Had a lovely day at the park

Went here while away with the kids for a week (aged 2 and 10months ).
Well this place is lovely plenty of animals for the kids to see. Especially monkeys. Love that you can walk through some of the animal enclosures.
Then there are 2 fantastic parks for the kids to play on one for under 5 and one for over 5's. There is also indoor soft play and a splash park area. After that we took a ride on the train which my 2 year old loved and then came the maze and the rides.
The only negative is the rides aren't all manned so they only go at certain times. Which wasn't a problem while we were there as wasn't busy but could be a pain the the school holidays.

I however wish I lived close enough to this play to buy an annual pass as for the park areas alone it would be well worth it.
Bring something like this to Essex please.

Used our Tesco Vouchers to have a pleasant day out with the little ones now the school aged children are back at it. While not everything was open the lack of crowds allowed us to have a great day and picnic out. We like the picture book to collect stamps in having sighted the relevant animal which discourages the children from rushing straight to the rides.

For the third year in a row, my soon to be 12 year old daughter, asked to do Zookeeper for the day as a treat for her birthday. We couldn't have asked for a better experience or a nicer person to spend the day with. Julie is patient, interesting and informative and always makes our daughter's day a special one. We'll be back again next year.

To be fair it was quite expensive and we were reluctant to go.
However nearly everything was included once you were inside and it had lots of things to see and do.
Highly recommend it!

I visited Drusillas this weekend (Saturday 9th September) with my niece and nephew. I live in East Sussex and when I was younger I visited with my family a lot. I will breakdown my review into sections for a long read but for a smaller read here goes...

Drusillas is a wonderful experience and if you make the most of the facilities there, it is brilliant (we were there from 11:30 to avoid queues and didn't leave until closing!). The kids were tired (bonus for us!) but thoroughly enjoyed their day which is what matters. It is expensive but prices are clear so you can't complain too much. Some areas are in need of an update as they are still the same from when I was little but overall the Zoo was a really enjoyable day out with vast amounts of information about the zoo and animals. The activities to do around the zoo and play area are really fun for kids.

Value for money:
We had booked tickets online as there is a small discount compared to paying on the door. I feel that the price of a family of 4 is expensive and although I understand costs for licences, animal welfare, repairs, staffing, energy and water are expensive, I do believe that bigger savings could be made on the website and costs could be lower. We paid £68.00 (usually £76.00, a saving through booking online was £8.00). We were offered a guide book for £2.50 which we didn't purchase. We also spent money at the Safari Cafe another £20 for two kids meals and some chips for us two adults which we felt what quite highly priced. The gift shop is also expensive (which is to be expected) but saying that there are a variety of items to choose from including things like pens and pencils that cheaper than the stuffed animals! The price of the extra activities is extremely expensive and I feel this should be included in the ticket price. Panning for gold, Dino Dig and the Penguin slide were the extra costs at around £4+ each. Saying that Hello Kitty's Secret Gardens is free as are the Safari rides and train.

Staff:
The staff there were all friendly and brilliant with kids. There were plenty of cleaners roaming around constantly picking up trays and rubbish and clearing picnic tables etc.

Animals:
The animals look well looked after and seem to have lots of things to do. Some were sleeping which the kids were upset at but after explaining that they are wild animals and need sleep just like us they were less upset! I wouldn't expect a keeper to go in and prod the animal just for our amusement! They have a variety of animals from Gibbons to Rabbits and almost everything in between! There are no big cats or big animals like elephants etc. but with over 100 species of animals to see you can't complain there isn't anything to see!

Activities:
They LOVED the fact they could tick off the boxes when they saw the animals as they went round the zoo. There was lots of information that they could read which was simple enough for a 5 and 9 year old to understand but was also interesting enough for adults to enjoy too. The zoo has walk around area with a couple of animals where you can go into the enclosures which both of the children loved. They have huge outdoor areas which the kids described as "the most humongous amazing place to play" so that was a hit! They also have a smaller indoor soft play area which they spent a good hour in! A small splash area is available too. They have a maze which the children liked but a lot of the interactive things in the maze weren't functioning which is a shame. They also had hello kitty rides and safari rides which were free and the children loved them! There is almost everything you can think of! Face painting, temporary tattoos and hair braids are £4+ each which I felt was a little pricey. There is the train which is free but myself and the children would have liked to have seen more things or have other interactions whilst going round and it was a little slow going round. There are tones of activities for the children to do but little for adults to do so I am sure every child will find at least one thing they would like.

Food:
Was a tad expensive for what it was but the quality of the food was fine and service was quick.

Any other:
There are lots of gift shops dotted around and there was a staff member in the toy shop in particular who was fantastic with kids and adult alike! I am kicking myself for not getting his name but he was fantastic and I really can't sing his praises high enough!

I feel the zoo could to with a lick of paint here and there and also a refurb or redecoration of some areas due to them being really old and shabby looking. I also feel the price could go down a little due to it being so expensive. Overall the visit to Drusillas was a really pleasant one and we would come again.

- 2t

Always have a fabulous day here,loads to do to keep the little ones busy!!! Great animals and play areas 😉

Great fun all round

I went 11 years ago with another adult and loved it. So this year I took my 5 year old son. He loved it as much as me. We spent 6 hours there, despite it raining on and off all day we had no complaints. We saw every type of animal they have. The enclosures are great with glass barriers to make veiwing the animals quite easy, no bars/cages obstructing vie2s fir photography.

The rides were fun. I thought the facepaints were a little expensive, but my son was happy and I didn't mind paying for his, had I had more children I would probably not have wanted to pay so much.

There are plenty of places to eat and play.

If we lived closer I would definitely purchase an annual pass.

I hadn't been to Drusillas since my own children were small so I am guessing well over twenty years ago. It seems everyone chose to be there around 10am so the queues to buy tickets snaked on and on for about twenty minutes. Drusillas really need to offer a discount for people who stagger their arrival time for a say, after 12 noon slot. As it was, £76 for three children and an adult was not cheap. I calculated that with one senior citizen in the group, only 50p was available as a discount. Not very encouraging for the older set!

Agreeably, lots to see and stimulate the mind, especially children, but tiring all the same. Everywhere I go is a photo opportunity to record memories but with the expanse of glassed and meshed areas, taking good photos was a challenge, indeed if not impossible at times.

Disappointed that so many animals were either non-visible or curled up somewhere so that only a shot of their backside was available. I have no doubt that Drusillas are hot on the welfare of their animals but still there was evidence of some animals in what appeared cramped conditions.

Not many staff evident on our way around the zoo and little chance to interact with many animals where it would have been safe to do so. From my previous visit over twenty years ago, the zoo has lost its personal and unique country charm in favour of a more corporate identity. But I guess with progress that has to be expected.

This is definitely a children's attraction and is made all the better by vast play areas. Disappointed to see, however, that some of the childrens rides and slides suffered additional high price points and for limited use.

Apart from all of that, ample parking available and a great 'cuddly toy' emporium for that inevitable animal souvenir.

Great day out with the kids, would definitely recommend!

Bit expensive, glad we used Tesco clubcard vouchers

We all had great time

Great day out at drusillas, zoo and animals are well laid out due to the one way style system that you follow and not over crowded. Play Park and water park area are fabulous with loads for the kids to do. Great to have Starbucks coffee on site and nice too see some of the new rides are included in the price along with hello kitty. Didn't really need to queue either .
Slightly disappointed that we paid peak prices but climbing wall , penguin slide, gold panning, oasis cafe and other areas all closed. A bit of a contradiction ! But still a good day out

Lovely day my grandchildren really enjoyed the day .quite expensive though full price for a two year old is a bit much.

Fantastic day out. Zoo is well planned out and very well maintained. Nice that animal bedrooms are also on show so you can see them even when they are taking a nap

The zoo is so well thought out even on a clearly busy day it didn't feel crowded. Plenty of fun interactive things for the kids with a spotter book to complete, plus close encounter areas like Lemurland and feeding the rainbow Lorikeets.
There is a large outdoor play area
suitable for toddlers and older
children. The indoor soft play was also a hit.
The outdoor water play area was thoroughly enjoyed by our toddler and 6 year old. Included in the price are the go safari rides as well as the Hello Kitty land. There is more than a days worth of fun to be had and the kids said it was best day of the holidays.

Having visited when our children were young, it was now the time to visit with our grandson and our children now in their 30's. What a fantastic day out it still proves to be, with even more animals and things to do. Parking is easy and free on arrival which is great and then the fun started. First we went on the first train ride which our grandson loved. Then we wandered round looking at the animals and the petting section was a big plus.
Have a picture of our grandson "milking" the artificial cow and our daughter then produced the same photo of her some 25 years ago. Our family enjoyed it just as much this year as all those years ago.
With the play area suitable for various ages we ended the day with a very tired grandson and a very happy family group.
Thanks to all

We heard great things about Drusilla's and was pleased we got the chance to go. It's just under £70 for a family of 4 but we managed to exchange some tescos clubcard vouchers to get 2 tickets for "free" and only pay for 2 making it less than £40.

Our kids are 5 and 6 and we had a wonderful day there. There was a large variety of animals and monkeys available to see. If you are looking for large animals then this isn't the place for you.

I loved the way the whole place was laid out. There was a route to follow meaning you never missed anything on the way around. It was well signposted so you knew the way to follow.

When you visit be sure to take a pen. There is an activity pack to collect just as you go in which will let kids do different activities as they go around as well as a stamping book when they spot the different animals.

There is a huge play park area as well as a soft play area. If it's a nice day make sure to take their swimming costumes for the wet play area.

If you need to rest on your way around there are plenty of places to sit and rest.

Don't forget to check out the train as well as the Hello Kitty world which has a few small rides for the kids.

I highly recommend this as a day out for families with kids of any age. It's fun and educational and well worth the money.

I went with a 10, 12 and 14 year old.

When we first entered I soon realised that this park was aimed at a much younger age group. I was worried my 3 would not have fun. However they did.

They had a great time. I would say it is more for 10 years and under. There is a little zoo with small animals and a petting farm. A great splash park, the paddling pool is no longer there. Thomas the Tank has been changed to a little train.

They enjoyed the adventure playground and some extra rides at the end which are included in the price. For young ones this is an excellent park. Highly recommend to anyone with toddlers and under 10s. I will definitely return but with grandchildren in years to come.

Great day out loads to do

Fun time for the kids and the family.

I personally enjoyed it because it was very informative, well organised and the kids learned and understood the animals way of leving and how to handle them.

They enjoyed the playgroung and water area as well, It close to Brighton by car and excellent for day with the family.

Great fun for all the family

Great day out for the kids and adults staff friendly and helpfuo