Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens Reviews

Went for a birthday party today. Nice venue and zoo exhibit.

The zoo has friendly staff, plenty of animal enclosures to view. There's a train ride that goes throughout the zoo, a playground for your little one's to burn off some energy, and zip line course for adults and kids to enjoy.

Great place to bring the family. Lots of great exhibits for kids and adults.

Decent but could use some cooling stations for super hot days. Some exhibits were closed which was sad. Employees friendly- concession stands all closed except for main bbq place- food good but again, no accomodations for extreme heat. On a side note, if you ignore the signs and feed the squirrels, the squirrels WILL follow you thru the zoo waiting for more handouts haha

Very nice place. Only that I expected it to be more. To have more animals. It was very big for not a very big amount and variety of animals.

The Asian Lantern Festival was colorful, but the figures themselves were not constructed using actual lanterns so the name is somewhat misleading. I did not feel it was a good value for the price of about $18/person.

Very nice. Small zoo but good time for 3-4 hours. Super nice staff and ticket lady great ambassador.

Get the annual pass. Grandchildren love going there, just don't go in the summer afternoon.

Park like setting, and close up views of animals. A break from large sized attractions. Very friendly and interactive staff, who really went out of their way to please the children in our group. A bit disturbed by pacing behavior of bear and leopard, however.

I love zoo s. Growing up in a small city up north we would visit the zoo at least 5 times in the summer time it was disappointing . The zoo needs more investment from local government, it s a small zoo they do have a awesome splash pad for kids which seem more fun than the zoo. They also have a large zip line area which looked like fun.

A nice zoo for the price. There is a water play area and playground for the kids.
Sonny's BBQ was extra slow (like 30 min wait after ordering) and didn't even have the basic toppings such as lettuce and tomato for the burgers. And the kids chicken tenders only had two tiny tenders with lots fries. I suggest going to eat a picnic lunch instead.
The zoo itself was a fun trip and worth a visit

For the size of the zoo and what is all there they charge way to much for a adult about $20

Terrible experience at a run down zoo. No animals, the ones they do have are ALONE and look miserable. Almost all of the animals they DO have are by themselves. Place looks abandoned, hardly even any staff. PS. Don t have fake blow up elephants with no elephants in the zoo. Run down. Poor animals.

This Zoo has it all including delicious shaved ice. We were able to see all the animals from a safe distance. Even though it was a little warm outside when we visited, this Zoo had lots of trees that create lots of shade along the paths. I can't wait till they open the bear exhibit! The entire staff is friendly and very informative about the animals and displays. We will be returning!

Great, manageable sized zoo for smaller kids with a wonderful splash pad for hot days. A little train goes around the zoo (not through the zoo so there are no animal sightings or anything but still a treat for little ones).

My family & I had a blast today. there's so many things to do and see. we walked around for a few hours then we went to the splash pad and played. The kids loved every moment. :)
we cant wait to go back.

Was disappointed. Coming from up North this zoo leaves a lot to be desired

Cleaned up so much since the 90 s! Personable staff and great prices, highly recommend bringing swim suites for kids to enjoy the splash pad! There s a Sonny s inside for lunch, and always have an event going on, sunset at the zoo is awesome! Plus who-done-it during Halloween, really good spot. The year pass is the way to go if you re a local as kids love this place and it pays for itself as something to do on the weekends. Plus for the past 2 years I ve been coming here, they ve been upgrading and continually putting money back into the place.

We have year round passes, so we get to go whenever. It's not a huge zoo, but it's a nice one.

I couldn't see the bear and the eagle and I looked for them a lot, apparently it was closed.

Very pretty, clean, friendly. Most animals were active even tho it was hot that day. Great water park for the kiddos.

I would definitely suggest putting more stimulation in the cages of these animals. Especially the cougar, who was pacing back and forth in his cage, scratching the bars. Please get something for the giraffes as well because there is no stimulation in the cages. Spend money on what you already have rather on the new bears you're getting. The place is very nice and clean, and the petting zoo is good but I'd prefer they had more animals in there. Splash pad is great, amazing place to take pics, watching live snake feeding was awesome. Good place for an annual pass but much of the time the animals are hidden because they're sleeping or resting in their cave. Food was also very overpriced.

Park area very clean, staff friendly and helpful, and animals were beautiful.

Arrived at opening to find many animals put away for cages to be cleaned. I didn't pay to watch zoo keepers clean. Some one needs to adjust staff schedule to better serve it's customers. Giraffe feeding wasn't even open on time. The two volunteers were trying to stall for a zoo keeper. Poorly run business.

If you're looking for a big city zoo this isn't the place. But if you're looking to spend part of your day enjoying Florida nature and some really cute animals you'll enjoy it! You can feed the giraffe, which is pretty cool, and some of the petting area animals. (The llama is funny) Overall an enjoyable experience.

Almost no marking on where to enter park. Park also seemed overgrown, and not well maintained.

Normally, you can't go wrong when it comes to a zoo. I mean, kids love animals. Mostly, this was an awesome visit. There were a few things that happened during our stay that made it a bit of a rough day but we made it through the day without making it a bad day. There Is an amazing selection of animals to see considering the price to visit the zoo is not so high. Overall, it's a good zoo and I would recommend going.

I wasn't particularly looking forward to going ziplining because everything I had seen about it looked a little, well, boring. Boy was I wrong! This place is so much fun. I don't know what other zipline courses are like, but it's so much more than just the zip lines. There are plenty of obstacles high up in the air and that combined with the fact that after your safety briefing they let you go off on your own makes you feel like you are on an adventure. My girlfriend and I did the first 2 courses (there are three in total) and it took us about two hours, so you definitely get your money's worth. The staff was also friendly and helpful. Had a great time! Highly recommended!

Kind of depressing. Charges too much to feed a giraffe a piece of lettuce.

A nice place for families with very young children. Lots of animal and nature themed play areas and a colorful splash park so the kids can cool off. We enjoyed feeding the giraffes and the animals in the petting farm area. The staff were friendly and genuinely interested in sharing information about the animals. It's a small zoo - not too many animals to see- but again, for families with toddlers it's just the right size.

Our staff holiday party was here and the zoo itself wasn't all that impressive but the Chinese lantern festival was great. We all loved the creativity of the lanterns and it was fun to walk through the zoo and see all of them. The photo booth was cute, too.

Great little zoo with a lot of animals. We are members because it's a great place to just go have a relaxing day with your kids.

Decent zoo, but overpriced for the exhibits. Staff were amazingly friendly and helpful.

Good value for the admission. Good for young and old alike. Some extra activities available for extra $$.
Interesting and educational.

Great fun. Little kids love the splash park. Great animal Care.

Loved the light show.
Nice staff!

It was quite entertaining. But I feel the enclosures should have been way bigger for most of the animals. The smell throughout the park is very strong. The activities like zip line and the other courses are very pricey.

This was a huge disappointment. Took my visiting son and room mates, we were very upset. None of the animals were visible. It was very small and their map tried to make it look twice as big. The only good thing I saw was an extensive zipline course, but it was not that close to the zoo. Don't waste your time, gas, or money on this place. Go to the Brevard Zoo instead!

Very small, even the exhibits are small. But the boardwalk is nice. Friendly workers. A good, quick stop with some different animals!

Everything was closed as far as food, drink stands only thing open was gift shop. A lot of the animals were put up. Petting zoo closed didn't get to feed any of animals. water pad area for kids nice but closed at 4:00 .Very small zoo few animals, on a good note clean, seen only three workers in whole park..kids were ready to go home when they didn't get to see a lot of the animals.cages empty...we went on a Monday in June..

They have great employees and they're very respectful.

Excellent staff and wonderful zoo. Definitely check this place out!

It's a nice little zoo. It doesn't take long to go through the whole area, and it's pretty clean. Not too much interaction goes on but there's the occasional animal feeding interaction going on throughout the zoo. There aren't too many places with fans or cool air for summer, so it's good to bring some water or know where to take a break. There's also two playgrounds I noticed; one is a water playground and the other is standard. Overall, it's pretty good. The only thing you might be irritated with is if you're eating then you attract squirrels so be mindful of them.

45 min to get tickets, only one window opened, line was getting long and nobody seem to care about it.
Don t recommend this Zoo to any one

Beautiful medium size zoo with friendly and informative staff and presentations. And to top it off, Sonny's BBQ lunch for sale!

The close interaction with the animals was whimsical and intimate.

Great day! Friendly, and my girl got to see all the big cats! Thanks!

Lots of exhibits we spent 2.5 hours there, saw everything. Feeding the giraffes was fun!

Don't bother going. Not many animals there. And if there are they weren't out

Took my 2 year old daughter and niece had a ton of fun we will be back again

We had a great time, even with the impacted operations. Going in the morning, social distancing was no problem at all and we often found ourselves alone with many animals.

It's definitely not a huge zoo, especially compared to Tampa, Brevard, or Miami, but given the convenience, it has enough to see for the cost. Giraffes, cheetahs, a black bear, a Indian Rhino, on top of many smaller animals. It could use more, but with support, more could happen.

It is in a great location, just off of I-4, and has beautiful trees and gardens throughout. Shade is not a problem and a very solid splash pad is available for kids.

If you go, don't miss the small insect zoo just before the zoo entrance. They had a good amount of bugs, frogs, and other reptiles inside and it's air conditioned. During our time, we had no issues going inside any buildings and were at points the only group inside.

The zoo is beautiful, well kept, and promising. A couple hours is enough to see it all with time to spare.

Overall, as long as you don't set too high of expectations, you'll have a great time!

Fabulous place with knowledgeable and friendly staff,

I suggest you review this course. The course is more of an obstacles course than zip lining. If you have physical limitations this might not be good for you. There is no restriction other than height. I expected to actually zip line more than 20 feet, but because I could not complete obstacles I couldn't zip line. When we asked of we could be fast tracked to more zip line portions we were told no. Until I was able to continue then they let the rest of my party fast track. Very disappointing and a lot of money for nothing.

Great experience. Animals are well cared for, the zoo is nicely appropriated, and staff is very friendly. They are taking CDC recommended precautions seriously, must have a mask.

Nice place to visit if you are tired of the roller coaster scene. The staff is very friendly and even for such small place they have a fair variety of species. Loved the walkways under the trees. When I visited it was very cold but I am sure that the experience will be ten fold enhanced during the Summer. We will definetely go back next time when in Orlando.

Its ok..the enclosures are very small I feel bad for the animals

Only a few animals and almost all of them are hiding.

I went on a field trip with my son's 1st grade class. There were a lot more animals to see than I have experienced in the past. I think it's great for small kids, 2nd grade and younger. It's not a huge place so if you dont want to do a whole lot of walking, this Zoo is great.

Very small, but it's a nice place to kill an hour or so.

Fun for the kids. Splash pad is great on those warm Florida days, but I still don't go here during the summer. Too hot then and the only air conditioned place is the herpetarium. Limited choices for food with the switch in concession vendor. But my daughter loves the zoo and regularly asks to go. We got the annual pass every year bc it is so cost effective when going regularly.