Jurong Bird Park - Big Thumbs Down

One of the least enjoyable times that I spent in Singapore was the Jurong Bird. I was actually looking forward to the bird park, as the kids really like places where they can feed birds. They've done it here in Thailand and at the Cincinnati Zoo, and its always been a big hit.

I'll start with the good parts about the park. They put on a show called Bird Buddies that was actually very entertaining. It featured a number of birds and had some audience participation. The last thing that we did before leaving was attend the show, so at least it ended the day on a high note.

The other thing that the kids enjoyed was feeding the birds. By that point in the day, however, I was pretty frustrated with the park and decided to take a walk on my own. Tim gave the kids the money to feed the birds a few times. They then pooled some of their money and bought another cup. Jacob was almost in tears when a kid knocked the cup causing him to spill the juice that you feed the birds. The father poured some of theirs into Jacob's cup, which made him feel better.

The problems with the park was that there really was not that much to do and it is kind of expensive. Jacob and I bought a package that included the bird park, the zoo and the night safari, while the girls were free under a special for people with Thai passports.

They had quite a few birds, but I don't remembers seeing any that wow'd me or that I hadn't seen before. I don't think there bird displays were any better than those you would find at the Cincinnati Zoo.

The tram cost extra, and we decided to buy it because they said we could ride it as many times as we wanted, and we thought the park was bigger than it was. It turns out that you could get off and on the tram, but only ride around the park once. I was pretty unhappy about that. Its not like the tram was nice, as it was still rather warm inside, but I get annoyed when I think I'm buying one thing, and later told that its something else.

Perhaps the thing that irritated me the most happened when we first entered the park. They had a place set up for photographs where the kids can hold the birds and have pictures taken. The line wasn't long, so we let them go. The person in front of us in line went to take a picture of her children, and they told her no. I asked, and they explained to me that if the kids hold the birds, you can't use your own camera to take pictures of it. So I let the kids do it, then took the claim checks and walked them over to the garbage can to throw them away.

For the rest of the visit to the bird park, I did not spend a single penny. Tim spent a little on food for the birds and the kids when I was not there, but I refused to spend anything. It really ticked me off.

Here are a few pictures.