Olympic Game Farm

Ever had a Bison stick it’s entire head in your car as you squeal with delight? If having an up-close and personal encounter with wildlife is on your dream list, then you should visit the Olympic Game Farm!

 

Olympic Game Farm is approximately 2 hours outside of Seattle, in Sequim, which makes it a great day trip, or you can make a weekend trip out of it on the Olympic Peninsula.

The Olympic Game Farm opened in the 1950’s, originally called Disney’s Wild Animal Ranch and was designed as a holding facility for animal actors of Disney Studios. Over time animal actors were no longer in high demand, and Olympic Game Farm shifted their focus on becoming a private wildlife organization.

Once you pull up to the picturesque game farm, you can do as we did, to stretch your legs and grab a bite to eat from their concessions stand. This is also your opportunity to purchase bread if you haven’t already for $2 per loaf. They are strict (understandably) about the bread being 100% whole wheat bread and they will check your bread if you brought some from home.


Once you pile back into your car, you will get into the line and pay for admission, which is a bit pricey at $15.00 (adults 15+), $13.00 Children (6-14), $13.00 Seniors (55+), and FREE for children 5 and under. The price admission includes the driving tour as well as the “walking” tour that covers the petting zoo, freshwater aquarium, duck pond, and pheasant aviary. Even though the prices are a bit steep the admission covers you all day so be sure to save plenty of time to get the full experience!

Once you are inside the gates you take a short scenic drive up a “mountain” where you come face to face with your first wild animal, the yaks. You MUST stay in your vehicle at all times, but you are allowed to roll down your windows, which was great for the girls! They screeched with delight “hello animals” as we drove by the unimpressed yaks. I think they had their fair share of bread for the day.

Next were the zebras and llamas, which were admittedly more interested in eating their hay than our bread. With how many cars were in line I can’t really blame them!

As we rounded the bend we came upon a HUGE Kodiak bear who apparently loves bread and will also wave at you!

As we meandered through the fields we drove past “Predator Area” of enclosures complete with Timber Wolves, Raccoons, Lynx Bobcats, and even a Siberian Tiger, however they were really hard to see driving past.

At this point the girl’s excitement was starting wane because none of the animals seemed interested in eating their generous bread offering, but oh boy, they were about to be in a for a BIG surprise!

We entered the “High Risk” area and that is definitely the term that I would use to describe driving through those gates. The Bison wasted no time sticking their heads directly into the windows and using their slobbery tongues to lap up bread from the girls. We all had to keep our head on a swivel, Christa had to make sure to keep the car moving at a slow but steady pace, lest our car be used as a scratching post, and the girls and me had to make sure our bread wasn’t stolen from a hungry bison!

Once we made it past the aggressive Bison, Deer who were thankfully for more calm and willing to wait their turn for bread greeted us.

Before we knew it, the driving tour was sadly over. We escaped with plenty of slobbery bison lick marks on the car, and only 1 minor dent that we were able to push back out, thanks to a driver who completely panicked once they entered the Bison area.

*Note: If you aren’t a confident driver please let someone else do the driving because you can cause damage to your car or someone else’s if you stop suddenly in the field!

The girl’s at this point were beside themselves with the giggles and the adult’s adrenaline was sky high! A walking tour with calm animals was exactly what we needed to get back to normal again!

The petting zoo had goats that were very mild mannered, but I would recommend tucking any lose items away because they seemed hungry and almost made off with our keys!

There was also a small aquarium and reptile house.

Coming to the Olympic Game Farm is truly a unique experience that that you won’t soon forget! Have you ever visited Olympic Game Farm? How was your experience? I would love to hear about it! Comment below and don’t forget to connect with us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.