Woodland Park Zoo

2/10/24 amazing destination for views and family. Friendly activities! My favorite exhibit was the red panda. Beautiful and so delicate, extravagant, and so rare.

The penguins are awesome, lively and fun to see


Would recommend coming early because symptoms it gets busy, they have drafts, rhinos, hippos, even some of the more rare, exotic animals from the Pacific Northwest like the grizzly bear.

Awesome gift shop and café available. Lots of benches to sit down.

The overall vibe here is extremely beautiful. It's urban, rustic and also you get a very strong sense of nature here. The animals have plenty of space to roam, and they have Komodo dragons! Doesn't get much better than that.
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Pro tip: get the Seattle city pass, and it includes admission!

My first visit to this zoo was great. I liked that I was able to purchase a ticket the day of. Parking was easy to find. They have a ticket machine where you have to purchase a ticket for the amount of hours you will be at the park. The staff was friendly. I took a quick glance at the map they provided at the entrance and started making my way around the park.

One of my favorite parts was the butterfly garden. It felt magical walking around and seeing so many different types of butterflies. You just have to be careful where you are stepping and making sure you don't accidentally take any with you as you exit. There's staff at the entry and exit that make sure they don't escape the garden.

I also loved seeing all the different types of birds. The gorillas were so beautiful and strong. The tigers were having a snack when I made my way down to their area. Their coats are really pretty to see in person.

This is definitely a great place to stop by with family to enjoy the day at the zoo. They also have places to get food and a gift shop. I would love to visit again when I am in town.

Surprisingly massive zoo with all the right critters: the heavy hitters like lions tigers bears gorillas and giraffes. The animals were very active and easy to spot, and the habitats that were empty (for cleaning or medical attention) were clearly marked.

We went during a slow time and enjoyed the majority of the place to ourselves. I highly recommend visiting during the Zoo Lights exhibit, which makes the walkways that much more enjoyable.

Minus one star because there was only one food plaza open for the entire zoo and the offerings were honestly really gross. Bring your own snacks or wait to eat out instead.

The Woodland Park Zoo is such a great place to visit! Parking was very easy for us to find (we went early in the morning) and the staff is so friendly!

During my June trip to Seattle, I decided to best utilize our visit by getting the Seattle CityPASS and the Zoo was one of the options listed. I'm so happy we chose it because it was conveniently located within a short driving distance from our Airbnb!

When we went, there were a ton of littles running around on what I assume would be field trips or summer trips but I thought that was really cute.

The animals here really do look like they're taken care of well and the workers are not only informative but extremely knowledgable of the animals and the zoo itself.

My daughter's favorite part is always visiting the gift store afterwards and getting to choose a stuffed animal to take home! We have one from every zoo we visit along with a t-shirt to represent!

Overall, such a fun place to visit with your family and a nice walk around the zoo!

An adequately sized zoo for Seattle that's great for kids, but probably leaves adults wanting more. The environment is definitely park-like and allows people to casually walk from one exhibit to another with ample room. The layout and signage are not as straightforward at times especially if aiming to target specific areas to maximize timing with young toddlers that tire quickly. Strollers and wagons definitely speed up the experience, but it's tough to find "parking" room at crowded exhibits.

Nevertheless there is just enough variety of animals. Timing is just key/luck as there's not much "action" for some of the more sought after ones. Food and refreshment-wise there's all the basic generic American food; better to bring your own packed lunch. The indoor dining area does not have good enough ventilation on a hot day, while outdoor tables are very crowded and limited at lunch hour. Overall quality is not bad, but the zoo can definitely kill half a day's time at least.

Tip: No need to park in the paid lot when there's plenty of free street parking early in the AM near the south and west entrances.

I've been a member here since 2020 and my kid still loves it. The park is always clean and maintained which I love. I've never met a staff member who appeared to be miserable. Everyone is helpful no matter where you are in the park. The volunteers are my favorite. They're also filled with awesome facts. Every time we come it's a different experience and a different map. In my opinion getting a membership pass is worth the price.

I love the area that the zoo is in. It's just a quiet neighborhood. It makes it feel more natural.

Parking is $6 for 2 hours, up to $12 a day. I thought that was a decent price, although I don't know why it isn't free. I parked in the Otter Lot and went in the West Entrance. The penguins are right there, so it's nice place to start and end your visit. I went during the day in November and there were only a few other cars there.

There weren't a lot of animals out, which I am assuming was because it was cold. We did get to see quite a few though.

The staff were all very friendly and helpful. The ones that walk around and talk about the animals were so informative! I really liked that we could ask questions and get to know more.

It isn't as stroller friendly as it could be. While there is quite a bit of smooth walking paths, there is also a lot of uneven ground. Also, some of the exhibits are made in such a way that a kid sitting in a stroller can't even see the animals. All they will see is a wood fence or whatever material is being used. This was disappointing as I do not want to have to unstrap the kid from the stroller and then re-strap every time they can't see.

I think the regular price is very high. I am happy that there are some discount programs, which you can read about on their website. This is more of a once a year activity for us because of the high price.

This is an awesome zoo! It is much larger than I was expecting and everything is spread out. It's definitely a lot of walking. But that's a good thing because we went on a day that had a lot of field trip visitors and we barely saw them.

The workers are knowledgeable and there's something for everyone! We loved the farm area and the gorillas were a hit, too.

There's a butterfly garden and more play areas. I think there's even a carousel but we didn't even get to that section before we had to leave.

The zoomazium is a nice air conditioned place to take your kids that are under 8 for them to play in a contained space. It was nice to have a break from the stroller.

The food is nothing to write home about. Definitely try to pack your own lunch, if possible.

If I was local, I'd definitely go back. So worth it, there's so much to see! As an added benefit, if you take public transit, there's a bus stop on the same street! Very convenient.

When I went, I didn't see much of anything. The zoo felt so empty of animals because most of them were in hiding. Some of the glass has designs on them so you don't get a clear view. The easiest animal to see was the penguins.

Review for Wild Lantern light festival rather than the actual zoo!

One random day, I decided to check out the website of Woodland Park for their well-known Wild Lantern lights as I've heard many great things about it! I noticed that the prices were going to increase the following week as it was going to be peak season, and that I wouldn't have time during the weekend to check it out... So I spontaneously bought tickets 2 hours before our time and dragged my boyfriend to go with me LOL.

It's located south of Greek Lake. There was paid on-site parking for $6 with ample stalls. There were also residential parking all around the outskirts of the park too. There were two entrances to enter from: either from the West entrance (huge ant walkthrough; where we also entered and exited) and the South entrance (where the Wistoria Flower walkway was)

I gotta hand it to the workers at the zoo for putting up all the lanterns! There were a LOT of different animal lanterns all around the zoo. I've never been to the zoo before and didn't realize how BIG the park was until I was walking around that night with my boyfriend. Really great workout, honestly! We both really enjoyed the lights around the park and took a ton of pictures. I especially loved how there were "walkway entrances" to the entirety of the zoo right as we entered. The fake wistoria flower walkway was BEAUTIFUL. You bet we got some nice couple pictures under there.

Additionally, there was a cultural performance happening every hour when we went. My boyfriend and I were able to make it to one of their performances, showcasing live traditional Chinese artistic performances. Huge applaud to the performers!

Definitely a great experience! Lots of exercising involved so wear comfortable shoes if you're planning a night with your significant other or family!