1. Milwaukee County Zoo

1. Milwaukee County Zoo

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Milwaukee, WI

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Milwaukee County Zoo

4.1 (308 reviews)
Closed 9:30 am - 5:00 pm
Updated 2 months ago

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Karsyn R.

The Milwaukee zoo is one of my favorites in the US. It's smaller but gives a big community feel. As an accredited zoo you can visit with assurance the animals are treated to the best ability. There is plenty of food, drink, and adventure options within the park.

Lisa S.

Ranked as one of the best zoos in the country, I couldn't quite give it five stars. I've been to better zoos in the Midwest alone. However, I absolutely loved my visit and the size of most of the exhibits. It seems like they truly care about the happiness and wellbeing of their animals. You can expect to spend about 3.5 hours here if you want to see everything. Make sure to check out macaque island!

The elephant exhibit is so cool :)
Julia J.

Cannot say enough GREAT things about the Milwaukee County Zoo, it's well maintained, family friendly and offers something new at each visit. We purchased a zoo pass in June when our son just turned one, and every visit since has felt like a little adventure. It has quickly become one of our favorite places to spend time together as a family. My son LOVES Happy the hippo! We also enjoy catching the animals in action talks and feedings (specifically the big cats). And the zoo train is always a highlight! I highly recommend purchasing a zoo pass,as it truly pays for itself and makes it easy to stop by, even for short visits. The Milwaukee County Zoo has given my little family so many great memories this year and we absolutely recommend it to other families, especially those with young children.

Sydney B.

How is it that every time I go to a bigger city I end up visiting the zoo? My friends and I were looking for something to do since a lot of the city was closed (Covid was high at the time) and decided to go to the zoo. We were a little concerned when we arrived because it was pretty crowded. It took us At least 20 minutes to get into the zoo. Once we made it inside, we were very impressed. The zoo was a lot bigger than we expected. There was so much to look at and I never felt like I had to stand in a crowd to see the animals. I loved my time here and I feel like Milwaukee is the reason why I'm a zoo enthusiast.

Liz A.

Highly recommend checking out zoo lights! We attended on a drive thru night. Spent about 30 minutes in the car looking at all the incredible displays. Some drive thru holiday light exhibits aren't worth what you pay but this one is a at worth the $40 for the car. They even have an area you can pull over to and order hot chocolate. Most of the other nights are walking nights and I don't recall the admission price on those nights. When driving thru, they have a Spotify playlist you can sync to. You do have to book your time slot ahead of time.

Camels
Claire L.

Our first time to the zoo was a success! The layout is very family friendly and not crowded at all (visited on Father's Day weekend). It's very easy to navigate with a double stroller. Enjoyed all the different animal exhibits. Kids loved all the animal sightings! The playground is slightly disappointing as it could have incorporated more of the animal/safari theme rather than any playgrounds outside the zoo. The dining options are plentiful and offers vegetarian options (huge win for me)! They even have a Lionie cart serving up adult beverages! We had a relaxing time on a Saturday. Much slower pace than other amazement parks like Disney or Universal. Pro-tip: skip the line by purchasing tix online and head to the West Entrance instead of main.

Regal lioness in the big cat section
Erin G.

This zoo is awesome, especially considering it's right smack dab in Milwaukee suburbs. The staff is quite friendly and plenty of space to navigate. No crowds during weekdays. The main downside for only four stars is how much construction is constantly going on, and always a few exhibits are down. Otherwise tons of variety of animals to see and many additional events are held here. Great for kids.

Giraffe licking the wall- I could not stop giggling
Sarah R.

Unfortunately I feel this was rather expensive for the time of year. There was a lot of construction and walkways closed, as well as lots of people putting up their holiday lights so we were unable to see as much as I'd have hoped with the time we had. Considering it's $45 for two people and for parking, I wish they had let us know there were going to be things closed due to construction as we may have foregone. However, I continue to think this is a very good zoo and we will certainly be back! Our favorites: the cats, the Afrian animals, and the birds. We also always love the reptiles and fish- a very nice zoo for a sunny afternoon!

Lights at the zoo holiday walk!
Liv L.

We visited the zoo with my toddler niece to experience Wild Lights and had so much fun! They have so many amazing animal light set-ups throughout the zoo! It's definitely not your average holiday light show. I love that the light up animals were placed by where the real animals would be at the zoo. Most of the animals were away for the night- but we were able to walk through the big cat building which was neat! Lots of fire tables to sit by if you need to warm up for a bit. The exhibit also had several light set-ups that are intended for selfies! Great event! Can't wait to go again next year! Also highly recommend the train!

BEAUTIFUL day at the zoo
Robynleigh O.

A little bit crazy due to it being Mothers Day, but it was a great day to be out! Definitely should've remembered sunscreen.

beautiful fall leaves
Elizabeth B.

The Milwaukee County Zoo is definitely larger and has more to offer than some smaller regional zoos. We used our home state zoo membership and got 50% off admission through the reciprocity program, which was a great deal, though parking cost was steep, especially when we arrived and hour and half before closing! The animal habitats were well maintained and we were able to see it all in 90 mins (a couple with no kids). The highlight for us was their big cats - esp. the lions, and the fall weather made for a gorgeous day!

Lisa S.

Very nice visit for my first time at this zoo. You can get tickets online but I wanted to use my MN Zoo membership to get a discount so I bought tickets at the gate. I showed my membership card and ID and was able to get 50% off of each of our four entries. Great way to leverage a zoo membership. We started at the African animals exhibit and fed the giraffes. One of my fav areas was the fish, snakes, and frogs building. It was a very hot day on our visit but much of the outdoor trails were well shaded. So many cool animals to see including big cats, gorillas, elephants, and river otters. So glad I was able visit this zoo. Really enjoyed it.

Fish tank
Dawn O.

Winter time at the zoo is great. They're no lines, no crowds, the attraction houses are warm and always fun. Plus pdume parking is a bonus too. Even the carousel and gift shop are open for all. We got to see the new penguin exhibit and then went inside for Apes. All the animals were awake and active it was a great visit. There is new construction where the old rhino and elephant exhibits were, so that will be so exciting to see this fall. The volunteers were all available to ask if we had questions. They are always helpful and full of knowledge. Enjoy the zoo Anytime.

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Page 1 of 8

Ask the Community - Milwaukee County Zoo

It is tour season, is the parking lot traffic line and the admission line at the gate for Milwaukee zoo gonna be a long wait?

i went there on a busy saturday and the lines went very quickly.

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Review Highlights - Milwaukee County Zoo

This is our first year with a zoo pass - and we have really enjoyed it for trips to the zoo with my toddler.

Mentioned in 30 reviews

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My friends and I surprised one of our friends with a trip to Safari Lake Geneva to kick off her…read morebachelorette weekend, and we all ended up having a great time. None of us had ever done a drive through safari before, so it felt like a really unique and memorable activity. When we first arrived, it was a little confusing figuring out exactly where to go to start the drive-through experience. The signage could have been clearer. Thankfully, we visited near the end of their open season and at a slower time of day, so the entrance area was not crowded and we were able to take our time getting started. One thing to be aware of is that the driving trail has a lot of potholes and uneven spots, so you definitely need to drive slowly and carefully. Some sections of the path are pretty bumpy, especially if you are not expecting it. We decided not to buy the animal feed because at the beginning, we were a little nervous about opening our windows, and also did not want food all over the car. Even without feeding them, we still got very close to a lot of animals and were able to pet them through our open windows when we felt comfortable doing so. Throughout the drive, you see animals like deer, camels, llamas, alpacas, bison, antelope, and tons of ostriches and emus. There were also a couple of giraffes and zebras toward the end. The ostriches were definitely the most aggressive and curious. They walked right up to the cars and pecked at windows, which had us laughing and slightly panicking at the same time. We also noticed there was animal spit all over the outside of the car from all of the animals trying to get food from us, despite us not having any. There are not a huge number of different species, and you will see some of the same animals many times along the route, but it was still fun to take pictures and watch how the animals interacted with the cars. Admittedly, I felt bad for the animals because I feel like it could be easy for a car to accidentally run them over. Some animals took a long time to move out of the car's way, and because the safari is just one big open field where the animals can freely roam around, the animals come out of nowhere sometimes. Once the driving part was over, we looked at the other parts of the safari where you could walk around. We saw pigs, little monkeys, donkeys, and more! I love how interactive the experience is and how you can't pet animals at a zoo, but you can here. Pricewise, it wasn't crazy and ended up being about $23 per person because they don't charge per vehicle; they charge per person. Overall, this was a really fun and unique experience that made for a great start to our friend's bachelorette weekend. It is definitely something different to do if you are in the Lake Geneva area, but just be prepared for a bumpy drive and some very curious animals.

We did the safari and had a blast. Took my nephew and mom and we laughed the entire way through. We…read morehad bought plenty of food and boy the animals were right at our car. My only concern was avoiding the horns from scratching the car! The only thing t improve this would be if there were signs up at least saying what sort of animals you may encounter in certain areas. There were several that we were like, what is that?! It was in the 90's when we went so we did the car ride only, not the walking area. So fun!

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I was at Hershey Park and came across their amphitheater, which was having an Oceans of Fun show,…read moreso I decided to stop in. In the center of the amphitheater was a nice, large pool where a few sea lions were swimming around. First, he did a couple of tricks including jumping around in the water, playing with a ball and kissing his trainer. He even waved to the crowd a couple of times! It was just amazing to see how smart and talented these beautiful animals are! I also found the information we were provided with to be very interesting including how the trainers work on the sea lion's schedule and the threats they face in the wild. I suppose the sea lions go back to Milwaukee in the winter and during the months the park is not fully open, though I'm not sure. Altogether, seeing Oceans of Fun was truly amazing and I would highly recommend it!

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The Milwaukee Zoo is fantastic example of a zoo that blends nature and animals into a unique…read moreenvironment that allows the visitors a variety of different areas across different terrain. I enjoyed my visit and saw many different species of wildlife. My tip is to take the tram or train which takes you on a ride around the park.

This last weekend we visited the MKE zoo and were so pleased with our experience. We live in Green…read moreBay and have visited the zoo a few times but this time was the first big outing that we've had with our kiddos since both being diagnosed with ADHD and my youngest with a sensory processing disorder. He has really been struggling at school with aggression and outbursts when dysregulated and we've been slowly reintroducing family outings since taking January when most of it started. To say we were nervous about taking a two hour car trip (both ways) and being in a busy place with lots of families around to watch if he got out of control is an understatement but we were feeling confident and ready to try it. We were so pleasantly surprised at the wait of the line - it looked incredibly long but the folks at the stands were all quick and we ended up going to the service desk to purchase a family pass for the year. While checking out I noticed a sign that said "sensory bags available" and had a pair of headphones on it signifying that there were noise cancelling headphones for kiddos who tend to dysregulate with loud noise/crowded areas/etc. I asked about them and the person at the desk shared that they were free to borrow and they had some small fidgets in them! Now, I'm not saying the bag was a lifesaving thing but it did definitely come in handy. My son instantly gravitated toward the headphones especially in smaller enclosed areas like the hippo and small mammal enclosure. He also loved the stretchy elastic fidgets and the bag was actually really handy to carry extra things that they accumulated in the zoo. This is a very long winded review to share that we really appreciated the sensory bags - from the free availability to the easy return process - thank you MKE zoo for thinking of neurodivergent kids that can utilize these bags for that elevated experience to let everyone in the family enjoy the day.

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