Ponderosa Zoo Reviews Summary

Play Areas

Pros:

• "There are a few different play areas. One for smaller children with a climbing frame and slides."
• "Kid friendly with lots of places to play."
• "There are 3 different play areas which my little boy loved."
• "The children enjoyed the play areas including the indoor one for which we had to pay extra."
• "The place is lovely and clean and so much for children to do!"
• "Our grand daughter liked the three play areas and we could use the fact that there's animals to see between them to move her along."
• "The play areas were great and this is where we spent most of our time."

Cons:

• "Disappointed there is no soft play anymore."
• "The play area with sand needs renovating."
• "The water has also gone from the sandpit and the pirate boat offered little in the way of entertainment."
• "The path to the sandpit was full of puddles so we did not go."
• "The pathways and walkways needed attention as were so muddy and boggy."

Value for Money

Pros:

• "Less than £10 each for a well organised park is a bargain."
• "Very reasonable price."
• "Great value for money."
• "Of course it's cheaper to enter than most zoos."
• "Price is also really reasonable."
• "Not too bad for the price you pay."
• "Super value for money wide variety of animals food&drink at reasonable prices."

Cons:

• "You could see the collective parents trying to be positive after spending their hard earned cash on a glorified park with a handful of animals in poor conditions."
• "Especially if you want to spend £26 for 1 hour."
• "The cost of living is bad enough without been scammed."
• "Buying food/ice creams there is a bit pricey."
• "Tried the pizza from the shed. These were massively expensive and very underwhelming."
• "We spent around £40 for entry and we thought we would take the children for a meal in the cafe on the site, me and my friend spent around £40 on food which included 3 sandwiches, 3 hot dogs, 6 bags of crisps and 6 drinks, we thought the price was very high."

Animal Enclosures and Care

Pros:

• "All the animals looked great condition and very interested in coming out and seeing the public."
• "The enclosures were oversized and the animals look very well looked after!"
• "Animals look really well cared for."
• "The array of animals was truly impressive."
• "The animals were varied, happy and obviously really well looked after."
• "The animals are lovely to see and kept and looked after really well."
• "The animals appear well cared for and there’s plenty of variety to see."

Cons:

• "Many enclosures were empty and some of the enclosures in the reptile house were poorly maintained with cloudy windows so we couldn't look at them properly."
• "The animals we did see looked fed up."
• "Somewhat disappointed with the number of animals on show. There were a number of empty cages and many animals were in their overnight area which could not be viewed."
• "Most of the exhibits were empty, and the ones that were available, featured terrified looking animals in quite plain, small enclosures."
• "Alot of animals weren't to be seen or sleeping, not very active and some enclosures could do with more enrichment items."
• "Only about 50% of the animals were seen, not sure if there was actually any animals in a lot of the enclosures."
• "Some animals seemed to be in very small enclosure's and the cat 😺 was going stir crazy, pacing over the same 3 meters of ground."

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "Every member of staff we came across were very polite and welcoming."
• "Staff were lovely. Extra points for the lady behind reception who really made an effort to cheer up my mardy daughter and it worked she left with a beaming smile."
• "Staff were lovley and helpful."
• "The staff are very enthusiastic and very interested in their roles which is great to see."
• "Staff were really nice too."
• "All staff very friendly and helpful."
• "The staff were both knowledgeable and welcoming."

Cons:

• "The keeper that we came in to contact with wasn't overly friendly."
• "At the start the young lady at the gift shop looked like she did not want to be there and did not smile at one person."
• "The only downside of our day was the beginning and the end when we had to pass the reception to enter and exit the zoo as the receptionist was mute."
• "Staff were nowhere to be seen to control the masses."
• "Not one member of staff acknowledged us/my two year old son when he was looking at the animals."
• "The cafe and toilets were really unsanitary, and the staff were not helpful or reasonable about anything."
• "I was dissatisfied and disappointed of staff action."