5 Tips for Visiting the Columbus Zoo

Last weekend, we visited Columbus, Ohio for a short weekend getaway to celebrate my son’s 11th birthday. We had so much fun! The first thing we did on Friday was to visit the Columbus Zoo. 

 While we were there, they were open 10am to 5pm. However, when I went to book our tickets, all of the 10am ticket times were taken so we weren’t able to get in until 10:30am. Obviously, you should try to get in as soon as possible. However, I had forgotten that spring break was occurring for a lot of schools.

So Tip #1: Plan ahead! Get your tickets as soon as you can.

Admission is $16.99 for everyone 10 and up. Plus, there is a $10 parking fee (which we bought in advance with our tickets).

We arrived around 10:15am to look for a parking space and get ourselves ready. We needed to make sure everyone had a mask and a water bottle. My husband grabbed our backpack. And then we were ready to line up and get into the zoo.

Tip #2: Pack a backpack.

What’s in our backpack?
We brought snacks, hand sanitizer, extra masks (in case the ones we were wearing got wet), an umbrella (the forecast called for rain), Wet Ones, lip balm (because for some reason, ever since we started wearing masks, my lips have been chapped), sunscreen, reusable straws, hats (just in case the sun decided to show itself), Tylenol, and a charging bank (just in case all those pictures you take kill the battery on your phone).

We then walked our way around the zoo. It wasn’t too busy while we were there, but it definitely wasn’t empty either. We did end up seeing every animal that was on exhibit, but we also didn’t care if we didn’t make it everywhere. We made a list of our top animals to see, and we made sure to visit all of those.

Tip #3: Decide what’s important to you and make sure you see those things.

For example, seeing the polar bears in the underwater viewing area was high on our list of things to see. However, when we got there, they were lazing around, and definitely had no plans to get in the water. So, we saw a couple of the animals in that same area and came back. They still weren’t in the water, so we waited. We ended up waiting for about half an hour. But eventually, they got in! Actually, my husband was up top while my son and I waited down below and he texted me that they were getting ready to throw some enrichment items in the water (which he learned from an employee that probably felt bad for us because they had seen us waiting for so long haha). And we were not disappointed!

There were a couple things that were closed while we were there. Like the Africa section. The only animals out were the lions. I think it was just a little too chilly for the rest of the animals.

Overall, we really enjoyed the Columbus Zoo. We’ve visited a lot of zoos and this one really impressed us. I would highly recommend a visit here if you’re a zoo lover (like us).

This zoo is not small, though. Which brings us to…

Tip #4: Wear comfortable shoes!

I mean, I recommend this no matter what zoo you’re going to, but especially a large zoo like the Columbus Zoo. I just looked, and I clocked 18,543 steps the day we visited. And we seriously didn’t do anything else. My feet were tired the next day!

One of our favorite parts of this zoo is the Manatee tank, which is why we saved it for last (or so we thought). It’s so sweet to see the surrogate mama manatee with her transplant babies. The babies are rescues that will eventually be returned to the wild. Plus, there’s a sea turtle in there, which is my son’s absolute favorite animal of all time.

 

Tip #5: Be flexible.

This is pretty much my life model. While we at the manatee tank, the woman talking was saying that you could touch and feed the stingrays over in another part of the zoo. And while I knew we could do that, I hadn’t planned to just because we’ve done that quite a few times before. But that didn’t stop my son from begging to go that way. So even though we thought we were done after the manatees, we ended up making our way over to the stingrays before exiting.

So, I hope that this was helpful and has fully convinced you to visit this zoo! We had a blast. And my son has told us that we definitely need to return in the summer.

It's Christmas! Day 6: St. Louis Zoo

It’s Christmas! is a 25 day blog and vlog segment that I’ll be doing this December to bring you crafts, reviews, and ideas to make your Christmas season even more fun this year (especially, with this pandemic thing we’re all trying to navigate).

Hopefully, my family can inspire yours to not let this crazy year ruin the holiday season for you.

For my birthday, my husband and son took me to spend a night in St. Louis. When we got there, we went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens to see their lights at the Garden Glow. I talked all about this yesterday, so if you missed it, go take a look at Day 6 after you’re done with Day 7.

We then spent the night at a hotel (which was a little nerve racking due to Covid, but we sanitized everything and brought our own pillows).

The next day, we got up early, checked out of our hotel, and drove over to the St. Louis Zoo. Now, keep in mind that I’ve been to this specific zoo probably 20 times so it’s nothing new to me, but I just love it every time. Due to Covid, I did have to get online a week in advance and get us a free reservation time so keep that in mind if you’re planning to come here at this time.

So, I absolutely love the St. Louis Zoo. It will forever be one of my favorite zoos. One of the most amazing things about this zoo is that it’s free to enter. So, if you can find a spot along the street to park, your trip can be at absolutely no cost.

When we went on a weekday in early December, there was practically no one there! It was so cool! We almost had the whole zoo to ourselves. Socially distancing was SUPER easy since there weren’t very many people there. I think the animals enjoyed the small crowd, too, because they were out and moving and easy to see. Yes, there were a couple animals off exhibit due. However, we were able to clearly see animals that are normally sleeping when we visit. Overall, we had such a great time! I mean, just look at these pictures:

Please go out and support your local zoos and aquariums during this pandemic because they could really use our help.

And as always, from my family to yours, Merry Christmas!