We were a bit disappointed that the Florida exhibits were mostly closed, but our timing was just unfortunate. The animals seemed well cared for and content, and any interactions I saw with zoo staff reinforced the attachments between the staff and their charges. We were impressed by how clean the grounds were kept – people were always making sure any little bits of trash were picked up quickly. We have been watching the television series “The Zoo” and “Secrets of the Zoo” so when we planned a vacation to Florida we wanted to see the Tampa Zoo for ourselves. Not a good value for the $40.00 admission, wish I could say so. The grounds themselves all natural habitats for the animals, if there were some to put in them.but very impressive with the boardwalks, rock formations and waterfalls throughout the park. I will note on the positive, the aquarium was explicit-it was indoor and NOT closed so why were other indoor or walk-thru areas? There was a marine biologist student available to answer questions about the medical holding tanks, which are remarkable for the care of marine animals that become injured. There was only 1 bear, 2 tigers (they say the 2nd one was inside) no lions, 2 elephants, 1 giraffe, no apes nor chimps, only small hardly visible monkeys, 1 panther, 2 alligators (in FLORIDA? should have been crawling with them!) Lower the admission price since a lot of exhibits were closed due to COVID however, didn't understand why these exhibits were closed anyway mask wearing and being outdoors I did not bring any children, but $27.00 for a child to enter is also ridiculous. Allow an open "avoid the line" concept to purchase online tickets for the day of (I was on the website at 12:19 only to learn the cutoff was 12:00 to purchase a $3.00 savings. I would highly recommend spending a day here if you are in the area and enjoy animals.Īt the $39.95 price of admission, per individual, I would think more actual animals could be acquired. The only bad thing was that the tram was broken down the afternoon we were there. Besides, the money goes to support the animals. Yes, the food is a little pricey, but not really that bad. We spent most of the day there from maybe 10 until 4PM. Most of the animals were out and about, but some of the big cats and the bear were sleeping. The stingrays were cool even though we didnt feed them. We arrived as they were feeding them and got a great show. There were a number of keepers/handlers around and they were happy to answer questions. The displays were informative and there were few if any unlabeled enclosures. The animal enclosures were clean and the animals looked healthy. The zoo is pretty well laid out and the maps were pretty good. Masks were required in close contact areas. We went on a Tuesday and it really wasn’t very crowded. OK, I don’t know where the people leaving negative reviews went, but it probably wasn’t the same zoo I visited. The Florida panther, the African painted dog, okapi are all animals I had never seen before. I also saw some animals I had never seen before, and that was enjoyable. one ran into the fence ( it's very strong) and you could really see the power of these animals. When the baby rhino was attacked by one of the larger rhinos all hell broke loose and there was lots of running around, chasing. Two of them had stand off going on, staring each other down and literally drawing a line in the sand. The best part of our day was watching the rhinos. The manatees were wonderful and I expect some of the high cost is going to help care for animals that the zoo is rehabilitating. Great if you live local but not if you are visiting from another state. The upside is once you purchase the ticket you can come back all year as many times as you want. We found a place to get a burger in the children's zoo area and it was $10 a burger or $7 for a hot dog. A lot of areas weren't open for snacks or food. It was a cool day and there were not a lot of people at the zoo. I understand we are in the area of high priced attractions but this is more than twice the price of the zoo in our state. I thought the price of this zoo for the day was high at $40 a person.
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