Zoos within driving distance of Norfolk, VA?

[biggest_dreamer]

If anyone with experience around the Pennsylvania-ish zoos sees this, could you help me try and figure out how much time would need to be allotted to each of these facilities? I can start in any of the cities and do them in either direction.

Brandywine Zoo
Philadelphia Zoo
Lehigh Valley Zoo
ZooAmerica
Maryland Zoo

I'm trying to figure out how feasible it would be to cram as many as possible into two days. I've had to cut the nearby aquariums out of consideration but I think that'll be worth it for me, personally.

In practice, I think what will have to happen is cutting Brandywine, then doing Philadelphia/Lehigh on one day and ZooAmerica and Maryland on the next. I imagine that cramming Lehigh, ZooAmerica, and Maryland all into the same day won't be impossible, but it won't make for a very fun experience and Maryland in particular would wind up being super rushed. But hopefully someone with some firsthand experience can chime in.

 

[Astrotom3000]

Philadelphia Zoo
Lehigh Valley Zoo
Maryland Zoo

I visited these 3 zoos last year, so I can provide some pointers.

If anyone with experience around the Pennsylvania-ish zoos sees this, could you help me try and figure out how much time would need to be allotted to each of these facilities? I can start in any of the cities and do them in either direction.

Assuming you want to see everything, don't want to rush, and don't need to revisit any exhibits; here are my recommendations below based on my own experience (do note that I usually take things slowly and both Philly and Maryland were all-day zoos for me).

Philadelphia is obviously the biggest and most involving (in terms of things to see) of the bunch; I would recommend at least 3-4 hours to see the entire zoo (3 hours might be pushing it though, and may require rushing a few areas depending on your pace). For reference, it too me about 5.5 hours to hit every exhibit.

Lehigh Valley will only require an hour, maybe two tops. It's a fairly small zoo (~18 acres) with a simple loop and around ~67 species (and don't miss the bison/elk outside the zoo along the road; do keep in mind this will require you to ford a shallow creek with your car). This zoo only took between 1-1.5 hours for me to do.

For Maryland Zoo, I'd say 2-3 hours as well, maybe 4 at the absolute maximum (4 hours is what it took me to see everything).

I'm trying to figure out how feasible it would be to cram as many as possible into two days. I've had to cut the nearby aquariums out of consideration but I think that'll be worth it for me, personally.

In practice, I think what will have to happen is cutting Brandywine, then doing Philadelphia/Lehigh on one day and ZooAmerica and Maryland on the next. I imagine that cramming Lehigh, ZooAmerica, and Maryland all into the same day won't be impossible, but it won't make for a very fun experience and Maryland in particular would wind up being super rushed. But hopefully someone with some firsthand experience can chime in.

Combining two zoos per day in the way you proposed is definitely doable and far from impossible, but there are a few factors which can make this tricky. My main concern is the driving distances; all mentioned zoos are around a 1.25-1.5 hour's drive from each other (and may entail toll roads; especially in the case of Lehigh -> Philly). Also, Philly by itself could take up a good chunk of the day depending on how early you arrive and how you pace yourself. Maryland is similar, but slightly less so. Both Lehigh and ZooAmerica are small, so they are easy to work in.

If you do plan to do two zoos in one day, I would recommend rope-dropping the first zoo you do for the day, and cut out around 12pm-12:30pm to do the other zoo. Other than Philly, all other zoos close at 4pm. This may require you do take in Philly and possibly Maryland at a fast pace.

Doing Lehigh, ZooAmerica, and Maryland all in one day is definitely not recommended; not only are all 3 zoos a minimum of 1.5 hours apart from each other, but all 3 zoos also only operate from 10am-4pm, so things would be extremely tight. I honestly don't see how this would be feasible without rushing every zoo.

 

[biggest_dreamer]

Thank you, that's exactly the sort of detailed answer I was hoping for. Sounds like Philadelphia/Lehigh and then ZooAmerica/Maryland is definitely the best move, then. I think that means my finalized itinerary will look like this:

7/7: Sylvan Heights Bird Park
7/8: Metro Richmond Zoo
7/9: Virginia Living Museum (travel to Philadelphia)
7/10: Philadelphia Zoo + Lehigh Valley Zoo (travel to Hershey)
7/11: ZooAmerica + Maryland Zoo (return to Norfolk)
7/12: Virginia Zoo + Virginia Aquarium

 

[biggest_dreamer]

Almost made the huge blunder of not realizing that Sylvan Heights is closed on Mondays. Easy enough to switch it with Metro Richmond, though.

The main reason I added the extended Pennsylvania leg was to try and see fisher and American marten at Lehigh Valley and ZooAmerica respectively... and now both of those individuals have passed away since making my last post. Now I'm not so sure what to do with that - I think I'll just sub out Lehigh Valley for Elmwood Park, since they seem to be largely comparable but Elmwood has a slightly more appealing species roster.

The bigger question is ZooAmerica. The only particularly notable species left there for me is the pronghorn, which I also have plans to see next summer in Phoenix. So I'm wondering if I should shift course and do Catoctin instead? They've got a handful of appealing monkeys as well as the Visayan warty pig that I keep missing at other facilities. I'd have to switch around my (thankfully refundable) hotel, but I'm thinking this might be a worthwhile swerve. Maybe.

 

[SwampDonkey]

The bigger question is ZooAmerica. The only particularly notable species left there for me is the pronghorn, which I also have plans to see next summer in Phoenix

I have not been to ZooAmerica, but I have been to Phoenix a lot. If your main reason to go to ZA is pronghorn and you are going to see them in Phoenix next year then I would probably skip it. Phoenix has a nice exhibit.

 

[NSU42]

Almost made the huge blunder of not realizing that Sylvan Heights is closed on Mondays. Easy enough to switch it with Metro Richmond, though.

The main reason I added the extended Pennsylvania leg was to try and see fisher and American marten at Lehigh Valley and ZooAmerica respectively... and now both of those individuals have passed away since making my last post. Now I'm not so sure what to do with that - I think I'll just sub out Lehigh Valley for Elmwood Park, since they seem to be largely comparable but Elmwood has a slightly more appealing species roster.

The bigger question is ZooAmerica. The only particularly notable species left there for me is the pronghorn, which I also have plans to see next summer in Phoenix. So I'm wondering if I should shift course and do Catoctin instead? They've got a handful of appealing monkeys as well as the Visayan warty pig that I keep missing at other facilities. I'd have to switch around my (thankfully refundable) hotel, but I'm thinking this might be a worthwhile swerve. Maybe.

Like we've said up thread, this is going to largely depend on why you visit zoos. If you are only going in hopes of see specific species, then most of the ones you talk about here aren't all that notable. But if you are instead focused on trying to visit each zoo no matter what it really has to offer, that is a different story.

Personally, I would prioritize these as follows:

1) ZooAmerica -- A truly unique place with its exclusive focus on North American animals. Overall, the level of exhibitry is quite good, although nothing on that world class level.
2) Elmwood Park -- Mostly only for Realm of the Jaguar. Quite a good complex for such a small zoo. Not a ton that is otherwise noteworthy here.
3) Catoctin -- I struggle putting this one over an AZA zoo, but as you mentioned, there are number of more unusual species kept here and it is larger than the others. They have also moved or were clearly in the process of moving the animals out of the terrible exhibits towards the front of the zoo into newer more modern ones (although for as much as they were hyping up the new wolf exhibit when I was there, it still looked like it was going to be too small).
4) Lehigh Valley -- Really nothing all that noteworthy here, but a nice enough zoo.

For what it's worth, I managed to fit in Catoctin, ZooAmerica, and Lehigh all in one day back in October. I did feel a bit more rushed than I'd have like to at Lehigh at the end of the day, but I was able to see and photograph everything still. If I remember correctly, at least one or two of these places has extended hours for the summer, which would have made it no problem doing all three in a day.

 

[Astrotom3000]

Now I'm not so sure what to do with that - I think I'll just sub out Lehigh Valley for Elmwood Park, since they seem to be largely comparable but Elmwood has a slightly more appealing species roster.

While Lehigh Valley might no longer have Fisher, they were also the only zoo on the East Coast I have visited that had Lesser Siren, Sunset Lorikeet, Ringtail, Dusky Lory, and Western Pond Turtle (although the turtles were off-exhibit during my visit). That all being said, if Fisher was your main motivation for picking Lehigh and the species I mentioned above don't interest you, you might be better off with Elmwood, considering it's closer to Philadelphia (~35 mins) anyway.

Plus, I do consider Elmwood to be the slightly better zoo overall.

 

[biggest_dreamer]

While Lehigh Valley might no longer have Fisher, they were also the only zoo on the East Coast I have visited that had Lesser Siren, Sunset Lorikeet, Ringtail, Dusky Lory, and Western Pond Turtle (although the turtles were off-exhibit during my visit). That all being said, if Fisher was your main motivation for picking Lehigh and the species I mentioned above don't interest you, you might be better off with Elmwood, considering it's closer to Philadelphia (~35 mins) anyway.

Plus, I do consider Elmwood to be the slightly better zoo overall.

Ringtail would’ve been a deciding factor if I hadn’t seen it a handful of times in Texas last year. I also recorded lesser siren at SC Aquarium last fall. The lories and turtle are compelling (dusky lory in particular) but Elmwood Park has the same number of novel species for me (Allegheny woodrat, snowy owl, Himalayan monal, potentially nene if I miss it at Sylvan Heights). Nothing as rare as the dusky lory, though… but a lot more compelling species that I’ve seen previously. I’ll mull that one over. I’m gonna sleep on Catoctin vs ZooAmerica too, but I think I’ve more or less decided on Catoctin in that case. I appreciate all of the feedback as always.