I know people don't generally care much about box turtles, but this is really a great exhibit for them and for kids to stick their heads in the bubbles.
I've heard great things about the Children's Zoo and the polar bear exhibit, but overall the negative buzz in the past has been about the elephant paddock, the small size, and the financial instability of the Maryland Zoo. If I have time this summer my wife and I are going to attempt to make it to Baltimore on our 30-zoo road trip, as the zoo looks worthwhile and the aquarium is supposedly one of the top 5 in North America.
The Children's Zoo is not just for kids as it has the great otter and red fox/snapping turtle exhibits among others. African section is quite good as well. The elephant exhibit is a decent size, but I'm not going to call it a good exhibit. There's pics on here of it. Well you can knock out both the zoo and the aquarium on the same day, and the inner harbor where the aquarium is located is a nice area. I'm not sure why the financial instability would keep you away, if anything it should make an avid zoo goer like yourself want to go even more to support them. Yes, the zoo's collection is not large, but you've already seen pretty much every animals multiple times. However, the exhibit quality on average is better than most imo.
