The Kansas City Zoo Reviews

Was a beautiful day. The staff is so friendly and helpful.

Great place to go, even in pandemic conditions. Lots of outdoor space. Masks indoors and in areas where one cannot distance oneself from others.

Great place, but the Giraffe weren't out today because it was below 65 degrees. outside. Wish we knew that before we went

Well laid out and clean zoo. A good amount of shade on a sunny and very hot day, and they have misting stations to help cool off.

My husband and I went to Kansas City for vacation and, being animal lovers, decided the KC Zoo was a must! Admission prices are reasonable at $16 for an adult (if you are a zoo member at your local zoo, ask about reciprocal pricing), with options to go gold or platinum - which allow certain rides at the Zoo to be included in the cost of your admission ticket. Because of weather, we were only able to do 2 of the 5 rides that are in the zoo: the zebra tram and the train, both of which were pleasant. In most of the exhibits we visited, we were able to see the animal(s). The animals seemed happy and well-treated. We were able to watch a sea lion show which was fun and informative and pet the stingrays. We had lunch at Rafiki Restaurant which was really good and reasonably priced for zoo/park food. We don't have children, but there seemed to be a lot of fun family activities to do. If I'm in KC again, I would go back to the zoo.

We loved coming to this Zoo! Staff very friendly and accommodating very well with strict rules due to Covid-19.

They did a great job maintaining the park's cleanliness

Excellent! So many amazing & unique animals. Favorite are the pair of Painted Dogs & the big cats! The boat ride is really neat with great views of Africa's animals. The Platinum pass is well worth it & definiately need a day to see it all!

Went there for the first time during the COVID reopening with precautions in place. I was still very impressed by it all! It s a very nice zoo and I m sure so much better when everything is open. During this social distancing time, plan to eat before or after, or bring your food. Employees wore masks, some guests did.

I got dumped by a girl that had a pass to see everything. And I saw everything. I'll be buying a pass for next year. I have more fun at the zoo than I do worlds of fun.

Employees were awesome, lil bummed out that the sky safari is closed as that's the best part of the zoo in my opinion. However, overall AMAZING trip would recommend to everybody to visit!!!

Wonderful place for the family. The new Stingray exhibit is a lot of fun. However having the friends of the zoo pass gives you access to jump the long lines and a must if you visit a lot.

Always a great time at this zoo and they're always improving and expanding. On this last visit we watched the penguins march outside around their habitat and construction on the new touch tank building is underway.

The zoo is really big, I definitely recommend tackling it in bits. We have an annual pass and go several times a year.

Took a group of students and they enjoyed the exhibits. Great gift shop. My only dislike is the food and drink prices. Definitely high prices for the quality, portion and type of foods you are getting. I understand that may help fund the zoo. But I'm sure if prices were lower more people could afford to eat and drink there

This is a fantastic zoo the only reason I'm giving it 3 stars instead of 5 is because they did not honor my pass for the full year, I paid for a year and got about 6 months...Not cool. If they would fix this I would give them 5 stars.

We had such a blast at the zoo. Everyone was kind and very welcoming.

It was a great zoo. Covid shut down a few exhibits though. I also didnt like that in order to see half of the park you could either pay a little cash to take a truck or take a long walk in the sun

We are fotz members plus rides. We love it. Boys are grown an out of house an we still go.

We visited the KC zoo today and were very impressed. They are doing everything thinkable to reduce the spread of Covid-19. Bathrooms, public touch points, tram cars and outdoor railings were being cleaned almost nonstop; we saw SO many more employees than we've ever seen at the zoo before.

A huge thank you to the KC zoo for doing their part to help us safely enjoy the animals without fear of germs

It's ok not really what I expected it to be my 11 and 8yr old got pretty bored.

My family visited this zoo the weekend before Christmas. I want to let families know that this is a great place to go even in the winter.

The zoo is really big and nice where ever you go there is a staff member to see if you are wondering about an animal

It's easy to reserve a time online before your visit. The zoo has limited attendance and social distance rules in place. Masks are required and wear good walking shoes. They allow outside food and drink which is good in case some concessions are closed. The Koalas haven't arrived yet so I'll be back when they get there.

Such an amazing place for children! It's clean, well organized and diverse,, both in animals and available activities. The children learn about animals, but also to respect the world we live in, they get healthy exercise and fresh air, they are encouraged to ask questions and find answers. So worth the money!

We made our second trip to the zoo to find that we were not able to reach the whole thing by foot. They wanted us to stand in line for 45 minutes to ride a trolley to the second half of the zoo. And wait another 45 minutes to ride the trolley
Why back to the first half. With small children it was not worth our time to wait to ride the trolley. So sad to say during our second trip we only saw half of the zoo. We were told it would most likely always be that way now. Other than that, we had a good time.

Awesome time seeing the tigers and monkeys....the boys loved it!

This zoo has come along ways since I was a kid. Its beautiful full of a nice variety of animals to see. Go visit you wont regret it...

The Kansas City Zoo is a great place to spend some time outdoors, seeing and learning about animals! I love when they bring special exhibits like the koalas!!

The Kansas City Zoo is one of the top two Zoos I've ever been to. My home Zoo is in Cincinnati and I was highly impressed by this environment.

The zoo is in the middle of nowhere and maybe for locals it's not, but compared to our Cinco Zoo which is downtown it seemed pretty open.

I loved the Kansas City zoo. The area is so wide and open for the animals. The Safari was really neat because you can ride the ski lift seats to go over top of a wife variety of animals. To see how much room they have is fantastic.

The Kangaroos had an open area where we could walk right next to them and see them all laying around and walk across our paths.

The elephants had a large area that they could go around and there were so many elephants.

The zoo had so many different transportation methods and the area was very large. If they ever eat to expand they definitely can.

I definitely would love to go back and visit again.

A couple of weeks ago we took our 3 year old grandson to the KC Zoo for the first time and he was able to play and get around freely during this pandemic. Didn t see many animals though.

It was a hot summer day, but we enjoyed the animals. It was affordable and the workers were very kind. Parking was very convenient compared to other zoos

Nice to get out! But crowded, impossible to stay 6 feet apart in areas.

We went on a very busy holiday (Memorial Day) for a work event for our daughter. Very thankful I called the day before and reserved an electric scooter. Was worried when payment was taken over the phone, but no confirmation was given. However when we got there all was good.
The animals seemed happy. The only thing I can complain about is the time to get a ride on the tram. Took 20 minutes. Not sure if that is normal or not. It was a busy day so that could have added to the delay.
The team who was in charge of the picnic was awesome. There were about 400 people from my daughter's company. They had plenty of food and if something was close to running out they were right there to replace it with fresh food.

Absolutely horrible. Everything fun was closed, half the stuff was closed, and still had to pay full price.

Very active animals. Be prepared to walk long distances.

Wish the zoo had more sanitation stations and the concessions available otherwise had a great time! A little disappointed that some animals weren't available today for my daughter's first time at a zoo!

Nice, clean and spacious zoo. I love the boat ride and the sky lifts.

The Kansas City Zoo is an absolutely amazing place to spend an afternoon. The animal exhibits were well taken care of and provided enough space for all animals to live comfortably. There were a bunch of food options where everyone could find something that they enjoy and the activities provided had something to satisfy every age group. One of my personal favorite activities is the Sky Safari Ride. It provided a quiet and comfortable ride while allowing plenty of time to take in the sights.

Easily one of the best days in my life. If you buy the ticket that includes all rides, make sure you ask if all rides are working before you buy your tickets. Other than that I had the best day ever with my girlfriend and son

The Zoo was awesome even though several things were closed due to the Covid 19. People and staff were awesome and cooperative.

Had a blast! Disappointed that all the food places were closed, but still a great time!

It's a pretty good zoo. I feel like things are a lot more unnecessarily spread out.

Beautiful zoo. New Variety playground located in Africa.

We were not able to make it to all of the exhibits on the day we visited but the ones we saw were great. They had the most fun penguin exhibit with some great underwater viewing and a great variety of the birds. They also had a show at the sea lion enclosure which was very entertaining. It was so hot the day we visited and they had mister fans out for people. Very appreciated! The food in the cafe was extremely expensive but I didn t factor that into my rating as I think it is pretty standard for most establishments of this nature. We definitely enjoyed our time at the KC zoo!

Safety precautions for Covid are excellent. Easy process to reserve a time online means no overcrowding. One of the most enjoyable and relaxing visits I've ever made to our lovely and diverse Kansas City Zoo.

My daughter & I LOVE this Zoo! We have also been to St. Louis & Omaha and we personally think this Zoo is the best. Great exhibits. Lots of room for the animals. The penguins are always our favorite. Getting to Africa is a trek but definitely worth it. Prices are awesome, especially since we are Clay County Residents and get the discount! We need to plan another trip asap!

Despite the requirement to purchase a "timed ticket" to enter the zoo, it is extremely crowded as the "end time" is not enforced. Because it's November, much of Africa was quiet (too cold for all giraffes, most elephants). The tram is still the best option for getting to/from Africa in a socially-distanced way (walkways were very narrow and over-crowded). Although we recommend the tram, be prepared to wait 45-60 minutes for a ride (trams are only operating at 25-50% capacity). We were surprised how many people were in the park, still very crowded despite COVID. It is possible to still go and practice safe distancing, although most are not. We noticed that about 40-50% adults were wearing masks, despite signage urging the public to do so. Due to overcrowding and availability / liveliness of animals that were present, we were a little disappointed.

I love the zoo and I hate seeing all of these people wearing a mask out in the open air, it is sad that they have been mislead and fearmongering has taken all of their common sense. Nobody physically assaulted me for not wearing one outside this time.

Going to the zoo during off-peak season is very worth the chilly weather! Walking through exhibits and not battling the crowds makes a February visit ideal! We brought our lunch in a backpack and took our sweet time going through. Our favorite exhibit remains the penguins! They were so playful today!

Clean, family friendly place. Even on a busy day, you can still see most animals without having to wait. You can bring in your own food and drinks which was pretty awesome! The attractions inside are also reasonably priced.

The KC zoo is so much fun! We were able to see the polar bear, penguins, otters, and elephants up close! This is one of the best zoos I ve been to when it comes to the proximity of the animals. We were delighted to see them swim/walk right past us for an up close look at their fur. In one of the dining areas we watched the the kangaroos hop by us while we we drank our ICEE. It isn t too crowded because COVID restrictions are still being observed which makes it easier to observe the animals including the ones in the enclosures that are open. We were there for 2.5 hours and still didn t make it through the entire zoo. They also offer a military discount so it was nice to save! We loved this zoo and would return with out of town guests!

Great place to bring home educated students or groups! Plenty of areas to picnic, clean restrooms, exhibits maintained, and animals well cared for. Keepers available to answer questions; this zoo has lots of shaded areas and they are constantly adding new enclosures and upgrading the park.

The Kansas City Zoo is one of my favorite places in the city. My favorite section is the expansive African exhibit, but the Penguin Plaza is a close second, featuring three kinds of penguins and a very cool jellyfish tank.

Kids loved the new Billy Goat Bridge and Stingray Bay.

It was such a nice day! Got to spend the day with my amazing boyfriend and most the animals was activeee and they took covid seriously!

Love the zoo & the staff. My favorite place to come hang out when I have nothing else to do. The penguin exhibit is the place to be

The Zoo is always fun, very educational so much to see and do. I'm proud of our Zoo

Been going here for over 20 years. Well run and animals treated good. Watch going on hot days. Good parking and costs for entrance and food. Kids love it. Nice area and very well kept grounds. Always fun.

Good time..Covid 19 sure takes a lot of exhibits out of the equation...still fun!

They had great shows and loved the size of the zoo. The employees that work in the food and snack shops could do with some more training because they aren't very nice and almost make it seem like you're bothering them. The same can be said for the ones who take money for the tram.

My family loved the zoo! Staff were very friendly and knowledgeable.

This zoo is great. They have a lot of different exhibits. The animals seem happy. There are a lot of things for kids to do. Interactive exhibits and play areas.

Everyone was professional, polite, helpful and cared well for the animals. I took my 5 young girls and we were all disappointed not to see the lions, tigers, giraffes and polar bear(s). Otherwise, our trip to the KC Zoo was amazing!

Hands down the BEST and BIGGEST zoo I have ever been to! Will be returning.

We visited the KC Zoo over Thanksgiving break and we had such a great time! The weather was gorgeous as well. Our daughter loved walking around and seeing the animals. Surprisingly, most of the animals were out and active so we got good views! There was also a very entertaining bird show that we would highly recommend! Lots of fun learning about some of the birds they have. And the birds fly right over your head too! The sky lift over the Safari section was relaxing and a new experience for our daughter (which she loved as well). Would not mind visiting the zoo again!

Great place for the family. Pretty expensive for the average family of 5

Always a pleasure to visit the KC zoo. Even when it's cold out, there are plenty of indoor viewing buildings. Make sure to bring your own food for lunch though, many restaurants closed in the cold.

We always love the zoo. It is a ton of walking but there is so much to see and the kids always enjoy the time we spend here. I would say expect to spend a minimum of 3 hours and that isn't to see everything.

A lot of my favorite things have remained closed. Didn't get to do sting ray bay this time!

Clean, animals were out and close we got season passes totally worth the price is you are planning to go more then once

Definitely getting better. Was a good experience. Word of advice, when you go into Africa, get a tram ride. It'd a pretty long walk and coming out is all uphill.

This is a very small zoo and it was depressing and very dirty to me. The polar bear seemed to be repeating steps back and forth like he was trained to do it and just seemed depressed and or having anxiety, the donkey too just seemed so depressed and it wasn t just me thinking it, it was other visitors too and them all talking around me thinking the same thing. I will never come here ever again. I ve seen happier animals in other places. Went here thinking I was going to have fun and stayed only 1 hour and left. It truly saddened me!!! I m from St. Louis Missouri And if your looking for a great fun zoo and more lively and happier animals go to the St. Louis Missouri zoo! It s huge and it s a free zoo for all !! And you will for sure have a blast! St. Louis zoo was also voted best zoo in the United States!

Incredibly entertaining for whole family. Platinum pass is worth it!

Great day at the zoo. Alot of people there. Looked like they thought so too.