Skip the Line: Daily Admission at Woodland Park Zoo Ticket

I never visited the zoo until I had kids, despite having lived in Seattle for about 6 years. It's an okay zoo. I've been to plenty meh and great zoos and this one falls somewhere in the middle. I recently got our second membership after not having it for 8 or so months. The very first time we went, it was the pandemic and the most recent time we went, a couple weeks ago, it was a much more relaxed atmosphere, with a lot more things open. I think the different environments for the animals are really nice but I don't feel like they allow for a great amount of viewing area for the public. And the areas tended to be far away with lots of places to hide - again, great for the animals but harder for the public to view. I've only ever had great interactions with staff though. Everyone is really helpful and nice and they love to answer your questions.

This was my first zoo. A lot of the animals appeared to be drugged, sleeping, or crazy with unnatural repetitive behaviours. After several hours, we couldn't wait to leave. It was so sad. Many of the animal were completely listless, or sleeping and unresponsive, but all of them displayed in middle of their cages or tanks or pens. This was at noon. I remember vividly the tiger who walked back and forth in the exact same pattern, over and over and over. The look on the tigers face was horrific, I would not wish his experience on my worst enemy. The tiger needs a lot of space, but if they built a large enough habitat for her, then the tiger would stay away from the people. So the Tiger was given a long but narrow glass walled cage. It was terrified and crazy after years and years of being trapped. The sad sleeping bears. The African water animals in chemically sterilized, coloured water that had NOTHING living in it, no fish, no plants, no insects. It was dead, clear, green coloured water, like a pond at a shopping mall. These animals were being isolated and physiologically tortured. And I was responsible for it because I paid the entrance price. I will never go to another zoo in my life.

Despite wonderful views of rhino, hippo, giraffe, and orangutan, the Zoo is simply too understaffed at the moment to enforce the State and Zoo's COVID-19 safety policies. I perceive that the Zoo is doing the best that it can with the resources it has available: timed entry, one-way path signage, signage demonstrating how to wear a mask, signage of no eating or drinking, hand sanitizer stations, and staff asking guests to put masks back on. However, due to the size of the Zoo and unfortunately a noticeable portion of guests unable to adhere to the guidelines, our family did not feel safe. During our two-hour visit, we witnessed countless (30+) guests not wearing masks, or wearing masks below their noses or chins. Sometimes they used the excuse of drinking, eating, or vaping (outside of designated dining areas) to keep their masks off. On at least three occasions, we witnessed staff very politely ask guests to wear their masks, to which the guests complied - only to remove their masks again once out of eyesight of the staff. Guests also frequently ignored the social distancing signage all over the Zoo, coming right up against us at exhibits, or cornering us at an exhibit - sometimes improperly wearing masks - making it difficult and uncomfortable to "escape." We feel that the Zoo has most likely done the best they can with the resources available; but due to the sizable portion of guests who choose to ignore the regulations, and the inability of the size of the staff to enforce these regulations, we do not feel safe enough to return to the Zoo until the R and fatality rates of COVID-19 are significantly lower.