ZooTampa at Lowry Park — Attraction in Tampa

One word AMAZING!

We took our 4 and 1.5 year old in May of 2023. The park is stroller friendly and offers many shaded areas. We arrived when the park opened and left around 330pm. We honestly could have stayed until it closed and has so much to do, but we had to drive back to Orlando and wanted to hit the road. The staff are friendly and helpful. Bathrooms are conveniently located throughout the part and the ones we went in were all clean and well stocked.

Zoo and Animals: We arrived when the zoo opened and so many animals were awake and alert! We got to actually see many of the animals and didn't struggle to find them too much. The monkeys were even acting out for us, swinging around and making so much noise first thing. The kids LOVED it, we got a whole show from them. Even though this zoo is a smaller one compared to others we have visited, it was perfect and too overwhelming. They had a fun bug exhibit while we were there that was pretty cool (watch out for the "spitting" ant!! You might get wet (; ). One of our favorite areas was the Manatees. They had many viewing ports which made it easy to not miss any of the feeding action that we got to see.

Kids Area: Let me say it again, AMAZING! The kids area gave this zoo a theme park feel. With a small coaster, a train, and a banana themed ride (plus a log flume ride and carousel located just outside of the kids area) all included with your general admission ticket, our kiddos loved getting to experience them! Plus there is a very large splash pad (plus a second one by the zoo entrance), covered playground, and petting zoo area for the kids.

Hands-On Experience: We had our 4 year old do the hands on tortoise experience. They make you pay for the child and the accompanying parent, however it was a cool experience. You do not get to feed the animals, but you can get right up with them, touch them and learn first hand about them. We thought the experience was worth the money. *There were many other experience options, this was the only one allowed for 5 and under. **Book these in advance!

Food: We ate lunch at the park and really enjoyed. The food was fresh, tasted good, and appeared to be good quality food. It was reasonably priced compared to other major park food prices...it didn't break the bank for 4 of us to eat lunch.

Cons: The safari ride was not the best. It appeared they only had 1 truck running while we were there, resulting in a long wait. Unfortunately we did not feel it was really worth the wait. They try to make it fun with a story to follow and the staff are "acting" throughout, however, it really slowed down the ride and we found ourselves at a complete stop with not much to see at times as they "acted" out the story (honestly a few of the kids on the ride with us ended up asleep on their parents laps by the end of it!). Our little ones didn't have a long enough attention span for it and we struggled to keep them seated. You wont see any different animals on this tour, just some of the same animals from the zoo from different view/angle and possibly closer up depending on where the animal was at the time of your ride. Not really anywhere to fill up water bottled. We brought in lots of water with us because after reading some reviews, there are not really any water bottle filling stations, so be prepared for that! This zoo is definitely focused more towards younger kids. If you have kids 9/10 and up, depending on their personalities/interests, they might get board faster. The rides/extra activities were definitely geared more towards the younger kiddos.

Overall, highly recommend for families...

We got there before the park opened. They'll definitely let people through the entrance gate to the security and queuing area a half hour before the park opens, but may or may not (according to security) let people past the ticket booths and inside until the official opening time. My guess is especially if they're expecting a big crowd they want to get people thru bag and stroller checks and ticket lines more quickly so that area is accessible earlier. The two times when we've been early they did let people thru to the manatee circle fountain area inside, but the paths were chained off until the proper opening time. Many employees still seem to be prepping for opening at this in between time. We were able to admire the tapirs quite nicely from outside the chain on the path. In fact, I've never had a better view of the tapirs and I've never seen both at the same time until this visit.

That's not such a strange thing, though. The best time to see a lot of animals is right after opening time when it's cooler and quieter. They're often more active and in areas closer to guests first thing in the morning. It seems a lot of animals are fed just before the park opens. The only time I've seen the pygmy hippo out of the water was right after opening when it walked out of its pond to eat hay near the glass. And it was amazing!

This time the shoebill storks were closer and more animated than I've ever seen. One suddenly fly-hopped toward us and the other picked up a large twig, twisted it into the massive nest, and stretched out its neck releasing a weird clattering bellow. This was all done at a stalking pace meeting shoebill fashion over about 5 minutes. But since previously we only watched them as blinking statues, it felt like a genuine privilege to witness.

We were quite delighted with the baby rhino, who was surprisingly close, feeding with its mom just inside the enclosure limits.

The true highlight of our day was seeing the komodo dragon babies! There's a sign that says they're in their habit from 10am to noon daily to acclimate to their new environment. These critters were very interested in walking along the narrow concrete curb at the base of the window glass. That made it easy to see their bodies crawling back and forth up close. They climbed across each other and occasionally knocked one off (just a few inch drop). Even more enjoyable, a few like to try to climb on the glass, so their faces and hands are very easy to see. Earlier in the day I heard someone describe them as cute. Most babies are cute, but I never would have expected how cute and even cuddly looking a curious baby Komodo dragon can be.

I wish I could have seen the lighted wire sculptures of the rhino, elephant, and giraffe after dark. My boyfriend is an annual member, so we can attend the Christmas in the Wild event that starts at 4:30pm each day. We really enjoyed it last year and saw things both familiar and different this year. I just didn't get to see them live or after dark because my feet were too sore to stay that long. Last year I was particularly impressed with the three ghosts from Dicken's A Christmas Carol. Their costumes were fabulously creative. They were located near the backstage...

All in all this was a in great place, as I am a zoo member of the Kansas City Zoo. I had a few questions when we got there about tickets and how they worked. The gentleman at the window was very hateful, didn't even fill the need to answer my questions yet the young lady behind him who I think was possibly a supervisor stepped up. Answered, my questions was very nice. The one thing I didn't understand is we went in for a single day. Why were we not allowed to do this single day ticket? We were only allowed to do a guest ticket which was the same exact price. So yeah, that frustrated me, and she couldn't answer to why we couldn't do the single day ticket. It is what it is. One thing that I did notice is the zoo really does cater to young children. Rides, splash pads, water features?

We didn't understand why until we got there. Because my seventeen year old wants to be either a zoologist or vet and work with animals and he absolutely loves them. We had an amazing ride on the safari bus that day, the gentleman that did the tour was absolutely amazing. My 17-year-old is high-functioning and very interested in animals, and he had so many questions about the shoebill stork. We did not know that there's only 5 in the United States and you guys have 3 of them. How exciting. And it's his favorite bird and believe it or not, you guys had him, he was so excited. The guy was even more excited to realize how much my son knew about them. So he took time and spoke with him about them, spoke with him about other stuff after the tour. And really just made the tour amazing. Then we went over to the manatee section, and once again outstanding, I love manatees and just finding out about them and how you guys save them. But also finding out on the tours that you guys are, the only animal hospital was really cool. So my oldest lives in Florida, and now my middle one wants to come stay there because he lives very close to the zoo to see if he can get a job there. ( we live an hour from KC and 2 from Omaha. 😀 ) It was a really hot day. There wasn't a lot of things open during the day. There was a lot of stuff for little kids like the splash pads and stuff. But for the older adults, there really wasn't Anything or anywhere to set down, except for one place. One thing that I did not understand there's a small bag of chips costing almost $7 that about killed me. I understand it's a zoo and we have to make a profit. But when you can buy 3 small bags of chips for the same cost as a Pizza. Something just doesn't make sense. Again except for when we entered with the gentleman who I just did not get a name, who also maybe had a horrible day. Horrible morning, didn't know the answers. What have you? Everything else was amazing and we can't wait to come back. I hope that you guys open up the single day tickets as a zoo members. Because you are in the list. Some different options because we visit all kinds of zoos, and that's why we are zoo members, because we love it. Can't wait to come back. Would also be cool if you did membership programs for county residents of your area as I would buy a membership for my son and his family. I love gifting zoo memberships to my...