Bearizona vs. Yellowstone Bear World: Battle of the drive-thru zoos

When we visited Sedona on our way up to the Grand Canyon, we had a conversation with our Sedona travel guru Richard about drive-thru zoos. I had mentioned that I heard about Bearizona, a zoo/wildlife park, back when we were planning our 2020 roadtrip-that-wasn't. Richard informed us that Bearizona was alright, but he thought Bear World in Idaho was better. We decided, if we were ever near Bear World during our travels through Idaho, that we'd go, but first it was our turn to see what Bearizona was all about.

We wrote about our Bearizona experience in an earlier blog post. We had a great time. The drive-thru portion of the zoo was organized, the nature and animals were great, and we also really loved the walking portion of the zoo. There were vendors and gift shops, the main one located in a beautiful mountain lodge-style building. While the bears were a main focal point, Bearizona had tons of different animal species, set up in habitats that resembled where they might live in the wild. Well thought out, and an overall fantastic visit for us.

Bear World would certainly have some competition. About a month after our Grand Canyon area excursions, our travels took us to Idaho on our way north to our first summer destination: Glacier National Park. We had no defined plans for our journey through Idaho, but we ended up hunkering down for a few days at a cute little county park, which also put us just a stone's throw away from Bear World. Time to see what this zoo was all about.

Located right off of US20, Yellowstone Bear World is still over an hour south of its namesake National Park, but we imagine it's aimed to be a fun daytrip for travelers in the Yellowstone region. They very much cater to vacationing families. In addition to the drive-thru zoo portion, there is a petting zoo, kiddie rides, and interactive activities. The most famous and loved activity is bear cub feeding. When the cubs are of the appropriate age, usually in the summer months, patrons can pay to bottle feed them. We would have LOVED to do this, but we were still a few weeks early. Instead, we got to see the cubs in their baby stage, which was also cute.

We had high hopes for Bear World, considering Richard had praised it as being "more fun" and having "more bears" than Bearizona. Only, as soon as we arrived to the entrance gate, we started having doubts.

First off, it's clear that Bear World's primary mission is to attract tourists. We counted at least a dozen billboards along US20 advertising this place, and you can see the location from the highway. That's not a bad thing necessarily, but we are extra diligent when we choose which zoos to visit because, in our experience, if it's a tourist trap, they're often putting the hype before the care of the animals. But we'll get into that.

We visited on what happened to be the Saturday of Mother's Day Weekend, and we had purchased our tickets ahead of time online. We didn't know until we passed our 100th Bear World advertisement on the way there, that they were running a promotion: Mothers would get in free with the purchase of one admission ticket. (The promotion was eventually listed on their website, but not when we bought the tickets). This wasn't something I gave much thought to, considering I'm not a mother and therefore the promotion wouldn't apply to me. But when we arrived to the entrance gate, we had a very awkward interaction which set the tone for the entire day.

We handed the girl our digital tickets, and it was clear that she was new because she had trouble understanding how to scan them. So we can give her a pass on the awkwardness that ensued, though it was very strange when she asked, "OK, so just two adults, including her?" She pointed to me in the passenger seat, as though she thought that A, I wasn't the other adult, and B, I couldn't speak for myself. So we were already a bit thrown off by the interaction. I think the overriding vibe was that we were two adults going to Bear World without kids. But so what? It's a wildlife excursion...right?

Things got more awkward when another girl, who was overseeing/training the new girl, then asked far too blatantly, "IS SHE A MOTHER?" Again, to Anthony and not to me, because people in the passenger seat can't hear someone three feet away?

We get it; they're running their promotion and want to ask and make sure. But on behalf of every woman I know who has struggled to get pregnant, undergone IVF, miscarried, lost a child, or simply gets discriminated for choosing an alternative lifestyle, they should probably rethink their approach to this promotion. Now don't get me wrong; mothers deserve all the love and celebration every day, and I'm not trying to be Demi Lovato going into a froyo shop and getting triggered that there are too many sugar-free options. But in this day and age, some aspects of wokeness actually make sense. The decision to have or not have kids can be really personal, and sometimes we childless couples don't want to feel like we need to defend or explain ourselves. How about instead of asking every woman who drives in, you just have better signage, state that moms should mention the sale during booking, and assume they will initiate it? And maybe run the promotion in a way that includes the mothers without completely excluding the non-mothers? I had just been awkwardly pointed to and then immediately had to pay full price because of my lifestyle choice. It didn't sit well with me, and walking around the petting zoo and gift shop, it was very apparent that I was the only female visiting that day who had to pay admission. We didn't care about the cost; we had pre-purchased the tickets and planned to spend the money no matter what. These girls just need to use their noggins and read the situation. We're two adults with no kids in the car, going to a family friendly attraction on Mother's Day Weekend. Just scan the tickets and move on.

Similar to Bearizona, we were directed toward the start of the drive-thru portion of the zoo, and we were allowed to circle through as many times as we'd like. But that's where the similarities stopped. The drive-thru was small, confusing to navigate, and very open. Not a lot of trees, which makes it great for wildlife viewing, but not good for the actual animals. They need shade! They need habitats that mimic the wild! We also struggled to figure out what animals we were looking for because there were no signs posted and no natural indicators of habitat. We totally missed some of the animals because we didn't know what to look for where. The only obvious areas were the elk and the bears, because there were lots of them in a small space. We were also under strict guidance to not stop, which makes sense for traffic flow when it's busy, but in Bearizona, cars stopping in front of us was exactly how we knew where to look for the animals! It also made our ability to actually see the animals and get photos very difficult, and for the drivers of the vehicles, they're out of luck. They won't be able to take their eyes off the road. Maybe that's why Bear World was cool letting Mom in for free; one adult wouldn't be able to enjoy the experience anyway.

Now, we'll give the point to Bear World on the number of bears. Richard was right; there were a lot. Some were adorably bathing themselves in a trough, rolling around and playing, while others were sleeping. Only, their provided bear dens were made of scrap metal. In Bearizona, the dens were constructed to look like rocks. The cubs had rock-like structures to climb on, but the adult bears weren't so privileged. The few trees that were in their habitat had their trunks wrapped so the bears couldn't climb them. Understandable because then they'd probably be able to jump over the fence because the area was so small...but in this case, wrapping the trees isn't actually the right solution to a small habitat.

We finished the drive-thru in about 15 minutes and then parked to head inside. The gift shop was nice and had a lot of the expected souvenir options, but it was much smaller than Bearizona and didn't seem to have anything special or unexpected. On the other side of the gift shop was the door leading out to the petting zoo, which was really just a small gated area with a pig, two deer, and some birds. But zoo it was. Lots of children were running around trying to pet the animals, and it was clear that there was no real supervision to make sure the animals were safe. The two deer kept warily trying to avoid the children and approach the adults instead. Thinking back, we realized that the deer probably don't live in that pen area, and if they do, each day patrons invade their space. When we went to the Grand Canyon Deer Farm, we were advised to stay on a path. The deer had their own sanctuary in the middle, where they could retreat if needed. We only interacted with the deer that approached us. Unlike some animals that are more comfortable with the petting zoo atmosphere, deer are timid. I didn't like seeing that they had nowhere to retreat when things got overwhelming.

Beyond the petting zoo were the carnival rides for the kids. Because all zoos need rides! It's problematic. Again, Bear World portrays themselves as an attraction, not a wildlife experience. This seems to result in a cycle: The places that clearly put the animal exhibits first tend to attract visitors who are on their best behavior. Everyone at Bearizona, both adults and kids alike, treated the animals courteously and soaked in the educational experience. On the other hand, places that literally call the bears an "attraction" and put up kiddie rides are basically asking patrons to treat the whole place like an amusement park. When animals are involved, this can get very dicey very fast.

We barely stayed an hour before we had had enough and called it quits. When we got back to camp, I went online to do more research on Bear World. I just had a feeling about it. This is where I saw the bears being called their greatest attraction. I also dug around to find anything about the treatment of the animals, the backstory on how they got there, or any news about their training and upbringing. If it's there it must be really buried, because I saw nothing. The website is basically set up to target vacationers and lure them into this "#1 wildlife attraction in Idaho" (there's that word again).

Let's compare with Bearizona, the "drive-thru wildlife park," as they call it. Immediately on the homepage, a snippet that says, "View wildlife in spacious, natural environments that foster memorable and educational encounters with animals." It sets a completely different tone right from the start. But then, in their "about us" section, a whole page on their mission to promote wildlife experiences in natural settings, as well as this prominently placed paragraph:

"As a member of the Zoological Association of America as well as the American Association of Zoo Keepers, Bearizona is dedicated to responsible wildlife management, conservation, and education."

Then a whole other webpage devoted to their acts of conservancy and the steps they take to have less of an environmental imprint.

We initially set out thinking this would make a fun comparative blog post, but there's no contest. We wholeheartedly disagree with Richard and would not recommend Bear World for the questionable ethics and disorganization alone. If you're in the Yellowstone area, get your wildlife fix in the park itself, and then take the kiddos to one of the many amusement parks in the area. There is a time for education and a time for raucous fun, but when wild animals are involved, they seldom should be combined.