North Carolina Zoo — Attraction in Asheboro

Large zoo but layout isn't great and not very well managed with inconsistent paths and animal signage. Zoo doesn't seem to care about feedback (they only respond to 4 star reviews without acknowledging constructive criticism) 🤷🏻‍♀️

Pros: Very good conservation efforts Large, natural enclosures full of enrichment Nice facilities and modern Animals well treated! Path along a lot of tree cover so very cool and protected from sun The Pet Ofrenda was a nice touch!

Cons: Due to large enclosures, you often don't see animals who have indoor and outside access (can I suggest installing a garage/outdoor camera from home depot to show the animals inside their den - eg polar bears who like to stay in the air-conditioned den?) Keeper talk times were not on map, or at front/ticketing booth so you couldn't plan your route properly. You have to go to the enclosure to find out about the time (and often it's too late) TOO MANY BOTTLENECKS and not well laid out paths. What I mean is it feels like a hike with animal enclosures spread out, and when there were enclosures there were too many pressure points and dead ends. To the point that the crowds got too overwhelming and I witnessed 3 tense verbal altercations between families fighting for positions. Maybe in location such as the desert, have someone at the front door limiting numbers every 5 mins? And I understand there is construction, but this caused a lot of dead ends instead of a natural flow or loop across the zoo. Very oddly laid out and not well thought of. Animal signage was inconsistent, some errors and some don't even say where the animals are from, but others show a distribution map of the population. Food variety was lacking, I don't mind paying zoo prices if there was more variety. Every stand had the same 5-8 options. Some of the animal placements were weird and not ecologically correct (eg an arid animal placed in the dessert, the Komodo Dragon next to Australia lizards?) again I understand that there is construction going on so hopefully this can be fixed Too spread out! I don't understand why they don't have smaller exhibits in between areas, it honestly felt like a hike with exhibits dotted along the paths rather than a zoo. Not enough docents, rangers, or keepers around to answer questions! Because the signage was limited, I wanted to ask questions about the animals specifically, but couldn't find anyone to ask questions. I found 1 ranger by the baboons and 1 keeper coincidentally feeding the Artic Foxes but nothing else. There needs to be more volunteers or rangers who can answer questions spread out!

Tips: Come early and finish later! The animals are most active early morning or near closing Be patient! Don't just look at an area for 30 seconds, read the signs and wait 5-10 minutes. The animals often move naturally to the windows if you wait! Come during an overcast day! Animals more active then! Take the tram to the top or at Junction and work your way down from Africa to North America Or better yet park at the Africa entrance and work your way down (it's least crowded this way) Avoid Junction for lunch it is PAAACKED (again crowds not managed very well) There is a parking lot shuttle that can take you from one end to the other Tram finishes 30 mins before closing Book activities online if you can, they may sell out on the day

I've been to top American zoos such as Omaha and San Diego and this zoo is definitely on par, but I took stars off because a lot of management aspects could improve the zoo experience (food, layout, crowd control, staffing), but the animals...

Amazing! Well worth the price of admission. Can't wait for the Asia area to open up.

Edit: as a lifetime member, I want to absolutely love the NC Zoo. I've been here way more than I can count. They do amazing things and my child is learning so much about the animals they have and how we can work towards improving conservation. However, it takes one rude staff to ruin your tastebuds. Like I said, I've been here many times, so when I went to get a "Zoo Trekker" pamphlet for my friend's family, the older lady asked if she could explain how the packet worked. I said, "I know how it works". I guess that triggered her because she said, "excuse me!?" (Rudely). Then she explains it to me anyway and rudely gives me a pencil, then, to top it all off, she (rudely) says, "well, go rock on by yourself". Like, who does that. Why do you have to have rude people at some of your stations. Of note, that's the only negative experience out of the hundreds of interactions I've had here. But still, whoever that worker was needs some to take a class.

On a different trip, when trying to get a refill on a drink, a lady (quite possibly the same lady), was trying to charge me $3+ for a refill when I know it is free for refill with the sports bottle, hence why it cost an arm and a leg to get it in the first place. Anyway, after reiterating that it should free and she should check on that, she goes through all the other cups/bottles and explains that mine will still cost to refill. Then I continued to tell her that was incorrect and that she should talk to her supervisor to confirm, she says "I am the supervisor", but at least she went to talk to the staff in the kitchen who she notes, "they are also supervisors", and they tell her it should be free refills. Though she spends a minute trying to convince the other staff that it is not free refills, she eventually calls her supervisor (couldn't call Brenda cuz she was out, so she called Will). Thank you to Will who explained to her that it was infact free refills for the sports bottle, no matter when I purchased it. All that to say, please just put up signs with pictures for your workers to know the info of each container. I'm just sorry for any other patrons who paid her for a refill when they shouldn't have. She is the only person I have had this issue with though, so I'm glad there are dozens of great workers that know the rules and are courteous. But consistency is key. Being courteous is key.

And on 9/2/24, met the rudest tram drivers. Like, so rude that all the tram passengers were apologizing to each other for how rude the tram driver was. Her tone, her attitude, her words. Her tone! Nothing was directed towards me, but we all felt bad for each other, especially the ones getting yelled at for the smallest of things. I get it, safety is key. But, as stated before, being courteous is key. So many pleasant workers, but the handful that are extremely rude need to be taught simple customer service, because they can ruin a family's day at the zoo. Maybe take a page out of CFA customer service, or just any customer service...

Unfortunately, the animals are all in hiding, and while that sucks, understandably so with the heat, and no this has nothing to do with my low star review. It is 100% based on the horrible lack of customer service and 0 kindness of the park tram drivers. While my husband, our grandson, friends and I went today, we quickly decided that we won't visit again.

We entered through Africa and started our adventure. We only saw elephants, one giraffe, a couple others, the rest were hidden in the shade. Again, understandable.

Once done, we went to board the tram to continue through North America. We stopped at the front loading area reserved for handicap, wheelchair accessible. I didn't want to get in the carousel area to hold up the line for a question, and there were no handicap/wheelchair passengers waiting, nor any that came while waiting for the tram. I would have moved back, and got out of their loading room.

When the 1st tram arrived, the driver gets out and begins unloading the passengers coming to Africa. I wait because i have a question about the stroller and, not trying to hold up the line, i waited with my party to what was empty and to the side.

My question was, if the tram had a section for our double seater stroller with shade top to roll and park for the ride to North America. Well, i didn't even get to speak before my husband and I both hear the tram assistant at the back, make the comment to the driver as hes unloading rhe previous group, "how you gonna handle them?" Laughs and points directly to our group, making eye contact with us and a very unprofessional stare. The driver shrugs, shakes his head and proceeds to walk over to us, and with the most condescending tone, asks, is this your group? pointing to us. Once we said yes, he instantly just demands, "all strollers go through carousel" ok, i just wanted to ask if it was empty enough, with one stroller broke down in the big one, could we park it in the back and set the brake, not having to break down the big 2 seater. Nope, he snapped at even a thought or a breath much less speaking a syllable of a question.....

I get the rules and yes, I was asking for a rule break by not compacting down my big stroller. Which I would have gladly, had anyone lf the Tram workers showed respect and kindness. You can tell a visitor the rules, without being condescending. Had they shown respect, theyd have received it. I simply had a question.

But instead, we decided to leave and not patron the largest zoo in NC... because your staff is demeaning, rude and has 0 SKILLS IN SPEAKING TO YOUR VISITORS!

My motto, "If you dont like dealing with the public in your job choice, then dont choose that path".... Your tram workers could use some customer service 101 and advice on not belittling patrons before they even speak.

My recommendation is the lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville... Better interaction with animals,...