Longleat safari park

Gro · 2023-08-20T20:35:14+00:00

We are going this week. Has anyone been before? What is the best order to do things in to make the most of the day? Thanks

Floralnomad · 20/08/2023 21:41

We usually start with the walking parts , boat ride etc and then get something to eat and do the drive through safari , then go back to the other part later . The sloths are worth the cost of the admission on their own .

LillyBugg · 20/08/2023 21:49

Yes do the safari last! Boat first.

Thatbloomindog · 20/08/2023 21:53

Yea safari last, you’ll see lots of the animals going to bed and close up. Boat first always mega queues.
get there ready for opening time.
if you have small children don’t bother with the house. It’s a long winded guided tour which isn’t in any way child friendly. It’s a shame because it’s beautiful and very interesting.

I used to love longleat but it’s gone down hill since Lord bath passed it over. Lots of having to ‘book time slots’ for stuff which makes it quite stressful.

Original poster

Gro · 20/08/2023 22:13

Thanks all. Very excited. We do have small children so won't bothered with the house. Boat first safari last it is!

OP posts:

againstalloddsss · 20/08/2023 22:14

I don't know if we were just lucky, but we booked the safari early slot and queued to get in as it opened. We then went straight to the safari and found it fantastic. They had put food out for some of the animals and in the lion enclosure, for example, we were just feet away from them. Our 8 year old really loved it. Got some wonderful pictures. We found that better than the time before when we drove round in the middle of the day and barely saw anything.

GreyStampIcon · 20/08/2023 22:15

Thatbloomindog · 20/08/2023 21:53

Yea safari last, you’ll see lots of the animals going to bed and close up. Boat first always mega queues.
get there ready for opening time.
if you have small children don’t bother with the house. It’s a long winded guided tour which isn’t in any way child friendly. It’s a shame because it’s beautiful and very interesting.

I used to love longleat but it’s gone down hill since Lord bath passed it over. Lots of having to ‘book time slots’ for stuff which makes it quite stressful.

I don’t know what you have to book time slots for except the house?

OP - change of clothes and towels in the car might be good for splash pad.

HappiDaze · 20/08/2023 22:22

My young DC hand down loved the smaller petting zoo part as opposed to the main drive through safari part.

minniemooblue · 20/08/2023 22:35

If you want to feed the giraffes you need to go straight to the safari as that is at 10.30. They sometimes do it again at 2.30.

You need to book the bus if you don't want to take your car round.

If you take your car around look for the keepers jeeps as they are always watching the animals.

The monkeys really do attack cars, we saw them pulling out parking sensors and pulling off aerials.

If you take your car around you can download an app that tells you about the animals.

If you want to feed the sea lions on the boat you need to sit near the front as they sell tubs of fish but it's first come first served.

The queue for the boat was the longest queue.

My children found the house a bit boring.

I will let you know if I think of anything else.

Floralnomad · 20/08/2023 22:38

Totally agree that it used to be better when you could just have a mooch about the house , we don’t bother now you have to book a tour .

Floralnomad · 20/08/2023 22:39

West Midland Safari park is a far superior safari drive through , you are allowed to feed the giraffes out of your car and can literally be a few feet away from the rhino .

minniemooblue · 20/08/2023 22:40

We didn't really see anything when we went on the little train but younger ones might like it.

Everything is cashless including paying for all the animal feeding. Giraffes, lorikeets, sea lions.

We enjoyed the pizza but not the burgers and the restaurant is ok for sit down lunch if you don't take a picnic.

drpet49 · 20/08/2023 22:54

Longleat has been going downhill for years. I wouldn’t bother going.

Thatbloomindog · 20/08/2023 23:06

Oh yes the food options are expensive and dire. Take. Good picnic

Original poster

Gro · 21/08/2023 07:15

Will pack a picnic.

West Midlands is far too far away from us with little ones for a day trip.

It was paid for with Tesco vouchers so I'm not fussed if it isn't amazing. Just wanted something to do for the day.

Thanks all

OP posts:

Anotherdayanothermoodswing · 21/08/2023 07:28

We went last week it was amazing as always (third time)! We did Safari first, the queue for giraffe feeding was so giant we didn't bother; the Monkeys are hysterical but definitely little bastards with some of them systematically destroying aerials etc (lost our door trim and a jet wash nozzle and nearly a wiper! Will have to check my parking sensors).. also didn't queue in car for deer feeding as last time one of them scratched my car in excitement but in any case it was so warm most of them were conked out with just two deer grabbing snacks so not everyone who paid got to do it anyway. This was the same with the big cats (conked out in the shade) although we got really close to the lions! Wolves were nowhere.

In the main park longest queue was definitely the boats (25 min) but well worth it; we didn't bother this time with the train. All the main park animals are fab, too many faves! Kids also loved the adventure castle and the inflatable they currently have and went on both twice. We left just after 5 as a long drive home not open till 7 in hols.

Don't listen to the Grinchy naysayers, it's amazing!! 😊

YetMoreNewBeginnings · 21/08/2023 07:33

Floralnomad · 20/08/2023 22:39

West Midland Safari park is a far superior safari drive through , you are allowed to feed the giraffes out of your car and can literally be a few feet away from the rhino .

You’re not allowed to feed the giraffes at West mids. Only the lorikeets, meerkats and penguins now, none of the safari animals.

Agree with those saying skip the house at longleat with littlies.
Its still a great day out.

Floralnomad · 21/08/2023 17:16

@YetMoreNewBeginnings that’s a pity , has that been introduced this year

Original poster

Gro · 23/08/2023 22:30

Thanks Everyone we had a brilliant day!

Took most of the advice. We went straight to the boat and got to feed the sealions which was definitely a high point the children loved it!

We had a picnic at lunch which was a bit waspy but ok.

After lunch we did the safari and saw everything even though most animals were asleep because it was hot.

Then we went back to the walk around park and saw all the animals. Couldn't feed the Lorikeets but went back later and we did.

We did the hedge maze in 20 minutes DD10 took the lead and is a pro!

After that everyone was a bit hot and bothered so we went to the little farm, sat in the shade and had some water. Looked at the turkeys. DS4 saw a donkey do a poo and all the other donkey ate it, definitely his high point!

Then we went to the railway, gift shop and ride on rhinos and lions. We finished with the dinosaur animatronics which was fantastic.

Finally at 7.00pm we walked our exhausted selves back to the car, got out a plate of picnic things for each child to nibble on the way home and left.

It really was the perfect day so thank you all for the recommendations I have no doubt that it made all the difference (especially when we walked past the queue for the boat in the afternoon and it was literally 10 times longer than the morning queue!)

OP posts:

Floralnomad · 23/08/2023 23:08

Sounds like a highly successful day out @Gro , if you’ve not been before it’s definitely worth doing the Christmas lights at Longleat .

Daughterswaterworks · 23/08/2023 23:50

Op @Gro glad you had a good day.
Was safari ok to do later on?

OnionBhajis · 26/08/2023 23:33

Hi @Gro were going this weekend!

We were thinking of doing safari first though as youngest wants to feed giraffes. It sounds like we arrive early and go straight there and queue. We won't do monies though if we drive.

I realise this means the lorikeets might be full by the afternoon.

Anyone know if the boat ride queue gets quieter towards the end?

And is everything open til 7? Or does some of it close before then?

I want to do the things that might close (boat ride?!)

Also when I went years ago they had a parrot show. Is that still there??

OnionBhajis · 26/08/2023 23:35

Oh and we've been. Scrabbling for cash.

How much are giraffe feeding/lorikeets/sealing feeding. And is it all contactless now?!

Do people queue for giraffes before they start (ie before 10.30?)

GreyStampIcon · 27/08/2023 18:53

£1.50 for lorikeets and sea lions. I think lorikeets is an amount of food they can have per hour rather than per day. I don’t know about giraffes. Contactless only for feeding.

Original poster

Gro · 27/08/2023 18:54

We didn't feed the giraffes so can't help with that. I think lorikeet and sea lion feeding were £1.50 a pot.

The queue for the boat was huge the last time we walked past but I think that was around 5.30.

There were some shows can't remember the times but they were posted outside the show space. We didn't see them because youngest wouldn't have sat through anything like that.

Everything seemed to be open until or gone 7pm. Not sure what time the last boat ride is.

OP posts:

OnionBhajis · 27/08/2023 18:59

Thanks we had a fab day but left 5ish (I have a disability)

Giraffe feeding was £2 a branch and was amazing. It was worth doing the safari first to be able to do this I think even though we missed out on the boat as we'd done the boat before! It feels a bit like one or the other.

We arrived before 10 short queue to get in and then queued for 10mins or so before 10.30 to do the giraffes.

It was amazing!

We watched the show but it wasnt the pld parrot show I remember - theyve been retired (i wondered if their handler had retirer)- it was small animals which my kids enjoyed.

We didn't do play area for long - it is fab but eldest has grown out of them so did 20mins or so for the youngest.

There's no bat cave!

There's a bouncey obstacle course thing my youngest liked.