Topeka Zoo

I must admit, to give my review fair context, that I've taken my kids to the Kansas City Zoo at least 20 times, and we are rather spoiled by it. I'll add as well that I visited on March 13, which was not only a very chilly day, but also at the beginning of the real onset of the COVID-19 pandemic here, and this was my first and only visit. So the zoo was very sparsely attended that day, and most of the animals were not available for viewing.

We found our initial arrival to be frustrating and confusing. There is insufficient signage leading up both to the zoo parking lot and to its entrance. Google Maps told us to turn into a closed gate that was marked as for "Authorized Personnel Only," and construction workers and trucks busily working made us fear the zoo was closed. We finally asked a worker, who told us to drive further down the road and that the zoo would be on the left (it was on the right, with the playground on the left). When we finally got parked and walked up to the ticket building, we had our cooler in hand, ready for a nice picnic lunch. I stood with my girls before what looked like a service window, with no sign on it for direction, wondering why the lady was gesturing, pointing, and laughing with the woman sitting next to her instead of doing anything to serve us. Finally, we figured out on our own that her service window was on the side of the building. Simple signage could fix both of these problems! So could decent customer service!!! When we got around to her, I saw the sign that stated outside food and drinks are not allowed. This really frustrated me, as we're used to the KC Zoo allowing us to bring in our own lunch and drinks, which saves us a lot of money.

After returning our cooler to the car, we finally got inside, and since we were all hungry, we went straight to the food stand to the left of the entrance. One family sat eating at the tables across from it, and no one stood in front of or behind us in line. Despite this lack of much to do, the 3 employees "working" in the food stand seemed to spend a lot more time talking than working. They were not very friendly when taking our order, took awhile to make our drinks, and then handed them to me with no lids or straws. I asked about lids, and the worker said "We do not use lids and straws here." I told her ok, I understood, but I would not have allowed my kid to order a large root beer if I'd known that ahead of time, and once again, I saw no signs stating that fact, nor did any of the workers mention it until after the drinks were made. She apologized, and I sat down with my kids and the drinks (after vigorous handwashing in the bathroom next door). Approximately 15-20 minutes later, they called us up to get our chicken wrap, go-gurt tube, veggie cup, and hummus. How on earth does that take 3 people, 20 minutes to make?

We did enjoy the animal exhibits and little displays about recycling, conservation, and the like. The "Da Dum" signs on the sidewalk all over the zoo, leading up to the shark display, was a fun touch. My kids loved the play equipment.

Next to the swan exhibit, the feed machine ate our money and, despite being full of food, didn't let out a single pellet. Thankfully, some of the other machines did work further down the path.

When we got to the gift shop, I heard the sales person tell a family ahead of us that they do not use any plastic or paper bags, and that people should bring in their own or buy a reusable one for (I think) $5. Maybe I just missed it, but I saw no signage about the no bags policy around the shop. If I had gotten up to the counter with a huge load of little things to discover that, I would've been miffed! So many issues that could be fixed with simple signage. I chose a book to buy for my library, and was disappointed to discover they charge sales tax (KC Zoo doesn't).

We did enjoy our time at the Topeka Zoo overall, but there were a lot of things that could be done (most notably, customer service training, allowing patrons to bring in their own food and drinks, and clearer signage) to...

Expensive and underwhelming. In many of the exhibits animals are nowhere to be seen. The Japanese Garden is the best part of the Zoo. It isn't marked well though and it doesn't indicate anywhere that it's one way in and out but it's nice.

The animals that were out and visible were turkeys and the deer with them, monkeys, a lion, a porcupine and elephants. A LOT of empty exhibits! The staff was quite unfriendly. Watch out for golf carts! One employee drove through me and my family head on, stopped in the middle of us, yelled at some kids touching a tree and instead of staying parked until we got around her she told us - "watch out because I don’t want anyone to get hurt or hit anyone" and proceeded to drive through us. There weren't many visitors and she could of easily stopped and waited or went around us. My youngest kid walking with us is 2 so after that we weren't as leisurely as we were before. The person at ticketing was very rude too. I would take my family and $$ elsewhere. There are other zoos 1 to 2 hours away. They cost a little more but you'll be able to make a day out of the visit and see a lot of animals and the price difference isn't that much. Not sure why the admission is so much for what you get. Especially with all the donations they get and Business partnerships they have. I did notice way more employees at this zoo than I have at any other zoo.

This zoo is more of a paved nature trail with some animals along the way and an...

Took my daughter for her first trip to the zoo Saturday 9/7. We arrived at 12:15pm and were informed at the entrance that the zoo would be closing at 1pm that day for some fundraiser later that evening. This was obviously not something that was properly posted in a way that visitors would know prior to arriving at the entrance, because at 1:30 I was still seeing many parents/groups getting out of vehicles only to be turned away by the time they got to the front gate. Then to top it off, they refused to offer any kind of discount on the admission price. We paid $8 and some change each to walk around for a whopping 45 minutes. The shark exhibit was a sad excuse and the sloths they've been advertising so heavily were nowhere to be found. Two things we were very excited to see in the short time we were allowed there that also ended up being a huge disappointment. Then I'm thinking, oh, well you have to exit through the gift shop so I can at least get my daughter her first little zoo souvenir. NOPE! Shut that down promptly at 1pm as well and had us exit through a different gate. I was thoroughly displeased with this zoo, not that it's been that great over the years to begin with. Thanks a heap, Topeka Zoo, for making my memory of my first child's first zoo trip absolutely dreadful. Thankfully she won't have to remember being as disgusted with this...