Sunset Zoo — Attraction in Manhattan

The zoo itself is great and we love it. Not too big lots of shade, bathrooms could be better though. Great for small kids with a playground and superb gardens. We also love the day camps they offer. The rest of this review is about the daycamps: Unfortunately despite being polite and nice, to them, they lack the propper training in customer service and in dealing with problems. Some of he people there help work on the parks and rec website specifically Tammy Jones. On several occasions the system they use to book classes came up with an error that said that the age range for the kids was wrong - this happened in 2014 and now in 2017 - even though it was correct - for example I tried enrolling my daughter in zoo camp when she was 9, and the class was for 8 - 12 yr olds. I reported it and she was extremely condescending, talking to me as if I had never used a website and telling me I had not entered the birthdays. I told her many times that I had, but she insisted that I was at fault. The propper response would have been to say : "I am sorry you having these problems m'am and I will check in to see if nothing is wrong with our system". In the meantime is there any way I can help you register manually?". Instead she said "well you did not enter the birthdays and you even have the kids in there twice you really should not do that." When I told her that I had entered them twice because I could not see birthdays after saving, and that I wanted to be sure - she said that was not true. Even after sending her screen shots it was all my fault. Then she hung up. I called back and asked her what to do if it happens again - she said it won't - when I pressed her she became even more hostile. She has hung up on me 3 times now in 4 years and i was being calm, not shouting, or being rude myself. Noone knows why she is unable to deal with problems, frustrated customers, and why she consistently is condescending or unable to reply to questions (like when I asked her whom to contact if it happens again, she hung up) - but it has happened so many times now, that I just dread talking with her. Some of the other parents are having the same problem and we hope she retires soon....or that they fix the parks and rec site to work properly soon! The other thign we find SO frustrating at the zoo is that they seem to have no concern for the environment. Every season we have to photocopy all our registration forms, r re-fill them out (10-15 sheets) and hand them in AGAIN - they apparently do nto KEEP FILES but throw everything out and start again every school year and every summer. They say it is the accrediting agency that requires paper, but there is NO ACCREDITING AGENCY listed - confusely the Discovery Center does not require this. Some one there is very backward and does not know about Pdf's....keeping files...they could have a from asking "has any of your info changed"....apart form that we still love the zoo - the animals and program - but on the admin side the place seems to...

As long-time members and frequent visitors, we’ve always loved this zoo and supported its cause. However, our most recent visit left us deeply unsettled due to the inappropriate and concerning behavior of one of the staff members.

After the zoo closed, we were sitting in our car in the parking lot, wrapping up our activites and deciding on our next plans. Out of nowhere, a woman moved her car extremely close to ours, almost rear-ending us. This was understandably alarming, as we had no idea who she was or why she was blocking us in.

When we asked what was going on, she informed us that the zoo had closed. We acknowledged this and assured her we were about to leave. However, she became visibly upset and argued that she worked there and needed to clear out the parking lot. We mentioned there were several public trails around, and we had never had an issue parking in that lot before. She then insisted we move our car further into the lot if that was the case. She was not satisfied with our answer that we would be leaving and stated she would be “taking care of it”. At this point, we moved to the area she suggested, hoping to avoid further conflict.

But things escalated. As we were leaving, we noticed that she had parked down the road and began honking at us, then followed us for a short distance. We were honestly shaken by this and felt uncomfortable and unsafe driving home afterward.

This was a jarring and unnecessary experience. If not for the initial frightening incident of almost being rear-ended, I would have likely been more composed during our interaction. It’s disappointing to have this kind of experience at a zoo we have always loved and supported.

We hope the zoo takes this feedback seriously to ensure that all staff interactions reflect the welcoming and positive atmosphere that it is known for. I would hope that future visitors aren’t scared out of the parking lot right...

When going through the reviews it makes me sad to see the one star reviews especially when they are made during the peak of summer or winter. Just like us animals need cool or warm place to go, and unlike other animals if any of these showed any signs of heat stress or heavens forbid a mortality it would be detrimental. When you think of the demographics that they serve they are top tear. Especially when all of the funding that they get is from the City, and let's be honest the city can't even fix pot holes. For some of the reviews they say it was super expensive? It is literally $6 plus tax for an adult and $4 plus tax for a kid. If you were to go to one of my favorite zoos the OKC Zoo you'll be paying twice if not 3 times as much. They may be bigger but still have the same issues of animals not being out. I also don't want to spend 3hr walking around in the heat or cold and still not get through the whole zoo. This one is the perfect size, the guest service attendees don't look like they hate their lives, and the keepers really care. Best time to go to any zoo is the fall and spring not peak winter or summer. And let's be honest these animals are not pets, they are here to educate people about conservation and to be rehabilitated not to be forced out and made to dance like circus animals. Edit: Prices are now $9 for an adult and $7 for kiddos. They also now have two more large animals and 2 baby tigers who just celebrated a year birthday on the...