north carolina zoo

Excellent public zoo park! Lots of exhibits and they offer a AAA discount. If you're coming to central North Carolina, then I highly recommend!!

Staff is very friendly. Trail makes navigation between North America and Africa sections of the zoo simple to tour through and makes for some great exercise along the way as the trail is quite lengthy with numerous ascents and decents in elevation. Interesting historical information posted throughout the trails along the way in regards to the history of the area and correlation of local animals and their habitats in the North America section. Although just like any zoo or attraction displaying wildlife - depending on when you go and the overall temperature will likely determine how many animals are able to be seen on any given day, particularly during the colder months so plan accordingly. Zoo also has some exhibits being expanded such as the gorilla trail but nonetheless, at least 90% of the exhibits were open or displaying animals during a recent visit despite cooler weather that day (Rhinos, elephants and giraffes were being kept warm and secluded due to the weather.) Polar bear, chimpanzee and seal exhibits were personally some of the highlights of the experience. Not bad for $12 - plus you can see both areas of the zoo.

My hopes were quite high for this zoo, after reading some good reviews before traveling. The weather forecast was great for the time of year, with temps due to be 30 degrees above the seasonal norm and abundant sunshine. My cunning plan was 'warm weather = lots of animals to behold, especially in the African part of the Zoo'. Well, the problems viewing the animals seemed to be largely due to the zoo itself and not the animals themselves. Many of the exhibits were devoid of animals and displayed ' exhibit closed' or 'under development'. Whilst this is totally understandable in the winter season, why not close for a month to get the jobs done and not charge visitors for the privilege to see empty cages and enclosures. We had to laugh at the fact that we saw 3 Bobcats in the enclosures, but they were the motorized earth moving types and not the feline kind! On moving around the Zoo, we found that all of the water drinking fountains were turned off (probably because of cold night temps)... Hey, how about turning the on during the day? We thought we could go to one on the cafes on-site to get a drink as we were parched. Yes, you guessed it, they were all shut - apart from one at the North America Zoo entrance and the line was humongous. The whole caboodle was a disappointment, as it's a beautiful location and the Zoo is obviously a place to visit later in the year. Management - take on board that if you make a good job of providing a good experience (even in Winter), that is cost effective, customers will come back!

Me and my 6 & 7 year old daughters went it was cold so only the North America park was open but the animals were very active and the staff was very nice not many people there so we could just about do anything you wanted to

Visited last Monday on MLK holiday. High temperature was around 57. The Arctic Fox was out. The Lions were out and moving around. Got the see the seal feeding, the baboon feeding and the Lemur feeding. So much better at this temperature when the animals (and me) are not so hot.

Being from the area, the zoo has always been a great escape for locals and people traveling just to see it. The staff are always friendly and the animals are sure to never disappoint!

I was totally amazed that this zoo had huge paddocks for their elephants and giraffes, gorrillas etc to roam in. It was like viewing them in the wild. Although the down side to this is that the elephant was quite a distance away. There are trolleys to get you around but we did find that when you make it to the end of the trail at the end of the day, there was quite the line up. The zoo however did provide extra shuttles to accommodate the line. There is a large variety of animals and there is easy access for wheelchairs and strollers

This zoo is really nice! The trails were nice making for a great walk through the woods that making it feel very rustic. The animal exhibits were large and the animals were a lot of fun to watch. We spent a long time just sitting watching the lion cubs play. Great experience for a nice day out in nature!

We went right after Christmas and it was such a perfect day!!! There was not that many people and it just made it so enjoyable. We took a ride on the tram and the driver was awesome, he was playing games with the kids and kept them entertained!!! The animals looked cared for and all living spaces were clean. No foul smells at all! We had lunch at the cafe, I must say that $5.25 for a slice of lamp heated pizza was a bit too much. After spending the day we visited the gift shop and was surprised to see that most everything was affordable! Take your kids here! You will enjoy it!

We love this zoo, and we have been to superior zoos elsewhere (LA, San Diego, Portland OR, Audubon Park zoo in New Orleans, National zoo in DC, Brookfield zoo in Chicago), as well as some terrible sad zoos. This is a world class zoo both in terms of the habitats and care it offers the animals, and in terms of the experience you the visitor will have.Before you go, take a few minutes to look over the website so that you are aware of any closings ahead of time. And be aware that you will walk a lot. A LOT. Wear very comfortable shoes. Wear a sun hat. Put on sunscreen and bring extra. If it will be cool, dress in layers. Bring a small pack/day pack. If you have small children, bring strollers. Our child is a teen now, but I can advise you from previous experience that your stroller should be foldable if you want to take it on the tram and that light weight strollers are ok ONLY if the handles are at a comfortable height. Also bring some empty water bottles, because one of the few poor aspects of this zoo is a serious paucity of water fountains -- we fill up as soon as we get in.With small children or people who cannot walk far -- I would not plan on doing the whole zoo in one day. Choose your continent. North America is hillier. If you do walk the whole zoo, start early in the morning, stroll and spend time looking at the exhibits, take breaks when you are tired or thirsty or hot. If you go at the speed of a small child, whether you go with a child or not, you will have a good time.Costs: it is worth it to get a zoo membership even if you will go only once, if you have a large enough family. It's also worth it if you expect to go more than once a year. We like to make a weekend vacation of it -- do half the zoo one day, stay at an inexpensive hotel with a pool in asheboro, do the second half the next day. Food: compare to what you would pay at any zoo or entertainment park. Cheaper than disney but more expensive than a picnic. There is a picnic area just outside the zoo entrance, with lockers. I would definitely bring snacks for small chdren, such as baggies with Cheerios, little tangerines, baby bananas, baby carrots.Animals: do not expect every animal to be out and charismatically performing. Some will and some will not. Take the opportunity to talk with your kids about animal behavior: which animals sleep during the day? Which animals are shy and hard to spot?The aviary and the Sonora desert buildings are especially good for kids (and my own faves -- I'm 53!) because the visitor needs to stand still and look about, but will always see interesting, wierd, or beautiful animals. And...bring binoculars or quarters for the distance viewers, for the prairie and African grassland exhibits. These animals can be harder to see at times. But again, if you stand still and take the time to look you will be rewarded. A good experience for children, and for adults too. Best souvenir: two quarters and a penny for penny medallions with a picture of an animal and the zoo name (smashed penny machine that you turn). Kids love it, it's a nice size for kids to play with in the car on the drive home, and it's cheap. My teenager still loves to get these. So does my husband!

We travel a good deal and one of the things we really like to do is check out the local zoos. We have visited zoos all over the country. The NC Zoo is one of the nicer ones. The setting is awesome and the flow is easy so you don't have to do a lot of back-tracking in order to take everything in. The enclosures were all in a very natural setting with a good deal of room for the animals. It was the day after Christmas so everything that was not evergreen was dormant but we could see that it would be beautiful in full spring & summer colors. We left wanting to come back again in the spring.

The zoo is huge, but I don't know if it was the season, but there were so very few animals to watch.The highlights are the family of lions and the polar bear.Not much to see.I wonder if it is any better on spring or summer.

I hate zoo's wher the animals are caged in small pens, not so this one, Big pens, big fields, & programs for rehabilitation, they also have a great locale breading program. A good walk to do it all, but very well laid out

Very nice zoo hidden back in the trees.Be prepared to walk! Very large zoo. Has two distinct areas. North America and Africa.

This zoo is HUGE. We had a person with a wheelchair and it was a 9 dollar rental. 25 for electric. And if you plan on doing the entire zoo, pay for the electric one! Definitely worth the extra money.