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Turtle Back Zoo
Rating Details »
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
5 reviews for Turtle Back Zoo
A zoo in our local area is great! This is suprisingly nice and has improved over the years. cost is relatively inexpensive...$8 for adults, kids under 3 go free. The zoo is small so you can complete in three hours. Just perfect for young children. The carousel is the highlight for my kids....where else can you find a carousel in your neighborhood? T
They also added a section near the farm where you will see 2 bald eagles, a bobcat, a falcon and a porcupine. They added these huge sunflowers around the prairie dogs which makes the exhibit fun-looking.
Years ago, this zoo was just animals and a train ride but now, it has the carousel, a playground, an aviary (outback adventure) where you could feed the birds with these feeder sticks and see wallabys and kangaroos. Be aware that there is a cost for the carousel and for feeding the birds , $2 for a ride for the adult and child and $2 per stick to feed the birds. A cafe is available for food but you can also bring your food to have a picnic. If you don't crave the zoo cafe food, what I did is took a short drive to the Short Hills mall and ate at CPK.
Wonderful zoo, as you can see by fellow posters, a definite workout to get to the petting zoo on the very top of the hill... I became a member and it is worth it especially if your children like train rides because they are included in the admission. Tuesday after 2pm it is free to the public! Playground is there, but it is closed often, because they usually need someone over there to control the traffic.. check it out! carousel is extra.
Really nice, clean little zoo. The weather was not too nice when we went, so we almost had the place to ourselves. Loved the peacocks strutting around like the owned the place. Unfortunately the train was not going that day, although we were told when we bought our tickets. Not a problem to walk, it's not too big, but the train would have been fun. We were there around feeding time, it was neat to watch the turtles all munching on a huge salad with their long necks outstretched. The black bears had an enormous yard to roam in, we saw them scale up a tree in seconds. Sea otters were so cute and were so happy to be splashing around in the water. The multi colored canaries were beautiful, nice surprise to have them surround you when you walked into their open air cage. Most of the animals had plenty of room to roam around and had a somewhat natural habitat except the monkeys who were in a concrete cage and looked sad.
Huge free parking lot.........Good place for adults and children to visit
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Turtle Back Zoo!
Doesn't that sound like a fun place? Ever since I drove by this zoo a number of years ago, I've been wanting to go. But then, how much fun can a zoo located in a residential part of New Jersey really be? So, even though the name intrigued me, I never made the effort to go.
Until Memorial Day 2008!
Now, Turtle Back is no Bronx Zoo (NY) or San Diego Zoo (CA) or even a Northwest Trek (WA). It's a fun family zoo that's very low key and not crowded. You'll find white peacocks and iridescent peacocks freely roaming the grounds. Bobcats, cougars, hawks, pythons, bison, alligators, otters, monkeys and penguins! There's even a pony ride for the kids or take a short train ride around a reservoir at a station aptly named Turtle Junction. The ride is very serene and very peaceful.
Now, where would Turtle Back Zoo be without a turtle! There was one land turtle in a glass enclosed pen... who kept following me around. Fast turtle or was I just slow? hm..
Ice cream is $2.50. Adults tickets are $8, kids are $4. Strollers rent for $2. Bring food and picnic in the zoo.
Great relaxing fun. Low crowds. Very serene.
Pictures:
Penguin!: http://www.yelp.com/bi...
Sleepy Monkey: http://www.yelp.com/bi...
Turtle Back Junction: http://www.yelp.com/bi...
Speedy Sheldon: http://www.yelp.com/bi...
review 6/4/2008
I.M.Y.
People thought this was:
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This is a nice little Zoo! It's great for small kids or the elderly because it doesn't take too long to see the whole thing. Small kids tend to have short attention spans and get tired eventually so this place is great for them. I once brought an elderly Friend here he was 93 and he did just fine walking the entire expanse of the place. It was a nice day out and he got a real kick out of the peacocks walking around free among the people, so that was pretty cool. South Mountain Reservation is also very near by which has different areas and hikes, I'd say South Mountain reservation is more for able bodied people with some endurance though. I recommend both the Zoo and the S.M. Reservation.