Cheyenne Mountain Zoo — Attraction in Colorado Springs

We have been zoo members for the last several months now, and here is my honest review:

The good: There are so many wonderful exhibits and chances to interact with the animals. The zoo is larger than we first anticipated and you are able to see so many different animals in each area. The guinea pigs were such a fun surprise! As was the fact that they all have names that their caretaker has memorized. So cute.

Coming from Ohio as former Columbus Zoo members, we were pleasantly surprised at how well cared for the animals here seem, as most zoos can’t seem to compare. My toddler particularly loves the farm areas, and enjoys petting the goats, feeding the chickens, and watching the koi fish swim in the pond.

It has beautiful Mountain views, decent restaurants, and the Shrine of the Sun is a fun little drive and side trip.

You can bring your own food and drinks inside, and they have lots of places to sit and rest.

The bad: Its on the mountain, so it can be difficult to walk. The Shrine of the Sun has weird hours that don’t always follow what’s posted.

The timed entry for members is ridiculous. There have been several times that there weren't any member tickets available until after 11:30, but they have non-member tickets available 2 or three hours earlier. As someone with a toddler who likes to visit in the morning before it gets too hot and is his name time, who can also can be unpredictable in his attitude or habits, this is super inconvenient as I can’t always plan far in advance.

Also, even though I have an account and have to sign in to “buy” the tickets, it has me put my name, phone number, email, and full address every time…which is kind of annoying and feels totally unnecessary since I have to log in to my account with all that info right there.

Staff can be hit or miss. Some have been so friendly and informative, while others have been condescending or kind of rude. The ones “managing” the parking lot seem to have little to no idea how traffic flow works. It almost feels like their directions cause more of a traffic issue than if they just left it alone. Idk, they’re doing their best, I’m sure.

Dog days at the zoo just feels like a horrible idea. I know they must make a ton of cash off the people that feel the need to take their dogs everywhere, but after that elephant died at another zoo because of stress from an interaction with a barking dog, it seems like an unnecessary risk to the animals who live there.

Overall, we enjoy our membership but probably won’t renew again. It’s a fun zoo to visit, but as others have mentioned as well, seems to have some...

Reading some of the reviews about the zoo make me sad. I’ve been going to this zoo since before I can even remember! I’ve visited many zoos, in Colorado and out of Colorado and this is the best zoo by far. They care for animals in a way many other zoos don’t, the people are so nice, you can see all of the animals unless special circumstances are involved, the signs are clearly labeled and it’s almost impossible to get lost if you really pay attention and read. A few reviews ago, there was someone complaining about a camera being broken and a baby getting sprayed in the face because of the rhino statue. As for that, I have to agree with the wonderful employees here. How did you not read the sign or get confused by it? Plus, the zoo isn’t responsible for any broken equipment unless they take it out of your hand and break it! Which they’d never do. As for the sweet eagle, her wings aren’t clipped. She was injured and can’t fly anymore but she’s still a miracle bird, doubling life expectancy of eagles like her. There’s even a sign that mentions that :) If you do any research on this zoo you’ll see that they actually care and love for their animals. When an animal passes away it’s not from lack of care, that’s for sure. Advanced tickets are required now, however that makes so so so much sense. The parking lot isn’t huge, and I would much rather pay in advance and know that I’ll get a parking spot rather than drive all the way up and have nowhere to park. It also makes sense when it comes to the guest experience, there’s no overcrowding, bumping into other people or getting in the middle of another group. I absolutely love that it’s for the most part quiet when you’re walking through, and not like a shopping mall. Please take my review in consideration when thinking about going here, the negative reviews are false claims. The animals are happy and that is an amazing thing. There are zoos in other places (talking to you, Nashville) where the quality of care may be questionable but this is definitely not one. I would give the Cheyenne mountain zoo 10 stars if possible. I definitely need to plan my next trip already 🥰 I’ve attached a few pictures that I’ve taken where you can see the animals are well fed, loved and comfortable....

Unfortunately our first visit was disappointing. We have lived in Colorado for many years now but have never visited this zoo. We recently made our first trip and encountered a few less than desirable things. First, the signage is very confusing entering the park. The constant “advanced tickets required” on the road as well as hung above each ticket booth was frustrating as we were using printed gift tickets. It would be nice to have just one ticket booth say “purchase tickets here” or “printed tickets” We entered the park and everything was alright until lunch time. We decided to go to the grizzly grill, that was a mistake. Very unclean, crumbs, puddles, flies and sauce everywhere. There were opened packages of PPJ’s in the cooler. The ones that were still sealed didn’t feel very cold. Staff was just standing around behind the counter when there were no lines. Why was no one walking around with a bucket of hot soapy water and cleaning tables, chairs and sweeping under tables? We were hungry and didn’t want to keep looking for another food alternative, but due to the lack of cleanliness I ordered a burger because I didn’t feel like the salad/ bowl would be a safe option. I feel like for $80 this was not acceptable. After that we walked for a while and ended up in the Australian exhibits, we used the restroom there and again the same issue. The women’s bathroom had no hand soap, no seat liners and was absolutely filthy. We finished walking around and ended with the gift shop. I will say, we wanted to look around for a while but with no ac and no fan in the shop it made for a very unpleasant shopping experience. As for the animals, all of the animals seem well taken care of, and their enclosure were nice. I do wonder about the eagle that can not fly, and if she might need a companion. As for returning, possibly. But I do hope measures are taken to improve the cleanliness of zoo in...