Reston Zoo

Prices have increased under new ownership. Animals look sad and any negative review since they’ve taken over suddenly has been flagged for removal.
This place is small, animals never are interested in the baby bottles so we ended up wasting more money on that for the kids too. Majority of the cages sit far back so you cannot get close enough to get a good view. I was not impressed with this place and didn’t find it worth the money.

Great Easter weekend thing with the kids! Crafts, feeding the lambs with baby bottles, petting baby bunnies, feeding the budgies from your child’s hand, and the egg hunt. Parents of older children seem to be giving this a bad review, and I can definitely imagine it would he disappointing for big kids and grown ups. But eggs-​elent for pre-​schoolers! Also, if you don’t go early, the egg hunt is probably a nightmare.

Very disappointing and very expensive zoo. We have gone several times before and price was reasonable and a lot more animals. We went today and I was shocked on the new prices. I would have went somewhere else but my kids would have been sad. For an adult and two kids it was almost 50.00 with a small bottle and small food. Crazy expensive and not worth it at all. The animals were over fed so didn’t even want to eat the food we paid for nor the bottle. Would not go again. The new owners are robbing people of there money.

If I had reviewed the zoo last year, I would’ve given at least one more star. Last year, it was an extremely good value, but prices have dramatically increased this season. My kids enjoy feeding the animals, but the pony ride was gone and the prices for bottles and feed had doubled. I couldn’t just leave after seeing the prices, because my kids would’ve been so sad, but I won’t be returning any time soon. The price for me and both children was more than double what i would have paid to go to the much bigger National Zoo.

Giving this zoo 5 stars for parents of smaller children. We took our 2 year old and he loved it! Not terribly huge so only tool us 2 hours or so to see everything but was perfect for an afternoon with our lil guy. Options to feed goats with feed and bottles. Able to interact directly with snakes. Camel and pony rides. Safari ride includes zebras, buffalos, etc.

Not many animal species in the zoo due to its small size. Lots of farm animals like goats, rabbits, and pigs.

Nice staff, not overpriced, fun for the kids, nice variety of animals, memorable experience.

Nice place for kids but so expensive i cant belive i paid just for my two kids and me 40

A sad place. The conditions are terrible for most of the animals. Did not enjoy it at all and sorry that we spent our money there.

The worst zoo in America.
When you walk in it smells like a bathroom that hasn’t been cleaned in 6 months. The only thing it had going for it was the lack of people… and for good reason.
The few animals that are here, live in poor conditions and small enclosures.
I can’t believe we paid $ 50 for 3 tickets and inadvertently supported such a travesty. Save your money and go to a pet store. They have more animals and likely treat them better.
~ that is all

I wasn’t impressed with this petting zoo. The animals, like the camels, seemed sad. We bought a cup of feed to feed the goats and they seemed like they were starving. I hope they get fed at night. The tickets for the adults and kids were expensive, def not worth it.

This zoo is so adorable. We visited as a small group of «big kids». We picked up animal feed and a bottle to feed the lambs at the front desk. We headed to the petting barn. We were greeted by a group of goats and lambs. They crowd around waiting to be fed. The animals are all used to the crowds. You can pet them and feed them. The baby lambs will take the bottle from you. Be careful because they can take the feed bucket from you before you can turn around.
You can tell that that zoo is growing. They have a wagon ride that will take you around in a cart behind a tractor. It is free with your admission and leaves every hour. It was really hot so we decided not to go. The animals were out and active despite the heat. There is a bungie feeding cage in a addition to the petting opportunities.
We had a great time walking around and seeing all the animals in their spacious areas. They all looked healthy and the cages were clean. For a small zoo, it is very well kept and a fun day.

Didn’t get the feeling that the animals were well taken care of here. Housing didn’t look that appealing — dingo in some kind of box with a glass window on a pretty hot day. Prairie dogs in some kind of sand pit with drainage problems. looked like the fill dirt they used had industrial debris in it. There was some kind of green sludge in there as well. My son liked the aviary but then he didn’t know how hard it was to keep Luke «the bird stealer» away from the birds he wanted to hold. That crazy Luke, he had to have very last bird on his bird sticks.

I just want to say how sad this place was to visit. I literally could see myself letting every animal out of its cage if it would have been possible. I went for a field trip with my daughters school. We got there around 10:30 and I was suprised we had to leave by 12:30 thinking that was not nearly enough time to see everything. Boy was I wrong! It was tiny, in a way I’m glad it is small hoping they can’t possibly get anymore animals there. They all looked incredibly sad! No I am not the animal whisperer nor do I pretend to be but really you can see tears in their eyes. I do not think this is the best way to teach our children about animals especially «wild» animals. I think the worst part was the cage within a cage that had the owl with about a 6×3 space to move. I won’t be returning to this «zoo» again in the future, I would feel like a horrible person.

This is more of a 3.5 overall but nothing compelled me to round up to a 4. Took the family here yesterday and we did have a pretty good time although its a bit small. It was really easy to find with a lot of parking. Everything is spaced out so it doesnt seem too crowded.
I was hesistant coming here bc of the stories in the news in the past but it looks like thats all been cleaned up. Theres a nice petting area with goats and lambs. You can buy milk and feed here for a few bucks too. Again its a smaller zoo so you wont find a huge selection of wild animals like in the national zoo but they did have a good selection. Theres a reptile house with a few lizards and snakes. You’ll also find camels, alligators, a few monkeys, a aviary, but the highlight is the zoofari ride.
The zoofari is about 10 – 15 mins and stops a few times so the animals come right up to the trailers. Overall it was fun, but limited.

We drove from Front Royal to the zoo, its about an hour 20, for my daughters birthday. We arrived at 4:07 and they wouldn’t allow us in because the last wagon ride is at 4. We were okay with not getting on the wagon ride we just wanted to see and feed a few animals. They didnt let us in but the manager was also very rude and non sympathetic about it.

My family and I went to the Reston Zoo for the Easter egg hunt. It was the first time we had been. In the moment, we had a great time. Our little 15 month old thought it was awesome to feed all of the animals, so the grown ups had a fantastic time watching the little one. It was a great day. Prices were a little high, but acceptable.
Looking back on the experience, minus the adorable child running around shoving bottles in sheeps’ faces, it was a lackluster experience. It’s certainly not a zoo. It’s hardly a petting farm. All of the animals were behind a fence and there was no access to them otherwise (aside from a few lambs going for walks on leashes). There were also very few animals– goats, sheep, pigs… the wagon ride wasn’t great, but there was a zebra and an ostrich tried to pickpocket my wife. The kangaroos were super sad looking, and the camels were hanging out, too. Once we left, we thought it was odd there were no cows or horses, etc. In small cages, there were spider monkeys as well.
Compared to Leesburg Animal Farm, well, there is no comparison. Leesburg is by far superior in terms of animal interactions and variety. We go annually for Pumpkinville and highly recommend it. There’s a large area where you can interact with the animals, which is great for a petting farm!

I have not been a huge fan of the Reston Zoo but the kids like it that is what matters. We bought season passes for our family of 5 last year. We woke up last weekend and my wife saw on their web page that they had reopened after the winter break so we decided to bring the kids. We packed up everyone and made the 30 minute drive.
When I handed the season passes to the clerk she gave me a surprised look. It went down hill from there. Although the web page said nothing about it, today was considered a «Special Day» with an Easter Egg hunt so season passes were not «free admission» today as they are all other days. Not a big deal. I can pay an up charge. I get it. But here is where it got really annoying. Normal admission is $ 10.95 and they were up charging to $ 12.95. $ 2.00 per person. I can live with that. Pretty reasonable. But not for season pass holders. Normally it costs us $ 0.00 to get in. But today we were getting up charged 10.95. ummmmm WHAT!?!
I spoke to a manager to better understand and got a party line of «we paid a lot of money to make today special.» Well yes I get that. But why up charge anyone off the street $ 2.00 but your season pass holders $ 10.95.
So we left. The kids were upset but I could not see spending $ 55.00 in addition to the price of the season passes we bought everyone.
The web page should have said it was a special event with the pricing clearly noted.
When they sold the season passes they should have clearly stated how they up charge and how they gouge the season pass holders.
I am reluctant to go back I am so annoyed but then again I hate to waste what is left on the passes. I certainly won’t be buying new ones.

I’ve been to the Reston Zoo approximately six times since 2009. Small and limited selection of wildlife to view, but quaint and close vs the larger Zoo in DC.
I’m glad my kids haven’t asked to return (that’s a testament to how enjoyable the visits were) as it’s basically an overpriced Petting Zoo.

This zoo is super expensive, but is super nostalgic to me as I went here as a youngster, so I had to check it out again! I think this is the perfect «kid zoo» because it is not as huge as a regular zoo and has more opportunities for interaction with the animals! For example, you can buy lamb bottles to feed the very hungry lambs and goats! There is also feed to purchase in the 25 cent machines.
Overall, the animals you see here are all pretty random! There is a good mix of farm animals and then very exotic types like kangaroos. There is a complimentary «safari» ride that takes off hourly. When I visited on Sunday, it was very full, so many people were not able to ride.
This place is great for kids, especially kids’ birthday parties, or cookouts/​lunches with kids!