Joseph G
Well-Known Member
Hello all! This is my first trip report on ZooChat. I’ve done many of these for amusement parks on other websites, so forgive me if this formatted different than most.
My wife and I have been trying to get to Louisville for the last three months or so from a mere two hours away in Cincinnati. A combination of work and weather have ruined our travel plans three times now, so we were excited to get this short trip in! We went into this completely blind other than what I’d read of Islands not being included in the “Americas 100 Must See Exhibits” thread. Zero expectations and a lot of surprises!
ISLANDS
And we just so happened to start at Islands! Right out of the gate, the little blue penguin exhibit was great. More impressive than some others I’ve seen, including Cincinnati’s. Loved all the different substrates and hiding opportunities. Top down view of the pool was a nice change of pace from most penguin exhibits. Across the path, I loved the proximity to the pelicans, along with being able to see the tortoises burrowing in the mud. Not the most visually stunning setup of all time, but it displayed the animals in it very well.
Over to the rotational exhibits – these were a smidge confusing. Not a lot of animal signage until we got to the third yard (the one immediately next to the entrance to the Islands Pavilion). The juvenile babirusa closely following its mother quickly made up for the frustration. We really liked the layout and concept of these exhibits, but it was really unfortunate that we saw the same animals in the same exhibits twice in one day. We stopped by at 1030am and 3pm. Not sure how consistent the rotations are with the listed “twice a day,” but really wish we could’ve seen the orangutans or sumatran tigers occupy some of those spaces.
Minus some repetitive birds in the first set of aviaries, we were pretty impressed with the Islands Pavilion, particularly the main aviary. Upon entry it felt pretty run of the mill, but progressing through, I really appreciated the height above and the drop below which becomes more apparent as you walk through. Plenty of opportunities for the birds to hide but also feel safe being near guests. The chatty macaw made it all the more fun. The dayroom was occupied with two orangutans. They were switching off between standing in front of a large fan and interacting with guests on the glass. Would’ve been really neat to see any of the other species occupying this as well.
After seeing the little blue exhibit, the African penguin exhibit was a big let down. Hate the lack of different substrate and just overwhelming amount of unusable space that high mock rock creates. Also don’t understand why the room was as cold as the antarctic penguin exhibit at SeaWorld?
HERPAQUARIUM
This was fun group of species with some nice exhibits. Loved the black piranha, African bullfrog, vampire bats and Cuban crocodile in particular. However, the layout of the building was difficult to digest and just felt very thrown together – almost like all the thought only went into the exhibits and everything else was just haphazardly put around them. Small complaint for such a fun building, but it definitely left me feeling lost going from space to space.
CATS OF THE AMERICAS
I didn’t expect much of this area, but the lynx and puma exhibits were much better than expected. Even on a hot day, they both had enough shade to still be moving around and interacting with their surroundings. Did not care for the bald eagle exhibit, but I also don’t care for balds in general.
MANED WOLF/SLOTH/JAGUAR/MACAW
This whole row was a little bit of a trip. The maned wolf exhibit was the first thing I saw at this zoo that kind of made me cock my head a little to the side. Really didn’t feel like it belonged. I know most wolf exhibits are exactly like this, but they usually have the benefit of being more wooded around the edges. Something about seeing one side completely open on the hill was off putting.
Sloth exhibit was what it was. Not a fan of looking into indoor exhibits from outside.
Minus the fencing, the jaguar exhibit was really well done with the space available! Lots of different hides and variance in foliage density. It’s obviously not as immersive as something like Jacksonville, but compared to Erie Zoo’s it would win an award!
I loved the macaw setup and wish Brookfield would do something similar instead of the perches. It wasn’t marked on the map, but it swaps between macaw and toco toucan occupying the space. We came up and the toco was going from branch to branch and nibbling on fruits.
STELLAR’S SEA EAGLE AVIARY
WOW! Probably the best Stellar’s exhibit I’ve ever seen. Incredibly huge fan of this. I appreciate zoos that give these birds large aviaries, but a lot of the time there isn’t much benefit to the height as they have zero visibility. Once we left this area, we kept looking back from Glacier Run and just marveling at everything it could see from the highest perch. Truly a treat to see one of these birds perched up so high.
GLACIER RUN
We had no idea this exhibit existed until we stumbled upon it and we were absolutely floored. Immediately thought of this as if Pittsburgh’s arctic area been executed to the level of Columbus’s. Absolutely jaw dropping. We unfortunately didn’t see any polar bears, but there was a brown bear that went for a swim as we were on the upper level looking down at the floor-to-ceiling underwater viewing. Has anyone else done this before? How genius to not make people run downstairs when a bear hops in the pool. Everyone can see it and appreciate it from either level. Just great design. Also loved the size of that main exhibit and the variance in height/depth. The chute over to the annexed exhibit was awesome as well. The whole thing is just super well executed and I cannot believe I’ve never heard anything about it before. Really enjoyed this!
SNOW LEOPARD PASS/TIGER TAIGA
Almost felt the same way about this as we did Glacier Run, however, I hated the execution at the top of the exhibit. I know the infrastructure had to be worked around Tiger Taiga, but I felt like it was too difficult to see the tunnels at the top, along with how difficult it was to see down into the main exhibit. I loved the visibility with Tiger Taiga, but wish it could’ve felt as effortless with Snow Leopard Pass.
GORILLA FOREST
Very close on if we liked this or Glacier Run more. The blue walls around the outdoor portions were the only blemish on what is probably my favorite gorilla exhibit (No, I haven’t been to Bronx). The density and elevation changes outside with a dayroom better than most inside, we walked away wondering once again, “how did we not know about this?!” Super immersive and just really took us out of knowing we were in the zoo for the time we were there. The pygmy hippo exhibit was a treat too, considering I don’t think I’ve ever seen one with that much elevation change?
AFRICA
From Colobus Crossing through the lemur island, we were very let down with this portion of the zoo. Granted, expectations were sky high after going through Stellar’s Sea Eagle Aviary, Glacier Run, Snow Leopard Pass and Gorilla Forest, but it was just so disappointing. Being eye level with the ground of zebra’s was pretty neat but after that, it just fell off. Outdated lion exhibit, ugly viewing by giraffe feeding and camel rides all in a row just sucked the life out of the day. It was neat to see African and Asian elephants together, but that only did so much. It reached rock bottom when we rounded the corner to the formal giraffe viewing and the largest of the herd was banging its neck on a post in a stereoptic manner. I accepted that it probably wouldn’t get any better from here. The exhibits themselves aren’t terrible, but the lack of immersion or just even anything to hide the parking lot from the background just put a damper on the end of our day. I know the zoo has other expansion plans in the mix, but I’m hopeful that this entire area can be towards the top of the “to-do list” on their next masterplan.
ODDS AND ENDS
My wife and I have been trying to get to Louisville for the last three months or so from a mere two hours away in Cincinnati. A combination of work and weather have ruined our travel plans three times now, so we were excited to get this short trip in! We went into this completely blind other than what I’d read of Islands not being included in the “Americas 100 Must See Exhibits” thread. Zero expectations and a lot of surprises!
ISLANDS
And we just so happened to start at Islands! Right out of the gate, the little blue penguin exhibit was great. More impressive than some others I’ve seen, including Cincinnati’s. Loved all the different substrates and hiding opportunities. Top down view of the pool was a nice change of pace from most penguin exhibits. Across the path, I loved the proximity to the pelicans, along with being able to see the tortoises burrowing in the mud. Not the most visually stunning setup of all time, but it displayed the animals in it very well.
Over to the rotational exhibits – these were a smidge confusing. Not a lot of animal signage until we got to the third yard (the one immediately next to the entrance to the Islands Pavilion). The juvenile babirusa closely following its mother quickly made up for the frustration. We really liked the layout and concept of these exhibits, but it was really unfortunate that we saw the same animals in the same exhibits twice in one day. We stopped by at 1030am and 3pm. Not sure how consistent the rotations are with the listed “twice a day,” but really wish we could’ve seen the orangutans or sumatran tigers occupy some of those spaces.
Minus some repetitive birds in the first set of aviaries, we were pretty impressed with the Islands Pavilion, particularly the main aviary. Upon entry it felt pretty run of the mill, but progressing through, I really appreciated the height above and the drop below which becomes more apparent as you walk through. Plenty of opportunities for the birds to hide but also feel safe being near guests. The chatty macaw made it all the more fun. The dayroom was occupied with two orangutans. They were switching off between standing in front of a large fan and interacting with guests on the glass. Would’ve been really neat to see any of the other species occupying this as well.
After seeing the little blue exhibit, the African penguin exhibit was a big let down. Hate the lack of different substrate and just overwhelming amount of unusable space that high mock rock creates. Also don’t understand why the room was as cold as the antarctic penguin exhibit at SeaWorld?
HERPAQUARIUM
This was fun group of species with some nice exhibits. Loved the black piranha, African bullfrog, vampire bats and Cuban crocodile in particular. However, the layout of the building was difficult to digest and just felt very thrown together – almost like all the thought only went into the exhibits and everything else was just haphazardly put around them. Small complaint for such a fun building, but it definitely left me feeling lost going from space to space.
CATS OF THE AMERICAS
I didn’t expect much of this area, but the lynx and puma exhibits were much better than expected. Even on a hot day, they both had enough shade to still be moving around and interacting with their surroundings. Did not care for the bald eagle exhibit, but I also don’t care for balds in general.
MANED WOLF/SLOTH/JAGUAR/MACAW
This whole row was a little bit of a trip. The maned wolf exhibit was the first thing I saw at this zoo that kind of made me cock my head a little to the side. Really didn’t feel like it belonged. I know most wolf exhibits are exactly like this, but they usually have the benefit of being more wooded around the edges. Something about seeing one side completely open on the hill was off putting.
Sloth exhibit was what it was. Not a fan of looking into indoor exhibits from outside.
Minus the fencing, the jaguar exhibit was really well done with the space available! Lots of different hides and variance in foliage density. It’s obviously not as immersive as something like Jacksonville, but compared to Erie Zoo’s it would win an award!
I loved the macaw setup and wish Brookfield would do something similar instead of the perches. It wasn’t marked on the map, but it swaps between macaw and toco toucan occupying the space. We came up and the toco was going from branch to branch and nibbling on fruits.
STELLAR’S SEA EAGLE AVIARY
WOW! Probably the best Stellar’s exhibit I’ve ever seen. Incredibly huge fan of this. I appreciate zoos that give these birds large aviaries, but a lot of the time there isn’t much benefit to the height as they have zero visibility. Once we left this area, we kept looking back from Glacier Run and just marveling at everything it could see from the highest perch. Truly a treat to see one of these birds perched up so high.
GLACIER RUN
We had no idea this exhibit existed until we stumbled upon it and we were absolutely floored. Immediately thought of this as if Pittsburgh’s arctic area been executed to the level of Columbus’s. Absolutely jaw dropping. We unfortunately didn’t see any polar bears, but there was a brown bear that went for a swim as we were on the upper level looking down at the floor-to-ceiling underwater viewing. Has anyone else done this before? How genius to not make people run downstairs when a bear hops in the pool. Everyone can see it and appreciate it from either level. Just great design. Also loved the size of that main exhibit and the variance in height/depth. The chute over to the annexed exhibit was awesome as well. The whole thing is just super well executed and I cannot believe I’ve never heard anything about it before. Really enjoyed this!
SNOW LEOPARD PASS/TIGER TAIGA
Almost felt the same way about this as we did Glacier Run, however, I hated the execution at the top of the exhibit. I know the infrastructure had to be worked around Tiger Taiga, but I felt like it was too difficult to see the tunnels at the top, along with how difficult it was to see down into the main exhibit. I loved the visibility with Tiger Taiga, but wish it could’ve felt as effortless with Snow Leopard Pass.
GORILLA FOREST
Very close on if we liked this or Glacier Run more. The blue walls around the outdoor portions were the only blemish on what is probably my favorite gorilla exhibit (No, I haven’t been to Bronx). The density and elevation changes outside with a dayroom better than most inside, we walked away wondering once again, “how did we not know about this?!” Super immersive and just really took us out of knowing we were in the zoo for the time we were there. The pygmy hippo exhibit was a treat too, considering I don’t think I’ve ever seen one with that much elevation change?
AFRICA
From Colobus Crossing through the lemur island, we were very let down with this portion of the zoo. Granted, expectations were sky high after going through Stellar’s Sea Eagle Aviary, Glacier Run, Snow Leopard Pass and Gorilla Forest, but it was just so disappointing. Being eye level with the ground of zebra’s was pretty neat but after that, it just fell off. Outdated lion exhibit, ugly viewing by giraffe feeding and camel rides all in a row just sucked the life out of the day. It was neat to see African and Asian elephants together, but that only did so much. It reached rock bottom when we rounded the corner to the formal giraffe viewing and the largest of the herd was banging its neck on a post in a stereoptic manner. I accepted that it probably wouldn’t get any better from here. The exhibits themselves aren’t terrible, but the lack of immersion or just even anything to hide the parking lot from the background just put a damper on the end of our day. I know the zoo has other expansion plans in the mix, but I’m hopeful that this entire area can be towards the top of the “to-do list” on their next masterplan.
ODDS AND ENDS
- This is a surpassingly difficult zoo to navigate? We missed MetaZoo and Wallaroo Walkabout without even realizing it.
- I really appreciate how many animals are rotated through exhibits here, however, it was disappointing to miss a few species despite coming back at different times of the day.
- A lot of these exhibits maximize their real estate. Something like the warthogs – a lot of zoos would just give them a flat area and make a mud pit. But at Louisville, their exhibit was tiered with an upper and lower level, with small hides in the side of the hill. Not going to win any exhibit awards for it, but it was very nice to see.
- There is a lot of dead space. Maybe not as much as I actually think there is, but it felt like a lot. Walking from Glacier Run to Snow Leopard Pass really took us out of the immersion of both areas.
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