elmwood park zoo

I went together with my wife and kid. Small zoo but lots of things to do. It's a nice place to go in Norristown for a Sunday. We went for Halloween and the trick-or-treat event was fun. I would go again with my family.

From getting up close to the buffalos, to spending countless periods of time watching the otters, the pleasant park environment zoo is a great break from a busy life. IT's great for family and kids.

Elmwood park zoo has come a long way since I was a kid. There have been many upgrades, including a nice playground area, a new buffalo petting area, giraffe feeding opportunities in the summer, a rope obstacle course, bat exhibit, a cafe with outdoor seating, seasonal ice skating (seperate cost), and many educational opportunities during the year for kids and adults. My family has a membership and we love going here at least once a month.

Nice alternative to the larger, more crowded Philadelphia Zoo. Not a ton of exhibits, and it seemed like, during warmer seasons, there were more options for activities. Admission seems a bit steep, even off season, but an interesting variety of animals, even if most are North American.

This is a great small zoo. They have a fun playground & you can bring a picnic lunch or purchase lunch there (some of the year). They have visiting animals on exhibit.

Great to take all kids , Young & young @ heart to . Reasonable fee to get in & Plenty to see. Different animals from different parts of U.S. & other places as well. Prairie dog burrows / Buffalo Pens all within a small walking distance. Elk & Deer Habitats , viewable from a bridge. BEST ZOO AROUND !!

What a hidden gem in norristown. It's one of those zoo you take the kids to before the philly zoo. Now they have a pretty good zip line run.

I visited the zoo in the summer. I had wanted to visit for some time and when the opportunity presented itself, my adult son and I picked up and went on the spur of the moment.The zoo is just the right size for a young family to spend some time. If I remember correctly there was even an area for you to enjoy a pre-packed lunch.My only complaint would be the difficulty finding parking. We circled one parking lot without success. The upper parking lot was jam packed as well but after some circling, we were able to find a spot to park.

This is the little gem of Norristown. A great place to bring the family all year long. The Zoo has animals for all season! In the summer there are the giraffes to feed and in the winter there are the reindeer. Their Eagle Exhibit is amazing. Be sure to check out their special events.

This zoo is the perfect size for younger children. Free parking, strollers available and educational programs through out the day. Very nice and relatively inexpensive. Very committed to natural wildlife preservation and conservation as well.

This clean well maintained zoo is the perfect first zoo for toddlers as well as young children. In cooler weather, the animals that sometimes stay hidden in hot weather come out. There is enough for younger children to see and a good play area for the children to end the day. If you make more than one or two visits a year,the membership is well worth it! Plus you can come to special activities for members. We've taken our two year old grandchildren at least six times this year. Each time, they become more aware of the different animals and their movements. We will be regulars for years to come.

I liked it here. I think its perfect for young children. Not too much to see so they don't get overwhelmed and tired of walking. At the same just enough to keep them interested. We were disappointed that the giraffe was not present. Maybe it got moved to a warmer location for the winter? It was pretty warm still. They had some nice playground. My kids spend another half an hour there. Since the time we went was around halloween, they had nice activities for kids all throughout as well as a corn maze and trick or treating. It was cute.Slightly disappointed with food choices as the only thing that was offered was popcorn, hot dog and soda. Also, very disappointed with bathroom facilities, tiny and very dirty.It was slightly overpriced, but worth it in my opinion. If you check in - you get an instant coupon for free childrens tickets with purchase of adult ones.

We visited in late August for a birthday party for a pre-teen audience. We chose the simplest birthday package for 15 guests and found the pricing to be comparable to most other venues we looked at (bounce houses, arcade facilities, etc.). They do give you a little more than most other places such as the zoo themed birthday cake, decorations etc. The zoo is not a large zoo, but well organized. The only odd piece was the new zipline attraction which is not included in any of the packages but one that all the kids wanted to do. We added giraffe feeding to our package where the kids were taken in groups of 3 up to a feeding platform. It was a very qucik experience for the kids, but they didn't seem to mind all that much. The zoo provided leefy greens for the kids to feed the giraffes. We were also treated to a live animal presentation where the zookeeper giving hte presentation was knowlegeable, friendly, and made sure that each child from each party group was able to see the animal being presented. The presentation was just right as far as time so the kids did not get bored. We then visited the barn where the kids were able to feed the goats. Good experience for the kids, but can be very quick if you don't get enough food for all the kids to feed the goats. They had a hand washing station right at the end of the barn... well placed and very much appreciated. After that we were given a quick tour of the zoo pointing out each area and a little about the animals. Once our alloted party time was over we took the kids over to the bird feeding which was a great experience for the kids. If you do not like birds flying freely around your head, do not visit this part. The birds fly freely in this enclosed area and there is not a lot of walking room which is why they limit the amount of guests at any given time. For a small fee, you can also get a piece of apple on a stick and the staff will help to attract the Conures down to your arm where they will sit while eating the apple. Very neat attraction for the kids and they seemed to enjoy this one-on-one experience the most.I am rating the overall attraciton as very good, however, if I were to base this attraction on my experience in trying to schedule the party I would have rated it average. I found scheduling a bit difficult, having a hard time getting return phone calls to clarfiy or finalize the event. At the end of the day, however, the party went well and it was a nice alternative to some of the many other very common and overdone events most birthday parties go to.One last note, as a family of six we are very sensitive to ticket prices wherever we go and I think the ticket pricing is probably a dollar or two higher than where it should be considering the size of the zoo. If you are looking for a longer adventure, my suggestion would be to purchase the zipline attraction which includes admission to the zoo. Unfortunately, pricing for the zipline attraction is not available on line so it's hard to say whether that makes it worth a longer trip.

Well at least the parking is free!!!! I know that there is talk of expansion but could you speed it up. The attractions for the most part are old and outdated. Thankfully the giraffes are back and it's an interactive exhibit which brings a crowd but it could be so much better. The cost of admission for the attractions currently offered is not warranted.

Our visit to the Elmwood Zoo was horrible!!! It was our first time there and we will never go again. The nicest exhibit was the Giraffe exhibit, and it was probably only because Blue Cross sponsored it. If you ask the staff a question they are extremely rude and uneducated. When it gets close to closing time they shut all the gates and give you no direction of how to get out and when you try to find your way out they give you an attitude and don't help you. My advice pay the money and go to the Philadelphia Zoo.