Visit The Grand Canyon Deer Farm in Williams, Arizona!

 

I love animals of all shapes & sizes so when we have a chance to visit a new zoo, animal experience or new area to go hiking/exploring, I am all for it. I live in Arizona & as long as you have the paperwork for it the state has a large list of animals you are allowed to legally own which means there are several animal experiences & interactive ranches/farms that have unique animals for you to see. I have written reviews for a few locations here in Arizona in the past & today I will be sharing a spot called the Grand Canyon Deer Farm which is located in Williams, Arizona. If you are interested in what the other animal spots I've reviewed are, I will include them at the end of this post. This is a spot we paid to visit, it is not a sponsored post. The Deer Farm is easy to reach, it is just off of Interstate 40, so even if you aren't planning on staying in the area it is a fun spot to stop on a road trip through the area or during a day trip like we did. 

As the name suggests the Grand Canyon Deer farm is home to dozen of deer, however they also have a few other farm animals & a couple exotic animals as well that you get to see up close. The farm has a few species of deer including reindeer along with peacocks, a cockatoo, wallabies, a camel, a marmoset monkey, coatis, Zonkeys & more. You will be able to see & pet a few of the animals up close, the others are just for viewing. How much does it cost to get in? It is $16 per adult and $9 per child, the cost does not include food for the deer. Based off of our experiences at other animals experiences like this I would say the price is moderate in comparison. They also have encounter opportunities that can be purchased separate for example you would pay $30 per person to interact with the wallabies. I would recommend booking that part ahead of time to make sure you can get in. We had stopped by on a trip & had wanted to do the animal experiences but there wasn't enough staff on hand that day to do it so they were not letting anyone buy the extras. 

In total I would say we stayed for about an hour and a half, some of the spots we stayed at just a little bit longer than others. Wear close toed shoes as you will be walking through dirt & possibly mud depending on the weather and of course some animal poop. They didn't put any holes into our clothing, but just in case I wouldn't wear your favorite top while visiting. Some of the deer started nibbling onto our shirts if they weren't being fed fast enough. Most of the deer were very sweet while we were walking around feeding & petting them, a couple were slightly pushy but that is any animal when they want a snack. Depending on what time of the year you go, you might get lucky & get to see some baby animals while you are there. 

The farm is set up in a way that it is easy to do a self guided tour without assistance, the paths are easy to follow & all of the animals pens are set up along the trail so you can see them as you walk. One of our favorite animals to see was the mini Zebu cow! She was so sweet and soft. Another stop that was a favorite of mine was over at the Coati cage! I love how cute those little critters are, they are like a cross between a lemur and a raccoon & they are actually native to Arizona. I hope to one day be able to spot them out in the wild while hiking & exploring. 

It was a nice spot to stop, we enjoyed the bit of time we spent there viewing the animals & interacting with some of them. They also have a huge gift shop & indoor bathrooms available & they also have outdoor sinks so you can wash your hands after touching the animals. If you want to make your trip more of an adventure the deer farm is right up the road from the Grand Canyon Go-Karts (click the name to be taken to the review). It is also located just up the road from Bearizona which is a walkthrough & drive thru animal park. 

If you want to check out other animal experiences in Arizona here are some of our favorites! Click on the name of the attraction & you will be brought to the review I wrote for it.

★ Bearizona which is mentioned above is wonder it has bears, wolves, otters & more that you can see up close. 

★ Ghost Ranch Exotics out near Tucson offers up close encounters with a Kangaroo, Capybaras & more. 

★ The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum is a mini zoo, aquarium, hiking zone and more where you get see a number of amazing animals + you can pay to feed a sting ray. 

★ The Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch near Tucson offers you a chance to feed & touch a number of animals including Donkeys, Rainbow Lorikeets, Deer, Goats, Ducks & More. 

★ The Phoenix Herpetological Society in Scottsdale gives you a chance to see gators, monitor lizards, otters, raccoons, snakes & more up-close. 

★ Odysea Aquarium in Scottsdale is home to hundreds of fish, but they also offer the chance to have unique encounters with a Sloth & with Penguins!

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" (Click or locate it on the right-hand side of my page) section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. 

Exotic Animal Experience in Arizona!

 

When we visit fun new places that I think others will enjoy, I like sharing them here on my blog! This time around it isn't really a review of the location just some fun highlights of when we visited. Why isn't it quite a full review? When we had visited this location, it was under another name & address. Shortly after we had paid a visit to the farm, they moved to their new location taking the exotic animals with & have the farm animals at another location as part of the new mobile petting zoo services they offer. The exotic animal portion is now called Ghost Ranch Exotics which is located just outside of Tucson, Arizona. We personally loved getting to go on the exotic animals tour as we were able to see & pet Capybaras, Patagonian Maras, a red-rumped agouti, a kangaroo & more along with being able to feed porcupines and other animals. This is a spot we paid for on our own while on vacation to Tucson and it is not sponsored by the ranch. 

They have several different packages depending on your budget & what kind of animals you want to interact with. We opted to do the all in exotic animals package which allowed us to feed & pet the farm animals which included ducks, goats, pigs, emus, and chickens plus the exotic animal tour. During our visit they had a bunch of baby goats you were able to pick up & hold, they were so cute and sweet. I've been to a lot of zoo's & small owned locations like the Ghost Ranch Exotics, from what I saw while we were there, the animals are well taken care of. They looked healthy, they looked happy & seemed to really enjoy all the attention they were getting. Appearance wise they looked well groomed, after getting to pet them your hands didn't feel disgusting & were not overly dirty. They had a wash station where you could wash your hands & hand sanitizer if you wanted to use it. 

It also included a tour through the exotic animal areas, in each area we were handed some food & told which animals we were able to give the food to. There were only a few animals that weren't able to be pet during this tour which were the porcupines (you were still able to feed them carrots) & the birds. The package we purchased also had the kangaroo included so after the exotic tour we were taken to another area to see the kangaroo & a warthog. We got extremely lucky & there weren't any others who had purchased the kangaroo part at the same time so the four of us were able to be with the kangaroo & staff member by ourselves almost the entire time until another couple joined us toward the end. 

On your way out you can stop by the gift shop to purchase a souvenir from your trip. Not only do they have personally branded items such as clothing, notebooks, and more, but you can purchase peacock feathers, porcupine quills (they shed them naturally just like bird feathers) & some other goods. I bought a cute Capybara pin & a Halloween themed fridge magnet that has a kangaroo on it.

I have no idea what the new location looks like, but the old location was pretty well kept for how many animals they had. We had an amazing time seeing all the animals, getting to pet them & feed them. We were there for about two hours in total. Cost wise it is different now from what it was when we visited & their new website doesn't state if the costs are per person or per group. When we had paid it was per person but was a lot less than the currently listed prices so maybe it is for a small group? The price for the all animals experience at the new location is $375. They also have other options for certain animals if you'd like to only see certain animals. 

What is an animal you've always wanted to have an interaction with??? Is this a spot you think you'd want to visit??

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more.