Awesome experience! Our guide was excellent, a great combo of funny and informative. We hadn't been…read morethere in a very long time but remember fondly of our first tour at their previous location so we decided to go as a mother's day "nostalgia tour" and boy did it deliver!!! Awesome experience, even with teenagers in tow!

I've driven past scales and tails for many years and never really knew what it was. So one day, I…read morewalked in and discovered it's something of an interactive "zoo". The employee inside was super nice and let me know that when I'm ready to come with my family that we should get tickets online because they are a few dollars cheaper. The following weekend I brought my 2 year and 1 year old boys. As far as animals go, as the name suggests they have a wide variety of lizards, turtles, snakes, spiders, and more. When you enter, you're assigned a "guide" that walks you through and talks about pretty much any animal you want them to. At certain points, they selects animals to pull out of their cages and you're given the opportunity to touch or hold them. The inside of the building is kinda cramped and not really set up to be a guided zoo experience and there are so many cages that it would take a week to be able to see them all. I have it understood that scales and tails puts on traveling shows for birthdays and such and my guess would be that this is its primary form of business nd the tours given at the facility are really just chances to donate to help them keep things running. I don't say any of this as a bad thing though. I'm certain that the experience you have is highly tailored to your desire to learn about more animals and you can probably ask to hold a lot more than we did. Once the tour is completed you are able to just hang out and keep checking out the animals for what seems to be however long you want. Two of the highlights for us were the large alligator "darthgator" and the opportunity for our whole family to hold a 10ft python. I highly recommend to anyone with or without kids to come check it out at least once. It's a cool experience that you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else.

I'm really torn in writing this review. I'll go with 4 stars because I like supporting local…read morebusinesses and the animals did seem well cared for which I can appreciate. Personally I feel like the admission price is too much for the experience, but I also understand because they have a lot of animals that need care and food so once again it's understandable. I personally got tickets on Groupon for my friend and I to take our little boys. From online or the outside I really had no clue what we were getting into. I wasn't sure if I should get my stroller out or not, but to be honest it's not really a large space, so I'm glad I didn't end up taking the stroller in. The lady at the front desk was helpful and we scanned out virtual ti key for entry. They have some real animal lovers working and I love that they employ some younger persons who obviously love animals. There was a really pretty multicolored little bird in the front and a hand washing station. I saw a hedgehog, rats, ferrets and fish/frogs at the front. We went past the gate into the same room and there was a pig, two goats, an alpaca, two baby lambs, and a small type of horse. The alpaca and horse were tethered, but the others were free to roam within the room and there were some toys around. The gates (within the same room) have 3 other separated sections, there was a reptile section with turtles, a lizard, I can't remember exactly, but probably a snake. The next section had bunnies, small bunnies and full sized bunnies of a few different breeds, they were very soft, but a little difficult to try to pick up as most of them were hiding under their cages. And the last section had some baby ducks or goslings I couldn't tell, as well as some empty bird cages. It depends on who you go with. I kept trying to pet the baby lambs because I had drove 45 minutes to get there haha. From what I understand, they also have like a traveling petting zoo and you can hire them for parties/events. All in all, the animals seem well taken care of even though there isn't a ton of space. Now that I've been once, I don't think I need to go again, but it could be a fun activity for a local to try.

First of all, Aunt B's barn is not an actual barn but rather, more of a warehouse room with 4 areas…read moredivided by fencing to house animals. There is an area for reptiles, an area for rabbit/a chinchilla and guinea pig, an area for baby chickens and another area for a couple of ferrets. Then in the main area there is a pig, chicken, baby goat, small horse, and a llama along with a small Playschool type slide for kids and a push type tractor. If it sounds crowded, it is. Mind you, all of this is housed into one warehouse type of room with only the back door open for any type of ventilation. When we went, it was during spring break for the local schools so we understood it would be busier than usual. That said, with the number of guests added to the resident animals, it still was entirely too crowded and noisy to really enjoy seeing or petting any of the animals. Actually, the animals don't seem to want to be handled. We noticed whenever someone would try to pet the animals, they did their best to walk away or hide. In order to keep the small horse, goat and llama in one location, there was a mound of straw/hay on the floor for them to eat. The owner does keep the animal droppings picked up. Young kids who we assume are related to the owner try to help customers hold of the animals at least in a couple of areas but you can't tell who is an employee versus who is a guest. Parking is beyond limited with only three or four spots directly in front of the "barn". Loved the sink to wash hands before leaving. Thumbs up for the idea. We really wanted to love this experience. Recommendation: limit the number of guests and time allowed to create a more calming and enjoyable atmosphere for both children and especially the animals.

Nice farm for kids to visit and interact with animals. My daughters enjoyed feeding + petting the…read moresheep, llamas, horses, pigs and more. The farm is run on a donation only basis. A good way to spend a couple of hours while on vacation.

My kids loved rundown ranch! The owners were so great and friendly! We will definitely be going…read moreback and spending some time here!

The very best donuts in Utah--no contest. Made fresh, served warm, and holy moly... they are truly…read moreto die for. I could eat these every single day if geography didn't intervene. Thank goodness it's a bit of a drive for me and I only make it a few times a year, otherwise this would be dangerous. Most people come for the farm animals. I come for the donuts. Every time.

The Cross E Ranch Fall Festival has been a family favorite of ours for nearly a decade, and it just…read morekeeps getting better every year! There's something for everyone here, but our kids especially love it. Each season, the ranch adds new activities, and despite the growing crowds, it never feels too packed thanks to the wide-open space and plenty to do. Our kids make a beeline for the corn pits first thing--they could play there for hours! They're also big fans of the giant slide and obstacle course. As a dad, I have to say their burgers are top-notch--some of the best you'll find at any local event. Just don't wait until the end of the night like I did, or you'll be stuck in a long line. And whatever you do, don't skip the donuts! They come in cinnamon sugar and glazed, and while both are amazing, the glazed ones are my personal favorite. The hayride is always a relaxing highlight of the evening. If you plan to visit later in the day, make sure to dress warmly--it gets chilly fast once the sun goes down! It might even be nice if the ranch offered blankets for guests on those cold nights. One small suggestion for the staff: at the rock climbing wall, please make sure younger kids get assigned to the easier side. My 7-year-old was put on the harder one and only made it a few feet up, but she still had fun trying! Overall, Cross E Ranch continues to deliver an unforgettable fall experience. We look forward to it every year!

I paid for/booked a couple of encounters. The same day, I was sent an email from them stating my…read morebooking was cancelled with no explanation as to why. I emailed back asking for an explanation and if I would get a refund. They did respond that I did not book the encounter correctly and that I would get a refund in 5-7 days. We were not able to reschedule our booking as the time slot we needed was gone by that time. I have not yet received my refund (it has been 10 days). I hope they enjoy my "donation". Here's their response to me asking again about my refund:

From the owner: Otters and Others is a registered non-profit interactive zoo and conservation located just west of…read moreSalt Lake City, Utah. We focus on keeping our animals in a natural habitat while educating how our daily living effects wildlife, their habitat and our planet. Schedule your next visit or birthday party! We offer private encounters at our hands on, interactive zoo so you and your group can get up close and personal with each animal. Wildlife education and Q & A with an experienced team member. Open year round indoor/outdoor.

I love the Hogle Zoo because they find a way to welcome kids and the folks that are still kids at…read moreheart. In addition to regular hours they offer kid free events like Zoo Brew, where adults can hang at the museum after hours. They just need a better gift shops!!!! It doesn't feel like there's a lot of variety of merchandise. And the merchandise they do haven't is mainly for kids. There's a good variety of animals but definitely more of a focus on animals native to Utah. You have your tigers, lions, giraffes and zebras, all the animals you'd expect to see at the zoo. While the animals are clearly well cared for some of the enclosures seem a bit small. The zoo itself is pretty small which means it gets crowded pretty easily. It also means that if you don't take your time you're gonna end up covering the whole zoo in two hours.

A rare visit to the zoo for us, and we got seriously lucky by visiting at the right time because it…read moregot rained out only a few hours after our visit. It was sprinkling when we were there but wasn't too bad. We had visited an aquarium in Draper earlier in the day and we had all the time in the world to explore there. But for the zoo, we were pressed for time because we had somewhere to be in the downtown area later afternoon, so we wanted to try and see everything we could in a short period of time. I guess you could call our day "animal day" due to us visiting an aquarium and a zoo on the same day lol. The first exhibit we stopped by was the giraffe and zebra exhibit, where you can get close to and interact with the giraffes under zookeeper supervision. My maternal grandmother's favorite animal was the giraffe and this would be her favorite thing to do if I ever bought her to a zoo. As we moved along, we saw spider monkeys and wild horses, and this was the first time I've ever seen a horse yawn in person, even being around horses before in the past. We then passed by an outdoor theater, where a dog show was going on (we did hear music while walking around, but we weren't sure where it was coming from). And these dogs can REALLY jump, like how high a cat can jump onto a tall ledge. It was pretty impressive to see that. They had two dogs that were performing during this show, but I saw more of them being transported in their carriers as we were walking around. One of my favorite parts about this trip to the zoo is seeing their sand cats. They were soooo cute and tiny that I wanted to cradle them. These sand cats can be found inside of an indoor exhibit along with other wild animals when you go past the fox exhibit. Other animals that we saw were orangutans, gorillas, tigers, polar bears, rhinos, and various reptiles. My LTP tried to get a picture of the tiger, but it kept running away, like it knew it was going to have its' picture taken. The art murals that can be found in some places were also very creative. One of them was being worked on at the time of our visit. We had a great time here; I think we were here for about two hours at least and got to visit all the animal exhibits here. A great find in the Salt Lake City area.

So much fun and highly recommend visiting! Admission and train ride is free. The only thing you're…read morepaying for are the activities available at each station. There's a petting "zoo" you can ride ponies, pan for gold then exchange them at a bank and cross the street to redeem candy. You can also break your own geode or pay $5 to dig one up yourself. Even if you just hop on and off the train, the adventure alone is so cool! It also looked like they were filming a movie with everyone dressed up unless that's what they wear everyday to work.

This was one of the destinations from our tour bus. Unfortunately, the tour guide only gave us 20…read moremins to explore the area. A historic place with many statues on site. They were definitely worth the photo op. I saw other family going on train rides that would take you from one place to another. If you want to enter the zoo, there was an admission fee. Also there were pony rides for the kids to enjoy. Once you are done, there was a gift store available to shop for soverniers. If you want to spend most of your time here especially when you have kids or enjoy a family fun, I would avoid booking a tour. I believe the vistors parking is free.

Had such a fun time with the animals! All the animals were so so sweet, staff was very…read moreknowledgeable and friendly! I will definitely use this company again for many More party's and events !!

From the owner: *By appointment only* We are a family owned traveling farm,…read morelicensed home bakery, petting zoo, event location, and so much more.. We bring the animals to you to let you have some hands on fun with the animals. We will travel from Weber to Utah county! We also host birthday parties and do petting zoos, horse rides, and so much more.