Meet Donatello at San Jose's Happy Hollow Park & Zoo

Happy Hollow has a new resident, a capybara named Donatello. He got his name after picking up sticks with his mouth and swinging them around like a Ninja Turtle. Happy Hollow is also in the process of expanding the capybara habitat to include a larger yard and more vantage points for visitors. It should be ready later this year, but you can go visit Donatello right now.

It's amazing how many San Jose residents have never been to this cute little zoo. It's very nicely maintained and is the perfect size for toddlers and elementary school-aged kids. There is also a historic puppet theater, a handful of carnival-type rides, and a family roller coaster. It's also rarely crowded. If you have kids, it's the perfect outing to work into a weekend.

Source: SJ Today

Noon Year's Eve at Happy Hollow

There are not a lot of kid-friendly options for New Year's Eve, but there is one great one at San Jose's Happy Hollow Park and Zoo. They are doing a "Noon Year's Eve" with a countdown to noon instead of midnight on December 31st.

The early New Year celebrations runs from 11am to 1:30pm and includes games, crafts, activities, a ventriloquist magic show, and scavenger hunt. As expected, the countdown and ball drop happen at just before noon. It's a great family-friendly event that everyone can participate in.

For more info, head over here.

Happy Hollow Park & Zoo Grand Opening Weekend

Yesterday I took my goddaughter to the grand re-opening of Happy Hollow! The renovations and expansions are pretty impressive, this is definitely not the Happy Hollow Park & Zoo I remember from my childhood.

The park is now divided into 3 main sections: 1.) massive children's play area with rides and a titanic-sized play set  2.) the main zoo 3.) petting zoo (part of section 2 in the old park) and lemur play area. While everything was substantially renovated, what impressed me the most was the third section--which had one of the most innovative designs I have ever seen in an amusement park. A huge chunk of this area was themed around lemurs; however, instead of just having an expansive zoo exhibit of lemurs there is also a lemur-themed play area adjacent to it. So kids can essentially watch the lemurs while immediately imitating there actions in the play area. Excellent idea!

The entrance, store, restaurant, restrooms, and education facilities are all brand new. There are several new rides as well as new animal exhibits. Also, there are quite a few improvements still to come. Several areas are under construction and there are still 3 animal exhibits that haven't opened yet: bats, bees, and foxes.

One observation I had while walking back to the car was just how much underutilized space there is in Kelly park. We're talking dozens of acres here. How nice would it be to eventually build out a full zoo equivalent to San Francisco or Oakland? I think this current renovation and expansion will put Happy Hollow on the map as an exceptional children's park, but a full-blown zoo would increase it's appeal to a much larger audience. It could also be a profitable venture for San Jose, just a thought!