Virginia Zoo

I will start this review off by saying I am a member of the zoo. My son loves to come and at $ 15 a pop per adult it can get pretty pricey after about 3 visits. With the membership we can come as much as he wants and for a family it was $ 100 for the year. Totally worth it in my opinion. Im from NY so the zoo I grew up with was the Bronx Zoo which is massive. The Norfolk zoo doesn’t compare in size so it seems really small to me. I like the layout it seems to flow so that we walk the same way every time we come in. Why I detracted the stars is the overwhelming disappointment my son gets every time we visit and he cant see the lions, tigers or now most recently the Cheetahs. I think the Norfolk zoo should do a better job in putting up a feeding schedule or something so that there is an opportunity to see these animals who always seem to be hiding. If for safety reasons they cant do it with the big cats are there any other animals they can interact with. The Bronx zoo had a schedule of times you can see them interact with animals. Oh and totally disappointed the elephants have been taken away. Im hearing whispers of them being replaced with rhinos but it has not been done yet. I feel like the Norfolk zoo just leaves you to your own devices. But overall a nice place to spend a hour on a Saturday morning with my kid.

I love bringing the kids here. A lot of interesting and unusual animals to learn about. They love seeing the red panda, meerkat, malayan tiger and the wallaby. The place is clean and well maintained, animal seems to be in good condition.
They also had a lot of interesting stuff in their souvenir shop, cute plushies that kids will surely love. Check out the weather when planning to come here, some animals don’t like snow or rain, it may disappoint you.

I absolutely love this zoo. I love the conservation efforts they make and how informed the staff are on the animals. The price is reasonable and the animals always seem so happy. I come here yearly and will be moving soon. I am going to miss it so much!
Sidenote: congratulations on the baby tigers!

Went today for the first time in several years. Many fantastic changes however I was bummed the otters were not in the exhibit and neither were the elephants. I love the flow of the zoo and the trails. Many of the animals were visible and active today which was definitely a change from the last time.

I haven’t been to the Virginia Zoo in a while, but it was a nice Sunday afternoon so I took my girlfriend to see the animals.
The elephants were not there and it turns out, for good reason. Apparently, there need to be at least 3 elephants to allow for adequate social interaction and bonding to form. So while we were disappointed in not seeing them, I totally get why they were relocated.
As was the case before, I didn’t get a glimpse of the Tigers. Bummer. I’m not sure where they were, but there were plenty of other animals on the «trail»
Probably the most entertaining section was the kangaroo/​wallaby/​emu walk through. As long as you stay on the concrete path, the animals are very easy to see/​photograph.
All in all, I really like the Virginia Zoo. The animals seem to be well fed albeit looked incredibly bored within their enclosures. Maybe we’ll return in a couple more years.

Took our nephews here this past Saturday was super impressed. They had such an awesome time. The food was much better than at any other zoo we’ve visited. We loved the walk through Australian exhibit and how close we felt to so many of the other animals as well (like the red panda who was in reaching distance!!!). The layout was great as we didn’t have to constantly look at the map to make sure we wouldn’t miss anything. I couldn’t believe how reasonable the gift shop prices were; only $ 15 for toys that would have cost $ 50+ at any other attraction’s gift shop. Thanks for the great memories!

Wow, it has been a very long time since I’ve been here, and I was really excited because it was just such a beautiful day! Got to spend time with my family and breathe the fresh air that we have, lol.
They have a trail that leads you to all the animals, from monkeys to birds, from ostriches to giraffes, from elephants to lions, etc. They have an area for restrooms and a cafeteria for food and beverages. (Vending machine is overpriced).
Stopped by the gift shop before leaving, they have plenty of souvenirs, they also serve Dipping Dots inside too.
The Virginia Zoo was fun, it’s a great place to have family bonding. I recommend atleast everyone to attend this place aleast once.

I’ve been here more than a few times, once when I was in grade school, once before the tigers came, then the year the tigers came and now. Let’s just say it’s still amazes me every time I come.
I’m so happy they brought the Asia part of the zoo, love how you can walk in and see the Siamang and Gibbons playing and swinging around. I love Tigers, and it so Awesome having the tigers around. Just wish they could clean the water a tad bit so it wouldn’t look so dirty to look at, bc the last time I came the water was clear and the tigers were playing in it.
I did enjoy seeing the Giraffes, I loved seeing how loving they were to each other. Wish we were able to feed it though.
It’s sad how the elephants are leaving. So long Lisa and Cita, Best of Luck! I love Ellies
I definitely recommend to come earlier during the day so you could see more of the animals active and playing around, bc late afternoons they don’t do so much just laying around sleeping.
I will definitely come back and bring my daughter again, so she could enjoy the love of Animals

Good times! Took the girls here while they were on Spring Break! So glad I did! The animals were very active and the weather was great! It wasn’t as crowded as i thought it would be, thank goodness! Only bummer, the lil café no longer sells the lil slushies with the refillable cups! I know that’s small to some, but we love them slushies!

Took baby girl to the zoo for the first time! Our only mistake was coming to the zoo around 3PM. Two hours was definitely not enough time to walk around the zoo. Also, a lot of the animals weren’t in their enclosures. But we were able to see the elephants before they leave our zoo for good. And the giraffes did not disappoint (got some really good pics of the giraffes). We will have to come back again (next time we will visit in the morning).

Love this small Zoo. Took us about 3 hours to walk the zoo and see all the animals. The Lions were fun to watch as were the giraffes!

Beautiful enclosures, friendly knowledgable staff and volunteers. Nice landscaping, plenty of viewing room for humans. A great 2 – 3 hours which us enough for most young families

A lot of people complain that our zoo is tiny but for me that’s one of its biggest appeals. I’ve been to both the Bronx and San Diego zoos. They’re behemoths and bigger isn’t always better. The Virginia Zoo has a wide variety of animals, including a reptile house. It’s clean, well kept, and very reasonably priced. The train ride is fun for kids that are a bit younger. It doesn’t take you through any of the animal exhibits so it might be boring for older kids. My daughters are 12, they were completely unimpressed.

Very expensive considering over half of the animals were either inside for the winter or absent. The landscaping really needs to be a focus. The new Tiger Trail exhibit salvaged this review.

Today was Zoo Boo where kids can go and trick or treat in their decked out Halloween costume. Seeing the little trick or treaters was more entertaining than the actually animals.
I like zoos and I try to venture to it as my must see when I travel. So… seeing the animals in this zoo was somewhat a disappointment. I think the animals was disappointed too because they did not want to come out to entertain the speculators. They were all in hiding! The animals was nothing spectacular to see anyways. Nothing you can’t see walking around the area, you know like bears, Eagles, or storks. I think there were more snakes available than mammals.
I do like they have feeding time posted so you can see the animals come out as SOON as they see the zoo keepers come with their food, so cute! I love the Red Panda, I want one! Their faces are so cute!!!
Overall kids are enjoying the animals and they love it, so that’s all it matters.

YES! I love zoos. Seriously, could I have a giraffe as a pet? How about one of those little monkeys.
This is the only zoo I’ve ever been to so I can’t compare this zoo to others. So for now, I’ll share with what I liked.
— Giraffes. I love them. They look taller on Animal Planet.
— Anything monkey/​gorilla related is great. I would be a monkey in my next life.
— The red looking panda. I think this was my favorite. This little rascal was running around and posing for pics.
— Kangaroos. There’s a small park where you can walk around where the kangaroos aren’t behind fences or separated on an island. These dudes are neutered so they’re not trying to (insert offensive term here) block each other for the females. After talking to one of the zoo hosts, the males like to show off so apparently the flexing kangaroo that is looked all roided up isn’t a hoax.
Me at the zoo… I was happier than a pig in shit.

What’s not to like? We are fortunate to have a city with a zoo! I am a member holder and utilize it for what it’s worth.
This zoo is not the best but not the worst. The animals seem to be well taken care of, the grounds and exhibits are clean. There are a variety of animals to see and the different areas they are broken down in helps aid in educational purposes.
I hate the turnaround time for empty exhibits to be filled. I don’t go every week but when there has been a large period of time past and the exhibit is still empty isn’t it just wasted space?
Story time for young ones early in the morning is a nice perk as well as if you go early in the morning you may see the animals eating and more zookeeper interaction with the animals!
My kids like to go and if you go enough you see some animals you didn’t see the last time. We print a scavenger hunt sheets and take them there. We have a small refillable cup we refill for $.50.
****New exhibit you can now walk through the kangaroo exhibit. You enter on one side stay on the path and can see the wallabies, kangaroos and emus up close without the intrusion of a fence. They suggest you don’t interact with the animals if confronted.****

The Virginia Zoological Park is a must visit attraction in Norfolk. I’ve spent many times here since I was little, and each time I enjoy it more. With various exhibits housing over 100 deffernt species of animals and a botanical garden, it’s a photographer’s paradise (hence why I have so many pictures attached to my review; over 30). There are also various statues and other setups to take fun pictures with family and friends.
The zoo is easy to navigate, with ample signs and pictures that let you know where you are. You can see almost every one of the cute little animals this zoo has to offer in one easy walkthrough. There are also sprinklers in the summertime for the little ones to run through, as well as educational shows about the animals from time to time. All in all there’s is fun to be had by people of all ages at the Virginia Zoo.

We had an awesome time admiring red pandas, various birds, tapirs, etc. Our family also enjoyed riding the train ($ 2 per person).
It is free to park.

I’ve been to other zoo’s, I’m certain that you probably have too. I’ve been to much larger and a few smaller zoo’s. The Norfolk zoo does many things very well and a few things not so good.
Here are the things I like. I think the layout, separating the animals by originating continents, Asia, Africa, Australia and North America makes a lot of sense. Several of the exhibits have only a piece of glass (reinforced I hope) which allows you to get extremely close to some of the animals. If you follow the path (no stairs or steps) you will see just about everything. I also like the vegetation planted all over the place. In addition to the beautiful flower gardens I also saw corn, tomato, green peppers, kale and dill growing everywhere. I would hope these will be used to feed the animals. Everyone knows that zoo food is industrial and overpriced. We just got one snow cone ($ 2.00) to share. It was very warm out so that ice hit the spot.
Here’s what I didn’t like. The animal habitats are too small… freaking way to small. As a previous reviewer wrote, give up some of the garden areas and expand the habitats or get rid of some of the animals. None of the larger animals are able to run. Yes, I believe the giraffes and tigers and elephants and buffalos need space to stretch their legs. Recently some kind of treat your elephants right rule passed that you have to have at least three in the zoo. Norfolk has to add one or get rid of two. I vote to transfer out the two. I am not a supporter of caging wild animals but understand they provide a teaching tool for children. If you really want your children to see elephants (or penguins) take a day trip and go to a larger zoo who can accommodate them in a healthy environment.