My Zoo’s Living Helix and Unforgettable Animal Encounters

Michael Arnold

Welcome to the show! I'm Michael Arnold with Guy Mc Farlane, and Guy, I keep coming back to this image: you walk up to My Zoo and the very first thing greeting you is a 25,000-square-foot entry and retail space with a DIGITAL canopy over your head. That's not just a gate -- that's a statement.

Guy Mc Farlane

It really is. As the owner, I wanted that first moment to feel like the beginning of an adventure, not the administrative part before the fun starts. So you come through the smart-entry gates, into the main plaza, and the whole place is designed to say, very gently, come a little further... there's more to discover.

Michael Arnold

And that "little further" idea is built right into the name, right? The Living Helix. I love that because it sounds scientific, but it also feels like motion. It's not a flat walk from exhibit to exhibit -- it's a connected journey.

Guy Mc Farlane

Exactly. There's a central hub -- about 20,000 square feet -- that acts as the Helix transition point. That's where guests can pause, get food, reorient, and then choose their next mood. Because each habitat has its own personality. Cloud Forest does not feel like Sunken River, and Sunken River absolutely does not feel like Nocturnal Hive.

Michael Arnold

Okay, let's paint that for people. Cloud Forest first: 60,000 square feet, 200 by 300 feet, with Clouded Leopards and Red Pandas. And then, hanging above it all, a Sky-Bridge Trek 20 feet up. Twenty feet! That's not a boardwalk. That's a proper "I've got butterflies in my stomach" kind of view.

Guy Mc Farlane

That's the hope, yes. Cloud Forest is meant to lift you -- literally and emotionally. You see the red pandas using overhead mesh highways, you feel the canopy around you, and if you choose the Sky-Bridge Trek, you're moving through that space from above. It changes your pace. You stop being a passerby and start feeling part of the environment.

Michael Arnold

And I think that's the token right there -- the OVERHEAD mesh highways. Because for a guest, that's memorable. You don't just see a red panda sitting on a branch. You look up and realize the exhibit is working in three dimensions. That's a very different kind of encounter.

Guy Mc Farlane

Yes, and then you move into Sunken River, which shifts the energy completely. That's 45,000 square feet -- Giant Otters, Caiman, submerged viewing, and underwater brasserie dining. I love that zone because the world suddenly drops around you. It feels cooler, slower, more immersive.

Michael Arnold

Underwater dining at an otter habitat is one of those ideas where you hear it and go, "Well... yeah, of course I want that." Eighty seats, 90 minutes, and you're basically sharing lunch with a river world. That's a proper day-making memory.

Guy Mc Farlane

And it gives guests time. That's important. A zoo shouldn't always rush people along. Sometimes the best experience is sitting still long enough to notice an otter loop back, or a caiman hold perfectly still, or the way light moves through the water.

Michael Arnold

That's such a reptile-and-fish-keeper truth, by the way. The magic happens when people slow down. And then -- bang -- you pivot again into Savannah Edge, 105,000 square feet. That's the biggest habitat in the plan. Giraffes, meerkats, an elevated feeding deck 15 feet up... that's the one families are gonna photograph to death.

Guy Mc Farlane

They are, and I won't blame them. Savannah Edge is open, bright, and social. You get those long sightlines, the sense of space, and then this beautiful moment where you're eye-level with a giraffe instead of craning your neck from the ground. It changes the relationship instantly.

Michael Arnold

Eye-level with a giraffe at 15 feet -- that's the detail that sticks. Not "we saw giraffes." It's "we met one at eye level." That's the kind of sentence kids repeat for weeks.

Guy Mc Farlane

Then when evening feelings start creeping in -- or, honestly, when you just want contrast -- Nocturnal Hive takes over. That's 40,000 square feet, a very different atmosphere, with Fruit Bats, Slow Lorises, and a reverse-light cycle exhibit. It feels secretive in the best possible way.

Michael Arnold

And thermal-vision night tours. That's the hook! Thermal-vision. You're not just walking into a dim building squinting and hoping you catch movement. You're seeing the nocturnal world in a whole different language.

Guy Mc Farlane

Yes -- and when those zones connect in sequence, that's the point of My Zoo. You begin under a digital canopy, then rise into a cloud forest, descend into a river, open into the savannah, and finish in the dark pulse of the nocturnal house. It's designed to pull you deeper, step by step.

Michael Arnold

That's what I like most about it. It's boutique, sure, it's compact at 10 acres, but it doesn't think small. It thinks cinematically. Every turn gives you a new atmosphere, a new species mix, a new reason to lean forward and go, "Okay, what's next?"

Guy Mc Farlane

And then, of course, once you're in those spaces, the attractions are what turn a lovely visit into a day people talk about on the drive home. We built My Zoo for exploration. Not just seeing animals, but doing things that bring you closer to them -- respectfully, joyfully, memorably.

Michael Arnold

Let's start with the giraffe feed because, come on, that's one's irresistible. Ten dollars, about five minutes, and up to 100 guests an hour can step onto that elevated deck and have this face-to-face moment with a Reticulated Giraffe. Four giraffes in the habitat, by the way -- that's a real social presence, not a lonely one-off.

Guy Mc Farlane

That experience is pure delight. You see children go from a little uncertain to completely transfixed in about three seconds. And for adults -- who pretend they're composed -- it tends to melt them just as quickly. A giraffe that close humbles you.

Michael Arnold

A hundred percent. And then you've got the Junior Residency Lab Experience -- the Kids Vet-Tech Lab. That's 8,000 square feet, 80 by 100 feet, and it's such a smart addition because it lets children imagine themselves inside animal care, not just outside the glass looking in.

Guy Mc Farlane

That one means a lot to me. The Vet-Tech Lab is playful, yes, but it also tells kids that zoological spaces are built by people who care deeply -- veterinarians, keepers, technicians, educators. Discovery isn't passive. Sometimes it's hands-on, curious, a little messy, and very exciting.

Michael Arnold

"A little messy" is exactly right. Any kid who leaves pretending to be a vet for the next month -- that's a win. And I like that it's a 45-minute experience. Forty-five minutes is long enough to feel substantial, not just a quick photo op and out you go.

Guy Mc Farlane

Then there are the thermal-vision night tours in Nocturnal Hive, which are... well, they're special. Fifteen guests per tour, about 60 minutes, and suddenly the zoo at night becomes something intimate and slightly mysterious. Not scary -- just full of hidden life.

Michael Arnold

Fifteen guests is the magic number there. That's small enough that it feels personal. You're not in a crowd of 60 shuffling along. You're in a proper little expedition, looking for Fruit Bats and Slow Lorises and seeing heat signatures where your normal eyes might miss everything.

Guy Mc Farlane

That's beautifully put. And I think that sense of expedition carries right into the marketplace as well. Even our retail area isn't meant to feel like "the exit through the gift shop." We imagined it more as retail-tainment -- a lively indoor zone with Ring-tailed Lemurs overhead and little moments that keep the sense of wonder alive.

Michael Arnold

The phrase "retail-tainment" can sound gimmicky until you hear the detail: Ring-tailed Lemurs overhead. Eight lemurs, right there in the marketplace environment, and suddenly buying a plushie or grabbing a souvenir is part of the visit, not the end of it.

Guy Mc Farlane

Precisely. The whole day should feel woven together. A family might start under the digital canopy, trek over the Cloud Forest, watch Giant Otters from a submerged viewing area, feed giraffes at 15 feet, let the kids try the Vet-Tech Lab, and finish beneath lemurs in the marketplace. That's not one memory. That's five or six distinct memories in a single visit.

Michael Arnold

And that's why repeat visits make sense here. Because nobody does all of it the same way twice. One day is Sky-Bridge Trek and underwater dining. Another is meerkat pop-up bubbles for the kids, then Nocturnal Hive after dark. The zoo sort of invites you to build your own version of the day.

Guy Mc Farlane

It does. And if I can say this as the owner -- what makes me proud isn't only the attractions, though I love them. It's the feeling that the animals and the guests are both being given a place to thrive. Clouded Leopards in a vertical forest. Red Pandas on mesh highways. Giant Otters in a river world. Giraffes in open space. Guests aren't being rushed past them; they're being invited into a richer way of seeing.

Michael Arnold

That's the heart of it for me too. Because when a place is built for discovery, people act differently. They look up more. They linger. They ask better questions. Kids start noticing details -- the curve of a caiman's body, the way a bat moves, the size of a giraffe's eyes up close.

Guy Mc Farlane

So if you're listening, consider this your invitation. Come see My Zoo. Walk the Living Helix, choose your own path through Cloud Forest, Sunken River, Savannah Edge, and Nocturnal Hive, and let the day surprise you a bit. That's what we built it for.

Michael Arnold

And honestly, if you come away with one favorite zone, I'd love to know which one wins. I'm not saying I'll judge you if you pick the reptiles and caiman section... but I might respect you EXTRA for it.

Guy Mc Farlane

Fair enough. We'll leave that question hanging there. Thanks for listening.