Country Store was great, friendly, helpful, and made sure we had everything we needed. My wife and I will definitely be back again, and next time we'll bring our nieces and nephews so they can join in on the fun.

My sister wanted to check this orchard out. Seems like most orchards are charging around $20 to get…read morein. The thing is it's 3 adults & 1 child, paying $80 to get in to watch 1 child play is not worth it imo. Most of the activities are geared towards younger kids. They do have a free area in the common area. There's a smaller sweets store, bar & gift shop/cafe. All of it was pretty underwhelming. The sweet shop hardly had anything but caramel apples and few stuffed animals. It's still pretty early in the season so it's weird to see the space so empty same with the other shop/cafe. Not much going on. The cafe where you order food was odd looking. Like a counter in the back of a warehouse vibes. Floor was messy and just didn't look like somewhere you should eat out off. I got in like to grab a cider flight. There was one person working the bar but it was basic pours. The line stayed consistently busy. By time I got to the front ~15 min of waiting I was told they were out of the cups they needed for the flights so he told me he would flag me when they restocked them. I came back about 10 min later and they were restocking cups and the line was still consistently long. Never was flagged down and ended up waiting another 10 or so minutes in line. When I got to the front they were having issues with the payment system. Just wasn't my luck. I did end up getting my flight, 4 ciders, pretty good but I'm generally over the experience. I also got a cider float w/ a donut. I guess because they were so busy despite the menu saying one thing (that you can choose the cider flavor) they used a basic cider for all of them. It was decent. Overall not a place I would I'd want to adventure that far out for.