I recently went to the Fort Worth Zoo with family and had a really enjoyable day. I grew up in North Texas so I went there a few times growing up, but I probably hadn’t been there in 15 years so I didn’t remember anything about it, except that I’m pretty sure I got one of those monkeys with the velcro hands you can hang around your neck.

This post covers what the zoo is like now – the good, the bad, and the prices.

The Good

The ambiance

The most surprising and impressive thing for me about the Fort Worth Zoo was without a doubt the general ambiance. If you’re a Disney World fan like me, most of the zoo is really similar to walking through The Oasis area of Animal Kingdom, which is the 3-minute or so walk between the entrance of the park and the Tree of Life. There was so much vegetation along the walking paths and at least a dozen small waterfalls between exhibits – it was hard to believe we were a stone’s throw from TCU and in the middle of a big city.

Photo opportunities

The zoo is obviously a great place to bring kids, but when we were there in the middle of a school day, it was actually mostly adults – the Fort Worth Foto Fest was at the zoo so there were a lot of people walking around individually or in small groups with some serious photography equipment to take pictures of the animals. I’ve been trying to get better at taking photos on my camera (I’ve learned a lot from this book by Bryan Peterson) so I spent a lot of my time taking photos, too.

I felt like the Fort Worth Zoo was a good place to practice photography because the exhibits generally have a really open atmosphere. It made it a little easier to get good, fairly close-up photos of most of the animals. For example, I took this giraffe photo while a group near us was feeding him lettuce you can buy from a cart in the African Savanna area.

No reservations

When we were at the zoo in May, reservations were still required due to COVID but that’s recently changed. Now, you can just show up and buy tickets at the gate – or you can still buy tickets online to skip the line.

Completed renovations

There have been a lot of renovations going on at the zoo over the last few years as part of the zoo’s A Wilder Vision project.

The African Savanna was the first stage to be completed and was probably the highlight of the zoo for me. It’s 10 acres full of some favorite animals like giraffes, flamingos, rhinos, hippos, and ostriches. Like I mentioned earlier, you can buy lettuce to feed the giraffes.

The second stage of A Wilder Vision is also complete – Elephant Springs. It’s not as big as the African Savanna so we didn’t spend a lot of time there, but it has really great theming and some of the best waterfalls in the zoo. There were quite a few elephants, as is expected from the area’s name, but there was also a greater one-horned rhino. It was really cool to see since it wasn’t the white or black rhinos that are usually at zoos.

The bad

Current construction

Almost as soon as we walked into the zoo, we saw a giant construction wall for the next stage of A Wilder Vision – the future Hunters of Africa & Asian Predators.

Unfortunately, that means until the area is completed (planned for Spring 2023), some favorite animals like lions, tigers, zebras, and hyenas have been relocated to other zoos. There were obviously plenty of other exhibits to see so it wasn’t a huge deal, but it’s something to be aware of. There will also be some new animals in the area including clouded leopards, African leopards, cheetahs, and African wild dogs.

Future renovations

Once the Hunters of Africa & Asian Predators area is finished, work will start on the fourth and final stage of the renovation project – Forests & Jungles. The current projected opening for this last area is Spring 2025 and it will include animals like the okapi (one of my personal favorites), African bongos, the Sumatran orangutan, and arboreal apes.

This isn’t a terribly bad thing, but it does mean that construction will continue at the zoo for a while. I probably won’t be back until all of the updates are complete since I’m not a local and there’s plenty of other things to do in the DFW area, but since I was so impressed with the finished renovations I do plan to go back once the full A Wilder Vision updates are complete.

The Prices

Like I mentioned before, you can buy tickets online and skip the line at the gate or you can shop at the zoo and buy them at the ticket counter.

Normal admission prices

Parking is always $5, and ticket prices every day except Wednesday are:

Adults: (age 13+): $16
Children (age 3-12): $12
Seniors (age 65+): $12
Children 2 and under are free

Half-price Wednesdays

If you’re looking for something to do during the week with kids this summer, Wednesdays are half-pice admission – so tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for children and seniors. Parking is still $5.

Hours

The zoo hours vary seasonally so check the Fort Worth Zoo website for updates.

I’ve been to a few zoos recently and the Fort Worth Zoo is one of the few that I am already planning to go back to in a few years – once the renovations are finished. Let me know if you have another favorite zoo!

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