We have been to Arbuckle Wilderness several times since 1998. We had fun photographing the camels, burros, deer, rhino, llamas, alpacas, and other animals. Types of animals have varied over the years. We arrived at 9:00 AM when it opened - staff was a few minutes late and gave us half off tickets. It is a rugged, wooded, hilly park and sometimes the road is very bumpy. They have a large play and trail area, but we did not visit that area. Bathrooms are for large crowds and appeared clean.
This is not worth the money! I understand that having some animals is better than nothing, but false advertising is not right! The gate has a picture of a tiger and lion and the building has a picture of a monkey and a giraffe. WARNING! NONE of those animals live at this park. The gift shop was very poorly maintained and the bathrooms were disgusting! Only the drive through portion was available and the rest was closed claiming for the winter season, but looking at other reviews that seems to be the trend. Completely disappointed!
The Arbuckle wilderness is just that - a beautiful, natural, exquisite wilderness. We drove to every lookout, drop-off and took amazing pictures. The cuts in the highways shows the buckle in the mountains and the different colors of granite rocks. It is truly gorgeous.
Family with two teenage girls and 2 boys ages 10 and 8. We saw Buffalo, white tiger, lots of alpacas, donkeys, horses, ostriches, camel, rhino, ox, and zebras. We fed almost all of the animals. It's was so much fun we laughed so much because they were chasing the car and would stick their heads in the window. We got to see them up close and got pretty personal with them. We paid $110.50 for 6 of us and 10 cups of feed. The kids thought it was so much fun. The views were beautiful! The price is a bit much probably wouldn't go back but it was a fun experience.
Yes this was a wonderful park...decades ago. My wife and I know it has been less than spectacular for a very long time. Decided to take our teens through and check it out. I didn't have high expectations but it was almost depressing.As others have said a family of 4 will pay about $75. Not complaining about the price just confirming what others have said.A plethora of donkeys and llamas. There are a few other animals. If you want animal diversity a zoo in a large city is better suited to your needs. The attraction is the ability to drive through an animal park and feed these animals up close.Remember, many of these animals have lived their entire life in this park. This is all they know. They WILL crowd and block a vehicle to get food. Be pushy. Chase vehicles. That is all they know.Our family was left wondering for the health of some llamas and donkeys. They all have a disheveled appearance, to be expected with so many animals. But there were a few that could be seen laying down, not moving, not chasing for food. Touring the park is almost a sense of going back in time to the 80's. That is when most things looked like they were built or last maintained properly.Drive careful, there are potholes everywhere.The walk through area is very sad looking. We were left wondering if things had not opened yet for Spring/Summer. Looking at some things, the deterioration, certain things have not been maintained or used in a long time.We walked all the way around by the reptile exhibit area. So many things just falling apart. Barricaded. Abandoned.The animal performance stage. I would hope there are not performances put on with the state of repair in that.Monkey cages? Empty and broken. One had a cinder block building attached to the cage. The block building was missing a roof. Door frame coming out of the cinder blocks. Dead raccoon inside this abandoned building.One outside cage had Lemurs. It looks like there is a connecting, overhead "cage tunnel" for the lemurs to go back to a protected building. Look closely, it is blocked off. Their protection is a dog house igloo. The lemurs were gathered at the entrance to this dog house and I pointed out to my family the possible reason. There is a space heater mounted against the cage.I think some employees care but there is only so much they can do.It just has a sad, depressing vibe to the place with a feeling that some of the animals need rescuing.
For 2 adults and 2 kids it was $75. We saw mostly donkeys, llamas and camels. A couple of zebras, a caged kangaroo and some horses. No rhino, no white lion or giraffe. It was a sad, sad zoo or wilderness park...or what ever you call it. We made the best of it tho and had fun with ugly llamas who were very persistent. It was not near as nice as the one in Glenrose, TX or down by San Antonio.
Needs a lot of updating, more foods in the snack bar, fix the bumper boats, get more animals in the walk through and get a bigger petting zoo part. The girls at the front desk were constantly on their phones and the bathrooms needed a deep cleaning or the gift shop needed a good sweep more toys in the gift store. The roads in back need to be fixed and the dead trees in back need to be cut down. Even if they painted a few things it would make the place look a little better.
After seeing the huge highway sign for Arbuckle Wilderness, we decided to visit. The park is terribly run down. There are many empty cages, and the road through the park is poorly maintained. I would not recommend this safari park at all.
The Arbuckle Wilderness has lots of animals but nothing all that exotic. Still it is fun to feed the animals and see them up close.
Okay, so they used to have a better variety of animals... quit living in the past, people! I miss the more exotic animals, too, but this is still a lot of fun. My fiance and I have memories from this place that we will never forget. He is from Canada, so this was his first and only trip to Arbuckle thus far. Animals crowded the car! And since the windows on my old Sunfire don't work, we had to use the sun roof. Well, the animals that were tall enough put their heads down directly inside the car. Like... I could literally kiss them they were so close to my face! What a blast! This is still a place to laugh and have fun while enjoying the sheer beauty and bold personalities of the fascinating creatures God put on this planet. Llamas, yaks, emus, tigers, ostriches, donkeys, mules, waterbuffalo, addax, miniature zebu, and more!