Riverbanks Zoo - (803) 779-8717

The cost to enter the zoo was a little high, so I expected to have a great experience. To our amazement, all the animals that were actually in their display were either hidden or had their backs to us where we could not see them. I know it's not the zoo's fault of what the animals are doing, but they need to put them on a better diet to give them more energy. The displays were overgrown and looked unclean and horrible. You could not imagine the smells. We barely could stand to glance at the elephants or the flamingos because of the smell coming from them. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that they decided to put the animals up in the middle of the day to feed them or do whatever. The food and drinks sold there were extremely overpriced. We didn't even bother to look in the gift shop. It was not worth my trip there and I felt like we were ripped off.

Riverbanks Zoo has Christmas light display but do not be fooled by their advertisement about it being the only place in town where it snows every night. They have a slideshow and video on their website where children are playing in the snow. We took our grandson there for his birthday and there was not any snow and no one there could tell us why not. I feel this was misleading to the public do not advertise that you have something there but you do not. We had told him all day that he was going to get to play in the snow for his birthday and we drove 200 miles to take him there and then there was snow. I will never take him there again because they mislead us into thinking that snow would be there every night.

Riverbanks Zoo is one of the best I've been to. The animal habitats are close to the viewing areas, so you can really see them well. The also have beautiful botanical gardens that are worth seeing. The price is reasonable and it's a great outing for kids. Afternoons are usually less crowded than the mornings, beacause a lot of schools are on field trips there in the mornings.