I moved to San Diego recently and went to the zoo ...

I moved to San Diego recently and went to the zoo for the first time in November. I was nervous because I read a lot about how people with wheelchairs found it very inaccessible. My experience was really good, however!

I'm sure most of the reason for that was because my wheelchair is a power wheelchair- the hills, especially in some parts of the zoo like around the Northern Frontier and the Panda Canyon, are murder if you're using a manual wheelchair. So I suspect that's where a lot of the (valid!) complaints come from. Personally though, this wasn't an issue with my chair. My chair did run out of battery a few times (I've been having battery issues, I don't think that's typical of what to expect) but there were outlets outside at many of the buildings and restaurants, so I was able to recharge my chair with no trouble.

I think the zoo does a lot to make the place as accessible as possible for disabled visitors. Zoo employees are always easily to find across the zoo and are great at answering accessibility questions. All bathrooms were accessible, and almost every exhibit was fully accessible. (The main exception being the aviaries, which are accessible as far as the paths through them, but could use accessible buttons to open the door- the doors are very heavy and just about impossible to open while managing a wheelchair. The other exception is that some of the paths are a little rough or have bumps in the sidewalk. This is not the majority, however, as it has been in some zoos I've been to, or just getting around the city of San Diego!)

When I arrived, they gave me an easy access pass so that I could use the buses or skyfari more easily in my wheelchair. The zoo also rents out wheelchairs, both manual and electric. I think they're free, though I'm not sure, and I don't know how many of each there are available. If the disabled person in your party requires assistance on account of their disability, the assistant can receive free admittance to the zoo with purchase of the ticket for the disabled individual. Also, according to the website, a zoo employee can be made available to push a visitor in a wheelchair for up to three hours.

So tl;dr, using a power wheelchair, I had no trouble with the hills and found the zoo to be very accessible, but I have no idea how I would have managed those hills in a manual wheelchair.

Also, the zoo itself was great! Well organized, lots to see and do. We were there most of the day and didn't get through the whole zoo, so you definitely won't be bored!