A Lil Providence Treasure!

Located in one of my favorite parks on the East Coast, RWPZ is a family-friendly experience for all ages - both a zoo and nice walk around the wetlands. Our favorite part was the Faces of the Rainforest building, where some animals have an open enclosure and are allowed to roam the building! It was surreal to explore the rainforest (and yes, it's very humid conditions) with sloths, birds and golden tamarins moving about. Watch out for the bird poop though!

You could get pretty close to some of the animals, especially those in their indoor enclosures. It allows you to view animal adaptations and behaviors more vividly (especially in the Rainforest)! The animals were fairly active earlier in the day (and probably would be again at the end of the day)- as typical with most zoos.

The zoo was easy to navigate, had food and restroom facilities open even during reduced winter capacity, and most animals were viewable to the public (some moved to indoor enclosures instead of their typical outdoor ones). There's some construction to build new buildings, renovate exhibits or move new animals into exhibitions (like the serval, penguins, and red pandas), so that's something to keep in mind.

Education: since there is no public educational programming in the winter, I don't feel like the zoo taught me much. There was some information about each animal (what you normally see displayed in zoos but I will say the fun facts and sometimes mentioned conservation efforts) but little to no information about their natural habitats or conservation efforts themselves. The Rainforest exhibit is on the newer end and is educational, so I'm hoping it's just a matter of upgrades.

Cost: $10.50 (admission was discounted 50% in the winter; admission is typically $21 for adults)

AZA Reciprocity: typically honored with a 50% discount; was not in effect during our visit because of the winter discount

Accessibility: while the walking paths were clear from the snow and clearly marked, most exhibits didn't have automatic doors

Wait Times: only ticket booth was open so there was a short wait (less than ten minutes) to purchase tickets or show them an online ticket for entry; there is a pretty $5 processing fee for online tickets so we decided to purchase tickets online

Travel: about a 1.5hr drive from Boston or accessible by bus (arrives directly to the front gates)

Parking: free parking is available on-site and pretty plentiful; overflow lots are located nearby in the park

Restrooms: the best thing was the plentiful restrooms at every corner! the hasbro background area for families with children even had a changing area, separate from the neighboring restroom

Collectibles: collectible penny machines are $1 and presently didn't have RWPZ enamel pins

Recycling Program: recycle your e-waste by the ticket/entrance booths for free

Food Pantry: open to those who need it. that's a grab and go style food pantry by the entrance for visitors to leave non perishable items in or take items they need

Other Notes: minimal reptiles at this zoo