"My time at the habitat was okay"

[Hydroponics Deck]

What are the factors for people enjoying a habitat and exhibit? I have over a dozen animals for guests to visit, both habitat and exhibit critters. The tortoise exhibit, right by the zoo entrance, is the only one that gets consistently great reviews from guests. That is, guests always say "I had a great time viewing the Herby Fully Tortoise habitat!" and it's in the green, while every other hab and exhibit is in the neutral yellow and everyone thinks it was simply "okay". I've checked around and guests seem generally pleased with the views, lots of green thoughts on animal views in the other exhibits, and education rating for the zoo is high.

My theories:
-Decoration and scenery outside the exhibit
-Properly spaced education boards and speakers
-Animals are close to the viewing windows
-Guests aren't too hot or cold when they're at the viewing zone
-Only one viewing zone per enclosure? I heard this mentioned on a thread on reddit.
-Animals must be healthy and happy?

I am not sure about these because my guests enjoy the tortoise habitat even though the tort's plant happiness is close to 0 (since my mod broke that let me fill all habitats with infinite plants). Guests will think "there are too many plants in this enclosure" but still walk away thinking they had a great time with the tortoises.

Just found a guest who had a negative/red view of a monkey but actually had a green/positive time visiting the monkey habitat. Hm.

[Varick]

Tortise is a guest walk through, yes? Probably does not get better than that for a great view.
I am in the process of making my grizzly bear habitat a walk through to see if it raises it more.

[Hydroponics Deck]

None of my habs are walk-through, though I suppose I should try that out for the torts!

[Kajsa_Kavat]

Don't worry about a yellow thought every now and then. Make sure animal welfare is always high and the guest can get a good view, that should be enough to get them donations.

Sometimes guests try to see an animal from e.g. an elevated walkway in another habitat and you can get yellow/red thoughts, but that's not too common.

[Hydroponics Deck]

It's not just their thoughts that I'm currently looking at- I've seen them have red negative thoughts and still leave the habitat with a positive rating. There is a list now when you click on the guests, that lists their overall experience at each habitat and exhibit (and every building they stop in and the safety of the zoo, etc.- I think it's new since the last major update). I'm wondering what the factors are to make their visit an overall great visit instead of just okay. It can't just be their view of the animal, because I see guests have great views leading to a neutral visit, and terrible views leading to a great visit. Hm...

I am mostly just curious, I play on sandbox mode so I am not struggling with it per se. I was trying to use their thoughts as a checklist to renovate habitats, but I noticed the rating wasn't getting better even after adding scenery and decoration.

[Iced Tea Blizzard]

Could be the animals themselves (appeal ratings, age), barrier type (glass vs wire, window vs glass wall), things that might block view (tv monitors, lamp posts), education items, or cleanliness of the habitat/water. I never payed much attention to it. I just try to keep the animals as close to the path as I can without it looking stupid.

Originally posted by Varick:

I am in the process of making my grizzly bear habitat a walk through

Should save you a fortune on feed.

[Varick]

James - I will let you know. :D