Elmwood Park Zoo

The Elmwood park zoo is small, but it’s really great. There have a lot of opportunities to get hands on with the animals (goats, sheep, giraffe feeding, birds, etc). Also, they have good food and picnic places to sit. This zoo is very unique and I can’t wait to go again.

I went here right after I found out I was pregnant and my daughter is now about to turn one so some time has passed. They may have made updates since then which I truly hope so. The cages were smaller than you’d want overall and in comparison to other zoos. The animals seemed healthy but you could tell they weren’t as well cared for as the ones in the Philly zoo. The prices were cheaper which may be why. They aren’t generating enough net income to properly care for them. I actually got in free because it was around Mother’s Day and I was pregnant. For those of you doing the math I was 6 weeks before I discovered I was pregnant and my daughter was 8 weeks early. There also wasn’t any food court open at the time so we couldn’t eat there. The staff seemed nice enough however and the place was clean. I may go back with my daughter if updated have been made.

I like how the animal cages are so close so you can actually see the animals even if they’re laying down.
It’s a great local zoo with giraffe feedings, rides, etc… though if you want to see elephants, zebras, lions, etc… you should go to the Philly Zoo. This zoo is honestly more for families with small kids.
Be warned if you are afraid of birds. They have huge hawks/​eagles/​etc that fly around.

We took our twins to the Elmwood Park Zoo this past weekend and enjoyed walking around and feeding the giraffes.
Pros: It didn’t feel too crowded, even though the parking lot was jammed. The carousel and other activities are a great break from walking around. Also, they do great activities– we took our niece there a few years back for their kid’s Halloween event. She loved it (and so did we).
Cons: Not as many animals as the major zoos and you leave feeling nickle and dimed. Yes, parking was free, but we had to pay to feed the giraffes and in looking at it, admissions isn’t much cheaper than the Philadelphia Zoo.
I recommend the EPZ for a day when you don’t want to head into the city or pay to go to the Philly Zoo, but keep in mind, the extra activities like giraffe feeding, carousel, and feed at the petting zoo cost extra and it can add up. It’s best for small children– older kids will get bored, easily, as the major zoo animals are MIA (there’s no lions, tigers, or bears!).

This zoo is fairly small but overall affordable and my little brother loved the park located inside the zoo.

Got the half course for tree top adventures at 4pm. Both the website and plaque at the front say it includes zoo admission. We get to the ticket booth and are told we have to pay for the zoo as well. They did not bend, did not offer a discount, nothing. two full priced tickets were paid. The writing on the wall literally said otherwise. Asst managers name was Julia.

I only came for the turtles and I got what I was lookin for.

Sad day. After reading reviews and going there I thought maybe I was on a different zoo. Took me 25 minutes to buy tickets and I was the second on line. Living quarters way to small. Most animals looked lethargic. Bisons (3) to big without space to move. Felines more than birds on that glass cage and do on. They deserve to be moved to larger facility and just keep smaller animals. Time for a peta visit

I’m a big time zoo goer. I’ve been to big zoos and small, this one definitely was small and for its size it’s not kept well maintenance. The enclosures looked cluttered and small for some of the animals. The capybara pond looked and smelled bad I know it’s a pond but dam clean it once in a while. The barn looks like it’s on its last leg green moss growing everywhere. I saw more spider webs on the barn owl enclosure then owls. There were to way many spiderwebs everywhere. Try to protect the bald eagle form all the vultures, when I saw him there were at least 15+ vultures in its enclosure. Poor eagle was trying to fly away from them. The workers witch all looked like teenagers were all walking in a group never saw them do something more then walk and talk. But the best experience is definitely feeding the giraffes. I gave them two starts because of it.

Came for an afternoon of fun!!! Got to feed giraffes for$ 3… Soooo happy I made the trip down. Staff members were knowledgeable and very kind!

I’m happy to leave a positive review for this well kept zoo. Yes it is small, not all zoos can be big. It’s obvious the animals are happy and well cared for. They have size appropriate pens and all appear pretty healthy and active which is always pleasing to see in comparison to the concrete cages of the animals at the Philadelphia zoo. The giraffe and bison feeding makes a visit well worth it. The staff was courteous and knowledgeable. The price isn’t bad, and you have to look at it as a contribution to caring for these animals. Perfect for a multi activity day.

I have gone to this zoo with my children and today I took my three grandchildren. There have
been many upgrades including the zip line which the children enjoyed. However, I have two comments to make. It was disappointing that you could only see the gifraffes from a distance unless you paid to feed them.
The second disappointment came when my young grandson and I paid a total of $ 8.00 for
the carousel ride. Much to my surprise we went around two times and the ride was stopped.
When I asked about this I was told that it was a timed ride run by an outside company.
Obviously, $ 8.00 isn’t a fortune but I feel they should post the duration of the ride if they plan to
make it that short. I felt that I was taken for a ride literally.
Sincerely Annoyed,
Judy O

I had never heard of the Elmwood Park Zoo, but decided to spring for the Living Social deal after asking around. After visiting, I’m not surprised why I never heard of it.
This is an extremely small zoo, suitable for small children and not much else. The highlight, and reason for visiting, is feeding the giraffes. If they aren’t there, or you can’t feed them, skip it.
This zoo has mastered the up charge. At nearly every turn there is another reason to spend money, and because of its small size it can’t be easily avoided like in other large zoos. The giraffe feeding ($ 3) is totally worth it. I believe you can feed parrots too, but they weren’t there yet for the season. All the other things feeding the chickens, feeding the barnyard animals, feeding the ducks, feeding the bison, the carousel, the pony rides and the train are all nonessentials in my opinion. We did the carousel only because it’s a thing we do in our family.
Even with feeding the giraffes and riding the carousel, not rushing we spent an hour and a half there. That also included downtime at the large playground in the middle of the zoo. We asked, but there was only one program that day despite having several arenas in the park, and we knew it wouldn’t interest our toddler so we didn’t stay for it.
In all we had a good time, but not worth traveling far.

Good, yet small zoo. Definitely nowhere near a full day, but it was fun while we were there. Got a Living Social deal that included the kids zip line adventure, so the price was definitely right.
My girls had such a fun time on the the course. It took just about an hour for our two 8 year olds to go through it. There was a bit of waiting on the child in front of us, but it went smoothly. There were enough employees on the course for support, but for the younger kids, they require an adult on the ground with them. The adults course looked super fun, but a little too high for me :) I’m a chicken.
The animals were fun, they had quite a few animals that I had never seen that up close before. The cougar was sleeping, but the jaguar was a little hot and kept pacing back and forth right in front of the cage. We were also pretty close to the flamingoes and swan! Oh, also I saw a few yellow and blue frogs that I had never seen before.
We didn’t do the giraffe or bison feeding because our times didn’t mesh and we spent over an hour doing the ropes course.
We had a ‘snack’ at the treetop café over near the zip line. The husband and one daughter had a corn dog– it definitely wasn’t just a regular frozen one. They both said it was good. One of the girls got chicken fingers. They weren’t anything special, but they filled her belly. I had sweet potato fries and they were decent. The husband and kids shared his most favorite fair food ever, fried Oreos. They said they were perfect. It was a tad hot for me to want some.
They also have a petrucci’s ice cream stand and we each had a delicious water ice.
It is right near the large playground. It seemed like lots of the kids enjoyed it. I tend to keep my kids off of playgrounds because they’re getting much bigger and when my kids were young I hated when big kids took over the playground.
The zoo was clean and well kept. There were lots of shade trees, but I can see that it would get super hot in the summer.
Overall, a good day.

A cheaper and easier alternative to the Philly Zoo for suburbanites.
This is nice little stop for the following:
1) People who live in the suburbs
2) Those with kids under 6
Elmwood is hidden out in the burbs but is very easy to get too with little traffic and free parking. It doesnt have nearly the size or variety of Philly zoo, but it also doesn’t have the crowd, traffic, or prices.
Military gets in for free, and everyone else gets in for a fair price. This place is small and you cant really spend more than 2 – 3 hours here. But aside from the animals, there is also a zip line, playground, and a few other rides and attractions for small kids.
Bring your own food and drink to avoid paying $ 3 for a small bottle of water. Do try the Deep Fried Oreos though!
Ameminities are a 3 star, but price and convenience bumps them up to a 4 star (if you’re one of the people I listed)

First time going took the the family. It’s a great little zoo. Clean good family fun for a few hours. Reason for four stars is was early in the season and some animals not site. Other then that great experience. Will go back!

went to a birthday party. the party room was filthy and was being set up AFTER the guests arrived. The «decorations» were tablecloths. The birthday cake which was provided by the zoo was damaged with a big gash in it. The animal encounter was a rodent and a turtle and the children were not allowed to go near them. Other zoos have animal encounter where you actually get to touch the animals.
The staff was totally disorganized, the food poor and the person in charge basically told the host (parents) too bad, this is how we do things.

I liked it here. I think its perfect for young children. Not too much to see so they don’t get overwhelmed and tired of walking. At the same just enough to keep them interested. We were disappointed that the giraffe was not present. Maybe it got moved to a warmer location for the winter? It was pretty warm still.
They had some nice playground. My kids spend another half an hour there. Since the time we went was around halloween, they had nice activities for kids all throughout as well as a corn maze and trick or treating. It was cute.
Slightly disappointed with food choices as the only thing that was offered was popcorn, hot dog and soda. Also, very disappointed with bathroom facilities, tiny and very dirty.
It was slightly overpriced, but worth it in my opinion. If you check in — you get an instant coupon for free childrens tickets with purchase of adult ones.

I echo Monique’s review below in that this is a reasonably price zoo that is good for small kids (6 & under) but you need to bring your own food and water, and avoid the café.
Staff are friendly and easy to talk to.
Giraffe feeding is $ 3.00 to feed them 2 pieces of romaine lettuce. Totally worth it!
They have 2 adorable giraffes.
Not a great zoo — very small — but good.

What can I say. Great zoo for family fun day. The animal’s are most of them are not sleeping and up and around. Most zoo’s alot of the animals sleep all day. Go to the Bathroom when you enter. Because there are none thru out the zoo. Parking is free, but get there when they open, because if you don’t, will have tuff time finding a place to park. been to many zoo’s and this is by far the best.