What a waste of a drive and $39. My son's class had a field trip here and he wanted me to come and I figure so long as he wants his mom around, I'm going to be there.
The zoo feels very DIY. In fact, it reminded me of a zoo in Mexico. Very shabby, run down, workers in trucks driving way too fast through the park. They also didn't have many animals. Honestly, 80% of the exhibits were birds, many of which were ducks. I've seen ducks. I don't need to pay $39 to see more. The petting zoo was ridiculous. The fair has a by far better petting zoo and many areas smelled horrible. I work for the Tempe PD Mounted Unit and I've mucked plenty of stalls and I know exactly what that smell is: no one is digging out the pee spots. They're just letting it sink into the earth. Also, the animals surroundings were alarming. One of the tigers had a log, weeds and an old tire. It is heartbreaking.
Don't waste your money and head to the Phoenix zoo instead. It's also privately owned but they did a much better job.