San Antonio Zoo

I absolutely LOVE the SATX Zoo, however the “Christmas lights” were HORRIBLE! It was so expensive and honestly a complete waste of money. It was an excuse for the shops to be open. It was maybe 3 nice areas and the rest were no lights Or connected by one strand. I am so unbelievably disappointed at how horrible it was.

Love the zoo, a membership is a must! They keep improving every year. The only thing that stays consistent is the happiness this place brings

It is a nice zoo. They are currently doing maintenance, so some exhibits are closed or relocated, and some of the paths on the map are closed. We got a little frustrated at the missing paths as we were trying to hit our favorite animals as we neared the end of our visit.
The butterfly habitat ($4) is lovely room. You can see the chrysalis from which the butterflies hatch. The variety is amazing.
Kangaroo petting ($8) is a more unique experience for zoo goers. I have been to a lot of zoos and this was new to me.

Amazing zoo! Tickets are only sold online. Very steep areas, so I recommend wheelchair users to use powered wheelchairs. Some exhibits were closed, so call ahead if you're looking forward to a specific section.

Many enclosures were empty. It's understandable when a couple are empty but it was a lot. We got a little tired of trying to find the animal when there wasn't one. Some of the empty enclosures had squirrels instead so there's that. We did really enjoy the dispensers for food to feed some of the animals but it's a shame they all take quarters and most of the shops have no change because they're card only. Bring quarters if you want to feed some of the fish or birds!

To say that the San Antonio Zoo Light Experience was underwhelming is an overstatement. We never saw “ the brand-new Lakeside Laser Lightshow, where fog, snow, lights, and mesmerizing projections come together in a dazzling dance of holiday magic”. Tony Parker’s “private FAO Schwartz animal collection” was a bunch of stuffed animals in one of the restaurants. Most of the lights were wrapped around trees and along the zoo’s fence lines of animal exhibits. Many sidewalks ran into a dead-end.

Skip the zoo and go to the Botanical Gardens Light Scape.

Very nice, but wish zoo keepers would have the animal more active, as most of the animals hiding away

No animals to see, a lot of enclosures are empty. The animals don’t look happy. Not a good experience at all. I must say it is affordable and the little staff we saw around was friendly. Overall not a nice zoo. Is it still top worst in the country? I can see why.

We went to zoo lights! I love all the beautiful Christmas lights, I definitely recommend going!

Bee prepared to pay an extra 60 dlls because everything is additional to your ticket… that sucks with enthusiastic kids!

We have gone 3 times the last year. We like this zoo. Animals seem active, people that work here are nice. The annual Zoo Lights was great.

Very nice zoo! Could definitely use a larger aquarium! Sad they don’t have any elephants! Definitely would be better if they had elephants!

Great place to spend time with the family. Christmas lights are up. Wish they still had elephants but the new lion and Jaguar enclosure are nice. Bought zoo membership passes for black Friday and it was only $37 a person for the whole year. Highly recommend it.

While I wanted to love this zoo due to their conservation and education efforts, many of the enclosures the animals were housed in were incredibly small. Far too small.
Notably, the Fisher Cat was pacing back and forth in its tiny enclosure and looked like it was mentally unwell - pacing so much that the ground was wearing away in the same small path it walked back and forth on.
There was an area by the Beastro where several birds were housed - the flock of flamingos was tiny for the flock of that size.
Additionally, I'm not sure if this is the correct name but there was one monkey that looked like a Golden-bellied mangabey that seemed to be housed alone with several Angolan colobus - but the mangabey sat alone on the ground picking at a plant while the others were communal at the top of a wall. And the mangabey looked so incredibly sad - it was heartbreaking to see this on top of the fisher cat pacing mindlessly.
Suggestion: have fewer animal species and expand the size of the enclosures of the animals you do have.
Another suggestion: do what other conservation parks/zoos have done and combine animals into enclosures that will obviously get along. It doesn't need to be one species per enclosure. And, by combining multiple species, it will be mentally healthier and more stimulating for the animals as well as more interesting for people to see.
As a plus, the lemurs at the entry had tunnels they could climb through that went over the zoo walkways. THAT was amazing! It also looked as though the jaguar had a similar walkway to explore though we didn't actually see the jaguar.
PS - It would be great if the zoo had more vegetarian options like a veggie burger or veggie dog (maybe it was in some places but these options were not at the Beastro).

The zoo was a good time! We fed the giraffe and went to the petting zoo. We also saw many different animals. I can't say it was the best zoo I've been to, but it made for a nice day with the kids. I didn't think some of the animal enclosures were large enough for the animals to really enjoy themselves, but it was still a decent zoo.

Zoo lights - don’t waste your money! We went back in 2020 and it was amazing, this year there weren’t nearly as many lights, no fake snow and it was very blah! We knew we wouldn’t see many animals due to it being night time but you’re basically paying to walk around the zoo for no experience and zero magic. Then if you want to experience any fun it’s more money (petting animals, carousel, etc). The one positive comment I will leave, is the elf staff were so cute and beyond friendly!

If you buy passes online don't expect to get them sent to your email. Calling is useless as no one ever answers the phone. Emails also go unanswered. Guess I will just have to get my back to refund the $70 I spent on passes!