Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens Review

I used to come when I was a kid sadly there is like no animals. Not sure if it's a lack of funding or what but they have barely any exotic animals it was a big disappointment especially for $20 a ticket.

Gauge acts like they never feed him. Ever. Go feed that giraffe!

Tourist trap disguised as a dysfunctional zoo crammed into a space the size of a shopping center and is stuck in the year 1990. Claims to preserve & protect the animals but gives them the space, diet & freedom you've come to expect from SeaWorld. Professional and underpaid staff, braindead management. Giraffe exhibit is a carnie show with two giraffes and an unwelcome design. Stench of food littered before you were born, an amalgamation of sweat from trash of all cultures, and disgusting "craft" beer that might as well be Listerine soaked into the rotting wood that lines the entire zoo and creaks more than the sun-powered baby barbecue put on show by the careless parents that hoard the aging exhibits. Even the "brand new" bear exhibit has paths carved into the exhibit from how much they pace in one spot. All that I can say is that the selection of animals isn't bad and the shows are alright.

It was ok. Buy tickets in advance if you can. I waited in a 30 minute line this morning in 60 degree weather and they only had one window open. I was also frustrated because they said the splash pad would be closed if the weather was 60 or below. The splash pad was running even though it was 60 degrees and my son wanted to play in it. Everything else seemed ok. If you're going to take the kids by yourself may be best to bring a stroller.

a good experience my children were well excited about the animals and very clean the place

Giraffes are awesome, cheetah was awake, foosa is energetic.

Nice little park, Train was very uncomfortable. Zip line was okay. Water play area could be bigger, especially for Florida. Animal enclosures should be larger and designed in a way as to facilitate public viewing of animals while still providing an enjoyable area for the animal. Overpriced.

get there early in order to see more animals, bring some cash, zip lines, train ride, water splash pad, Sonny's BBQ food stand!

Great, chill Zoo. The handlers are kind and knowledgeable. It's not too big, so you can check out everything in half a day or so. There is a great splash pad for running around at the end of the day. The only reason it's not a 5 star is that some of the exhibits seem really small for the animals that they house, especially the large cats.

Zoo displays are cramped with several of animals displaying stress pacing. Might want to skip the zoo part. While not having first hand experience myself - with this one - the zipline and adventure park at the zoo's entry look like some real fun-esp for kids 9 & up to adults

Great zoo, they added more animals recently. It's the first time I've seen some of them not in documentaries, and I've been to loads of zoos.

Awesome Staff that was great with my children. A fun adventure for the whole family. Really worth the money and a great work out too! I highly recommend everyone try this out! They were great!

Hardly any zoo animals but for what it is can t complain, the kid likes the place so that s all that matters. Food places all closed, hard to find water , it s good to kill a couple hours worth $15 not $20 a person but, hey I waste more then that getting overpriced coffee so it is what it is.

Absolutely wonderful. Clean employees are outstanding. Thanks C.F.Z. you all are great .

Nice little zoo,great place for some unwind time,and to see some really cool animals.The Rhino experience was awsome,who wouldn't want to pet a Rhino!Also the Giraffe feedings was super cool,they are very big,much bigger than I imagined!And it didn't cost over a hundred bucks to get in,like everything else in Florida.

Small, but very personable and nice staff. Nice selection of animals to view. Cute splash park for the kids.

Good place to be not many animals... But good train ride for kids.

Just the right size. Not many animals but very interactive.

They are making great changes to the zoo, bringing more shows and educational exhibits.

Amazing!!! The zoo is always growing with new animals and attractions!!

It was my first time. Went with family that was visiting. We had a great time.

It was fun we had a great time can wait to go again

It's small but it's ours and we like it. We've been coming here for years and years and have been passholders off and on. I especially recommend a pass if your local and have very small children because it's a great easy half day between the zoo, splash pad, and playground. They also have some really fun events here and there's all sorts of interesting programs worth looking into.

Lots of extracurricular things to do as well. Zoom Air's worth coming for all by itself and there's a train and carousel and a few other things.

The zoo has a curious history that's worth looking up. Sure miss Maud and Geraldine and wonder whatever happened to Sir Gus. Also miss the bizarre insects that used to be on display and even the bees. Watching all the children run from the honey bees was always amusing.

So far as our zoos go, sizewise, you've got Miami at the top, Jax and Tampa next, Melbourne, then the Gulf Breeze/Sanford zoos. So to say, if you're coming here expecting a major zoo you'll be sorely disappointed but if you find fun in the small things you'll be pleasantly surprised.

It's nice that they've been selling beer here these last many years (daddy Rx) and have bumped up the concessions to be run by Sonny's. Nice touch.

Very good for schools learning. Shows were great as they mingle with the public and the public participate.

Good zoo, convenient inspection of animals. A lot of parents with children, a good place for children to see animals nearby. All animals and birds look very well-groomed, well-fed and beautiful. Giraffes are great! Good service.

Really great place to visit. Unfortunately it was raining when we visited, but we still had a lot of fun! We saw so many different animals and the gardens are beautiful! We are definitely going back to visit again!

Very nice zoo. Animals didn't want to come out & play. Lol..

We are annual pass holders for myself my daughter and my girlfriend. We love the Sanford zoo it's close and full of wonder. Also it has a splash park for anyone who doesn't have children in the florida heat, it's a real life saver. Highly recommend getting a pass or just checking it out.

We called in advance to see if Zoom Air could wait for us because we would be late. We couldn t get through the line because no one picked up the phone. Our group was rushing to get to the park before the last admission time but we arrived 10 minutes late and asked if they would make an exception and still let us in. The office lady said yes although she was hesitant. However when she was checking us in, she said with an attitude, If you don t hurry, we re going to have to stop this because you guys are already late. I don t know what others have learned about customer service but you don t talk to your customers like that, especially when they re apologetic and not trying to be high and mighty with you. She should have kept that to herself. I then rushed our entire group to hurry up.

Not only that but most of the staff was rude, and I mean only one person was nice. They agreed to wait for us but rushed us the entire time and spoke in condescending tones. If you aren t willing to accommodate to your customers, don t agree to take them.

Before we finished the first course, the weather turned bad and we were informed that they would have to cut our experience short. This is understandable, however, the funny thing was the staff kept repeatedly saying it was due to weather. Why did they have to repeatedly defend themselves to us even when we didn t say anything against them? To me, it felt like they were excited that there was bad weather just so we could leave.

It s just not cool to treat your customers like that. We didn t argue or say anything rude to them that required such treatment. Even if they tried to be nice about it, we could read through their body language and tones and word choice that they were impatient and rude. We re not unsophisticated or unintelligent people; we know when you re being sarcastic and rude.

In summary, don t take on customers if you were informed about their situation and weren t mentally and emotionally prepared to service them. Our experience was horrible because we were rushed through the whole thing. My saying this is not for you to justify your actions; this is for you to better your services for your future guests.

8 of us went Sat Aug 1st, 2015. We all loved it. Can't say enough about our guide, Danny. He was the greatest! He made it fun. The ziplines and the courses were awesome!! The only downfall is the time frame getting to the 1st course.Perhaps if they had 1 place to sign the waivers and get the wristbands and another to get the harnesses, it might speed up the process a little.

Have you ever left a Zoo feeling sad well if you want to you should come her. Not because I didn't want to leave but because I felt so bad. The animals enclosure were so small and the animals looked so sad. I just wanted to cry.

It's good to visit the zoo. But was really sad to see most of the animals were single, as in one in a case if there is couple they are more playful but here it looked like they were sad and in one place all the time.

We adore this local to us zoo! We always renew our annual pass and it s a great place to just swing by with the kids to check in with the animals and have some fun. The education is great too with the bear exhibit!

An interesting place to visit for the whole family for 4 to 5 hours.

The giraffe feeding is something I and my kids will remember for life. Skip the train ride, it doesn't take you through the zoo, just the woods beyond the parking area, with cardboard cutouts of some animals along the track. Splash pad is great for kids so bring swim wear and towels. Quite an extensive rope bridge course. And of course all the animals were cool. We'll be going again.

First zoo we have taken our daughter to! It really was an amazing time

Given the size of the zoo to the amount of animals you can see entry is over priced. Very small zoo, but nice for what it is. Food is also over priced but to be expected.

Only have like 10 animals I would not consider it a zoo

Good place for a two hour visit. Its a good place to hang out with little kids. They have a train ride and a carousel at the entrance( need separate pay other than ticket). The walk is very relaxing and they have most animals (Giraffe, Tiger, cheetah, leopard, black bear, Rhino, Alligator, Crocodile, bald eagles,small monkeys, lemurs ,wild cats, otters, etc) which kids love. They also have a park inside. The pet zoo and Giraffe feeding will be interesting for little kids. Its not tiring at all. Loved it.

The Central Florida Zoo is wonderful! They are always improving and setting high standards for the keeping of their animals and experience of their guests. I cannot even begin to list off all the activities and events they have, there are so many of them. They always have activities, shows, summer zoo camps, and other special events going on. I love this zoo!

We went to the Zoo to rest from the ranks of the Orlando theme parks. The zoo looks little crowded, low maintenance, but they have good specimens, they look healthy. The staff was friendly and had a good time.

Waste of money. Poor animals look miserable & not much animals.

It is a lot of money for the size of the facility but it was fun for a couple of hours.

Small, down to earth zoo with a good selection of animals

It's a very nice Zoo a bit overpriced for how small it is. The price of the food and drinks are also steep. The staff is very nice.

Kids always have a great time. The Rhino was all the show!

It was a pretty good zoo for a lazy Sunday afternoon. The food and drinks are expensive though. We saw everything and had a nice time. Comparable to the Brevard zoo

Nice little zoo. Lots of beautiful flowers and foliage. Walkways in complete shade. Beautiful animal enclosures and a different variety of animals from other local zoos.

such a poor zoo, no lions , no gorillas, no tiguers, really boring experience, no shows, just a few animals. expensive , 20 $ perol adult 15 children

I love this zoo. It's not super big so if you're looking for something extravagant, it's not the place for you. But the experience I think is more personal BECAUSE it's not so big. The petting zoo part next to the giftshop is great. Andre the Llama was totally down to be pet and pose for picture. And the splash pad towards the end is a great way to cool off on a hot Florida day.

We have had year passes to the zoo for 3 years! Our kid loves it. So educational and hands on. They are constantly adding new exhibits, and growing. We will continue our year passes as long as we can :)

Nice place to spend an afternoon. Plenty to see and do but most of the memory-making experiences come at an additional cost... Staff is real nice, very kind and accommodating and they want your visit to be great. Giving 4 stars because of the additional charges for activities in the park otherwise, a 5 star experience.

You're not getting what you paid for if you're coming here, I've been to countless nature reservations/zoos over years and this was the most disappointing. The insect zoo was alright, but the mealworms and crickets, people can see at a pet shop. The zoo itself was not in very good condition, branches would fall from the trees above anytime a slight breeze would come by, some of the animal cages had rotting wood, and some were either too small, or just not fit for the animal. The reptile room was the only impressive thing about this place, it looked really well kept, but it was sadly the only thing that was enjoyable here. Lots of room for improvement and I hope the animals get better habitats.

Everyone that helped us today were awesome! Very friendly and helpful staff that seem to really enjoy kids. Our group had 2 younger kids both 7 and 2 slightly older 8 and 10. They were very patient and fun during the entire time throughout the 2 seperate courses. We can't wait to go back!

Great spot for younger children...small zoo but is great for middle school down to babies!

Family friendly and relaxing way to spend a couple hours.

My mother, my 3 year old son, 1 year old daughter and I left first thing in the morning to get to the zoo before it got to hot & so we would be able to find good parking. We found a perfect, shady space under a bunch of enormous trees. I love that there are so many things to do for every age group. The train, merry go round, walk on water balls, "bungee jumping", zip line, my personal favorite was the splash pad that had a bunch of wooden, beach style, lounge chairs (unfortunately no tables) the splash pad is conveniently located right next to THE SONNY'S BBQ concession stand. The food was amazing. A little pricey but it's SO MICH BETTER than the "food" that they used to serve at the sw concession stand before Sonny's BBQ took it over. We only lasted 4.5 hours (2 kids under 4 years old) but in that time we were able to see a lot of animals, eat at Sonny's and let the kids play at the splash pad for about 45 minutes. We plan on going back several more times so that we get the chance to see everything the zoo has to offer. I would reccomend bringing a covered wagon or stroller with a battery powered fan and plenty of water and snacks if you are going with children.