The Buffalo zoo is the seventh oldest zoo in the country.
It was originally constructed in 1875 and is located on Parkside Avenue.
It is second only to Niagara Falls as a tourist attraction in Western New York. Around 400,000 people visit the Buffalo zoo every year. Despite the weather extremes, the zoo remains open all year round. From the end of November to early January they hold an annual event called Zoo Lights. The zoo stays open after hours and is illuminated with a wide variety of light displays. If there is snow on the ground, it looks like a winter wonderland. There’s also a Happy Holidays Express train that is a fun way to travel around the grounds. They also play holiday music and offer warm treats such as hot chocolate and s’mores. The kids can visit with Santa or have their picture taken with the Ice Princesses. My husband and I were really excited to take the kids. We had visited the zoo during the summer and it was a great experience. My son just loved the monkey and my daughter was thrilled with the aquarium. Our biggest complaint was the heat and humidity. It was a relief to check out the reptile house because it was nice and cool. We planned our Zoo Lights excursion for the last week in November. We assumed the weather wouldn’t be too cold that early in the season. We had to buy the tickets ahead, so there was no changing our plans. The day of our trip to the zoo, a cold front hit the Buffalo area and the temperature dropped down to 12 degrees. It was snowing and the window was blowing. We couldn’t keep warm. It was horrible.