While visiting the UK as a Family we decided on WMSP for a family day out as it was only 90 minutes…read moreaway from where we were staying and the weather looked good. We arrived around 10am ( opens at 9:30am on a Weekday ) and were surprised the parking lot wasn't that busy. We had prepaid our tickets / wristband etc ahead of time so didn't have to waste time there and walked in. We managed to see some of the animal exhibits and ride a few of the rides before our allocated Safari drive through of 12:30pm. Once we lined up and began our drive it took about 2 hours, it also became clear that the drive could be more efficient if people actually paid attention to the rules. If it says traffic on the right side doesn't stop ( It states if you want to see the animals to stay to the left ) then don't stop and hold up the rest, if you do then you're a problem. If it states to keep your windows half way up and not let the animals put their heads inside and you do just that then you're putting the Animals and potentially yourselves in Jeopardy, if you do then you're a problem. If it states not to feed the Giraffes because they're monitoring their diet and you then allow the Giraffe to come inside your car while feeding them then you're a problem. I hope if you're one of the above people that you're reading this because....you're an entitled problem. With that being said, the problem people aren't the fault of WMSP. Once our drive was complete we went to park back up and found the parking lot to be drastically busier than when we left. We would certainly advise you if you want to get more done to try and show up early. Price of tickets wasn't bad considering its a major attraction and the price of food and souvenirs while high didn't seem too high to us. A great day out overall and recommended.

There's nothing like animals in captivity to make for an excellent day out. Seeing tigers lolling…read morein the West Midlands rain instead of loping along in a Bengali jungle always makes me happy. I jest, I jest! But the joke surely opens the way to speak of the West Midlands Safari Park's ethical treatment of animals, and their committment to assuring their animals live happy, fulfilled lives, despite being gawked at by herds of Midlanders. Occasionally there's a Welsh person as well, but the buffalo don't mind. The nature reserve is 4 miles of animal viewing. You stay in your car and drive through the park, looking at various creatures, some boring, some adventurous, and some downright frightening. My favourite bit was when the largest giraffe (which is saying a lot) leant into our car window and drooled on my youngest, who threw an absolute fit! You can feed some of the animals, but for some parts, you have to keep your car windows and doors closed and locked. This takes about an hour and a half, after waiting for everybody and their second cousin's aunt-in-law to take 8 pictures of each animal. After that, head over to the Amusement park, where you can go through various bits -- the Bat House, which smells of guano, the seal sanctuary, and seal show (which is good fun), and the snake man, who gives educational talks about reptiles and drapes them all over his shoulders. The rides are good fun -- nothing to write home about if you've been to Alton Towers, but all the stuff you'd expect from an amusement park. The cost to enter the Safari Park is highish, but not ridiculous - £13 per adult, £11.50 per child, and that's just for the animals bit. If you're going to the amusement park, the cost for a wristband to ride all the rides all day is £11 for adults and £10.50 for children. So all in all, if you take a family of four, it will be a £100 day out -- make sure you go early and stay late for it to be worth the cost! With the park opening at 10 and closing at 6, you should be able to get your money's worth/

Lion Cubs experience…read more This my third experience now with Heythrop Zoological Gardens and yet again was a magical one. Me and my husband firstly meets Hannah who is such a lovely lady that explains all about the lion cubs and she then takes us around the forest whilst we walk the cubs along with another trainer. So we walked their new bundle of joy Nero and Lydia the lion cubs. It was a once in a life time opportunity and so unique. We walked the cubs in Heythrops private woods. The little cubs just loved to play with each other all the time whilst walking along and when they came across their favourite tree stumps they just loved leaping and playing on them as well as trying to climb up a tree or two. We could also stroke them when they were more relaxed in places and they felt so soft like rabbit fur. The markings on there fur was also so amazing Lydia the female cub had spot type markings and Nero you could see his mane coming about with his punk rocker type hair style going on. Its a tad expensive doing this experience but I highly recommend as it is so worth it and you won't be able to do this experience at any other zoo in the UK. Only reason this experience is allowed at Heythrop Zoological Gardens is because its a private zoo (not open to public however does have special open days to public 2 days in September only) and train animals are bred for TV and film. This experience only has two Saturdays left in June 2016 with a few places left so if you are interested then book asap. They do other animal experiences throughout the year that you can do from penguins to a sloth so check out there website. If you however want to do the more unique one off experiences like the lion cubs that is not available all year round then I advice you email them and ask them to keep you informed of any new additions like lion cubs, tiger cubs, other baby animals etc. The other animal experiences that I have done at Heythrop is the tiger cubs and a monkey (who starred in My Zoo a TV series). I highly recommend to anyone that loves animals.

Absolutely horrendous, me, my dad, my brother and his girlfriend all went to this zoo in hopes that…read moreit would be A fun family outing. My mom bought the tickets for the wrong day so she couldn't come with us. We got there and went in, showed the tickets we had bought and weren't allowed in as my mother wasn't with us. My dad stated that she couldn't come with us. The man who was working in the kiosk / ticket booth was having none of it. He was quite the rude man and was telling us that we had to buy new tickets under my dad's name. Keep in mind that the tickets you buy online are NON REFUNDABLE. If I could I'd give zero stars. Absolutely terrible.

Where else meerkats can be seen in Birmingham area? Not the only good reason for visit this…read morefacility but just in case you have ever been there, Birmingham Nature Centre is on Pershore Road, behind the Cannon Hill Park, in Edgbaston. The tickets cost £ 4 (adults) and children from 5 to 15 years (£ 1.50), but the little ones (under 5 years old) have free admission. I have been a couple of times, and a part the cockroaches, it always a pleasant spending some hours contemplating wild life and nature over there. The most popular animals are still the meerkats, but obviously that the wildcats, guinea pigs, among other exotic animals also add to the whole experience. Definitely a children's friendly spot, perfect for a picnic in family, if you fancy bringing your own snack. If not, there is a café on the site. A better way of finding more information about the Nature Centre is visiting their facebook page because their page at Birmingham City Council website is very simple and just provides basic information about the locale.

Me, my wife, and 3 kids were desperate for a day out of the house, so we decided to try our local…read moresafari park. It was a very fun trip with really easy parking, the on site cafes and restaurants were a treat for the senses, we were having a great day until my son fell into the lion enclosure and was eaten. All in all great day for the family only rated 3 stars because of the weak lion fences.

Brilliant zoo to take the kids an most adults Hears…read morethere's a small fare ground Also you can get snack here Brilliant day out . Doesn't cost much either

I love animals. I sometimes feel like the crazy cat lady in that fantastic e-harmony spoof when it…read morecomes to nature - I want to hug it all and have it all on a rainbow, but I can't. Can't hug all the nature. Because that's mental. Anyway. Having read David's recount of this spot, and seeing that it's had barely any Yelp attention, I decided it had to be done - lo and behold, my holiday at home was the perfect time to jump in the car, head over Donny way, and get immersed in looking at cool animals. It was busy, with lots and lots of childrens. We foolishly chose to pick refreshments up from the child's side barn, where the screams of joy are amplified and pierce your ear drums. The other adults didn't seem phased though, perhaps that happens when you start to parent. But, nonetheless a 'coffee' and pasty was had to fuel the walk around, and two coffees, two pasties, and a danish was under a tenner. Nice. The programme booklet is three quid really well spent too, btw. Not only do you get the map, times of the talks and such like, but each section gives a little more and details the various species and offers extra info to take home. Love it! And what can you see? All sorts. It's a 1km complex (roughly) and so has plenty of span. That however, in context with say, how much territory a tiger will cover in the wild, seems small. (But that's not a criticism - more a realisation of how much land these animals need in the wild, and how easy it is to cross over into human territory.) However, their commitment to conservation and preservation is astounding. They've three leopards, brothers, all of whom are something like the primary leopards in the world for eventual re-introduction into the wild - their genes are great, and our best hope lies with breeding them, kinda thing. Apparently leopards are the only big cat that have a half decent chance of reintroduction, although I didn't get a chance to ask why that is. Perhaps as their solitary and don't need so much learning time with their mothers? The giraffes were amazing, and breath-taking to see up close. It's weird to consider how massive their heads are, and it looks as though they live life in slow motion by the way they move - it's kind of hypnotic. They also, in real life, look like the kind of animal you'd have invented as a child. Bizarre but beautiful. Great eyelashes. The African hunting dogs were also amazing. And the fact you can walk through enclosed areas and be so intimately close with wallabys and lemurs was an absolute pleasure. We arrived at Lemur woods just at feeding time, and it was pretty incredible. Want one! Can't have one. Must come back. As a quick recap on the animals I saw, there are farm animals for petting, tigers, lions, leopards, giraffes, hunting dogs, lemurs, wallabys, wild boar, marmosets (who were AWESOME!) ostriches and a bunch more. It's best to go when you get a chance to plan the talks, so you can try and luck out to see the feeding times with the big cats, as sadly we didn't see much action from that crowd. But just spotting a massive leopard sat way up in his climbing frame, and catching the male lion roaring, was enough for me. Basically, it's a great day out. Awesome.

Pretty fun day at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park. If I lived in the area, I would definitely have an…read moreannual pass. Spending a day at the park is fun yet slightly confusing. The park is large and each enclosure is really big, which seems great for the animals. We spent a few hours here looking at the lovely animals. My mum-in-law lives in Doncaster and this was just minutes down the road. There is plenty of parking and it's pretty easy to find. The entrance to the park is the most built up area of the park. There is a cafe, gift shop, bathrooms, ice cream stand, etc... The rest of the park is pebble and mulch paths. There are no paved path for wheelchairs. The map that is handed out when you purchase your tickets is low quality and confusing. I love maps and this one sucks. It's hard to find what you are looking for and the park is horribly sign posted. That's my big complaint. We were trying to find the Tigers and ended up at some small primate exhibit instead. This is an easy fix for the park, if they can just get some better signs in the park and better maps. The animals all look healthy and happy. The park employees give talks (ranger talks) and do feedings at designated times. They are informative and answer questions. The lion exhibit is special. I didn't know anything about their history, but my mum-in-law filled me in. They were saved from a horrible zoo in Romania and now live in three groups in large enclosures at the Wildlife park. Read up about them before you visit and it makes their happiness that much better. The BEST part of the park is the lemur exhibit. I had no idea they had such an amazing and interactive area with 3 species of lemurs.The huge enclosed area has netting around the sides and top of a large forested area. The lemurs are allowed to roam freely through the area and humans can walk a path through the area. Lemurs jumped from tree to tree right above us. The ring-tailed lemurs had 2 babies (3 months old) with them. We watched the older lemurs teach the younger lemurs to jump from tree to tree. It was AMAZING. There was another species of lemur just sleeping on the ground in some grass. We could walk up to them and take photos. There was a keeper in the enclosure with the lemurs to make sure no one touched the sleeping lemurs and that the lemurs were protected. There is a third species of lemur that they let out at night. They said it chases the ring-tailed babies around so they are keeping them separated while there are babies. This was the coolest exhibit and totally the highlight of the entire wildlife park. At the end of our visit we played on the slides. Near the gift shop are 3 big slides that kids and adults can slide down. Lots of fun! Overall, a great day out. A few improvements need to be made, but the animals looked great and that's the most important thing.

Blackbrook Zoo is a good family day out in the Moorlands. When the park first opened, it was called…read moreBlackbrook world of birds, and obviously, birds are still an important part of the offerings here (in fact, Blackbrook has the largest bird collection in the UK). But they have now extended their range and made this an attractive and family friendly small zoo, with animals such as lemurs, wallabies and more recently, riverhogs. The zoo is open all year round and has a strong focus on education, leading to many trips by local schools. It has free parking, a gift shop and kids play area, as well as a pretty stone built tea shop - it is well worth a visit.

Went for life drawing during my time at the University. It's good place to go and see animals you…read moresee on tv from different countries all over the world. For me it was very helpful going and do drawings of animals and you have the Dudley Castle next to it. Very relaxing, especially on a sunny day. Was a little busy when I went, lots of families having day out. I didn't know about this place before started University. Bus takes you right opposite the Zoo from city centre. Would love to go again sometime.

Dudley Zoo has, like many things in the midlands, got a lot of bad press. Don't get me wrong, it's…read morenot in the same league as some of the more famous zoo's in the UK but it's slap bang in the middle of Dudley. I've been twice now over the last 6 years and on my second visit I easily noticed a massive improvement in the quality of the enclosures and the general well-being of the animals. Being centred around Dudley Castle the zoo is subject to a hefty amount of inclines so be prepared and wear some sensible shoes. There's plenty of parking and is easy to get to via public transport and at £14 (ish) entry for an adult it's quite reasonable. This small, yet perfectly formed, zoo is home to snow leopards, red pandas, all the big cats, primates, reptiles, birds and more including a very chatty raven! I'd wholeheartedly recommend Dudley Zoo to anybody looking for an animal packed day out in the black country!

Took my 15 yo nephew here today and we both enjoyed it very much. Lots to see and lots of space for…read morethe animals. We were both concerned for some of the animals that are not in their natural habitat just wondering if they were too hot. The train ride was a plus because we got to see animals on the other side of the park that would have been otherwise difficult to reach on foot. My favorite were the penguins, the the brown bear ( it was chasing a bird) the butterflies and the kangaroos.

Whipsnade Zoo has been a tradition in our family since I was a child. My own children now love it…read moretoo. It makes a brilliant day out in the Fresh Air on top of the Chilterns, with views for miles. We are members of the ZSL so can return as often as we like which makes the membership fee much better value. You can pay to enter and if you like the1 vibe, you can offset the cost of the visit against your first year's membership fee which also includes entry to London Zoo. There are elephants, lions, tigers, giraffes, and a large herd of White Rhino. The Chimpanzees have a very large enclosure. You can take the car in, which makes a picnic much easier. Go!