Utah's Hogle Zoo — Attraction in Salt Lake City

Good afternoon Hogle Zoo family, just letting you know that my general review for the largest zoo in Utah will be replaced annually. I just can't wait for the new master plan to arrive! I like how you are now up-to-date with standards in general, especially when it comes to the welfare of 100+ species currently in the zoo's collection. Fortunately this year, here are some realistic expectations I am to set over the decades. I will always miss the Hippos and Elephants, but thankfully there is plentiful adequate space for the smaller, but similar capybaras and tapirs respectively, the first ones in 40+ years sharing space with rheas, anteaters and our current new world monkeys. I do miss all those ring-tailed lemurs as well, and I still hope you can please add either those and/or raccoons in the future, whether they are in Wild Utah or the Diversity of life building, American ringtails also work. Some other former resident species I can realistically expect to return are the gibbons and guenons, which I can just see joining the modernized orangutan and gorilla habitats respectively, thanks to personal experience with multispecies habitats and Planet Zoo combined. Fingers crossed for the rhinos and shy to neutral antelope sharing space in a public flex habitat in the south pathway adjacent to the current savanna! In the meantime, thank you Hogle Zoo for finally bringing Discoveryland back! The duck pond may be empty for a good while longer, but the rest are full! A large portion of the same species, such as Kestrels, Spiders, Marmots, Bobcats, and Cougars have returned, and I visit my favorite animals there almost biweekly. Yellow the Ostrich and probably a couple guineas are currently the only original savanna animals, but the savanna's almost the same again! I would just add gray crowned-cranes and/or Egyptian geese back in the short term. I hope someday for more lion cubs, but thank goodness there will be more tiger and leopard cubs! The baby monkey and gorillas are so cute, and I am hoping for more baby orangs as well, now that Tuah is all grown up. The camels, horses, niche-shifted zebra stallions and rhino aren't bad either, and I hope more seals are bred again, but thank goodness for otters, eagles and bears! In the small animal building, we got red foxes year-round, but I can always visit the mole rats, crocodiles, tortoises and monkey skinks (AKA scaly capuchins), and I visit the imperial pigeon and hornbills ever since those poor parrots died. I do like the new hyrax habitat so far, I hope the Small Animal house is fully renovated soon. As for the red pandas, I hope they travel together in their entire habitat for a while before another cub is born, and those snow leopard cubs are adorable too! Please build more better aviaries soon, and add more meerkats later too? In short, I too find the new habitats and some old habitats that bit happier with every visit but find the South Pathway and Small Animal Building sadder since the iron aviaries were recently demolished and some species in the latter being phased out and hardly being replaced at all. The best news, however, is that we most likely have Zoo lights twice a year now and I will be happiest once the zoo is essentially the same as ever before,...

I'm kind of a Zoo snob I think most people would give this place five stars! Hogle zoo can definitely compete with the rest around the country.

It's beautifully laid out, and has fun things for kids; splash pad and playground that are impressive. Train ride and a carousel as well!

Standouts for me are the new babies! 2025 there's a baby colobus monkey, a toddler chimp, and two wonderful snow leopard cubs!

Our family really enjoys the wild Utah area highlighting local critters.

Hogle zoo does spectacular events and keeps things popping like Disneyland.

That said, some of their prices are as high as Disneyland; for snacks, and trinkets! So we always bring our own drinks and snacks and sometimes a full lunch. There are places for picnicking and they don't mind if you pack your stroller or bring in a wagon!

You will need, a stroller or a wagon to pull your kids around. It's a fairly large Zoo, the elevation is high, and it's set in the foothills of Salt Lake City. This means you'll be walking on on inclines. If you are visiting from a lower elevation don't do this your first day.

They do a lot of swapping out animals; giving animals a break, it's not uncommon to show up and see an empty, dry alligator pool. Or it just so happens you show up on the day when the rhino is taking a break in the back, and you see wild Mongolian horses instead of the rhinoceros. We've been there multiple times this year and the playground has been closed every time we've been there.

I love the polar bear, but he swims in circles over and over, and I wonder if the area is big enough for him? He loves to pop out and scare people. I will see if I can find a video and add it. His paws are enormous.

A few of the displays, like some in the reptile house, look like they haven't been updated since I...

I took my son here on a weekday. I don’t like dealing with crowds and my son has Autism so I wanted him to enjoy what the park has to offer without being overstimulated. I bought my tickets online to avoid the line and that saved me time and money since they offer a small discount to do that. Before I went to the zoo and I did a little research on their site. One thing I appreciated was that they offer a backpack for people with autism that comes with things they can hold and touch for stimulation like different furs and feathers. It also gives a list of places that offer different areas of stimulation throughout the park that people with Autism might enjoy. Also little fidget and animal toys that my son enjoyed holding while riding in a wagon or walking around. Headphones to help cancel out noise or quiet the surrounding was included but my son did not need it. You have to see member services for it and leave your ID info with them. When done with visit, you return it to the same place. I brought a wagon so I didn’t have to rent one. They offer different rentals, including strollers and wagon. See their site for a complete list of rentals. The wagon helped a lot to hold his backpack, lunch (you can bring outside food), and himself whenever he got too tired from walking. There is a little playground and small splash area where the kids can cool off and play. Tons of places to eat. A carousel and train that takes you around. Unfortunately we didn’t do any of those rides since I forgot my wallet and they do not take Apple Pay or any electronic pay from phone. I would say that is my only thing they wished they included since I’m a forget mom and always forget to bring my wallet. Other than that, the zoo was fun and will...