Drusillas Park
Latest Reviews
seriously this place is fantastic. A great day out for children of all ages.
Visited on the may bank holiday weekend with our children ages 1 and 3. It has a great range of animals and a few hands on bits too, our daughter got to hold a cockraoch, and stroke the goats :) There is also a walk through lemur enclosure.
The children are given a passport as they go in, and they have to stamp their book as they see the animals, and do a series of challenges throughout the park(all of which were working unlike other attractions)and at the end they hand it in and get sent a certificate for taking part.
The food was the usual sort of prices, but a good range (even gluten free bits) and tasty, there were no queues and it was easy to find a clean table.
They have a railway running round the park, with Thomas the Tank Engine which the kids were delighted to ride and have photos taken on, it runs continuously so there were no queues which was fantastic considering it was a bank holiday weekend. There is loads of playplaygrounds, slides, walkways, swings, banana boats
The park was clean and tidy, the animals seemed happy and the kids had an amazing day.
Visited on the may bank holiday weekend with our children ages 1 and 3. It has a great range of animals and a few hands on bits too, our daughter got to hold a cockraoch, and stroke the goats :) There is also a walk through lemur enclosure.
The children are given a passport as they go in, and they have to stamp their book as they see the animals, and do a series of challenges throughout the park(all of which were working unlike other attractions)and at the end they hand it in and get sent a certificate for taking part.
The food was the usual sort of prices, but a good range (even gluten free bits) and tasty, there were no queues and it was easy to find a clean table.
They have a railway running round the park, with Thomas the Tank Engine which the kids were delighted to ride and have photos taken on, it runs continuously so there were no queues which was fantastic considering it was a bank holiday weekend. There is loads of playplaygrounds, slides, walkways, swings, banana boats
The park was clean and tidy, the animals seemed happy and the kids had an amazing day.
Source: tripadvisor.co.uk
This place is the best, We have been twice now and each time it has been brilliant (and Im 32!!!!)
Its a small zoo and excellent for kids especially with big play areas and petting areas but it has the funniest monkeys, penguins and otters ever and the keepers are really friendly passionate and infomative, feeding time is great!
It is a nice compact size to walk around yet all the enclosures are a good size and the animals seem content in their surroundings.
Good choice of food, drink or picnic areas ansd plenty to keep people of all ages entertained for a day
If in Eastbourne or the immediate area this is a must visit place!
Its a small zoo and excellent for kids especially with big play areas and petting areas but it has the funniest monkeys, penguins and otters ever and the keepers are really friendly passionate and infomative, feeding time is great!
It is a nice compact size to walk around yet all the enclosures are a good size and the animals seem content in their surroundings.
Good choice of food, drink or picnic areas ansd plenty to keep people of all ages entertained for a day
If in Eastbourne or the immediate area this is a must visit place!
Source: tripadvisor.co.uk
Drusillas Park is a long established zoo plus adventure park with some old fashioned but charming attractions plus plenty of new ones. It will successfully amuse kids from 2 up to about 13 years for a day.
Driving from Brighton and parking and admission was easy-peasy. Our admission for a family of five was £60 but I didn't expect that we had to pay £2 per child extra for each activity like Panning for Gold, the Dino Dig, the climbing wall and the bouncy castle-slide once we got inside. The crazy golf is extra too.
I think its reasonable to charge extra for arcades and workshops but these are things which there is apparently little extra cost to the park to offer, so I felt the park was lo-balling the admission charge and making it up on the activities that nearly all kids will want to do. Against pester-power, I don't think parents can resist shelling out for them. There was a extra day-pass offered for £6 but then it didn't actually cover all activities. So, if you do everything, it'd be the same cost to pay for the extras individually.
It seems current practise now for small zoos, given the small size of the enclosures, not to keep any large primates or cats anymore (I was told years ago it used thave chimpanzees) which I agree with. All the animal enclosures were of good quality and had plenty of information. A slight criticism is that the map is a bit too cartoonish to be totally clear and there are not enough short cuts around things if you need to get off the zoo route and find a toilet or something and young children will need to stay close or they will get lost as some parts are a warren with poor sightlines. There are lots of fun stops, like the petting zoo, where you can groom the goats, and a bat house and bug house.
The old 'Safari Train' has been rebranded recently as 'Thomas The Tank Engine' which is successfully done although some of the set dressing looks tired already. This railway around the park takes about three minutes and it was incredibly popular. It's a good photo-op if your kids are not too old for TTTE and it is free. Our kids wanted to ride it six or seven times in the day. Note to other theme parks: Thomas is now too ubiquitous and the HIT version doesn't retain the charm of Awdrey's incarnation.
The 'Animal Olympics' is a good touch where kids (and adults) can compare their abilities to animals. Ours especially liked seeing how fast a seven year old could run (about 40 kph) and how loud they can scream (about 110 decibels).
We found the staff very helpful especially explaining the feeding and were knowledgable in a display of endangered animals and the trade in ivory and skins we went into. The staff on the climbing wall were encouraging and took great care.
Not so helpful was the poor PA system by which we could not hear the appeal for a parent to collect a child who had wandered off and got lost for several minutes.
There are two restaurants in the park. It's increasingly depressing - as I visit more theme parks - how expensive the food in them can be and how awful the service and menus are. I know good quality food and service does not have to be expensive; just look at Pret A Manger. At least this park don't seem to mind you bringing a picnic but be careful about which table you sit at. We tried the Oasis Cafe and the kids' burger deal and kids' packed lunch and I thought it a cheat that the sandwich bread was just a factory hot dog bun. The menu is the typical combinations of burger and fries (the so called deals are not much saving on individual items and so pointless) and our order took too long to rustle up even though it wasn't peak time. This restaurant is closed on winter weekdays. The other Explorer's Restaurant (sit down) does all you can eat ice-cream for £1.99. I don't think that is a healthy message for kids nor good value as mine (thankfully) can't finish a Nestle Magnum.
The play area next to the Oasis restaurant is very good. There is a wide range of fun equipment for all ages. Our kids soon had a game going with other kids running in the 'hamster wheel' which turned into a tumble-dryer when others jumped on it and they all fell out. The park remind you this area is not supervised by park staff and you should be keeping an eye on your blighters.
The toilets here - mainly used by children naturally - were in a terrible state and smelt bad although others in the park were OK.
We didn't try the 'Explorer's Lagoon' paddling pool but it looked as if loads of toddlers were having a great time in the fine weather. It would have been nice to know in advance it was there but that's not their fault. The swimsuits on sale were incredibly overpriced (compared to Gap ones I had bought a day earlier).
We avoided the several shops. One look at the prices in one aimed at 'pocket money' purchases told us all we needed to know.
There's some stupid petty things. The Station Buffet - signposted as selling ice cream and doughnuts - only sells scoop ice cream with their wafffles. If you don't want a pre-packaged lolly, you have to go further down the park to get a cone. Why?
Overall, a good place for younger children but bring your own food and budget £20 per head with all the extras and an ice-cream.
If you read my other reviews you might consider I have a bee in my bonnet about theme park prices but given a UK minimum wage of £5.35, (or sterling exchange rates), British theme parks generally are not great value.
At least this one tries to be competitive with yearly pass for locals which pays for itself after four visits but I don't know if there's enough here to warrant five visits in a year though.
Driving from Brighton and parking and admission was easy-peasy. Our admission for a family of five was £60 but I didn't expect that we had to pay £2 per child extra for each activity like Panning for Gold, the Dino Dig, the climbing wall and the bouncy castle-slide once we got inside. The crazy golf is extra too.
I think its reasonable to charge extra for arcades and workshops but these are things which there is apparently little extra cost to the park to offer, so I felt the park was lo-balling the admission charge and making it up on the activities that nearly all kids will want to do. Against pester-power, I don't think parents can resist shelling out for them. There was a extra day-pass offered for £6 but then it didn't actually cover all activities. So, if you do everything, it'd be the same cost to pay for the extras individually.
It seems current practise now for small zoos, given the small size of the enclosures, not to keep any large primates or cats anymore (I was told years ago it used thave chimpanzees) which I agree with. All the animal enclosures were of good quality and had plenty of information. A slight criticism is that the map is a bit too cartoonish to be totally clear and there are not enough short cuts around things if you need to get off the zoo route and find a toilet or something and young children will need to stay close or they will get lost as some parts are a warren with poor sightlines. There are lots of fun stops, like the petting zoo, where you can groom the goats, and a bat house and bug house.
The old 'Safari Train' has been rebranded recently as 'Thomas The Tank Engine' which is successfully done although some of the set dressing looks tired already. This railway around the park takes about three minutes and it was incredibly popular. It's a good photo-op if your kids are not too old for TTTE and it is free. Our kids wanted to ride it six or seven times in the day. Note to other theme parks: Thomas is now too ubiquitous and the HIT version doesn't retain the charm of Awdrey's incarnation.
The 'Animal Olympics' is a good touch where kids (and adults) can compare their abilities to animals. Ours especially liked seeing how fast a seven year old could run (about 40 kph) and how loud they can scream (about 110 decibels).
We found the staff very helpful especially explaining the feeding and were knowledgable in a display of endangered animals and the trade in ivory and skins we went into. The staff on the climbing wall were encouraging and took great care.
Not so helpful was the poor PA system by which we could not hear the appeal for a parent to collect a child who had wandered off and got lost for several minutes.
There are two restaurants in the park. It's increasingly depressing - as I visit more theme parks - how expensive the food in them can be and how awful the service and menus are. I know good quality food and service does not have to be expensive; just look at Pret A Manger. At least this park don't seem to mind you bringing a picnic but be careful about which table you sit at. We tried the Oasis Cafe and the kids' burger deal and kids' packed lunch and I thought it a cheat that the sandwich bread was just a factory hot dog bun. The menu is the typical combinations of burger and fries (the so called deals are not much saving on individual items and so pointless) and our order took too long to rustle up even though it wasn't peak time. This restaurant is closed on winter weekdays. The other Explorer's Restaurant (sit down) does all you can eat ice-cream for £1.99. I don't think that is a healthy message for kids nor good value as mine (thankfully) can't finish a Nestle Magnum.
The play area next to the Oasis restaurant is very good. There is a wide range of fun equipment for all ages. Our kids soon had a game going with other kids running in the 'hamster wheel' which turned into a tumble-dryer when others jumped on it and they all fell out. The park remind you this area is not supervised by park staff and you should be keeping an eye on your blighters.
The toilets here - mainly used by children naturally - were in a terrible state and smelt bad although others in the park were OK.
We didn't try the 'Explorer's Lagoon' paddling pool but it looked as if loads of toddlers were having a great time in the fine weather. It would have been nice to know in advance it was there but that's not their fault. The swimsuits on sale were incredibly overpriced (compared to Gap ones I had bought a day earlier).
We avoided the several shops. One look at the prices in one aimed at 'pocket money' purchases told us all we needed to know.
There's some stupid petty things. The Station Buffet - signposted as selling ice cream and doughnuts - only sells scoop ice cream with their wafffles. If you don't want a pre-packaged lolly, you have to go further down the park to get a cone. Why?
Overall, a good place for younger children but bring your own food and budget £20 per head with all the extras and an ice-cream.
If you read my other reviews you might consider I have a bee in my bonnet about theme park prices but given a UK minimum wage of £5.35, (or sterling exchange rates), British theme parks generally are not great value.
At least this one tries to be competitive with yearly pass for locals which pays for itself after four visits but I don't know if there's enough here to warrant five visits in a year though.
Source: tripadvisor.co.uk
What a great day out, highly recommended we took our 2 children aged 6 and 10 and their friend aged 13 and they all had a great time. It was very educational without seeming to be lots of buttons to press and a cool zoo trail which kept the kids interested. Loads of different animals with feeding times throughout the day so we got to see most of them being fed while being told about the animal. Then there was a big adventure playground for the kids to let off steam, and a free train ride arounds the park. Highly recommended day out for all ages.
Source: tripadvisor.co.uk
