Turtleback Zoo Reviews

It's an amazing zoo, with plenty of animals to see. They even added a giraffe, lion, flamingo and penguin exhibit. Very calm and relaxing. We went a very hot/sunny day and they had the sprinklers/water mist on throughout the zoo, really great way of staying cool for the little ones and adults.

A perfect place for kids, family and fun. I came here when I was a kid and am now coming back nearly 40 years later. Truly a great place. Hassle free.

First grade class trip was a success! The water sprayer was the attraction of the day for the kids!!

S'awesome big cats like cougars lions hyenas bobcats birds of course. Spent a very enjoyable day

It is a great place to visit with family. Kids will have a lot of fun.
If you are into minigolf try the minigolf place next door to Turtleback zoo. I believe they are under the same management. You won't be disappointed.

Good zoo. Can get a little crowded at peak times, though.

The hills had me beat! Lol But of course you can't control geography lol The food in the food court was a little pricey. $4 for a slice of pizza? Overall it was cool!

Love it. We are members here. My kids love this place.

The kids had a great time we all got your steps in on that day.

Loved the zoo. Awesome lighting during Chrustmas. Cafe is pricey

Cool place, one of very few cool things to do in NJ. Also good value for the price of admission.

Great outdoor activity to do with your kids when weather permits. Their COVID19 new rules made me feel more at ease. everyone is required to wear a mask at all times. my kids ages 8 and 12 enjoyed it too. I noticed lots of changes since my last visit a few years ago.

Amazing zoo!!!!! Lots of exciting animals and great staff!

Awesome! So much fun for the kids and there's an amazing park right across to go with the kids after.

Really nice little zoo. Have a good amount to to do.

Awesome please when you buy the one year membership.

This zoo is very good for for little kids.
Many things to do for the day with kids at this zoo.
We like this zoo. We had a good time and a great experience.
Many parking spaces.

With Covid-19 you need to make reservations prior to coming. They take your temperature before entering and you have to wear a mask while inside. It is less crowded with the new regulations. The reptile center is open, but they have a certain capacity.

Good exhibits. Was able to get an up close look at the giraffe's during their feeding time

Great place to go with younger kids just to hangout and food are not crazy expensive but you can bring your own and plenty of spaces for you to have picnic. The train ride is a plus for the kids. Loved it, got membership to support this clean, awesome and friendly zoo.

Love this place highly recommend to go with your kids great place

Great zoo with lots of things for kids of all ages. My toddler and two "tweens" had a great time. We'll definitely be returning.

Great place. Much bigger and nicer then expected. Will be coming back for sure

Great little zoo... went for Christmas Display, which was awesome. First experience there, can't wait to bring family back in Spring

Beautiful place! at Christmas they open for free visitation. a spectacle of lights. incredible!

Cute zoo with plenty to do for little kids. My son loved the train so much.

I grew up in West Orange and visited frequently when I was a little girl. Since then they have made many improvements. A surprising variety of exhibits for a relatively small zoo, and the grounds are beautiful.

Fun little zoo to visit plenty of parking and some activities for kids to have fun

It is very well priced and there are some really great animals there. The overall presentation was a little depressing in some cases, though. The layout is awkward so we had to circle back a couple of times to make sure we saw everything. There were some features that appeared unused and it seemed like they made no effort to disguise them. Just empty, unclean enclosures. I found myself unsure of where I was expected to view some animals like the buffalo and the wallaby/kangaroo exhibits. The prairie dog that we coaxed into popping his head up was great. The Gibbons are always fun. The sea lions were feeling frisky so that was cool. We liked feeding the birds, even if they were just pet store varieties. There was a big old Capybara that gave us a few candid grins and some tortoises that were (slowly) destroying a pile of greens. The main thing that left me feeling badly though was a very sad-looking penguin exhibit. Not only did it appear cramped for even the two penguins who occupy it, but one of the two little birds was splayed out on his stomach making pained noises with a large accumulation of projected feces behind him. It was pretty jarring so the next employee I found, I had to share with him. He didn't seem to know how to respond, and to be fair the kid was opening the door for the customers at the touch pool, but I don't think anybody got the message regardless. I hope the little fella/lady is okay!

Great family activity on a beautiful spring day. We have moved back to the area and plan on a seaso pass!

The zoo is good but what works is the combination of the lake with boating and children's play area both outside and adjacent to the zoo. Do not miss the train ride while at the zoo especially with kids

This is a gem of a place, with the right balance of animals from across geographic areas and right amount of space to be able to walk around and cover with a toddler. If you're looking for options for a family outing, this is definitely a good place to consider. The train ride, carousel and pony ride are great bonuses.

A very nice zoo for smaller kids , it's has a good combination with attractions like the choo choo train ride , petting zoo and carrousel with still enough animals to see. I also liked the size - as it's not too small and not too big like see other larger ones when you have to walk miles across, which would be not easy with kids that don't want to sit in a stroller. So overall it has the right size for a day trip and has the right attractions for kids aged 2 - 10/11. The fact that it's in a walking distance to an ice rink and climbing trees zip line type place makes it even great of you want to combine both activities or split for a couple of hours.

A great fun and learning experience for the entire family.

Nice zoo. Think it's better to go when it's not so cold out.

Surprised to see so many people when they are taking time slots for visiting. On top of that every trashcan was swarming with bees and wasps. People were being stung everywhere. That pretty much ruined the experience. Shouldve been expected considering it is an essex county park and the local governments are terrible in nj

I spent Wonderful times during summer and fall. We visited this place with my family; summer camp students and whole middle school of Pioneer Academy. You can see huge number of animals; fortunately they seem so healthy and happy. Especially the turtles rehabilitation center deserves a lot of recognition. The cafeteria was good; wending machines make decrease the price little to sell more and make the drinks reasonable to buy. Thank you

Couldnt find the turtles, but overall. Really cute and very clean

I love this zoo! It's a great place for small children. I've been coming to this zoo for 8 years and it's perfect for me and my 2 sons. It's a small zoo. You can spend a few hours and have a great time. The exhibits are wonderful and they're always adding something new. It's clean. The cafe has great food options. We love the train and carousel. And we also love visiting the holiday lights spectacular every year before Xmas. We just have to take a picture with Santa. It's a must! I look forward to visiting the zoo a few times every summer right through December. Great family place.

Our little guy likes free train rides. Lots of animals. Not so crowded like in NY.

Very nice place, the employees are friendly, there's plenty of animals to see and my children and I loved it.

Spent a wonderful time here. My toddler is 2& half yrs.now & I felt this way a perfect zoo for her. Not too big , neither too small.

We went only to see the animals. It's an amazing experience.

Great for kids, lots of animals, great layout of zoo

Small and compact. Really good for young kids as it's a 2-3 hours max trip. Kids love the parakeet feeding and the touch tank.

Cash only in the zoo and ATM was down. Other than that we had a great time!

Had a great time. Socially distancing can be an issue so don t take your mask off. My only complain is the bees at every garbage can. They are sooo bad. Other than that they did the best the can.

Always a great day espacial with kids. They also do adult only event such as Ales and Tails which is a lot of fun with out the little ones.

Quite a bit of walk, exhausting for the kids as we were little unprepared without knowing the size. Some exhibits were closed and overall wouldn't be a 5 star but considering how close we could get to some exhibits it would go down as a favorite!

I love Turtle Back. I grew up with the Memphis Zoo, which is much larger. Turtle Back feels like a neighborhood, friendly zoo that's easily walkable in a short time frame. It does all the things you'd want out of a zoo without tiring you out. The fact that the animals are all rescue animals is also comforting for someone like me who might be wary of caging animals. And you know they have a home here where they're cared for when they might not make it in the wild.

Great place for all ages. I wish they had directional signs posted around to make getting places easier.

Always adding new feature as well as the playground, petting zoo, and train ride. Lovely landscaping too.

Even in the dead of winter it's a lovely place to be, it's not terribly big but there's a good amount to see and do during the day

Great place for kids, clean, my daughter likes the train trip...

Fantastic zoo! Fairly priced and the animals were easy to see, unlike many other zoos where they tend to hide. You can go into the aviary feed the friendly parakeets for only $2 extra- absolutely worth it if you like cute little birds

I love this place but it need to display more animals to make it more exciting for all guests it was sorta dull

Went to a kids birthday party there. So much fun. I had Never even heard of the place before we got the invitation. The animals looked healthy and happy. We will definitely go back.

I loved that little zoo. It has lots of great exhibits, but also lots of hills, so be prepared to walk up and down. There's a little train that plays loud train music, and basically takes you nowhere, it's just like a ride for little kids, they'll enjoy it. Sadly the giraffes, snow leopards, and a couple other animals weren't in their exhibit when we visited the zoo end of may, because of construction and other reasons. If I'd live in the area I would definitely get a membership and go there more often, now that the construction should be done anyways.

Turtle Back Zoo is an ideal place for the younger set: just big enough to keep kids involved and interested, not so big that they are exhausted. The facility is very clean and well maintained, there are clean restroom facilities and a clean dining area. Concessions are well run. The parking structure is very convenient. Many local libraries have discount passes, which is certainly worth checking into. Our gang really enjoyed the penguins and the train ride. Enjoy your day at The Turtle Back Zoo is a great day's adventure with the younger set.

First time there, I was pleasantly surprised. Great for families with small children. Also perfect for a first date. Be ready to walk, lots to see.

Excellent. My family enjoyed the day out. They had a wide variety of animals to look at. The kids loved it.

My three year old and his best friend have loved this place since we got our season passes last year. It is the perfect size to keep them entertained for half a day and the season pass is such a great value.

This is a very family friendly zoo. Just the right size!

What a neat little place. Many of the displays were down due to renovation. Nonetheless, we still enjoyed the zoo. Take your family here!

This is one of the largest zoo I ve ever had the chance to visit. Essex county turtle back zoo is huge and during these uncertain times, is well prepared to handle people while abiding the guidelines in regards to social distancing and masks. There were signs all over to not touch the glass walls and maintain appropriate distance. Even before you enter, there was this large tent to check your body temperature.

You have to buy tickets online and the price for an adult is around $17 while for kids it s $14 for general admission. They also have a membership which would have different pricing (please do check online because prices may vary). You also have to pick your time of arrival and can t be late than 30 minutes of your posted time of arrival on your ticket. The online ticket process was a little broken when we tried but we still managed to get a few when everything was working. Also, they close at 3pm so you might want to plan a day trip accordingly.

Let s talk about the zoo itself. It s huge and has lots of places to explore. There were flamingoes, lions, bisons, sea lions, chickens, horses and everything else that you d expect from a zoo. They have a reptile only place as well as underwater viewing of sea lions which were fantastic. There were also a lot of places that weren t open for the public due to the ongoing pandemic but rest assured, you won t be disappointed to explore tons of other places and animals within this zoo.

The food options were limited (as expected) and to be honest, weren t at all good. We went to this Savana cafe to try something out. To begin with, we didn t have a lot of options since by the time we went at around 2pm, the staff told us that they were closed and the food that was on display was the only thing they could offer and so we got what was left there - chicken tenders, fries, grilled chicken burger and hot cocoa. The food was soggy due to the pre packaging and wasn t that good. The only good thing out of this was the hot cocoa. If you re planning to have a dine in experience (which you shouldn t given the current circumstances), you will be disappointed.

Overall, this is great place to enjoy with family and kids and will entertain you for hours. If you ve never been to a zoo and want to experience one, this place should be on your bucket list

Wow hadnt been there since my grown kids were kids. Totally impressed had tons of fun reminiscing about the tortioses of the late 60's compared to the animal exhibits now. Worth the trip... had a blast even rode the train. Paddle boats, playgrounds, and various picnic sites will round out the visit!

A bit busy, and some of the school camp groups were wild. We steered clear of them. Long line for free train ride. Wish train ride went past animals or the circled zoo more.

Awesome zoo that they keep adding exhibits to. It does get very crowded though so come early.

First time I don't have any negative comments great place

Wonderful zoo, easy to see everything in just 2-3 hours!

I love bird aviary at this Zoo... been there two times in last two years and its awesome...

It is a compact but very well maintained and interesting zoo, probably the best in tristate area

Wonderful, wonderful time with my sis our little guys. Great way to spend a beautiful day with family.

This is much smaller zoo in terms of area and animals compared to Columbus zoo or what I have heard of the San Diego zoo. This one has lion, leopard, Jaguar, farm animals, hyenas , reptiles , sea lion, small aquarium and giraffes. There are more listed in their website.

Having seen the Columbus and Milwaukee zoos what stood out was that this one does not have tigers , elephants, rhinos or hippos. It still makes for a fun family outing with the kids.

Wonderful zoo. Many species of animals. Very educational. Worth a visit.