Cherine A.
Yelp
It's so nice that we have a zoo right here in Tampa -- it's not huge compared to the more popular ones out there (like ZooMiami here in Florida... and nothing can compare to San Diego Zoo), but it's a great way to spend a couple of hours, especially when we have beautiful cooler weather in the winter. You can easily see every exhibit in half of a day, and it's a clean, well-maintained place.
But the main reason we go to the zoo as often as we do is because of the splash pad, since the vast majority of the year, it's quite warm. My toddler LOVES the splash pad. We have decent splash pads at some Hillsborough parks, of course, but the zoo's is huge in comparison (and has some nice shaded areas too). It's located in the Australia section, which has all of the kiddie rides, so needless to say, it's the area of the zoo we frequent the most. Also, they have a Wendy's Frosty truck and a Planet Smoothie bar in this area if you want a little treat for yourself while your kids tire themselves out ;)
They also do some holiday events, including Creatures of the Night throughout October and Christmas in the Wild in November and December. They are included in the cost of admission (if you have a Zoo Fun ticket - more on that below) so you don't have to pay extra for the events. I haven't done the Halloween one yet, but for Christmas time, it's really nice to be able to walk around and see the lights in the evenings.
The Zoo Fun ticket is their "pay for a day, get the rest of the year free" ticket (currently $52; single-day admission is the exact same price, by the way). Pretty pricey by zoo standards, considering ZooMiami is much bigger and about $25 cheaper, but at least here you get a whole year. We've been using the Zoo Fun tickets, which come with a handful of blackout days for spring break and the week between Christmas and the new year... However, starting in January 2026, parking will sadly no longer be free -- so we'll fork over more money for a membership pretty soon. Not going to lie, I'm pretty bummed about this development, but not enough to stop going.