Tripadvisor has released its new popularity contest of America's Top Zoos. The list is surprising. TripAdvisor Takes A Walk On The Wild Side With America's Top 10 Zoos - MarketWatch Discuss
Okayyyyyyyy, the Cape May Zoo, a zoo which as far as I can tell nobody here has actually visited or reviewed, is now the third "most popular" zoo in the country? I looked around this story for what their "popularity index" is exactly, and could not find any methodology or mention of what this index is. Perhaps "popularity index" = "how much these zoos paid Tripadvisor to appear in this advertising tool"?
Wow! One wonders if these uninformed opinions are worth discussing at all amongst aficionados? I mean...Cape May better than San Diego? I once read in an in-flight magazine that Jardin de Acclimatation in Paris was one of Europes best zoos[in a top ten] when it hasnt existed since World War 1!
Nope! Its not even in The International Zoo Yearbook[which isnt the be-all and end-all these days,granted].Its a local authority zoo opened in 1977 thats all i can tell you.
I have, years ago, but I can't help thinking that if (IF) TripAdvisor "members" do indeed like a small local zoo like Cape May better than San Diego then an important question (at least to those of us who want to understand zoos better) is why? One reason that comes to mind: it is very near a major East Coast summer vacation spot and is the perfect diversion for a family that doesn't want to go to the beach today. So why do they rate it more favorably than Philadelphia Zoo, Baltimore Zoo, Bronx Zoo, etc, which they probably also know? Intriguing question.
The Brevard Zoo is ok but I would rather go to Bronx Zoo, Brookfield Zoo, Audubon Zoo, Detroit Zoo, Nashville Zoo, Dallas Zoo, Huston Zoo, Columbus Zoo, Cincinnati Zoo, Clevland Zoo, etc. (these are some random zoo in my mind) I belive the Lincoln Park Zoo better by far even without Center for African Apes and I have been to them both pretty recently.
I'm not entirely sure this even answers the question because it sounds like double-speak to me, but how the Popularity Index works is outlined here: How does the Popularity Index work? - Help Center - TripAdvisor
Well, I don't ever venture on the USA board, so howdy folks! I came across a similar thread on another board, and I was directed here by Chlidonias. As a 'Top Contributor' to Tripadvisor, I must defend the website. There have been a few cases where dodgy owners have posted superb reviews of their crappy motels. In general, the overall rating/ranking of an establishment with more than 10 reviews is usually spot on. Indeed, I book hotels based on the hotel's ranking on Tripadvisor, and in 4 years and about 50 hotels/attractions/restaurants, I have been let down only once - I booked the wrong Holiday Inn in Darwin which was a dump (my fault for not realising there were 2 Holiday Inns on the same road next to each other). Anyway, I often get emails from Tripadvisor about "The Top 10 Beach Getaways" or "Top 10 City Hotels". Now given that reviews are linked to locations, I am unsure how Tripadvisor can compare hotels in Chicago with London say based on reviews. Most people use Tripadvisor to sort hotels/restaurants/attractions in a particular city, so comparing across cities is a bit suspect. What I am getting at folks, is don't read too much into the list because reviewers were not asked to nominate their top 10 zoos: clearly the Tripadvisor folks simply plucked a few zoos in America that were at the top of the "List of Attractions" for a particular city. Indeed, 'Cape May Zoo' is "#1 of 5 attractions in Cape May Court House" and San Diego Zoo is "Ranked #6 of 193 attractions in San Diego".
Thanks for the insight on the ranking system nanoboy. I guess the question then becomes how did the Cape May County Court House even get ranked in the same category as San Diego? As Tim Brown said this list is beyond stupid and appears to be a marketing tool that some Tripadviser intern cobbled together.
Yeah definitely a marketing thing. About once a fortnight you get a Tripadvisor newsletter with "The Top 10..." whatever. According to Tripadvisor reviewers: Henry Doorly Zoo Ranked #1 of 66 attractions in Omaha St. Louis Zoo Ranked #4 of 117 attractions in Saint Louis Cape May County Park & Zoo Ranked #1 of 5 attractions in Cape May Court House Riverbanks Zoo and Botanical Garden Ranked #1 of 40 attractions in Columbia Memphis Zoo Ranked #3 of 85 attractions in Memphis San Diego Zoo Ranked #6 of 193 attractions in San Diego Sedgwick County Zoo Ranked #1 of 21 attractions in Wichita Brevard Zoo Ranked #1 of 14 attractions in Melbourne {Florida, of course } Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Ranked #3 of 72 attractions in Colorado Springs Audubon Zoo Ranked #12 of 152 attractions in New Orleans Yeah, I'm going to go with "a list cobbled together by an intern" too - and one who couldn't even get a good geographical spread of zoos in America to keep their reviewers/readers happy.
I should add that the reviews written by visitors were only done for a particular zoo, and the rankings are for attractions in particular cities. Therefore, the ranking of zoos in America has nothing to do with Tripadvisor reviewers at all. Tripadvisor did not try to capture whether specific reviewers who visited some/all of the zoos gave Audobon a higher rating than San Diego, say. Don't stress folks.
Love TripAdvisor drawing attention to "zoos" with their press release. Plus their list can actually be useful; here is how. I am planning a zoo visit trip for September to the mid-west driving from San Diego. My visit list so far includes the zoos in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Brookfield as destinations with maybe others on the way and coming back. The TripAdvisor list included Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, Colorado, an interesting possibility for my trip that I did not know existed. I am also a TripAdvisor "top contributor" and fully appreciate how their top 10 list would look so crazy to us. But two thumbs up and a big thanks to TripAdvisor for 1) putting zoos in the headlines and 2) helping us find hidden zoos. And yes, I am open to suggestions for zoos to visit on my trip, thanks in advance.
Yeah, I don't think this is useful in trying to determine why people like the Cap May Zoo more than SD, Bronx, etc. Because that's not what this list is telling us at all.
Like I just said, I don't think the public is really ranking it more favorably than those zoos. Plus, I don't think many people from Baltimore and NYC go to Cape May for a summer vacation spot as they have closer options. People from Baltimore go to the DE beaches and the MD eastern shore (Ocean City mostly).
I've been to the Cape May County Zoo, years ago, and while I did enjoy my half-day there, I also found it a bit "cagey". When Jon Wassner and I were putting together our book (America's Best Zoos a few years ago, we considered Cape May, but we found 60 other zoos which we thought were a bit more (or a lot more) deserving of a full review in the book. Thus Cape May is included as a "Best of the Rest" zoo, with a single paragraph review. Here's what we wrote: "Located at the southern tip of New Jersey, this small-town zoo attracts well over half a million visitors each year. Reasons for its popularity include free admission, the World of Birds aviary, a reptile house with over seventy-five species, and a thirty-acre African Savanna with giraffes, zebras, and antelope. The Cat Exhibit features lions, tigers, cougars, cheetahs, and two types of leopards. There are also over a dozen types of primates, red pandas, and bison displayed at this popular zoo."
Thanks much for sharing the review of the Cape May County Zoo. A half-million visitors seems like pretty high attendance and it's weird that this zoo doesn't have a higher profile, but perhaps it gets overlooked because of the higher profile zoos in its region (Bronx, Philadelphia, etc.). What do you think of the Tripadviser list ANyhuis?
I think it's pretty silly. Any Top 10 US zoos list that fails to include Bronx and Columbus is seriously flawed. Also putting San Diego below the #1 or #2 spot is crazy. The TripAdvisor Popularity Index is an example of a non-scientific method being used to evaluate zoos. What's even sillier is that these zoos will now advertise themselves as "among the Top 10 zoos in the nation". If I'm understanding the Index correctly, using its logic, Fargo could claim to be one of the USA's "Top 10 Cities". Why? Because it's the #1 largest city in its own state (North Dakota).
It gets overlooked because it's out of the way for people to visit who aren't vacationing/living in the area and it's probably not that good.
Here is how a goofy list like this gets taken seriously -- when an established paper like the Chicago Tribune picks it up: America's top zoos - chicagotribune.com
