Adirondack Animal Land
Adirondack Animal Land
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Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
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4.0
161 reviews
Excellent
83
Very good
55
Average
7
Poor
7
Terrible
9
jyoung3381
Johns Island, SC154 contributions
Jul 2022
Took the 7 and 9 year old grand daughters on a sunny summer day. The walk through area was well shaded and not crowded on a Sunday noon time visit. Guess we were fortunate that just about everything was perfect. Not smelly…not crowded…animals available for viewing…easy to photograph and feed. The employees were very welcoming. The drive through park was amazing. Lots of animals that stuck their heads inside the windows of the car in front f us….we kept the windows up. A really fun time for the grand daughters.
Written July 17, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Marianne M
East Berne, NY30 contributions
Aug 2013 • Family
Great for kidsfor kids and those who love animals. Our 15 month old had fun. A little pricey but worth it. Definately get feed when buying tickets. Our son had a blast putting feed down tubes and watching the animals eat. He also loved the various play areas. Animals look well cared for. Park is clean and well maintained. The safari was great! The guide was a blast and made us laugh. The camels are very interactive and look forward to the bucket of food the guide provides. If you want a
Close encounter, sit in the back where you enter. Overall had a great day.
Close encounter, sit in the back where you enter. Overall had a great day.
Written August 16, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Tatiana I
Ashburn, VA500 contributions
Jul 2012 • Family
We couldn't use safari tickets during our morning visit and asked if we could return in after lunch. Lady was very rude and we had a very bad impression at the end of our visit. Lady said we could only stay at the parking lot if we want to return later same day. But with a small kid it could be a need to get some food and kid may need to take a nap.
Written July 10, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Andreamom3
Richmondville, NY1 contribution
May 2015 • Family
I am the mother of 3 children. I took my daughters on the safari ride and an ostrich bit my child over and over again. The owner/guide said to stop and just announced that he was pecking a kid while laughing. I asked him several times to please move after my child was screaming to please get if off. I tried moving my child and I as far as I could and it followed us. She now has marks all over her. Even after covering my child, I received many marks on me before he decided to move. I asked for management. He said he was the owner and there is nothing I can expect of him. He would not apologize or ask if my daughter needed any ice. It was a traumatizing experience for us and we will NEVER go back.
Written May 30, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
abigracephotography
New York6 contributions
Jul 2014 • Family
After less than 20 minutes I left. The cages were too small for the animals. The animals themselves seemed anxious and unhappy. The bears did not stop pacing around their tiny little cage the whole time I was there. Places like Adirondack Animal Land serve no purpose except to increase the wealth of their owners.
How any reasonable person can visit there and find the cramped conditions of the animals anything but sad and horrific is beyond me.
How any reasonable person can visit there and find the cramped conditions of the animals anything but sad and horrific is beyond me.
Written July 22, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Lauren J
12 contributions
Aug 2016 • Family
This is a small, outdated, for-profit family owned zoo which only accepts cash. Unlike other zoos, there is no research or rehabilitation. Just cages and profit. They charge for kids 12 months and older which I thought was petty. For an extra $2 you can buy animal feed (pellets or carrot sticks). This seemed like a cute idea, but once you start walking around you realize that the feed should have been free..you're actually doing the zoo keeper's work. A lot of the animals were very eager to eat, which made me feel that they aren't being fed enough. The emu in the back right corner was super anxious and seemed to be begging for food. The cages were chain link and some had concrete floors. The overall feeling of the place was awfully depressing. It also didn't help that there were sworms of black flies. My son learned the phrase "gross flies" today.
With your admission they give you a ticket to go on the "safari." This safari seemed like a lawsuit waiting to happen. The worker stands in the back and screams into the microphone about some camel named "lover lips" that has some sort of oral deformity that makes her bottom lip hang down about 5" like a dead piece of flesh. Then he throws dry pellets at the animals so that they'll come running over and eat from the back on the safari truck (again, these animals are hungry). This means that if you chose a seat in the back, you're now covered in animal pellets, camel drool and ticks. Perfect. And if you chose a seat on the side of the safari truck you risk being attacked by a very protective ostrich who is trying to watch over her nest of ostrich eggs. I have no idea how these animals are reproducing in such a stressful captive environment. If for some reason you're still planning on going after making it this far into my review, try to choose a seat in the middle of the safari truck. The guy giving the safari tour, who works with these animals every day, was calling the bison "buffalo." There's no such thing as American buffalo..they're bison. Google it, man.
I did like that there was a lot of shade (and not just the kind I'm throwing).
With your admission they give you a ticket to go on the "safari." This safari seemed like a lawsuit waiting to happen. The worker stands in the back and screams into the microphone about some camel named "lover lips" that has some sort of oral deformity that makes her bottom lip hang down about 5" like a dead piece of flesh. Then he throws dry pellets at the animals so that they'll come running over and eat from the back on the safari truck (again, these animals are hungry). This means that if you chose a seat in the back, you're now covered in animal pellets, camel drool and ticks. Perfect. And if you chose a seat on the side of the safari truck you risk being attacked by a very protective ostrich who is trying to watch over her nest of ostrich eggs. I have no idea how these animals are reproducing in such a stressful captive environment. If for some reason you're still planning on going after making it this far into my review, try to choose a seat in the middle of the safari truck. The guy giving the safari tour, who works with these animals every day, was calling the bison "buffalo." There's no such thing as American buffalo..they're bison. Google it, man.
I did like that there was a lot of shade (and not just the kind I'm throwing).
Written August 27, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
travler558
, Massachusetts, United States1 contribution
Aug 2013 • Family
After reading their website boasting " Enjoy the 45 Acre African Safari Ride with 35 Acres
of Walk Through!!!" this is not true at all. 3 hrs drive and motel stay. Very rude staff!! Older woman in gift shop swore and said we were lying, pulled up website, she doesn't believe her own website! If you live near I guess it is okay, if not do not go. all cash is okay .Keep in mind if it says 14.75 admission it is not plus tax is added on. waste of our time......
of Walk Through!!!" this is not true at all. 3 hrs drive and motel stay. Very rude staff!! Older woman in gift shop swore and said we were lying, pulled up website, she doesn't believe her own website! If you live near I guess it is okay, if not do not go. all cash is okay .Keep in mind if it says 14.75 admission it is not plus tax is added on. waste of our time......
Written August 18, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
jnetk
Kingston, NY86 contributions
Jun 2018 • Family
Having been to most zoos in the immediate area (Syracuse, Binghamton, Animal Adventure park in Hapursville), there is a definite attempt to minimize the stress that animals in captivity feel. This is nothing more than a money making opportunity. The animals here are not happy. Animals in cages in zoos comes from a time and place where we did not know any better. Even then I remember visiting this place and was scared of the tiger - not because of the reasons of being a tiger but because his/her hostility was agitation at its surroundings in a cage. The animals are packed in. The petting zoo was not well organized.
Get with the times and make the adventure a learning one. Seeing animals in their habitat teaches kids about them, rather than putting them on display.
Get with the times and make the adventure a learning one. Seeing animals in their habitat teaches kids about them, rather than putting them on display.
Written December 17, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
eproper11
Kirkville, NY185 contributions
May 2017 • Family
I went in to this park with high hopes and hearing good things. Unfortunately it was what I had feared, a overpriced petting zoo with a couple of gimmicks. The Giraffes were interesting and the safari ride was different but way too short and mostly camels. The exhibits for the primates and bears were especially depressing and watching people throw cereal at them was even worse. I had higher expectations but maybe I'm spoiled having both a nice zoo in Syracuse and The Wild in Chittenango. Both are far better and more affordable. $50 for two adults and a three year old is excessive. The only real positives were the good amount of shade and cleanliness. Won't be coming back anytime soon.
Written May 23, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Odysseus13
Jacksonville, FL127 contributions
Jul 2015 • Family
I frequently take my little ones to zoos around the country and Adirondack Animal Land left me feeling it is in a different class in a bad way.
We drove in while visiting Albany as it seems to be the nearest zoo. I was suspicious of the place from the appearance of the entrance and the fact that it required cash only payment for a total admission cost about 50% higher than our most frequent zoo (Jacksonville Zoo in Florida) as they charge for kids between 1 and 3.
The collection of animals is substantially weaker - no elephants, or lions, or tigers. Also the enclosures are basically all chain-link fence or caging. Some, like the wolf exhibit seem exceptionally small and pretty much all seem like they're from another era. The exhibits at other zoos much more effectively simulate natural habitats.
At one point my oldest son asked me why the animals seemed so hungry here. This gets me to what makes this place more superficially amusing than most other zoos and also more disturbing - the animals don't appear to be as well taken care of as at AZA zoo and are almost all fed by the guests. It seems they are left a little hungry so they eagerly await feeding at the fences by guests. The safari ride involved very close encounters with camels, buffalo, ostriches, elands, etc. This was also facilitated by small amounts of food being offered from the back of the safari vehicle to attract the animals to follow closely. I even saw the guy basically punch, albeit in a controlled fashion, one of the camels away after it had a bite to eat from the bucket.
The facilities for humans are also a bit substandard. There isn't drop of drinking water available other than the bottled water from the concessions. There is no water to wash your hands after feeding or touching an animal, just hand sanitizer. The park also has a lot of flies that come after the both the humans and the animals.
Overall, our visit left me feeling guilty for having amused my family at a place that seems to be sub-standard in animal care practices. I appreciate the value of zoos displaying animals for education and conservation and a even that a little bit of amusement is necessary to achieve those goals and this all has to be balanced with animal well-being. I think this place has failed to achieve that balance and the area is need of a real zoo.
We drove in while visiting Albany as it seems to be the nearest zoo. I was suspicious of the place from the appearance of the entrance and the fact that it required cash only payment for a total admission cost about 50% higher than our most frequent zoo (Jacksonville Zoo in Florida) as they charge for kids between 1 and 3.
The collection of animals is substantially weaker - no elephants, or lions, or tigers. Also the enclosures are basically all chain-link fence or caging. Some, like the wolf exhibit seem exceptionally small and pretty much all seem like they're from another era. The exhibits at other zoos much more effectively simulate natural habitats.
At one point my oldest son asked me why the animals seemed so hungry here. This gets me to what makes this place more superficially amusing than most other zoos and also more disturbing - the animals don't appear to be as well taken care of as at AZA zoo and are almost all fed by the guests. It seems they are left a little hungry so they eagerly await feeding at the fences by guests. The safari ride involved very close encounters with camels, buffalo, ostriches, elands, etc. This was also facilitated by small amounts of food being offered from the back of the safari vehicle to attract the animals to follow closely. I even saw the guy basically punch, albeit in a controlled fashion, one of the camels away after it had a bite to eat from the bucket.
The facilities for humans are also a bit substandard. There isn't drop of drinking water available other than the bottled water from the concessions. There is no water to wash your hands after feeding or touching an animal, just hand sanitizer. The park also has a lot of flies that come after the both the humans and the animals.
Overall, our visit left me feeling guilty for having amused my family at a place that seems to be sub-standard in animal care practices. I appreciate the value of zoos displaying animals for education and conservation and a even that a little bit of amusement is necessary to achieve those goals and this all has to be balanced with animal well-being. I think this place has failed to achieve that balance and the area is need of a real zoo.
Written July 30, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
What is the price
Richard D
Amsterdam, NY170 contributions
If I remember correctly, last season the price was ~ $17 [adult] & ~ $14 [child]; there is a coupon available for reduced $ on their web site.
Adirondack Animal Land (Gloversville) - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go
Frequently Asked Questions about Adirondack Animal Land
- Hotels near Adirondack Animal Land:
- (1.63 mi) Finch Guest House
- (7.45 mi) Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham Johnstown
- (1.28 mi) Historic Hotel Broadalbin
- (0.90 mi) Blue Moon Motel
- (0.91 mi) Sacandaga Lake access, canoe/kayaks, private yard, 1/2 hr. to Saratoga
- Restaurants near Adirondack Animal Land:
- (0.49 mi) Dairy Frost
- (0.46 mi) Subway
- (0.46 mi) Dunkin'
- (0.75 mi) Jackie's Diner
- (0.61 mi) Fritz's Pizza & Subs