Interesting that the Frankfurt Zoo is slowly falling behind, even though it has so much potential, but a large portion of the zoo could use a little love and construction projects take forever (rusty-spotted cats....)
...in addition they need to work on their entry process - I've not visited the zoo for almost a year now despite only living less than an hour away. During the last two visits it took me almost an hour each to get into the zoo - with that speed level they could hardly handle more visitors.
Exactly! I complained about the slow-moving entry process when I was at Frankfurt Zoo this summer. The zoo is brutal for getting people swiftly through the door, then of course the Grzimek House doesn't open for another 30 minutes and the Exotarium doesn't open for another hour. There should be self-directed kiosks, pre-sold tickets and a desire to keep people from impatiently waiting in line. During my visit I saw families with little kids spend ages shuffling forward in line while a couple of senior citizens handed out tickets at the speed of sloths. Also, the whole zoo should open at the allotted time instead of in sections. No wonder some of the TripAdvisor reports are negative, although in truth I gave the zoo a glowing review. There are some simple items that can easily be fixed to make Franfurt Zoo even better.
Yes, the signs "This exhibit must remain temporarily unoccupied", which are in some exhibits, are notorious. Some years ago someone changed the script on it. He crossed out "temporarily" and replaced it with "for a few years". Unfortunately I have not photographed it. The eternal construction sites in Frankfurt are an eternal, never-ending problem. Well, there is a good will to modernize the zoo. But goodwill alone is not enough. Consider why. If the Frankfurters need 2 and a half years for a exhibit for Humboldt penguins, how long do they need to build these two large halls? The decline in visitors is justified by bad weather. Jnauray,May, September and October were cold and rainy.
The later opening times for the Grzimekhaus and the Exotarium have their reason, which I have already explained to you. It is incomprehensible to me that a zoo fan from Canada, where many zoos don't open until 10 a.m, has a problem with that. It is also a shame that you seem to have no understanding for animal care issues. The People have to do their job, so zoo visitors like you can see the animals in clean enclosures. Well, it is very difficult to work in the dark without a night vision device. The problem with the cash registers is known to the zoo - you have to complain to the city of Frankfurt, which has approved too few jobs for cashiers - they have no money for something like that. Online tickets have been well received last year. However, the offer must be advertised even better to bring relief to the cash register. Who gives anything about Tripadvisor opinion?
My longest waiting time was 5 Minutes- and that was at Noon. Uasally, I go early in the morning or later afternoon, and never on weeksends and holidays. So, I never had any problems to get into Frankfurt Zoo
That was at my last visit April 6th 2019 - more than hundred visitors standing all around the square in front of the zoo...
Well, So the queues were often much, much longer ... The zoo must be phantastic, if so many people want to see it at the same time... In that case, why not going to the Opel -Zoo ? Just a 35 Minutes ride from Frankfurt Zoo...and they have Elephants... Seriously, of course this isn't not pretty, but the Zoo is working on that problem. Well, let us see how long the waiting snakes will be at Berlin Zoo, when the Panda cubs gon on show in two days... Every day...
Love the comparison... If I had come across this I would probably have gone bananas(at least inwardly) as I'm not a very patient person. Also time spent standing in a queue like that seriously detracts from time inside the zoo. Very frustrating. From memory your trip was in holiday-time high summer/August(?) which is why it was worse than usual perhaps.
I was there on a very sunny day in August and the zoo was busy but I had very little wait and was served with speed and friendliness.
Wow, @Jogy , that's quite the photograph! No wonder Frankfurt Zoo is only barely surpassing 800,000 annual visitors a year with attendance dropping. The good news is that when all of those people in the photo finally made it through the entrance then the whole zoo would be open! At least some zoo nerds have found the zoo's entry system to be speedy, but even one bad experience can taint a memory forever for a regular family waiting in line with young children. A single person being alone can wait in line much easier than impatient little kids.
For Information, the numbers of visitors: 2014 : 866.661 2015: 830. 193 2016 : 804.998 2017 : 836.799 2018: 868.799 2919 : 824.691 That the number of visitors fluctuates is completely normal for every zoo. I would say, with the exception of 2016, this numbers are much mre than"barely surpassing 800.000". By the way-this hasn't anything to do with the entree situation, more with the wheather.
Every zoo likes to blame the weather, but with a zoo like Frankfurt being less dependent on the weather and with the vast majority of other German zoos either having record high attendances or at least increases since last year, weather does not seem to explain it.
Well, I think the zoo can judge that better, since the loss of visitors was recorded exactly in the months that were cold and rainy. It is hardly a coincidence. The normal zoo visitor goes to the zoo in the beautiful season and when the weather is good, it doesn't matter that Frankfurt has many animal houses, that is not decisive for Otto N.
In England 2019 had massively better weather than 2018 which was snowy and very cold in March, wet over the whole of Easter and April, and then a prolonged heatwave in June and July. 2019 was much more 'normal'. Having said that, those figures look pretty stable to me, unless 2019 (despite the better weather) is the start of a decline...
