Lowry Park Zoological Garden, Tampa, Florida

Our family loves zoos, especially our children. Whenever we live near a nice zoo, we always buy an annual pass. One of the benefits of owning an annual pass is that you can take part in the friends of the Zoo program. This program allows annual pass holders to use their pass at zoos all across the country, for either free or discounted admission. It is a great cost saving program. We visited the Tampa zoo in 2010 as part of this program and it was a nice zoo. They have many of the exhibits you would expect in a zoo, to include areas representing different continents such as Asia and Africa. They have a walk in aviary, featuring birds that will literally land on you and eat food that the zoo provides for a small fee. My daughters favorite part of this zoo was the log ride, known as gators Falls. She got soaking wet, but kept getting back on. most zoos do not have a ride like this, so that was nice. Overall, a good zoo for a day out with the family

We have visited Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo multiple times. Overall it is a nice, well-landscaped zoo. Favorite attractions for our family include the manatees, penguins, and giraffes. It has an area where you can pet rays, as well as a petting zoo. There is a splash area near the zoo's entrance, as well as a large one in the Australia area. I gave it less than five for little kids because the admission is really high, and three for tots because not all areas are easily accessible with a stroller (especially the bathrooms). The zoo has a lot of extras that you should be prepared to pay above and beyond the admission price for. They have amusement park style rides, camel rides, pony rides, giraffe feedings, mold-a-rama machines, gift shops, snacks, restaurants, photo booths, etc. Once amusement park ride to skip is the banana ride. The bananas do not go up and down like they are supposed to, so it's not worth it. During Christmas time, the Zoo does a Winter Wonderland in the evenings. It is a lot of fun, and this year all of the rides were free for the event. If you are in town next December, I would recommend checking it out. I have posted some pictures of the event.