Hellobee

We moved to the Toledo, OH area the last week of September to be closer to family. As longtime members of the Columbus Zoo, one of the first things we did is get a membership to the Toledo Zoo.

The Toledo Zoo has become one of our favorite places to visit with Snowy, and we’ve gone countless times, both as a family of three and just Snowy and me. Here are some of the major reasons why. And I’m sure there are a lot more: while I was writing this post, I kept coming up with more reasons I love our zoo!

• The zoo gets us outside.

Being outside when the weather is good is very good for my health, but it’s also hard to find opportunities for that, especially in the winter. The zoo is a good place to go to be outside but also have places to duck inside if it gets too cold or hot (many of my illnesses mean I’m not good at temperature regulation). It’s also a place with clear, shoveled paths that’s easy to navigate in the snowy season (see next point).

• The zoo is accessible.

I often use a wheelchair or cane when out and about for long walking trips like the zoo (wheelchair when with Mr. S; cane when it’s just Snowy and me.) While all zoos and most public locations must be accessible as per the ADA, there is a wide variety of what accessible actually means. I’ve been thrown out of my wheelchair due to a large crack in the cement at another zoo.

We haven’t had any of these issues at the Toledo zoo. There’s a tunnel beneath the zoo, newly opened, with wheelchair and stair access. Everywhere there are stairs there are wide, modern ramps. Even the older buildings have been fit to be extremely easy to get around in either my wheelchair or with my cane, and most have been fairly recently renovated.

• The zoo has amazing events.

We have gone to two of the special, extra-ticketed events: the Princess Tea in October, and the Easter Bunny Brunch the Friday before Easter.

The Princess Tea was a special event before one of the Luminous Nights lighted luminary nights. Since the Luminous Nights festival was new, it was an extra cost on top of our regular zoo membership, so we figured that since the tea, which was about $35/person for members, was really only about half that cost and the rest Luminous Nights admission.

This event was amazing! I went with my mom, who purchased the tickets as an early Christmas present for Snowy, and all three of us dressed up as princesses. It was held inside in one of the zoo’s event centers. There was tea, ample snacks and desserts, princess meet and greets with the “warrior princess” (who was actually probably Mulan, but copyright issues), dancing, temporary tattoos, crafts, animal encounters, and face paint. I especially appreciated the face paint, because every time we go to the zoo Snowy begs to get her face painted, I say no because it’s expensive and she’s just going to sweat it off. This gave her the experience included as part of the tea party. The animal encounters included petting a lizard named Mushu, a rat named Gus, and a fluffy chicken (whose name I do not recall).

Then, Snowy and I attended the Bunny Brunch on the Friday before Easter. They did this event on both a Friday and a Saturday evening. When I called the Tuesday before to get tickets, the zoo was so accommodating, giving me half off to the brunch because I wouldn’t be eating due to my extremely restrictive diet at the time. Snowy ate and enjoyed the food (the kid loves her breakfast meats). There was an egg hunt where each kid could collect a certain number of eggs, animal encounters, crafts, and meeting the Easter Bunny. The animal encounters included a giant rabbit, a corn snake, and a sloth, which could be observed but not petted. Snowy’s favorite event was free carousel rides in the hour before the zoo opened up to regular guests: we rode it 5 times in a row!

There was also a mother’s day brunch, which we thought about going to but decided against. It’s a good thing we decided not to, because I ended up in the hospital on Mother’s day.

• The zoo often has exciting extra things going on, free with admission.

Our zoo partners with local business Laurel’s Princess Parties and there are frequently characters at the Zoo. Most recently, Snowy got to meet the PJ Masks. There have also been inflatables.

There is also an awesome Halloween event that included characters, trick or treating, and inflatables.

• The zoo has amazing light festivals.

The Toledo Zoo has an amazing Christmas light display, and is often named best Christmas light display in the nation. This is also the first place Snowy met Santa this previous year!

Also, as mentioned above, this year in October and November was the first year for the gorgeous Luminous Nights festival, featuring life size lighted animal topiaries. It was breathtaking! This festival featured a really cool acrobatics show as well. The Light festivals and other winter events prove that the zoo is an awesome place to visit the are round. And a membership pays for itself in just a few visits!

• There’s always something new to see.

Just this past week, the remodeled Promedica Museum of Natural History opened. We didn’t make it to the whole museum (Snowy was much more interested in the splash pad nearby). but what we did see was breathtaking. I might try to make it out to see it by myself sometime.

• There are excellent kids’ play areas.

There’s an area called Nature’s Neighborhood, which is a completely interactive play area for kids. There are animals here, including ones kids can pet like guinea pigs, and huge ant and beehives kids can see and interact with while they’re playing. There is also a stream, mud kitchen, climbing rock wall, sand play area, slide, tree fort, and more for kids to play on.

And of course, there’s the splash pad, which just reopened for the summer season. There’s also a play area here, including a tire swing suspended from a very realistic looking giant crab!

• And we are able to see the animals, of course!

While the above points seem to be focused on anything but the animals, the Toledo Zoo has excellent animal exhibits. One of our favorite exhibits is the newborn polar bear cub, Borealis “Boris”, who was born in December but just put on display. We loved watching him play with his mama! There is also an amazing aquarium with a large touch tank (and there’s several touch tank in the new museum, too).

Are any of you zoo members? What do you like most about your zoo?