MILL MOUNTAIN ZOO Review

Sweet place to spend an afternoon beautiful scenery and animals well cared for.

This zoo is fairly small, but it's a great space for an afternoon trip! At 10 dollars standard admission (cheaper for kids and seniors), this zoo is an excellent and affordable location to enjoy nature, learn about exotic animals, and support wild life conservation.

Mill Mountain Zoo is an amazing part of Roanoke. This is fun for all ages. The parking is free. There are many types of animals from reptiles, to cats, to an amazing bird enclosure. There is also the zoo train that runs every hour on the hour and is really fun. The bathrooms are clean and the staff is friendly.

MM zoo is perfect for a half day trip for kids families or animal lovers. Combine it with a visit to the Star and a trail hike or picnic at Mill Mtn for a full dy of outdoor fun :)

Way overpriced for the limited number of animals. I believe we paid $25 and saw 7 animals (not exaggerating). It's not really a Zoo, it's a very small collection of about 5 unique animals. The snow leopard and linx were the only real attractions. Everything else I can see out my back door any given day.

Great place to take kids, awesome little train ride.

The zoo was alright...definitely small which I thought it would be. It was clean and seemed well kept. Probably won't go back though.

It was good. Small zoo. The enclosures aren't big. But the animals didn't look stressed. The kids loved it. And it's nice on the parkway. Cool view of Roanoke. The staff is very friendly.

Although the staff was very friendly, knowledgeable & engaging, the zoo was a mess. It was heartbreaking to see such beautiful animals being housed in enclosures that were far too small & in many cases, in disrepair. My family & I watched a raccoon, who by the attendants report had been trained to be a wake during the day, pace in her pen in a very urgent manner as we passed her on the way in & out.

Really small zoo, but a fun place to visit if you are going to see Mill Mountain Star!

This is a very small zoo, however I did enjoy walking around and seeing the animals that they do have.

Small Zoo, but great exhibits with superb interactive employees helping us at every turn, and answering ALL our questions! Thank you so much!

Very disappointing. Due to Coronavirus, they were giving a $1 discount! Over 1/2 of it was closed! Also, well over 50 people there and most were children (understandably) running in many directions with no facemasks (except my grandson). I have been many times before and this was my first experience where they showed no care for the customers.

Nice facility and animals seem well cared for. But also small and not a lot of animals.

Great place to take the family for a few hours of fun outside

My kid really liked it. Its impressive what they done with a small space. Its also fairly well priced.

Nice, small zoo. Visit when it when it's cooler, more of the animals will be out.

Mill Mountain Zoo is very small, but full of life! Unlike other zoos we have visited, the animals were all awake, active, and alert. The snow leopard, Bali, put on a great show playing with a baby pool that had just been introduced to his enclosure.

Amazing visit. Place is quaint and beautiful. Glad that we stopped on our vacation to see this place.

I ve been to several small town zoos, so kept my expectations within reason. The good news is friendly staff and a pretty natural setting under big trees, clean restrooms. But honestly, this zoo is SO sad. It s very, very small with tiny enclosures for the animals, most of which could not be seen, but that was ok since I routinely see raccoons, foxes, otters, and eagles in the wild. The animals that I did see looked so depressed and lonely since none had mates. The porcupine looked to have an eye infection. A very depressing experience...I m sure the staff love the animals, but it isn t enough. This zoo should close down and sell the animals to zoos with adequate space, facilities, and resources to provide for the well-being of these poor animals.

Not too many attractions and not big enough spaces for animals.. some animals had to food or water or shade..

It's a small zoo, a nice stop along your route. They have a snow leopard, which is cool. Some of the enclosures and buildings look like they need some maintenance, or completion (there were some under construction that looked like it's been taking a while). The zoo train is cute and a unique feature, but it would be nice if they dressed up the track it takes a bit. Half of the track looks like it passes through maintenance areas, which are kind of bland. There is certainly potential here though.

Very nice zoo on the top of the mountain!! Don't forget to go to the Roanoke Star!!!

Snow leopard, red wolves, otters, and a walk in aviary! It makes me elated to see MMZ again.

Small Zoo/ large animal sanctuary. Indiginous critters that have been rescued but are unable to survive release back to the wild. The staff is dedicated to wildlife conservation and love the inquisitive queries of interested visitors. If you are in the Roanoke area, add a half day here to your itinerary. At the top of Mill Mountain you will find the best views of the valley and the Appalachian mountain range that surrounds.

Perfect for a short family outing, but a little pricey for what is inside.

Went on a free day, but it was incredibly disappointing. I wasn't expecting much, but the few animals that were there were either sleeping or pacing back and forth in weird ways. Don't even waste your time.

I Loved seein all the animals they had and it is in a GREAT location

Fun, place for the whole family.
Take a picnic lunch & stay all day

Love Mill Mountain! Quiet, small and just right for a little day trip with your little ones. It is well managed and people are very nice here.

Not many animals, but the ones they did have were super cute. Family friendly.

Great to spend the day with the grand kids . Staff were great . Even took a train ride

A waste of money & you can be in & out in 30 minutes or less. Sad excuse for a zoo

Absolutely awesome!!! They have pallas cats, freaking pallas cats!!

Very disappointed. Maybe was the time of the year but very little to see , honestly.. took my family of 4 about 30 minutes to see everything which isn t much

Its a small zoo with small animals but had a great time. Its very tranquil.

Small zoo. $9 seemed like a but much when you are done within 20 minutes. Half the animals were sleeping, went about 1pm. Seems like it was a happening zoo at some point.

super cute animals during covid some of them are not there and the reptile center is closed and the train but is a great place to take your kids and they have a great playgrounds and a tiger that your kids can climb on and it is all around amazing all of the staff is super nice they have a great gift shop that places wonderful for your kids and their animals are adorable and it is cruelty free and they really take care of their animals and love them

It's a nice zoo, even if on the small side. The animals are gorgeous, but at the time we went, most of them were sleeping.

This is a very small Zoo, but they have a reasonable selection of animals to see.

On the whole you get the sense the animals are well looked after, but those enclosures are so small. Seeing them is such small cages is hard to take in.

The fee to get in is pretty cheap and they even do a free entry day once a year.

Really awesome! A zoo at the top of a mountain! Seen animals I had never seen before! Small but still a must see!

Small kid oriented zoo. Not the greatest habitat for the animals. Ok.

Cute little Zoo. 9 year old and 3 year old had a great time. The smaller size of the zoo allowed the kids to spend more time at each exhibit, and see every animal. They have a variety of animals, reptiles, birds, fish... It was cool. They have a train ride that we went on. Bought a couple things from the shop. Overall had a great day. Saw some domestic animals as well as some exotic animals. Nice quiet area, I encourage you to visit if you're in the area.

This is quite the little zoo. In October 2020, it s a bit discounted to $9 a person since the reptile part is closed. There s soon to be a black bear! The gift shop is tiny (it s mostly stuffed animals; there are not really any magnets or key chains or the sort). There s about 10-15 types of animals and about the same amount of birds. Currently, their little train is not up and running.

Cool animals, and the ZooChoo is pretty awesome. My favorite exhibit was the otters.

I grew up visiting the Mill Mountain Zoo. Taking my kids is wonderful, just like I remember as a child.

Quaint little zoo. Reminds me of the one I volunteered with while stationed in KS. Small enough to go through quickly, but large enough to enjoy. If you are looking for a big zoo with the bigger animals then this isn't the spot for you, but if you are just looking for a quiet get away which is serene then this is the spot. The painting/pictures of the animals from the zoo is a fabulous idea which adds a personal experience takeaway, not to mention it helps to support the animals. We bought two of them and plan on purchasing more on our next visit.

Giving this a 3 star review because I wasn't aware they hardly had any animals. Now as I look at their website, I see they don't offer much. When we checked in to buy our tickets, we had 3 adults, a 8 year old, and a 2 year old so the price came to $38.00 even (which isn't bad) we drove two hours here and got there right at 10 AM when they opened. It was super shady (which I LOVED) since we had children. The zoo is located on the Roanoke Mtn so it's cooler anyways. We were not offered a map of the zoo when we did check in, and the box to get a map were empty...we started going through the paths which were nice, but it was almost like a maze to find the animals and eventually we ended up right back where we started like 3 -4 times. I don't believe they have 175 as displayed at their check in desk. I feel like I saw MAYBE 30? We were in and out within an hours time, so we went to the gift shop which offered nothing exiting. Our 8 year old and 2 year old didn't even pick out anything (which is strange for being that age, guess nothing caught their eye) -- you do have to either walk through the "Wildflower Garden" which is super muddy and has no appealing flowers, or walk on the hot pavement back to your car which is a good stretch...overall, the only thing I was happy about was the shade, and it didn't take us long to get back to town. I'll be sure to do more research next time...you get what you pay for I suppose.

Could not even park to get in...disappointing for out of town guests!!

Very small zoo, maybe an hour tops, hard to see the animals once it gets past noon. The kids loved the train ride but that was about it.

Very sweet little zoo! The aviary was worth the $10 by itself

It was a good place for a visit. Not enough animals to see. The prices was good.

A small but very enjoyable place! Took my son here for his 4th birthday and he absolutely loved it! His favorite animal was the raccoon! I loved the snow Leopard I just wish he had a bigger area to run and play in.

Absolutely loved it!!!! Its not a huge zoo but it sure was fun seeing all the animals the staff was amazing ,very friendly, helpful ,and accomidating. The zoo does have a little train that rides you all around tge perimeter of the zoo which I thought was so cute. Also the day we went they had live music and were serving alcohol inside the zoo it was a cool experience. The adult fee was $8 I'm not so sure on the children's fee I know some children do get in free if they are under a certain age I would defiantly recomend this zoo to anyone just wanting to get out for a weekend outting with children it sure was fun.

Great place to visit with the kids. Most animals where available and a bear exhibit coming soon!!!

My parents and I had a lot of fun in this small, but well-kept zoo. The keepers were friendly and knowledgeable about their animals, and said animals were playful and active when we were there. Definitely small zoo but worth the $7.50 admission (less with AAA discount) and the amazing views in all directions.

Great place to take kids, a lot of fun, wish it had more animals.