A couple times a month, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs offers a special opportunity to bring your pup to the zoo. That’s right, Fluffy can come with you and look at zoo animals! We were hoping this would work out to do on our latest trip to Colorado, and as luck would have it, Friday, May 29, was designated as a “Dog Day.” So we switched around our plans slightly to make it work and bought tickets. (And, I made shirts for the humans.)
We drove down from Breckenridge that morning to take Ellie to the zoo. It was about a 2.5 hour drive, but the drive was gorgeous. We drove through green valleys with mountains in the distance. We also went through little towns such as Alma and Fairplay. We also made a quick stop in Woodland Park. The rest area/visitor center has restrooms, but shower curtains are used as stall doors. Think of that what you will.
The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is located in a beautiful part of Colorado Springs near the famous pink Broadmoor Hotel. We were directed into the parking area and made our way to the zoo entrance. A note about parking – it gets busy. When we were leaving in the afternoon, the line to get in was quite long. My recommendation is to go as early as you can.
Let’s also talk tickets. Tickets need to be reserved in advance. We saw a sign that advance tickets were sold out. You need to buy tickets and reserve a time online, especially as Dog Day tickets are limited. Buying the ticket gives you a designated time to enter (with a 30 minute grace period after.) And, you can stay all day. We booked a 10 a.m. time slot and arrived right at 10 a.m. Tickets were $34.75 per adult (plus tax) and $34.75 for Ellie (the dog.) That seemed a bit high for a dog ticket, but it was a once-in-a-lifetime adventure for her and worth every penny. Kids are $29.75 and there are discounts for seniors, members of the military and kids under 2 years old. Note that these are regular day prices and we booked early, there are peak days which are higher price and value days which are lower price.
They had water stations set up for the dogs and signs to designate where they could go. The Elephant house, Australia walkabout, domestic goat pin, etc. were off limits to the pups. Even with certain areas not allowing pups, there was plenty to see. Signage is good and its easy to navigate. The zoo is not huge, but scenic.
We started with penguins and primates. Ellie didn’t seem all that interested. The thing that made her excited and howl? The wild chipmunk running near the entrance to one of the buildings.
Dog Days at the zoo seemed popular as we saw a lot of dogs there. That was wonderful. Ellie liked the meerkat exhibition and I think scared the raccoons. She seemed uneasy with the mountain lion and grizzly. Really uneasy.
She was indifferent to the moose, otters, and tiger. The Amur leopard that was running around in its enclosure she seemed intrigued by but she didn’t like the Bald Eagle that aggressively chirped at her.
I was most excited for her to see the giraffes. They are so big and majestic creatures. What would Ellie think? They are my favorite animals. Ellie walked in and up to where they were being fed lettuce by people and had no reaction. She acted like it was the most normal thing. It was so impressive to see how many the zoo had. One can buy lettuce to feed them starting at $3. They like to stick out their black and purple tongues to get the lettuce which is so cute.
One standout animal for us was the Okapi. It sort of looks like a zebra, but is actually a relative of the giraffe and found in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It came over to check us out and Ellie was very interested.
All in all, we were there until about 1:30 p.m. We went back to see a few more animals a couple of times. Depending on your speed and if you have little ones with you, allot 2 to 3 hours. There are several kids play areas as well.
The zoo also has a number of concessions areas offering pizza, ice cream, popcorn, etc. They have sit down quick serve options as well as kiosks. It also looked like you can buy beer, and the sandwiches and charcuterie items in the main entrance area looked good. You can also bring in your own food and water.
They have a chairlift one can ride. We didn’t do that. They also had a golf cart shuttle that you could ride around the park all day for $3 per person. This will take visitors up and down the hills.
I found staff to be plentiful as well as volunteers so there was always someone available if you had a question. I also saw the President making his rounds which I appreciated. It’s nice to see leadership out talking to guests.
Overall verdict:
Dog days – 100 percent recommend.
If you’re in town and looking for something to do, I also recommend. The zoo doesn’t take too long to go through, but the giraffes are a standout as are the views.
Key Tips:
Purchase tickets in advance online.
Go early to allot more likelihood of easier parking.
Bring a rain jacket. It rained in the afternoon when we were leaving.
It was busy when we were there, so like anything, pack your patience.
Have fun!
