Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium

7340 Butler St, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, USA

Address:	7340 Butler St, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, USA
Phone:	+1 412-665-3640
Site:	pittsburghzoo.com
Rating:	4.4
Working:	9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM

Location

Photos 1

Reviews 4

Adam Penn

I visited the Pittsburgh zoo for the first time, expecting something along the lines of a Bronx Zoo and the Aquarium along the lines of what Epcot has... I was disappointed... First off, the food court when you immediately walk in was beyond disorganized. The food sits out, leaving anyone to touch and grab it with god knows what on their hands. The service staff is poorly managed. I asked for 2 hot dogs, the girl brought me one and walked away. No one could help me or stared at me like I was from another planet. As far as the zoo is concerned, it was mediocre and had the standard animals one would expect to see. Unfortunately, its very small, and there isnt much to see. The animals have a horrible small area to what they want. The snow leopard exhibit in particular shocked me. They are giving a 4-500 pound predator a 4x5 main area to sleep under a singular rock. The area goes up a hill, which leads back into the handling area where they bring it to and from its cage that its stored in. The elephants and giraffes had a decent amount of space, but it still felt extremely small. The aquarium was what I was most looking forward to, and found that it too was very small. The building is too small to accomodate ANY size crowd. The main attraction inside the aquarium, is obviously the penguin tank. People are given maybe a 10 foot by 4 foot hallway to view the penguins through a window. At max, it can comfortably have 20-30 people in front of the window. There is constant pushing and shoving. The planning was poorly done and it requires more space. The pier walkway outside the zoo is also a horrible idea. You are locked into a winding walkway outside the aquarium with exhibits that arent even being used. If you want to get off, you have to sift through the crowd and walk all the way around. The polar bear exhibit was nice. Theyre always fun. Bottom line, the zoos management seems lax and the spacial requirements to accomodate crowds is very poor. The parking setup also is very poorly planned, and it seemed that there was not nearly enough space to park. You have to once again, go around and around stuck in line until an opening to the main area of the parking lot opened up and you werent trapped into a 1 lane entry way. My biggest surprise was how stupid people can be. Entering the park, there are plenty of moms with strollers. Instead of waiting for the elevator, they endanger their babies and bring the stroller on the escalator, when it clearly states not to. A woman almost lost the grip on her stroller, and it almost went flying down the escalator, with baby inside, while someone else was also helping her to keep it propped on the angled stairs as we went up the escalator. How impatient and stupid can you be? Youd risk your babies life and the safety of others so that you dont have to wait an extra 10 minutes for the elevator to be free? If you want a good zoo, its worth the trip to the Bronx to see what a real zoo looks like.

Ambrajah

The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium is one of my favorite places to go in Pittsburgh. The entrance to the zoo is a massive escalator that feels like a 90* angle up the hillside, which is fun. Theres also an elevator for people with strollers or wheelchairs. The only reason I gave Service a rating of Good is because my fiance and I got stuck in traffic on our trip to the zoo a couple of months ago, and we were standing right at the gates at 4:31, and they closed the gate in our face since they closed at 4:30...NO exceptions. They really couldnt just let us slide through? What was that? Were paying customers who were literally 1 minute late! Totally ruined our day. Anyways, we came down a week later and gave ourselves sufficient time incase there were traffic delays and enjoyed a wonderful day there. The Pittsburgh Zoo is home to more than 4,000 animals with 434 separate animal species (22 of which are threatened or endangered) on a 77-acre facility. Its laid out very nicely so that you dont miss any of the exhibits because its a one-way trail most of the way. Theres a Safari Village Restaurant and Safari Plaza for food and snacks in the middle of the zoo. Their exhibits include the African Savanna with the Saba Elephant Reserve, the Asian Forest, the Kids Kingdom which has a petting zoo and reptiles, the Bears, the Tropical Rainforest from the Amazon to Madagascar, the Waters Edge with underwater viewing tunnels, and the PPG Aquarium. The aquarium is my absolute favorite exhibit in the zoo. It features habitats from the Amazon, Antarctica, Pennsylvania streams and rivers, and tropical oceans. Some of the animals in the aquarium are sharks, penguins, stingrays, groupers, puffer fish, electric eels, piranhas, spiny lobsters, seahorses, seadragons, jellyfish, turtles, and octopus. One of the coolest moments of my life was the Stingray Encounter when youre done viewing the aquarium. It has an area for small children to crawl under and view them through the glass, and anyone can put their hands into the tank and pet them. There are yellow and leopard whiptails. I pet both, but am a HUGE fan of leopard print and got to pet the entire body of a leopard whipray! Oh my gosh. Best moment ever. Made my whole day. Either way, I believe the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium is one of the best in the country, you will not be disappointed.

April Clisura

I could not resist reviewing because the recent reviews are so all over the place. I have been a few times over the last 12 years with the last 2 years being as a mom. The caveats are...yes, the zoo is hot crowded and smelly in the warm weather, especially the indoor exhibits...you cant compare this to a big city zoo because it is small - you can go on the spur of the moment and spend 2 hours to see most everything in the cool seasons...unless written by a specialist I would take with a grain of salt the reviews that evaluate how much green gunk is normal in the exhibit, how old and tired the animals look, what the temperature is kept at, etc. because this is a well-funded and well-respected zoo as those things go...the zoo is small but only getting better with renovations and addition of a new cafeteria that is indoor and air conditioned...the zoo has a program to recruit and hire local teens for the high season that is very sought after (the kids are supposed to be well trained and supervised in theory). With all that said the highlights are a tram train if you cant walk it uphill, good views of the animals, amazing kid area and playground, newly installed island section including a sandy beach with some chairs. When its not super hot and crowded this place is fun for kids and pleasant for adults. Avoid Fridays with day amps and school trips popular.

Matthew Yescas

As far as the zoo is concerned, it was mediocre and had the standard animals one would expect to see. Unfortunately, its very small, and there isnt much to see. The animals have a horrible small area to what they want. The snow leopard exhibit in particular shocked me. They are giving 120 pound predator a 4x5 main area to sleep under a singular rock. The area goes up a hill, which leads back into the handling area where they bring it to and from its cage that its stored in. The elephants and giraffes had a decent amount of space, but it still felt extremely small. The aquarium was what I was most looking forward to, and found that it too was very small. The building is too small to accommodate ANY size crowd. The main attraction inside the aquarium, is obviously the penguin tank. People are given maybe a 10 foot by 4 foot hallway to view the penguins through a window. At max, it can comfortably have 20-30 people in front of the window. There is constant pushing and shoving. The planning was poorly done and it requires more space. The pier walkway outside the zoo is also a horrible idea. You are locked into a winding walkway outside the aquarium with exhibits that arent even being used. If you want to get off, you have to sift through the crowd and walk all the way around. The polar bear exhibit was nice. Theyre always fun.