Whipsnade Wild Animal Park > Reviews > I want to see the animals!

Author's product rating:   

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Advantages:	A day out !  Good play area .
Disadvantages:	Catering and Poor Value for Money

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

I decided that democracy should prevail in our household, so I asked my daughter, Amelia, what she wanted to do on one of our days out. "I want to see the animals!" she replied. So that was the decision made for us.

We've been big fans of Howletts, Port Lympne and Woburn Safari Park. Woburn especially is so geared towards kids that we've made about half a dozen visits and Amelia is only 2.5 years old! (You don't have to pay for kids under 3's - that must be the Scottish part of my ancestry!)

So I trawled the net for alternatives to our usual favourites. London Zoo was out because I'm normally a rat in the daily race and couldn't bear heading in towards work.

LOCATION

Whipsnade is near Dunstable in Bedfordshire. It's signposted from the M1 and the brown tourist "elephant" sign is easy to follow. It's about a 10-15 minute drive from the junction 9 of the M1.

There are bus and train services that get within taxi distance to Whipsnade. For bus services from Luton and Dunstable call 0870-608 2608. Green Line Buses from London Victoria to Hemel Hempstead (summer only, and not on Sundays) call 0870-608 7261.

The nearest train stations are Luton Parkway and Hemel Hempstead Boxmoor (both about 10 miles away from the Park), for train services call 08457-484950.

OPENING TIMES

You can see all the details on Whipsnades own site at www.whipsnade.co.uk

When we visited today the opening times were 10am to 6pm.

ADMISSION PRICES

Whipsnade has an external car park that charges £3.50. If you take your car into Whipsnade then admission for the car is another £11.00! Firstly I feel that the external car park charge is high for a car park in the middle of the country. If it's a fine day, you don't have kids and you have the energy to amble around then it is the better choice. Out of season, I would recommend that you pay to get in with your car as the safari bus is infrequent and not very appealing. That said the park is compact enough for a nice day out in clement weather.

The 2005 ticket prices are:

Adult - £14.50
Child - £11.00 (age 3-15)
Child under 3 years - FREE
Student/Senior Citizen/concession - £12.50
Saver ticket - 2 adults & 2 children or 1 adult & 3 children = £46.00

And if you book online you get 10% off. We paid a whopping total of £58.00 (mum, dad, granny and car admission)!

THE PARK

If you drive your car into the park then you basically take a counter-clockwise drive around the park. There's a maximum speed limit of 10mph. There are plenty of toilets although some of them are pretty tired and grim. There are plenty of spaces where you can park along the route and also separate car parks nearer the animals. The views of the surrounding countryside is stunning in places.

THE ANIMALS

Whipsnade boasts:

Lemurs, chimpanzees, European bison, European brown bear, European grey wolf, penguins, reindeer, waterbuck, roan antelope, white rhinoceros, gemsbok, reticulated giraffe, black rhinoceros, sitatunga, vultures, Grevy's zebra, scimitar-horned oryx, greater kudu, pygmy hippopotamus, common hippopotamus, Caribbean flamingo, Siberian tiger, Asian elephants, greater one horned rhinoceros, gaur, Przewalski's horse, Bactrian camel, red panda, silvery marmoset, Goeldi's monkey and sealions. Several species of deer including Pere David's deer, barasingha, sika deer. Bald eagle, Harris's hawk, Bengal eagle owl, Peregrine falcon, macaws, waterfowl, Reeves' muntjac, prairie marmot, Bennett's wallaby, peafowl, jungle fowl, Chinese water deer, and mara.

The Children's Farm has many species including shire horse, pygmy goats, pigs, ponies and alpaca.

Discovery Centre houses seahorses, endangered fish, invertebrates, marine species. piranhas, West African dwarf crocodile, white-faced saki monkeys, golden-headed lion tamarin, Dwarf mongoose, giant centipede, leaf-cutter ants, Egyptian tortoises

THE GOOD BITS

1) The views of the Chilterns.

2) The animals do seem more content in there surroundings. For example the tigers were happily sleeping around there pond rather than pacing up and down at some other zoos.

3) There is a fairly new childrens play area - big slides and tower near the centre of the park which was a big hit with Amelia.

4) Theres a bumpy track called The Passage to India which you can only access by the train or by car. (Off season, ie before Easter, the train doesn't run). It's a fairly good replica of a safari where the deer roam right up to the track. The kids loved it.

THE BAD BITS

1) Where cars are allowed into the park, there's often no demarcation or pavement between pedestrians and the traffic of other visitors and park vehicles. When you have young children it is a grave concern.

2) Where there are pavements they are often in very poor condition and the surface has degraded significantly. There are also numerous potholes.

3) In the central park area where there are no cars - only paths between the animals, they've use large aggregate to create paths. Looks good in theory, but when you have a buggy you spend a lot of time getting stuck. We have a double buggy with 5 inch wheels and still had difficulty. I imagine that if you have one of those all terrain 3 wheelers then you'll be fine. But I can't help thinking that any disabled people would struggle at times. Seeing as any zoo, by nature, has a captive audience of young kids then this is a serious omission.

4) The prices of some of the vending machines are inexplicably high. £1 for a cup of coffee or £1.50 for a 500ml bottle of Diet Coke.

5) The catering is totally abysmal. The Cafe on the Lake is clean enough and provides plenty of high chairs. The food and the prices are seriously bad. We paid £1.10 for a tiny pot of tea. They don't serve tea in pots so you have to buy another meagre cup. The biggest joke was the sausage meal that I had. 2 sausages, a handful of chips and some baked beans for £6.25! They must be making a profit of £5.50 per meal!

Seriously though. I don't begrudge paying premium prices in parks and other attractions where you're "held to ransom". It's par for the course to get charged high prices. Whipsnade has signs saying "Every penny you spend goes on conservation". Fine up to a point, but the food really is substandard for the price charged and you get the feeling that they're really out to claw as much out of you as possible. Whipsnade should take a look at the catering at Woburn where they charge a maximum of £5-6 for some really good hot food.

6) More often than not you would find that the animals were hiding in there enclosures so that you couldn't see them. In the central area, there were a few enclosures that were empty. Overall you get the feeling that the whole park is tired and in need of some TLC

OVERALL

In some instances I can recommend Whipsnade. If it's a gloriously sunny day, you don't have kids, and have the time to walk around at leisure then there are some stunning views. The presence of the animals would add a welcome interest as you stroll around.

If you have kids and you have to pay admission, then it is totally overpriced and bad value for money. There seems to be a prevailing attitude that because it's linked to London Zoo, the Zoological Society of London, and have the mantra of conservation thrust at you constantly that you should pay a premium for entry and receive less in return.

Am I being overly harsh? Well, I paid £58 for entry, £30 for food, £5 on other drinks and about £50 on petrol travelling there and back - a total of £143 for a 3/10 experience. The previous week I paid £19.99 for a Eurotunnel day ticket, £22 for entry, £20 for food, £10 on other drinks and £50 in petrol to visit Nausicaa in Boulogne - a total of £121.99 for a 9/10 experience.

Amelia summed it up:

"It's too bumpy daddy!"
"Where have the animals gone?"
"Not more deer again!"
"Can we go to Bo-bun?" (Woburn)

Just remember to take your own food if you go!