It can get toasty in spring and summer, but all in all this is a respectable Sun Belt zoo. The African savannah exhibit, as you might imagine, feels the best. You can also ride a camel, check out a komodo dragon, and take the younger kids to a big petting zoo. All animals are kept in naturalistic enclosures, and what with all the palm trees and tropical vegetation, the zoo sometimes manages to make you forget you’re in the desert; still, you’ll enjoy this better if you get everyone up early and hit the zoo when it opens at 9am, 7am in summer. (Indeed, one of the advertised advantages of zoo membership is that you can get in an hour earlier!) Zoolights, an after-hours holiday-light display, is held late November to early January and is a fine diversion for families, but get your tickets early and be prepared for crowds headed by bristling phalanxes of strollers. You can save $2 per ticket by buying online.