A Sweet Place Got Even Sweeter as Jungle Island Scooped Up Smiles, Rolled in Fun, and Sprinkled Joy Everywhere.

August 30th, 2025

Jungle Island is unlike anywhere else you can visit in South Florida. It’s like a zoo without being bound to the blueprints and stereotypes of a typical zoo. Instead of your common loop of fenced in enclosures and wide-open areas around them, Jungle Island goes this way and that way with walkways that even go over and under itself. It’s kind of disorienting in a good way like not being quite sure where you’re going on a hike.

The other thing that I must mention about Jungle Island is how well suited it is for South Florida. All of the trees, twisting paths, and shaded areas, drastically reduce the high temperatures which would normally keep you on the verge of heat exhaustion. I have 3 kids and long exposure to heat causes instant grumpiness, tiredness, and an unrelenting desire to just go home. But on the day of this review it was in the high 90’s and my kids had to be forced to leave their treetop playground. This goes to show because Jungle Island has some of the coolest and most unique playgrounds I’ve ever been to. It’s got the thrills of an aerial course but toned down so that kids can enjoy it without fear.

August 30th saw the Sprinkles & Chill event come to Jungle Island. This event gave you unlimited free samples of seven different ice cream vendors. These were not some ride-around-the-neighborhood ice cream carts; these were already established artisan dealers with the accolades of being some of the best. Each of the seven displayed at Sprinkles & Chill were different from one another so sampling them didn’t become complacent.

We started with Dolci Peccati Gelato. We tried every one of the flavors as they were so good, but their Passion Fruit Gelato was next level! It was the perfect smooth consistency and not overpowering on the sweetness.

Next up was the V gelato & cafe. They served Authentic Italian Style Gelato’s in Chocolate, Vanilla, Pina Colada, and Mango. The Pina Colada was really good but call me ‘Plan-Jan’ because the most basic Vanilla was my favorite. I love Vanilla ice cream but actually tasting the real Vanilla Bean made you Oooh over something you’d had a thousand times before.

Tucking away in Jungle Island’s most relaxed area was where you’d find Bianco Fine Foods. They served incredible vegan fruit assorted gelato ice pops. My son was raving about their Lemon & Mint one and he promptly devoured two of them. I would have to go with their Pineapple which was absolutely delicious and their Mixed-Berries as a very close second.

For obvious reasons, the next one that we hit was the perennial favorite. It was Miami ‘N’ Ice and it was just as fun to watch him make the ice cream as it was to eat it. Their ice cream was the rolled-affair. The best was their Cookies n Cream in which he smashed up Oreos into the ice cream until it was completely flat. Then he rolled it up a few times, loading it in a waffle cone and topping it with cookie crumbs and whip cream. Definitely not your normal scoop and serve and you could taste the hard work that went into it.

We then ventured to the Museum of Ice Cream setup where they had craft and coloring options for the kids. They made little foldable ice cream trucks and a colorful popsicle crown.

Back for more ice cream we descended upon Tio Colo. Artisan Jose Hernandez made Cuban Style Ice Cream Sandwiches. It had great tasting homemade ice cream between cut pieces of sponge cake and sprinkled with sugar. This one made you appreciate even more so living in South Florida and thankful for the diversity that we have.

Rounding out the day was Here’s The Scoop Cafe which had some delicious ice cream samples as well.

The Sprinkles & Chill event was good and definitely didn’t disappoint but what made it special was its location. Jungle Island is such a great family-friendly and family-geared place to visit which is also employing different events and features to take out again and again on a regular basis.