Whipsnade Zoo Reviews Summary

Animal Enclosures

Pros:

• "The animals have amazing enclosures."
• "The variety of animals and the spacious enclosures they have are truly impressive."
• "The enclosures for the animals don't seem too small like most other zoos do."
• "All animals appear well looked after with plenty of space for them to make their own."
• "The Animals are well looked after and have vast spaces to roam around in."
• "Animal enclosures are large and they look happy too."
• "The animals are all very well looked after with so much space for them."

Cons:

• "There were a lot of animals we couldn't see or the enclosures seemed to be empty."
• "Some of the enclosures could have some better viewpoints such as the lion and tigers as if they are not in certain places you wont see them."
• "There were a few enclosures with nothing in but still very enjoyable."
• "Not as many different species of animals as I thought there would be considering the size of the place."
• "If you want to see animals then you're better off going to London zoo... we seen 1 zebra, 1 lioness, 1 cheetah, no lemurs, no otters, no lions, no tigers, no lynx, no guinea pigs, no red pandas."
• "No big cats. I could go on about how vast the park is and it is beautiful, but no sign posting and lack of knowledge from the staff..."
• "The brown bears enclosure is being updated so they were not there."

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "Staff very helpful."
• "From the moment we arrived, we were greeted by friendly staff who were more than happy to answer any questions we had about the animals and the park."
• "Friendly zoo staff all around."
• "The volunteers and staff were outstanding, so helpful, informative and friendly."
• "The staff were so friendly and informative."
• "The staff were so friendly. Especially in the butterfly House and the Bird display."
• "The staff are so incredibly friendly and very informative!"

Cons:

• "Sometimes not very friendly customer services."
• "Staff at reception and in the restaurants are not very friendly, they just seemed tired and grumpy."
• "The lady on the till was very grumpy, bearing in mind you've all come for a nice day out, I just feel she should appear a little happier."
• "But the people on the feedback team, when I emailed them this week regarding feedback I had for their website were not helpful at all and very quite rude!"
• "Food quality was not the best in the base camp restaurant with my wife having 1 taste of the fish and deciding it tasted very odd and / or off."
• "Some very friendly staff (red shirts) and some very rude staff (blue shirts)."
• "It was the worst zoo experience in my life, and I hate being a supporter and a silver member of this terrible place."

Facilities and Amenities

Pros:

• "We parked in the Free Car Park stay which was only a 5 minute walk to the entrance."
• "There's plenty of free parking opposite the zoo as well, combined with ZSL membership for a very low cost day out."
• "In the farm area, you can stroke the goats when they choose to walk about and there is plenty of hand washing sinks with hot water in the area."
• "Good variety of different animals and plenty of open space."
• "The park also has several restaurants and cafes, which served delicious food and refreshments throughout the day."
• "Lots of toilets around the site."
• "All facilities were clean and tidy, as was the whole site."

Cons:

• "Also the cafe lacked choice of food and drinks and could do with more food option and more spread around not just in the entrance."
• "Eating selection @ cafe's & Deli + Kitchen was poor."
• "No water fountains in the place, as an animal conservation partner you should be encouraging people to reuse bottles..."
• "Choice of food is quite limited."
• "The hot food options are also far apart and they charge £3 for a simple cheese sandwich for hardly any butter."
• "The food is basic nothing special."
• "Food can be pricey, so a DIY picnic always a good idea."

Value for Money

Pros:

• "The cost of tickets and tour booklet was reasonable."
• "We saved a bit of money buying our tickets in advance."
• "Great value for money."
• "We took advantage of the current deal offer which was a great saving."
• "Awesome year pass for me and my two kids... £138 for three people for a year is pretty good value to me."
• "We have membership, and it's totally worth it as we are there all the time."
• "Fully fully recommend. Worth the money and the visit."

Cons:

• "We drove between Africa, Asia and Europe, which cost us another fee of £30 which is well worth it as you'd not even see half the animals otherwise."
• "But considering how much money we paid to get in, not many animals were actually in their areas for us to see."
• "I do find it overpriced in all areas spending £100 & that's only for 2 persons!!!"
• "Visited on grandson's 3rd birthday with excessive price of £19.90 (online) wholly inflated!"
• "Since we went in winter many of the animals were not in their enclosures which negatively impacts value for money as less animals can be seen."
• "Unfortunately it was quite expensive to take the car in too."
• "Prices for food were soo high and the food was just terrible!"