List and Rank The North American Zoos You Have Visited!

Looking back on m post, I think some of the local nostalgia affected my opinion. I Baltimore there was a feeling that our zoo wasnt great, most likely due to the closing of the main valley. Although the pre renovation period was just out side my memory, the continuing resentment of the local community must have rubbed off on me. I think I would rate it one spot higher now.

 

I forgot the Erie zoo I would rank them 20th.

 

So I'll start by saying that both of these aquariums are very good and it was quite tough to rank them. Georgia aquarium is (in my opinion) by far the best the aquarium I've seen in the North America but after that it gets harder to rank. For Shedd, I loved the opening reef exhibit and thought the Oceanarium was better than you thought. My favourite exhibit was Amazon Rising as I loved the idea of seeing the rainforest in wet and dry season. The National Aquarium has an amazing Australia exhibit and a great tank that visitors can see from multiple floors(forgot the name). National Aquarium is not far behind but I enjoyed by visit to Shedd a little bit more.

 

I just posted a few months ago, but I took a trip in October over Minnesota's MEA break as I'm a teacher and had nothing better to do. I visited the two zoos in Oklahoma & the aquarium, three zoos in Kansas, & the Kansas City Zoo & SEALIFE facility.

Zoo Rankings

1. St. Louis Zoo, St. Louis, MO (May 2017)
2. Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium, Omaha, NE (October 2017)
3. Sedgwick County Zoo, Wichita, KS (October 2017)
4. Oklahoma City Zoo, Oklahoma City, OK (October 2017)
5. Minnesota Zoo, Apple Valley, MN (April 2017)
6. Kansas City Zoo, Kansas City, MO (October 2017)
7. Brookfield Zoo, Brookfield, IL (September 2016)
8. Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL (January 2017)
9. Milwaukee County Zoo, Milwaukee, WI (August 2016)
10. Great Plains Zoo, Sioux Falls, SD (September 2017)
11. Como Zoo, St. Paul, MN (May 2017)
12. Henry Vilas Zoo, Madison, WI (September 2015)
13. Red River Zoo, Fargo, ND (August 2015)
14. Northeastern Wisconsin (NEW) Zoo, Green Bay, WI (March 2017)
15. Tulsa Zoo, Tulsa, OK (October 2017)
16. Racine Zoo, Racine, WI (August 2016)
17. Topeka Zoo, Topeka, KS (October 2017)
18. Sunset Zoo, Manhattan, KS (October 2017)
19. Lake Superior Zoo, Duluth, MN (March 2016)
20. Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary, Green Bay, WI (March 2017)
21. Lincoln Children’s Zoo, Lincoln, NE (April 2016)
22. Animal Haven Zoo, Weyauwega, WI (August 2017)
23. Safari North Wildlife Park, Brainerd, MN (August 2017)
24. Tanganyika Wildlife Park, Wichita, KS (October 2017)
25. Chahinkapa Zoo, Wahpeton, ND (August 2015)
26. Hemker Park & Zoo, Freeport, MN (August 2017)
27. International Crane Foundation, Baraboo, WI (October 2016)
28. Bramble Park Zoo, Watertown, SD (November 2017)
29. Zollman Zoo, Rochester, MN (January 2016)
30. Menominee Park Zoo, Oshkosh, WI (August 2017)
31. Pine Grove Zoo, Little Falls, MN (August 2017)
32. Irvine Park Zoo, Chippewa Falls, WI (March 2016)
33. Cosley Zoo, Wheaton, IL (September 2016)
    
34. Timbavati Wildlife Park, Wisconsin Dells, WI (October 2016)
35. Oschner Park Zoo, Baraboo, WI (September 2015)
36. Bear Den Zoo, Waterford, WI (August 2016)
37. Jo-Don Farms, Inc., Franksville, WI (August 2016)
38. MacKenzie Wildlife Center, Poynette, WI (August 2017)

Aquarium Rankings

1. Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, IL (March 2017)
2. Oklahoma Aquarium, Jenks, OK (October 2017)
3. SEA LIFE Minnesota, Bloomington, MN (March 2016)
4. Great Lakes Aquarium, Duluth, MN (March 2016)
5. SEA LIFE Kansas City, Kansas City, MO (October 2017)
6. Butterfly House & Aquarium, Sioux Falls, SD (November 2017)

* Facilities in bold-italics indicate ones that are AZA-accredited

I'm sorry for all the extra spacing. I tried getting rid of it, but when I post that is just the way it comes out. Must have something to do with the fact I copied and pasted from Google Docs.

 

After over two years, more attractions visited, contemplating a couple placements, and remembering a few more I've visited in the past, here is an updated list.

* = Non-U.S. Establishment


Zoo Rankings

1. San Diego Zoo Safari Park (2012)
2. San Diego Zoo (2012)
3. St. Louis Zoo (2013)
4. Denver Zoo (2014)
5. Columbus Zoo & Aquarium (2008)
6. Brookfield Zoo (2010, 2011, 2013)
7. Minnesota Zoo (2015)
8. Memphis Zoo (2016)
9. Busch Gardens Tampa (2008)
10. Disney’s Animal Kingdom (1998, 2004, 2008)
11. Nashville Zoo (2017)
12. Edinburgh Zoo (2017)*
13. Phoenix Zoo (sometime in the 1990’s, 2005, 2010)
14. Rio Grande Zoo (2015)
15. Louisville Zoo (2017)
16. Zoo Knoxville (2013)
17. Buffalo Zoo (2011)
18. Milwaukee County Zoo (all my life)
19. Out of Africa Wildlife Park (sometime in the 1990’s, 2010, 2011)
20. Northeastern Wisconsin Zoo (sometime in the 1990’s, 2016, 2017)
21. Henry Vilas Zoo (2003, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2014, 2015)
22. Racine Zoo (2009 - twice, 2014, 2015 - twice)
23. Peoria Zoo (2017)
24. Gatorland (2014)
25. Miller Park Zoo (2017)
26. Lincoln Park Zoo (Manitowoc) (2016)
27. Alameda Park Zoo (2015)
28. Henson Robinson Zoo (2017)
29. Menominee Park Zoo (2016)
30. DeYoung Family Zoo (2016)
31. Siegfried and Roy’s Secret Garden & Dolphin Habitat (2016)
32. Smithsonian National Zoo (2009)


Aquarium Rankings

1. SeaWorld Orlando (2008)
2. Shedd Aquarium (2002, 2015)
3. Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay (2015)
4. Albuquerque Aquarium (2015)
5. Aquarium of Niagara (2011)


These are animal establishments that I have visited, but choose not to rank due to different factors. These include being in a totally different focus (such as Moorpark and conservation centers), not being open to the general public (White Oak), don’t remember them much (Xcaret, The Seas, among others), etc.

· The Seas with Nemo and Friends (2004, 2008)
· Xcaret Wildlife Habitats (2006, 2007)*
· The Wilds (2008)
· Moorpark College: America’s Teaching Zoo (2012)
· Wild Florida Wildlife Habitats (2014)
· White Oak Conservation Center (2014)
· Aquarium Restaurant in Nashville (2016)

 

Why is the National Zoo so low?

 

I knew I was going to get a response about this eventually, it was just a matter of when!

Honestly, National is dead last mainly due to having a poor experience during my visit. I'll start with the bad so I end on a good note: it was the first day of our D.C. trip, and we had a hard time trying to figure out the subway system so we didn't arrive until the afternoon, so not a lot of time to see the Zoo - we only saw about half or 60%. On top of that, there were tons of empty exhibits, and not just animals-hard-to-find-in-a-naturalistic-exhibit empty (that's usually fine with me), but empty for seemingly odd reasons. For instance, the lions and tigers were only out for six hours a day, with two hours at both the end and start of the day when they aren't out - something I wasn't aware of until I arrived at the exhibit in the late afternoon much to my irritation. The same went for Amazonia; the jungle walkthrough was closed for maintenance at the time, which was a shame as the area got off to a promising start with the research hut and aquatic exhibits. At least the other construction didn't inhibit the rest of the visit. Other exhibits I recall most: the Elephant House (thankfully now the Elephant Trails section) was atrocious and one of the worst exhibits I've ever seen, and the Small Mammal House had a good number of repetitive enclosures. Finally, the Zoo is situated on a big hill which I usually wouldn't mind, but there isn't any transportation to assist in the climb after a long visit.

Having said that: Asia Trail and the Invertebrate House (the latter sadly now closed) are excellent exhibit areas with some of the best-of-their-kind exhibits around (like sloth bear and Asian small-clawed otter), the Think Tank seemed like a unique section, it was a thrill to see giant pandas and an active Komodo dragon for the first time, and I've learned overtime about the Zoo's fantastic conservation contributions.

Overall I was disappointed and expected much more, especially from the U.S. capital's zoo. However, there's been a lot of construction taking place and the end results of these projects look quite good based on photos, and I definitely seemed to have hit a stroke of bad luck that day. As such, I do intend on returning someday, and I'm confident my opinion on this Zoo will change for the better.

 

Updated to include this year's trips:

1. Columbus Zoo (2010, 2014, 2017)

2. Brookfield Zoo (2012)

3. Smithsonian National Zoo (2011-2017)

4. Lowry Park Zoo (2012)

5. North Carolina Zoo (2015)

6. Cincinnati Zoo (2014 & 2017)

7. Toronto Zoo (2007)

8. Philadelphia Zoo (2010-2017)

9. Cleveland Zoo (2009, 2014, 2017)

10. Virginia Zoo (2011-2017)

11. Disney’s Animal Kingdom (2014 & 2016)

12. Lincoln Park Zoo (2012)

13. Louisville Zoo (2014)

14. Maryland Zoo (2011-2017)

15. Buffalo Zoo (2009-2017)

16. Rosamond Gifford Zoo (2010 & 2012)

17. Pittsburgh Zoo (2011-2017)

18. Roger Williams Zoo (2017)

19. Franklin Park Zoo (2017)

20. Greensboro Science Center (2015)

21. Akron Zoo (2013)

22. Stone Zoo (2017)

23. Salisbury Zoo (2013)

24. Erie Zoo (2010)

25. Seneca Park Zoo (1990s-2016)

26. Metro Richmond Zoo (2014)

27. Elmwood Park Zoo (2017)

28. Capron Park Zoo (2017)

29. Zoo America (2016)

30. Ross Park Zoo (2007)

31. Catoctin Zoo (2011)

 

EDIT: I missed Philadelphia Zoo in this list. It would rank 20th.

 

1. Toronto Zoo
2. Brookfield Zoo
3. Lincoln Park Zoo
4. Granby Zoo
5. High Park Zoo
6. Science North
7. Jungle Cat World

 

EDIT: Forgot to add a few more zoos. I'll list them below.

1. Toronto Zoo
2. Brookfield Zoo
3. Lincoln Park Zoo
4. Granby Zoo
5. African Lion Safari
6. Reptilia
7. High Park Zoo
8. Science North
9. Jungle Cat World

 

1.) San Diego zoo safari park
2.) San Diego zoo
3.) Fresno Chaffee zoo
4.) Oakland zoo
5.)Los Angeles zoo
6.) San Francisco zoo
7.) Sacramento zoo

My rating was more based on exhibit quality than it was what species are housed in the zoo because most of the species housed in Californian zoo are relatively the same (Besides the San Diego facilities). The first three got there place because of how amazing there exhibits were. Of course I put Oakland up because of a handful of there exhibits. The rest were just based on their best exhibits and their worst.

 

Interesting to see that you have the Safari park over the Zoo. Is it because the overall level of exhibit quality is better?

 

Yeah. It’s also because I didn’t see half the whole zoo whereas I finished the whole safari park. The exhibits I did see were very good but safari park’s was better.

 

My new rankings after visiting some more zoos:

Traditional Zoos
1. Saint Louis Zoo
2. Brookfield Zoo
3. Minnesota Zoo
4. Milwaukee County Zoo
5. Lincoln Park Zoo
6. NEW Zoo & Adventure Park (A little biased, it's my home zoo)
7. Henry Vilas Zoo
8. Racine Zoo
9. Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary
10. Como Park Zoo and Conservatory
11. Special Memories Zoo
12. Animal Haven Zoo
13. DeYoung Family Zoo
14. Animal Gardens Petting Zoo
15. Glacier Ridge Animal Farm
16. Manitowoc Lincoln Park Zoo
17. Timbavati Wildlife Park
18. Wildwood Zoo
19. Grant's Farm
20. MacKenzie Center
21. Ochsner Park Zoo
22. Menominee Park Zoo
23. Wisconsin Rapids Municipal Zoo

Aquariums
1. Shedd Aquarium
2. SEA LIFE Minnesota
3. National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium
4. World Aquarium
5. Reiman Aquarium

Natural History Museums with live animal collections
1. Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
2. Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
3. Milwaukee Public Museum

Special Collections:
1. International Crane Foundation (very biased)
2. Word Bird Sanctuary
3. Butterfly Gardens of Wisconsin
4. Lone Elk Park
5. Stevens Point Herpetological Society

 

It's hard to rank all the zoos and aquariums I've visited, since it's been so long since I last visited some of them. But I will list all of the ones I've visited (AZA facilities in bold):
San Diego Zoo
SeaWorld San Diego
Birch Aquarium
Aquarium of the Pacific
Phoenix Zoo
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Reid Park Zoo
OdySea Aquarium
Out of Africa Wildlife Park
Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium
Denver Zoo
Downtown Aquarium in Denver
Butterfly Pavilion
Alaska Zoo (maybe. I lived in Alaska until I was 3 or 4, so I don't know for sure if our family actually visited this zoo.)

 

Oh, I forgot about the SEA LIFE Arizona Aquarium.

 

AZA facilities are bolded

Animal Amusement Parks

1. Disney’s Animal Kingdom (Bay Lake, Florida)
   
2. SeaWorld San Diego (San Diego, California)
   
3. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (Vallejo, California)

Aquariums/Marine Parks

1. Monterey Bay Aquarium (Monterey, California)
2. Aquarium of the Pacific (Long Beach, California)
3. Sea Life Park (Waimānalo, Hawaii)
   
4. Steinhart Aquarium and Osher Rainforest (San Francisco, California)
5. Mandalay Bay Aquarium (Paradise, Nevada)
   
6. The Seas with Nemo & Friends (Bay Lake, Florida)
   
7. National Aquarium (Washington D.C. (Closed)
   
8. Aquarium of the Bay (San Francisco, California)

Sanctuaries and Rescues

1. Folsom City Zoo Sanctuary (Folsom, California)
   
2. Clearwater Marine Aquarium (Clearwater, Florida)
   
3. Animal Ark (Reno, Nevada)
4. The Marine Mammal Center (Sausalito, California)
5. Pacific Marine Mammal Center (Laguna Beach, California)

Traditional Zoos

1. Sacramento Zoo (Sacramento, California) (I'm very biased because this has been my local zoo since I was 2)
2. San Diego Zoo (San Diego, California)
3. Oakland Zoo (Oakland, California)
4. San Francisco Zoo (San Francisco, California)
5. Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (Tucson, Arizona)
6. National Zoological Park (Washington D.C.)
7. Houston Zoo (Houston, Texas)
8. Oregon Zoo (Portland, Oregon)
9. Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens (Los Angeles, California)
10. Memphis Zoo (Memphis, Tennessee)
11. Cameron Park Zoo (Waco, Texas)
12. Santa Barbara Zoo (Santa Barbara, California)
13. Honolulu Zoo (Honolulu, Hawaii)
14. Franklin Drive Thru Safari (Franklin, Texas)
15. Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden And Dolphin Habitat (Paradise, Nevada)
    
16. Ostrichland USA (Solvang, California)
    
17. Scipio Petting Zoo (Scipio, Utah)

Facilities I Went To When I Was To Young To Really Remember

• Ocean World (Crescent City, California)
• Utah’s Hogle Zoo (Salt Lake City, Utah)

 

Happy 2020 guys! Figured I'd post an updated list, especially after hitting my #40 in late 2019. There's some additional facilities, along with a few adjustments to some original rankings:

* = Non-U.S. Establishment

Zoo Rankings

1. San Diego Zoo Safari Park (2012)
2. San Diego Zoo (2012)
3. Saint Louis Zoo (2013)
4. Columbus Zoo & Aquarium (2008, 2018 - twice)
5. Denver Zoo (2014)
6. North Carolina Zoo (2018)
7. Minnesota Zoo (2015)
8. Fort Worth Zoo (2018)
9. Brookfield Zoo (2010, 2011, 2013, 2018)
10. Memphis Zoo (2016)
11. Busch Gardens Tampa (2008)
12. Disney’s Animal Kingdom (1998, 2004, 2008)
13. Zoo Atlanta (2019)
14. Nashville Zoo (2017)
15. Edinburgh Zoo (2017)*
16. Phoenix Zoo (sometime in the 1990’s, 2005, 2010)
17. Rio Grande Zoo (2015)
18. Louisville Zoo (2017)
19. Zoo Knoxville (2013)
20. Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium (2018 - twice)
21. Buffalo Zoo (2011)
22. Milwaukee County Zoo (all my life)
23. Out of Africa Wildlife Park (sometime in the 1990’s, 2010, 2011)
24. Northeastern Wisconsin Zoo (sometime in the 1990’s, 2016 – 2019)
25. Henry Vilas Zoo (2003, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2019)
26. Racine Zoo (2009 - twice, 2014, 2015 - twice)
27. Peoria Zoo (2017)
28. Oglebay Good Zoo (2018)
29. Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary (sometime in the 1990’s, 2019)
30. Gatorland (2014)
31. Miller Park Zoo (2017, 2018) (TIE)
32. Scovill Zoo (2018) (TIE)
33. Lincoln Park Zoo (Manitowoc) (2016)
34. Alameda Park Zoo (2015)
35. Henson Robinson Zoo (2017)
36. Menominee Park Zoo (2016)
37. DeYoung Family Zoo (2016)
38. Siegfried and Roy’s Secret Garden & Dolphin Habitat (2016)
39. Smithsonian's National Zoo (2009)
40. Special Memories Zoo (2019)


Aquarium Rankings

1. Georgia Aquarium (2019)
2. SeaWorld Orlando (2008)
3. Shedd Aquarium (2002, 2015)
4. Dallas World Aquarium (2018)
5. Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay (2015)
6. Albuquerque Aquarium (2015)
7. Aquarium of Niagara (2011)


These are animal facilities that I have visited, but choose not to rank due to different factors. These include being in a totally different focus (such as Moorpark), not being open to the general public (White Oak), don’t remember them much (The Seas, Xcaret, among others), etc.

· Wildwood Wildlife Park & Nature Center (sometime in the 1990’s)
· The Seas with Nemo and Friends (2004, 2008)
· Xcaret Wildlife Habitats (2006, 2007)*
· The Wilds (2008)
· Moorpark College: America’s Teaching Zoo (2012)
· Wild Florida (2014)
· White Oak Conservation Center (2014)
· Aquarium Restaurant in Nashville (2016)
· Safari Lake Geneva (2019)

 

My new rankings after visiting some more zoos:

Traditional Zoos
1. Columbus Zoo
2. Saint Louis Zoo
3. Toledo Zoo
4. Minnesota Zoo
5. Brookfield Zoo
6. Detroit Zoo
7. Milwaukee County Zoo
8. Lincoln Park Zoo
9. NEW Zoo & Adventure Park (A little biased, it's my home zoo)
10. Henry Vilas Zoo
11. Racine Zoo
12. Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary
13. Como Park Zoo and Conservatory
14. Special Memories Zoo (now closed)
15. Animal Haven Zoo
16. DeYoung Family Zoo
17. Animal Gardens Petting Zoo
18. Glacier Ridge Animal Farm
19. Manitowoc Lincoln Park Zoo
20. Timbavati Wildlife Park
21. Wildwood Zoo
22. Grant's Farm
23. Doc's Zoo
24. MacKenzie Center
25. Ochsner Park Zoo
26. Menominee Park Zoo
27. Wisconsin Rapids Municipal Zoo
28. Anello's Torch Lite Petting Farm

Aquariums
1. Shedd Aquarium
2. SEA LIFE Minnesota
3. National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium
4. Reiman Aquarium
5. World Aquarium (now closed)

Natural History Museums with live animal collections
1. Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
2. Milwaukee Public Museum

Reptile Parks:
1. Stevens Point Herptological Society
2. Alligator Alley (these two could be easily swapped)

Safari Parks:
1. The Wilds
2. Lone Elk Park

Misc. Special Collections that can't be ranked:
-International Crane Foundation
-Butterfly Gardens of Wisconsin