I am going to the zoo on Friday but may not have enough time to see everything. What are the must sees?
Congo Gorilla Forest is absolutely essential, make sure you see that as soon as you get to the zoo. The other “must sees” are JungleWorld, Wild Asia Monorail and Madagascar. If you’ve seen those exhibits and still have extra time, go and see the World Of Birds and the Mouse House, as these exhibits have some interesting species and exhibits.
Oh boy... Purely from an exhibit standpoint (ignoring species) I'd stick to the following: Absolute Must See Congo Gorilla Forest Madagascar! JungleWorld Highly Suggested Baboon Reserve Wild Asia Monorail World of Birds Time Allowing African Plains Aquatic Bird House/SeaBird Aviary Zoo Center World of Reptiles Children's Zoo Skippable Astor Court Bears Butterfly Garden Don't Bother Carter Giraffe Building Birds of Prey ~Thylo
Piggy-backing off everyone else; don't miss Tiger Mountain or the Himalayan Highlands which are both excellent from an exhibitory standpoint. I fully agree: Congo Forest, Jungle World, Wild Asia and Madagascar are can't misses. As well as Tiger Mountain and the Himalayan Highlands I would also fit in the African Plains/Baboon Reserve, World of Birds and World of Reptiles. That should fill about 5 hours (less if you are a fast walker!). If you can, eat at the Baboon Reserve (African Café) since they have better food then at the main cafeteria with a great view. I have been able to do the entire zoo in less than 6 hours, but that means getting there to walk through the gates at 10am. It's going to be warm tomorrow, so hope you get an early start and enjoy!
I think you forgot the ever impressive Dinosaur safari...worth the wait and space that could be utilized for living animals!
I also forgot Tiger Mountain and Himalayan Highlands!! I also forgot Northern Ponds as well. I'd split those between Highly Suggested and Time Allowing. Dinosaur Safari I've decided is a necessary evil. It's undoubtedly brought in a lot of money for the zoo that's led to them bringing in new species and updated older exhibits. It's not like any animals were going to go there anytime soon anyway. I'm pretty sure their planned future Latin America exhibit is slated for this area, though, so presumably the safari will either move or go altogether. ~Thylo
I disagree with everyone else, I think some of those depend on what other zoos you've been to. #1 must see for me is world of birds, it's the one thing that I don't think is matched anywhere else. I'd also say Madagascar, the nearby children's zoo, and the monorail, since the latter two are closed half the year and both have uncommon species. If you're going to try for the monorail, start there, because the line quickly builds up during the day.
