Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo

Love the FW Children’s Zoo! So much to do! The membership was so worth the money and we visit often. My kids (2&5) are never bored. Always learning opportunities and new stuff to do. Best thing to do in FW with the kiddos!

I have been to zoos all over the country and this is still my FAVORITE! Large enough to be a day of entertainment but small enough to not be overwhelmed or exhausting. They recently changed and upgraded the Australia part and it is so much fun! So much fun! A truly wonderful Zoo!

I feel lucky to have such a great zoo in Fort Wayne! The zoo is obviously geared more towards children, but the adults enjoy themselves too! It’s perfect in the summer time to get a membership and go a couple times a week. Gets the little ones outside and gives them something to do. And if you plan on going a lot, the membership is definitely the way to go! Saves you a TON of money! The zoo has a wide variety of animals and different points of interest. In addition to the main area, you could trek to Africa to feed the giraffes, Indonesia to see the orangutans, or Australia to check out the kangaroos! There’s a few food places to eat at inside, or you can pack your own lunch! Be sure to check out the rides too! I recommend getting a ride pass at the entrance. You end up getting two free rides that way, and it makes things a lot easier. (You won’t have to wait in line to exchange cash for tokens.) There’s a train ride, carousel, and log ride. There is also a pony ride, where your kid can ride on an actual pony, but the ride pass doesn’t work at this one, just FYI. We’ve enjoyed ourselves every single time we’ve been here. Thankful we can go here all summer long! Check it out if you can!!!

Best zoo I’ve ever been to. I’ve been to zoos in 7 different states & so far no one has beat this one.
Up close encounters with so many animals: tigers, lions, giraffes, sloths, hyenas, and many more. I was so excited to be that close to animals. Most of the time these animals are laying about too far to see or learn from, but not here.
As we walked around we found that the upkeep was constant through: cleaning, feeding, training, and even watching how the animals are adapting. The staff is so knowledgeable. They were everywhere & happy to answer questions. Anything I asked they responded with much more information than I asked for… I was impressed. The animals’ habitats are adequately spacious compared to many other places I have seen. Like a zoo I visited in NC they have their zebras, ostriches, & wildebeest roaming in open land together. The giraffes also have wide open space to roam. Zoos are hard for me normally as many inadequately shelter these beautiful animals. Spaces too small, unhappy residents, bored animals, frightened, unhealthy practices, etc… but I saw none of that here. Made my heart smile.
There’s also a farm area for hands-​on for the kids (and people like me who feel the need to touch any animal I meet). Pet, feed, & brush goats. Feed ducks, geese, & peacocks.
There are shows presented throughout the day. Much of the park has a safari or tropical set up including bamboo, banana trees, waterfalls, & mists.
We took our family of 6 (kids ages 4 – 17) & everyone loved it. We bought the year membership which gives us free access to the park & extra deals throughout it plus it gives us discounted admissions to over 150 zoos in the U.S. A great idea.
We can’t wait to go back!!!

LOVED the zoo! We live closer to the Indianapolis Zoo but are on vacation for the weekend in Fort Wayne and I took my 3 year old today. To start this zoo is way cheaper than the one in Indy and had way more to offer. The ride pass is an awesome idea and allowed me to save money and still allow my son to ride the rides and I like that it never expires!!. The zoo was clean and really nicely landscaped. Everyone we spoke with while there was super nice and acted like they really enjoyed their jobs. My son loved the zoo all the exhibits were clean and well kept. My son loved feeding the ducks and we even got them to eat out of our hands. Only thing that bummed me out was the stingray exhibit was opening summer of 2015 and it still hasn’t opened today. We will defiantly be visiting again!

This zoo is just spectacular. I can’t in good conscience give it anything less than 5 stars. My whole family gets a zoo pass every year, and we make good use of it. Each year we go, there is something new to see, and of course our old favorites. Lions, tigers, orangutans, giraffes and zebras just to name a few. They are constantly improving and making it more beautiful, without sacrificing the small town charm or their local patrons. I’m so glad that they have not tried to turn it into an amusement park type zoo like the larger surrounding zoos have done. I believe that is why our zoo has been so successful. It’s not about how much money they can make off of patrons, they truly do want to bring joy and education to our community, and you can tell that the staff really loves interacting with the guests and the animals. They have improved so much more since I was a kid, like the renovations on the African Safari and the Australian town. Don’t get me wrong, I am not all about bigger and better. Personally I think if you over-​improve things, it loses a lot of what made it special in the first place and then you alienate people (see Disney World). So I love that they have kept our favorite older exhibits too, like monkey island (although there never seems to be any monkeys in it), the penguins and of course the pony rides. The sea lions are a very fun attraction, with live feedings that the kids can watch. I was sad to see the zebra cars go, but they might have had a good reason for that. The train running around the perimeter and the petting zoo keep the feel of our charming Indiana heritage. We have so many fond family memories at this zoo, and with the direction it’s going, we’re sure to have many, many more with the future generations.

We had a great time at the Fort Wayne Zoo. Not a large zoo but very well done. They sell it as a children’s zoo and I would highly recommend it for kids. With that said this old ass enjoyed it very much also! Mostly good enclosures and good access to the animals. I was brought here a lot as a child and was a little sad to see the Jeep safari gone. The skytram thing wasn’t much to wrote home about and wouldn’t bother doing it again nor would I recommend it. A few zebras and the lions were the only animals you could see and it turns around in an industrial park. The log ride on the other hand we enjoyed. It showed the back of several enclosures so you could see the «inner workings» of the zoo. The people working were super nice from the front gate to the animal handlers. Don’t make to Fort Wayne but about every 20 years but it’s good to see its run well and look forward to another visit!

I would say this is a decent zoo I enjoyed it far more that the Indianapolis Zoo. The zoo has a smaller feel to which I actually liked, very nice landscaping and enclosures. The Sky Safari ride you really could skip unless you just want to sit and look at the zoo from afar you actually get a better view of some plant facility next door than you do the actual zoo. But, it was a nice breezy day and it was good to be off our feet for a bit. The ride I enjoyed the most was the river ride again you don’t see a lot but it has the feel of floating down a small river in the forest and again gives you time to relax. The kangaroo exhibit looked pretty cool but due to rain most everything moved inside. If you are in the area and looking for something to do you could spend a few hours here but that is about it really a small zoo.

My parents give our kids an annual zoo pass every year for Christmas and it is an amazing investment! It is so nice to have such a nice, kid friendly venue right here in Fort Wayne.

I grew up in Fort Wayne and came to the zoo as a kid. Now bringing my kids back is pretty awesome. One of the better zoos around!

We love the zoo. Its a grest place to spend the day or just a hour or two. I like that you are allowed to leave and have lunch in the park without any problems.

This zoo is fantastic by any standards. A great place to spend the day with the family. Very well done!

Went to visit the zoo for the first time and it was awesome. The design of the animal spaces, displays and interactive activities were great A special shout out to Danielle the carousel operator, she provided us access to the ride so we could take some pictures for our 15^th anniversary weekend in Ft Wayne.
Recommend visiting here anytime your in town!

The Fort Wayne Zoo is an absolute GEM. I spent 4 days visiting 4 zoos over July 4^th (Murica!) and the Fort Wayne zoo was the best. I went to Toledo, Akron, and Columbus before my stop in Fort Wayne and FW was the best. Yes, you read that right, The Fort Wayne Zoo is better than the Columbus Zoo.
First things first, they should take «Children’s» out of the title. When I saw that it was a children’s zoo, I figured it was going to be some ponies, some barnyard animals, and not much else. This is a full fledged zoo, and they should call it that.
The new African Journey area was awesome. A wide variety of animals but the highlight was definitely the giraffe platform. Now, I had fed giraffes the day before in Columbus, but the FW Zoo does it right. For a dollar, you can get a piece of lettuce, and if the giraffes feel like eating (which they usually do) they will come up to you and eat. If for some reason the giraffes don’t want to eat, you can just return your piece of lettuce and get your dollar back. But let me just put it this way, the giraffes like to eat, and I have no shame in admitting I spent $ 10 spoiling those things.
The Indonesian Rain Forest was full of spectacular animals and beautiful exhibits too. I didn’t spend too much time in the Australian Outback, but it looked pretty cool too.
I can’t wait to go back.

Love the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo! I have been to a number of zoos around the US and have to say that Fort Wayne has a top notch facility! This zoo takes good care of it’s grounds and there is much for a visitor to see and want to keep coming back.
The yearly membership is a good deal for those wanting to make a few trips during the year. Not only does the membership provide some special perks for this location, but a fifty percent discount to several other zoos in the nation.

This is a great zoo! My fiancé and I were in town on a business trip and went to this zoo. It is huge! They have a wide variety of animals, things to do, and the price was good. Definitely recommend this zoo!

If you have kids, live in Fort Wayne and can afford it, go for the season pass. Stop by for 30 minutes, an hour or a all day. If you have small kids like mine you can’t usually see the whole park in one visit (which is a good thing). Make sure to buy tokens, as the rides are a great way to take a little walking break every now and then.

This was a very nice zoo. The best I’ve been to so far and that includes the Atlanta Zoo, The National Zoo and the Indianapolis Zoo. It was busy the day we went but I never felt crowded. The layout is very nice and the best part was the ability to actually see the animals. The zoo was very clean and had plenty of shade for a hot day. We only did the water ride but really enjoyed it. The only thing I didn’t like was how far away it was. If it was closer I’d be going more often.

The BESSTTT Zoo i have ever been too. Talk about clean. and the amount of room and space for these animals. They really look happy. We went there last year. and had the best time. You can feed the Giraffes !!! that was one of my favorite things. The volunteers here are really passionate about their job and love to talk about the animals.
There is so much to do here, great for kids and adults. So well maintained and GREEN. It did not feel like we were walking from cage to cage — more like in the animals natural habitat. I also loved the Indiana Farm animals … They were so well cared for and you could pet all of them. The horses and donkeys so sweet. And feeding the goats was tooo fun! Seriously the BEST!!!

The Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo is truly a place that Fort Wayne can be proud of. Myself, like so many others, spent many days of childhood begging to go to the zoo. The park is extremely well laid out in a circular path that surrounds a monkey island and an amazing pond. Jetting off of the main circle are the various themed areas.
The first area one is likely to encounter is the African Journey. This part has gone under some major renovations in the last few years. The rocky area is beautifully done, and the glass enclosures ensure great pics of lions and the other animals. I don’t quite get the point of the ski lift, but oh well. I also have to mention that I am sad to see the African safari ride gone, but they make up for it with the ability to feed giraffes. (I wonder how much it would cost to get one of the out of commission jeeps from the old ride?)
The next area is the Indonesian Rain Forest. The biosphere is definitely a highlight, but the entire area is amazing and very informative. I haven’t been on the carousel in sometime, but it’s really cool. After spending some time in the rain forest, the sea lions, penguins and otters are worth a look. Following that is the Australian adventure which boasts a relaxing log ride, an aquarium building, bird atrium, and much more.
One of my favorite attractions is Little Poof, a play train that has much nostalgic memories stored within. It’s a lot of fun seeing my daughter in the same train I used to play in when I was small.
The Indiana Farm area is the «last» area besides the gift shop. It has many barn yard creatures such as horses, cows, pigs, and goats. The goat petting zoo is great fun. I wish to thank the staff member who coaxed the goats out just so my daughter could see them.
There’s a lot I haven’t mentioned, but discovering everything is part of the experience. I would encourage everyone to support the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo because it’s one of the best places in town for any age. We plan to go many more times this season.