Woodland Park Zoo, Washington, United States

4iloveromance 5:00 PM May 6, 2021

Great place to go walking!
I was looking for a way to get more exercise and buying a membership to this zoo was the best decision I've made in a very long time. I'm a huge animal lover but I've only been to WPZ a handful of times, the last being about three years ago. So it was nice to reacquaint myself with it. The zoo is huge and has a large circular path around it that is about .8 miles. I was told that this particular path was 2 miles, so I decided to go around twice. I like that the paths are flat but yet have some incline, but I was also grateful for the many benches that are scattered around. I really enjoyed my visits and I went on a weekday which was nice because there weren't that many people and sometimes I had the walking path all to myself. I didn't spend a lot of time at the exhibits but most were open. The Meerkat, Komodo Dragon and a few other exhibits are closed for remodeling but I was able to see a lot while I was there. The grounds are just beautiful and I loved all of the trees and plants. It was a little unnerving that most of the guests I encountered weren't paying attention to the social distancing guidelines, but I did my best to stay away from them as much as possible. A few things of note; The only entrance open is the West Entrance and parking in the adjacent parking lot is $6.00 Reservations are required, even for members, but I got a discount on the parking which really only took off the tax, but a discount is a discount. I don't recommend the restaurant at all, for the sole reason that the prices are insane. Not a big selection and it was around $4 for a small drink. Fortunately you can bring food in with you and there are a lot of tables outside to eat your meal. The gift shop at the West Entrance is really nice and the prices aren't too bad (about $20 for a shirt or a stuffed animal) and they seem to have a nice selection of gifts, books, shirts, games, stuffed animals, etc. This isn't my favorite zoo by any means but it's convenient and it's a nice place to spend part of the day. The animals that I saw seemed well-cared for. I know that zoos aren't really a popular place, but WPZ seems to have improved since my last visit.

4Gwen G 5:00 PM Nov 28, 2022

November Zoo visit
We visited the zoo in early November on a bright sunny (but chilly) day, so it was rather crowded. We were limited to two hours because they were opening the Christmas light display that evening. We tried to hit most of the zoo but didn’t get to see everything. The paths are not all cement, so I could see where walking (or using wheelchairs) at times wouldn’t be easy. It was definitely a very nice zoo and would recommend it to everyone. The hot chocolate/apple cider/coffee stand was very welcome as we left.