Bristol Zoo Project Reviews Summary

Accessibility

Pros:

• "Very easy to get to from the M5, and was free to park."
• "It is easily accessible, has plenty of car parking and has been carefully adapted for safety during the COVID-19 pandemic."
• "It was very accessible for prams and wheelchairs."
• "The place is wheelchair friendly."
• "Literally just off the motorway with easy parking."
• "We had a wheelchair user in our party and she was able to easily navigate the paths and walkways."
• "Firstly the disability access is the best I've ever encountered from a zoo."

Cons:

• "The pathways are merely muddy tracks one might expect to see in a woodland - definitely NOT wheelchair or small buggy friendly."
• "If you have a wheelchair or a baby buggy, it can be hard to push all the way."
• "The car park is a loosely gravelled field - beware flying stones against coachwork."

Animal Enclosures

Pros:

• "All of the animals were well looked after has really large enclosures with all of the necessary and this showed in how active and true to their wild siblings they were."
• "The animals looked well kept and had large enclosures unlike in many zoos nowadays."
• "Bear Wood is the most natural looking exhibit I've come across."
• "The animals appear to be well looked after and their enclosures clean and well maintained."
• "The animals have space and it's not depressing like zoos often are."
• "Animals are easy to view and in large, spacious, natural enclosures."
• "The animals are in an excellent environment and wonderful enclosures."

Cons:

• "The zebras however looked a little depressed."
• "We didn't see many animals. They can hide away out of view too easily."
• "The lynx was a bit hard to see, in and out of the shrubs and trees."
• "We didn't see bears, lynx, cheetahs, there were few animals far between."
• "Many enclosures are empty due to imminent refurb."
• "The majority of 'compounds' were empty, broken down, and overgrown."
• "I didn't get to see most of the animals as they had an open space to hide and butterfly maze had no butterflies."

Value for Money

Pros:

• "Great entry prices, really affordable."
• "Great day out here, £33 for 2 adults & 2 children."
• "It was only £17 per person which we think is great as our local zoo is £40 per person."
• "Very reasonably priced in comparison with Noah's ark."
• "We were fortunate to visit with a significant discount through my wife's work."

Cons:

• "In comparison far less animals and steep prices for what's on offer."
• "Very poor quality = entry fee."
• "I feel for the price there isn’t enough to see/do for now."
• "Too expensive for what was on offer."
• "The tickets weren’t cheap. We left feeling we had wasted our money."
• "Certainly not worth over £60 we paid to go in."
• "Waste of money sorry to say, took my grand children here today, nearly £90, 2 adults & 3 children age 12, 10 & 8, took 90 mins to walk around slowly to see what they had."

Facilities

Pros:

• "There’s plenty of toilet facilities as you walk around, and a small cafe/coffee shop on site."
• "There are a few outside play areas for the kids, a cafe and a pizzeria."
• "Plenty of outside seating on the woodland trails for picnics."
• "The cafe had a good selection of snacks and drinks."
• "Great little cafe on site and plenty of toilets."
• "Lovely cafes, picnic spots and playgrounds - fun for the whole family."
• "Lots of places to picnic..Tower meadow is perfect for it."

Cons:

• "Seating around the park is very limited."
• "Signage poor- ended up not seeing some animals as simply couldn’t find them."
• "There could be more cafes and places to sit."
• "Unfortunately they shut sections of the park earlier to hasten close up - I don't know if it was because a Sunday or not, but we felt quite pressurised to leave."
• "Some stuff not open due to covid restrictions and some empty space to walk around."
• "Food is expensive so take a packed lunch."
• "They really need more benches. Trying to find available seating is hard."

Staff and Volunteers

Pros:

• "The staff were also very helpful and keen to point out animals and elaborate on their daily routines."
• "The staff are friendly and knowledgeable."
• "All the volunteers we spoke to were interested and interesting."
• "The staff were very friendly and helpful."
• "I am absolutely amazed how friendly and knowledgeable the staff and volunteers are."
• "The staff and volunteers are extremely knowledgable and helpful!"
• "The staff were so engaging and informative, answering all the questions my children had about the animals and conservation."

Cons:

• "They can do with people showing you around maybe every two hours because I had to ask around myself and ended up not seeing some of the animals."
• "The ticket seller was half cut by the look and sound of her."
• "The keepers were lovely and helped point out where animals were in the enclosure and were knowledgeable about the animals in their care."