Bronx Zoo

Reviews 3

DO

Donna Ess

Let me start by saying "NEVER AGAIN". Do not go on a Wednesday. We live almost three hours from the bronx zoo so we started out at 6:45am allowing enough time to make a rest stop and get there approximately when the zoo opened or a little after, which we did. We were directly in front of the Southern Blvd entrance to the zoo at 10:20am, however, we had to go up two blocks to turn left into the parking lot. When we finally got to the turn 20 minutes later (to go about a thousand feet), a NYPD officer was blocking the road to turn in, forcing traffic to go up yet another two blocks to turn left and horseshoe back around to the parking lot. Almost an hour later, it is now 11:30am, we almost made it to the parking lot entrance. We were about fifteen cars back when an NYPD officer started visiting cars with a slip of paper telling us that the lot was full and we had to go to the Fordham road lot. We headed in the direction of Fordham road as instructed. We did not move more than 10 feet every 10 minutes. My three year old grandson was starting to act up and my 4 month old granddaughter started crying. We were in traffic line to get into the parking lot unitl 1:40pm, YES 1:40!!!!!! It took us longer to make a half loop around the zoo to a parking lot than it did for us to drive from Saratoga Springs!!!! When we finally got out of the car and walked to the gate, we stood in line for 40 minutes. It was a free day so I couldnt understand why we werent just walking in. We finally made it to the booth for them to ask us how many in our party and hand us a paper ticket which we didnt have to show anyone after we got it. It is now slightly after 2:00pm when we finally get into the zoo. I was aggravated and in a really bad mood and it didnt help that you couldnt move one way or another without bumping into someone. The paths were bumper to bumper just like the line to get into the parking lots. The first exhibit that we saw was right there as you entered through the gate. It was a sea lion in a filthy, slimy, algae ridden pool of water. When we were finally able to maneuver around to another exhibit, they were so crowded that you couldnt even get up to the fence. We finally got to see a grizzly bear walking on the big rock and then it disappeared behind the rock and didnt come back out. We were told that the red pandas come right up to you. When we got near that exhibit there were groups of kids "screaming" at them. The poor little things were so scared that they wouldnt even show themselves. We tried to make it to the next area to at least see something that we promised my grandson we would see. He wanted so badly to see the giraffes. We fought our way through the crowd all the way across to the other side of the park and by 4:30 we made it to the giraffe house. We went inside the building and there was a sign up that the giraffes were outside today. So we fought our way back outside. There were no giraffes to be seen. "Are there any dinosaurs on this dinosaur tour?" Now it was 5:00pm and the zoo was closing. We headed back to our gate that we entered from and on the way back through we wandered into the world of birds as the crowds had started to thin. We saw a few birds and had to leave. So, in a nutshell, we were in the car from 6:45am until 1:40pm, 7 HOURS to see a glimpse of a grizzly bear and a few birds. I read such rave reviews about this zoo and I was so excited to take my grandson. I think that the grounds were not well kept. There was a lot of brush on the sides of the pathways that could be cleaned up and maybe you would be able to see some of the animals through the fences as you are walking down the paths instead of fighting thousands of people in a little 30 foot long viewing area. Unbelievable. My husband and I both wasted a perfectly good vacation day from work for NOTHING!! What a waste.

LI

Liz Integlia

I visited the zoo yesterday and was so looking forward to my first visit there. That excitement was immediately crushed when I saw the crowds of humanity that descended upon the zoo on a Wednesday. I should have done my research to see that Wednesday is free day! I paid for the Total Experience pass however you waste most of your day waiting in lines to enter these carnival like venues and realize "what a waste of money" after your purchase! First of all no employees are managing the lines for these attractions and lazy, ignorant and rude people are cutting the line to cut their wait time down. I decided to speak up to one "family" who acted like the could not speak english, and I thought I was was going to get "jumped"! The woman in the group approached me and started to speak..in english..which blew their cover, and told me to mind my my business..I told her to walk the mile to the back of the line like I had to do! The gentleman in front of me then got a park employee to intervene because he had been line jumped too! The line jumping occurred in the ladies rooms too! The food also is completely overpriced..it was $12.99 for burger , handful of fries and drink! Bring your own food and drinks! I think people had alcohol there as well..there appeared to be many loud and intoxicated individuals who acted more like animals than the animals did! On the brighter side..the attraction and exhibits that were open, were nice if you could break through the crowd to see them. I think people believe just because they have a child it means that they can shove that child in front of you so that their kid can see. Guess what we paid the same amount to get in today..oh thats right we paid nothing..so were even..wait your turn like the rest of us! Not sure if I would go back , but if I did I would probably pay to go on a non-free day and that might cut out some of the classless behaviour that I saw there yesterday!

KH

Khalid Brown

So I have been living in NYC for 15 years, work in the Bronx (off the 44 line which comes straight here) have friends who have season passes to NYC zoos and am finally coming here. Though I must say I am glad I waited until my daughter got older (she is 8, that will come into play for me). But finally decided to come here on a Friday morning with my daughter to check out the zoo. And I have to say it is way better than I thought it would be, and I typically find zoos boring. First the landscaping is great with lots of trees to engulf your stay you easily forget you are in the Bronx. I opted to get the total pass, which I am glad I did. As many others have said come prepared to walk and walk alot. We came at 10 when it opened left at 3:30, saw 90-95%of the exhibits and ended up walking 13000+ steps. The exhibits are clean and well maintained. The staff is friendly and even though we came on a Friday during the summer (prime camp time) it never felt overly crowded. I would imagine on the free day it would be, but today was perfect. As some have said bring your own food, though with me and my daughter I opted to just buy there and not lug around food. But if you have a lot of people it can get very pricey. And with the total experience, I would really only get for kids like 4+ IMO. It is already so much to see without that, so to add that much more walking with a toddler would be torture to me. But again just my 2cents. Hands down the best zoo in NYC and one of the best I have been to! Just this zoo alone may make the yearly pass worth it.

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