On our last visit we went for the Asian Lantern festival which was very nice, however most of the animals were not out, almost of all the food places were closed, and no alcohol was available. There is no smoking anywhere in the park, which is fairly normal for parks now, but in all reality just led to several people smoking on less monitored parts of the walk. Between the lack of alcohol and smoking, for a night oriented walk in a secure location, it felt a bit like walking through a convent. This also didn't prevent an extremely drunk person from roaming around near us for the first fifteen minutes, so basically any measures used by the park to create a more family friendly environment simply were not effective and restricted normal responsible adults. Entry was fairly cheap at $25 per person, but purchasing an umbrella was $18 and a piece of pizza, cheese fries, drinks, and two essentially pudding cups were $50. It's to be expected I suppose, but the food was ok at best and why not make the umbrella $25-30 if the park is going to bend me over in public for what I believe was a plain black umbrella that was in all likelyhood a one time use item.

Speaking more generally about daytime visits; The parking situation is fairly good I think. The park does a good job of hiding how small and urban it really is, but somehow the walking route does feel a little long for how many displays are covered. The food situation is fairly poor. If I'm going to pay out of the nose for a pizza, then just give me a place with a good steak or something of a higher value and rip me off the same amount and I won't feel as bad. Normally there are a couple places to get drinks, which is nice, but to my knowledge it's all canned garbage or maybe a draft beer and given the hot long walk, I'd be more appreciative of a frozen margarita or something I can't get at a gas station at 2am. There's not a lot of easy to see unique animals that offer anything special. The polar bears and seals and walruses are an exception (but don't expect to see them at the lantern festival). You can get very cool views of them swimming through the glass. The red panda is cute, but they have one lonely one that looks like it's clinically depressed that you can usually only view through a fogged up window. The aquarium is kind of depressing.

The coolness and vibe at night was nice. I know they have done after hours events, I think I've heard of a Valentine's dinner. Getting information on when these are doesn't appear to be readily available and when I've tried to reserve things in the past, they've usually been booked for months. What I would suggest, is the park should make better use of these evening hours. Many animals are nocturnal, a few of those in an area with a unique dining experience and some classy drinks should make a lot of money and offer experiences that are hard to come by anywhere else. I realize the Pittsburgh zoo isn't Disney, but I recall Animal Kingdom having night safaris and great food and drinks; A taste of that in Pittsburgh would be nice.