Miller Park Zoo — Attraction in Bloomington

This review applies strictly to the mini golf course directly beside the zoo, The Putting Zoo. The zoo itself is aces for a town of our size, and you should support them if you can.

The Putting Zoo (which I’ll refer to as TPZ for the rest of this review) states the following hours at the time of this review: “Sun - Sat. - 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM, last tee time is 4:15 PM.” All seems well and good, right? So closing time is at 5, which implies that TPZ expects you to get through all 18 holes in 45 minutes. And perhaps that’s possible! …so long as you don’t have anyone ahead of you and you don’t have to wait for them in order to play on. But if you do, be prepared to have your ball and club seized, because hey — at 5pm, your game is over. They don’t care.

You pay for 18 holes, but if you don’t get to play them, that’s not their problem. And they’ll let you know it’s actually YOUR problem if you voice your dissatisfaction at this policy. And then you’ll be told that YOU’RE escalating things. No, TPZ has already decided that they’re leaving at 5 and they’re ready to go home and therefore you have to be as well. Want to play one more hole? Buzz off. Want to ask for a partial refund? Beat it. Want to talk to a manager? You don’t get their name, you don’t get anyone. They don’t care.

And that’s largely the problem with TPZ. The course is unkempt and dirty, but they don’t care. The putters are breaking apart, but they don’t care. There aren’t enough golf balls for everyone to play (we paid for 4 people and oops! there were only three balls, too bad, deal with it, no refunds), but they don’t care. The staff would rather watch That 70’s Show and wander off the property than stay at their post. Because they don’t care. They’ll take your money and make THEIR problems YOUR problems. Why? You guessed it: they don’t care.

It’s all a joke and you’re the punchline. Avoid it. Save your money. Better yet, spend it at the zoo. They care a whole lot more than TPZ. And they won’t badmouth your wife in front of you and your kids when you express your displeasure! I’ve never seen so many disappointed people being told to get out. Spare your kids the tears. Spare your wallet the frustration. They don’t care, but they should. That’s a really low bar to clear, but TPZ just can’t clear it. Don’t go to The Putting...

My daughter (age 6) and I visited this weekend while on mommy/daughter weekend. Our first visit was Saturday, the zoo itself was quite impressive and we really enjoyed it. So much so, my daughter asked to go back the next day. We get there, walk up to the ticket window the lady (I’m using this term loosely) was distracted with something on her phone as we had to wait for her to finish whatever it was before she could be bothered with us. When she did look up, I said, “Just two please”, while pointing at my daughter. “That’ll be $18”, she said. Now the cost for an adult is $9 (13-59), $7 for children. When I questioned her why she was charging for two adults she first said “Oh, I didn’t see her.” I replied, “That still doesn’t explain why you are charging for 2 adults if you didn’t see her, as you claim, yet only saw ONE adult.” Then she said “I thought you said two adults” to which I replied “if that’s true, why did you lead with the first lie? You should have asked for clarification if you were uncertain about what I said.” Then she said “Well it’s hard to tell age” to which I replied “Especially if you can’t see someone, right?” Just refund my $18 so I can go.” I then turned to my 6 years, who in all honesty because she’s tall for age most people think she’s 8 - but NEVER has anyone mistaken her for a whole adult!! And yes, my child is always dressed very age appropriate. I digress, as I was saying, I turned to my daughter and I say “I’m sorry honey, we won’t be re-visiting today, or any other day after today, ok. ONE lesson to learn here, is speak up for yourself. Had I not said anything this lady would have overcharged me and if her oversight had truly been a mistake, she wouldn’t have offered 3 different lies in response to my asking why she was overcharging me.” If I could rate less than one star I certainly would. This shows how one negative experience can derogatorily affect the entire experience. Just the day before, we’d had a great experience, but Julie, Jules or whatever her name is ruined it for us on Sunday. Thank you so much for that incredibly horrible...

Today's experience it. This zoo was beyond depressing. Me 30 minutes from the zoo so this was my childhood. There used to be sea lions, sun bears, tigers, multiple snow leopards big monkeys, little monkeys a butterfly walkthrough in the science lab. There used to be coloring pages there used to be. You know carousel was open. The petting zoo would be open. Today none of that. The weather is nice. It's warm outside. It's 80°. Go turn out. You can't feed them. It's $0.50 to feed them and you get six pellets of goat food for $0.50. that doesn't feed one goat. That's the way you get a kid knocked over. Trust me I would know I was knocked over by goats at the fedings. I would know I was the kid that got knocked over by goats while feeding them as a child. There used to be sea lions and multiple day feedings. Today there's a sad alligator a green Kool-Aid looking pool. Fighting otters. A tiger that's under medical observation that has a sign on the outside of its enclosure that says tiger exhibit open now. We spent over $30. You don't get a discount for someone who's clearly still a child but if they don't have a school ID with them it doesn't count. For reference a 13-year-old. Not all schools do school IDs. But beyond everything I left this visit feeling depressed. I felt bad for the animals they were there because they didn't seem cared for. I felt bad for the kids because that wasn't what that zoo used to be. It used to be an experience. It's not even about the money. It's about the fact that the animals look sad. I felt sad. The kids felt sad. That's not the way you should leave that zoo feeling. That's not the legacy that Sue should have. And how do you get volunteers? What are you volunteering for? Because the animals aren't out they're not engaged. They don't even look happy themselves. Not engaged. They don't even look happy themselves I know it's about change and conservation but if you can't afford to keep the animals and the attractions open, why...