Turtleback Zoo Reviews

Animals shall be protected to a better extent especially during winter.

Great place to bring the kids not big but not small lots of new attractions being made so every year is a new suprise

Not really met my expectations but better tan staying home, at least my kids seen some animal. Parking areas nice, easily reachable.

My kids love this zoo. Even in the winter we could see the animals and ride a pony!

Fun for the whole family and many events go on throughout the year

Been coming here since 1979. Love the animals. This place is the reason I never liked to eat lamb.

Great zoo. Easy to spend a whole day there. Animals are healthy and look happy. We have a season pass so we can go all year round. We love going in the fall and spring when the weather is cooler and the animals enjoy being out more. When it's too hot they find shade and it can be hard to see them. They have 2 play grounds, picnic areas and some areas have chairs.

Went there last week. Amazing experience. Train ride was closed due to rain but overall a good trip. Kids enjoyed a lot.

They have really built this place up. There is so much more to see and there is always something fun going on

Haven t been there in a long time. Live the new look

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

We went for a class trip and had such a great time. The educational part was fun and the kids were engaged. The zoo is very clean and beautiful. We had a blast!

It was very fun just wish i would have known that they were still building the two exhibits cause i would have waited to go, but even with that it is a beautiful place

Awesome zoo

Kids love it

Excellent! We truly enjoyed our day there. Make sure to take a train ride. It's awesome. I liked it more than kids on that train. There's a great touch tank. Petting zoo. Playground. All animals look great. Giraffes are adorable. You can feed them for $3. Btw parking is free on weekends. Highly recommended.
Be also mindful it closes at 4:30, but the park is big and you would want to spend more time there. A few hours are not enough to go through all of it.

We had a great time at the Turtle Back Zoo. They have clear social distancing markers to let you know where you can stand while viewing different animals.

Awesome place with lots to do and I went during their Christmas celebration. Although almost all the animals were put away there was still lots to do

Great zoo. The perfect size for a one day outing with kids! Good facilities and fairly well maintained too. Don't miss the feeding sessions!

2nd graders from my school took a trip to Turtleback Zoo. For many of my students, it was their first time. The kids loved seeing the animals and were so excited to tell me all about it! I noticed there were many parts of the zoo under construction, which was a bit disappointing. There were many other schools on a field trip that day. Many chaperones "saved" tables by piling student lunches on top and leaving them there until they ate. This made it difficult to find available tables. I feel like the zoo should make more of an effort to avoid that.

This is a great little zoo that isn't too little. It's well laid out not too much walking but the animals seem comfortable in their enclosures.

The zoo is definitley enjoyable, except for the blocked pathways that they decide to work on during business hours. The entry fees are slightly overpriced, but the cleanliness and friendliness of the staff makes it ok. The animals are well cared for and the zoo provides carts wagons to help with the kids and bags. Good experience overall

Truly an Awesome zoo we go to a lot of different zoo's but this is one of our favorite.
They are constantly opening new exhibits.

A really fun place to visit for a day date, even in February! Many exhibits that allow the animals lots of room. Everything was really well cleaned and there was a lot of room to wander around without getting near other groups of people.

Actually surprisingly nice. It's a quaint little zoo but they have some great animals and I had fun.

Turtle back Zoo is a waste of money, too few animals and far too noisy! I will never go back. Zoo's are for the animals not birthdays. I will go back to Space Farms they are animal oriented not entertaining people, too many food areas not enough animals. I and my family were truly disappointed.

This is a very accessible zoo for folks in North Jersey. Especially a big hit for kids below 6 years of age. Close to I-280 and Garden state parkway. Fun time with wild life that avoids the dreaded hike over GWB !!

redone job well done nice way to spend an afternoon

Kids aged 4 had lots of fun. Giraffe feeding was fun although a little expensive.

I enjoyed myself with the kids and family but unfortunately most of the animals was not there. As for the entrance price; they charge you per person plus an extra fee per person. That's ridiculous. I think kids under 3 years old should be free. My daughter was 2 years old and I was charged for her entrance when they said kids under 2 years old is free. Shameful. I don't think I will be returning any time soon. Hopefully all the construction they doing, should be done by summer 2020. Maybe my kids could see all the animals if and when I do bring them again.

Even when they are extremely busy the staff are very friendly. Plus my daughter gets to feed giraffes and loves the peguins.

Seeing the wolf, lion and sea life animals was amazing... its a fantastic zoo and there's hand sanitizer in every nook and cranny of the zoo. I felt safe being there.

Amazing place.... Very well maintained.. FREE parking right in front of entrance, which is so rare as most zoo will charge you good money for parking..
Lots of animals and good viewing areas FREE train ride too.. has carousel for$2 .. fun trip for people of all ages!!

Wonderful family zoo. Not on the same par as the Bronx Zoo, it is much more affordable, much easier to get to, not overwhelmingly massive yet it doesn't scrimp on the animals nor on the maintenance.

All animals appeared healthy, engaged and well kept

Excellent place to take the kids. With the coronavirus, they went above and beyond to make us feel comfortable bringing my daughter with me. Temperature checks at the gate, touch-less entry, hand sanitizer everywhere, social distancing signs & stickers, everyone had a mask & almost everyone wore them correctly, and timed tickets to keep amount of people at the zoo at an acceptable level. Highly recommended even with coronavirus.

Turtle Back Zoo is a great place to spend the day walking around, having some laughs and really enjoying time with the kids and family. They have a great cafeteria with a lot of different food options ! The flamingos were great and I DEFINITELY recommend going into the bird exhibit. It was a total thrill and very enjoyable !!

Good zoo with many varieties. Great activities for kids.

This is a well designed zoo (as far as zoos go), with plenty to do for kids: a free train ride, petting zoo, touch center, outdoor/indoor eating areas, giraffe feeding, a walk thru aviary, and of course plenty of animals. There s some exciting animals to see, like bald eagles, a cheetah, kangaroos, and a lynx. The penguins, wolf, and cougar were right up at the windows. The amenities are solid (several clean bathrooms), and while the food court was clean, the food choices need an upgrade - pizza, burgers, chicken fingers, etc is fine for the kid stuff, but they could use a few more options for those with various diet preferences. The parking was free! Just watch out for the nutters taking turns in the garage like there s no other cars coming down (the garage needs better signage and mirror on the count).

Amazing place! Clean and well taken care off. Lots of variety of animals.

Fun place for the little one. I would just avoid very hot days since some of animals hide away. But I would do the same

Very clean and extremely kid oriented. Animals are well cared for and happy. Restaurant on upper deck serves adult beverages

This is a fun place to visit. It'll take you about and hour or two to see everything. Even though most of the animals aren't out it was still a blast seeing the ones that were.

We love Turtleback zoo. The family membership package is an absolute steal. Bring your own food, as the snackbar still leaves something to be desired, but the zoo itself is fantastic, and ever expanding. This is probably our family favorite local attraction. 5 stars all the way.

Love going here. Well kept, clean. Decent food options at decent prices, and kids activities like train (free) and carousel ($2). Best zoo in area, especially great size for 5 and under crowd.

Great for kids... The train ride is cool. Don't miss the sea lion show and kids love the pony ride. There is a place where you can touch the stingrays with your own hand.

Beautiful zoo and love it there. Usually a great experience. However this time we went we were almost chased out by yellow jackets. They were every where and all over us. We had to get rid of all of the babys food and they still didn't stop chasing us. There was not one trap in the whole zoo. These are a real problem for anyone visiting with children. Put some traps up! I told a employee and she said yeah we have an exterminator. Bull! I was at sesame place the same week and there were traps every 10 feet. And no wasp except in the traps. Come on turtle back get some damn wasp traps!!!!! One more thing last couple times we were there. The touch tank staff is rude. And they hover over you. One guy in history steals a shark and now you have staff members over your shoulder.

Has all the almost animals that are interesting for kids.
You could see the animals real close.

Free parking
Allow you to bring your own food
Awesome Animals we saw were giraffes, lions, grey wolf, leopard, leatherback turtle, butterfly house, bull, ostriches, pony ride (very brief, one short lap). Train ride was sweet; a very nice day for a family. Didn t see pigs, or sheep, or bears, or cows. Petting zoo consists of goats only. They provide food to feed them, then sinks to wash your hands. I would go back for the touch tank, reptile house, and carousel which we missed.

Took the family to see the holiday lights, the place was packed but we enjoyed our time there. Be ready to do lots of walking, especially up and down hills

Nice and compact place where you can spend time and don`t exhauste yourself at all. Thank you :)

Large area, perfect place for kids to enjoy and for you to relax and watch animals.

This was an amazing experience with my family and my daughter. She is 3 years old and enjoyed enormously. For her the main attractions where feeding lettuce to giraffes and the train ride. It s a best memory for her and she is big fan of wildlife. The pony ride nice and short trip . Want to take her again to have a smile on my little princess

Great small zoo for kids, watching the sea lions eat was so much fun

turtle back zoo is great but am I the only one that sees the red ufo if you turn around near the cone entrance. wow freaky. there's also a weird perfect line coming from the sun. ummm I think aliens want your animals. watch out!

Wonderful zoo with lots of fun to have specially with kids. Train rides, pony/horse rides for babies and many more...

Lots to see! Lots to do! Generally clean. Can tell that the Animals are well taken care of. Kids love it. Never a dull moment. Of the three times I've been there, only once did we experience an issue with wasps in almost every garbage bin in the park. It was also an unseasonably warm Fall day , so that might have been a factor.

Had a wonderful time with my son's school field trip...we visit there quite often....

The animals are cute I had good memories of these, it's big to and they sell food like its McDonald (btw theres one near it to), it fun

A great place for a family to go and spend some time together.

Great place....fun time with our daughter and 27 month old granddaughter ... spent 2 and a half hours there...cafe has good food

Great place to spend day with kids. May not be world famous but it certainly exceeds expectations for a zoo in the Jersey suburbs. They are still expanding and adding more attractions too.

We had a great time my son enjoyed the pony ride and the touch tank. It was really a great experience for the whole family and of course the train ride and feeding the animals was a plus

I bought a membership for my family thinking it would be a great way to donate to the zoological society as well as enjoy the privileges that come with it. Had I known that there is not enough parking ,they are overcrowded, make no attempt to park members first, I would not have spent the money. First off , the zoo is very small and there aren't that many varieties of animals , so how can you have people buy memberships when you can't accommodate them with parking, on 3 occasions I took my family,We couldn't get in at all.Whats the point of a membership. This is fraud. I am definitely going to ask for my money back.

If you have a bee allergy, dont step foot there. We spent the entire time swatting away bees. And every garbage pail had dozens around it. They were impossible to escape for more than a minute.

We went there for a birthday party and spent a lot of time walking around. The zoo was clean, there was a lot to see and the staff was friendly. We had a great time!

Kids enjoyed well. Half day is sufficient to see all animals.

We are very for fortunate to have such a good zoo close by. When we first moved in, I would mock it as having only squirrels, but it is really nice now with giraffes, penguins, seals, stingrays, and much more. Just missing elephants.

Beautiful & fully stocked with huge variety of animals, In the hot sun the water sprinklers are just great to to cool off from the sun

Very much recommended. What a surprise to find a zoo like this where it is. Great place