Lisa C

The kids will have fun. The peacocks are definitely the stars of the show as many of them have escaped their enclosure and have no fear of visitors. As others have said, this isn't one of those manicured zoos with wide open fields where you struggle to see the animal hiding in the back because they're asleep in the shade during the heat of the day. This is a zoo with many smaller cages and pens, close together to minimize walking in the Texas heat; and you spend far less time trying to spot a cool animal as they are often 2 feet in front of you. They have plenty of exotic animals (Monkeys, Big Cats, Zebras, Alpacas, Capybaras, Ostriches, Lemurs, Enormous Tortises) and just as many Texas staples (Wolves, foxes, longhorns, groundhogs, Goats, wild boar, and even a cute Armadillo), My 4 and 9-year-old were able to walk the whole thing and ride the train in about 1.5 hours. We're from the north, so I'm glad I packed bottles of water for a hot July day. The reptile house was one of the few air conditioned places besides the gift shop. I would've given this place 5 stars if the bathrooms had AC and the train ride had been a bit longer. There's a lot of potential here too and I hope they refurb the pirate ship we spotted as they're renovating. It was about $53 to gain entry with 2 adults and 2 children. The train was an additional $20 plus tax. There were a number of feeding/close encounter opportunities available for $25 that we passed on. If you forget your own drinks/snacks, they will happily charge $3.5 to $5 apiece when you get to the ice cream stand at the train; luckily, we brought our own.