Despite repeat closures due to the Arctic Blast (including several lost days of Zoo Lights), the Oregon Zoo had a record year in 2008, setting annual attendance at near 1.6 MILLION people. That’s about 100,000 more than the previous record set in 2007.
Zoo officials credit the arrival of Baby Samudra (the elephant) and the incredible dinosaur exhibit that landed this summer. Word is that the Oregon Zoo plans to pull a full blow Jurassic Park, cloning four REAL dinosaurs for display in 2009 in the hopes of cracking 2 million.