West Midlands Safari Park, Bewdley

We went here again this week. My dcs have Blue Peter Passes, so get free entry, so, only paying for myself, it's excellent value. Even before these passes, it's on a par with other places, and you do get a free return visit, which makes it good vfm. We've always been able to see loads of animals and the park give you advice on quieter times to drive round - the trail is wide enough for 2 cars throughout so in many visit over many years I've never been stuck in a traffic jam. We've never gone on the rides either - there's plenty to see and do without paying extra for rides. Had the bonus of seeing the Severn Vally Steam Train again this time. Can't comment on food as we always take own picnic. Sea Lion show and various 'talks' are great. Just lovely to be so close to such magnificent animals. I'd thoroughly recommend.

The park offer advice about when the drive through section is busiest.
Amazing how many families think that it's OK to get the kids out of the car for a photo opportunity with the lions! Staff do a brilliant job of keeping alive all those who refuse to follow the instructions to "stay in the car and close all windows".
To get closer to the animals buy a pack of animal food on the way in to feed the animals but follow instructions - some bite!
Sea Lion show and walk through bat experience are NOT to be missed.
Food is unimaginative - chips with everything - better taking a picnic, but don't be tempted to share it with the animals.
Rides are not a patch on Alton Towers so don't expect too much.

this is a super day out!

to avoid queues at the rides we went on a teacher training school day and it was so quiet that we could stay on again and again.

the animal drive through is fantastic and you will still be amazed at the size of the animals.

you are given a return ticket to use later on in the year.
the staff were polite and friendly.
10/10 from me.

I thought this was good value at 10.50 each (9.50 for over 3s). Even without the theme park (an extra 10.50 for an unlimited ride wristband), you can still see the leopards, the sea lion show, the nocturnal house, the hippo pool and the reptile house, so for 10.50 you basically get a good safari ride (VERY tame giraffes and deer) and small zoo experience.

The theme park is excellent for children (our son is 3) and has some thrill rides for older children too. If you just wanted to go on one or two rides only, you can buy individual tokens.

Its nicely landscaped with toilets every 150yards and lots of benches to sit down on (I was 7 months pregnant when we went so these things were important to me!). We took a picnic so can't comment on the food, but I thought it was even better than Longleat. Oh and barely any queues for the rides! One of our favourite days out.(Sept 09)

I found West Midlands safari park had all of the ingrediants for a great day out, but somehow our trip wasn't.

It was one big traffic jam, with the bonus of seeing a couple of elephants strolling past! It was a very busy saturday, so maybe off peak it would be a lot better.

The rides were very good,though these cost extra. The the bat room was fantastic ( my daughter loved this, as the bats swoop over your head- I loved it too!)

It is, IMHO, expensive (£40 for family ticket) but (a) you can use Tesco vouchers, making the 'real' cost £10, and (b) you get a free return ticket included. Wristbands for the rides will effectively double the cost, but it can be done fairly cheaply if you are happy to take a picnic (plenty of places to eat it) and to say no to rides.

The safari bit is good except on really crowded days when it is one long traffic jam - all the DC I have been with (aged from 1 to 7) have loved the drive-through bit (especially feeding deer/zebra/giraffes), and the walk-around bits - including goats (always pregnant but always the same sort of numbers - I wonder what the lions and tigers eat?) and sea lion shows (better in the school holidays when they make more of an effort).

If you are going to buy the (expensive) animal food and let the DC feed appropriate animals, then take wet wipes with you - baby giraffes turn out to be very drooly animals [grin]