Well, many other people evidently
disagree:
One of the best Zoo's I have been too ! I was at San Diego Zoo last month and I am pleasantly surprised to tell you SF rocked it. The weather was warm out, and all the animals were out.
We were able to see the Lions eating and they put on a show!
This zoo is pretty fun and wont break the bank. The amount of animals on display is impressive with giraffe to seals and everything in between. The lions and tigers are pretty cool. At times you can observe them feasting.
The staff are friendly and helpful and genuinely care about the animals. I will return.
Price is $15 to get into the zoo. Be sure to dress in layers, because it is located so close to the ocean. This is a pretty large zoo for the Bay Area. Probably the largest? What sucks, is now they have the viewing areas even further away now, due to the tiger mauling. But what I thought was super cool about this zoo was how old some of the animals were. Grey seal, 41 years old; polar bear, 31 years old. Super cool! Also a lot of the animals taken in here, were injured and needed a place to live. Luckily the SF zoo took them in.
I had a really good time here. Just wish admission was cheaper and that you could get closer to the viewing area. Other than that, it is a nice zoo.
I don't know what all the negative reviews of this zoo are all about, but I was here today for the first time in a couple years (and have been coming since I was REALLY young) with my partner, who had never been here before, and we both had a fantastic time that truly saved a trip to the city for us. The zoo was better than it was last time I visited. The African area is beautiful and well designed, as is the Lemur Island where my partner and I watched them play for a good half hour. The new grizzly bear exhibit is great, and the bears came right up to the glass! And for my partner, the petting zoo was one of the highlights of the trip.
Despite the clouds (and it was pretty cloudy), we still saw a ton of animals. The tarantula exhibit in the South American aviary. I know that every trip to the zoo doesn't always yield all the animals the zoo has (no zoo can offer because keeping them on display constantly that and giving two stars to a zoo because of it is ridiculous... go to sea world if you want your animals to jump through hoops and be on display all day) but I feel that even on a bad day you'll still see animals, especially with all the keeper talks, which you could follow and spend a a good 2-3 hours. Chances are you will probably see a lot of animals.
I will say that with children, plan your trip well and don't expect to see all the zoo. It's huge. This being said, this is one of the most kid friendly zoos I have ever been to. They have a playground inside the zoo, and the kids area is a lot of fun (even for adults!). And for the adults, the raptors (the birds not the dinosaurs) in the kids area were all out despite the weather being cold, and truly neat to see.
And to end our stay, the people in the gift shop were beyond friendly and helpful. They even grabbed us on the way out just to make sure we saw our photos with no pressure to buy them.
It was a great day. Don't listen to the bad reviews, just do it. If you hate it, at least you are close to the beach, right?
Let me start off by saying this park has a great design, but has poor execution. The layout of the park is smart and concise, but this poses a realy problem when many of the attractions are closed or not in service. The day I went, we were able to see a wide range of animals, but there were just as many animal attractions that were closed. I don't know if we went during an off season, but there seemed to be an awful lot of maintenance going on. I was very impressed by the courteous staff all around the park.
PROTIP: Go to the kids section because they have a very interesting petting section.
Even though we went on a hot day, but it was still windy and overcast at the zoo because it's right next to the ocean! I don't know if it's just because it was chilly, or the animals were just lazy, but a lot of them seemed so lethargic and bored. But it was still very fun to walk around and look at everything. I feel like this zoo has better and newer facilities than the Oakland zoo, but still definitely not the best or the biggest zoo I've been to. If you like zoos like me, then definitely check it out!
The favorable view is not unanimous, but it seems to command a strong majority.
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