Not quite paradise (Paradise Wildlife Park)

Member Name: zerub

Product:	Paradise Wildlife Park
Date:	13/10/09 (76 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Animals, playgrounds, paddling pool

Disadvantages: softplay!

Paradise Wildlife Park is a good place to take the kids for a day out.

Essentially it is a zoo. It has lions and tigers, camels and wallabies, alligators and lemurs, penguins and meerkats, snakes and parrots. The animals seem well looked after, and at the same time is it possible to get close enough to get a good look at them. Especially the jaguars and leopards - they are often asleep on a platform, and you can climb the stairs and stand right next to them (behind a lot of heavy duty wire, obviously).

As well as the animals there are lots of playgrounds. There is a pirate-themed one with a boat, an adventure-style one aimed at slightly older children, and a real old train engine (painted like Thomas) and a fire engine that they can climb on. Further through the zoo there is another playground, and also a small train ride through the woods (you have to pay extra for that one). There is a fairground carousel ride that is free to go on, a helterskelter and a bouncy castle. And yet another playground round another corner with more climbing things and swings.

We like to meander between the animals and the playgrounds and the combination works well. A bit of looking, a bit of doing. Particularly as the children get older and I actually get to sit down in the playgrounds!

There is a decent-sized cafe and also outdoor picnic seating. We usually take a picnic to save some money. It isn't somewhere I'd recommend going on a rainy day - almost everything is outdoors - so a picnic fits in with that.

Then, once we've done all that, there are the bits they really want to get to - first the indoor soft play area. This is the usual crowded hell smelling faintly of feet, but the kids love it and they sell Starbucks coffee and muffins. After that, the paddling pool. It's big, shallow, and has seats around the edge. After this, everyone needs a complete change of clothing (including me, often, after I've rescued my fearless youngest a few times).

We try to avoid the shop so I can't tell you about that.

And the toilets are next to the carpark on the way out, most convenient.

In all, it is a very full day out and the children come home exhausted, which we like.

We usually pay with Tesco vouchers - otherwise it is £14 for adults and £11 for over-2s, which is a bit much for us.

I think the only real downside it that sometimes the children can be standing at close proximity to the most amazing, beautiful wild animals, whining that they want to go to the soft play area! I think the site might be better without that - although it is handy if it rains.

Summary: a busy day out