Fresno Chaffee Zoo

United States California FresnoFresno Chaffee Zoo

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The Fresno Chaffee Zoo is a zoo in Roeding Park in Fresno, California covering 39 acres and housing over 190 species. Its attractions include Stingray Bay, Dino Dig, Valley Farm, Sea Lion Cove, African Adventure, and Ross Laird's Winged Wonders Bird Show.

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🍭World Children's Day! Bring Your Kids to California for a Fun-Filled Trip!

MiraMira

120

This zoo is soooo fun!!! $20/per non-Fresno resident adult. It’s not as big as the better known ones (LA, SD, SF, OAK), but I thought it was an excellent value for the money still for all the hours you can spend in here + their unique exhibits! You can pay for parking by using an app or using a machine they have by the lot. 🛑One big criticism in case the zoo sees this before I ramble positively: these are the most boring animal information cards ever! I recommend getting an intern do so some serious googling for real fun facts about each animal. I was trying to take notes but it was hard cause I didn’t want to write any of it down lol! Some just have the name and picture of the animal and that’s it…🛑 🐘🦏🦌🐃 Their African Sahara/watering hole exhibit was the coolest. A bunch of cool animals all together!! And there’s a big outdoor cafeteria area too so you could enjoy the view while resting if you want. Their rhino is like a cute puppy, loves playing with huge branches and prancing around :) there are 2 ostriches that like following each other around. A lonely wildebeest but a bunch of antelopes. Would be cool to see zebras. There are 3 elephants, and I think one of them is an African buck that is one of the largest in NA at 13,000 pounds! I think I read a sign for an upcoming similar multi-species spot for malaysia(?). 🦁 I’ve never been so close to a lion before! It got up and I got to see it spray pee out the fence lol. It had all this space but chose to be close to the fence with people, the lioness was more shy. 🐅 There was a tiger, but it looked really skinny. It did lots of tricks for the trainer but we thought it barely got any treats. When they finished, it looked pretty upset. That one was kind of depressing, but I’m sure the zoo has its reasons. 🐒🦧 The monkeys are great fun to look at, especially the small black siamangs. There were two moms each with a baby! Super cute. The orangutans nearby were wrapping themselves with rugs from the cold. The other moneys like the lemurs and colobus were huddled at the heat lamps. Kind of sad, maybe more lamps please! 🦘🦘The second cool exhibit was the Australian one! Wow! You can walk through this path with the animals barely separated by a wood railing they could easily pass if they want. I feel like… this one really needs to be supervised well or restricted to a certain age cause I can see it going poorly with bad attendees lol but it was truly the coolest. The emu loved attention. There are a few small roos and other animals. I just love these fun spots where safe animals have more space altogether. 🦜🦤🪿🦆 There was a smaller aviary and a larger rainforest aviary. They were both very nice but mostly empty due to the winter weather. Rainforest one in particular is mostly blocked off for many routes. Still excellent. 🦩There is a penny machine by the flamingos for fellow collectors! Other honorable mentions, 2 cheetahs, warthogs, giraffes (pay $5 extra at ticket window), seals. PLUS, I was really impressed with their little display statues. You know these zoos and their weird light display things, I felt like the ones here were not eyesores. They looked less transparent and well designed.

JennyJenny

We got here at 8:30 and left at 2, and still didn’t see everything! Lots to do, lots of keeper talks. Beautiful zoo. They let you bring outside food which was great for us. We did the ticket that lets you into the sting ray area and the giraffe feeding. We were pretty underwhelmed with the giraffe feeding though. They give you one leaf and don’t let you touch the animal. The whole experience lasts about 5 seconds. I think they should figure out a way to stretch out this a little for people, at least give them a few leaves instead of just 1. The sting rays were cool but you do have to buy food for $3, which is definitely worth it—it’s so weird to have a sting ray grab a fish out of your hand! Very cool! We did the up-close encounter: Tortally Shellstruck - Galapagos Tortoise Encounter. I didn’t see reviews ahead of time so I wanted to share my experience. There are different options of animal encounters at different prices. I’m curious why they are all different prices. Anyways, we had an amazing time getting to go into the exhibit and hang out with Nobi the giant tortoise. My daughter is not necessarily a zoo lover so this experience really made her day. Getting to speak with the zoo keeper one on one was incredibly unique and she told us so many interesting facts and stories about the animals. I highly recommend doing an animal encounter! Another winner for my 7 year old was the splash pad and play area in the middle of the zoo. She had so much fun!

Jordan ElbazJordan Elbaz

There are lots of animals to view at this large zoo. You can pay an extra small fee to touch stingrays and feed the giraffes. You can be really near kangaroos and emu. They just ask not to touch or feed them. You need a minimum of 4 hours to get through almost everything without rushing. There are multiple areas to take pictures. I went when they were setting up illumniNature so there were extra props to take pictures with. There are some vending machines, some food establishments and a souvenir shop. I did not get to eat there, but one of the food establishments had a beautiful view near the elephants. Restrooms are at the entrance once you pay to enter. For toddler parents: There is a large park near the zoo but no nearby restrooms, and when I asked to quickly use one nearby the zoo. The admission employee said no one could enter until we paid for our admission, even though family members were already at the register paying. The restrooms by the entrance are not very clean, but supplies are well stocked. One stall even had poop smeared all over the floor, and one of the soap dispensers was broken. The restroom in Kingdoms of Asia area is just one toilet, so it may be a wait, but it is very clean and well stocked.

Sarah CSarah C

My boyfriend and I went here because we were vacationing and had to cancel our original plans. We really enjoyed the zoo! We went in Sep 2021 on a weekday so there was barely a crowd but the place wasn't empty. We got the Total Zoo Experience. Feeding the sting rays was a unique experience - I could do it all day if it wasn't so expensive ($2 for two half a fish). But I would keep fishing the sting rays haha. I would say feeding the giraffe could be skipped. We didn't care about the Zoorassic Park. We spent the entire day at the zoo and was able to experience everything - but if you don't have time, you can come back to use the experiences another day. I believe there is an expiration date. We recommend the Keeper Chat as we had a fun experience with the lions and a personal chat at the cheetahs (no one else was showed up for the chat). The Sea Lion show is also highly recommended! The enclosures seem well taken care of and spacious. We loved that we were able to spot most, if not all, the animals since they were out and about! We ended up staying to eat at the zoo restaurant so we didn't waste time finding food outside the zoo. Being from the Bay Area, the food price, taste, and portion were good.

Liz DonutLiz Donut

Fun for the family! Despite it being a small zoo, you could spend a good 4 to 6 hours observing the animals, walking around and checking out their souvenir shop. I throughly enjoyed my time there. We bought tickets in advanced, was a bit difficult to find parking and finally near the front, found out that we had to pay for parking. So have a copy of your license plate in mind to have the smoothest trip possible. The sting ray and giraffe area cost extra if you want to touch or feed them. I would say that the sting ray experience was worth it and we just watched the giraffe being fed which was also fun. They have a blueish/purple tongue. Another memorable experience for me was watching the sea lion, it was so mesmerizing to see them swim. Lastly, we went inside the exhibit which mainly consists of reptiles like snakes and turtle and interestingly enough, a Komodo dragon was in there. It was my first time seeing a komodo dragon, it was not that huge as I expected but it was still nice to see them in real life. Overall, a worth it trip and recommend being prepare in advanced to have the smoothest trip.

Anon KritikerAnon Kritiker

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Overview

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(5.3K reviews)

Phone

(559) 498-5910

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Website

fcz.org

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Deep Dive

A deep dive into Fresno Chaffee Zoo

🍭World Children's Day! Bring Your Kids to California for a Fun-Filled Trip!

MiraMira

120

This zoo is soooo fun!!! $20/per non-Fresno resident adult. It’s not as big as the better known ones (LA, SD, SF, OAK), but I thought it was an excellent value for the money still for all the hours you can spend in here + their unique exhibits! You can pay for parking by using an app or using a machine they have by the lot. 🛑One big criticism in case the zoo sees this before I ramble positively: these are the most boring animal information cards ever! I recommend getting an intern do so some serious googling for real fun facts about each animal. I was trying to take notes but it was hard cause I didn’t want to write any of it down lol! Some just have the name and picture of the animal and that’s it…🛑 🐘🦏🦌🐃 Their African Sahara/watering hole exhibit was the coolest. A bunch of cool animals all together!! And there’s a big outdoor cafeteria area too so you could enjoy the view while resting if you want. Their rhino is like a cute puppy, loves playing with huge branches and prancing around :) there are 2 ostriches that like following each other around. A lonely wildebeest but a bunch of antelopes. Would be cool to see zebras. There are 3 elephants, and I think one of them is an African buck that is one of the largest in NA at 13,000 pounds! I think I read a sign for an upcoming similar multi-species spot for malaysia(?). 🦁 I’ve never been so close to a lion before! It got up and I got to see it spray pee out the fence lol. It had all this space but chose to be close to the fence with people, the lioness was more shy. 🐅 There was a tiger, but it looked really skinny. It did lots of tricks for the trainer but we thought it barely got any treats. When they finished, it looked pretty upset. That one was kind of depressing, but I’m sure the zoo has its reasons. 🐒🦧 The monkeys are great fun to look at, especially the small black siamangs. There were two moms each with a baby! Super cute. The orangutans nearby were wrapping themselves with rugs from the cold. The other moneys like the lemurs and colobus were huddled at the heat lamps. Kind of sad, maybe more lamps please! 🦘🦘The second cool exhibit was the Australian one! Wow! You can walk through this path with the animals barely separated by a wood railing they could easily pass if they want. I feel like… this one really needs to be supervised well or restricted to a certain age cause I can see it going poorly with bad attendees lol but it was truly the coolest. The emu loved attention. There are a few small roos and other animals. I just love these fun spots where safe animals have more space altogether. 🦜🦤🪿🦆 There was a smaller aviary and a larger rainforest aviary. They were both very nice but mostly empty due to the winter weather. Rainforest one in particular is mostly blocked off for many routes. Still excellent. 🦩There is a penny machine by the flamingos for fellow collectors! Other honorable mentions, 2 cheetahs, warthogs, giraffes (pay $5 extra at ticket window), seals. PLUS, I was really impressed with their little display statues. You know these zoos and their weird light display things, I felt like the ones here were not eyesores. They looked less transparent and well designed.

JennyJenny

We got here at 8:30 and left at 2, and still didn’t see everything! Lots to do, lots of keeper talks. Beautiful zoo. They let you bring outside food which was great for us. We did the ticket that lets you into the sting ray area and the giraffe feeding. We were pretty underwhelmed with the giraffe feeding though. They give you one leaf and don’t let you touch the animal. The whole experience lasts about 5 seconds. I think they should figure out a way to stretch out this a little for people, at least give them a few leaves instead of just 1. The sting rays were cool but you do have to buy food for $3, which is definitely worth it—it’s so weird to have a sting ray grab a fish out of your hand! Very cool! We did the up-close encounter: Tortally Shellstruck - Galapagos Tortoise Encounter. I didn’t see reviews ahead of time so I wanted to share my experience. There are different options of animal encounters at different prices. I’m curious why they are all different prices. Anyways, we had an amazing time getting to go into the exhibit and hang out with Nobi the giant tortoise. My daughter is not necessarily a zoo lover so this experience really made her day. Getting to speak with the zoo keeper one on one was incredibly unique and she told us so many interesting facts and stories about the animals. I highly recommend doing an animal encounter! Another winner for my 7 year old was the splash pad and play area in the middle of the zoo. She had so much fun!

Jordan ElbazJordan Elbaz

There are lots of animals to view at this large zoo. You can pay an extra small fee to touch stingrays and feed the giraffes. You can be really near kangaroos and emu. They just ask not to touch or feed them. You need a minimum of 4 hours to get through almost everything without rushing. There are multiple areas to take pictures. I went when they were setting up illumniNature so there were extra props to take pictures with. There are some vending machines, some food establishments and a souvenir shop. I did not get to eat there, but one of the food establishments had a beautiful view near the elephants. Restrooms are at the entrance once you pay to enter. For toddler parents: There is a large park near the zoo but no nearby restrooms, and when I asked to quickly use one nearby the zoo. The admission employee said no one could enter until we paid for our admission, even though family members were already at the register paying. The restrooms by the entrance are not very clean, but supplies are well stocked. One stall even had poop smeared all over the floor, and one of the soap dispensers was broken. The restroom in Kingdoms of Asia area is just one toilet, so it may be a wait, but it is very clean and well stocked.

Sarah CSarah C

My boyfriend and I went here because we were vacationing and had to cancel our original plans. We really enjoyed the zoo! We went in Sep 2021 on a weekday so there was barely a crowd but the place wasn't empty. We got the Total Zoo Experience. Feeding the sting rays was a unique experience - I could do it all day if it wasn't so expensive ($2 for two half a fish). But I would keep fishing the sting rays haha. I would say feeding the giraffe could be skipped. We didn't care about the Zoorassic Park. We spent the entire day at the zoo and was able to experience everything - but if you don't have time, you can come back to use the experiences another day. I believe there is an expiration date. We recommend the Keeper Chat as we had a fun experience with the lions and a personal chat at the cheetahs (no one else was showed up for the chat). The Sea Lion show is also highly recommended! The enclosures seem well taken care of and spacious. We loved that we were able to spot most, if not all, the animals since they were out and about! We ended up staying to eat at the zoo restaurant so we didn't waste time finding food outside the zoo. Being from the Bay Area, the food price, taste, and portion were good.

Liz DonutLiz Donut

Fun for the family! Despite it being a small zoo, you could spend a good 4 to 6 hours observing the animals, walking around and checking out their souvenir shop. I throughly enjoyed my time there. We bought tickets in advanced, was a bit difficult to find parking and finally near the front, found out that we had to pay for parking. So have a copy of your license plate in mind to have the smoothest trip possible. The sting ray and giraffe area cost extra if you want to touch or feed them. I would say that the sting ray experience was worth it and we just watched the giraffe being fed which was also fun. They have a blueish/purple tongue. Another memorable experience for me was watching the sea lion, it was so mesmerizing to see them swim. Lastly, we went inside the exhibit which mainly consists of reptiles like snakes and turtle and interestingly enough, a Komodo dragon was in there. It was my first time seeing a komodo dragon, it was not that huge as I expected but it was still nice to see them in real life. Overall, a worth it trip and recommend being prepare in advanced to have the smoothest trip.

Anon KritikerAnon Kritiker

Fresno Chaffee Zoo

Description

Ratings

Description

Plan your stay

Pet-friendly Hotels in Fresno

Affordable Hotels in Fresno

The Coolest Hotels You Haven't Heard Of (Yet)

Trending Stays Worth the Hype in Fresno

Posts

🍭World Children's Day! Bring Your Kids to California for a Fun-Filled Trip!

Nearby Attractions Of Fresno Chaffee Zoo

Roeding Park

Storyland

Motel 6 Fresno, CA - Belmont Ave

Motel 6 Fresno, CA

Home

Palace Inn

Giraffe Feeding

Travel Inn & Suites

Playland Fresno

Sea Lion Cove

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Triangle Drive In

Red Onion Fresno

DON SALSA'S TAQUERIA

Kopje Lodge

Zamora's #2

Aldo's Nightclub & Restaurant

Denny's

Donut Queen

La Casa de Mama

Jack in the Box

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Duration · 3h

Deep Dive

🍭World Children's Day! Bring Your Kids to California for a Fun-Filled Trip!