By Dani Dodge

People notice the difference during San Diego Zoo’s Discovery Days immediately when they walk into the front plaza. There are bright new banners waving. Often costumed characters such as Bamboo Bear or Sydney Koala greet them. The music is different and themed for each event. Sometimes fun activities, like counting koalas in a tree and winning prizes, start right in the front plaza!

What’s it all about? Well, discovery!

Discovery Days only started in 2009, so they may seem like they just popped up. The idea was to create fun, animal-related four-day events for zoo members and other guests to enjoy three times a year during the “shoulder seasons,” times of the year when the zoo isn’t as busy as, say, weekends in June. So, it’s the perfect bonus for all the zoo’s Uptown neighbors! And it’s free with admission or membership.

“Members love it,” said Phil Leiss, the San Diego Zoo’s special events manager. “All the normal stuff we do is just pumped up. If we are doing 10 keeper talks on a weekend, during Discovery Days that number jumps to 15 or 16.”

Although the zoo has had many recurring events over the years such as Garden Festival, Discovery Days are different because all areas of the zoo contribute, from those who care for animals, to food service and conservation scientists.

“The idea was to do events where all the departments in the zoo came together to make a fantastic experience for our guests,” said Leiss, who has been the Discovery Days organizer from the first Koalapalooza in January 2009. He is now working hard on the next one, Mission Fed’s Discovery Days: Festival of Flight, Nov. 11 – 14.

As with each of the Discovery Days, Festival of Flight has a focus on a single type of animal—birds—with activities such as the “amazing aerial feeding frenzy” in the Scripps Aviary. But it also celebrates 100 years of naval aviation. There will be booths for the USS Midway Museum and San Diego Air & Space Museum. People who want to get their own “bird’s-eye” view of the world can take flying trapeze training. (The class, which lasts an hour and 45 minutes, costs $69 per person in addition to the zoo admission.)

During Festival of Flight, the “Party on the Plaza” will include a condor (not a real one) flying down a zip line over guests’ heads. After guests go through the turnstiles, many more surprises await. During Koalapalooza, guests might meet a koala. During Reptilemania, they came into the zoo and got to stand in front of a 6-foot-tall photo cutout of a cobra for a memorable family photo.  Each Discovery Days event has food specials, unique shows and chances to meet the behind-the-scenes folks at the zoo, including veterinarians and scientists. Kids scramble to win cool keepsakes in the scavenger hunt or learn to radio-track animals along the front plaza.

“You really design it for each generation, from grandson to grandpa,” Leiss said. “You want the kids to get Mardi Gras beads in the front plaza and for grandpa to have a chance to meet a scientist working on animal conservation. It takes a lot of work, but Discovery Days are so much fun!”

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Dani Dodge is a former newspaper reporter and editor now working as a public relations representative at the San Diego Zoo. She can be reached at [email protected].