The Oregon Zoo Reviews

Every time i visit the Zoo i can almost see the animals crying. It is so sad. Do people really need to confine large animals in cages just so we can look at them?

Love taking my daughter here. Very excited to see all renovations finished by Fall of 2020.

So much fun! Looking forward to returning next year when the new exhibits are finished

A lot of construction but absolutely worth it! There is only a pice of glass between you and the big animals. I couldn't get enough!

Awesome display of lights! Definitely makes the Christmas spirit

Good experience and they are adding exhibits constantly. They added a lot since I was there last and now they are adding a rhino and larger monkey exhibits. They have events going on throughout the summer making it an enjoyable trip and it was a lot of fun to be at. It can get really crowded and it seems a little understaffed for the pieces of trash lying around, but overall, a good place to spend some time.

The animals are healthy and fun. It is a nice relaxing walk. Took us 3 hours to see everything and it was a lot of fun. The family had a great time

Dont go on the train its a ripoff its just 3 minutes, the train just goes around and shows the medical center and elephant lands and the rest is just an attraction that's stealing your money the zookeepers say it goes through the rose garden which it doesn't (T_T) I Think you shouldn't get this ride it takes more than 30 minutes for boarding. Just Don't Go.

This zoo is incredible! It looks as if it was inside the woods, so many beautiful and we'll treated animals! Loved the feeding shows and the wild life live air show! $1 discount if you show your Max ticket.

It's an ok zoo. Coming from Nebraska, I'm a bit spoiled by the Omaha zoo (top in the nation) so I wasn't very impressed with the Oregon zoo. I think that they make you pay for parking is kind of ridiculous, so if you want to park anywhere near the entrance, have $8 handy for parking. The admission fees are quite exorbitant as well. A lot of the walkways are very small and skinny and on a crowded day, don't expect to fit a stroller anywhere, especially not a double stroller!

The best advice I can give, DO NOT PAY TO RIDE THE TRAIN. It was a complete JOKE. You pay $4 a person just to go so slow in a tiny circle. You don't even get to see any animals! What a rip off!! And there's so much construction!

Zoo Lights! Very fun event for adults and kids. Dress warm as it can get quite chilly. Adults should try the Naughty (spiked) Peppermint hot chocolate.

Great place for the family, always adding new events and attractions. They have made many improvements over the past few years including the elephant exhibit and adding new buildings for food l.

A perfect day to see all the "active" mammals. The elephant show and the different birds in flight was filled with excellent info by the handlers. Hope the giraffes and the polar bears will have happy homes by 2020. Was disappointed when we were told the train was not going to Washington Park, after we had left the station. $12.00 more for a 10 minute ride was NOT worth it.
The many employees were knowledgeable and friendly. All in all worth the 6 hrs spent there.

Great zoo in the middle of a forest. Well worth the visit!

Wonderful light show ! Lots of friendly people and staff.

Zoo was nice, staff friendly and knowledgeable. Only downside were other visitors who were rude and made things unpleasant for others.

It's amazing place for animal lovers and photographers.
Mice and clean way.
Restaurants and kids playgrounds are amazing .

Great zoo with train for kids visiting from California!

Kinda expensive but definitely recommend going at least once. The zoo lights are amazing though. Bring your walking shoes.

Went here for the Christmas lights, unfortunately came during some sort of value night and it was a nightmare. Overly crowded with loads of people that weren't all exactly considerate of others... Plus got a beer and wine from some guy who had zero idea what he was doing. Seemed like they hired him that night and left him on his own. Felt bad for him...

Also came here to see the Piano Guys awhile back and there was nowhere to sit. Me and my friends were posted up in bark with a blanket. Wayyy too many people and it was hard to enjoy with how crammed we were. We left early to avoid the madness of that mass of humanity all trying to leave at the same time... Just not a lot of great experiences here...

The zoo needs a tram to take you around the park to see all the exhibits, just like the san diego zoo. Need to have more animals. Not to mention more attractions to see the animals roam and run. The train ride is totally not worth the money!

big renovations but there are still plenty of animals around

The renovations so far make the zoo look great. However, still a fair bit of construction going on. Can't wait to see the new exhibits in 2020!

All the animals were out. And even tho you can only go one way right now you still get to see almost all the animals

A small but well designed zoo. We especially loved the walk through the Pacific Northwest section of the zoo, which winds and climbs through hilly forest, with surprises around each corner. The train ride is short but the little kids loved it. Also, supposedly the train is the only train in the US that has its own postal code.

There's always something new going on with the animals.

We visit at least once a year. Great place to take the family. Lots of construction going on right now. Can't wait for the new exhibits to arrive.

I recently attend a Concert at the Zoo event. It was amazing. All of the general admission tickets have a huge grassy area to sit and/or lie with blankets or chairs.
Lots of food and drink options. There were several first rate food carts, brewery carts, and a new bar and grill overlooking the stage.
There really isn't a bad "seat" in the "house".

We visited the zoo in late September and they were having construction. They are adding two exhibits I believe but they also closed down 2 until 2020. It felt like there wasn't enough animals to see.

New otter pups are cute and playful, and the seals did a lot of tricks at the feeding

Lots of areas under construction and excited to see the outcome when finished.

To celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary we went to the Oregon Zoo for the first time and for the most part the animals were out and we had a wonderful time. But we felt cheated as we didn't get to see any of the lions, tigers or any large cats for that matter. Apparently they were all hiding. The drive down wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. It only took a couple of hours to get there. The ride down was worth the adventure; even though we didn't get to see any of the large cats. Still bummed about that.

Always fun! You so have to pay for parking daily, so don't forget! It's big and there is a lot of walking. My three year old loved it but ran out of steam after four hours.

Awesome place! Great for kids and all of us adult kids!

Amazing zoo trip! Loved to see all of the animals out today. The trip was excellent, and the zoo is handling the pandemic very well.

Was a great fantastic way to spend a few hrs walking with family.

They serve wine and beer now which can be good and bad.

I used to hate the zoo because I always felt so bad for the animals. They looked so unhappy. But they have done so much work to make the exhibits larger and the animals look happier. It was a fun experience this time.

Grandkids enjoyed our five hour visit, especially the number of food and snack concessions. Seemed like half the zoo is under construction which means a likely return in a couple of years. The upcoming elephant facilities look to be sensational. Most zoos seem to be doing lots of conservation work; Oregon Zoo is no exception.

Love all the new animals they keep adding to the family and the kids love it

Had a wonderful day here, definitely a great place to bring kids.

This is a great venue. I attended a summer concert here. Had a great time.

Fair price and lots of awesome animals that look well taken care of. Looking forward to returning for the rhino and polar bear exhibits some time.

Perfect weather for a fun night at our Zoo lights in ptown. Beautiful lights, great staff and the train was well organized to move rides efficiently. Many booths we're open and lots of food/snack options. They even ran the train till 9:30 to accommodate last minute riders.

Absolutely amazing place. Food and souvenirs are a little pricey but its a tourism place. It is worth the cost of the ticket and provides a great variety of animals took our family about 3.5 hours to go through and see every animal.

Didn't even make it into the zoo, which we haven't been in awhile.. They really need to figure out their parking lot, they get busier every year and even all the over flow lots are full and it wasn't even 11am.. It was very disappointing to not even find a place to park to go..

My favorite exhibit was the bats. They have a store filled with a large selection of stuff animals. Enjoy it while you can. Some countries are getting rid of zoos because of animal rights issues.

Love taking my son here! Great place to walk and talk while the kids have fun!

Great zoo! Perfect place to spend a great time with kids

A small zoo, but perfect for my 3 and 1 year old granddaughters.

I love the zoo. They did so much amazing conservation work. Worth a visit.

It is absolutely stunning here. The animals seem well taken care of.

My granddaughters were visiting from out of state, so I took them to the zoo which they really enjoyed. We were there for 4 hours but you could easily spend more time there. It will be even more wonderful when the new exhibits open next year. The girls remembered the elephant ears from their visit last October, so we had to get those again. There is an elephant ears food cart by the elephant exhibit. Really yummy!

A smaller zoo, it feels alot bigger than it is because they have done a great job in its layout.

Really great spot. Kinda pricey but the animals all seemed happy and well taken care of.

Lots of exhibits closed for construction. Not a particularly large zoo for the size of the city

Good social distancing in place. Almost better than before covid since it couldn't be crowded. Also, I didnt need cash in hand since they only were taking cards.

I like it but there is alot of animals missing! Construction all over. Bummer

Gr8 place 2 spend the day!!! Really nice music venue too!!

When it isn't super crowded with classes its a nice zoo. There were a few attractions that were closed. The signs could be a little clearer but the maps are good.

Ok zoo.some good collection of tigers,lions,especially cubs. We went in Christmas cold day or something. Not seen animals in open enclosures. Sorry but I have to give good excuse to my kids.

It's a great zoo overall. There are lots of improvements are happening right now to make it better. It's not big but has many animals. Parking could be difficult at times but there is an extra parking provided 2 exits down and a shuttle system

Excellent zoo. Great layout, animal friendly exhibits and employees that really care about their jobs.

Have not been in years, they have done wonderful things there. Highly recommend going

Zoos do not normally appeal to me, but the Portland Zoo is one of the nicer ones I have seen. Many of the habitats blend well into the northwest ecosystem and the animals don't feel so out of place. This zoo is also very large; it would be easy to not make it through the whole thing in one day. The zoo also offers special discount days (although will be overrun with kids and field trips).

I spent 2 hours and it felt like 2 mins. Everyone is super friendly! The elephants stole the show for me; red pandas a close second. It's huge and they have a great gift shop! Got an elephant shirt for me and and elephant hoodie for a friend. So glad I made the trip.

Great place to visit for a family with kids. There is a paid parking lot next to the zoo, but it may take some time to find a space on a busy day. It's probably a smart decision to pay for a day parking if you want to walk slowly and enjoy watching and learning the animals + combine with a snack break in the zoo.
There are many shadow areas in the zoo so it's reasonable even during hot summer days, but be ready to walk a lot :)

I'm not sure if it's because of pandemic restrictions or if it's because of funds mismanagement, but the Zoo has gone down hill. Every exhibit with water looked like it hadn't been cleaned in weeks. The elephant ears were shaped and fried tortillas. The dippin dots were prepackaged $1 bags from 711, except cost $5. It's really sad.

Great zoo with lots of exhibits. A lot of construction at the moment, but 2020 is set to have a huge addition open. They also have great food carts, animal shows, and an awesome summer concert series at night. Once they have completed the construction this place will get 5 stars.

This place was not worth the drive half the exhibits were closed and dont open until 2020 the train ride is 2 minutes long and it takes you by the that you could not see and it was 4 dollars a ticket and they dont say anything about it on the website horrible i will never come back Wildlife safari if 100 percent better.

Very pleasant time at The Oregon Zoo. I will definitely be back.

A nice range of animals but we missed seeing a bunch because they weren't out. $4 second Tuesday of the month is a great deal but it is busy and way too many strollers. (My not quite 3 year old walked the whole thing)

Family fun any time of year. Zoo Lights is our family's favorite annual winter outing. Paid parking is limited so take the bus or carpool if you can, and if you plan to go more than a couple of times a year, you'll save money with an annual family pass. Go on a cool day when the animals are more active. On the second Tuesday of the month admission is $5. Don't miss the otters, sea lions, and elephants exhibits.

Not alot of animals to look at they had more birds than anything. 3 different places we bought sodas from did not have ice or icees

This is a great zoo. Lots of things and animals to see. The train is very cool looking but the ride is kinda bunk. They should make the train go around some animals.

Went to Zoo lights, quite expensive and tons of people, hard to enjoy it much.

best zoo I have ever been too I want to go back go early as parking fills fast $8.00 for all day you get a good view of all animals we didnt see the lions because they were hiding you can tell they love the animals and take very good care of all the animals the train was a bit lame but still enjoyed it the lady that loads the people was awesome

Great family friendly zoo with lots of great events throughout the year.