Brittany Estrada

Review of Safari West

We took my mother here for the Mother's Day Brunch...

We took my mother here for the Mother's Day Brunch Safari yesterday morning/afternoon. Overall the park itself was really spacious and the animals were beautiful. Staff seemed very knowledgeable about the animals. The reason I only give this place 3 stars is because (1) the brunch itself was lacking in more ways than one, and (2) staff seemed really uncoordinated and did not communicate effectively to ensure we had an enjoyable time.
Our reservation was at 10am which we were told to be there by 9:45am as we would be on a schedule. We arrived at about 9:15am and were told all mother's day brunch safari guests would have to park in an "overflow lot". The lot was really just a dirt turnout on the side of the road. Luckily they provided a shuttle but this was not communicated to us when we made our reservation so no one carried any cash to tip.
We were able to go inside the restaurant a little before 10am but we were not able to get our food until about 10:30am. We assumed that there was some staff delay and that our safari would begin closer to noon; although no one had communicated any of this explicitly to us. The buffet consisted of a variety of pastries, bagels with lox and other fixings, a turkey carving station, salad mix, mixed vegetables including carrots, green beans, and potatoes, bacon, sausage and a blueberry french toast. Not a huge variety. I was very disappointed that they didn't have any eggs. Eggs are a staple item for any breakfast or brunch in my opinion. When we asked staff if there were eggs they looked at us like we were crazy. And since I don't personally eat meat, I was left to have a VERY high carb breakfast. The food that I did have was very good but the lack of spread was overshadowing. The brunch itself was described as all-inclusive. The brunch was advertised as having mimosas. Since it was described as all-inclusive I assumed that meant bottomless mimosas. It didn't. That meant that you would get one drink ticket per person and have the option to pay $7 per mimosa, wine or beer. Safari West did a horrible job of advertising this and I feel that it was very deceptive how they described it all-inclusive. Simple language saying all non-alcoholic are included; a cash bar is available would have worked. Since the breakfast had started late we assumed that our tour would begin later. A little after 11:30am we were approached by a staff member and said our tour party was waiting on us. Up until then there had been no information about when anything would start. At this point we were told we were going to be walking for about 30 minutes on a guided tour. Great although we went into this not knowing we would have a walking portion. The 30 minute walking tour seemed rushed and the guide was easily frustrated by people falling behind. After our 30 minute walking tour we were to board a caravan with a different group. Again this whole itinerary we were learning on the fly. Since we were rushed out breakfast and just went on a 30 minute walk my family had to use the restroom. When they asked the caravan driver she seemed very reluctant to allow them but told them to hurry. We were put in very awkward situations continually because staff never communicated what the day would be like. The caravan ride itself was nice. It was about an hour. The seats were really uncomfortable to me but the rest of my party was fine with them. Make sure to have a camera because it's unreal how close some of the animals get. It was nice have the guides describe the various animals and their specific behaviors. I kind of expected more as far as variety of animals but I understand all the animals need to have adequate space. The brunch by itself was priced at $42/person. With the hour long safari you get to see 100 of the 400 acres -- it was $75/person.
If you read anything from this review, save your money and eat breakfast/brunch somewhere else and use that money towards the safari of the whole 400 acres. The full safari is about $95 but would have been money better spent.