B. Bryan Preserve is a wonderful organization dedicated to protecting African wildlife. My partner…read moreand I did the self-guided driving tour in our own car, which was a great way to see some of the species up close. We went on a Saturday morning in February, so the experience was peaceful, quiet, and calm. While not a whole lot of animals were out during our slot (just doing their animal thing!), we were still able to see a nice variety of species. The absolute highlight was getting to feed the giraffes at the end of the tour! They are such majestic creatures, and it was a fun, interactive activity. We finished the tour fairly quickly since many animals weren't right up against the fence that day, but it's a fantastic activity to add to your itinerary if you're spending a full day exploring the coast. You can truly tell that the caretakers value and care deeply for these animals. It's a great experience that supports an excellent cause!

This preserve is doing great work! The things I learned about giraffes has been vast, such…read moreinteresting and majestic creatures they are. I recommend taking the tour! You get close up views and get to feed the giraffes at the end. If possible, stay in one of their cottages - It is so quiet and relaxing AND you help to support the preserve in doing so! A win-win. The cottage is clean and the collection of art is so cool. A favorite highlight was putting on makeup while watching the giraffes go about their day. Cant wait to come back.

Tina and her family are amazing! We have done both field trips to her and she has brought her…read moreanimals to our preschool. Great hands-on educational experience for all ages.

Did a tour of the Ranch. The animals incredible and well taken care.Tina the owner was so…read moreinformative and has a true passion for what she does

As a vet student, I thought the perfect birthday party would be at a petting zoo. Mimi'z petting…read morezoo was perfect and we had sooo much fun. Our host Tanya was just amazing and patient with us. Her back story is amazing and she's just such a wonderful and big hearted person. She can adjust the experience to tailor to your needs. Price isn't bad at all either. This was definitely a special and unforgettable experience. I highly recommend coming here especially if you love animals !

Mimi is really welcoming and passionate about caring for her animals! We were able to handle them…read moreeasily because all of her creatures were gentle and calm. My favorites were the rat, bunnies, and kittens. She also helped me face my fear of spiders by letting me hold the tarantula. I loved hearing the stories behind every animal she rescued and takes care of, and I would love to visit again!

Nice selection of fresh trees even at this late date-winter solstice!…read moreGood value and the sweetest customer service. My truck was on the blink, so Grandma threw my tree in the back of her red sleigh and brought it to my home. Epic.

There is everything to love about Grandma's! The charm of the farm is worth it alone- happy dogs…read moreand kitties roam around among grunting pigs, bleating goats, and Grandpa on his John Deere. But the star of the show is Grandma, herself, a golden-hearted spitfire, who will make you a killer deal. Oh, and let's not forget the trees! All her trees this year are Nordmann Firs, which have thick, majestic branches and shedless needles. Grandma's prices are fantastic (like 30% less than the other tree lots & Home Depot)! And Grandma will even deliver locally in her big red truck, complete with a big Italian hug.

We had our daughter's 2nd birthday here and it was such a great time! The hostess was very kind and…read morethe space was perfect for 30 people a mix of children and adults. The animals are friendly and our baby really enjoyed riding the pony! We definitely recommend this place.

We went here for a kids' birthday party. Such a unique and fun experience. You can check out a…read morellama and goats, pet bunnies, feed and hold chickens, enjoy a pony ride. There's also a trampoline and a corn pit. My kids can spend hours in a corn pit alone. So, there are a lot of different options for fun. They have a cute covered area for snacks and cake.

I came here to celebrate my anniversary with my partner and we had an incredible time. We got to…read morepet and feed a wide variety of animals and best of all, the animals aren't forced to interact with you. This ensures a positive experience for both parties and prevents overstimulation. During the tour, the animals are placed in a smaller pens so they can come up to interact but even then, there's plenty of room for them to choose not to come up. After the tours, the larger animals have access to larger acres of land to roam and run. Our guides are knowledgeable and great at interacting with guests of all ages. They ensured everyone had a safe, fun, and educational time. The tour brings you into one full loop and ends at the parking lot which is pretty convenient. At the end of the tour, we got to a choose a calendar to take home. Overall, highly recommend to book a tour and come visit. We had an incredible time learning and interacting with the animals.

Randomly found this farm on Yelp and decided to take the kids. There was a medical emergency that…read moreday so the tour was different than usual, but we had fun feeding and brushing cows, horses, goats, guinea pigs. My kids had a blast! Pros: - love what they are doing by taking in animals when their owners need help with caring for them - fairly affordable, group tour was $100 - they provided lots of carrots and lettuce for the animals! Cons: - I would have loved learning more about the animals, we were only provided information when we asked questions 1:1 with tour guide.

I actually like this place better than the San Diego Safari Park…read more The parking lot can be packed if you go on a weekend. The check-in process was pretty easy also. We checked-in with our tour guide and let him know that we were joining another family. They put us in the same jeep. They can fit 4 people on the roof but you must be a certain height. I would want to ride above but it was really sunny so I didn't want to get burnt, lol. You'll ride through many many acres of land with all types of animals. They have varieties of antelope that freely roam. They can get really close to the jeep so be careful. I was surprised that the place did not really smell like poop like some other zoos, lol. The tour was like 2 hours on the jeep and another 1 hour walking tour. Our guide was very informational and had great humor too. Our kids loved it and I think all adults would enjoy it also.

What an awesome day we had at Safari West yesterday!! It has been a bucket list item for our family…read morefor quite some time and we were thrilled when the stars aligned to make it happen! We took our kids, ages 8 and 6, and they LOVED it! Our tour guide, Nicole, was awesome! She has been at Safari West for 4 years and really knows the animals, their behaviors and all the fun facts (along with some great jokes!). The jeep tour was about 2 hours, but it is engaging the whole time. We were lucky and got to see several brand new babies of multiple species!! We were all able to take turns sitting on top of the jeep, but sitting on the inside was great as well. After a short break, we did the walking tour which was the perfect ending. Also, we highly recommend the lunch buffet (which must be booked 48 hrs prior to arrival). We were all pleasantly surprised with how great the food was, plus it was kid approved as well! During our break, enjoyed some snacks from Delilah's - the dole whip was a favorite! Thank you Safari West for the awesome memories.

Had so much fun coming here during October's pumpkin patch season! The farm has so many animals…read morethat we could pet for just $4! I loved the kids working on the family farm too, they were knowledgeable and really passionate! Come and pet the baby animals!

We came on a Sunday to visit with the animals around the barn & had such a fun & neat time! There…read morewas plenty of parking in a gravel lot. It was busy with lots of visitors from little kids to college students to grandparents. We went at Halloween time, so there was also a pumpkin patch. You pay at a cashier station at the front & receive a hand stamp. Children up to 12 years are $6, while 13 years+ are $4. However, for each paid child admission, an adult gets in for free. You then walk to the gate entrance of the barn area & listen to some instructions from staff about handling animals & not running, supervising younger children, etc. No food or drinks are allowed, so a lot of bottles were left in a hay bale area by the entry. We were able to get up close & personal with chicks, chickens, ducklings, ducks, geese, turkeys, goats, ponies, a calf, piglets, bunnies, a donkey, & kittens! Little one really enjoyed getting to groom the small goats with available brushes & combs. The goats just wandered the enclosed area. Most animals were in pens you could enter or reach into. There's some signage about the animals & protocols/warnings for how to interact with them, such as making sure to be sitting on hay bales while holding animals securely & closing gates. Staff went around to correct people who weren't following safety rules. You can spend as much time as you want seeing all the animals. At times we had to be patient waiting for a turn. Occasionally we saw the chicks being swapped out to get a rest from the petting. The animals were fairly docile & quiet. Apparently the animals are for sale. A hand washing station is off to the side of the barn.

This suburban farm offers horse boarding, riding lessons, kids camps and birthday parties…read more We have friends who's daughter attended their summer camp and loved it. Based on their experience we decided to have our daughter's 6th birthday party here and it was great fun for all. For Birthday parties you essentially have the exclusive use of a little park-like area in the center of the farm that has a play structure, picnic tables, a good number of shady trees and a small barn with petting-zoo type animals. The party rentals are two hours, with the first hour offering pony rides and during the second hour the petting zoo barn is open. We had two pony's at a time for the kids to ride, and with 10 kids that worked out to about two rides each. This was perfect timing so that we could do Pizza and cup cakes after the pony rides, then once the kids were done eating they excitedly ran over to pet the animals in the petting zoo. For the petting zoo portion there were chickens, pigs, bunnies, goats, sheep and a miniature horse the size of a large dog. The kids LOVED petting and brushing the animals. You don't need to add any additional activities or entertainment for the kids because the two hours are nicely full. The kids were constantly in motion and playing on the play structure when not riding a pony or in the petting zoo. All the kids seemed thrilled with the activities and were having tons of fun. All-in-all the process of having a party here, from reserving the day to clean up afterward, is pretty smooth. The only downside was a multi-page contract form that had to be signed by the parents of all the kids. The forms have to be returned to the hostess and the hostess then returns them to the farm with a guest list, as one packet, the Thursday before the party. It would be easier if the parents could just do the form on-site, but I'm guessing that the management wants to be sure the parents read it fully and agree to the terms in advance. But despite the paperwork I highly recommend Morning Star to anyone with grade school age kids.

Kid's Birthday party review…read more Discovered via local moms club and "background checked" on yelp, we decided to have our son's 4th birthday party at Morning Star and I prayed it would live up to its stars b/c we had friends driving from Concord, SF, and beyond to attend. The verdict is that we'd give it a 6th star if we could! The things we loved were that they have a covered option in case of rain, a sweet playground at the uncovered area, where the 2-5 yr olds had a total blast, and a little petting zoo. The trainer Rachel, who led the kids and ponies, two by two, was a pro and helped even the nervous kids feel confident. Each kid got about two rides, which was perfect. The owner helped us set up tables and put up a shade/rain structure since it had rained all morning and we weren't sure if we'd need it. Also, $200 for a 2-pony party for two hours is a great deal in my book, esp compared to $800-1,000 Discovery Museum party price tag (we love it there too, just, gulp). The only down side, as others noted, is the release forms. They are necessary of course, but the onus of getting each family to sign them and submit before the party is on the party-thrower. It is time consuming up front and I wasn't making any friends for a while there, but it makes it so guests don't have to mess with forms when they get there. One idea is to have people use CamScanner or another scanning app on their phones so it can all be done electronically, and to leave a few day's cushion for missing forms. Lastly, I appreciated that all of the animals looked very well-cared for and the whole property was clean and inviting.