Keeping it cool at the zoo
When most people see a giant alligator open its massive jaws they scatter, but not at the Cool Zoo splash park at Audubon Zoo. Clearly modeled after “Spots,” the white alligator at the Audubon Aquarium, this huge gator is a water slide that drops 400 gallons of water onto eager, excited kids (including grown-up kids) every 45 seconds. The 1.5-acre water park also features a spider-monkey soaker, jumping water spouts, water-spitting snakes, and custom-sculpted lion and elephant spin-and-spray big “sqwerts.”
Its latest addition (in spring 2015) is Gator Run, a 750-foot lazy river that’s three feet deep and ten feet wide. It takes approximately seven to ten minutes to make the full loop either in an inner tube (provided) or just floating along. On the journey you pass underneath four water cannons, two water curtains and jumping jets, and by two sand beaches. And if the animals are cooperative, you can catch glimpses of the elephants in the Asian Domain, the flock of flamingos near the South-American boardwalk, and the aviary, all from the luxury of your tube.
Info
Address Cool Zoo in Audubon Zoo, 6500 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA 70118, +1 504.581.4629, www.auduboninstitute.org/zoo/exhibits-and-attractions/cool-zoo | Hours Apr–Sep, Mon–Fri 10am–5pm, Sat and Sun 10am–6pm (after Labor Day, weekends only).| Tip After your trip to the zoo, visit the Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium (U.S. Custom House at 423 Canal St).
For those under 48 inches a life vest is required (and supplied) and for those over 21 years of age there is also beer for sale at the concession stand, along with food, toys, towels, and swim diapers. There are lockers provided as well, if you wish to stash your swimsuits and stroll around the zoo for a while.
Cool Zoo is not a mega-big water park but more of an intimate, friendly environment that caters mainly to children 12 and under, and one of its three zones is exclusively for toddlers and younger kids, although people of all ages can enjoy the sublimity of floating in the water sipping a beverage of their choice. It may seem an odd coupling to have a water park inside a zoo, but whether you’re an elephant or an 11-year-old or a grizzly or a grown-up, everyone loves to beat the heat with a little splish and splash.
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