Wildlife World Zoo

The Wildlife World Zoo is definitely worth a morning or afternoon in the cooler months. They have the greatest collection of animals I've seen (and I've been to San Diego, San Francisco, and other major Zoos) with diversity and unique creatures you won't see anywhere else. Best in class for birds (yeah, I hear what you are saying... birds!? who cares?) but it is really an amazing and unusual collection. Best part is the proximity you get to the animals: inches away from jaguars, reach in and pet tortoises, feed giraffes! They have a decent train ride, nice carousel, and a african cruise (which, granted, needs some work).

As far as zoos go, the grounds need a little work and it gets dusty but this is one of the few places in AZ that knows the importance of shade! Over the years they've put in thousands of trees so that, for the most part, you can visit year round.