Jennifer Krone Review of Central Florida Zoo and Botani...
Good place for an afternoon visit, not a whole day...
Good place for an afternoon visit, not a whole day experience. We have the annual passes because there is still a reciprocal agreement where you get half off at the bigger zoos in Tampa and Jacksonville. Additionally, it's a nice place to visit for a couple hours. It's our low key Sunday outing.
Some thoughts though, it is a SMALL zoo. They have improved a lot in the last couple decades and most of the animals are in reasonable enclosures. When I was going to this zoo as a kid, the lions were in the same size cages that the monkeys are in today. However, there are still a few enclosures that leave you going, huh, who thought that was a good idea? The cougar enclosure comes to mind specifically. BUT, most of the enclosures are decent, which means that they do not have many large animals as it's a small zoo. If you like lemurs, they have several different kinds.
Another thought, do not go here specifically for the trick or treating. We have passes so we were just at the zoo because it was Sunday. However, people who were there to trick or treat had to have been disappointed. We were there for two hours and stopped at 7 stations and my daughter got a dumdum lollipop, a mini kitkat and 2 Hershey kisses. It was a pretty meager haul and plenty of disappointed children who came out in full costume for a couple pieces of candy rattling in the bottom of their trick or treat buckets. It seemed like half of the candy stations were businesses advertising and handing out a single piece of candy after you listened to their little spiel.
In other words, perfectly fine if you were already going to the zoo or had annual passes; total waste of money if you got your kids all dressed up and then spent $75 for your family to go specifically because there was going to be candy.
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