Big Joel's Safari Petting Zoo & Educational Park

Looking for something fun and educational? Big Joel's Safari provides Educational Field Trips for students of all ages. 

 

To book your field trip please call (636) 745 3031. If no answer, please leave

a message and we will get back to you. Please review our information regarding field trips below before calling to book to save time.

In your message Please leave the following information

• Your name & organizations name

• Phone Number (organizers number for a quicker response)

• number of participants

• Desired field trip date (we do not give out available dates as they change daily)

• Please be aware you must officially book with us over the phone to hold your field trip date and time.

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​2025 Field Trip Season Availability

Field Trips are only available on weekdays throughout the 2025 Season

April 7th - May 22nd = Monday, Thursday, & Friday

Groups with over 100 paying participants can possibly book on Tuesday or Wednesday

May 23rd thru August 15th = Every weekday

August 18th - September 24th = Monday, Thursday, & Friday

Groups with over 100 paying participants can possibly book on Tuesday or Wednesday

September 25th - November 1st = Every weekday 

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2025 Field Trip Pricing & Requirements

Pricing:

• $8.00 per Participant. Definition of a Participant: any student (2 yrs old & up), siblings, and parents attending the field trip.

• Teacher (per class), para professionals, & bus drivers are free (does not include parent drivers). 

• Minimum of 20 paying participants are required to book a field trip. (Children under 2 yrs old & free staff do not go towards group minimum of participants)

• Must be scheduled in advance to receive field trip rate & feed.

• Payment for all participants due prior to entry in one transaction. We accept cash or card. Late arrivals not paid for in the group transaction will be charged regular park rates.

• Groups that have less than 20 participants that show up have two options: Option #1, the group can pay the 20 participant minimum to receive a bucket of feed or Option #2, pay regular park admission & buy feed cups if desired.

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Field Trip Admission Includes:

• Entry to the zoo

• Animal Feed: You receive one bucket of feed for every 15 -20 students to share in your group.

• Individual feed cups are NOT provided for the regular field trip package. If cups are desired it must be arranged when you book your field trip for an additional fee. 

• PLEASE NOTE: Animal Feed CANNOT be divided & put into small plastic bags, "dixie" cups, or other containers other than Big Joel's Safari Souvenir cups or buckets.  FOR ANIMAL SAFETY THERE WILL BE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE! 

• Bucket Refills are $25.00

• Any extra activities are regular price and are not guaranteed to be provided on weekdays.

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What to Expect:

• Upon Arrival teachers/organizers need to check in with the gift shop staff. After payment teachers will receive wrist bands for adults and chaperones that have paid. Any adult not paid with the group transaction will be charged regular admission to enter the park.

• ​Welcome Presentation! Our staff will go over park rules and tips for having a fun & safe visit before entering the park. Please remember the more quiet your group is and follows directions the quicker will the rules go.

•  Your group will enter with their teacher/chaperone and you will receive your feed. Each feed bucket serves 15-20 students to share, so once again divide groups accordingly. Remember no outside cups or paper/plastic bags are allowed to divide feed up!!!

• You are then free to explore the zoo at your leisure. We highly recommend that teachers & chaperones lead the way when making your way through the zoo. Big Joel's Safari Staff members will be throughout the park to answer any questions you may have and assist with park rules. The average field trip visit to Big Joel's Safari is 45 minutes if you rush through all the exhibits or up to 1 & 1/2  hours if taking a leisurely pace and reading all information about the animals as you explore.  

 

Information You Need to Know before your Field Trip:​

• ALL Park Rules must be followed by ALL Guests at ALL Times. At our end of the year meeting with both management and staff we talked about improving experiences for both staff and visitors during field trips.  We agreed that our staff members/management would prefer to spend their time educating the public by sharing fun facts about the animals and the zoo instead of constantly enforcing the rules during field trips. Ultimately it is the responsibility of the teachers and chaperones to make sure students/participants are following the zoo rules for their safety and animal safety. Please make sure all teachers and chaperones attending have gone over the rules before your trip. Our rules are simple and available for viewing any time on this site. Groups that are not following the rules will be brought back to the front entrance to go over the them again before they are allowed to continue. Rules are found under Zoo Rules & Policies.

• Start on Time! This means your group is parked, unloaded, and organized ready to enter the park at the time you are given. To see our Cancellation/Late Policies go to the bottom of this page.

• NO OUTSIDE FOOD IS ALLOWED IN THE PARK. This includes lunches/snacks.

• We highly recommend choosing a local park to have lunch at prior to or after your visit to the park. The closest park is Diekroeger Park in Wright City, MO and you can make a reservation by calling 636-745-2804 or email them by going to their website at parks@wrightcity.org

• Bring Water! We are not allowed to let the public access our well water. Vending machines are available in the park with water.

• Wheelchair Accessibility: Please take into consideration that most of the walkways in the park are on natural terrain such as gravel and grass with some slight inclines.

• Service Animals: For the safety of our animals, service animals are only allowed in our pavilion area, birthday party room, and gift shop in the park.

• Food Allergies: Our feed for the animals does not have "peanut or nut" products on the label. However, it is manufactured at an agriculture facility that does process peanuts or peanut shells. Therefore we make no guarantees that there is not peanuts in the animal feed.​​

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Cancellation, Late, and Refund Policy:

• Inclement Weather Cancellation- Only we can authorize the cancellation of a field trip due to inclement weather. We constantly look at the forecast and will contact you if there is a concern. Independently cancelling your trip without contacting us will result in no chance to reschedule.

• If your group is LATE in anyway, please call us immediately! Help us help you, we understand that things can happen. The faster we know the more options we can come up with or possibly reschedule if necessary. Being late by more than a 1/2 hour without contacting us will result in cancellation.

• If some of your participants do not show up and you have prepaid, you will be refunded in park passes for them to visit on their own.​​