Zoo Review: Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium

Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Rating: **** (out of five)
Website: http://www.pittsburghzoo.com/

Review:
I am having a hard time doing this review because Pittsburgh was a very good zoo but I am very spoiled and partial to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. Pittsburgh had some really great attributes but some pitfalls as well.

Attributes - Great location. Located in Pittsburgh City limits but still feels like you are in the countryside in a beautiful wooded hilly area. You won't need any sunscreen here. The trees form a perfect canopy. They had some wonderful animals. This is the first zoo that I have been to that the lions were actually up and around. Usually they are laying about. As we were walking up the Lion started roaring! How AWESOME and the lioness was pacing about. It made for some great pictures. They also have this WONDERFUL play area that is about 1/2 way through. The area has lots of different slides that are all a different levels. Parker LOVED it and would have stayed forever had we let him. There is also a play area that is just about to the end that has lots of different things for the kids to play on, including a toddler area. They also have a beautiful aquarium. We had fun walking around and seeing all of the different things to see.

Pitfalls - This zoo is arranged in a path format. Meaning that everything is in one continuous path. You can't just go and say I want to see this area if you only have so much time. You really need to continue the path till you get to the end. Or know in advance that you are going to have to walk past a bunch of stuff to get to where you want to be and have the long walk back when you are finished. The Aquarium is beautiful. However, it actually didn't have as many animals/fish in it as I had expected. The building is fairly big. It was very nicely done however. Shortly after you go through the aquarium you will get to the polar bear/shark exhibit. I was VERY excited about this part as the website builds it up quite a bit. Go check out there site to see what I am talking about. Be sure to watch the video on the main page and not skip past it. There are two tunnels that go under the water through the polar bear tank and the shark tank. Very cool! However, as we were walking through the Polar Bear tunnel he was no were to be seen. I completely understand this as they can't be out 100% of the time. But, both tank tunnels were covered in a thin layer of algae and sort of gave you the ewww feeling.

Over all I really enjoyed this zoo. It is a great one to take your kids to as they obviously understand that kids get tired and need a break from the animals to play. Great job with the play areas. There were also VERY FEW closed exhibits which happens from time to time. And one other plus for my local readership. This Zoo was FREE with our FW Children's Zoo membership. We also were able to get a discount of 10% in the gift shop. Very Cool.