A massive Memorial Day weekend crowd wound up in a long, slow crawl toward the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium on Sunday. The holiday combined with the draw of new attractions to form a perfect storm of traffic.

The interstate system was backed up while Omaha Police had to untangle the snarls.

The jam started just after 9 a.m. and got worse as thousands of drivers inched their way toward the zoo.

Amy Watson said, “We just thought, ‘wouldn't it be crazy if everybody was going to the zoo?’ and sure enough!”

Dustin Peska called it, “Crazy. Vehicle after vehicle - didn't think we were ever going to get here.”

Some drivers waited more than an hour just to exit I-80 at 13th Street and crawl the final few blocks.

Brennan Santone told us, “A truck decided to go over the grass and not wait in line, so you kind of wish you had a truck today, I guess.”

Once at the front gate, a sea of people waited for tickets. The big draw: the new African Grasslands exhibit. After a last-minute push to hammer out the details, it's finally finished.

Zoo visitor Kristen Lebeda-Svehla said, “I saw it early on and it was cool looking when it was just the rocks and the boulders. So I can't wait to see it inside.”

But before you can enjoy this African Safari, first you brave your way through the wild crowds.

You can expect the same big crowds and bad traffic Monday, on Memorial Day. Even though it's a holiday, the zoo will be open.

We asked the zoo exactly how many people visited this weekend. Officials said they are still crunching the numbers but a rough tally shows more than 11,000 on Saturday alone. They expect Sunday’s figure to be even larger. In fact, by noon, Omaha Police sent out a tweet telling drivers all of the zoo’s parking lots were full.