Turtleback Zoo Reviews

The xmas light's amazing, my granddaughter love the lights and the show. Great family night.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere. The animals were beautiful and the park staff what's fantastic. Can't wait to return.

Only complaint is that they should of warned us that not all exhibits were open. To charge full admission to have so many things still closed in April was extremely disappointing. Looking forward to going back when it's actually all open.

Not much interactive. Exterior design was attractive. Ok for one time watch.

The animals enclosures are always nice and clean. The animals look healthy and well taken care of. Many places to eat outside with your own packed lunch. The restaurant is clean with a rooftop overlooking the zoo. The train ride is really fun (and free) and goes along a beautiful lake. The only thing I will say is..there wasn't enough anti bacterial stations. The soap was empty in the bathroom. With covid, they should be more on top of it. But it was the 1st day of spring and Beautiful out. I'm sure staff was overwhelmed and not prepared for this many people. Overall, i love this zoo and uts fairly priced. I highly recommend

Great small zoo for kids they have many common animals people want to look at and even when I went in the rain during coronavirus I was able to see all the animals minus a few acceptions in only an hour and a half.

Terrible. I was there with twins and later saw the push cart off toddlers at the point of presenting tickets where money is not handled; therefore I would have to return to the first desk down the slope. I hope this is temporary. So why have them there or why was it not offered as a service when I was seen alone with 2 toddlers the point where I paid? Poor customer service. There was construction going on which I certainly appreciate and understand and most of the animals were not present as it was still cold therefore the tickets should have been heavily discounted - not the case. The place smelt very unpleasnt as they were laying mulch (sewe stintch) The staff there seemed either arrogant or unhappy. I suppose everyone will be different when the sun comes out. I have been there several times with a number of families and generally it's been great but it was the first time for my twin toddlers and it was unpleasant. I will return with high expectations. Alert for rehabilataion going on.

This time around we went to the African exhibit which consisted of Lions (1m/1f), hyenas, African penguins w/ pelicans. We then made our way to the best part, the Giraffes. We were able to feed them ($3) and we did it twice. It was well wirth it and would have again if the line wasnt insanely long at that point. The train ride (free) is a nice 5min break to get off yoyr feet and see the lake but nothing of the zoo is seen in the train ride. Id say its worth it IF it's a wait less than 15, 20min tops.

We love this zoo, parking is free and it's on the smaller size which is great for a shorter day at the zoo that doesn't exhaust your kids completely. They have native NJ animals, african animals and the usual reptile, zoo, birds etc. The new lion and hyena exhibits opened and they're awesome.

Great little zoo. They unfortunately don't have enough room and a lot of the habitats are ancient and therefore terrible for photography.

I love going here to see all the animals with my son ! It's great for an all day activity

A huge variety of animals and definitely a great place to bring a date or the family. The goat feeding is very fun, the wolves are awesome and touching stingrays is an awesome experience for all ages. Would highly recommend.

I spent time with my son Thomas and his wife Dorie! We had a great day except for the rain!

Not a big zoo but surprisingly bigger zoo than it appears to be. Great zoo for the kids... My son loves it

Even though there were lots if renovations being done, and covid restrictions in place, they did a wonderful job directing you around the park to see everything. Lot of close encounters with thr animals which the kids love. Great job. Not very expensive either. 45 fit kids and 1 adult and we were there for 3 hours.

Clean, animals look healthy.teain ride is always fun.

Train ride was dissapointing but enjoyed the birds encounter exhibit and other. Can get close up to the giraffes and feed them. Cafe has limited seating inside but there is more seating arrangements outside of and around the cafe. Overall, great experience for kids.

Fun cute zoo. Had an awesome time with the giraffes

So happy to have this zoo almost in our backyard. It's a beautiful place to be. Great exhibits - always updating. This is just a great place to spend a day. I discover something new every time I visit.

Beautiful place love everything from it surely need a whole day to admire all the animals staff very niice

A great place to take the kids for a short trip. Train, great. Otters, great. Dragon, great. Enjoy!

Amazing little zoo with big cats(Lions, Leopard, Snow Leopard among others)! Very clean. You will need about half day to cover it all.

Amazing zoo! Great variety of animals! Feeding the giraffes was the best experience!

Very nice, clean, and the animals look well cared for.

Very good place of animals but I couldn t see some animals since they didn t came out from they re bed. It seems to be that I am selfish but I still feel bad to don t see one of the my loved animals when I paid for it ....

My kids loved it. They even got a chance to feed the giraffe

Turtle back zoo Christmas light display was very nice. Free admission. Not too busy on Saturday night. From last week's snow and rain the branches of all trees had a nice layer of ice and that with the Xmas lights looked beautiful. My girlfriend and I had an excellent time. Would highly recommend. Parking was in a free garage right across the service road

Great visit during the Covid reopening. The exhibits that were open were great. The food and gift shop were open and both just what we needed.
The only downside was when you purchase your tickets online there is no exit time.....which means the zoo becomes increasingly more crowded and of course there were rule breakers when it came to facemasks and following the one-way directional flow for certain areas. I removed myself from those areas during those times and it wouldn't take away from the 5 star rating.

Post-covid, the place is still as wonderous af ever. Around this time and maybe the upcoming months it seems that a lot of animals aren't/ won't be exhibited. About 20% . Everything in general is fascinating and fantastic

Took my niece. It is a nice small zoo with fun activities.

It's wonderful, it's better then Central Park In NY

Niece (age 2) loves it. They are constantly improving the place also. Looking forward to the new flamingo exhibit

Wonderful for walking around. Nice activities like feeding giraffes. Penguin exhibit is nice. Family membership is worth it if you plan to go more than twice.

We love turtle back zoo! We recently got the season passes and it has been great. My son is 2 and he never gets tired of it! So we make an attempt to go a couple times a month!

Great local zoo. Giraffes, lion (although he was hidden), new flamingo exhibit. Come at least once a year

its not bad, lots of hills so its a pain pushing a stroller. They have spent money updating attractions, like the seals and the giraffes.

Very nice and clean zoo! Many different kinds of animals, free parking, and free zoo train ride. Kids had a blast! You can easily kill 2 to 3 hours and enjoy it.

My kids loved it they even have a touch pool where we were able to pet a small nurse shark and sting rays

Great kid friendly zoo.. Exhibits are close so you can easily cover the whole thing in about 3-4 hours

Great place nice people th work there all the animals were out and train ride was cool

Great 1.7 mile loop around a lake. If you start at the 0.0 marker and run a lap then to the 0.3 it is a perfect 2 miles on flat terrain

Excellent place to go out with children, very child friendly

Zoo is in great shape. Anyone who has not seen it in recent years needs to go back.

I love Turtle Back Zoo! Easy to do in a day. Something for everyone, clean and love the seasonal landscapings. Was there with family, including 9 and 3 year old grandchildren. We ate lunch at the cafe, something for everyone, and reasonable priced.

Fun Christmas activity with the lights and animals that are available.

Fun time but the day we visited the zoo had a huge crowd and had over a 35 minute wait to get in just to purchase tickets and no parking had to walk about 1 mile before we got to the gate.

Super hilly, but a great zoo. My kids love it here.

Very good place to take the family. Especially young children.

New Jersey finally has Lions! I love this zoo. It has a great assortment of animals for a smaller zoo. The lions and giraffes are in beautiful brand new enclosures. You can visit with your small kids and see everything in a day. A really nice playground and train ride are included in the price. For a small fee, you can feed the giraffes and the animals at the petting zoo and ride the beautiful carousel.

Bright , clean and beautiful zoo. Love to watch the giraffes eat and snuggle each other.

Awesome experience. There was even music where around the flamingos. The animals also looked happy.

We had a great day! Facility was clean and kept social distancing guidelines. Good price for a full days worth of activities. The extra activities, carousel and pony rides were inexpensive as well! Would have been nice to see some zoo staff walking around to give information, but great otherwise.

This is a small zoo to educate kids about wild animals. They have animals zones from almost all continents like African safari adventure, reptile and amphibians, Australian animals and etc.They have pony rides and they have added seasonal birds aviary which is one of a kind bird feeding experience. They have a petting and feeding zoo of farm animals(goats) that is worth doing with little kids. Turtle back zoo also have train ride inside zoo. We start our zoo trip from animals and end up on train ride. It's not so big in area so we get a chance to visit all animals and kids don't get tired after visiting this zoo so I will highly recommend this one for families with little kids.

Great zoo with a lot of good activities for small children. Free parking!! Only downside is its poorly laid out and its difficult to navigate around. Plus too many bees (or yellow jacks) and very aggressive! But overall very nice zoo would definitely return :)

Me and my family loves Turtle Back Zoo. The experience is breathtaking. We just live the animals and attractions they offer whether it's Spring, Winter, Summer or Fall. We can't wait until the Giraffes arrive especially my 33 year old daughter

Really nice zoo. Good for spending time with family.

We went on a Saturday in April. It was fairly crowded and you couldn't buy walk-in tickets, only online reservations (got ours 2 weeks in advance). But EVERYONE, including small kids, were wearing masks. I haven't seen a sigle person above age 3 not wear a mask. Exhibits seem to be well kept and clean. There is plenty of staff around. Some animals were hiding (e.g. bears) or sleeping (wolves, bison) but I think this is their daytime behavior. The farm animals' area I feel should have a grass or some other softer surface for them instead of concrete. Bathrooms throughout the park (an important point lol). Overall a good experience.

Significantly improved over the years - really enjoyed taking the family this weekend...

Always a fun day at the TBZ! Docents are friendly, animals are lively and so many improvements in the works! Despite a few closed exhibits (touch tank and sea lions) our family enjoyed all that there is to see.

SPRING BREAK !!!! Came early AM and waiting long line with children to get TRAIN RIDE. So many parents with children " no 6 feet distance possible". Why don't put " SECOND TRAIN IN SERVICE" because of Spring Break crowd/Sunny days/? Anyway , all children were so cute with masks ON, waiting patiently for that " train ride"

Top Five must do things with the children in the summer. All types of animals and educational attractions. You can bring your own food and make sure you wear some comfortable clothes and shoes because you will be walking up and down hills and such. Worth the price of admission the TBZ gives you the opportunity to get a good quality experience right in New Jersey s backyard. From bird feeding to goat feeding there are plenty of interesting interactive things to keep the little ones amazed and smiling. So get your sandwiches and H2O and make your way to see Mother Nature up close and personal. Oh! Yeah! Make sure you go check the lion and hyena s out they were pretty cool!

Would be 5 stars if so many exibits and activities weren't canceled and a few spotlight animals were missing

There is a bee infestation here. It is really concerning and I think they should be informing visitors before purchasing tickets to the park.

Great place! Clean! And lots of cool animals too see. They did great despite the covid rules and regulations.

Good place to go with family. Friendly staff and priced well.

Awesome zoo. Lots too see, while being manageable for little kids.

Zoo ,you can touch Ray fish,feed the birds,play area train ride and more fun for kids

Wonderful accommodating place. Thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

We went to the zoo on Thursday, and I have to say it was SUPER CROWDED!!! No one is around to enforce the 6 feet social distance anywhere! The train line was SUPER long and for much of the line many were not social distancing. Also, the bathrooms didn't have soap! and many places had the sanitizer empty!

What a wonderful zoo. We visited this past Monday, Memorial day. The Zoo was well maintained, clean and had quite a lot to do. A perfect way to spend the day. We just loved all of the animals. The prairie dog exhibit is super cute for the kids to be able to go into the clear tunnels and get a better view. The Seals were another favorite. We did go into the touch tank however my kids were too scared to try to touch the sting ray. We made a stop at the play ground where the kids had a great time playing and we got to relax for a few and then made one more trip to get some food since the little ones were hungry (again). The lines were substantially less than around noon when we first got a bite to eat. Next time I will definitely plan on coming earlier so we can do the pony rides and see the show which we didnt have time for this visit. All in All a great day and a wonderful place to visit.

Perfect place to take the kids/family for a few hours, and at a reasonable cost. We've visited many times. Also very nicely decorated around Christmas time and worth checking out

Awesome! Mini zoo with enough attractions to be satisfied. Make sure you go on the train, feed the birds and feed the goats. Worth it

This amazing place has changed a lot in the last 5-10 years and all for the better. Lots of new attractions and animals at the zoo as well as the recreation area that has built up around it. Food as usual is expensive but decent.