I'll offer a friendly dissent with the two prior posters (though I understand where they're coming from!) and suggest that splitting the zoo over two days is probably *not* worth the cost of an additional day's ticket (2 days at zoo + 1 day at safari park = ~$190 for one person). I could have finished the zoo in one day had I spent less time birding in the walk-through aviaries and hunting for a particular few rarities, and you'll have the additional advantage of the zoo's summer hours (9 AM to 9 PM, although it will start getting dark near the end there). I'm guessing your family might be the biggest variable here; I'm not sure what their fitness or interest level is, but in my experience trying to finish any large zoo with people who aren't zoo nerds is a heavy lift!
My best advice would be to temper your expectations and prioritize what you want to see the most, in case you can't finish. The zoo has areas that most of us would consider more "skippable", but it's mostly up to your own interests and preferences. If I had to suggest areas to prioritize, I'd say:
- Lost Forest/Monkey Trails and Africa Rocks, regardless of your particular interests;
- If you're into birds, do all of the walk-through aviaries in those two areas (but try not to spend too long in them!); the long string of aviaries near the gorillas, where the Bird-of-Paradises are; and the new hummingbird aviary next to Wildlife Explorers Basecamp;
- If you care at all about herps, do the Reptile House and Walk (especially the outdoor portions);
- If you like invertebrates, the new Spineless Marvels building is fantastic;
- If you like koalas, you can easily see several of them in Outback
Northern Frontier, Elephant Odyssey, Urban Jungle, Asian Trek, the new Wildlife Explorers Basecamp, and all of the other miscellaneous areas are mostly good but I'd say represent more stereotypical zoo areas that you could see elsewhere. They're worth doing if it's convenient, but even if you miss some or all of them you won't be missing the biggest highlights of the zoo IMO.
As far as efficient routes go, I agree with
@SwampDonkey: I don't think there's a way to do it without backtracking. Additionally many of the paths/loops are noticeably steep, mostly sloping downhill from the entrance. I'd say avoid walking
up (towards entrance) Center Street at least, and do Africa Rocks heading
down (away from entrance). Accessing Lost Forest is also easier from the top or bottom; accessing from the side may require tall flights of stairs.
Thank you both so much. If I don’t do the trams, could I still get a good view of all of the rare Asian and African hoofstock, or not?
Not really. Also, the tram that is included in your general admission ticket only shows the African hoofstock; the Asian hoofstock requires an additional tram fee that will roughly double the cost of your visit.
