The World Link: Oregon Zoo breaks attendance record Interesting that Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo has basically the same attendance year after year (1.1 million) while 2.5 hours south the Oregon Zoo continues to break its attendance record year after year. In 2008 the zoo had to close for a week due to bad weather but still recorded over 1.6 million visitors. Hugely impressive, and with a $125 million zoo bond in the bank this zoo keeps on improving...
I agree that Portland loves its zoo, and the community support there is fantastic. Also, in Seattle there is much more to do (huge museum, aquarium, Pike Place market, Space Needle, waterfront stores, Seattle Center, Experience Music Project, etc) while Portland has some attractions but definitely not as many on the same scale as Seattle.
Oregon Zoo January 2009 Press Releases The 1.6 million visitors to the zoo was the 4th time in the past 5 years that the Oregon Zoo has surpassed its all-time attendance record. There have been at least 5 new exhibits at the zoo in the past 3 years, plus in 2009 "Red Ape Reserve", with orangutans and gibbons, will open. Also in 2009 "Predators of the Serengeti" with lions, cheetahs, african wild dogs, caracals, mongoose and hornbills will also open. I think that 1.7 million visitors is a good bet for the year! Of course beyond that there is the money in the bank for the quadrupling in size of the elephant paddock, new chimp exhibit, polar bear renovations...WOW! This zoo has more on the horizon than just about any other collection in North America.
