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Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium
Rating Details »
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
30 reviews for Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium
Point Defiance park itself is a beautiful setting for a zoo. Walking down from the parking lot, you are met with a vista filled by the zoo underneath, and the rest by a stunning view of south Puget Sound.
My boyfriend and I took my 3-year old niece for a play date with the animals. We enjoyed the elephant talk, the otters, the polar bear, and several other characters. There is a great play area for kids here they can spy meerkats and lemurs and climb on some playthings for awhile. We did enjoy the walk through the meandering paths, though my niece's toddler attention span kept asking "When are we going to see the penguins? When are we going to see the penguins?!"
A word to the wise: we went after 2:00 and because it was fall the park closed at 4:00 (mostly because the boyfriend and I are not morning people). This had its perks and it's drawbacks. We missed any shows on the big stage, and the budgie barn was closed (we were hoping to let my niece hold a popsicle stick full of seeds and have some friendly budges fly up to her and feed--she would have LOVED that). But, we did get to see so many animals at feeding time like the otters, and we saw the polar bear get up from a nap and walk over to the feeder for his late afternoon meal. I think polar bears are usually pretty sedentary if they don't need to hunt to feed their young. Also, it was not crowded at all.
I was disappointed to know the Beluga whales have moved form the neighborhood. I was so hoping to see their peaceful and serene smiling faces.
I will agree with other Yelpers--at the risk of anthropomorphizing--that many of the animals seem genuinely happy here. There was even a resident peacock that struts across the grounds, even the parking lot, and you can get great shots of or with him.
I still prefer Woodland Park Zoo to PDZA, but it is good to know we have a couple of great options in our area. Plus, I was able to use my AAA discount here and save a couple bucks off of each admission.
Color me underwhelmed.
I won't compare this zoo to Woodland Park, as they are two different animals, so to speak. :) I remember coming here as a child when visiting relatives and thinking this place is small! (to note, I grew up going to the San Diego Zoo)
So my sister and nephew wanted to check it out so we decided to make the trek. It's quite a drive from Seattle. Granted, the view from the zoo is top notch. Blue water, greenery, perfect Washington backdrop. But that's where my adoration for this place ends. The exhibits are lackluster at best. The only exhibit I really enjoyed was the walrus. We were lucky enough to go during feeding time. One of the them weighs 3000 lbs! My nephew hadn't seen a walrus before so he was enamored. Everything else wasn't that great.
If you want to see beautiful surroundings, head to Point Defiance. If you want to go to a good zoo, I may suggest elsewhere.
OK, so I have to say that I would make the drive to Seattle on most days that the kidlet wanted to go to the zoo.
Then PDZA got Aye-ayes. I'm severely into primates, my current major in college deals with them, and these are hands down my favorite ones for their peculiar adaptations. Their updated kids area, which houses the lemurs as well as some other animals and a petting area is great, my daughter loves it there.
PDZA has the advantage of being a zoo and aquarium in one, as well as having free parking (or in my case, being walking distance from the house!) Beware the free parking though, in some cases, like on nice summer days and nice summer day weekends most of all, it can be hard to find a spot. That's OK though, because they're also on two major bus lines that run with a pretty decent frequency at peak times of the day and every 30 minutes otherwise, the routes being Pierce Transit routes 10 and 11.
For being a small zoo, they have pretty good exhibits, and plenty to see. All the plants in the zoo are labeled so you can take a look at them as well as the other organisms around the zoo. You can easily make a day out of going to the zoo then roaming around Pt. Defiance park, and it will all be pretty inexpensive. They also seem to be getting new exhibits lately, last year with the lemurs and this year with the budgies. They even have admission discounts for Pierce County residents (currently it looks like it saves you $2 bucks per ticket.)
My wife and I spent a few hours here today and it is one of our favorite zoo's. We have been to about 7 other zoo's including LA and San Diego and Phx. It just seemed like the animals where happier and out more then any other place, maybe we just got lucky. Our only complaint was that it didnt have more animals, if it gets maybe some more bears or big cats it would put it over the top, but we would love to come back. There was alot of different activities and things going on all thru the zoo also.
Today I was sad; the Beluga Whales moved to the San Antonio Sea World. This was my favorite part of the PDZA and they have been replaced with harbor seals?! You can see those in the sound! (The whales are still on the zoo map even though they are not there!) Other than that, the zoo has grown since I last visited AND for five bucks you can ride a camel (every kid's dream right?). Be sure to check out the walrus presentation (who knew walrus' whistle; try saying that ten times fast). Overall, a good way to spend a sunny day. The view is spectacular and the hot dogs are good too!
Love this place! Used to be a member of Woodland Park but since we moved down South we have been members here. Parking is free and if you plan on going more than once (or plan on going to zoo lights - which is awesome - but was closed due to weather most of Holiday 2008) BUY an Annual Membership. The membership is so worth the price!
It is a fun couple of hours going to the aquarium and zoo and you can easily do the whole place (unlike Woodland Park Zoo) in a couple of hours (I'm not one for spending my entire day somewhere). Our favorite is the beluga whale (but unfortunately 1 died after our last visit and the other one is being moved very soon to some sort of whale refuge). We will definitely miss the whales and hope that they get new ones soon!
A nice and small zoo..we have been here a handful of times. The sad part is that most the animals(especially the penguins and the polar bears) look sooo sad. They rake in alot of doe there and could have vamped up the habitats by now. they need a place for the penguins like on good luck chuck.
Also the beluga whales are gone, which was one of my very favorite things to see. :(
The bright side is that the Sea otters are adorable and look happy! The show is fun too see the first few times and the keepers are very cool!
This is more "Aquarium" than "zoo." We saw more water-animals than land animals and while I usually don't mind seeing aquatic animals, it just got boring after a while. I had high hopes for this place and I have to admit I was let down.
The place in general is nice, it's very clean and good looking.
It's the animals I feel bad for. I felt SO depressed for the land animals. Their "homes" were TINY! Some of the enclosures were the size of my friggin bedroom =/ I mean these are animals. They are used to wide open spaces aren't they?? Most of the animals I saw were bored shitless, no where to be seen or looked like they were going crazy. The two elephants they had; one was just standing there shaking his head back and forth and the other one for a minute there, we thought it was dead. It was laying on the ground, not moving. And it made me wonder how the hell it was even going to get back onto all fours. I mean imagine an obese person trying to sit on their own...
It just got worse and worse as we saw more and more smaller enclosures for animals. No wonder some animals looked like they were dead; they probably wished they were, having to be locked up in a much-too-tiny area.
The water animals were nice. It was nice to see the beluga whale before he got shipped off to Seaworld. And the walruses were HUGE! At least THEY looked happy in their enclosures.
I doubt I will be coming back to this zoo. I mean the price is nice and the free parking is even better but the depressed animals and too-small-spaces for them is enough to keep me away. And If I pay to see animals, I want to see wild, exotic animals that I don't see everyday or can find in my backyard. Like seriously? A rat?!? They had rats on display. Ok...as interesting as they are, if I wanted to see rats, I rather not have to pay $11 bucks to see them when there are some perfectly wild ones sneaking around in my backyard.
And they had a raven. A RAVEN! At first glance I thought "Oh look, a crow got into the cage by mistake, I wonder how it's going to get out..." Then my bf told me was a raven. And I had a WTF look on my face. A raven! A raven is a bigger version of a frickin crow! WTF dude?!?
I'm paying damn near $5o bucks for three people to see some rats and a friggin crow and some fish that I can freakin see at the lake....
Oh woodland zoo...as much as I hate the crowds that you have, oh how much I miss thee. Next time I will most def be going to woodland park. Their overall atmosphere feels more like an area where you would really find exotic panthers and huge boas and bats. They have huge wild vegetation that makes the place feel more like an natural environment for animals. And they actually have interesting animals! And big real-looking homes for their animals. It doesn't feel like a "prison"
This zoo is definitely one of the underrated gems of the Tacoma area. The waterfront location is gorgeous. The zoo itself has some really cool exhibits such as the polar bear area among others, and the park areas also have some nice rose gardens among other things. I have a lot of cool childhood memories here, and I've never left disappointed.
Look... There are two types of zoos. Those that are HUGE, filled with thousands of animals and hundreds of species and thousands of people. Then there are the small zoos with sub-standard exhibits and next to no visitors. The Tacoma Zoo sits squarely in the middle, and that's a good thing! Parking was easy, getting into the zoo was a non-event (no long lines) and the exhibits were clean and well thought out. The aquarium was actually much nicer than I thought it would be and although small, it's very well done with a lower-level viewing area. Quite honestly the Tacoma Zoo is very underrated. If you're near the zoo, I would definitely recommend it. If you're deciding between this and Woodland Park, I would probably visit Woodland as it's a much larger zoo. Finally I recommend http://zoocoupons.org/... for coupons to save on admission.
In summary (For those too lazy to read - you know who you are) VERY nice zoo, well thought out exhibits and definitely worth the time to visit. You will not be let down.
This place is cute. Its small, clean and fun. Honestly, I thought I wasn't going to like it, but I have to say I would love to come back here! A little pricey, but it was fun. I like this zoo way better than Woodland Zoo in Seattle. This place has a lot more to see in a small area....and a cool Aquarium. I like how it has a kids play area for the kids to unwind a little bit. The only thing I don't like is the parking. I had a difficult time looking for a space so I had to drive down the park and walk up the steep hill. Other than that, Point Definace is a wonderful Tacoma surprise!
Absolutely beautiful zoo -- the walkway layout and landscaping is very aesthetically pleasing, and most importantly of all, the animals have large, diverse, clean and interesting habitats. Most of the exhibits feature some sort of water element, often changing form within the habitat from shallow rocky stream to deep pool. Neat! All animals looked very happy, especially the Beluga whales. (Although that might be because Belugas just look like they're smiling all the time anyway.)
I thought the Beluga/walrus/puffin exhibit was very well constructed, giving both above-water and below-water views of the animals, but still providing for refuge areas, especially in the walrus habitat.
Restrooms were clean, and parking is free. (Yay!)
What a place for a wedding. The ceremony overlooks the Sound from way up on a hill then you walk down into the zoo to a "tucked away" reception. I'm surprised how well gin, tonics, tigers, and monkeys mix.
I'll be looking out for other sorts of parties one can attend. I dig the notion of zoo parties. I wonder if the dancing music upset the tiger or maybe he just jigged along.
I have always wanted to go here to see the Balugas. I started begging my parents when I was 5-6, and they never took me.
I'm 21 now, and finally got to make the venture down south, and I must say, I was definitely not disappointed.
The zoo is smaller than Woodland park, yes. But the aquarium was far, far better than the Seattle aquarium (beautiful exhibits, and REAL SHARKS! Lots of seahorses of all different kinds, unlike the whopping 3 seahorses at the Seattle aquarium) and the zoo also had beautiful exhibits.
I had wanted to see the Balugas for so long I seriously almost cried when I saw them, they were so chipper and cute.
A lot of the animals were sleeping, but at least you could see them, the last time I was at Woodland Park I swear that half the animals were off display.
I'm totally in love with the place and will definitely be back!
This little zoo truly cares about its charges! The animals are happy, healthy and well taken care of. A Very kid friendly place! The Zoo & Aquarium is in the heart of Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, Washington. Parking can be an issue, so go early in the day if you the have time. The information panels are very informative with beautiful photographs of the animals on each one. If you are ever in the Tacoma area swing by, its worth it! Have fun! You can also easily make a day of going to the Zoo and then the museums district in Downtown Tacoma.
No disrespect to Woodland Park Zoo (http://www.yelp.com/bi...), but I think PDZA actually edges them out. If I could give 4.5 stars, I would. Perhaps the novelty of the experience will wear off and I'll revise the rating down to 4 stars later.
But for now, PDZA is looking pretty good. Of course, it's a little unfair that they're packing both a zoo and an aquarium into the same package. I suppose if you took the Seattle Aquarium (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) and smashed it together with WPZ, then you'd be talking about a fair fight.
And we didn't even get to the aquarium side of PDZA today. But boy, the walruses, beluga, polar bear kick some serious butt.
PDZA vs. WPZ--both have:
- A kiddie play area.
- Proximity to a really large park.
- Loud peacocks.
- Penguins.
- Elephants.
- Many other animals in common.
PDZA pluses:
- Free parking.
- One-stop shop zoo plus aquarium.
- Walruses, beluga, and polar bears--oh my.
- More reasonable food prices.
WPZ pluses:
- So close to our house that we can sometimes hear the siamangs in the morning.
- Possibly fewer crows attacking unattended food.
- Actually saw the Violent Femmes there during the summer concert series.
Hmm--maybe it's four stars for both after all...
We loved this zoo! I especially loved the Beluga Whales and how close you could get to them.
The set up is a little hard on ones knees (the hills!) but it's well worth it. I loved the more natural setups for the animal habitats than I have seen in previous Zoo's and that some of the older Zoo's are moving towards (think Philadelphia - if you haven't been - GO!). The presentations they do every few hours were great, I actually got my daughter to sit through an entire show!
There were a couple of downsides. One being that I felt the Whales didn't have enough space in their display tank. Another one is that there are very few benches to sit and rest along the paths. A rest room at the far end of the Zoo would also be nice, especially since a lot of moms and mommy groups go there and sometimes it's not worth it to go back to an exhibit when you have to go so far to change a dirty diaper.
Other than that, I love PDZA!
This zoo isn't that big but if you are a fan of aquatic stuff this is a must see! There is an AWESOME shark exhibit full of different species of sharks and a pretty good sized aquarium full of fish, octopus, pahranas, MORE sharks and other salt water life forms. The zoo is easy to walk around since it isn't that big and the staff do a good job of keeping the grounds clean as well as the animals cages. Great place to take the kids for an afternoon. Oh and during the holidays you MUST check out zoo lights. I am not a fan of all the xmas stuff but it is a nice treat for the eyes.
I love this zoo. I grew up in Portland and spent a lot of time at the Washington Park Zoo (now the Oregon Zoo), which is one of the great US zoos. PDZA takes the best of the Oregon Zoo and others and distills them into a very walkable, very family-friendly zoo that can hold the interest of everyone from 2-year-olds to 80-year-olds.
Some of the highlights:
- the new carousel
- kid zone
- ET the walrus
- the view of Mt. Rainier and Puget Sound
- free-range peacocks
- the walking paths
Grab a family membership and don't forget to add on the Northwest Trek membership, too.
I came here this past weekend (2/24/2008) with one of my best girlfriends, her hubby, my almost two yr. old niece and the newest addition, my two month old niece. It was a blast and the perfect experience for the kiddos.
Some Highlights:
Free Parking!
Roaming Peacocks
Kid zone....though a bit intimidating.
5 Mile drive pre-zoo
Jelly Fish in neon lighting!!
The whale and walruses
Some really crazy looking sea horses
The Polar Bears were "not making an appearance", the Red Wolf was napping and I didn't get to see the elephants. (Insert kiddy foot stomp and quivering lower lip.) Yes, I was disappointed but with all the said highlights, I walked outta that zoo with an obtuse amount of pictures, a smile and a very sore right arm. (Held the babe for half the trip!).
The aquarium offers a birds eye view into the water with the availability to walk down and view all the sea life through glass windows down stairs. You'll get to see an assortment of humongous fishies, sharks, manta-rays, HUGE starfish and lots of other aquatic creatures.
Also, it was nice to review some animal facts that I had learned when I was o', 9 and had forgotten. Example? The father seahorse actually produces the babies! Take that mankind. Is that not awesome?
The drive into the zoo is really nice and calming. There is even a beach that you can drive down to if you opt for the 5 mile (I can be wrong about how many miles it is) drive. There's also a really nice rose garden that would probably be great in the summer and a cool looking Asian park.
If you love animals and appreciate quality time, don't forget to attend this fabulous past time.
Overall: A decent zoo, but not spectacular and the cafe is somewhat dire
We finally got around to visiting this place (after getting a 1 year membership to enter this place and the NWtrek wildlife park).
The directions on their website were quite good, however the route gets quite busy. On arriving to the park, we saw signposts clearly marked for the parking lots. It is only the end of April (i.e. not peak summer time) and the car park was FULL!!!! We had to drive around about 2-3 times to get a space. I think if you blink, you will miss a car coming out and someone else will take the spot.
On arriving to the entrance gates, there was a special line/queue for people who have membership, which makes things move a lot quicker.
The restrooms (just after the entrance) were quite clean. Most things in there were automatic (a HUGE PLUS for good hygiene in my opinion).
This place as you can imagine is full of families and kids. It was very busy and it is only late April, I dread to think what it would be like in summer!
The cafe at the entrance was awful - the air was tainted by a thick smog of oil and the remnants of tomato ketchup smeared on tables and chairs, which had not been thoroughly cleaned. We were a bit peckish, although the selection was relatively decent, none of it suited our taste. They supplied prepacked sandwiches (how long they have been there, I don't know) all on white bread, numerous packets of potato chips in various sizes, candy bars, ice cream, prepared salads (which looked awful), fizzy pop as well as the cooked fayre, such as fish 'n' chips, burgers etc. We soon hurried out of this place empty handed.
We saw many things including elephants, tigers, monkeys (various sorts), tapirs, otters (various sorts), penguins, red wolves, beluga whale, walruses, seahorse (various sorts), clownfish, lots of other fish, jelly fish, tiny sharks, sea slugs, sea urchins, horseshoe crab, owls (various sorts), polar bears and reindeer.
The aquarium was small and a bit dissappointing. However, the best bit here was the central tank, which had sealife that can be found around the Puget Sound area - here there were huge and I mean HUGE starfish, tiny sharks and numerous other aquatic creatures. The seahorses were also pretty awesome, check out the tiny biddy seahorses which are only the size of a quarter. Today, this tank had many tiny babies floating around (looked a bit like sea-monkeys!)
On the whole it is worth the visit if you can find a parking space. However, it will be unlikely I would visit again, even on my yearly membership pass. The NWtrek Wildlife park was so much better, less busy and generally more enjoyable. Also the Woodland zoo in Seattle was more enjoyable.
i don't like zoos; i prefer sanctuaries. some zoos are decent in their shelter and treatment of animals, but point defiance sucks. i went 7 or so years ago, so i don't know if they've turned it around. i've wanted to see the gibbons but was afraid their enclosures and enrichment would be poor and i didn't want to give them any more money.
the zoo overall had poor enclosures and enrichment for the animals. in particular i remember the elephants, who had nothing around as enrichment except a ball they weren't interested in. they were pacing forward and backward over and over, which is a sign of boredom, distress, and psychological issues. one of the big cats also stands out in my mind. it kept pacing in triangle shape in the enclosure and to the glass, to the point where there were permanent scuff marks where she/he kept hitting her/his nose against the glass.
this place was sad for the animals and i was horrified to hear that Bamboo the elephent from Woodland Park Zoo was going to be transferred to this crappy place.
they should shut it down and send all the animals to sanctuaries to live out their lives in peace.
zoos exist to make money whereas sanctuaries exist to find homes for animals. some zoos have decent enough enclosures and do some conversation and education programs, like woodland park. but point defiance seems to exist to make profit. what a depressing place. i'll never go back there again, except perhaps to free the animals.
This is part of the Port Defiance Park, but it needs a separate mention. This is a nice zoo and aquarium. Exhibits are well described, easy to find, and there's a nice variety.
I especially enjoyed the naked mole rat exhibit. Those little critters were crawling over each other to get through the maze. Entertaining!
Price is good and you can easily spend hours here.
FOND FOND FOND childhood memories of this zoo. I always loved the polar bears, how they'd swim right past your face so you could see how tall they were. The glow in the dark scorpions. The petting areas. The monkey house. Listen man, if you're a scientist you won't be impressed. But if you love animals and have a little bit of kid left in you, you will not be dissapointed.
My dad and I use to spend the whole day at Point Defiance. This is also the spot I took my first real boyfriend on our first date. It's really special and always fun. The polar bears! The whales! The walrus! The elephants! I love it here.
Smaller than the Woodland Park Zoo, but has an aquarium, so the variety of things to do and see was at least equal. We had a lot of fun!
Over the years this place has grown and is now certainly as good as the Woodland Park Zoo. The Aquarium is awesome, the polar bears magnificent, belugas are beautiful.. The Arctic Tundra is one of my favorite places to walk through and it's a relief to find a place that has parking available. It's a big full lot, but something is always open. Point Defiance is a gorgeous place to spend the day.
I love this zoo and it has recently been further updated to give Woodland Park a run for its money. The admission price is $9 per person and has both a zoo and an aquarium. For the price, its a great zoo. You dont have to pay for parking and you get the best of both worlds. They do have beluga whales as well and an underground viewing area to watch them. I would agree that this aquarium is much better then Seattles. Somthing to think about though, is the Seattle Aquarium is geared towards marine life in Puget Sound. However, I think Woodland Park is a better zoo.
Here's a place where Tacoma outshines Seattle: Their aquarium is much more interesting, and the zoo part of the equation is just as good if not better than the Woodland Park Zoo. Some of my favorite parts include the extensive, newer sea horse exhibit; the trippy, out-of-this-world jelly fish exhibit; and the polar bears that you can watch both under and above the water.
A fabulous zoo and worth the drive and price of admission. Perhaps less crowded than the Woodland Park and Tacoma has plenty of charm with it's waterfront locale. Make a whole day of it and visit Old Town!