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Omaha Tours During the AABP Convention
Enrich Your Trip to Omaha
Explore the highlights of the Omaha metropolitan region while you’re in town! Schedule one, two, or all three of the following tours on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
"Monkey Around": 
A Day at Henry Doorly Zoo
Thursday, September 10
Duration: 9:00am-6:00pm
Fee: $50/person
Website: OmahaZoo.com The Henry Doorly Zoo is an experience you’ll remember long after the conference. Explore a wide range of outstanding exhibits, including the Dairy World Complex; Bear Canyon; Hubbard Orangutan Forest; Pachyderm Hill’s elephants and rhinos; Desert Dome, world’s largest indoor desert; Lied Jungle, an indoor rainforest; Scott Aquarium’s 1.3 million gallons of salt water filled with marine life; Owen Sea Lion Pavilion; Cat and Giraffe Complexes; Little Australia; the Garden of the Senses, and so much more. The zoo also features interesting additional-fee options, such as an open-air Skyfari chairlift that transports passengers on a 20-minute trip above the exhibits ($4 round trip), a wildlife carousel sporting enamel-covered creatures ($2), and the Lozier IMAX® Theater showing Under the Sea 3D and Wild Ocean 3D on a screen 83 feet wide by 61 feet high (age-based pricing). A tram makes four stops within zoo grounds ($2 round trip), and a live steam train circles the zoo ($4 round trip). You can use Doorly Dollars, offered as part of your AABP tour package, to lunch in the TreeTops restaurant overlooking the rainforest or have a sandwich, chips, and lemonade while you picnic in designated areas located throughout the zoo grounds.
Experience Omaha: Historical Council Bluffs & Lauritzen Gardens
Friday, September 11
Duration: 9:00am-6:00pm
Fee: $63/person
Websites: councilbluffsiowa.com, omahabotanicalgardens.org
Ride on an escorted luxury motor coach to key attractions in the Omaha-Council  Bluffs metropolitan area. You’ll stop at Fairview Cemetery, with its Kinsman Civil War Memorial and resting site of Amelia Bloomer, the suffragette credited for popularizing women’s “bloomers.” Next you’ll visit historic Squirrel Cage Jail, a three-story Victorian Gothic brick structure built in 1885, with pie-shaped cells that rotate like a Lazy Susan so that a single jailer could guard many prisoners--one of only three such buildings in existence. Third, you’ll head to the Union Pacific Railroad Museum, a Beaux Arts-style building displaying one of the nation’s oldest corporate collections. Memorabilia dates from the mid 1800s and is presented via many interactive exhibits. Last stop in the morning will be General Dodge House, the lavish, 3-story, 14-room Victorian home built in 1869 by General  Grenville M. Dodge, a Civil War veteran who was dubbed the “greatest railroad builder of all time.” Lunch will be served in the mansion’s ballroom.
After lunch, you’ll travel to Lauritzen Gardens, a living display of unique four-season plantings maintained to the highest standards consistent with environmental stewardship. The gardens presently include the Arboretum and Bird Sanctuary; Children's Garden; English Perennial Border; Festival and Founders Gardens; Garden in the Glen; Garden of Memories; Herb, Japanese, and Model Railroad Gardens; Peony and Rose Gardens; Song of the Lark Meadow; Victorian Garden; Woodland Waterfall; and Woodland Trail. Stop by the Visitor and Education Center, and browse the gift shop’s high-quality selections.
See the "Magic City" on Ollie the Trolley & Shop the Old Market District
Saturday, September 12
Duration: 9:30am-11:15am (return transportation options)
Fee: $10/person
Website: oldmarket.com
Historic and culturally diverse South Omaha, also known as the "The Magic City," awaits you! Founded in 1884 along with the creation of the Union Stockyards, by 1890 South Omaha was the fastest growing city in the United States, resulting in its “Magic” nickname. A patchwork of cultures merged as waves of immigrants flocked to the community to work in its  packing houses, breweries, smelting plants, and other businesses, which has given South Omaha a truly distinctive history. Your tour begins when Ollie the Trolley arrives at the Hilton with your very own guide who is passionate about South Omaha (often called “South O” by locals). See many historic landmarks, with nearly 30 on the National Register of Historic Places, and unique ethnic areas, such as Little Bohemia and Little Italy. At 11:15am you can return to the Qwest Center on Ollie for the AABP annual business meeting or hop off the trolley in the historic Old Market District to have lunch in one of many casual restaurants and shop in any of more than 65 retail stores. Stay in South O as long as you like, and return on foot (about a 6-block walk to the Convention Center) or by hotel shuttle at your leisure.
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