The Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens Reviews

I grew up coming to the LA Zoo on field trips and with family. The zoo has changed, and most certainly for the better. It's clear the management and caretakers truly care about the animals' well-being. The exhibits they have remodeled include a lot of stimulating elements for the animals and plenty of discrete visibility for zoo patrons of all ages and abilities.

Zoo parking is FREE, which is generally unheard-of in Los Angeles. The food in the zoo is actually good, and they offer a selection of adult beverages including locally brewed craft beer!

Went there with a friend who has a Membership. On the day we went there were not a lot of animals out, so it could have been the time of day. It's a nicely organized zoo with a good layout and large playground area for the young ones. Plenty of bathrooms scattered throughout and very manageable place. Although there was a ton of walking and things to see, the young children could get through the entire place basically. Nice place, good onsite food spots with yummy food choices. Varied animal species and there was a fun game of animal sign spotting that garnered a rubber bracelet in the end. Get your card upon entry! Enjoyable and very pleasant day for all who entered in our party... ; )

The Lions and Tigers looked very small, you can see their ribs, alot of the animals wasn't viewable, the animals that where near a water area had no water.

A very nice zoo, quite large, nicely laid out, love the elephants.

Well maintained but there are big non visible areas in the captives.

Buyer beware hit or miss with the animals. Every time my little family heads out we have never seen the elephants once or gorillas so guess hit or mess

I liked it because there were real animals i thought ther were puppets the most of all i liked the monkeys,tigers,and lions there amazing.

Not as big as one would expect. There are a lot of animals and variety in the layout.
The most impressive exhibition is the gorillas and chimpanzees. Although it s a bit sad when you see the size of the enclosure and that they are surrounded by electric fences.
Anyway, this zoo is a lot of fun to go with children. Walks are short, there are a lot of places to sit down and stop for a snack. And it s a fairly short ride from the city.

Absolutely loved our visit here. My daughter's preschool hosted a Christmas event here and she had so much. She especially enjoyed her first ever carousel ride.

The weather was nice and my children had a lot of fun

We find it best to arrive late. A reverse commute if you will. The carousel doesn't close until 4:30 so we make our way there first. No stress parking or leaving this way.

Went for the light show. Cool for the kids and very affordable. A must visit place.

Very cool environment to take the family and spend the day.

Took the kids from my local Boys and Girls Club and I think I had more fun than they did!

Beautiful setting, interesting displays. Well laid out.

Beautiful setting and nice growing set of ways to learn about the animals.

Went to see the zoo lights around Thanksgiving very nice experience for both adults and children.

It was cool to see other animals that mny zoo didnt have. The park was nice but we went on a hot day so we're exhausted.

Service is fast, big area to explore for the kids. Great fun activity for all family ages.

very nice place and you know many species of animals

Not recommended at all while San Diego Zoo is not too far if you need to experience the real Zoo

You def should take that new boo to this spot... Old boos... Nah... Baby with old boos... Yeah

Great place to take the family for fun. My kid's got to see all kinds of different types of animals. Awesome time.

Nothing crazy spectacular but we had a good time. Some of the enclosures looked really small, which was sad.

I love it advisable if it is a family of 4 or more it is better to take the membership for a year it costs you almost the same

Greta place to relax and see some animals. The staff is very friendly and the place is huge. Great place to take the kids also, many kid friendly things to do.

Great place. Not as big as the one in San Diego but worth it. Not too expensive. It will probably take you 4-6 hours to walk it all

Came for the winter lights. Kids had fun that s all that matters

Enjoyed most of the day at the zoo. We didn t get to see all the animals. It is a very big zoo. We visited during the week so it was not crowded at all. We love the monkeys and the day we went they were kind of loud but funny.

This is one of the nicest Zoos I have been to. They are clearly in the business to help the conservation of our natural resources and endangered animals. If you are thinking about visiting here, consider purchasing a membership. The money will be well spent and you can be guaranteed that the money goes to the actual conservation of species, habitats and environments around the world.

You can do your part by recycling your plastics, using reusable plastic bags and water bottles. If you see trash on the ground that can be recycled nearby, do your part to save the environment, don't wait for someone else to do it. Make America Great Again!

We did the Hippo experience! best thing ever! You must do!

Great family time walking and talking about animals

Because my children were excited looking at the animals and I am also a very wonderful place

My favorite part of living in Glendale is the proximity to the zoo. Our one year old loved coming here year round. Plenty of parking and a good amount of shade once your in the zoo. San Diego's zoo is on another level but he can't tell the difference and my wife and I like coming here too. Get the year pass if you enjoyed going here at all, pays for itself after two visits.

I've been to several Zoo's and the LA Zoo is by far one of the nicest Zoo's I've been to. I highly recommend it, specially of you have kids. Make sure you are prepared to walk though. There is plenty of shade and the animals are actually out, active and visible!

you can see a wide variety of animals in this zoo with fun, a very good place for kids to meet the animals

I love the zoo! It was semi crowded though and a lot of the animals were not out to see but I got to see a lot of my favorites. It appears like the are pretty well kept. I was hoping to see the otters but I got there a little too late. Save it for next time I guess.

My kids loved the zoo and the variety of animals there was. They loved feeding the giraffe.

Love the new format. They should keep the scheduled time entry even after this virus emergency. Animals less stressed and the park was quiet and we had a blast. We went for my son 4th birthday

Be ready for the exercise and fun with the kids or the entire family amazing adventure.

Don't compare it to San Diego, that's not fair, but in so far as zoos go (I've been to many) this is worth a visit for sure. The zoo is a bit of an oasis in LA. Understand there are space constraints but they really use the space as well as they could. You'll get many of the big attractions you love but there are some awesome lesser known animals too. One thing my wife and I really appreciated was we only saw a single animal displaying stereotypies the last time we were there (serval) and it was a hot but quiet day. We were also admiring the upkeep/health of the hooves, coats, skin etc... (We're both vets) Overall if you're thinking everything is bigger and better in LA you'll be disappointed because San Diego Zoo is right down the road, otherwise if you like zoos you'll like this one.

Give yourself 4 hours, it's enough time to see everything without rushing and to have a quick lunch.

Be warned, traffic can be hell around there especially if there is a big event at the Bowl.

We have also seen zoo lights but we felt this was handled much better by Columbus Zoo.

Great but a ton of displays were empty for whatever reason. Understandable but disappointing.
Parking is always easy, food and drinks are available for decent prices, park attendants are always in a good, helpful, and informative mood.

I love the underrated Los Angeles zoo. Much better than the overrated Diego County zoo.

It was okay but a lot of their animals weren't even available, went for my sons 1st time

Wonderful, clean and knowledgeable zoo keepers and staff

Really clean, lovely place to expend time with the family

Pretty enjoyable for a couple of hours. Some animals are great to see. And, some just seem so very sad. Otherwise, still a great place to go with kids. Boo at the Zoo dedinitely made it better too.

Great Zoo. Maps weren't quite accurate which made getting around complicated. It's not as large of a zoo as I'd have expected. But it's affordable, the animals were pretty active when we went. Definitely recommend the Chimpanzee experiences. Also, they let you bring your own food and drink in which is outstanding. That alone makes it worth it. You can definitely see it all in a day. And it's worth getting a pass if you're local so you can see the different encounters.

The L.A zoo is one of the best and it's so clean and people treat you so good there

It is a place where you can have fun with your children for half a day. Various programs are opened according to the season.

Los Angeles should be declared a warzone? The many attacks I see in the future real of Los Angeles. The next one will be after July 25th 2020. For more info email smilelaughnowcrylater@gmail.com

It's been a long time since I visited LA Zoo. Since I was a child, in fact. I came with my boyfriend. We enjoyed our stay and looking at the wonderful animals. Some of the enclosures could use some updating though. But the animals did look happy and well taken care of.

One of the best zoos I've been to. The layout of the park ensures you're never too far from the next exhibit. The was friendly and were usually able to provide anecdotes about the animals. Prices at the zoo were reasonable making this a great location for a family of any size.

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Great walk about - interesting animal shows. Very good handicap accessibility & reasonable rates.

We had a lot of fun and fun in Los Angeles at the zoo. Here you can spend most of the day. And it is worth it. Many different animals. Just awesome.

It is a great opportunity to be able to keep animals safe and healthy.

Very nice place to spend with the family and children watch and meet animals

The best thing about diving is the attractiveness of the animals the company

I guess living in San Diego for many years you get spoiled with a world class zoo but with a large metropolitan city like LA you d figured that they d have a better facility (the Columbus Ohio zoo is better and it s a much smaller city).
Pretty easy walking. The uphill portions aren t extreme but are enough to give you some good exercise. The map is useful and signage is plenty. There are lots of dining options and the prices aren t crazy high (pretty reasonable as compared to out in town).
The sight lines for small kids aren t good (mine are 5 and tall and often had difficulties seeing over fences). The children s play park was a nice place to take a break while the kiddos have fun.
Overall everything could use some updating.

Its pretty good. I was a little disappointed with many of the exhibits. Many are too small for the animals to roam around. There's lots of animals to see though, so it's worth the trip. Especially if you have kids!

Loved the animals! They were so gentle and nice. Fun activities to do when you're with little kids. Overall amazing experience!

LA Zoo lights was over crowded, and unorganized once you got inside. As with all crowded places, people stop in front of you, and don't care. All you get to see are the lights, nothing else can be seen. They had ice sculpting, which was cool. Santa was there also, but you will most likely miss the signs saying where he is. The only animals that you get to see, are reindeer. I won't be doing this event again.

For the most part the zoo was good. I went a month or so ago and they had a week old baby Hippo! So cute. They also had koala bears, kangaroos, foxes, elephants and an incredible gorilla exhibit. However, the main reason I went to the zoo was to see the lions. They had a beautiful male lion and a lioness. But their exhibit was pathetic. I just felt so bad for them. The lions had a small, flat exhibit with no rocks and very little plants. It was mostly just dirt with a small concrete patch. The water was disgusting. The whole exhibit was surrounded with a rock mural, but not one rock in the exhibit for them to climb.