West Midlands Safari Park Fun (West Midland Safari and Leisure Park)

Member Name: wwfc_barmy_army

Product:	West Midland Safari and Leisure Park
Date:	20/08/07 (2360 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A fun day out

Disadvantages: Food is expensive

I have been to the West Midlands Safari Park (WMSP) quite a number of times. WMSP is located in Bewdley there are directions on the website.

West Midland Safari and Leisure Park
Spring Grove
Bewdley
Worcestershire
DY12 1LF
Tel: 01299 402114
Fax: 01299 404519

http://www.wmsp.co.uk/home_visit.php

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::Price::
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Admission only (Rides extra) Adults - £9.50 Children - £9.50 (Under 4's free)

You pay for entry into the park when you drive into the park and at the same time you can asked if you would like to buy a programme (£3.99) and a box of animal feed (£2.75). I personally do not think that the programme is worth the money, although some people seem to buy it, so it must be good for some people. But the animal feed is always good, especially if you have kids.
The price to enter the park is not a bad price for what you get, BUT you get a FREE return ticket, so you can enter the park for free another time, although you do have to be in the same car and have the same amount of people in the car.

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::Drive-Through Safari::
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The 4 mile drive-through Safari, which covers an area of over 100 acres, is home to a variety of, exotic and unusual animals which roam the reserves, new for 2006 is the 'Buffalo Boma' exhibit, forming part of the African Big 5, exclusive to West Midland Safari Park in the UK.
There are also Elephants, Rhino, Giraffe, Lion, Wallaby, Tiger, Emu, Camel, Zebra, Gnu, Eland, Ankole Cattle, Yak, Przewalski’s Horse, Asian Buffalo, Wolf, Llama and all kinds of Antelope.

The drive around the park has quite a few steep hills, so ensure that you are a confident driver as you may have to wait on these steepish hills with cars infront and behind you.

A few years ago unfortunatly they made the decision to get rid of the monkey section, purely because (i believe) that they were causing too much damage to cars. As a child this section was always the best although perhaps not to the car owner. Although at least now you can go around the park and even if you've got a nice car you don't have to worry about any harm coming to it.

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::Discovery Zone::
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Once you've been around the actual drive through safari you have the chance to get out of your car and go into the discovery zones. The Discovery Trail is our fantastic all-weather animal attraction and is where you can find, the Reptile House (home of TV star Mark O'Shea), SeaQuarium, Creepy Crawlies, Twilight Cave and Seal Island which all make for a fun-filled time.

Follow the Trail, designed to fascinate, intrigue and educate, to discover a huge variety of amazing animals. Admire the swimming skills of our sea lions at Seal Island with its underwater viewing area. Get up close to our fruit bats as they free-fly in the Twilight Cave. Enter the spine chilling world of Creepy Crawlies and SeaQuarium featuring some of the most amazing creatures that live in our oceans. Visit the Reptile House to see our large diverse collection of reptiles and amphibians from all over the world. Look out for the question boards as you go for your chance to win brilliant prizes.

Whilst in the Discovery Trail do not miss the daily Sea Lion Shows which take place at advertised times in the specially designed Sea Lion Theatre. I have never been to the sea lion show till this year, and i really enjoyed it, the acting wasn't exactly brilliant, but they followed the story of peter pan with the sea lions playing as some of the characters and performing tricks. Well worth going to see, but check the times on the board outside the arena for when the shows are, and get there early if it's a busy day.

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::Rides::
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There is wonderful variety of 30 fun rides and attractions to suit the whole family, water rides, fast spinning rides, pirate ships and the dodgems to name just a few. The newest of the Rides is the Venom Tower Drop, when we went the que really wasn't long for this ride and didn't look that popular although that could be because the ride is quite a quick ride but never the less i enjoyed that ride a lot, a similar concept to tower drops at other theme parks. The black fly is also a very good ride. The water rides are also fun although if you are planning to go on them make sure it's on a warm day, cos you can get very wet!

There are two ways in which you can buy access to the rides. Wristbands & Ticket Machines. Wristbands £9.25 per person and Tickets minimum payment £5.00 (three tickets) Some rides cost 2 tickets. It's worth getting the multiride wristband!

There are rarely queues for rides so you can jump off and get straight back on again even in the summer holidays when all the kids are off school.

Some rides have height restrictions and some need an adult to accompany a child.

For people 1.4 and over there are 18 rides available

For people that are 1.2 to 1.4 there are 15 rides available

For people that are 1.0 to 1.2 there are 11 rides available

And finally for people 0.8 to 1.0 there are 11 rides available.

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::Shops::
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Congo Candy Sweet Shop
Located in the Lost City Plaza, for pick-a-mix sweets and assorted candy. Open all season.

Port Livingstone Pizza
Located in the Lost City Plaza, the perfect place to find a variety of Pizza, Southern Fried Chicken, chips and drinks. Vegetarian option available.
Open weekends and main school holidays.

Lost City Fun Foods
Located in the Lost City Plaza and quick stop off for all kinds of novelty food. Opens weekends and main school holidays.

Oasis Licensed Bar & Coffee Shop
Found inside the Explorers Café, in Discovery Trail, ideal for assorted baguettes, pasta dishes, ice cream, muffins, flapjacks and low-fat desserts.
Vegetarian options available. Open all season.

Hot & Spicy
Located in the Amusement, the ideal place for jacket potatoes with a variety of fillings; hot dogs, spicy spiral fries, doughnuts, drinks and ice creams.
Vegetarian option available. Open weekends and main school holidays.

Refreshment & Snack Houses
May be found throughout the Park selling ice creams, sweets, drinks and a variety of snacks perfect to eat on the hoof. Open weekends and main school holidays.

Picnic Area
Situated alongside the Lost City Plaza near the entrance to the Discovery Zone. There are plenty of benches and tables, perfect for a picnic!

Prices throughout the park are quite expensive, so i would suggest taking your own lunch. Last time we visited a shop on the way to the WMSP when we remembered how much it all cost while we were in the car.

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::Summary::
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Go there! It's well worth the day out and you can spend as little as the entrance fee. If you have children there is even more reason to do it, as they will love it too!

Summary: Go and get in your car and drive there now.