| Product: |
Drusillas Park |
| Date: |
05/05/08 (162 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Fun, lots of animals, learning opportunities, interactive. Thomas the Tank engine.
Disadvantages: Cost of entry.
Toby has just celebrated his 2nd Birthday, and as a treat, my husband and I took him to Drusillas Park.
Drusillas is based in Alfriston, East Sussex. It is located just off the A27, so you can't miss it. Once you have parked up and head to the entrance, you need to queue up in the correct line; one is for members, the other day visitors. A word of warning though: the prices do seem very steep, depending what day you go will depend on which rate you pay.
You can check the website before going to see how much it will cost you, as prices do vary, depending on whether it is an off peak day, standard day or peak day.
Under 2s are free.
Child 2 - 12 either £10.20, off peak
£11.70, standard
£12.45, peak
child 13+ /adult £11.20, off peak
£12.70, standard
£13.45, peak
Senior citizen - same as child rate
Long term disabled/ £9.50, off peak
carers for disabled £11.00, standard
£11.75, peak
Depending on what group you are, you can get some discount; these can be checked out on the website, including details on memberships too!
Prices include entry to the zoo, playland, amazon adventure and unlimited rides on Thomas (train)
After paying for entry and a further £1.90 for a guide book, we were given a map and park guide for free, we started on our adventure. Just past the entrance we picked up a few other leaflets:
Animal spotter book -
- Contains pictures of 13 different animals you will find during your visit, when you have found one you have to locate the stamping station nearby and stamp a picture onto the relevant page in your book.
On each page, there is a picture of the animal, its name, a space for the stamp, and a brief description about where each animal lives. For example - "Did you know that Meerkats come from the desert and grassland areas of Southern Africa"
Zoolympics challenge record book -
- Each time you find a zoolympics challenge board you need to follow the instructions, carry out the activity and then record you result in your book. Tasks include 'how long can you hang on?' (i.e. as a monkey on a bar) 'How fast can you run? (like a cheetah)
This is a good way for the children to understand how heavy/fast/loud animals are compared to themselves. At the end of the book you can transfer all your results and include your details, then hand this into the park or post it afterwards to receive a certificate.
As Toby is only 2 he couldn't really try these out, but they are great fun for older children and of course adults!!
You follow a marked out route, which ensures you get to see all the animals, if you do miss anything, you can easily go back a little, but as everyone is moving in the same direction this can sometimes be a little difficult.
Most of the animals you will see are small unusual ones, like monkeys, lemurs, meerkats, penguins and beavers. (There are no lions, elephants or tigers.) One small section is for a few farm animals including cows, goats, sheep and pigs. In here you can find out how to milk a cow, not a real one, but a plastic full size one with rubber/plastic udder.
As well as these animals there are also a small area focusing on pets, including rabbits, mice, snakes, guinea pigs etc, where you can find out how to look after them, what they need and how much they would cost you to have one at home.
The park map gives information as to when some of these animals are fed, you can plan your day to watch these, talk to the keepers and learn more about their habitats etc.
After we saw the animals we went for a train ride, Thomas the Tank engine was waiting at the station with 4 carriages, including Annie and Clarabel, we hopped on board, was given a sticker and was ready for a ride. On the journey we saw 'James the red engine' in the engine sheds, waved to 'Cranky the crane,' waved to 'The fat Controller' waiting by the tracks and even saw 'Diesel' too. During this 5 minute journey they play the 'Thomas theme tune over the tannoy, which can become a little annoying. Well for the adults anyway!!
After this we tried out somewhere to eat. There are several places around the park to try, each one does different things. We went to the Explorers café and restaurant, and bought 3 hot meals, 2 drinks for approx £20. The portions were large, and we all left a bit on the plates. My husband had ½ roast chicken, I had lasagne and Toby chicken nuggets, we all had chips and veg. you can also get salads, ice creams, cakes and other snacks in here.
If you wish to try one of the other places then 'Oasis café' serves up fast food including burgers, jacket potatoes, hot dogs, ice creams and children's lunch boxes.
'The station Buffet' offers hot doughnuts, hot waffles, sandwiches, ice creams, fudge and cookies. 'Amazon Adventure' serves hot & cold drinks and small snacks like biscuits, crisps and chocolate bars.
As we were allowed unlimited rides on Thomas we went on the train ride again, to allow for our food to go down a little before heading off to play.
There are numerous play areas, including:
- Toddler room, - contains 3 small life like buildings, made like houses, which contain areas to climb, play etc. One had a slide which went through the window out into a blue and white coloured ball pool (made to look like a swimming pool) there was a garden area with large dog kennel to play in, a stable with two rocking horses in, a pretend bus to ride in, several little tikes cars to play in and a pretend petrol station for filling up. Good to know that the prices weren't too expensive either!!! Lol.
- 'Go bananas' an outside area for children under 6yrs with climbing frames, swings, slides, a covered low level trampoline, and a mini roundabout.
- 'Playland' main area for under 12's containing larger equipment like large vertical spiders web, full size fire engine with slide, Monkey kingdom area for climbing and sliding, and a sand pit with diggers.
- 'Amazon Adventure' an indoor soft play area with large wavy slide.
- 'Explorers Lagoon' small water play area with paddling pool.
As some of these are located indoors they are ideal for the hot or wet days.
There are several other things that you and your children can do here including, panning for gold, mini golf, wacky workshop to name a few. Many of these things are only open during weekends and in school holidays and may cost an additional fee.
If you want to you could celebrate your child's birthday at Drusillas, which would include all day pass, a choice of hot & cold food, unlimited ice cream and an opportunity to feed the penguins.
Children aged 6-9yrs can also be a junior keeper for the day, helping the staff to clean and feed the animals and learn more about the animals close up.
Anyone can adopt one or more of the animals, by paying a fee you can choose an animal, receive a certificate, have your name on a plaque near the animals' enclosure as well as receive 3 complimentary tickets to keep a check on your chosen animal. Your fee will go towards ongoing animal care and conservation. These are ideal gifts too for anyone who loves animals.
If you didn't think this was enough for a fun packed day out. Drusillas also have special days throughout the year when special guests visit and say hello to the children. Some of the special guests lined up for this year include: Bob the builder, Tweenies, spiderman, Dora the explorer, Fifi, Scooby Doo, and many, many more.
There is so much more I could say about a day at Drusillas, but why don't you go and have a look for yourselves. It can be an expensive day out, but taking your own packed lunch would keep the costs down. Next time we go we will take our converted Tesco clubcard vouchers as this will reduce the cost of entry. Tesco vouchers are multiplied by 4 to pay for deals to many attractions and Drusillas is one of them.
We had a great day out, the sun was shining, we were all exhausted by the time we got home. Since being back we have seen various animals in books or on the television and we are able to talk about them, and look back at the photos we took, which is a good way for Toby to remember what fun we had. He loves to walk around the living room like a penguin, flapping his arms by his side, and thinks it's really fun pretending to be a monkey!
The park itself it well maintained, clean and tidy, and although it is expensive, you get your moneys worth. There are plenty of facilities for toileting, disabled, nappy changing etc. and of course there are many places to go and spend your money on toys/souvenirs/gifts which including a huge selection of soft animals and plenty of Thomas stuff!
I liked the way the park was laid out, encouraging you to see all the animals first, before the children even see Thomas and the play areas. If you wish to see the animals again later you can follow the paths back to see animals which were either sleeping earlier of those which are being fed. There is plenty to keep children of all ages entertained, and the tasks throughout the park, help everyone to learn more about the animals, rather than just look and walk past.
On our return home I looked at the guide, and found it full of useful information, which you can use to remind your children of what they saw, it includes jokes and games too. If you go as a visit with your club or school, this guide can be used to enhance your learning if you are doing a topic on animals.
www.drusillas.co.uk
01323 874100
Open 362 days a year, with over 1000 animals, you can always guarantee a great day out at Drusillas - no ordinary zoo!
Nicola 05/05/08
Summary: 362 days, over 1000 animals, a guaranteed great day out at Drusillas, No ordinary zoo!!
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