The Sumatran Orangutan Habitat at the Toronto Zoo

On a Friday in August, we took the kids to the Toronto Zoo for a day trip outing.  This was the first time we took 3 kids since the birth of the new baby and here’s what went down:

From our past experience attending the zoo with kids now, we know to pack a lunch (and snacks) for them.  One, it’s cost-saving as you don’t have to pay for overpriced food at the restaurants inside the zoo.  Two, it’s healthier than eating what is offered at the restaurants.  And three, it saves so much time as you can take out the food any time to eat it.  No line-ups.  So when the blood sugar levels start to drop and the kids start to melt down, the food is ready and their hunger can be squashed immediately.

Beautiful clear day to go to the Toronto Zoo! Driving to the zoo

Ticket sales line-up

Family Adventure Passport Toronto Zoo coupon

On this visit, we used the Family Adventure Passport (Model Schools for Inner City) coupon to get a large discount off of our admission fees (paying just $9.29 plus HST per admission).

The current 2025 regular price admission fees are: $44.70/adult, $38.15/senior, $31.59/child aged 3 to 12, and free for children under two years old.  Parking is $20.

Whereas we would have paid $202.43 after tax for two adults, 1 senior, 1 child (2 were free), the coupon allowed us to save and pay “only” $94.60 including parking.  It is still astounding to see such a large figure for a day at the zoo so it makes me even more grateful that we had a coupon to use.

We arrived at the zoo around 11:40 a.m. and easily found a parking spot.  There were many other families arriving at the same time too.

Toronto Zoo fees as of August 2025

City Pass prices

Since we had a physical coupon to show the clerk, we had to line up at the ticket booth to buy our tickets.  There were two counters open at the time we arrived but luckily one more opened as we neared the front of the line.  It was a sunny 29 degree day — perfect bounce-back from the dip to 19 degrees the prior days and the perfect “last” summer day for the kids to play at the zoo’s splash pad.  (We missed out on bringing the kids here during the summer in 2024; we used the Toronto Map Pass to come twice — once during autumn and once during the winter season.)

After getting our tickets and passing through the gates, one of the kids exclaimed they were hungry so we found a table in the Tim Hortons to eat our lunch.  It was 12:30 p.m. and an apt time for lunch.  The Tim’s was fairly packed at this time too.

(The Toronto Zoo is undergoing a renovation project to bring a new conservation building to life.  There was already construction happening last time we visited.  This time, there were new pedestrian ramps at the entrance and exit gates area.)

Grapes, cherries, pizza subs, homemade tortilla chips, raisin bread, salads, bagels for the day

On this visit, the husband packed cherries, grapes, apples, and the mini pizza subs I got from Flashfood as well as raisin bread, croissants, a cauliflower cranberry salad, and other baked goods (all from TGTG or Flashfood).

After lunch, we went left towards the peacock exhibit and Indo-Malaya for fish and turtles (where everyone likes to take a photo with that stationary turtle) and saw a mommy and baby orangutan and white-handed gibbons at play!  We were so lucky to be up close to see them so active too.  We also saw snakes and the cutest newts moving around.  The kids remembered seeing snakes from our recent visit to Reptilia too.

Orangutan mom and baby

White-handed gibbons

Conservation Carousel at Toronto Zoo

After this, we walked back towards the entrance area where we took a spin on the beautifully designed Conservation Carousel.  (Our goal of this zoo trip was to use the splash pad so as it was pushing 3 p.m. and the zoo closes at 6 p.m., we needed to move the little people towards that side of the zoo.)

Tickets for the carousel ride was $3.50 per child.  If the child is shorter than the stated 36 inches, then they must be accompanied by an adult.  I’m glad that adults didn’t have to pay.

Conservation Carousel price

Discovery Zone

After this, we headed towards the Discovery Zone for Splash Island.  The kids got changed into their swim wear.  It’s too bad they don’t have a family/gender-neutral change room here.  The only two available sections were women and men.  There were a few family washrooms but it would be more difficult to change in.  There were lockers (for a fee) provided as well.  I liked how all of their washrooms had a built-in standing stool for kids to reach the sink.

Splash Island

Splash Island at Toronto Zoo

Splash Island at Toronto Zoo

The splash pad at the zoo is so well designed and is aptly animal themed.  You’ve got Canadian geese squirting water, turtles, a beaver, whales, and more.  There is a red ship with stairs and slides in the middle of it all too.  There are very large and extensive water jets and sprays.  It’s a must visit during the hot summer months and worth the visit to the zoo alone.

Animal themed sprays

Super cute water sprays

The kids enjoyed their raisin bread and carby snacks on the Muskoka chairs when they were done with the water play.  It was relaxing for us parents too.  There is plenty of seating all around the perimeter of the splash pad, be it Muskoka chairs or rock ledges.  Beware the peeping Canadian geese and flying seagulls who are on the outlook for dropped snacks and breadcrumbs!

For the first time, we walked further into Discovery Zone and “discovered” (pun intended) more exhibits and areas to play in!  I never knew this part of the zoo existed!

Turtle shells for the kids to play in

We saw some owls and hawks.  I appreciated that the exhibits were smaller and at eye level for the kids here.

There was a tree house with stairs that led to a clearing to the skies and a slide that led down to the bottom path.  So fun!

Then we discovered a large sand pit with buckets and shovels!  Both kids love playing in sand pits and we spent a good chunk of our time here.

It was past the closing time of 6 p.m. at this point and it surprised me that there were no announcements or staff ushering people to exit the zoo.  As we walked towards leaving this zone, we saw some fake egg shells and turtle shells as photo ops!  It was so cute.  We will have to visit this again next time to spend more time here for the kids to discover and play.

The gift shop is a whole other attraction spot for kids

The washrooms in the building next to the gift shop are the cleanest (gender neutral too).  It is an air-conditioned building and clean too.

Last time, we spent lots of time in the gift shop for the kids to play and look at merchandise.  We didn’t have time for them to do that on this visit.  There are plenty of stuffed animals and items for them to check out and play with otherwise.

We finally exited the gates at 6:35 p.m., among many others.  It still perplexed me why the zoo doesn’t rush visitors on leaving.

This trip to the zoo was great and very satisfying.  We were lucky to see lots of active animals up close, ride on the carousel, play at Splash Island, and discover a new kid’s zone in the zoo.  The weather was beautiful and our packed foods were perfect.  The kids naturally passed out in the car upon leaving too.

The 6.5 month old slept in her car seat stroller throughout the day.  When she was awake, she was content to look around and people watch.

We brought the single stroller and red Step 2 wagon to hold all our food and belongings (and kids).  It was the first time that we saw someone else with the same red wagon too!

It might be the last summer for the 4.5 year old to ride in the wagon as she complains of it being cramped for her.  She will have to walk next summer.

There were water bottle filling stations throughout the zoo.  It was super helpful for us to refill out water bottles on a hot day.