Nothing excites children more than a trip to a zoo or a wild animal park. The drawing pull of nature and all its glory is the best way to educate children and keep them entertained. The San Diego Wild Animal Park is an excellent place to head to with children for those who are planning a trio to San Diego. The animal park can be found at the address 15500 San Pasqual Valley Road, Escondido.

San Diego Zoo

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/park/

The San Diego Wild Animal Park is dedicated to preserving, promoting and protecting the wildlife of a number of places, ranging from Asia to Africa. The San Diego Wild Animal Park has a number of animals that are categorized as rare and/ or endangered. The park is known for its Journey into Africa tour and numerous animals like giraffes, antelopes, cheetahs, zebras and Roosevelt's gazelles and much more.

Visiting San Diego Wild Animal Park

http://www.sandiego.org/nav/Visitors/VisitorInformation

The zoo is known to be one of the finest institutions of its kind and happens to be one of the most well liked tourist spots in the country. With its almost arid climatic conditions the park acts as home to numerous species of animal. The park has been spread over a land area of approximately 1800 acres. The San Diego park also celebrates the flora along with the fauna, marked by the fact that there are more than 3500 varieties of plants.

Learn More about the Park

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego_Zoo_Safari_Park

This is over 1500 acres of wildlife preserve where you can find a wide range of animals to see such as species from the wilderness of Africa, Asia and Australia and even more. You will be able to spot animals such as antelopes, cheetahs, horses and other such animals inside the Park.

Which hotels are pet friendly around the Park?

If you are visiting hotels in San Diego CA for a holiday and the main purpose of your visit is for the Park, it is not necessary that you will have to leave your pet behind. There are several hotels in the vicinity that would allow you to bring your pet along.

- The Rodeway Inn - This is located close to the park, on West Bernardo Road. Among its facilities, it is also a pet friendly hotel; charges for this will be applicable.

http://www.rodewayinn.com/hotel-san_diego-california-CAA38

- Comfort Inn Escondido - This is one of the most popular lodgings near the park and is rightly so. There are different suites and rooms to choose for, with suitable requirements and all necessary amenities. The hotel is also pet friendly.

http://www.expedia.ca/pub/agent.dll/qscr=dspv/htid=26807/crti=7/hotel-reviews

- These are the two main and closest hotels that are pet friendly, in the Wild Animal Park Area. However you can conduct your own survey of the pet friendly hotels or motels in the area. You might find one not very far away but which is pet friendly.

http://hotel-guides.us/california/san-diego-zoo-wild-animal-park-ca-hotels.html

Often people are not aware that San Diego Zoo and San Diego wild Animal Park have differences and are not the same place. The San Diego zoo operates the San Diego Wild Animal Park but they are at different locations. Both of these places are highly visited and are maybe the top attractions of the city. The San Diego Wild Animal Park began only to help breeding of the San Diego zoo inhabitants, however, this breeding place developed and became a natural environment zoo.

What are the differences between the features of San Diego Zoo and San Diego Wild Animal Park?

1. The San Diego zoo is located at Balboa park where as the Animal Park is located at Pasqual Valley.
2. The San Diego zoo offers bus tours to explore the landscape. However, the Animal Park uses trams to show people the natural habitats of various animals there.
3. The zoo offers an aerial view of through the skyfaris and the Animal Park uses tethered balloons for the same purpose.
4. The zoo has all the animals in their natural habitats but the Animal Park has breeding programs for most of the animals as well as it show cases the endangered species of quite a few animals.
5. The Animal park accommodates all smaller animals mostly where as the zoo has animals of most shapes n sizes.

Where can I read about these places in detail?

You can read about the San Diego zoo here at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego_Zoo#Features

You can read about the San Diego Wild Animal Park at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego_Wild_Animal_Park

Another useful link to study the differences between the two is

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081110145954AAu78oU

Both the places are definitely worth a visit as both have their own USP's. You should make the most of your visit and see both places if you can.