Caldwell Zoo — Attraction in Tyler

We went to the Caldwell Zoo about nine-thirtyish and arrived there very soon. The parking was actually quite nice. There were a lot of options to park and a lot of them that were available weren’t too far away from the entrance.

When you enter, you can find people at a gate ready to welcome you and scan your ticket. Also, there's an option to rent a wagon or a stroller. We rented a wagon because we had two small children with us. It cost $10.

Once you’re through the gate, there are three sections to start with. We started with the new Amazon section. In that section, there are a lot of tropical animals, including some capybara, toucans, and parakeets. They also moved some of the reptiles into the Amazon rainforest exhibit, which is kind of interesting.

Up the hill was the Africa exhibit. It’s actually kind of small—there’s only the elephants, the lions, zebras, antelope, and the giraffes. There’s also an option to feed the giraffes in the Africa exhibit. We did not do that on our visit today, however.

After that was the penguins. They were a little bit stinky. Oh, and today they weren’t in the exhibit because their pool had to be cleaned.

Next was the boardwalk area. It was good. There were only like alligators and bees.

Next, there was the American exhibit. It’s actually the biggest exhibit there. They had very large American wilderness animals, as well as Central American animals and a few South American animals. They also had this bird exhibit with a bunch of amazing, very pretty birds—and one that looked exactly like a Pikachu. To feed the birds, it cost around three dollars.

Next we just kept strolling along. We saw some otters, a fox that had a lot of sad backstory, and the bald eagle. There’s also a reptiles exhibit in the American section.

And then we were done with the zoo and ready to go back home. It was a good experience, and I recommend getting the membership.

Oh, and there’s four stars on this review because at the restaurant we ordered some drinks. One: they did not give us straws or lids for our drink cups, which made it kind of hard to drink them. Now I understand it for the animals, but it just doesn’t really make much sense.

Oh, and one of us ordered a Powerade with no ice and expected the drink to come out cold—it came out warm. Not to be nitpicky, but when you’re thirsty from going up large hills, it’s going to be hard to pass up a cold, refreshing Powerade. And with no ice, you get more of the drink. Well, I guess you have to sacrifice something.

Anyway, the visit to the zoo was good. If you let me put 4.5 stars, I...

Overall a good experience. Every staff member was incredibly kind and knowledgeable. The facility was clean and parking was easy to navigate. It wasn't crowded at all when we went on a weekday. I'm not overly impressed with the step entrance nor am I sure why it's so much lower than parking. They really need to add more benches. There are benches in certain locations, but not in a place where you just need to stop and rest. They just need to sprinkle those around along with more "You're Here" maps. I don't particularly understand the location for the cafe and why it's not more easily accessible. We had to walk up a hill, make a curve, walk back down a hill, past some huts, take a left, go past seating just to get there. It would've been easier if it were up in the front where people can easily navigate it. I liked that the zoo was really easy on seniors and those with disabilities. We went when there was a group of seniors there and we saw many individuals in wheelchairs and I love that they didn't seem to have an issue navigating the facility. There is a place by the birds where the water stinks and is brown. There's also overgrown areas that need to be trimmed back. I think that needs to be tackled and I didn't see many animals have access to water in the 86F which worried me a bit- BUT I'm not an animal expert nor know what those animals may need in the heat. The animal lover in me just felt a bit worried. Seeing the elephants by the cafe was fun. We got to feed the birds, which was a unique touch. It was great they could break my $20 for me at the interaction. We wanted to feed the giraffes, but that was closed so we just visited them in their barn. The petting zoo with the goats was a fun touch. My little enjoyed that. I'd like to have seen more petting/interactive options so hopefully they'll expand on that in the future. The only thing I wished was for a wow factor. We came from Louisiana based on recommendations and I just didn't see any major standout. Like I wish there were tour rides you could do. I think that would be really fun! Overall, good. My little left saying it was "The best day ever!" and that's all that...

We are visiting family in East Texas this weekend and one activity that we opt to do is to go to the Zoo. One reason it because my daughter loves animals and thought that this would be a really fun time as she always loves seeing animals.

The prices for the zoo were not half bad at all. Since she is not three she as free to enter which was awesome and saved a bit of funds! One thing that I wanted to first mentioned is how clean the zoo was. All zoo’s will always have certain smells, but we have been to a few that just stink and make the experience unenjoyable. That was not the case here. Another thing of note is they are expanding so you can’t do a complete loop and have to backtrack a bit. It is not horrible, we walked the entire park which was just under 2.5 miles (including walk to and from the car).

Another great thing that I enjoyed about this zoo is they combined a lot of exhibits into one. Meaning we saw several items in one place (fish, birds, turtle, and a mammal. Been to other zoos and it is just one animal per exhibit, which makes more immersive. All the animals there looked healthy as well and some were playful. The bird exhibit was really cool! I got a bird to get on my finger and walk around for quite a long time. It make it really specially and my daughter LOVED IT especially when it was talking about her hands. She got the biggest kicked out of it, which made it special for us as well.

Next to the bird was a snack bar. It was a really reasonable prices for everything, which was shocking. 2.50 for popcorn and 1.99 for a snow cone. It was just surprising, as i was assuming it would be at least $5 per item. The other food was a bit expensive, but for a light snack this was good.

Honestly this is a really cool zoo. If you are in the area go and...