Indianapolis Zoo

Reviews 3

TO

Tori Peterson

This is a really great place to go as a family. We always try to go at least once per year. The Indianapolis Zoo has a wide variety of animals, the Dolphin Show is a MUST (its our favorite part of the zoo). You can feed some of the animals for a bit of an extra fee which is so much fun. The grounds are very well maintained, and there is tons of seating throughout the zoo just in case you get tired. The Butterfly exhibit and bird aviarys are great! You actually get to walk in a giant bird cage while they fly all around you! Same with the butterflies. The garden area is wonderfully peaceful, and all of the animals are beautiful and are well taken care of which is wonderful to see. I LOVE that there is also now a nursing area for nursing moms that is air conditioned as well as comfortable. There are private rooms for the moms to nurse, a place for older kids to play, and places to change your baby. It is located towards the middle of the zoo so its never too far of a walk to get there if you need it. The price is fair considering it is used to help care for the animals. This zoo operates on donations and part of sales, plus is non profit. My only complaint regarding prices is the bottled drinks. Its over $3 for one bottle of Dasani water. No thank you. Even though a portion goes towards the care of animals patrons shouldnt get ripped off in the meantime. I can see charging more for some of the other stuff like the animal shaped juices for kids, food, concessions, etc., but the bottled water should be no more than $2 at most! Water is a necessity especially on a hot day. Last time we went there were eight of us and no way would it have been good to spend over $24 just on bottles of water. It was hot and we were very thirsty. They should allow patrons to bring at least bottled water into the zoo. I can understand not other things, but not water. The ride bracelets are outrageous also. I think tickets should be cheaper for the rides, especially the train and carousel. Other than that I thought prices were fair given it is a zoo, and you have to expect to pay higher than normal on certain things (certain things being key). If you find yourself struggling on food costs you can pack a lunch and eat outside of the zoo (there are tables outside of the gate), and go in when youve finished. Just make sure to get a hand stamp and keep hold of your tickets. The gift shop has a great deal usually on stuffed animals which our kids always like to get when we visit, and there are other bargain gifts/souvenirs there if you just hunt for them. I think what would boost this zoos ratings is perhaps doing a free day, or a discount day. Maybe even offering certain types of discount days such as: discounts for veterans, discounts for college students, discounts for moms, dads, grandparents, etc. It would make it easier for some to go. For us a membership wasnt worth it. There just isnt enough new stuff to do and the place is not big enough to go more than once or twice per year for us. We have a membership for the Indianapolis Childrens Museum because they offer new exhibits, rides are included, etc. There are just more perks with that membership verses the zoo membership in my personal opinion. We will still continue to go here at least once per year as we always have though, and we always enjoy seeing the animals, riding rides, etc. If you are going to ride all the rides, take part in feeding the animals, etc make sure you get there right when they open because it will definitely take the whole day. If you plan on just going to see the animals then it will take from morning until about 1 or 2pm to see them all with some rest time included. I recommend it even if you go just once a year. Great family fun!

A

A Private User

OK. First the short list of the good stuff in the zoo. Unlike the Southwick farm in Mendon Mass, the ponies are not tied on to a sweep, and theres the dolphin show, and that you can actually learn to be a trainer for 10 bucks for a VIP. Theres the elphant bath and you can pet the elephant (Theres no elephant ride, though...), The elephants are kept in more open space, though, they still get board as I saw one elephant sway in bordom. You get to feed the giraffe and get up close. Again, I give it one extra star for these good stuff. Now whats bad? EVERYTHING ELSE! The lions are kept in such a space where they cant run, the tortuise I saw was acting dead and lethargic, the rhinos were kept in a sortove sandy/bare spot (They are SUPPOSED to be in the Savana or have a grassy spot, as Rhinos are grazing animals!) The monkeys are kept in like a few trees at the most, the Meerkats in the desert is in cramped area (Fokes, these guys need a lot of space and they are social animals), the snakes are kept in a small exibit area (Oh Gosh who would ever put an animal like the snake in such a small display and they look lethargic), and worst of all, the (ENCOUNTERS) section, wheres the so-called kids zoo, as there is no pasturing for any of the ponies, cows, pigs, sheep, or anything they have there. All they have is a little hay here and there. For goodness sakes, This teaches kids that its OK to keep these animals in a pen with no grass to graze. Fokes, If you want the kids to see the sheep, goats, or ride a pony, go to a ranch. Its quieter there, and at least the kids also gets an education on how to keep the animals. And one more thing: The Train ride sucks. You dont see much of anything except for a few of the exibits, roads, and seeing the rides. Id rather be riding a pony tied up on a sweep then riding this train ever again. So, the only good thing about the zoo is the dophin show, the elephant bathing show, a few other shows, and the giraffe feed. Thats it. No elephant rides, no decent petting zoo and education on maintaining domesticated animals (Why did these guys out in as "This animal bites, kicks, and butts", as they are domesticated in the first place?), and conditions that are unsutible for the animals. I do believe that this zoo makes the Southwick Zoo a good place to go compared to this. And Just get RID of that UGLY looking train track thats in the middle of the pathway. My opinion? This zoo sucks. It was a childhood great place to go, but another look at this makes me realize that they need some major improvements to this place.

AN

angelina e

Not a good experience. The tickets were a little cheaper which meant they were over $60 for a family of four, still for 60 bucks we were hoping to spend the whole day there. We headed in around 10 am and by 11:30 am we had seen everything. Thats even accounting for all the times we got lost because nothing is clearly marked. The website states that spring is the best time to see the animals but hardly anything was open and many enclosures were empty. Also there is an attendance meter on their website that said there would be fewer visiters however when we pulled into the parking lot we saw about 6-8 school buses and ended up sandwiched between two groups of elementary school kids. Yelling does not describe it, they shreiked and no one even made an attempt to settle them down. They also pushed and ran in front of others. The only school that had their kids under control was the either charter or private school that broke them up into much smaller groups, thanks guys. I have always felt that zoos get a bad rap and generally take good care of their animals. This zoo is an exception. They have a lone elephant that is clearly depressed, looks dirty, and unhealthy. There is a cheetah in a space smaller than our backyard and our backyard is pretty small. A tiger paced back and forth as 12-15 kids lined up in front of the glass and banged with gusto. My husband remarked that the tiger looked distressed and I said very loudly that its not nice to bang on the glass. Unfortunately neither parents nor the staff members standing by took any sort of action. This was our entire experience, small enclosures and kids being as loud as humanly possible while no one, neither guardians nor staff intervened. I grew up near the Columbus zoo and the staff there would NEVER have let this go on. None of this is exaggerated, if anything it doesnt even begin to cover it all. TLDR: It was an awful experience. We wish we had not wasted our money on a poorly operated zoo where the animals are clearly not well cared for but its not too late for you, run far far away from this nightmare of an establishment.

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