nice place especially for family outings

We had a great day at Paradise Wildlife Park, it’s got an interesting and slightly random collection of things to see and do...

Firstly prices for 2 adults, 1 x 5 year old and 2 year old twins it was nearly £100 to get in. All things considered that’s a bit steep, the membership deal is ok if you live locally and I suspect it was members that turned up in the afternoon when it got really, really busy. I don’t think it’s right to charge full child prices for 2 year olds. Especially when inside things like the train and crazy golf cost extra plus every 5 minutes there’s another machine or water gun that require money to play. This is why it loses a star.

First we visited the moving dinosaurs which are great, realistic enough for the kids to be really scared and good snippets of interesting info for the 5 year old. They all loved the sandpit at the end digging up stones. Parents didn’t love the £2 a head dinosaur train!

The kids really enjoyed the animals, lions, meerkats, tigers, gibbons etc. I agree with other reviewers who said the cages are small, they may meet regulations but I’d much rather be an animal living somewhere like Whipsnade. That being said the small cages meant the kids could actually see the animals which isn’t always so easy in the big zoo’s when they have huge enclosures. We also went to an animal show that was Ok but possibly not worth a special effort, you learn some interesting stuff about rats.

The play areas were great, they’ve clearly come together over many years and are a bit random
but the kids loved the slides and fire engines etc.

The lagoon is like a big puddle of freezing water that’s got a tiny slide - I thought it looked a bit rubbish but the kids absolutely loved it.

Soft play was truly overrun by the time we got there, it’s a good soft play but seemed to have pretty big kids in it.

Other bits include a UK woodland bit with foxes, deers etc. a slightly random dance show, speed way museum, birds & a bird show.... like I said an interesting collection of things.

Food wise we took a picnic for the day and at the end of the day headed 2 minutes to the lovely woodman and olive put, where you get amazing food at great value vs Paradise.

All in all kids had a great day, came away happy and shattered. Worth a visit

I visited today with my sister in law and we had 6 children with us.
There is a lot to do at the park and it was good value however I would agree with some of the previous comments. We took our own food but noticed tables with almost full plates of food which people had left and the burgers etc did not look good.

I noticed a lioness pacing for a long time in the enclosure which was upsetting. I did appreciate that you were able to get a good look at the animals and get quite close however this is probably because the enclosures seem much smaller than other zoo’s I’ve visited.

My main issue with this place was the toilets. They were awful and got worse as the day went on so obviously no-one was checking them. There was dirty paper on the floor and many were very blocked with the contents floating round at the top 🤢. We visited two different sets of toilets on the park and they were both as bad.

We spent a few hours walking around this compact zoo. The macaws were lovely to watch and listen to them squawk. The big cats were a joy to see, I love the white lions and snow leopards. The walkway above was great to see all the big cats. The emus were great fun, trying to peck at you to get food. The camel's were very friendly and happy to come and see us. The dinosaur world was really good, all in all a good visit. Plenty of places to eat here and also free parking.

Visited with my 4 & 6 year old kids having visited once prior on a school trip with the 6 year old. When you go with a large group it's 9.50 per head, when you go outside of this its more than twice that to get in.

Parking was easy, we didn't queue for tickets, everyone's wrist was stamped to allow re-entry which was thoughful, and meant we could go back to the car if needed.

The dinosaur area seems to take 1/3 of the park. It's in good order and my kids love it. lots of animatronic dinosaurs, plaques with good information. There's loads of play areas, the kids enjoyed digging in the sand for dinosaur bones which is thoughtfully sheltered from the sun and next to a cafe, though I felt there were not enough chairs at the cafe by the sand. There's a real old fire engine, pirate ship, loads of things to amuse kids of different ages. My kids could have stayed all day, we only dragged them away when my 4 year old was falling asleep on her feet.

Compared to London Zoo this site was less busy and we found the layout more managageable.

Now for my criticisms. We love animals, we are members of ZSL and regularly visit Whipsnade and London Zoo as well as other sites around the country and the world. We felt that the enclosures were two small , especially for the big cats but also for some of the small animals. Also it was a sunny day and there were not enough places to shelter i thought. The otters were huddled in the wire cage that connected two parts of their enclosures. A turtle was desperately trying to climb a fence to get to the water. My feeling is that this site should sacrifice some of the adjacent car park space to make the animal enclosures bigger and increase welfare standards. While overall the site has plenty to please the kids they probably liked the dinosaurs and play areas more and the wildlife less, yet this purports to be a wildlife park.

The other thing to talk about is the catering. The first time we visited we brought a packed lunch and eat it at the picnic tables near the splash pool. There are loads of places to eat your own food all round the park, good rubbish and recycling which seems to be emptied frequently, rather than festering and attracting insects. This second visit was spontaneous so we thought we'd eat on site. The catering was awful. The small cafe by the sandpit does drinks, but literally the only thing it had two eat was 3 cheese and onion sandwiches in packets. No cakes, nothing fresh. The dinobites cafe serves burgers with a slab of cold cheese added at the end, they'd run out of onions and you can forget lettuce or tomatoes. You can't buy chips or any sides with the burgers. This for £4 a burger, served by almost children. Where does the money go? The Safari Diner is the main event for food, they had a full bar (unexpected!), but the food is both awful and a bun fight, big queues, poorly managed waiting for unappealing food. Please let's have some healthier options, and no, frying a vegetable does not make it healthy.

At least they have co-located a stage to the seating area and so our kids were kept diverted watching the dinosaur show while they eat their bad food. Had I not been driving I probably would have used the bar!

All in all this is a safe easy day out for the kids, pretty much guaranteed to keep them happy and tire them out. I would definitely bring a packed lunch if we do it again. I urge them to improve the animal welfare or ditch the animals altogether and rebrand as an amusement park.

What a smashing zoo... one of the best, you need a whole day to see and appreciate everything.

Park itself was good..lots of big cats. Well organised. Food was slow and not the best choice though.

Beautiful animals, great for little kids but older kids got bored quite quickly.

Very good nice little zoo very close to animals better for young families,main complaint not signposted enough

fantastic place loads to see

Great day out, especially stimulating for family groups and I loved watching the wildlife show which was both humorous and informative. The animal enclosures looked well kept and the animals well looked after. My grandson (age 6) was interested when I read out the information on the different animal species, and asked pertinent questions throughout.<br>My daughter did comment that she thought she could recall seeing more animals the last time she visited, but can't verify this. Recommend taking at least some of your own food, as costs can add up particularly if you are taking children/grandchildren. Nice play areas, I enjoyed watching my grandchildren have fun on slides/climbing structures etc., and they are thoughtfully laid out. Overall good value, but be prepared to pay a bit more for adults than you want to (seniors a bit cheaper). However, parking is included, and the price does include a number of different activities so a very pleasant day out with the children.

Went with a friend and her 3 and 6 year old children. The park is well laid out, well maintained and well staffed. 3 year old loved learning to dance at the show. Have to say I enjoyed the dinosaur park more than the animals as I am always uncomfortable seeing animals in captivity, although appreciate the conservation and rescue links the park has. Regardless of whether they meet minimum welfare standards, I felt the aviaries in particular were tiny for the owls and birds of prey which would normally be able to fly miles in the wild. Some of the animals were pacing (stress/boredom?) and I also wondered how stressed some of the ‘prey’ animals felt being housed so close to the predators. One of the reindeer was clearly very bothered by flies today- pacing and running away from them. Altogether, a great experience for the kids, who went home very happy and worn out. I never feel comfortable in zoos but that is a personal thing. But I do appreciate how much effort this park puts into education regarding it’s animals.

Two families visited which included five children from age 6 to 15.

We arrived approx 10am. It was easy to park and access to the park was quick and easy. We were given our guide which made the park look huge but in reality wasn't as big as we thought.

We started with the Dinosaur experience which was great and something different.

Throughout the day we stopped at each of the kids play parks which they enjoyed. There's a water lagoon, which is basically a round shallow pool with a slide. Could of done with a play park side by side.

Animal encounters were nice and you could get good close up encounters. I believe this is because the enclosures were smaller than major zoos.

We are at the Samba restaurant and thought food was decent quality and reasonable value for this type of place.

Two negatives are you have to pay £2 per person for the train ride and £2 per person for the golf. When buying an attraction ticket I feel these should be included in the cost of ticket.

Overall we had a great day out, and we are glad we experienced what PWP had to offer. Would we be rushing back again? I'm not too sure

Great for kids! We had a great weekend with 4 kids 3years old to 12 years.

It was good but when it got a bit empty they stop all the talks about the different animals which was a bit disappointing there was people still about????????

I love this place!

Loved it will be back

Brilliant zoo

Kids loved world of dinosaurs and other playing area as well as feeding animals. Great family day out.

Great for the kids, nice day out<br>For the family

I really enjoyed the day out with my daughter she really enjoyed it .Lots to do dinosaur park, train ride, sand pit, small swimming pool lots of animals and lots of places to eat and drink shop was expensive though, but you expect that. They even have indoor soft play and slides outside swings, will wear the little ones out, it was quite expensive to get in but well worth it. Did think it was a rip off though having to pay for the train ride.

Brilliant day out for the kids and hard to fit it all in, in just one day.

Good day out but over priced on everything.

It was a FUN Day out, the restaurant staff were really friendly and friendly throughout the park, but there was a little magic atmosphere missing! It lacked the excitement I got from going to other animal parks...Got confusing as no staff to ask directions...so children lost interest...Dance stage show and Vinny the baby dinosaur show was great FUN!!

Had an amazing time here. We went on a monday afternoon so it was very quiet. All the animals were easy to spot and seemed very content. We did a tickle the tapir experience which was brilliant. The keeper was very knowledgeable and we really enjoyed learning about tapirs while we tickled their tummy and scratched their back!