Louisville Zoo

Do not bother visiting the Louisville Zoo. We walked around from 10am-​1pm and only saw a handful of animals. The majority of the exhibits were temporarily closed, and all the concession stands were closed too. Perhaps we were spoiled by the San Diego Zoo

Wow not what I expected at all! A really modern, clean zoo designed with both people and animals in mind. Headed over in the rain and chill but during the drizzle plenty of inside places to see. I thought the gorilla enclosure was the best display of all-​they are right there just feet away.
Enjoyed the reptile exhibits (Mouse was a good sport about it) the white alligator is very interesting and by far the fattest Eastern Diamondback I have ever seen in my life is there as well.
Laughed at the seal and sea lion-​they kept coming right up to me-​have to think their trainer (aka feeder) is a round faced bald guy who looks a lot like me.
Sorry I missed the bird exhibits (seasonal thing) but I still got a good view of the Lorries and the sea eagle. And the Australian exhibit was great as well.
Much more of a zoo than I ever expected and what a value for 10 bucks. Can’t wait to bring my daughter there.

The zoo itself was beautiful and well laid out. Lots of nice areas to walk and trees lining the whole area. The exhibits themselves were mostly well maintained and informative.
My only real issue with it was the fact that most of the animals… didn’t look happy. Now I know that seems dumb, but I saw a lot of pacing animals. The spaces that most of these animals are confined to are much to small.
The young Tiger in the Island’s exhibit was pacing back and forth for the good 15 minutes we were in the area. The Jaguar with the fake recorded roar every 20 minutes or so was pacing in a cage the size of maybe 700 square feet. And emu near the bird cages had caused a deep trench where it had been pacing, who knows how long.
All orangutan and gorillas we saw were just… sad. I’ve been to other zoos and nature centers, where these large animals are given much more space to roam. And yes sometimes that means that people can’t see them because they are at a farther area of the park then the glass will allow us to see.
For most people this won’t be an issue. But for me it was.

We moved here in 2012, and have been members ever since. It’s a smaller zoo but it’s great for 5he family.

Went for brew at the zoo yesterday, and though the event was great! However, besides the event, the zoo seems pretty basic. Great for kids I am sure, but not really how I would spent my Saturday. Although I will admit, I was impressed by the animals I saw but hadn’t heard of before, such as the adetta and bongo.

I have taken a group of tweens to Zoo movie night for the last two years, and I can’t say enough good things about it. For a mere $ 5 the Zoo offers hours and hours of entertainment.
We came to the Frozen sing along a few weeks ago and it was so incredibly fun for them (and for me to see all the Anas and Elsas running around)
Before the movie which isn’t until sundown, they have lots of games that are run by the fun and friendly Zoo staff. They had Princesses in costume for the kiddos to meet and get pictures with.
They had food and booze for sale (for the moms and dads who had seen Frozen one too many times)
And of course the movie itself was great. Any outdoor movie under the stars is a magical experience.
Can’t wait to go back next year!

The Louisville zoo is one of my family’s favorite spots to spend the day! The zoo is clean, well maintained and the staff is friendly and helpful. The exhibits are very well done, we usually see all the animals out and roaming around. They also have had some wonderful traveling exhibits like the Lego sculptures this year and the giant robotic dinosaurs a few years ago. The playground is nice and big as is the water park area. We find that with all these things in one place along with a break for a lovely train ride, you can spend the better part of a day here and everyone is happy. I recommend getting the yearly membership. It pays for itself in just 3 visits and is so handy to have when you need a place to go with the kiddos!

As a native louisvillian I have been to the zoo many many times and even held a a membership for a time. This is a pretty good zoo. There’s all kinds of animals, a train (when it is working) and a really fun little «splash park» for younger kids a they also have a beautiful carousel. The Halloween party is a good time in October also. While my daughter at 9 has pretty much outgrown the splash park the zoo is still plenty of fun for an afternoon. Like many, I am not thrilled that they now charge for parking and find this to be an unnecessary price gouge given current admission costs. However, if you are just visiting or you have little ones and get a membership its definitely worth a stop here.

Really nice zoo. The park is quite large with lush planting a and a lot of really nice exhibits. There were some spaces that would benefit from a makeover but they had several projects underway already. Park was clean and animals all looked in good shape considering they are captive.
We arrived before the zoo opened as it was going to be a hot day. Would recommend that as when we left around 12:30 it was 90 degrees and there was a long line to get in.
One of my favorite parts was feeding the lorikeets. For $ 2 you get a cup of juice and they will flock to you and fight over feeding. I’ve done this at other places and always find it fun. I also liked how interactive the whole zoo felt. A lot of exhibits you could enter and I loved how immersive it was.
Can’t wait to come back here next year when we visit again.

Had a nice visit but not really impressed. It’s ok and very kid friendly with play areas. We weren’t able to see all the exhibits due to construction and some we saw no animals! The exhibits seemed way too small and made me feel sorry for the animals. A mediocre zoo at best. One bright spot was the food. We got burgers at one of the newer concessions and they’re delicious! Kids meals included two small cheeseburgers, applesauce, animal crackers and a drink for $ 7. Adult meal had a large cheeseburger and big order of tater tots. Prices were very reasonable. The staff were very friendly and helpful. But again for the zoo itself not impressed. Admission was fairly high unless you’re a «member». Not likely to go back.

This is a very nice zoo. It’s clean and quite spacious; we spent hours and hours here and still didn’t see every exhibit. They have everything from snakes and spiders to polar bears, tigers, penguins, giraffes… a little bit of everything. I especially enjoyed the special LEGO artwork being displayed this summer.

I love this zoo, super clean and so many animals you get to see up close! Plus it wasn’t crowded, it was clean (although the zoo was going under some renovations).
I’d recommend going! Better than some of the bigger zoos we’ve been to.

The hype is justified — LOVE this zoo! My little offspring ran themselves silly — we’ll definitely return soon!
Annual Membership (to make frequent visits affordable, 10% discount on merchandise, plus free parking)? YES, please!
The splash park is open, and the Lego brick sculptures are up until July 5^th!

I visited the zoo today and ran their 5K, throo the zoo. It was a great experience. The zoo was clean. The staff was helpful, and it was a lot of fun to see all of the animals. They have a special exhibit this summer, Lego sculptures. Each sculpture is made of Legos and represents something special about the zoo. My personal favorite was that huge Peacock sculpture.

Very clean zoo with friendly staff. This is one of the première attractions in Kentucky and also one of the oldest. They have been doing many renovations over the last few years. Some are for ecological purposes (like green roofs) and some are completely remodeled exhibit spaces. Two that have been done fairly recently were award-​winning exhibits: glacier run and gorilla forest.
They are currently doing some construction to improve the elephant exhibit area which has caused things to be down/​unavailable but the website is up-​to-​date with what is closed.
The carousel is ornate and old school– very cool. It looks In great shape for its age especially. The small splash park is a nice addition for kids to cool off and the ropes course is a fun extra activity with a cool view payoff.
The food is fantastic and tastes restaurant quality. They had another burger place open that is really tasty near the Australian exhibits. They even have bison burgers. I especially love the wallaby walkabout because you can see all the wallabies and wallaroos up close without a fence. They are adorable, like bunnies.

I am a zoo nerd… I love them!
The reason I wanted to see the Louisville Zoo is because I heard that they had a unique way of displaying predators and prey. My home zoo, the Milwaukee County Zoo, has huge, empty moats between the predators and prey, so they can’t get to each other. For example, the lions are behind the zebras and ostriches. At the Louisville Zoo, the animals share the exact same exhibit, but are rotated, so that each group leaves their scent for the other group to experience. Picture three exhibits in a row. When it’s time to rotate, the animals in the first exhibit go into to the second, the second animals go into the third and the third animals go into the first exhibit.
They have an antelope called an Addax that my zoo doesn’t have, so that was another interesting thing to see. I saw goats jumping and playing on top of camels trying to sleep!
Louisville Zoo is a member of a network of zoos that offer reciprocity. With my membership card, I was able to get my husband and I in for free, which made our visit even more enjoyable!
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Such a family fun zoo! I absolutely love takin my clients to the zoo! They enjoy the animals, the splash park, and the animal shows the trainers perform on the animals. Reasonable prices and a full day of family fun! Love the polar bears gorillas, and seals!

I’m 6’5″ so naturally I identify with giraffes, right? Well it turns out that I am in fact a giraffe whisperer, but shh don’t tell anyone. It was colder outside when I went to the zoo today so I suspected that many of the animals would be indoors and many were, but this worked out in my advantage when I went to see the giraffes! They were in their cages, but the edge of their cage was within my reach enough for me to pet them. Maybe I’m not exactly supposed to pet the cute, wild animals but… it was family (just kidding!!!). I swear to to you that this giraffe was bowing to me and she actually nuzzled my hand and kissed it — BEST. THING. EVER.
Many of the animals, though, were out and about and it was really easy to see the animals which was nice considering that sometimes the exhibits at zoos are set up where it is virtually impossible to see the animals. As we went through the zoo, we saw the gorillas, the tiger, polar bear, brown bear and even a snowy owl! There were so many animals to see and an added bonus is that if you want to see animals and get a workout you can do that because there’s many rolling hills in the zoo.
Ultimately, it’s a pretty fair price to enter the zoo especially considering that you can easily spend several hours in the zoo. No lie, you can stand in front of one exhibit and just admire the animal — they are freakin’ adorable! They also have a pretty descent restaurant, The African Outpost, in the zoo which is always tasty! It’s definitely worth the day trip and I would go back again in hopes that I may talk with my fellow giraffes again!

Although the Louisville Zoo has already been reviewed 47 times I have to put my own unique review in the mix.
First of all the prices —
2 Senior’s over 60, $ 11.50 ea.
2 Active Military (and they do check ids), free
1 child under two, free
Parking for one vehicle, $ 5.
Motorized wheel chair, $ 28. plus extra $ 5. to make pre-​reservation/​hold
TOTAL $ 61. for a day long of family fun (The Zoo earns 5 stars just for the price alone.)
Upon arrival at the zoo I thought we picked a bad day as we watched two large groups gather before entering. The bright orange shirts were a group of special needs children sponsored by a Rotary Club. The neon green shirts appeared to be a day camp possibly sponsored by the zoo. So we rushed up to the window to beat the crowd in. By the time we purchased our gate admittance the groups had already descended on the zoo. To my surprise by the time we checked out the motorized wheelchair the Zoo had already absorbed the massive amounts of patrons. (Give them 5 stars for the ability to handle crowds.)
The paths between exhibits were well marked and easy to follow on the maps we were given at the entrance. The massive grounds easily accommodates strollers, wheel chairs, shuttles, and walking patrons. The zoo is designed such that you can skip specific areas or decide to do the entire place in one long visit. The grounds and it plantings provide some shade to break up the heat of the day. Buildings with enclosures also offer different vantage points to view from rather than caged area after caged area.
We had no specific plan on catching feedings of animals and it worked well. We timed it perfectly by accident to see the display on Tiger behavior and its feeding. We also got the pleasant surprise of viewing all the apes interacting together.
By the end of our day at the zoo we had only skipped the reptile exhibits and the children’s splash park. This zoo although not the biggest I’ve visited in my lifetime is certainly as entertaining and educational as my childhood favorite San Francisco Zoo and my children’s favorite San Diego Zoo.
I’m glad to know this gem exists in our community.

This zoo is pretty small and the enclosures for the big animals are also pretty small. Alot of the big cats were really stressed and depressed and It made me sad to see such beautiful creatures sad (ESP the snow leopard). Other than the cats being stressed the zoo is pretty nice. The petting zoo portion is nice. The animals seemed
happy there. Very, very clean. Also, you have to stop by their gift shop!!! Cutest toddler and adult shirts! Their Xbox and Beatles parody shirts were very witty.