Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens Review

Place is improving boardwalk but lots of animals to see

This zoo is extremely small, and most of the staff are rude. Especially, those who work in the administration. There is also a lot mosquitoes. Bring bug spray with you! I know from personal experience that there are a lot. During the day it's somewhat okay except during sunset and afterwards. Having said all that, I wouldn't recommend this zoo to anyone especially because of the price.

We had a nice relaxing 2 or 3 hours enjoying the displays and tropical plants. Did not feel crowded. Would recommend.
Plan to visit again someday.

Annual pass member. Always an enjoyable stroll through the zoo.

Feeding the goats was fun! Also you can feed the giraffes :)

I woke up early in the morning so I have the entire day looking at different animals and have a good time. I got in 9:15 and left at 10, totally bot worth the money nor the time.

Very nice family atmosphere!! Inexpensive prices and loads of fun!!

Perfect place for families. Animals are well cared for.

We did the zipline and aerial obstacle courses. They were fun and in a nice environment.

Very nice small zoo. Animals all look well taken care of and have good since enclosures.

Not as impressed as i was with the Brevard zoo. So many more animals there.

A great place to learn about the natural world around us. Our zoos are hurting now more than ever, but the Central Florida Zoo remains clean, friendly, and vigilant about social distancing. Please consider the zoo for your next outing. In groups smaller than ten of course :-)

Loved the place and awesome place for family .I enjoyed the place so much to learned about wildlife and seeing the animals was awesome.

Nice for kids kinda depressing for adults seeing the animals look miserable.

This is a great zoo! My family and I have visited a few times, and we have had a great time, every time. Beautiful animals that are well taken care of, and the grounds themselves are will maintained. The Staff are all very nice, and very knowledgeable about the animals. I definitely recommend this zoo!

We were there for the Chinese Lantern Festival. I highly recommend it.

Really cute zoo, you almost feel like you're in the wild. Animals were really active when we were there.

Went here with my mom and boyfriend. They have a bunch of different animals I wanted to go cuddle with the bears so badly

It was a very good day at the zoo. I've never been to this zoo before so I didnt know what to expect but they have quite the variety of animals throughout the entire place. The adventure courses looked fun also, unfortunately my daughter is not old enough for those yet.

The zoo is perfect for a small child. We came and spent around 3-4 hours with our 2 year old son. They also have a scale sized train that goes for a ride around outside of the zoo. For my son, my wife and myself I paid 8$ which was totally worth it with how much my son loved the ride. He was excited to see the different animals and he loved the reptile house. There is a small sand pit area for the children to play in as well as a small water park that the other children loved. When you pass the water park area there is a feeding/ petting area. Watch out for Andre the llama. He will try to keep all of the food to himself.

Nice small zoo. Small so limited selection of animals. But small so nice afternoon with little kids.

Overall the zoo is nice. It is showing age but there have been improvements. Check Facebook for events, this is where you will get you best bang for the dollar.

Love this zoo. It's on the smaller size but has a splash pad and playground too.

It was easy to navigate around, but not a whole lot to see. I spent $49 there and got 10 pairs of mens basketball types of shorts, also shampoos and body washes and snacks for work.

We had a good time, but some of the staff were borderline rude.

Gets better every year! They have Sonnys BBQ now. Awesome.

This zoo in Sanford was disappointing. It is obvious the zoo needs to invest money in some improvements as it appears run down throughout the entire park. The bathroom next to the splash pad area was in terrible condition. The water from the sink barely came out when you turn the faucet on. The zoo was decorated for Halloween, but the decorations looked like dollar store items stuck in the ground. I will not return to this zoo.

Absolutely awesome zoo! Only 20 bucks to get in and a mini water area to cool off at! The animals are well taken care of and exhibits are spacious. Glad to see the zoo is having a lantern exhibit at night looks neat!

Amazing animals so close, some native to FL & others from afar. Some enclosures seem a bit small but they acknowledge this and are constantly fundraising with a new big cat area already in the works. They give animals a home that wouldn't survive in the wild for many different reasons hence quite an impressive assortment to see. Pay extra to see, and pet!, an Indian Rhino.. was amazing! We paid just under 100 dollars for 2 adults and a 4.5yr old child which seemed a lot but with a splash area, kids petting zoo, a playground, botantical gardens throughout and a gorgeous green leafy setting, it's easily a days worth of fun for animal lovers. We'll definitely go back. Food options are limited so eat before as no food allowed in and they have only 1 limited and pricey cafe.

Fun thing to do with the family. About 2 or 3 hours depending on how your family takes in the scenery. A great value for the price of admission.

This place isn't bad, but it feels very dated. It looks like a place you could spend a few hours doing stuff that's not the zoo (zipline, tree trek, etc) and they have some interesting exhibits. It's worth a try if you like zoos and are in the area. They also have a petting zoo, giraffe feeding, and a Sonny's BBQ (in the zoo). Overall, just the zoo will take about two hours if you walk out slow.

A simply zoom right in the heart of Florida. Very convinient and right off of I-4. The staff was friendly. They even have games for kids right @ the entrance. ...plus the ZIPLINE!

Nice zoo. Train ride and other fun activities are nice bonus. They need to expand and continue to get more animals.

Nice Local Zoo, with Decent Exhibits, and good staff

This is a smaller zoo but still nice. My boyfriend and I fed the giraffes and it was awesome. It was colder when we went so we weren t able to see the alligators but we did check out all the snakes and they were absolutely beautiful! We had a great time here and we finished the walk through in about an hour. Mostly because we spent a good bit of time looking at the snakes.

Small zoo but very cost effective. Not really busy even on March break. A good alternative to the main parks.

During summer quarantine there hasn't been many places I have felt comfortable going. I decided to purchase an annual family membership (awesome value) and check out the zoo. They have timed tickets, where you choose the time slot you go in to the zoo, and the website shows you how many tickets they have left for that slot. That last feature is nice because you can choose a slot with few people. Also if you go early there's not too much heat, and the splash pad is not too full. As for the animals you can probably walk the whole property in an hour, it's not a very large zoo. Highlights include the herpetarium (snake house), the black bears, giraffes, and rhino. The giraffe feeding is open (5$ cash or credit) . There's also a nice playground with plenty of hand sanitizer stations and clean restrooms, and snack booths. They also sell Sonny's BBQ near the splash pad.

Huge diversity of animals and plants, a little damaged from the storms/freeze but still beautiful

Great zoo with lots to do. Don't let its small appearance fool you!

Great place for family. Lot if interaction with animals. Playground, slash park..A lot of different things for kids to do. Place was clean. A good time for all.

A central Florida treasure. You can avoid all of the crowds at the attractions in southwest Orlando. Parking is free. There are train rides for the little and big kids. Get a feeding schedule so you can see the animals up close. Also, very fun to feed the giraffs lettuce by hand. Go see the black bears in the morning before they retire for their afternoon snooze. Bring swim suits for the kids to play in the splash zone. This is a nice break when the kids get hot and tired. Enjoy.

So much to see and do here! The kids will enjoy for sure. Adults, bring your gear and do the zipline treetop rope course.

Good time but needs more larger animals, ie elephants, tigers, lions etc. But good time overall

I really like this place, I think it's a cute place to go, The kids get to feed the goats in the barn. I went with my little niece and nephew, they loved it.

Had a wonderful afternoon at the zoo. Although we did not adventure into the zoo itself we had an amazing adventure on the zip line and brought a picnic. Definitely had a fun day!

Good zoo to go for a walk on a Sunday. Calm and with a variety of animals. Note that they are given good treatment and attention.

The zoo is disappointing and small. For a metro area the size of Orlando, I would expect something much larger and better quality. The only thing nice about it was the water pad for the kids. But why pay so much for just the water pad? Not likely to go back.

Love this zoo. I missed seeing the giraffes. So I will have to go back.

First time visitor, it was a cute but small zoo. The wooden walkways are very nice and easy to walk on.
The animals, although not cramped for space, were not out and about as in other zoos I have been to. That being said, it was cute for my 18 month old grandson.

Smaller Zoo but very nice! Perfect for a Sunday afternoon with the fam.

A great zoo, with a fun Zipline course available. Makes a great day trip -- with kids or without.

Small but cutesy. Very ideal for taking younger kids.

It is great, even with covid around everyone was wearing a mask. Staff was great.
But the animals were the best to watch.
Will go back

Wonderful place to visit. The animals were friendly. The giraffes act like human brothers - they don't always get along.

Nice little zoo, nothing huge or fancy but my kids love the little train and the zip line in the front. The playground by the rhinos is very nice too. If you re a stay at home mom in the area it s nice to have the yearly pass and head to the splash pad during summer.

Great place to take the kiddos! they love it every time

Was nice. Would have enjoyed it more if the animals were out. The staff were very nice and extremely knowledgeable about the animals. Will visit again when its warmer.

Went to Brews at the Zoo. It was very fun but the zoo seems really small

Went twice with my 4 year old son, spent the whole day there both times. My son loved it!