KCRag Forum

IraGlacialis wrote:On a similar point about access, is it really too much to ask to have some sidewalks to connect the zoo with the rest of the park? Say you coming from the direction of the community center or the Meyer entrance; IMHO, when you two options are walking in the road (where a lot of people don't exactly drive at a leisurely pace) or cutting across a stubbly (and possibly wet depending on the weather or time of day) yard, something seems... I dunno... slightly amiss.
But then again, a whole point could be made about the entire park needing sidewalks and paths.

Out of the 500-600K who visit the zoo each year, I would estimate approximately 0 of them walk there.

Sidewalks are not a priority.

Not trying to be an ass. Apologize in advance.

KC-wildcat wrote:

IraGlacialis wrote:On a similar point about access, is it really too much to ask to have some sidewalks to connect the zoo with the rest of the park? Say you coming from the direction of the community center or the Meyer entrance; IMHO, when you two options are walking in the road (where a lot of people don't exactly drive at a leisurely pace) or cutting across a stubbly (and possibly wet depending on the weather or time of day) yard, something seems... I dunno... slightly amiss.
But then again, a whole point could be made about the entire park needing sidewalks and paths.

Out of the 500-600K who visit the zoo each year, I would estimate approximately 0 of them walk there.

Sidewalks are not a priority.

Not trying to be an ass. Apologize in advance.

No apologies necessary.
Though I think it would be nice to have something that encourages pedestrian mobility around the park; pay-for-parking at the zoo during the day, parallel parking along the street, sidewalk.
This is more along the lines of making Swope Park itself more inviting and not just a sea that surrounds the zoo and Starlight.

Maybe in the ever-raging border war, Missouri could put together an incentive package to bring the Renaissance Festival down to Swope Park...

Would be a perfect.

i agree. that would be a nice setting for it.

Zoo looks to future; signs contract for design of new penguin exhibit

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/12/25/33 ... -with.html

The Zoo has made a youtube video showing what the new penguin exhibit will look like. Pretty cool!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PPxI1dI ... e=youtu.be

This is cool.

Does the Zoo have a masterplan?

It was very easy to find references to a masterplan... but much harder to actually track it down. Your best bet is to do a Google image search, type in "kansas city zoo master plan site:zoochat.com", and attempt to piece it together from there.

longviewmo wrote:It was very easy to find references to a masterplan... but much harder to actually track it down. Your best bet is to do a Google image search, type in "kansas city zoo master plan site:zoochat.com", and attempt to piece it together from there.

Yeah, I saw a few photos of foam story boards posted in chatrooms a few years back. Wasn't sure if any of that stuff was accurate or still part of the concept. Expecially since all of that stuff predates the funding mechanism that's now in place.

Seems like with the new funding, it would be wise for the Zoo to invest in and publicize a comprehensive masterplan.

AF wrote:The Zoo has made a youtube video showing what the new penguin exhibit will look like. Pretty cool!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PPxI1dI ... e=youtu.be

That was pretty cool. I was wondering, however, if there would be an Antarctic exhibit like there is at the St Louis Zoo. The penguins there are at arms length and the visitor walks through the super-refigerated part of the zoo. It's a bit disconcerting at first on a hot day when one is covered in sweat to walk into a near freezing environment but it's so well done it's easy to forget about your discomfort with the temperature. Sounds like the KC zoo will feature cold weather penguins but not as much interaction with the visitor. What St Louis does has got to result in a pretty big electric bill.

$100 million aquarium proposed for zoo. $60 mill in private money raised. Ten times the size of the Crown Center aquarium and larger than any in St Louis or Omaha.

moderne wrote:$100 million aquarium proposed for zoo. $60 mill in private money raised. Ten times the size of the Crown Center aquarium and larger than any in St Louis or Omaha.

The KC Zoo has become a pretty cool place but there collection of animals actually remains pretty small for a major zoo. I'd rather see them spend the money acquiring more species and building more exhibits. For instance, the KC zoo has essentially no North or South American exhibits and it doesn't do much with Asia.

moderne wrote:$100 million aquarium proposed for zoo. $60 mill in private money raised. Ten times the size of the Crown Center aquarium and larger than any in St Louis or Omaha.

Larger than Omaha. That will be nice.

The push since the current director came in is to make the Zoo a year round destination, as in Omaha. Will this kill Sea Life at Crown Center?

moderne wrote:$100 million aquarium proposed for zoo. $60 mill in private money raised. Ten times the size of the Crown Center aquarium and larger than any in St Louis or Omaha.

How will it compare to the Wonders of Wildlife Aquarium in Springfield? It is the best aquarium in the region/state. Sea life is a joke and deserves to go out of business.

moderne wrote:Will this kill Sea Life at Crown Center?

Possibly kill the aquarium portion. I think they are the same owners so maybe they just expand legoland. Its kind of interesting Legoland/Sea life are located at Crown Center. Every other Sealife/Lego in US is located in huge destinatation shopping areas in suburbs like Arizona Mills, Grapevine (Dallas), Mall of America area suburban Detroit, etc. They should have put Sealife at Legends

where on the grounds is the aquarium going to go?

I don't know, but conventional wisdom would put it near the penguins and polar bears if they are wanting to make the Zoo a wintertime destination. Don't want to make people walk any further out in the cold than they have to considering the vast parking lagoons to cross.

There’s only so many large spaces available with the road access a major building will need

The old ape house is probably the best one. It’s still centeral and would fill in a major gap in the core of the zoo, and there’s plans to move the train opening up access options here
Between the barn and orangutans
Behind the tropics house

I could picture all three with a major new exhibit and the distances wouldn’t be bad. The tropics house is indoor so a general cluster of an aquarium, tropics, penguins, stingrays, polar bears and barn you have a good core for year round visits.

moderne wrote:I don't know, but conventional wisdom would put it near the penguins and polar bears if they are wanting to make the Zoo a wintertime destination. Don't want to make people walk any further out in the cold than they have to considering the vast parking lagoons to cross.

could they bring in heated trams?