Guests with Disabilities

Download San Diego Zoo Accessibility Guide (PDF)

The San Diego Zoo welcomes all guests. We have several services to help guests with disabilities enjoy their visit. The Zoo provides special parking, restrooms, and access to experiences, tour buses, and habitat areas for guests with disabilities. Please note there are steep grades in parts of the Zoo. A complimentary ADA shuttle service operates inside the Zoo for those with mobility-related disabilities. Guests who use mobility assistive devices may also refer to the Zoo map for ADA pathways and elevators.

Guests with disabilities must pay admission fees to the Zoo. The Zoo provides free admission for a personal attendant/caregiver to accompany a guest who requires such help to access the public programs, activities, and facilities of the Zoo. Please keep in mind that while all Zoo personnel may provide minor assistance, they are not trained to and are not allowed to lift a guest out of his/her mobility device or provide assistance with medication or help of a personal nature. Wheelchairs and electric scooters are available for rent on a first-come, first-served basis near the entrance. Please refer to our San Diego Zoo Accessibility Guide for more information.

Download Accessibility Map for Guests with Disabilities (PDF)

Our Guided Bus Tour is accessible via a ramp for guests using wheelchairs or electric scooters. Each bus has limited space to secure a wheelchair or scooter, which is available on a first-come, first-served basis. If the secured wheelchair space is already in use, guests able to transfer to a bench seat may do so, and the bus attendant will store their wheelchair or scooter until the tour returns.

We welcome guests with disabilities who choose to bring their trained service animal into the Zoo. Emotional support animals as well as companion, comfort, or service animals in-training are not allowed entry into the Zoo. Our guidelines for service animals can be found by accessing the San Diego Zoo Accessibility Guide.

For our guests who are deaf or hard of hearing, please see our San Diego Zoo Accessibility Guide to learn more about what we have to offer. All services and attractions are listed in the guide map. If you need more information or assistance during your visit, please ask any available employee, who can contact someone to help you.

Mobility Assistive Device Policy

The safety of our visitors is extremely important to us. The Zoo is a primarily pedestrian environment. By “pedestrian,” we mean any individual who moves within walking areas with or without the use of walking-assistive devices such as crutches, leg braces, wheelchairs, etc. Park attendance is often at high capacity, resulting in busy pedestrian pathways. Our goal is to maintain a safe pedestrian traffic flow for all visitors while allowing for use of mobility assistive devices that do not fundamentally alter the nature of the experience the Zoo provides. To maintain a safe pedestrian environment and the desired pace and flow of visitor traffic, the Zoo does not allow guests to bring or use most wheeled vehicles within the grounds. Bicycles, tricycles, scooters, skateboards, roller skates, and similar modes of transportation are not allowed. The Zoo allows strollers as well as the following mobility assistive devices for use by guests with disabilities; manual wheelchairs, steerable knee walkers, single seat electric scooters with 3+ wheels, and Segways (must have handle bar). All Segways entering the Zoo must be operated in “turtle” mode so as not to disrupt the desired pace of visitor traffic and disturb other guests. The Zoological Society of San Diego reserves the right to modify this policy at any time as it deems appropriate. 

Additional Information

Wheelchair and ECV rental prices

For general questions not answered here, please email accessibility@sdzwa.org, or call 619-231-1515 after 8:30 a.m. Pacific Time.