Omaha Forums

Those plans look great!

TourismLover wrote:

image.jpeg (109.31 KiB) Viewed 4100 times

I saw a newer plan for Asian Highlands when I went to the zoo last Friday. It was by the prairie dog town. The animal exhibits it shows are Rhino, Sloth Bear, Takin, Komodo Dragon, Tiger, Snow Leopard, and a Red Panda/Muntjac Crane exhibit. The Komodo Dragon exhibit will be released first in 2018 while the rest of it will be released 2019. This plan will probably change later though. If you want to see the poster yourself go down the road between the aviary and expedition Madagascar and it should be straight ahead.

Took me a min to get my bearings on this. I know you said Prairie Dog Hill, but its going to go way up past that upper railroad track in to some previously un-used parts of the zoo!

From the same Herd as the Omaha Elephants.

Dallas Zoo up to 6 Swazi elephants after surprise baby boy arrives

http://www.omaha.com/living/zoo/dallas- ... 998b0.html

Chris Peters / World-Herald staff writer wrote:The saga of Swaziland's elephants has turned from heartbreak to happiness for the Dallas Zoo.

Five months after one of the elephants pledged to Dallas died in Swaziland, a Dallas elephant has given birth to an improbable baby.

Chris Peters / World-Herald staff writer wrote:Hudson said the zoos thought Mlilo, 14, might have been pregnant before the import took place, but hormone tests were inconclusive. Sorry, Omaha, but the zoos don't think any other elephants are pregnant.

Awesome to see those new plans for the zoo. That is the way to do it to keep excitement levels high. Release new construction plans for another area before the largest project in zoo history is completed. I can't wait to see the zoo in 5 years. It is already spectacular and is going to keep improving and getting better. As I mentioned before, it would be nice if the city could rebuild 13th St at least from I-80 to the zoo entrance and include a landscaped median to be more inviting to the state's #1 tourist attraction.

skinzfan23 wrote:Awesome to see those new plans for the zoo. That is the way to do it to keep excitement levels high. Release new construction plans for another area before the largest project in zoo history is completed. I can't wait to see the zoo in 5 years. It is already spectacular and is going to keep improving and getting better. As I mentioned before, it would be nice if the city could rebuild 13th St at least from I-80 to the zoo entrance and include a landscaped median to be more inviting to the state's #1 tourist attraction.

Actually, they next big project was announced a few months ago and is under construction, that being the Adventure Education area including the Zoo Academy school building. I see they have also moved the Komodo Dragon exhibit from the plaza between the IMAX, Desert Dome and Wild Kingdom Pavilion to the Asian Highlands area. I never really considered an island off of Java to be "Asian Highlands", but OK... This also makes me wonder what they are planning for in the plaza where the Komodo exhibit was slated for in the Master Plan.

In Certificate of Occupancy news: Inspections have passed for the cheetah, sable antelope building and goat kraal building. COO inspections are happening today on the meerkat kopjee, giraffe feeding, lion viewing, and cabin HQ and restroom. Tomorrow's COOs are bongo building, bongo viewing, helicopter hanger, elephant pumphouse life support building, elephant viewing, lion building and sable antelope viewing.

For a perspective on the Asian Highlands area of the zoo i did a quick rubber sheet of the site plan photo on aerial imagery and the African Grasslands plan. The Asian Highlands photo was low resolution so it is quite pixelated, but you can get an idea where this exhibit is at compared to other features.
They completed COO inspections on the giraffe feeding this afternoon. The lion viewing is awaiting plumbing inspection, and the meerkat kopje is awaiting electrical, with all other inspections passing muster. The cabin HQ and restroom failed its building inspection because a toilet paper dispenser was not correct. COO requests were added for the klipspringer/rock hyrax kopje and the viewing structure overlooking the giraffe/rhino/gazelle exhibit and scheduled for Friday.

Spatial77 wrote:For a perspective on the Asian Highlands area of the zoo i did a quick rubber sheet of the site plan photo on aerial imagery and the African Grasslands plan. The Asian Highlands photo was low resolution so it is quite pixelated, but you can get an idea where this exhibit is at compared to other features.

HDZ_AsianHighlands6.gif

I'm pretty excited for the Physical Plant exhibit.

MadMartin8 wrote:

Spatial77 wrote:For a perspective on the Asian Highlands area of the zoo i did a quick rubber sheet of the site plan photo on aerial imagery and the African Grasslands plan. The Asian Highlands photo was low resolution so it is quite pixelated, but you can get an idea where this exhibit is at compared to other features.

HDZ_AsianHighlands6.gif

I'm pretty excited for the Physical Plant exhibit.

Well you should be! That is where most of the plants for the zoo exhibits are grown, plus hey have an exciting collection of plumbers snakes, saw horses and awls. The Master Plan calls the area the Facilities Support Area.

So the Meercats, Klipspringer, and Rock Hyrax we all part of the Desert Dome when it opened. Are they getting additional exhibits or did they not work out in the Desert Dome?

Spatial77 wrote:

MadMartin8 wrote:

Spatial77 wrote:For a perspective on the Asian Highlands area of the zoo i did a quick rubber sheet of the site plan photo on aerial imagery and the African Grasslands plan. The Asian Highlands photo was low resolution so it is quite pixelated, but you can get an idea where this exhibit is at compared to other features.

HDZ_AsianHighlands6.gif

I'm pretty excited for the Physical Plant exhibit.

Well you should be! That is where most of the plants for the zoo exhibits are grown, plus hey have an exciting collection of plumbers snakes, saw horses and awls. The Master Plan calls the area the Facilities Support Area.

Haha!

Brad wrote:So the Meercats, Klipspringer, and Rock Hyrax we all part of the Desert Dome when it opened. Are they getting additional exhibits or did they not work out in the Desert Dome?

Summers in the outdoor exhibits - winters in the Desert Dome... just like folks who spend the winter in Arizona and the summers up north.

Apparently the zoo is completely out of control! Even has its on hashtag... #ZooPocalypse2016 Traffic was backed up to 42nd Street on I80 at one point. Extra cops brought in to direct traffic.

Can't tell if it for real or not, but they might even be telling people its closed.

@MeanStreetsOMA wrote: Cop 1: "We are going to have Zoo personnel tell people its closed."
Cop 2: "If I were the Zoo I'd be hiding right now."
#ZooPocalypse2016

@MeanStreetsOMA wrote: I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the Zoo is closed guys.
#ZooPocalypse2016

@MeanStreetsOMA wrote: Officer 1: "Security says there are only 70 spots left."
Officer 2: "Clear we will tell the other 200 cars sitting here that they cant go."

Dang...we were going to go to the zoo today too with some friends from out of town.

Pretty sure that the attendance record will fall this year.

I had a W-H notification pop up about 30 minutes ago stating traffic was completely backed up on 13th st in both directions due to overflow of Zoo patrons...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Since my earlier post they have completely closed the 13th street exist and now want people to approach the zoo from the south.

Wonder if the locals are charging $10 to park in their lawns yet?

Bet nobody thought of taking the bus to the Zoo...

‏@OmahaZoo wrote: It's a Zoo out there. We know! Tip: Go to @mccneb S. Transit Center to park (for free) & take the Metro. Bus rates apply. #ZooPocalypse2016

Funny seeing the zoo use the hashtag #ZooPocalypse2016...

Brad wrote:Bet nobody thought of taking the bus to the Zoo...

‏@OmahaZoo wrote: It's a Zoo out there. We know! Tip: Go to @mccneb S. Transit Center to park (for free) & take the Metro. Bus rates apply. #ZooPocalypse2016

Funny seeing the zoo use the hashtag #ZooPocalypse2016...

Very interesting indeed, lol...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

From Alex Hoffman of KETV:

WHen I went to the B1G tourny and came down I80 and headed towards DT the Interstate was a at a stand still in all lanes back past 24th street. Needless to say I didn't take 13th street to go DT


This was probably about 10:30 or 11:00 this AM

You get too many folks in that zoo and people are not watching their kids close enough and something bad could happen like when this kid fell in the Gorilla cage this weekend at the Cinncinatti Zoo.

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They are so lucky the kid came out of that alive. I know we can't idiot-proof everything and I don't know the exact details, but there should be no way a kid can fall into a zoo exhibit. Something was wrong with the railing design for him to be able to do so.

skinzfan23 wrote:From Alex Hoffman of KETV:

I had so many out-of-towners ask me when the zoo opens this weekend I should have told them to wait a week, YIKES.

Brad wrote:Since my earlier post they have completely closed the 13th street exist and now want people to approach the zoo from the south.

Wonder if the locals are charging $10 to park in their lawns yet?

Not 10 bucks, but there were people charging 5. We had to park about a mile away and walk; we got to see the african grasslands (very cool, but not everything is out yet, of course) and after waiting for a half hour in a food line, we decided to go to mcdonalds instead. It is incredible that a place so big could fill up so fast. One person said they sat in traffic for over an hour...at the zoo...before they got a spot along 13th by king kong. I have never seen it that busy before in my life.

More than 20,000 pack Omaha zoo on opening weekend of African Grasslands



http://www.omaha.com/living/zoo/more-th ... de=jqm_gal

Wonder how that compares to a normal weekend and what is the most ever to visit in a weekend

thenewguy wrote:Wonder how that compares to a normal weekend and what is the most ever to visit in a weekend

The story stated that a typical Sunday would have around 7,000 - 8,000 guests. So Sunday alone had almost 3x as many people as normal.

More than 8,000 people had passed through the front gates within the first two hours. By late afternoon the number exceeded 20,000, according to a zoo spokeswoman. A typical Sunday draws 7,000 to 8,000 total.

Also, here is the link to the story. The link above is just to the photo gallery.

http://www.omaha.com/living/zoo/more-th ... 2a1dc.html

KETV just reported that the zoo is on pace to break their all-time Memorial Day weekend attendance. From Friday-Sunday, they had over 46,000 visitors.

Thanks for the links; i overlooked that. Those are some crazy numbers....

OWH reports that the Memorial Day Weekend total attendance for the zoo ( Fri - Mon) was 59,291

Beat the old record from 2005 of 50,820. This is when the Hubbard Orangutan Forest opened


http://www.omaha.com/living/zoo/with-af ... ae5f8.html

Also from the article:

Omaha zoo CEO Dennis Pate said he thinks this year’s annual attendance can eclipse the 2 million mark for the first time. The existing record sits at 1,719,925, set in 2012.

While here in Washington, D.C. we hit the National Zoo the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. It was also packed, with all parking lots full and closed before 10 am. The weather cooperated, and with that and the holiday the crowds were out in force. Everyone comes to see the pandas, of course. And it doesn't hurt that it costs a family of four all of $0 to tour the entire zoo.
While the National Zoo is lovely, and the best landscaped zoo I have ever seen, it is only about half the size of Omaha's zoo, at best. Like the Omaha zoo, it has impressive modernization plans for the upcoming next few years.

nativeomahan wrote:While here in Washington, D.C. we hit the National Zoo the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. It was also packed, with all parking lots full and closed before 10 am. The weather cooperated, and with that and the holiday the crowds were out in force. Everyone comes to see the pandas, of course. And it doesn't hurt that it costs a family of four all of $0 to tour the entire zoo.
While the National Zoo is lovely, and the best landscaped zoo I have ever seen, it is only about half the size of Omaha's zoo, at best. Like the Omaha zoo, it has impressive modernization plans for the upcoming next few years.

Good to know, thanks for sharing! It was a long time ago, but the St Louis zoo was free the last time I went as well.

Where do they get their financing then? Do they have endowment programs?

Coyote wrote:Where do they get their financing then? Do they have endowment programs?

The gov't gives them funds.

iamjacobm wrote:

Coyote wrote:Where do they get their financing then? Do they have endowment programs?

The gov't gives them funds.

The National Zoo is part of the Smithsonian and is supported by federal tax dollars. St. Louis Zoo is supported by a mil levy property tax as part of the museum and zoological district in the entire county of St. Louis. As I recall the zoo is free, but you have to pay to park.

The National Zoo is also funded by private donations. All Smithsonian museums are free. Unless they have a panda fetish, I try to steer visiting relatives and friends from Omaha elsewhere. Omaha has a much better zoo, cheaper places for good steak, better Mexican food (not many Mexicans here---most Mexican restaurants are run by Bolivians and Salvadorans), and MUCH better dive bars.

Coyote wrote:Where do they get their financing then? Do they have endowment programs?

If you're referring to the St. Louis Zoo I think (pretty sure) it is funded by a St. Louis County-wide tax that funds the Zoo, Forest Park, the Missouri History Museum, the St. Louis Art Museum and probably some other like institutions in the Forest Park area.

Zoo’s safari park, little changed since 1998 opening, is in line for an overhaul

http://www.omaha.com/living/zoo/zoo-s-s ... 82b15.html

Chris Peters / World-Herald staff writer wrote:Dennis Pate, the zoo’s CEO and executive director, said he and his staff have started working on a master plan to reconfigure the Lee G. Simmons Conservation Park and Wildlife Safari, which opened in 1998. The plan is due out by the end of the year.

That will be exciting to see. I haven't been there since it opened and hear great things about it, but like the zoo itself, you can always make a great thing better.

From the article, it says attendance was 143,668 last year.

Good to here. We just started going to the Safari Park the last couple years and love it (added it to our zoo pass). I'm also encouraged that the zoo is returning to future exhibits open every year or two.

Greg