Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens Reviews

I had an awesome time with my daughter and grandchildren. Very clean and no drama! Thank you Florida for caring about your children!

Just enough for my kids to enjoy themselves. Nice and clean .

a place to relax. the animals seem to be asleep all the time ... I do not think I will return to this place.
they should improve many things

We went on a cool day, early evening all of the animals were not out, but the train was full each trip, children enjoyed the playground . We could have easily stayed here 4 or more hours, there is a lot to see and do.

It is a nice place to take the kids with a good splash pad in the summer but the play ground is small and the wood chips make it messy. Also sometimes the management staff can be rude and bossy. If the kids didnt like to see the animals and ride the train/carousel as much as they did I'd never go back personally.

A good way to spend a few hours with the kids. Not a lot of the food kiosks open and soda machines not working.

Nice small zoo. Not too crowded the day we were there so a very leisurely wander through with two small kids was great. They have an Asian lantern festival in December and January. They were in the process of removing them the day we were there so a couple of exhibits were closed, but the lanterns looked like they would be fun to see light up at night. Water park and playground were fun for the kids also.

It's a smaller zoo, but one of the most natural looking zoos I've ever been to. They have a nice selection of animals (from giraffes and cheetahs to crocodiles and macaws) and a few that I had not seen at any other zoo (Indian rhino and fossa). The ground is mostly wood instead of hard cement and between exhibits are tons of trees and natural-looking land (like a marsh or forest). You can do the whole zoo in about 2 hours.
The staff is SO nice. The keepers are excited to chat with you about the animals and everyone else is just super friendly.
It's a little pricey for a zoo of that size and their map isn't the easiest to read (we got turned around a few times).

Great employees and the hawk demonstration was fantastic. Nice place to spend 1/2 day with the kids.

This place is pretty good. Not quite as cool as the Zoo down south in Brevard, but it could be worth going if you get a reciprocal discount of some kind. It is kindof difficult to get drinks or anything sometimes. I waited for a while but the person behind the counter was MIA. There are no prices on the vending machines for drinks and you have to have cash. The exhibits are decent and the walk was nice. We got in with a discount as friends of locals so I'm not sure it's worth the money. I would recommend the Brevard Zoo over this one if you are close enough.

Nice place with small animals. They should open the snack bar in xmas vacations

I went to the Chinese Lantern show and it was fantastic! I'll have to go during the day to see the animal exhibits.

Not often that I m disappointed while seeing animals but what a hundred percent disappointments this zoo was.
From the Zoo entrance sign in crumbles to the lack of care I witnessed inside.
This Zoo needs to a total makeover!

Clean and we'll maintained. Go with family or friends for a fun day.

Very small zoo with a very limited number of animals.

Fun zoo, a little small though. Only need apprz 1 to 2 hrs to see everything. Great snake exhibit. Wish there were more shows during the weekend.

Need to much construction should offer discount for it in stead of fall price

Love this place a must come.staff was very professional. Animals closer than other zoos.

I think the Brevard zoo is way nicer, this kind of reminds me of an old-school road side attraction. Not a ton of animals and the patreons seemed kind of low class

Clean little zoo. Lots of activities and places for small kids to also enjoy

I have a special needs granddaughter we had a great
time everyone went out of there way to help us there was some
kids and adults guest that where very rude to my granddaughter
but we still had a great time they have a lot to do from zip lining ride
a train ride

Its fun for kids. Its small, not to many animal but there is a playground and nice to go with kids for a few hours. Its not a big zoo regular zoo

Great family place
Small enough to walk around with little kids or wheel chairs. Small train goes around the zoo. Gift shop. Food available. FUN.also zip lines

Such a great environment to introduce kids to nature and exotic creatures. Loved it!

This zoo is great. We loved the rhino experience and the giraffe feeding. The snake collection is one of the best I've ever seen. It is a smaller zoo so don't expect the size and variety of a major zoo. We covered pretty much everything in 3 hours. It seems to be mostly funded by family donations. There is currently construction going on to get the many boardwalks replaced but that didn't impact our visit much. I am interested in doing the high ropes course when my kids are older.

I am surprised anybody gave this zoo less than a 4 star rating. I almost didn't go based on the poor reviews. Very glad I didn't listen to people who rated down a zoo because of food, their personal view on animal cage size, and their expectation that all animals should be smiling at them. I've been to a lot of zoos, big and small, accross the country and this exceeded my expectations.

We are spoiled having been to the NC Zoo multiple times which I think is the largest walking zoo in the world but this zoo was nice. We enjoyed feeding the giraffes. It has a wide range of animals in a fairly small footprint compared to what we are use to. Our two year old enjoyed the train which mostly circled the parking lot. The eating options are terribly limited. One of the two food spots is only open on weekends which left us with one option since we went during the week so take this into account. Because we are members of our local aquarium in NC we got in for half price under the AZA reciprocal agreement so bring your membership card if you're a member of any AZA affiliated facility.

little expensive. doesn't worth $20. good environment though.

Waste of $33.00. At least 7 exhibits and adventure stuff at the entrance were closed. Staff was not very friendly. I drove over an hour to get to the zoo and was highly dissapointed. We have public zoos at home that are the same size and free and the staff is very very friendly. STAY AWAY spend the extra money to go to the animal kingdom.

It is a sweet little zoo, with lovely gardens and reptile building. The paths are well kept, and wide wide and chair accessible. The river otters were a real thrill. I am restricting my rating to three stars, because two of the enclosures did not seem to provide enough shade or cooling for the animals on display, the first the being the jaguar, whose native habitat is much cooler, the Russian-China border area. There was a big fan for the cat, but the cat was clearly overheated. Maybe a large pool could help; the fan wasn't adequate. Similarly, the black bears did not seem to have adequate shade, just a small covered open air house. The large open area next to the bears would be perfect for planting shade trees to cool the surrounding area.

Visited with my grandchildren. They had a great time feeding giraffes.will go back to ride the train

Very good: monkeys, cheetas, bears, alligators, giraffes, sloth, porcupines, rhino, snakes. Really catered to kids: many play areas, petting area and little rides. Staff is friendly. About 2 hours if you go super slow.

We are annual passholders and we often go to the zoo; my children love it! This past weekend, we had my son's 4th birthday party at the zoo. I also have an 8 month old, so it was nice to have everything planned out and hosted for us. The pizza and drinks were good, the room was fun and festive, and the dancing/games were great! The coordinator (Mikaela) was so accommodating and had a great attitude. We had a fantastic time with our Rhino encounter -- that was so neat and something we never thought we'd have the experience of doing. All of our guests had a great time -- adults and children. Thanks so much for a great time!

Many empty exhibits that they don't tell you about. Save your money!

This zoo is a great destination if you have kids. Not only do they have a large selection of animals, there is a large water fountain/splash park and a miniature train you can ride in. It gets crowded in the afternoon so I would suggest showing up early.

This is a great local zoo! It's not huge, but it's great for our community and my son always has fun there.

Also, in response to the reviewer that says that it's depressing. This zoo is currently supported by donations, not tax dollars. Maybe put your money where your mouth is and contribute a little bit?

Beautiful zoo and It s has a lot of animals.
You can feed the giraffe for 5 dollar and also you can feed the goats and alpaca . The best is that the ticket it is only 19.50$ and if you have AAA you get 20% !!!

Is a very nice Zoo. I read some negative reviews but what do people expect for $20. If they want more then go to Animal Kingdom and pay like $100. The staff was nice and is a plus that the kids can cool down on the water splash. The only thing I did not like it was that the bears did not have enough shade and they had a fan but it was very far away. Please get the bears more shade! Other than that we really liked it.

We fed the giraffes which my kids loved and enjoyed seeing the animal. They did look sad but that s just a personal opinion. The food options were just a bbq camp set up that was overpriced, good but overly priced. The zoo isn t very big but the workers seem to love their job and the animals seemed to have been treated well.

Very nice small quiet zoo, great place to go with a family for nice enjoyable. If you're local def worth getting annual pass. It pays for itself with 2 visits.

Brought my grandchildren here on a very hot sunny day, and rented a stroller which was in very poor condition and repair, the sun shade was broken and there was mold and mildew all over the cloth part of the stroller. didn't realize the sun shade didn't work until a few hours later when I actually needed to use it. Left the zoo early because it was too hot for the grandchildren and spoke to the manager there who was unwilling to return my $8 rental fee and offered little to no concern for the situation even though I told her we had to cut the day short. She offered to give us a different stroller, but by this time the children were so hot and aggravated and so was I, so we declined. you would think that before they actually issue a stroller to a paying customer, that they would check to make sure it was in proper working order and clean. Unfortunately this was not the case . I will not go back due to poor customer service, not to mention there weren't many animals outside of their enclosures within the fence, I'm sure due to the scorching heat of the day.... not a fun day at all.

Great place to spend a day exploring, dont expect a world class zoo and make sure you bring some water on hot days.

The zoo was a little bit far to travel mostly due to traffic. But thats I4 for you. The is zoo decent. It has a little zipline course for kids and adults. It wasn't as big as others I've visited. Some of the enclosures seems a bit small and some of the enclosures were closed but it was nice enough for a "to say I went" visit.

Didn't have as many animals as I thought. Could have been better played out.

Sunset at the Zoo... Girls night out. Who doesn't want to go to the zoo for $5. Live music set the tone for an enjoyable evening. Summer is hot and the animals would suit in front of the fans. I believe it was a lemur the pulled the fan closer to its self.

It's a good place to take the kids for an afternoon of fun. Loved feeding the giraffe! There is a cho cho train, fun ride. They also have an adventure park, kids and grown-ups can enjoy it. I would have rated it higher but in my opinion needs more animals, true that the space is limited.

My kids love going and it is always a nice family outing.

Went for an event called Brews in the Zoo. Was really fun! Highly recommend this zoo!

I love this zoo! The train ride is such a blast for every age. There was a big crowd on Saturday so plan accordingly. The educational moments are so awesome, and the animals are well cared for. Big upgrades to this special place make it one of my favorites for a family day out. It's not splashy or disneyesque, but it is fun, entertaining and educational for the little guys. The zip lines are a total hoot! Come to the zoo! They have Sonny's BBQ now, and they are yummy!

From reading other reviews, I knew it was going to be a small zoo, and that did not disappoint...You would think that I would be displeased, however quite the contrary...The zoo is very well laid out, has boardwalks throughout to preserve as much natural beauty as they can. Botanical Garden was not impressive or appealing at all...but the natural beauty surrounding the place as well as the animal exhibits that actually allow you to be closer to the animals was awesome!!

Super cute I loved it. Especially giraffes and butterflies. But super cool.

Suggest finding another place to visit like Wildlife Florida where the animals seem to have a better time and the customers are better appreciated. Central Florida Zoo &Botanical Garden was mostly a waste of money except for a few animals and the refreshing water experience. There s no way that they have all the animals they advertise having. Most of the animals were hiding or looked miserable. There were no fans or proper cooling options for the humans other than the water splash for the kids. The vending machines only took bills and in these times people mostly only use cards. The places you could buy drinks were without employees except for the 2 main ones. The bathrooms were horrible and really not maintained. The park itself is very worn and not very well maintained either. Suggest skipping this park and going someplace better!

It was very expensive for the small amount of animals they had and they had run out of animal feed for the petting zoo at 2PM. All in all, I wouldn't go back

Nice zoo but way to small for the $20 price they charge. Time to expand and add more exibits.

A zoo is fun at any age! I went with a few girlfriends. The animals were very active on the day we were there. Had a nice snack to break up the afternoon. Inexpensive and fun for sure.

Nice place not super big so you can see it all in a couple 3 hours. Enjoyed the giraffes and gators.

excellent place to share with family, recommended, it is very nice.

A nice place to spend a few hours, lots of animals to see, not too crowded.

We arrived at open. I don't recommend arriving at open as they do not have all the exhibits up and going until closer to 930. We enjoyed seeing the many different animals, and liked how close you could get to viewing the rhino, however, felt a few others like the cheetah could have been in larger enclosures

The zoo is just ok, nothing special about it. You can easily walk through it all within a hour or two. I wish there was more options for food. There's a BBQ restaurant that is new. The splash pad area looks like it could be fun but it's always super crowded.

This place seemed ok. We visited around the off season. So it could have been better. But I will go back again to give it another try.

I am totally disappointed, it does not have many animals. very unhelpful employees, the part of the chorritos, we were more than an hour and a half, then tell us that they were going to open, and as it was doing the time we were told that there was bad news because a trickle was unclothed. I had my granddaughter and the other children after they changed crying for a long time. It was a bad time instead of fun.

A little biased as I used to work there. The place is small but very pleasant. All animals are rescued in some form or fashion. Loved the people and place.

Great place to go with the family! Love the volunteers and staff. They are so knowledgeable and helpful. Love that they carry around smaller animals for everyone to see and learn about. Great place to relax and learn!