We'd fancied going to Whipsnade Zoo ever since we'd seen it on the Sing & Sign DVD that Munchkin's addicted to. Along with Sweetpea's parents, we'd saved up a load of Tesco Days Out vouchers and were looking forward to our day out, even if it was half term -busy- and Munchkin and I were a bit under the weather.
It's around a two hour journey from Angmering to Whipsnade, but we didn't care... We love zoos! Munchkin kept talking about animals and seemed to be looking forward to it despite having a sick day from nursery the day before.
We arrived to massive traffic queues. You have a choice of free parking or taking your car in the zoo for £20. We initially decided to park for free, then changed our minds, meaning that we unintentionally jumped half the queue to drive into the park.
Upon arriving, we were unsure where to go. The sign posting wasn't great and we needed to find Sweetpea's family. We parked up and went to meet them, thinking there would be made up footpaths suitable for buggies. Whilst there were some paths meeting this description, many were waterlogged or non existent. We didn't see the giraffes because it was too muddy.
The zoo is large and really spread out. It would be a challenge to get round it without a car. There are narrow roads without pavements going round it. It's important to point out that Whipsnade is not a safari park, you don't see much whilst driving in your car. Most zoos we've been to have had a programme of keepers' talks, we didn't see a keeper during our day at Whipsnade.
My sister-in-law was even less impressed. She was underwhelmed by the number of baby change tables, and felt the service in the cafe we went to was abysmal. Had it not been for the Tesco vouchers, admission plus the car -which wasn't covered by Tesco vouchers- would have been around £130 for four adults and a child -Munchkin is under 3 and therefore free- ZSL might do some good conservation work but a day at Whipsnade Zoo is a waste of time. It's neither a zoo nor a safari park but the worst of both worlds.
We went to Whipsnade last summer and found similar things. We didn't take the car in and there is a lot of walking, most of it along long roads with nothing for the children to look at, and you always have to be aware of the cars. We also ended up changing the toddler's nappy on a bench outside the toilet because it was a portaloo and there were no other changing facilities nearby.
ReplyDeleteWe did enjoy our day though, we also used Tesco vouchers so we didn't have to pay. We were lucky to see the giraffes being fed and some elephants being walked around, and the children did enjoy the soft play area (you have to book a slot on busy days which is worth knowing). We did visit in the summer, but I do remember that there was quite a lot of walking over grass so I can see why it would be a problem in rainy weather. Thanks for the honest review!
Thanks for your comment. I should probably have mentioned that the children's zoo, which looked really good, was closed for refurbishment when we visited. I think that as a family, we're probably quite fussy about zoos because we've been to some really good ones. One of the best ones we've been to in the past year was Africa Alive in Suffolk http://www.africa-alive.co.uk/.
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