Columbus Zoo and Aquarium

Address:	4850 Powell Rd, Powell, OH 43065, USA
Phone:	+1 614-645-3400
Site:	columbuszoo.org
Rating:	4.7

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 5

Greer Nelson

My experience at the zoo was just "okay". Being that I have heard about the Columbus being a "top-tier" zoo for much of my adult life, I definitely wanted to check it out once my boyfriend and I moved to the Columbus, OH area. While the zoo offers some neat opportunities, like feeding the giraffes and going behind the scenes of several exhibits, there is an additional charge for each activity. Being that admission is already $17.99 per adult, if you want to do anything extra while youre at the zoo, expect to be spending quite a bit of money to do so. Also, while I was excited that the food stands at the zoo offered a vegetarian option (spicy black bean burger), the prices for food and drink were pretty high: $6-7 for a burger and $2-5 for a drink or ice cream. I expect this from tourist attractions, but do want to give future visitors the heads up on prices so that they can plan ahead and bring their own food and drinks. Finally, while I was impressed with the number of different animals that the zoo housed, I was disappointed to see that many of the animals were in very small quarters and I saw several of the animals nervously pacing in their enclosure. In short, they looked unhappy and under-stimulated. Many of the animals that would benefit from being in groups were housed alone: elephants, tigers, gorillas. As someone who cares about the well-being of animals, to see how unhappy they looked was disconcerting. Much of the zoo is set up like a theme park with rides, play areas, and food carts. It seems to be that those who run the Columbus zoo would be better off eliminating these areas and instead expanding the animals enclosures. I am sure that there are many zoo patrons who would appreciate this as well. In short, while as a whole I enjoyed my trip to the Columbus zoo, I have been to other zoos around the country that I have been more impressed with. There are many other worthwhile attractions in the Columbus, OH area and I would recommend trying those out before spending your time (and money) at the Columbus zoo.

Bailey Vaz

I love our zoo. Its fantastic for learning and seeing the animals up close. Honestly, I get as excited as my little kids do to come here. They have to practically drag me away from some of the animals! Pros: The animals are well taken care of. Habitats are large, efforts are made to keep it as close to nature as it could be, and there is a large conservation effort behind the zoo itself. Great for group events. Its not cheap by any means, but its really enjoyable. Ive been here for a few work events. Jack Hannah - he came to one of the events Ive been to, which was one of the coolest things. Say what you will about him as a person, but he was my childhood hero. I couldnt get enough of his videos. I learned so much from him. Theres just SO much to do. Last visit I was here from ~10am to ~2pm. We didnt make it through half of the park. Its very kid friendly. Theyve got multiple playgrounds and allow strollers throughout. There are many learning and interactive things to do throughout. Pretty disability friendly. Now, Ive only been limited by a cane, crutches, or using a stroller so I cant speak for all of us disabled people. However, theres no rush to get places or move faster. Walkways are fanatically wide, they have a massive handicapped parking area, and most if not all doorways are open or have the button. They also rent manual wheelchairs and electric scooters, which is honestly a must given the size of the zoo. It makes a visit much less daunting when youve got mobility issues and dont know how much youll have in you. There are also a lot of benches. You can bring your own food. This one honestly is huge. Ive got a big family, and its expensive enough to get in. I couldnt come if I also had to buy meals for everyone. Cons: From my experience, the only one is the size. But that cant be helped without losing a lot and or making the animals suffer. They do a pretty good job of compensating though.

cary whitt

Best zoo in the country. Ive been to San Diego and various other zoos that command high praise, but Columbus takes the cake. The ease of the layout, animal enrichment program, the well-designed habitats, and the selection of animals is stellar. The admission price is below most larger market zoos, so the bang for the buck is also quite good. Definitely a zoo that rewards a season pass holder for sure. Food within the park is decent (you can bring your own food in btw, just no straws), the best being various snack-type stands throughout. Columbus Zoo is large, and you could probably walk it all in a day, but it would be tough and youd definitely be rushing through things. Exhibits that are must sees are the polar bears, manatee coast and the gorillas, these are also some of the most popular and attract a lot of traffic on busier days, so take note of that. Some easily missed exhibits that grant a visit are The Roadhouse (a nocturnal house) and Eagles located in (North America). There is an area that has amusement park rides (called Jungle Jacks Landing) those rides (mostly kiddie-like) are based on a pay per ride or wristband pass, which is an additional cost. The zoo proper just offers so much, I never venture in there to be honest. They are also ever-expanding, this coming year see the zoos largest expansion yet. Safari Africa will be almost 45 acres of new zoo to explore, and I think it opens in May of 2014. The best keeps getting better.

A Private User

Its been years since Ive been to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium but I took my son there to celebrate his 5th birthday yesterday and was sadly disappointed. First, the train was not running (my son loves trains) and it had no posted schedule to let us know if it would open or not. Plus, no visible staff to ask such questions... Both the insect play area and polar bear play area were closed until Spring with signs that either indicated they were open daily or would reopen in spring. It was practically 60 degrees and sunny (I think that the weather permitted). Also, more understandably, the boat was not running - but no less disappointing. Many animals were off exhibit or the entire exhibit area was blocked off. I understand that some animals are not able to tolerate winter climates, but I would think such a large zoo would be able to build indoor exhibit areas for these animals. Lastly, only one restaurant was open at 12:20pm, which had no lids for their cups (employees said people would throw them into the animal exhibits and cause harm - but cmon come up with an alternative then!), one of the drink machines was completely broken down, and the other one (Both Coke product machines) had a sign on the Coke that said "Do Not Use". All the items such as ketchup, napkins, etc were poorly stocked. However, the food was outrageously priced, nonetheless. Very disappointing

Sarah Zimmerman

My family and I go to see the Wildlights every year, and it is always amazing. This year we went and the lights were amazing, however we ended up spending more time in the parking lot trying to leave the zoo than we did actually walking around the zoo. We spent an 1 hour and a half in stopped traffic trying to leave. No cars in either parking lot were moving, it was stand-still traffic. After waiting for 45 mins, a few of us walked back up to the zoo to talk to someone about if there was an accident or something and that was why we were not moving, however that was not what was going on. Due to the semi new design of the parking lot, the incoming traffic blocks the leaving traffic. Even with police officers directing the traffic at that point, when waiting in the lane that you parked in, there is no one directing who will get to move into the main line of traffic. 1 hour and 15 mins of our waiting time was sitting in our lane waiting for the people in front of us to get into the main lane. Many people waiting called customer service asking what was being done, and all they said was that there were police officers at the entrance directing people, when one of the main problems was getting out of your lane. The traffic has never been this bad in previous years, and because of this past experience, our family will most likely not be visiting again for a long time.