Oakland Zoo

I have always heard rumors that the Oakland Zoo is not that great, not even comparable to the SF zoo. I visited the Oakland Zoo last week for a kid's birthday party and I thought it was wonderful. It may not be a large zoo, but it has a character. All the kids enjoyed the mini train ride. And we were able to visit everything is about half a day which was very nice. I recommend this zoo for all those people who think the SF zoo is too big. You can have fun and not have to walk around the entire day. more

This zoo is not as large as the San Francisco zoo, but it definitely did not lack in fun. It was nce to be able to visit all of teh exhibits and animals in less than 4 hours. I liked the train ride that allows you to travel almost all the way around the zoo. That was a great experience. I also noticed that they had mini carnival rides just at the entrance to the zoo for all the children. Overall the Oakland zoo was a fun place to visit. Highly recommended for family fun. more

The oakland Zoo is the best place to take children who want to see animals, but you don't want to walk around for hours. It took us only a few hours to visit this zoo and the kids were happy. it is much smaller than the SF zoo, but that doesn't mean it isn't just as good. I liked the mini train in the center of the zoo. Also it was a surprise to see little carnival games as you enter the zoo. Overall, its a great place to visit. Highly recommended more

I have been to the Oakland zoo with my family a couple of times now and I have to say that it is a very nice zoo. They have the basic collection of animals like lions, elephants and giraffes but nothing spectacular. They do have a nice little amusement park with several rides for kids like a merry-go-around. There is also a huge picnic area adjacent to the zoo complete with picnic tables, benches and barbeque grills. more

The Oakland Zoo is always a fun visit for me, as a kid growing up in Oakland and also as an adult today. By far my favorite exhibits have always been the acrobatic ring-tailed lemurs, and the elephants, when though they're smelly. You'll find some exotic animals and endanged species you probably won't find at many zoos in the country as well. Even though I prefer the San Francisco Zoo because it's a more beautiful zoo, I still enjoy going to this zoo because it's closer. more

Not a huge zoo, so you can see it all in a few hours. One of the neat things for those with kids, is they have some carnaval type rides just outside the gates. There is also a train ride there that goes around the zoo. It's worth the line. They have beautiful exibits for the big cats, and the new children's zoo is amazing. Our toddler had a blast there. I like that they have a few exibits with several species all mixed in together. It's neat to see the animals interacting. Food is a bit expensive, and not much variety, but you can bring in your own lunch to save money. We go to their Christmas light show every year. It's cold at night, but a fun holiday evening. more

I recently visited the Oakland Zoo for the first time, and was pleasantly surprised. It's a great place to take the kids as they have a new petting zoo and a train, as well as an area with small amusement park rides. The African elephants and the monkeys are also quite impressive. The zoo is nicely spaced out and I liked how they also have shows and feedings as well. more

The Oakland Zoo is a great place to take children who are interested in animals. It offers a nice petting zoo for children and sells bags of nutritional pellets so the kids can even feed the animals! It also offers a variety of on-site, mobile educational programs and tours. It also provides a spacious hall for receptions, meetings, and parties with a great view of the bay! more

always enjoyed going to the Oakland Zoo when I was younger. Although it is smaller than some other places, it is also closer for those traveling from the suburbs. There is a good selection of animals, and it's a great place for families to bring their children without being too crowded. more

The Oakland Zoo is not as big as the San Francisco Zoo but every Zoo is not the same. I'm more concerned about the location, traffic, and how well they maintain the place. After my experience here I would reccommend it. It's pretty clean and have plenty of benches around if you have kids and your tire of hauling them around. The gift shop had some great gifts at reasonable prices which was a little surprising. They also were pretty well staffed and were uniformed ready to assist in anyway possible. more

I love animals and the best way to see wild animals in the bay area is the Oakland zoo. They have a good variety of animals and it is obvious that they give good care to the animals. They have create an habitat for animals such as: lions, tigers, bears, zebras, and many more. If you are looking for a palce were to take your kids this weekend, the Oakland zoo is the place to go, your kids will enjoy it. more

The Knowland Zoo or Oakland zoo is a relatively small zoo in comparison to the San Francisco one. However it does have its merits and my kids still loved going there. They also have a children's zoo but very small with mainly goats as the main attraction. The zoo has an area where they have rides like a merry-go-round, a train and other kiddie rides. They also have a lift that takes your from one end of the zoo to an elevated area at the other end. This is great because you can see all the animals from above. more

Even though this zoo isn't as big as the on ein San Francisco, its still filled with interesting animals that you could not see anywhere else. This is a great place to take children and to have fun and learn new things. more

We went to the grand opening of the Children's zoo. It was a bit disappointing because many parts of it weren't completed and were under construction. I was also expecting more interactive areas for the kids. There was only two areas, both which were mobbed with people. I'm hoping that my disappointment will turn to pleasure when I go back once this part is finished. The rest of the zoo is nice. All of the animals look happy and healthy. A big plus is that there is an amusement park in the zoo where you can ride a train around the zoo or a tram over the zoo. more

Probably lives a little bit in the shadows of the San Francisco Zoo, but it's worth a trip out for sure. They have some neat little features like a mini train ride, a sky ride and a set of carnival rides. And cool animals, got to have those. It's located in the hills in Oakland, which is kind of nice. more

The structure of the zoo was nice, and it was easy to navigate around with or without a zoo map. I found it interesting that the animals were sectioned off according to where they lived: The African Savanna, African Veldt, Australian Outback, Tropical Rain Forest , the African Village, the Zoo Meadow, and the Karibu Village. Seeing all the animals and getting an idea of their habitats gave me an excellent sense of their lifestyle. We see different humans all the time but we never see all the various animals (since they do not live nearby or we do not travel much in our lifetime to even see them). It is a different kind of experience reading a book or on the Internet about animals than actually seeing or observing them. I got a sense of animal diversity, rather than human diversity. I thought it was really cool seeing the Malayan fruit bats because they are temporarily at the Oakland Zoo, and I have never seen bats in my life! They can have a wing span of six feet, which is incred more