Long queue at entrance. Needed more staff. Clean. Lots to see and do. Great kids play area. Lots of areas to have own picnic. Quite expensive.

With a degree of excitement 2 adults and 3 children set off on a cold and crisp Sunday morning to visit Drusillas Park. We arrived at around 10.55 a.m. and in the cold air joined a lengthy queue for entry. It took 48 minutes to reach the point where hard earned cash, £95.00 was handed over for entrance, oh and an extra £11.00 each for the 3 children to meet Santa. If bought online £10.00 could have been saved from the entrance total. Given that these prices are not on the low side I think it is not unreasonable to expect the queuing time to be nearer 10-15 minutes.
Once inside the way finding around the Park is very good and the animals on show are interesting if unspectacular, and there is plenty of information available to interest the youngsters and to help them learn facts about the animals.
After a couple of hours walking around lunch was needed. The facilities are pretty good, but the food is definitely low key with prices above average for what was on offer.
When we went to use the voucher to see Santa the queue was again very long. By now the sun was down and the chill was gnawing at the bones of old and young alike. There was no indication of expected queue time at various points. Another 47 minutes was spent in the queue to see Santa for 3 minutes.
In summary, it was a good day out tarnished badly by the queuing times. If you are going to charge high end prices then more polished systems for queue times and handling the queues must be introduced.

The children adore Drusilla's, always screams of happiness when we take them there. But then I was the same when I was young, so to be expected.

Great for kids. Much cheaper if you use Tesco vouchers.

I bought this as a birthday present for my wife. I was allowed in too as part of the package.
Our guide Charlie was brilliant from the outset: amiable & knowledgeable.
Our tour started in the food prep area, where we learned about the different types of food for various animals (older animals or those with particular health issues have tailor made diets).
Our first animal encounter was with a perky pair of meerkats whose enclosure featured a mini waterfall & pool, plus little rock pile and a tree stump. (Charlie had already shown us their indoor nest box - as he demonstrated how to clean it.) There was an area below a walkway where the animals could shelter if they wished.
During the morning we had encounters with a diverse range of animals: a pale gecko with fat tail to store water; penguins - none of which wanted to eat: too well fed (including the world’s oldest Rockhopper) and a pair of capybara in an enclosure with a group of beavers. We were able to feed these under Charlie’s careful guidance. Throughout the day, he gave ample opportunity for photos - and indeed took a few of the pair of us. Charlie demonstrated a good knowledge of all the animals (both as individuals and members of their species) and proved to be an excellent guide.
Following lunch (my wife’s was included as part of the package), we visited an old pig - a real character. Although his sight was poor, he knew the exact spot to come for food and stood by the fence waiting with his mouth open. Very amusing.
A visit to the donkeys was next, followed by a pair of miniature mongooses.
After this, Charlie advised me to use the slo mo mode on my camera so that I could capture the beautiful sight of a barn owl feeding from my wife’s gauntleted hand.
An encounter with a milk snake next (like a corn snake), followed by the opportunity to hold a mini hedgehog and then (grand finale of the day!) a visit to the lemur enclosure. We helped Charlie put food onto the various feeding stations - although one of the more adventurous animals named Shadow helped himself from the bucket!. We enjoyed watching these animals ( our oldest ancestors) interacting and learning about specific individuals’ social issues and the reasons for their place within the hierarchy.
We had an excellent day, which was superbly curated by Charlie. He is an excellent ambassador for Drusillas and an inspiration for other young (& old!) people with a passion for animals.

I’ve been going to Drusillas for years now. We’ve been members/ pass holders. Going for the first time in 6 months I have to say the new rides are great and the investment is obvious but the Zoo itself it’s a bit tired. Teletubby land, the vampire bat bit with drucula (been that way for like 25 years), even the farm zoo part are all desperate for investment. I know the stock response will point out how much the water park, go safari etc have cost but I love the Zoo part and it’s desperate for some investment. Even the restaurant and the indoor play is still a nightmare when it’s busy. I love this place and it has so many memories (I remember the old barn) but it’s starting to be less essential as a visit.

Amazing family day out totally worth all the money<br>P.S it costs loads

I went with my mother to Drusillas on a drizzly day. (She’s in her late 50s and I’m in my mid 20s - this park is great for all ages). As the weather was quite gloomy, some of the animals were preferring to stay inside, but it meant that it wasn’t overly busy.

We had a really great time. The animals all seemed very content and cheerful, and well looked after. The keepers clearly care about the wellbeing of the animals. We saw them cleaning the enclosures well and providing enrichment by scattering food all around the enclosures. One explained to us about how they were medically treating a lemur that had been injured (by rough play with his lemur friends). The park was really educational too and engaging. There were funny animatronic animals that danced and sang, which I imagine kids would love.

There were only a couple of things that I thought Drusillas could improve on. Firstly, a couple of the very first enclosures were a little small (in my opinion) for the animals that were in it - the first lots of mice, the enclosure with the sloths and other animals and the one with the Arabian rock hyraxes. They weren’t overly cramped but it would be nice if these animals could have a bit more space. The second possible improvement might be for the animatronic hens in the farm section not to sing the same song on repeat quite so frequently. It became a bit tiresome for me (but more importantly I felt for the animals there who had to listen to it all day, every day - especially the cows!).

All in all, it was a great trip and I’d highly recommend Drusillas to any animal lovers or anyone with children of any age. I’ll definitely be wanting to go back again.

Cool place for kids

During our family trip to Drusillas we discovered a park that included a variety of fantastic zoo animals. Although there was a large variety of monkeys, my two year old nephew's favourite was the red panda!
The staff at Drusillas were all incredibly friendly and knowledgeable. The onsite food options were fit for purpose and better still, for my family and I who had prepared a packed lunch, there were plenty of picnic tables available. Perfect for a late summers afternoon. Towards the rear of the park, there was also an impressive play area which my nephew spent so much time playing in....and consequently left me somewhat exhausted! In addition there were a variety of interactive challenges for children of all ages to participate in and this seemed to be a great hit with families. My nephew also LOVED the train ride around the park. Overall we had a fantastic day as a family at Drusillas park and would recommend to any of our dear friends and family.

My friends treated me for my 40th bday to Drusillas park, with the feed the penguins encounter. My husband and I were really impressed with how clean and spacious the park was, and how well staffed. My experience was great fun - going behind the scenes to feeding areas etc and to meet the penguins individually. All the staff were knowledgeable and friendly, and this made a great fun day out. Would highly recommend for all ages.

My daughter (aged 12) had a keeper for the day experience here and absolutely loved it!
It was amazing from start to finish...and Charlie who showed us around for the day was brilliant!
Very informative and fun! Would definitely recommend and hope to visit again soon.
Top marks Drusillas, thanks to everyone and keep up the good work!

Great fun

Went to drusillas with my son and he had a panda encounter and it was fantastic the keeper had so much knowledge we also spent the day at the park so clean and so much to do a real treat would recommend again and again.

Took some residents for the day.. They loved it.. It's ideal for young children with lots of I tersctive stuff for them to learn about

So this weekend we met up with my Son's family at Drusillas Park. We live quite close but they travelled approx' fifty miles to get there.
I've never been before but a couple had been over fifteen years ago, so none of us really knew what to expect.
We had a thoroughly great day, my five year old Granddaughter had a fantastic time. We were all pleasantly surprised by the amount of interesting animals to see and how well set out the zoo is. The amount of other stuff to do is great with many rides for the children and several really good play parks. We went in as it opened in the morning and were still there as it was closing.
The food in the restaurant is good with good selection and very reasonably priced.
All in all a great day out at somewhere that we shall definitely visit again next year.

We took a train from Brighton to Berwick and walked the short distance to Drusillas with our 18 month old and his buggy. Had a great time looking at the animals and learning about them, Loved the bright green birds landing on us in the enclosure and had a great lunch we all enjoyed. After that we just had time to take the kid's train ride round the park and then used up any excess energy at the go bananas park, where our little boy whizzed from activity to activity until he dropped. The place is so full of things to do, we didn't get time to enjoy most of the rides, due to lack of time rather than queues or any waiting around. Can't wait to visit again when he is older because Drusillas really has a stack of activities for each age group. Great day out - Highly recommended.

I've never been to Drusillas and only live local. So I was surprised at how many fantastic animals & monkeys there was to see. Also how clean it was and all the animals were well looked after and happy. I took my toddler who is 18 months old and there was so much for him to see and do. Plus he loved all the rides he was able to go on for his age group. The play area was a big hit and we spent a few hours just climbing and going down the slides lol. I was recommended Drusillas for all ages and can't wait to come back.

Its ok...but max age for kids its 7yo

Fab place to entertain the under 10s

A great zoo for all, great selection of well cared for animals and a mix of rides for young children. Also a great outdoor play area and indoor play area, cafe, coffee, picnic. Tables

Grandparents, Parents and Grandchildren all had a super day out, there was so much to do and see.
Restaurant and food wonderful and the staff so good.

We had a most enjoyable time at Drusillas, well worth a visit.

Lovely day out, plenty to see and do. Quite expensive though

First visited around 25yrs ago now again with our young grandchildren aged 1& 3,
went during half term on a nice sunny day. Got our tickets online which is cheaper,
parking is good too directed to spaces.
Quick entry, then your in and your adventure starts.So many animals to see all
very well kept in good conditions with indoor and outdoor areas to see, which is do nice
to see.

Our grandchildren and ourselves absolutely loved it all especially Lory landing
where the birds fly round and you can feed them.

Then had a few rides on the train, hippo then lunch in the Explorers cafe again
food was good and good choices reasonable priced.

After lunch still lots to see and do, what makes this attraction good is the staff and everything is well kept and clean!, something you don't find often we find.

Also it was halloween week and the 'Witch" was very very good!! no words just
a stare was enough!!
The gift shops are good too lots of lovely things which the grandchildren liked
and we treated them too.

Have lived in the area for 20 years and have never been to the park. I must say that was a failing on my part. This is an exceptional place, even in October it was fully staffed and functioning at a high level. The place is scrumptiously clean. The animals were in wonderful settings, which seen to be appropriate for their needs, but also allowed us the privilege of seeing them pretty close up. This is a well organised well run operation which has one single payment to be made on entry, rather than, car park fees, entrance fees and additional attraction fee, which other venues charge. It is well worth every penny, we had a 2 and a half year old with us and she loved every second.