The Oregon Zoo Reviews

Cold night but still perfect for zoo lights. Fun watching granddaughter enjoy the magic.

We love this place, great family and even couples fun. Good workout too. Wish the food was better though, better off packing a lunch.

There were really not many animals at all! Every where you turned there were a under construction sign or these animals coming soon! The poor elephants there were in a small enclosure did not look happy at all. Even in the insect part there were cages with signs of what was supposed to be in there in several of the cages. They shouldn't charge full price till they get the zoo up to par or put up a sign warning people of all the construction so they want waste their money. Oh and the train is nothing but a 5 min ride around elephants. I do have to say the food there was delicious.

Beautiful and informative exhibits, family friendly, reasonably priced refreshments and tons of activities. Must visit when in Portland!

I love the zoo. We get a pass every year. The first downside is 6 buck parking if you can find a spot . OR The max and you pay if over 7 years old and each way. The other thing is there is always Some area under construction. I can't remember the last time at the zoo were somthing was not being "improved" my kids just call it the John dear and cat exhibit.

Excellent zoo! Open year round, lots of animals that are well cared for. Concerts in the summer, landscaping is incredible. Elephant exhibit is the best I've ever seen, by a long shot. I've been coming here for 30 years, and it gets better every year!

Great way to spend the day. Started off with a fun lift from the parking lot to the Zoo in a traditional school bus, a great nostalgic start. The Zoo is in a great location and the trees are gorgeous. We had a blast!

The staff was very helpful! The exhibit map was great. There was so much too see and do! Took us 5.5 hours to get through everything!

Conveniently located with its own Max stop. Plenty to see with activities for the kids. Free Shuttle service outside the entrance will make a dozen stops for you to enjoy the Japanese gardens or Hoyt Arborium.

I haven't been to a lot of zoo's but it's the best one I've ever been to

Good layout and improvements to the habitats enclosures.

Lovely place, spacious, well kept grounds, but there aren't too many animals to see, a zoo that big should have had more to offer to the visitors, but all in all it was a pleasant experience

Oregon Zoo is fairly large and spaced. The animals are calm so one knows the Zoo's staff are good to them. All of the Zoo's Residents are beautiful, amazing and, yes, even breathe-taking. There is cotton candy, hotdogs or the largest building. The largest building has restaurant with burgers & curly fries, steak, and more. Oh yeah, drinks with 15-20 selections. Go have fun at the Oregon Zoo.

I loved the zoo growing up. But now as a mother of 3 and one being a baby who is nursing I don't approve if the nursing room being attached to the womens restroom

Heavy equipment exhibit will be gone soon. "2021" great AR walk for all you Harry Potter, Pokemon and ingress players.

Such a history with elephants in Portland over the last 60 years. Other exhibits excellent. Loved by the volunteers too.

The zoo its self is amazing the only real turn off was the price and the price of parking but as far as zoos go it's a great zoo!

My kid and I love this place except for the pitifully short train ride that no one is paying to fix to its former glory.

Very helpful & provide coupons several times a week

If you would like to see my review look for minimin101 Oregon zoo lights on youtube

This will be a good zoo but right now a lot of the animals have been moved for the remodeling.

One of my all time favorite zoos I took my daughter and wife. first time there for both of them and they loved it! Unfortunately a few of the exibets were closed for construction but it did not takeaway from the experience at all this zoo is well designed and every animal was within view spent about 5 hours total at the zoo well worth the 6 hour round trip commute. My only complaint was that half they key stations were broken they need to be more visible as well as repaired. Definitely will go back though although I wish we could've seen the baby flamingos my daughter flipped when she saw the adults though she's 2 1/2 and they are her current favorites

Normally Lots of stuff to look at but everything is under construction now so about half of the exhibits are empty. Drive 200 miles to go, spent almost an hour looking for parking, paid 8.00 to park, 17.50 each adult.... unfortunately,
Not a lot of bang for your buck...

Awesome lights and very good naughty boy chocolate! I wish they kept up the tributes to Lily though. #gonebutnotforgotten

We were able to enjoy the behind the scenes sloth experience with Josie! It was incredible. My daughters and I had so much fun and learned so much. The ladies who guided the tour were wonderful. They cared so much about Josie's (the sloth) safety, as well as our experience. They had a great knowledge base, and I felt like it was very personalized. We spent the rest of the day enjoying the rest of the exhibits at the zoo. We can't wait until the improvements are made, and the new exhibits are up and running.

They did a great job creating a covid safe experience!

The Oregon Zoo surpassed my wildest expectations. It was like being in a primitive Forest instead of looking at caged animals. The Bears had room to roam as did many of the other species. It is the best zoo I have ever visited.

Great little zoo, very helpful staff and volunteers. My 5 and 1 year old love it, and we can usually walk through the whole place in about 3 hours.

Never ceases to amaze me. We saw a feeding experience I'll never forget! Apparently scavenger birds don't care if people watch them go nose deep inside a baby deer carcass....

Went to see the beautiful zoo light! Got to see some of the animals as well. Beautiful!

Great place to spend a few hours with the family. Very well designed layout, easy to see lots of different animals without doubling back on the same path. Lots of fun activities for younger kids, too. The elephant area is one of the cooolest I've ever seen. Huge indoor enclosure and an enormous outdoor area as well. The price of admission is very reasonable and the food prices aren't bad either.

Naturally it was super crowded for zoolights, but it was pretty magical. I haven't been to the zoo in years, and I can't remember the last time I went to zoolights, but it was wonderful.

Best zoo I have seen in a while. Great staff and lots to see. Worth checking out.

This zoo is one of the best I have ever been too. The animals look very healthy and well cared for. The staff is very friendly and knowledgeable. All completed areas are extremely nice with great viewing areas, especially the elephant habitat. The other areas under construction or being constructed look like they will be top notch. They have added some food carts with excellent food. And did I mention the beer and wine cart? Well, they have one of those too. If you are local I recommend the yearly pass. If you are visiting I highly recommend sounding a day there.

Many exhibits under construction during summer 2019.

Have visited several times and always enjoyed this zoo - it's just the right size and can easily spend 3 hours there.

Took my grandkids there because my granddaughter loves animals and we were extremely disappointed. We ve always loved the zoo when visiting in the past but with the dozens of construction sites and lack of animals because of it, it wasn t nearly as fun. All of the food places were close so we got shave ice which ended up being a block of solid crushed ice with some poorly flavored liquid over it. The train was 5 minutes long and ridiculously priced. With spending 40$+ to get in and then them not having any animals wasn t worth it. Should ve said they were under construction as a warning before you paid or charged less because half of the exhibits were closed. (Animals have nice enclosures though)

Great to have the zoo open again! There were a number of people not wearing masks, but employees are stationed around the grounds to help enforce the rules. I wish there had been more roaming employees to monitor the masks and distancing. All in all the zoo was awesome this morning, almost all the animals were out and crowds were good. So happy to have gotten to go back!!

I have been going to this zoo since I was little IT'S SO GOOD, you go when it is cloudy because the animals are not hiding in shade

Place is a bit of a maze and you can easily get lost or at least.... we did heh.... Animal's look taken care of and well loved.

I love this zoo. Great during the pandemic with cleanliness, staff making sure people have masks on, ect.

This is the best zoo in Portland. It's also the only one* (as of 2017) 9/10 because of all the walking.

Great zoo, the arts for all program is great for young families. They offer discounts off the ticket price if you take the max. If taking the max watch out for commuter times. If you have a stroller it might get a little tight...

Took my grandson Isaac for his first time and my daughter sits him on the window in front of the chimpanzee he knocks on the window at my grandson. Awesome experience

Expensive but calm fun day. Lots of construction going on but still was able to see many things. This zoo has been doing a lot of nice new homes for these animals you can tell the elephants are much more happy in their huge exhibit now.

Enjoyable visit but so much construction and limited access to some areas.

Loved the Zoo Lights! And the Elephants never dissapoint

Great to visit Oregon Zoo everytime. Lot of renovation is in progress and new animals will be brought in near future. Excited to see them.

A family favorite, a great zoo, and the best elephant facilities I've ever visited. Easy access to Washington Park, and Rose Gardens.

It was a bummer that a lot of animals were napping at the time. :( It was fun though!

Its the zoo what's not to love! Cannot wait for the new exhibits.

Love the zoo. Right now, they are in the midst of a major upgrade, so many animals are "off exhibit". Still worth the money.

Fun place to be with the family specially second Tuesday of the month. Tickets are only$4.50 plus $1.50 off more if you have TriMet tickets.

Perfect for any age. Lots to look at and interact with. Seasonal changes. Love the penguins, giraffes, monkeys, elephants and more! Very educational as well!

The elephant exhibit at the Oregon Zoo is worth the entire admission cost (especially if you ve gotten the transit discount). On a cloudy day I could hang out near the elephants for hours. The enclosure is divided into different types of terrain and has walkways integrated throughout. The emphasis on conservation at this zoo is admirable and makes me feel good about visiting.

Kid loved the watching the elephant poop and pee! I thought it was really interesting also. The otter with the itchy butt was hilarious. The elephant ears (fried bread) were delicious! Some of the fish were very odd looking and we had to stare for a while. Basically, great place and fun for the whole family.

One of the more beautiful zoos I have visited. The walking trails are surrounded by greenery and there is artwork sprinkled across the grounds. Good variety of animals as well.

Plenty of exhibits, well maintained. Concert venue is nice with plenty of seating areas.

Great, but a lot of construction and the train ride is very short with almost no animal's visible from the train.

Alot of construction didn't see to much animals. Nice place but would of been helpful if someone told us alot of exibits were gonna be closed.

Good selection of animals, daily shows, and the animals stay relatively active. It's a maze though.

Super fun. Beware of the hundreds and thousands of people with their strollers. Sometimes it can become a parking lot in certain areas.

Top notch zoo. Clean, not too crowded, and educational without being boring it tedious. I love this zoo

Really enjoyed visiting Oregon Zoo. There was a lot of shade over parts of the zoo and our friends' kids really enjoyed the shady sand area.

My boyfriend took me to Zoo Lights since I'd never been before and he has. There were SO MANY lights not working at all, it was a bit underwhelming. The concert lawn was lacking. When we got home he mentioned prior years were much better.

This is such a great zoo for anyone. Families, friends, or for a date! The layout of the zoo was perfect and they have so many different animals. A lot of the animals in the zoo were rescues which makes this zoo even better.

The Oregon zoo is not just an AZA certified zoo, it is a place for family. I have been blessed to have a lifetime of experiences there. From out of town elementary school field trips, to discount days with my babies as a stay at home mama, to a unique behind the scenes view due to family working there. The zoo is not just a place for seeing animals, it is a world class conservation center where the staff live their passion for animals. Where conservation and education go hand in hand to inspire all generations

Portland has a great zoo. The zoo lights were fantastic!

This was a great zoo but there were a lot of habitats that were closed and the train was very expensive

Lovely zoo. I am sure it will be even better when all the construction is finished.

Not all exhibits available due to under construction, like the monkeys, which is one of the main ones like to view, the train ride was extremely short - less than 15 minutes. Entrance fee way too high for what was available. Since not all animals available for viewing, they should consider lowering their rates. Did more walking /hiking than seen animals..

This was a pretty neat zoo set inside of the much larger Washington Park. When we were there there were several exhibits that were either being changed out (and so we're empty) or we're being constructed/remodeled so there weren't as many animals to see as I had hoped. The train was also being repaired so we only got to do a very small loop. I did like that they are striving to be a very sustainable zoo beyond the normal zoo mission of conservation. I also really liked that they have a discount program for those who receive public assistance, making it accessible to people and can ildren who might not otherwise get to go. I hope we can go back one day,when the train is fixed and more exhibits are open so I can raise my review.