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Akron Zoological Park
- Hours:
Mon-Sun 10 am - 5 pm
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
13 reviews for Akron Zoological Park
13 reviews in English
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Review from Jeanie S.
Kent, OH
3/21/2012 2 Check-ins Here
Awesome zoo. Small but that is great for our 3 and 4 year olds, just enough to keep them interested and they can walk the whole thing and be just tired enough. We have a family pass and have had one since we moved to NEO in 2009.
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Review from Nick K.
The Akron Zoo seemed like the little zoo when I was growing up. If we wanted to check a zoo out, we'd head to Cleveland or Columbus. Now, living in Akron with our 7 year old son, we've been members of the Akron Zoo for 6 years. We love it!
The exhibits are fresh and engaging. The zoo itself is always clean, safe and full of fun activities.
The other benefit is that it's more of a half-day excursion. We can drive there in 10 minutes and see everything we want to see in 3 hours.
My only complaint is the exit through the gift shop. What a drag to look at every possible animal stuffed animal on the planet when you've been in the sun for 3 hours and you're hungry!
Check out the zoo if you haven't been there recently and if you have, go more often! -
Review from Kaitlyn D.
Miami, FL
7/11/2011
I'm feeling nice today, so I'm giving out 4 stars.
It's a small zoo, but hey it's Akron. You can walk through every exhibit in about 30 minutes. They have a really pretty garden, also. Out of all the times that I have been there it was never crowded.
Food and drinks are overpriced as usual, but everything is nowadays, so this is nothing new.
I still would rather take go the extra few miles to go to the Cleveland zoo any day, you get more bang for your buck. -
Review from Mike P.
Broadview Heights, OH
Came here today for the grand reopening of Farmland. The new Farmland looks and feels great. Red barn buildings and brand new wooden fences give it that Midwestern and or Ohioan farm look that's dying to be lived in used up. There's plenty of sheep and goats waiting to be fed, and for $1.00 per Wasa like cracker you may feed these seemingly hungry critters. The barn owls have been relocated to what used to be the garden shed exhibit, which is now part of the new Farmland. Not sure what happened to the rabbits and bunnies though.
Probably the big deal item of Farmland is the train. Well its not really a train because there's no steel tracks. Rather its a train on tires, similar to a tram or a bunch of golf carts linked together. Its got the locomotive engine, several box cars and a caboose. The course is bell bar shaped. and the straightaway goes through a red barn tunnel. We've noticed the ride goes around the course two times for each ticket purchase, though we don't know how much the tickets cost. Inside one of the loops are chickens and roosters, and yes they have been noisy when we got there to check it out. Finally, we noticed solar panels on the roof of the entrance to the train ride, so they're serious about the green thing.
Even though today was the grand reopening, it looks like they're going to add more items and exhibits, as well as have a vegetable garden. Check it out!
Passed up a large sign telling about a new exhibit in the works. A grizzly bear exhibit, which is to open in 2013. Don't know the details about that, though we suspect it will be about grizzly bears as well as other mountain animals.
Matter of fact, the area where the old train used to be is getting fixed up but we don't know what they're going to do with that area.
Most of the animal exhibits are up and running. The penguins never disappoint. The snow leopards were very active. The blue parrots have returned to the outdoor cage by the bat exhibit.
The new Farmland wont break sounding too good promises like a politician elected on religious and personal issues.... I I I I I I I mean wont disappoint! Check it out! Keep the cameras and cell phones away from the goats and sheep....weve seen them go after other people's stuff that got too close!!Listed in: Great times along the 8, Penguin place
6 Previous Reviews: Show all »
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12/17/2010
The cold and snow wont stop the action at the Akron Zoo. The lions, tigers, snow leopard, barking… Read more »
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Review from Scott S.
Girard, OH
Updated - 2/22/2011
So we decided to take advantage of the warmer weather on Fri (was in low 50's) and took the kids back to the zoo.
What a great way to spend a day outdoors with the family. Given the season, some of the exhibits are closed because the animals can't handle the terrible NE Ohio winter weather but we enjoyed the day nonetheless. By the way, today it is 18 degrees and we got about 6 inches of snow on the ground over the last 24 hours. Crazy Ohio weather!!Listed in: Kid Friendly Places
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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8/16/2010
Was a great time although I agree with the other reviews that it is NOT a very big zoo...but fun… Read more »
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Review from amanda g.
Akron, OH
6/25/2011
I'm a nanny and know most of the children's places in Northeast Ohio. For the kids, the Akron Zoo is a zoo - the kiddos love the animals. They don't know much difference between the Akron and Cleveland zoos, for example. What stands out here is a pretty garden, some cool penguins, and its proximity to Akron residents vs. the Cleveland Zoo.
There's a zoo show that costs additional money (even to membership holders, like myself) and a new petting zoo area that is hard to navigate. The whole zoo is very small, and with the Cleveland Zoo so close, we usually end up going there. If you're just looking for something to do for half a day and you're local, the Akron Zoo works. Pack a lunch because you don't want to get stuck purchasing lunch or even snacks at the Zoo's cafeteria or stands. The prices are not reasonable.
Usually I find the Zoo uncomfortably crowded with stroller jams and children running all over. If you're there on a field trip day, you're in big trouble. I often find it difficult to let my littlest ones enjoy the exhibits because of the crowds blocking their view.
While I take my kids to the Akron Zoo, I'd choose Cleveland any day. The scenery change is nice, and you can't beat the location, but that's about it. -
Review from Michael H.
Kent, OH
This zoo is fantastic. It's usually not too crowded and the exhibits are neat, clean, and easy to get to.
It is small, but I consider that a perk. We can take the fam out and do the whole thing in a few hours. A giant zoo is nice but if you just want a fun outing and not a big 'ol trip, this is the place to go.
The penguin exhibit is a big hit for the kiddos as they can interact with the swimming penguins through the glass.
At the moment, they also have a nifty jellies exhibit, too. -
Review from deborah l.
Massillon, OH
3/30/2010
I agree that is is not a BIG zoo, but it packs a wallop for getting UP CLOSE to the animals and the logical path through the exhibits was VERY helpful. We saw EVERYTHING there was to see and loved it.
My kids and I used to belong to the SF zoo when they were little. Since they were out here on college spring break we visited this zoo and the one in Cleveland. We loved them both for different reasons.
This zoo was wonderful for getting up close photos of the animals. Just glass between us and the big cats and other animals... awesome.Listed in: My Neighborhood
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Review from michael k.
Massillon, OH
It's a pretty nice zoo, I would like to see them get giraffe's, polar bears, etc.. But it's closer to my house than cleveland and the kids still seem to enjoy it
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Review from Yvone R.
Ravenna, OH
8/15/2011 1 Check-in Here
Love it! Our family can usually finish this zoo in 3 hours or less and that is including a lunch break. It's a nice small zoo and more intimate than the Cleveland zoo. They have penguins when you first enter and all the kids flock to the glass window. It's wonderful here. Clean and neat. Very helpful staff. Even the bathrooms are nice. We come here at least twice a year.
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Review from Ethel L.
Kent, OH
2/23/2010
This is not the biggest or the best zoo I've ever been to... but c'mon, we're in Akron - let's talk about reasonable expectations. We just finally went for the first time, and we loved it, and so did our 2-year old. It's small enough that you don't feel like you've killed yourself trying to see the whole thing, and your kids won't get crabby from the walking either. You can see most animals much closer than you would in any other zoo. We loved the penguins, the bats, the jellyfish - it's true that there aren't any of the really "big" animals, but there is great variety. We probably spent about two hours there, saw almost everything, and had a great time. I lived in San Diego for 8 years, had a membership to the zoo there for several of those, and although we always enjoyed it I really preferred the more intimate feeling of the Akron zoo for our family visit.
The gift shop was wonderful too - not just tshirts and stuffed animals, but great puzzles and other toys for kids and adults, and most were very reasonably priced compared to other zoos I've been to.
The only down side for me was that the big cat enclosures were just a little too small - the tiger and lions just don't have that much room to run around. They were nicer than a typical concrete cell, but not as spacious as I'm accustomed to seeing. -
Review from Marti C.
6/28/2008
I just took my nephew (7) there a few days ago. We went to see the jellyfish exhibit. It's a decent zoo. He was happy we went, even though there isn't a great variety of animals. It's clean, well-tended and there are lots of informational talks and tours. The staff was knowledgeable and friendly.
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Review from Adam B.
8/11/2008
I have to give props to whoever designed the gardens, architecture, and overall aesthetic of this place. It appears relatively new, well-kept, and clean, presenting as an oddly green swath amidst what is generally a seemingly ghetto area of Akron. However, and this is me being absolutely honest, I don't come to a zoo to see the gardens.
Or the stonework of the buildings.
Or the well-manicured front lawn.
Perhaps the Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, and San Diego zoos have spoiled me in regard to my zoological expectations, but I couldn't help but feel pretty disenchanted throughout my experience here. We wanted to bring our one-year-old daughter along for her first real "zoo" experience, but couldn't help feeling kind of sad the entire time. For starters, this place is small. If you booked it, you could probably hit most of the exhibits in about 45 minutes to an hour. Their lions, separated from goats by a glass wall (hello, genius!), back up against their tiger pen, lending the onlooker a general sense of feline malaise, first among those with manes, and then the striped version. No elephants, no giraffes, no hippos, no polar bears. In general, the usual array of animals one comes to hope for in a zoo's collection is greatly unrepresented. They do, however, have an American donkey, just in case you've never viewed an ass in the wild.
Small, cramped, overpriced for what it is.
However, the plants look nice.
