Fort Rickey Discovery Zoo — Attraction in Town of Verona

‼️So, my opinion on Fort Ricky.‼️ I LOVED the interactive side of it, and how attentive the employees are. They are patient and very kind. They had a significant amount of animals for how small it was. Their animal presentations were also interactive and informative allowing audience input, questions, guesses, and some allowed photo ops! Very cool in that regard. I recommend you pick up a map at the entrance, as they have the entire days animal presentation schedule on the back of it.0 They also sold animal food which can be purchased separately and used to feed the animals. The crackers were able to be utilized throughout the Zoo for specific animals with signs indicating they could eat them. The cost was $3/ individual feed, or 2 for $5 mix feed. Their gift shop offered a lot of souvenirs which I was surprised to see from small trinkets branded with Fort Ricky, to larger items like Plush Stuffed Animals & Branded T- Shirts. As far as the downside... you can get thru the entire thing within an hour. Maybe an hour and a half if you stop at the play place area and picnic it. More time can be used attending all the animals presentations (as there are many throughout the day and those are great!). Their Water Wars, Bounce Pillow, and Downhill Derby water area I felt was pricey. I believe the pillow was all day access, but the derby and the water wars was like $10 for about 5-10 minutes of play depending the amount of "buckets" you purchased, So we didnt do that. The place also has LOTS of bees from the forest-like location, and bugs from the farm animals. I got stung twice next to the sloth cage. (Thank God it was me and not my son who is allergic and carries an epipen). Overall rating I would give it 3/5 stars. I don't think we will be going back anytime soon, its over a hour drive to get there, and we were done with the entire place in the same amount of time. So It really isn't worth it for us specifically to make this a consistent activity. However, I will say the animals looked to be extremely well cared for. Those Alpaca's & the deer were a Hoot!! In fact the interactive exhibits were what really makes this place fun, without them I couldn't see it remaining in business. ‼️OH! I wanted to note, admission prices are TAXED, so what you see online is not what you pay. It was $13.05 admission after tax not $12. I do not recall seeing that on the website, which for those of you who bring exact cash, you will be short...

This review is not intended to bash this place but more to inform. Went to their fall festival. Not much for a fall festival really. Only seen a few young workers who have no customer service experience as it seems. The concession stand by kids play area had a young girl and an older lady. Very unorganized. No team work. Older lady stood there watching fries cook. Line took forever and when food was finally done the younger girl just pushed it aside constantly Reaching over food to take another order rather then calling out to the customer that their order was done. I had to keep asking for my food. Food was overpriced not very good. Animals seemed hungry, they shouldn’t rely on the 25 cent machines we pay for to feed the animals. During the otter feeding the worker wasn’t paying attention that one otter got way more food then the other. Some enclosures should be bigger. I don’t believe in zoos to begin with but came with my nephews cuz they love it. I understand they are under new management and may be trying to work on all this but they could use experienced workers with better customer service who can multi task and help them more. Bathrooms were also not good at all. Cold water only and more of an outhouse feel. Doesn’t seem the kids play area is cleaned often. The baby deer were super cute, foxes are adorable, some good stuff in their gift shop but not a huge selection, kids love the tricycles they can ride and the jumping play area, corn maze was tiny but kids loved it which is good, wolves were skittish and seemed bored but told they are new. My nephew and I found a ton of bird and peacock feathers which seemed to be the highlight of our visit as we collect feathers. I’m sure they are trying to make things better and only have so much to work with. I hope it works out for them and of course for...

We had a great time with our 19m old son. Lots of goats, deer, and sheep to pet and feed, including baby goats! They were all very well mannered (unlike other farms we've been to) so my son went from worried to having a blast in just a few minutes. He really enjoyed brushing them too.

The workers were a very sweet and helpful. One of the guys took a ferret out and my son was so excited (but wouldn't touch) lol. Peacocks were free roaming which was kind of cool.

The animals are definitely well taken care of.

Tickets in and the gift shop accept card. Food for the animals is cash only. It was a cup of carrots, a cone of pellets, or grain crackers. Today they were $2 each or 1 of each for $5. There were also quarter machines around to feed various animals. They also had 'first come first serve' complimentary 2 seat wagons for kids which was AWESOME for my son. He was too small for the big jumping cushion and we decided to not let him into the big part of the playground (mostly because my husband is just too big of a guy to follow lol and I'm 8m pregnant so I definitely cant crawl around anymore) but there were a few smaller little things for him to...