What the zoo gets wrong

1. The food court

Twenty dollars for a burger and a bottle of water is a tax on families. Bring food, use the picnic area, and go back out for lunch if you can. I ate in that staff room for two decades; I know what the margins are.

2. Weekend parking

The lot is undersized for a sunny Saturday and the overflow signage sends people onto streets where they get ticketed. The zoo knows. It has been "being looked at" since I started.

3. Enclosures due for renovation

A couple of the older hoofstock paddocks are tired — bare ground, worn fencing, little shade structure. The animals are healthy and the keepers do what they can, but those yards need money spent on them and it has not happened yet.

4. The lights event is oversold as an animal experience

It is a light trail. A good one. But the marketing photographs suggest you will see animals, and mostly you will see strings of lights and other people's children. Go in knowing that and it is a lovely evening.

What is still worth it

The Canadian Wilds loop on a cold morning, the penguin house, the gorilla building when the troop is active, and the keepers themselves — they will talk to you for ten minutes if you ask a real question and do not tap the glass.