I Took My Family to Brookfield Zoo on Friday. Here’s How It Went.

So we were a little nervous to head out to a popular destination right now as a family, but our 4-year-old is a dinosaur freak and we’re members, so we were able to snag a few tickets before they were available to gen pop.

After spending three hours in the heat and humidity, we give Brookfield Zoo: Pandemic Edition five stars!

They seem to have all the precautions in place: a mask policy, capacity restrictions, buildings closed, etc and we felt safe the entire time!

The best part of our trip was the 25% capacity! You had to purchase your tickets ahead of time, no on-site sales, and everyone was given a specific time to show up, which staggered the guests so there wasn’t a huge rush at any one time. There was a TON of room to socially distance, and parking was a breeze!

When was the last time you took a selfie at the entrance sign or walked through the boulevard with no one in sight?

Every staff member we saw was masked up. 99% of the patrons wore a mask when appropriate (at BZ, you are to wear a mask when entering/leaving or in any line…essentially when social distancing is impossible. Other than that, you are free to remove your mask and continue to distance).

Concessions were open, but you did have to strap the mask on when in line and interacting with staff. Since we are members and didn’t pay for our tickets that day, I gladly dropped a few bones for a Hair of the Frog pint with proceeds going back to the zoo.

Even the famous gorilla statue is minding his manners.

And we didn’t have to worry about parking our wagon as we went inside the buildings…they were closed! Fine by me!

Gift shops were closed, but they did bring a few bins of items outside to purchase (have to make up that lost revenue somehow!). Hats off to the polite masked woman who went inside to grab a specific toy that was not available outside. Our kids thank you!

We have been a pretty cautious family during the pandemic, but we’re very happy to make the trip back to BZ.  If you were on the fence about heading out to the zoo, I highly recommend it.