My most recent visit with the kids was to the Fuji Safari Park. It’s practically right next to Grinpa Amusement Park so I think it would be best to pair these two together. We have (when driving) and it was a really fun day – you’ll need to start early to get through everything though.
The Safari Park was so cute but we really didn’t need more than 3 hours in total so I think that I would prefer to smoosh the two together – Safari first maybe and then Grinpa ? (No reason why the other way wouldn’t work either though….)
The view from Fuji (even just from the carpark actually!) is sooo pretty on a lovely clear day.
The Safari itself has two options – ride in the animal buses with a tour guide – or drive your own car.
I went for the bus option for the first visit.( 1300 yen for passengers 3 and over.) No. 1 – ummm…wild animals and me as the sole protector of my children and myself …errrrr…no thanks! No. 2 – I did NOT want the car trashed!
There is also the option of renting a 4WD to drive around as well. (5000 yen.)
I’m so glad we did the buses as they were just so adorable and the kiddies were thrilled !! How cute are they?
The bus tour was really cool. The driver spoke quite a bit of English as well as Japanese. We got three buckets and were able to feed lions, camels and bears. The kiddies were beside themselves.
These staff were so nice giving us all of these amazing Winter jackets to keep us cozy.
But then, for our second visit, I had my (much braver) Hubby with us and , as the jungle buses were all sold out until 4pm (!!) by the time we arrived at 11am, we just decided to go in our own car. (So when you drive in, they will ask you which option you’ll do so just say either ‘Jungle Bus’ or ‘My Car,’ ?
We couldn’t feed the animals or anything but it was certainly cheaper and we got to make it fun in our own way. We had the Lion King soundtrack playing and let the kids sit on our knees ( you can only drive 5 kms an hour in the safari section). It was so cute to see them so excited.
Yes, it did feel very safe. We, of course, obeyed the rules and never unlocked the doors or opened the windows.
The entrance was a little bit Jurassic Park-esque though.
There is a pretty decent souvenir shop ( I managed to get away with only buying bath bombs – phew!) But there were some pretty cute replicas of the Jungle Safari Buses too.
This time I brought our lunch with us but there was quite a large restaurant – but with pretty simple cafeteria food – ramen and curry rice etc.
There is also a petting zoo area where you work around on foot. Kiddies can ride on horses and pet other animals too. My kiddies were a bit too grumpy to try this area on for size and I also don’t love the idea of petting kangaroos etc – but each to their own, right?
FUJI SAFARI PARK
静岡県裾野市須山字藤原2255−27
2255-27 FUJIWARA AZA, SUYAMA, SUSUNO-SHI, SHIZUOKA
OPEN MARCH 11-OCT 31 : 9AM-4:30PM
OPEN NOV 1 – MAR 10: 10AM-3:30PM
ADMISSION: HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AND OLDER 2,700YEN, CHILDREN 4 YEARS OLD TO JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL AGE 1500 YEN
ACCESS: 1 HOUR 45 MINS DRIVE FROM TOKYO ( SEE HERE FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORT OPTIONS )
WEBSITE
If you go here by car, I strongly recommend going straight to Grinpa Amusement Park afterwards. It is the park with the Sylvanian Family Land, Amusement Park and an ice-skating rink in Winter and a gigantic Jumping Castle in Summer. It’s only 10 minutes away by car. Details here.
