Oglebay Good Zoo

Nicole Lewis

2024-03

Incredible indoor area perfect for little ones. Themed toys are strategically placed between animal enclosures. I found myself able to take my time watching the animals while my toddler was entertained by the toys. The outside area was easy to walk with a stroller. Great viewing areas. We spent hours visiting and could have easily spent more time. Great little zoo!

Kayla Jones

2024-05

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Brittany Sharpe

2024-04

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Jennifer D.

2024-05

We had a lovely first trip here! We were lucky enough to be in town for a dance competition on May 4th and the zoo was doing Star Wars theme. They had Star Wars characters for photo opportunities and each animal habitat was Star Wars decorated. It unfortunately started raining so we didn't get to see the farm animal exhibits. There are steep hills so definitely take that into consideration when planning this trip and I hope they put up more signs to help with each animal exhibit. We were given a paper map and that was helpful. They also had a meet and greet class. We were able to touch a blue tongue skink, a ferret and a opossum.

Matt Jenkins

2024-03

Zookeepers here are always so friendly. Animals are well taken care of. Very peaceful. Lots of things for the kids to see and do, especially in the warmer months. Lots of unique animals. Easy to get around and see everything. Nice gift shop. Lots of other stuff to do around the park while you are in the area.

Ashley Borgert

2024-02

We traveled from Michigan to see the festival of the lights. Of course we had to make a stop to the zoo! We are use to a bigger zoo since we aren't too far from the Toledo, OH zoo but we really enjoyed our time at Oglebay. Pretty much all of the animals were out which is always fun to see. We thought it was reasonably priced. It was a refreshing change from our local zoo!

Stuart Blalock

2024-01

This Zoo is best described as quality over quantity. We visited, with our younger son, for the Red Panda Experience and we had the most memorable time! Before the experience, we toured the zoo and saw animals that we hadn't seen at some major zoos. After the Experience we hung around for their light show. I wish I could give it more stars; I heavily recommend this zoo!

Tonya Fields

2024-04

Nice little zoo. Not alot of animals but the ones they have are very good. Handicap accessible

Bill Robinson

2024-04

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Ralph Kile III

2023-11

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Terri Wolfe

2024-04

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Sean Mueseler

2023-06

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Aurora Brown (Rorey)

2024-04

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Chris E

2024-02

My wonderful wife bought me tickets for essentially anything they offer for 2 days (sloths, red pandas, lemurs, sassy cheetahs, red river hogs, night at the zoo, wallaby, kangaroo, bob cats, and more). I'm 43, blew out my knee could barely walk... and it was still without question one of the best days (2 days) of my life. I teared up more than once, being near or interacting with more than a few of these majestic creatures (and staff/people). My wife had a full Kristin Bell/sloth meltdown over a opossum (Reggie) and is easily one of my5 favorite moments in my life. The staff are truly magical there and deserve praise that I am not capable expressing on a keyboard. More that once they utter this wonderful sentence... "Hey, while we are here would you like to meet..." and then a special beautiful animal comes out and just warms your very soul. For my majestic wife, it was Reggie the opossum (who is the softest sweetest peanut butter fiend you could ever wish to meet) but for me it was Kutarna the porcupine. Kutarna is not a porcupine... she's a puppy. I know a puppy when I see one. I almost risked it all and went for full body hug when she was giving me her little kisses in exchange for almonds. I can honestly write a small book about how wonderful this place is, based on equal parts the animals and the people who care for them. The people who work there, truly care about your experience... but that comes second to how much the love the animals there and will always advocate for the animals first. I will recommend this to anyone who loves animals vs getting cool photos by forcing an interaction. Which is what makes this place special. If you truly love animals, their well being , how they are treated, and you want to carefully and lovingly exist in their space, you should come here. I will be back without question.

Michelle Lunn

2023-11

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Yagya Adhikari

2023-07

Zoo plus several other activities makes this place a perfect place for kids and adults.I would recommend to anyone to visit this place and go for day pass that ranges around 33 dollars.It would be nice to have train schedules,Map to display where which animals are located, route plan, arrows and markings to display which is the next animal, an option within the animal name board to contain QR code to scan to learn more about the particular animal that may contain audio, pics, history of animal, and general description.

Heidi Long

2023-07

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Mama Bear

2023-05

After reading the many negative reviews, it left us very apprehensive about our visit. We called ahead and spoke to Shauna, who was very accommodating in getting us set up with a personal tour. My mom is disabled and could not walk the entire zoo. Our tour guide Peyton was AMAZING!!! She was very engaging, knowledgeable and personable! We thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the animals. We visited the last week of October, so the weather was very cooperative. We were able to see all the animals and some even performed on cue. LOL.While others complained in their reviews of the small size of the zoo, we thought it was the perfect size that was not too overwhelming. Being from NY with many major zoos which took several hours to complete, this zoo made for a quick fun visit for the family. Overall, it took about an hour to complete with our personal tour. It was totally worth every penny!Thanks Shauna and Peyton for making our first trip to WV VERY special.

Rusty Owl

2022-05

Loved our visit to this zoo. It was a smaller zoo that you can get through in just a few hours. we took part in their red panda experience and we had a lot of fun. The animals are well cared for and seemed happy. I would definitely say it is a walk and extremely hilly. Lots of places are at the top or bottom of hills. It was a good walk though. I would not recommend this if you are handicap or in a wheelchair. It will be difficult to climb the hills and be a quick ride down. I don't know if they have other options for handicap people. But it is super nice

Lisa Martin

2023-06

The keepers really care about the animals, which is so important, and this zoo is made for the animals. Walking around can be tedious due to a lot of uphill and downhill routes for us humans.The cheetah animal encounter was insightful and exciting. Worth every penny.

Rebekah Shaw

2022-05

It's a smaller zoo but still very worth going to! We absolutely enjoyed our time at this zoo. There was one employee at the drink/food stand by the train that was incredibly unfriendly and she acted as if it was an inconvenience for her to get us anything. My son thanked her for the drink and she just looked at him and turned to sit back on her stool. The train driver and everyone else we encountered was very pleasant. I absolutely recommend getting tickets for the train ride. The animals seem happy, healthy and very well cared for. We were a little disappointed that the no one mentioned that we could apply our purchase today to a membership but I guess it's our bad for not looking into it before we left. In all we loved it and and we plan on visiting again.

Alex Hughes

2023-07

The zoo is nice, the train is certainly intended for children as the park is small enough to enjoy on foot in about an hour and a half. Even with children, the train may not be worth it as the trip is not very exciting and there is no narration or introductions to anything that is passed. You can get off and back on the train at any stop, but that is unnecessary because the train won't be back by the time you are done with everything at the stop you got off at.The zoo was located far back in the Oglebay compound, so it is important to pay attention to the mostly clear signage along the way to make it to the zoo. While the zoo itself is quite hilly, it is an enjoyable walk with the animals spaced between lush greenery. There are a few buildings as well that house some birds, reptiles, amphibians, monkeys, and rodents. Overall, a nice visit, but a bit overpriced for the experience.

Michael Gilbert

2023-05

We did the juvenile sloth encounter and it was an amazing experience. Included with the package, we got to pet, hold, and feed the sloth. We also got to feed 2 little monkeys and a tortoise. We got 45 minutes for the whole experience and used every minute. Then we got some snacks and drinks and continued walking the zoo. I have not seen or heard of some of these animals which made this really cool to be apart of. I highly recommend visiting this zoo and doing an encounter.

Randy Church

2023-05

This Zoo does have a lot to offer for the little ones. They also have a train that will take you through the zoo. It was a nice day so we walked the zoo. We took our time. It is a relaxing place. You can take your time. If you push you could walk it under 2 hours. There is a gift shop. I got some stuffed animals for my boys. Thought the price was fair at the gift shop. Stuffed animals were plush. I recommend this for the little ones

Erica Boyd

2024-01

We traveled from Florida strictly for the red panda experience and was pleasantly surprised by the zoo itself. It isn't large but has a good amount of animals. A great place to take small kids as they have an awesome play ground as well as play areas inside. It isnt crowded and there was a ton of room to walk around. Their cafe was also great and super reasonable and everything tasted good. The staff was amazing.I also can't recommend the red panda experience enough. We travel a lot for zoos and seeing specific animals and it was one of the coolest things we have done. You have to book WAY ahead of time but if you are thinking about it you should!!!!

Arianna Tice

2023-05

A lot of up hill but the interaction with the animals for the kids was amazing. The sifting for fossils crysals and what not was so fun for the kids. They didn't even know what it was before doing it that day. Not enough time to do everything you want to do. The train ride was a great touch and they loved the dinosaur attractions. The jumping trampoline thing was a hit as well so all around fantastic day and look forward to going back. Can't wait for the Christmas lights!!!!

Mary Kay Frey

2023-05

Visited the zoo with my son on a rainy day. The zoo was not at all busy, maybe 10 people in the entire zoo. I book the guided tour which turned out to be a private guided tour (@$35 each which also included admission...imo a great deal for a 2 hour tour and animal encounters) where my son got to feed the animals through the fences. You have to go in realizing that this is a very small zoo, not Cincinnati or Columbus. But in all lovely workers, lots of animals and good prices.

Mindi Marlow

2023-05

This is a really good, small zoo (no pun intended). Most of the animals are exotic, which I did not expect at all. The kids loved every bit of it. There is so much to do, so many exhibits! We even got a couple bags of dirt for the kids to sift through to find gems and fossils, which kept them busy for over an hour. There are play areas in various places around the zoo, a "wolf den" for the kids to crawl into to see the maned wolf, and so many things that keep even really young kids (my youngest is 3) totally engaged.The animals were all healthy, attentive, happy, relaxed, and not stressed. This speaks volumes to me about the way the employees interact with the animals and the quality of their environment. The bobcat even brushed up against the glass when my daughter put her hand up on the other side.For those that collect pressed pennies, they have 4 different designs.

Sarah G

2024-04

We took a golf cart tour of the zoo with the zookeeper, Brin. Highly recommend! I do not mind walking the zoo but we had may parents with us, who could not. The tour was so good. Brin was very knowledgeable and clear cares about the animals. We loved that not only could she tell us about that type of animal but the specific personalities of each animal. It was worth the money.

Meg Moore

2023-05

Cute little zoo. 2-4 hours depending how long you stay w each animal. Very pretty and the animals seem well taken care of. Got a behind the scenes tour of the zoo. The apprentice that drove me around told me lots of interesting facts and answered all my questions. It's unique because you can pay to have "experiences" like encounter with sloth, red panda, kangaroos and wolves etc. 30-45 minutes long. Tour was 90 minutes and we'll worth the 28 dollars. There is a cute gift shop too. Got to pet a kangaroo and the donkeys and goats.