Thousands Of People Are Flooding Toronto Zoo’s Website For Drive-Thru Tickets

Talk about high demand. Tickets for Toronto Zoo's Scenic Safari went on sale on Friday, May 22, and it seems the public has been desperate to get their hands on them since it was announced. On Friday afternoon, the Zoo's website advised the online queue for tickets is several thousand people long.

Tickets went on sale on Friday morning ahead of the drive-thru experience opening up on Saturday, May 23.

And judging by the waiting line to snap them up on the Zoo's website, it's already damn popular.

In fact, Toronto Zoo spokesperson Katie Gray told Narcity by phone that they were so blown away by the level of demand on day one that it even caused the site's portal to crash at one point in the morning.

She added that they've got to grips with the level of demand now, and the issues from this morning have been resolved.

"The portal basically just couldn't handle the initial demand," Gray said.

At around 2:45 p.m. on Friday, there were over 5,500 people in the line.

After two hours in the queue, that number had fallen significantly but was still at over 2,000.

However, joining the queue for the first time at 4:35 p.m. showed over 6,000, more than had been waiting two hours earlier.

The site notes that as of 4:15, there are 5,740 tickets remaining for sale

After informing visitors which spot in line they are, the web page stresses that leaving the page is the worst thing you can do in your quest to get passes as it could send you to the back of the queue.

We don't know about you, but we're not about that life on a Friday afternoon.

[rebelmouse-image 25982229 photo_credit="Toronto Zoo" expand=1 original_size="2380x728"]

The page goes on to note that one you're finally put through to the site, you must start your order within five minutes or risk being bumped out.

So keep checking that page, guys!

This isn't the only way Toronto has supported the zoo during the pandemic. The public also raised a ton of money for the Food for Life campaign after hearing how the zoo was struggling to pay its food costs due to a lack of entry fees.

Gray said that not only is the zoo sorry for anyone who was affected by that breakdown, but it's also truly grateful for the level of support shown by local residents.

She added that it's important that people know this first set of tickets isn't the only set that will be going on sale.

In fact, she suggested the unexpectedly high level of demand could cause them to release new safari dates even sooner.

We don't know about you, but we'll be eagerly awaiting the announcement.