Oregon Zoo — Attraction in Portland

So this was our second time coming to this zoo. It is, by far, the best zoo I've visited (having only visited one on the West Coast). I am going to break my review down into pros and cons because while I love this zoo, there were a few issues that significantly reduced my high opinion of it. Pros: -It is gorgeous - surrounded by lush forestry; bamboo, trees, flowers, and plants - all of this nature also keeps it nice and shady so if you're visiting on a hot day, you can get some reprieve from the hot sun -Clearly marked directions/map with plenty of signs so there is no skipping exhibits or accidentally backtracking -Fabulous selection of various beautiful animals with an abundance of well placed signs/posters with succinct and fascinating information -Clever layout: the zoo is essentially a giant circle - you enter and follow the path around the circle and naturally can see each exhibit and by the time you reach the end, you have seen everything there -Friendly, kind, professional staff - they go above and beyond to ensure your visit is enjoyable and their efforts are impossible to ignore -Very kid friendly - there are so many spots throughout the zoo to sit for need, use the bathroom, and there is a giant sandbox with toys for the kiddos and some scattered tunnels to crawl through, etc -Amazing location for a myriad of pictures! Dozens of great places to pose with cool sculptures/statues, windows in front of the animals, giant aquarium, etc -Carousel and train - while the train was extremely underwhelming (I will touch on that under cons), the carousel is great and we all loved it -Easy to access from the highway -This is our second visit to this zoo and we were lucky enough, both times, to see turtles engaged in passionate love-making

Cons: -Parking: very difficult to find a spot and some of the rows do not go both directions and you have to back out which is very hard with traffic everywhere. Additionally, it's expensive to park! The cost of tickets to the zoo should absolutely include parking fare. -Key kiosks: we purchased these little plastic keys for like $3-5 which allowed the holder of the key to access special little kiosks which, when activated with the key, gave special information on various animals otherwise not available. The information was loud and there was absolutely no reason to purchase two keys as anyone around us could hear our "secret information" and from start to finish, we could only find 3 kiosks which means only 3 opportunities to use the keys and the information was not at all impressive -after 2.5 hours of non-stop walking, my husband and I were super thirsty and my two kids were "starving." We were there on a Saturday, from 11am-2:30pm and passed multiple food trucks and restaurants, all of which had signs with hours listed and all should have been open but none were. NONE were. Directly before the exit, we finally found a pizza place that was open but we were all done and needed to leave at this point - I get one or two being closed due to extenuating circumstances but all of them except one? That's poor planning and I was irritated that I paid so much money and was going to die of dehydration before I could make my way out -The Train: I love riding on trains and always enjoy riding through the zoos on one, soaking in all the sights. I got the 4 of us (my hubby and I and our two sons) train tickets and I was SO excited for the train. The train ride was the most disappointing part of the zoo for me. We couldn't hear the conductor dude so I have no idea if he was telling us valuable information or just rapping into his microphone, the train didn't take us near anything remotely cool - I expected to ride near some animals at least, nope. But the worst part was, it was over before I could blink. Seriously, it was like 5 minutes long. We all looked at each other like "that was it? It's done?!"

Overall, I am very happy we went and the positive experiences outweighed the...

The Oregon Zoo is one of my favorite places to visit throughout the year (if possible.) They've done a really good job for the last 15+ years rebuilding and/or expanding the animal exhibits. It's come a long way and is truly a beautiful zoo with the natural pine trees surrounding the borders of the whole place. For the most part the animals are out on display in their enclosure's, so there are plenty to see. I prefer going later in the day (2 pm - 6 pm closing time.) It's less hectic than earlier when they do feeding activities and zoo keeper talks but for the kids the early time slots are the best. The food is expensive and some of it you wish you'd passed on after trying it but the Elephant ears, pretzels, popcorn, Aviary Cafe and ice cream are always good choices. It's better to bring a snack and your own bottled water (the water can be warm sometimes at the filling station's.) It's a fantastic zoo to visit, you don't even realize your in the middle of the city while...

We had a fun time visiting the zoo during our trip to Portland. We got there early so we could get a good parking spot. I loved the Pacific Northwest section at the beginning the most. The zoo was a lot bigger than we anticipated and we didn't get to see the whole thing since our 8 year old got tired, but only missed a couple spots. It's easy to miss the sea life if you're not careful. There was also an aviary and bug exhibit that was really cool to see. The polar bears were also really fun, as you can see under the water through glass. I felt like the animals are cared for more than other zoos, and I spotted some baby turtles they are raising to let free in the wild which made me respect them more. I do wish the train ride was cheaper so we could've partook in that as well. It's about $5 per...