We visited Washington DC in 2002 with the boys but we never made it to the National Zoo. With Busch Gardens Tampa always near by other zoo's always seemed to be a disappointment. However I have to say Don and I enjoyed the National Zoo. We saw the giant Panda's which you won't find at Busch Gardens. The zoo is nicely laid out however we were disappointed that many of the animals were not in their compounds due to bad weather the previous day.