It is often the busiest day of the year at the Fort Worth Zoo, half-priced Wednesday during Spring Break.
But this year, cooler weather appears to have kept the establishment from coming close to a record.
Early attendance numbers indicate that about 15,000 did show up, despite temperatures in the high 40s and gusty winds when the zoo opened at 10 a.m.
Last year on half-priced Wednesday, 26,370 people showed up, breaking a single-day attendance record.
As visitors passed through the gates, it looked more like the middle of winter than the middle of Spring Break.
The need for hoods, hats, jackets, scarfs and blankets and some debating their visit.
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"We were kind of indecisive if we should come or not and around 10 we were just like, OK, let's go," said Yamila Caceres.
Caceres was visiting the zoo for the first time with her cousin from Houston. She showed up because of the Wednesday discount.
But zoo regulars during Spring Break had little doubt about their visits, in fact they enjoyed the cooler weather.
"Today's weather is a lot better than yesterday's weather," said Laurance Bogar. "So, we are enjoying this bundled and come out to the zoo for family time."
"You can always bundle up, but you can't always take off," Sherese Walker said.
The pair and their children, were ready to check out the zoo's 64 acres of animals and attractions.
"Wednesday is half priced at the zoo, it's very family oriented," Bogar said.
"And we're both educators, so we're on Spring Break, so it just works for us," Walker said.
It works for thousands of people very year. Last year, about 117,000 people attended the zoo during the nine days of Spring Break.
And the thousands on Wednesday once again eyed everything from birds and sharks to the new mountain lion cubs and the even newer striped hyenas, who made their zoo debut just this week.
"I think we're just looking forward to seeing all the animals," Caceres said.
"Anything that's tall that they can see, they're short," joked Bogar. "They're excited, they have a little comforter with them today (for the weather)."
While Wednesday fell short of a record, Tuesday set one. With about 20,000 people on Tuesday it was the busiest full-price attendance day in the zoo's history.
