Reindeer Festival at Cougar Mountain Zoo

Did you know Santa uses tigers to make candy canes? Or that wallabies are his official mail carriers?  Oh the things one can learn on a visit to the Cougar Mountain Zoo during the Reindeer Festival.

The kids and I, plus Mamma and Grandpa Willy, stopped by the zoo mid-morning a few days before Christmas.  We easily found parking and made our way to the admissions booth where there was no line for entry. A few extra dollars at the admission booth (thanks Mamma and Grandpa) bought the kids cups of apples to feed the reindeer.  The Reindeer Festival has been open for nearly three weeks now.  I wonder if Santa’s reindeer are sick of apples?  If so, they didn’t show any signs of it.  Three eagerly approached the railing as soon as the Jamin and Mya started throwing apples.  When the apples cups had been emptied, we continued up the hill to Santa’s House.  Both kids are  not quite sure what to make of Santa and I have yet to cox either of them onto Santa’s lap.  From a safe 5 foot distance, Jamin told Santa he was hoping to get trains this Christmas.  Santa assured him the elves were working on the trains as they spoke.  Photos with Santa were available for sale (or take your own for a lesser fee), but since the kids only got within arms reach of the man in red in order to snatch the Hersey kisses he was handing out, we passed on the photo.

There were plenty of other photo opportunities, including a sleigh already packed with presents and a multitude of bronze statues, each decked out in garland for the holidays.

We joined a cluster of other visiters at the cage of the energetic tiger cubs who entertained us as they played on their ball and jumped at cage walls. We then moved on to take in the wallabies, emu, lemurs and cranes in the Magical Forest.  Keeping in theme with the Reindeer Festival, each animal area had signage explaining the animal’s role in Santa’s menagerie.  Apparently the emus are Santa’s advance landing crew in Australia.  Who knew?

A pair of brilliantly colored and very squawky parrots greeted us on the way out of the exhibit.  Mya frequently tries to imitate the various animal sounds and her parrot squawk is adorable.

There was always a friendly staff member nearby to answer questions about the animals.  As we left the Magical Forest, one invited us to stop by the ‘Post Office’ to write a letter to Santa.  However, after about an hour both kids were ready to go and the grown-ups were hungry so called it a morning.

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