Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens Reviews

Had a very nice time. Zoo wasn't too big and wasn't to small.. Was worth the price. Spent 2hrs there..last-minute idea. Glad I brought my family:) p.s. nice little gift shop

Safe fun environment for kids and adventurists. We took the hard route and finished in about 40 minutes. The ziplines were not very fast. It's almost too safe in that it takes away from the experience of being so high up. Our guides and instructors kept heavy watch and was very strict about safety. I appreciated it but again would have enjoyed some freedom. Wouldn't pay to go back unless they expanded with some higher and faster lines.

A great place to take the kiddos, or a date too. Plenty to see and explore. Small splash and play area the kids of all ages enjoy to cool down, so if this still is in your plans a extra set of clothes is necessary, towel, shoes, diapers. There is a shaded area for the caretakers to rest and watch the splash and play fun!

I've visited here more than 5 times and every time im in hopes that my experience will be different... But it hasnt been. The animals all hide so you cant see them. And the ones you can see, seem to be stressed and depressed. Next time i will be driving to Tamps with my kids.

Kind, caring staff, well cared for animals. Excellent conservation programs. About to transition to a teaching zoo!

Awesome family environment. Many opportunities for interaction. The kids (Elementary age) loved it and were so excited about the many rope courses and zip lining options. The train was also a hit. The animal enclosures allowed for good views and the playground was great. There is also a Sonny's on site!

Fun family friendly zoo. We will definitely visit again! Food is a bit pricey, but it's very tasty. My daughter especially loved seeing the giraffes and the crocodiles. The indoor reptile display was really cool too.

fun nice place and great staff. we got such a nice and great moment. i recomend it to all my friends and family

Knocked off a star because the back concession was closed which forced us to the front concession right next to the splash pad. The zoo was packed. Line out the door with two screening toddlers who wanted to get wet. Other than that it was very enjoyable.

Very fun family afternoon! Splash park looks like a lot of fun.

It was a awesome experience! Beautiful animals and quite a variety! I want to try the Zipline next!

Hi Everyone and Anyone reading this!
This is a Zoo that needs help! There are hardly any animals left and it looks like this beautiful and very important place is getting ready to go under.

When I asked a staff member where the animals were, they told me this! The Elephants died of old age, and many animals were shipp e d to places like Naples! The animals I did see looked well sad, and lonely. With the Giraffes, Pigs, and bears it looked like Noahs arch! There were only a few primates, and the rino and leaped were by there selves.
There were no big Primates, Elephants, Zebra, Anatalope, etc!

The train that went through the park was broken, and the Zip line I sat and watched was plain dangerous! I saw only two staff members monorting it. Guest were detaching themselves from different Zip lines, and putting the clips onto other ones. This blew my mind!

So in all we had a Great day, but we were sadden that a city like Orlando or Central Florida would allow there Zoo to fall to shambles like this! We also thought how often did we see advertisements besides rest area flyers for the zoo, ya know like T.V. or Local Bill Boards. Never is the answer!

It is a beautiful piece of property and has such potential of being a wonderful Zoo like Jacksonville. If it were under different management ( Dilly,dilly, open yr eyes bud!)or had more money IDK it could be brought back to life!!!

Zoos are such an important roll in Society! Especially, for younger school aged children. We all can not load up and head to Bush Gardens, nor should we have 2!

So in short, it may be a sad looking Zoo but please go and visit. You will have a beautiful walkway, nice staff, and hopefully make a difference on keeping this Zoo Alive!

The reptile house was our favorite! Make a difference turn off the Xbox, PSPS and take your kids. Everyone makes a difference on keeping OUR ZOO ALIVE, WELL, FUN, SAFE, AND OPEN!!!!

Perfect place to take your family..very clean..nice..and informative..train ride around park, Zipline for adults and one for kids..new bear exhibit..must go and see.

Nice zoo with friendly staff. At the giraffe location, I had one of the trainers strike up a conversation with me as I was just lingering around. It's always great to meet people who really enjoy what they do.

Expensive outing for a family of 5. There were a few exhibits but the enclosures were a little dirty. The staff at the concession stand by the rhino cage was so rude to us that it was difficult to even smile afterwards ..the giraffe feedings were out of lettuce, the zip line and other fun things were extra money . It really was a huge letdown, but easy to walk around as there was not much traffic . Living next to the St Louis Zoo has spoiled us .

Great place to actually see the animals. The employees really care about the animals and are quite knowledgeable. They have a new black bear area that is awesome and very educational. The giraffe feeding is great, my granddaughter loves it. It's worth the $5.
I also like that the food stand is actually Sonny's food, it isn't just junk food.
The train ride is only $3 extra but worth it for the kids. Great smaller local zoo.

Nice zoo to check out. Was there a little over 2 hours.

Very good place to do that family outting.... Animals, playground, splash pad for the kids.... Lots of shade and even a Sonny's BBQ out post. There's a zip line course for the "big people" and a smaller kids course also ( separate price ). Over all a very good day out .

awesome place to take kids and grown ups! Always have a lot of special activities to go too! Very clean

This was really sad. These animals look lonely and they don't have much space. We won't be coming back here, and I can't recommend this. This zoo needs some TLC, more space, better funding, more people to care for the animals and give them a better life.

I love this place, even though it's smaller and not as exciting as some of the larger ones. I've been coming here since I was a wee lad, so it has some special memories for me. The staff is fantastic and the facility is kept up very well. It's awesome for all ages and really is a great place to spend the afternoon.

The Arial adventures attraction is very, but be warned that after you first get on the next point to get off is after 20 platforms.

Small, intimate zoo. Pretty average, but nice for the kids

Nice experience. Love the petting zoo experience. Splash pad is great for kids. Annual pass is only $99 which includes 2 adults and 6 kids

We went here because the Zoo closer to our house was closing early for a special event. This was a huge waste of time and money. The animal enclosures were very small and animals weren't active at all and most were hidden. I have worked with all sorts of animals and I know not all animals can be active all the time but you should still be able to see at least 1 animal in the whole zoo! Like I said enclosures were very small and some overcrowded. We got through the entire zoo in about 2 hours because it's small but also no animals to see. There's not a good variety either. The coolest part of the whole trip was the snakes and reptiles, they did have a good selection of those and some venomous ones you wouldn't normally see elsewhere.

I love this zoo, but the train is constantly breaking down. Every time we come it s broken or just broke down. Spend some money and invest in this. My kids look forward to literally just this train

Something nice to do on a weekend. Decent assortment of animals, extra activities for younger kids.

This place was incredible. Spent 3 hours here with my family and worth every penny.

We loved an excellent place to spend in family and the divine nature to share with the giraffe that marked a beautiful experience I recommend them

Very nice (small) zoo! Lots of animal to see and very well kept. Great for all ages!

Attended the zoo for Sunset at the Zoo, it was nice to be there while seeing the beautiful sunset. Glad it was a good deal to attend because there isn't alot to do, it's a fairly small zoo. We saw everything in 30 mins.

My family and I had so much fun. It was an amazing experience! Definitely going back the next time I visit Florida!

The zoo itself is amazing. So many animals to see, I really enjoyed going here with my family.

It is a nice family friendly environment. A lot of moms with strollers so If you don't like kids or are annoyed by them don't go. Otherwise, the areas are super nice and the animals look well taken care of. I actually think it's a nice place to have a date.

How small the enclosure are is just cruel I couldn't believe how little space these wild animals had it literally made me cry. I pray they change the layout very soon.

Great place to take the family. Clean. Fun. Large array of healthy happy animals. Beautiful surroundings. Take a picnic! Food and beverages available inside. Splash park. Train and merry go round. Ball on water a riot. Walk in the sky on ropes tied to cable for safety. No better place to spend the day.

Decent zoo. Kids loved the barnyard animal exhibit and feeding the animals. Feeding the giraffes is always fun.

Loved the zoo, plenty of shade! The Fossa, Black Bears, and Macaws stole the show for us. Very friendly staff as well! Definitely recommend stopping by.

A very nice zoo. Pleasant, winding boardwalks, and a small petting/feeding area for kids. There were lots of activities for kids; a splash pad, playground, carousel, train ride, and scaled down zip line. ( A higher, longer zip line is there for us big kids) Butterfly area, two snack bars, and lots of different animal habitats.

Attended a catered function here after hours and it was very well organized and impressive. A few animals were shown and the experience was great and educational. The space was very nice for the event and the bathrooms were clean. Would love to go back and explore the rest of the zoo!

Love the zoo. Was super excited about returning for the black bear enclosure, only to find out it was super small for the bears. Made me sad. There is a huge area that was not being used.

Small but fun. The animals are active and seem happy.

My family spent the.morning here and had a blast. It's not a huge zoo but you can take your time and enjoy the plant life as well as the animals. My kids got to pet an American alligator. (Baby of course) we had a great time.

we had a great time. it has improved over the course of the last year. We enjoyed it and my son enjoyed it. takes about a couple of hours to walk through it all, a little expensive for the price.

Didn't even have monkeys! Animals didn't look very good. No elephants! Way way over priced for what you get. Went through the zoo in 2 hours with 6 kids! Spent over $100. Won't be going back!

The most depressing place in all of central Florida. I went there 2 weeks ago. It somehow got worse over the last 2 years. Any enclosures are falling apart, in desperate need of landscaping, and many have no animals at all.

The only thing nice I can say is that the reptile house/room is really well kept and those animals are healthy. This is the only reason it gets 2 stars. Would have been 1 if that wasnt there.

Wonderful place. We take our 2 year old daughter often & just walk around looking at the animals. They have an extensive zip line setup in the trees for older kids. Great family fun

We had a pretty good day with my 11 month old and husband's family but a few things made is get 2 stars. 1 there are no maps, which is great to go paperless but after we got 100yds into the zoo and realized we still hadn't seen a map stand one of us went back to the front to ask for a map. They we're told that the zoo is paperless but there are maps all over the zoo so it is not an issue. And in fact they saw a sign with a map in the front. After searching the entire day for these so called maps we found exactly 1 other map in the park. My husband even went to their site to download a map but it was out of date. They should have said when we were getting the tickets that the sign in the front is 1 of 2 maps that they have and that we should take a picture of it to reference.
The other major thing is that they are not vegetarian friendly at all. We went on Friday in lent and are Catholic so we are not allowed to eat meat. The vegetarian options included one not appetizing looking salad and an assortment of sides. No fish options, no veggie burger and pretty much all friend foods. We actually left earlier than we had planned because the tiny cup of Mac n cheese and the handle ful of pretzels did not really cut it to fill us.

Had fun and it turned out way better than originally thought..

First time going to this magical, beautiful and adventurous place!! I adore everything about this zoo. It's like as if you were in a jungle!!! It's gorgeous, the employees and volunteers are super nice and provides amazing facts about the animals!! Even the photographers and researchers that I have met there, told me so much amazing facts about the animals and there was also a Viper show, which was Extraordinary!!! Gosh...honestly I'm going to keep going here, so I can study the animals and draw them! It's so interactive and great for kids and college students or families, or single families!!!! It's so beautiful!!! Genuinely this was an amazing experience, and I can't fully express how much I loved coming here!

BEAUTIFUL place! Had a wonderful time with my Art Class! Tons of different animals to see.

Are you from out of town, wanting to spend a day at the zoo? You will probably be disappointed.

However, if you're a local with kids - the zoo is a WONDERFUL place.

You can ride the train and carousel and do story time on Wednesdays without paying admission. If you go in, there's a toddler-friendly garden and splash pad right at the entrance.

Our family has the $80 annual pass. We visit the zoo throughout the month and explore different sections. Sometimes we just go in for ice cream because the setting is so kid-friendly. Where else can you go get ice cream and also see parrots or a monkey?

Parking is plentiful and the zoo itself is rarely crowded. I can understand why the folks from out of town leave bad reviews, but the locals are really happy with our zoo!

Extremely helpful, engaged, and informative staff. Every staff member we encountered throughout our
Visit asked if we had any questions about the animals and in many cases offered up interesting facts about the animals. The layout of the zoo makes it very easy to navigate so you don't miss anything. The facilities are clean. Definitely adding the Central Florida Zoo to our list of things to do with visiting guests.

Great zoo! The zookeepers went above and beyond to answer all the questions my kids had. Knowledgeable and friendly and the animals all looked well cared for. Worth a visit!

The animals were awesome but was much smaller than I expected. Only took about an hour and a half to see everything.

Very beautiful place, just wish it had more to see

Great small scale zoo. Easy to get around, not too busy and good selection of animals and exhibits

I have been going here since I was kid but wanted to shout out how well they are doing during the COVID as far as regulations and what not. We had a great time and the staff was super friendly. We will be back when we can feed the giraffes again though

Great little zoo! Had fun with the Rhino encounter.

Pleasant, small zoo with newly rebuilt boardwalks. Save $4 with a AAA membership.

I really enjoyed my visit to this zoo & botanical garden. The staff were friendly and helpful and the place was lovely. The animals looked well cared for. Loved the Macau. You can feed the goats and giraffe. Workers were doing some construction/improvements, so certain areas were closed off. The cafe is not great and pretty expensive, but I didn't have high expectations for that. I was able to walk through the entire zoo in less than 2 hours so it's not huge, but it is very nice.

Had my daughters 3rd birthday party here and she absolutely had a blast!!! It was hot but the splash pad was amazing and with it being her birthday we got to ride as many times as she wanted!!! So much fun!!!

No tigers, no gorillas, no lions, no zebras. Not even an elephant. It's a beautiful zoo, the trees and shade are wonderful but the animals aren't exciting. I found it to be a waste of money for my family of 5 who were looking for some fun during spring break.

Excellent zoo, with a good size for walking around.