All The Fun Of The .... ermm Zoo ? (Blackpool Zoo)

Member Name: Rhiana

Product:	Blackpool Zoo
Date:	28/06/09 (158 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastic zoo, lots of animals, fascinating talks, animals seem very well cared for.

Disadvantages: Play areas and Dinasaur safari were dissapointing.

For the last two years my daughter and I have enjoyed a few days in Blackpool, and on both trips our favourite of all the attractions was the zoo, in fact it was only 3 days since our recent visit and my daughter is still talking about it. Situated just a couple of miles from The Golden Mile Promenade I believe it is easily accessible and sign posted for cars from the M6, and has a large car park. However as I don't drive and we were staying in Blackpool, we took the open top sightseeing bus from the tower, which stops at all the big attractions and the nearby Haven and Pontins holiday parks, and takes you right up to the Zoo entrance.

Set in 32 acres of parkland and lakes, Blackpool zoo isn't huge, but I definitely think it is one of the best zoo's I have ever been too. It is home to 1500 animals from 400 different species, with every continent of the globe represented.

The zoo is open every day of the year, apart from Christmas day, from 10 am with last admission at 5pm and park closing 45 minutes later. Admission prices for our recent visit where £13.99 for myself and £9.99 for my daughter, which I feel is bordering on expensive, but as we knew we really loved the zoo felt it was worth the cost. There are discounts for various family groups, concessions and other group bookings, and a 10% discount can be applied if you book in advance online. Full details can be found at the Zoo's website.

As we arrived at the zoo you enter a large airy building which houses reception, toilets, children's soft play (at an additional cost to the zoo admission charge), gift shop and ticket booths. Wheelchairs and pushchairs can be hired at reception, and indeed I did decide to hire a pushchair. My daughter is 4 and a half, and actually hasn't used a buggy for almost a year, however it was the last day of a very busy break, very hot and I was carrying a quite large rucksack. I had nightmares of her crying to be carried halfway round, and the £3.50 hire charge with a refundable £10 deposit seemed a worthwhile price to pay! (and gave me somewhere to hang my rucksack). I was very impressed with the pushchair, it was a dream to push, far better than my daughters old thing we used to cart about everywhere, and it even had a nice sun shade over it. It turned out to be £3.50 well spent, and an absolute day saver! Wheelchairs are free of charge, but require a £10 deposit. Both can be pre-booked, with information on the zoo website.

You can purchase a guide to the zoo for £2 although I have never bothered as I find it very well signposted and I don't think we've missed anything. What I would recommend you pick up or take note of are the animal feed and talk times. These sessions are held throughout the day and really do give you the best views of the animals, especially the elusive lions and tigers who are difficult to spot if snoozing in the long grass and behind tree's. You can find them on a leaflet at the ticket booth, on chalkboards as you enter the zoo or if your ultra organised, on the website before your visit.

I am always impressed on entering the zoo at how lush green and clean it is, in contrast to Blackpool itself! The zoo is very easily navigated and very well signposted and the terrain is pretty flat, if a little stony and dusty. There are far too many animals to talk about individually, so I'm going to keep to the ones my daughter and I particularly enjoy.

The Sea lion display is quite near the entrance and is our first port of call with shows running a few times a day. There are around 6 sea lions who have a good sized pool and land enclosure. This year we were lucky enough to see a cub that had been born just 2 days beforehand. The keepers do a feed and display with the sea lions, who seem to really enjoy entertaining the visitors with their tricks. I was pleased to learn that not only are they taught to the sea lions to entertain us, but primarily to emulate behaviors they would have in the wild. I find them fascinating!

The elephants live in an outdoor and large indoor area you can walk through, which also houses the creepy crawlies (in glass tanks, thank goodness!). There are 3 female Asian elephants, and I highly recommend you attend the elephant feed and talk where you come almost face to face with these huge animals. I did feel very sorry for the elephants. They have a large area, but they are massive and it's not big enough. They looked quite sad, but then elephants often do, don't they? However as we learned in the talk, they were rescued from a circus, I am pretty sure they have a better life now at the zoo where the keepers obviously care very well for the animals and are incredibly passionate when talking about them. As I mentioned the elephants share their indoor area with the creepy crawlies. There are snakes, tarantulas, giant cockroaches, locusts, stick insects and more, who you can even meet and handle in the creepy crawly experience that runs daily at certain times. We decided to give this one a miss!

There are 17 different types of primate at Blackpool Zoo, and of course they are every-ones favourite, including my daughter. In the Amazonia indoor enclosure and the Lemur woodland walk the lemurs run freely...and they aren't shy!. My daughter was delighted when one ran over my shoulders. You can see the Gorillas extremely close up in a viewing tunnel with glass windows, which is amazing. I was shocked at how huge they actually are. Some monkeys were more shy than others though, and a couple of enclosures seemed empty while their inhabitants slept out of of the way of gawking people.

The parrot and bird show is fantastic. The parrot keeper was so passionate about the birds and they are amazingly clever and amusing, and beautiful to look at.

My favourite section is the big cats. Home to a pride of African Lions including 1 male, 3 lioness and 2 adorable cubs!, meer cat and 1 Amur Tiger. This is another talk I really recommend you go to, although I have seen better feeds at South Lakes Safari (the Cats here knew where there food was and didn't seem that interested) finding out about them was really fascinating. The lion and tiger enclosures are really big, and at times during the day they are really hard to spot. However about half an hour before feed times, they are brought into indoor cages, and you can see them threw glass really close up. The cubs where fascinating, so cute and playful! The mother lioness was ferocious, as 2 keepers walked by the cage you could really see she was agitated, although I'm unsure whether it was due to knowing it was coming up to feed time, or to protect her cubs. She jumped up and roared at them, only just a couple of meters away from where my daughter and I where watching. She was huge and beautiful, and so loud! My daughter was terrified. The Amur tiger was also pretty spectacular, although a bit thin and tatty looking. We found out in the talk though this is because he is very old...18 years in fact. Wild tigers usually only live until around 15 years old. The Amur tiger faces extinction with only 200 left in the wild. It was devastating to find out that there are more Amur tigers kept as pets in America than there are in the wild.

Finally the Giraffes, and my daughters favourites. These are new residents at the Zoo, as they weren't there last year. Giraffe heights lets you see these stunning animals within meters through glass, or you can go up a bridge and see them outdoors. I have never seen a Giraffe so close, and they really are beautiful and looked very very well cared for. There was even a baby giraffe which pleased my daughter no end!

As well as the more exotic breeds of animals Blackpool Zoo also has a small children's zoo which is home to rabbits, donkeys, goats, pigs, chickens and other small animals. You are allowed to pet some of these animals who live in a really lovely woodland area of the zoo.

There is a large cafe serving hot and cold food, which while we never ate in, looked extremely clean and nice. Toilets are situated in 3 areas of the zoo, so you are always near one and there are plenty, however they are a bit grotty and none had toilet roll so I would advise you take tissues. There are several ice cream and drink stands dotted around the park, at £1.50 for a bottle of Pepsi it is quite expensive! Picnic areas are also available around the park, with a large area next to a play park. My daughter found this a bit disappointing, with only 2 small climbing frames and 1 slide and tens of kids wanting to play, it's pretty inadequate. Beside the play park are a mini golf course and bouncy castle, both cost £1.50 per child and annoyed me slightly after paying £24 to get into the zoo. I caved in and grudgingly allowed my daughter a bounce which she enjoyed. Another additional cost is a small steam train which runs from the children's zoo to the big cats and costs £1 for a single journey or £2 return...per person (anyone over 3 years old!) I actually really like these little trains though so didn't mind forking out, and it is very scenic and sweet.

The final additional attraction to mention is the dinosaur safari. Once an additional cost, it is now included in the general admission price and it's a good job too as I'd have been pretty upset if I had to pay. It's a walk around prehistoric periods with huge models of various dinosaurs complete with sound effects. The models however have seen better days and look quite shabby and neglected, although it was interesting to read about some of them.

Finally, after 5 hours of wandering around being fascinated and educated by all the wonderful animals it was time to go home. Of course we had to make the obligatory stop at the gift shop. The products in there are pretty typical zoo souvenir, Ranging from expensive to extortionate and we bought a ridiculously priced soft giraffe, or rather my daughter did and with her own money as I am a mean Mummy.

Overall, we both really enjoy visiting this zoo. I wondered if my daughter might find it a bit boring on her second visit, but we both found new things to discover, there were new additions we hadn't yet met, and this time we attended every feed and talk. I would really recommend that anyone visiting does the same. They are really very insightful, and my 4 year old daughter was fascinated and asked lots of questions at the end, when offered to do so by the very friendly and approachable staff. I also leave feeling happy that the animals are very well cared for and are given a natural environment as possible. It is incredibly clean and well maintained and the animals really do look happy and well. Blackpool zoo claim to be committed to the conservation of endangered species and research and it is pretty clear that really is the case.

While it is on the expensive side, I personally think it is worth paying to go, although I would advise you to take your own food to keep costs down, and try and bypass the gift shop! The only disappointing areas are the dinosaur safari and the play areas, however seeing such wonderful and amazing animals so close and attending the fabulous feed and talk sessions more than made up for it. My final advice to anyone considering a visit would be to wear comfortable shoes, as there is quite a lot of walking to do and to take sun cream in the summer! The zoo always seems to have a cool breeze blowing round and for the second year running I burnt through not realising how hot it actually was.

I would highly recommend a trip to Blackpool zoo to anyone who finds themselves in the area, it really is a great day out.

You can find out more at www.blackpoolzoo.org.uk

Summary: A great day out x