Anyone been to Chester Zoo recently?

[DebDonkee]

Haven't been for ages and I'm thinking of taking DC at some point over the holidays.

Has anyone been recently? Is it worth the money? Will it be mega busy?

Definitely worth the money, you can easily spend the entire day there.
I'd recommended booking your tickets online so you don't need to queue at the ticket booths and arrive fairly early if you can.

If you need anymore convincing, a brand new baby Giraffe was born there a couple of weeks back 🦒

They now have snow leopards!

Entry fee well worth it. But take your own food as it's overpriced for what you get at the cafes, and queues are quite long too.

Thanks all.

Another question: if it's the school holidays, can you actually see the animals beyond the hordes of people?!

I went on a wet day in the summer holidays and it was fine especially the outside areas. The tropical indoor bit was rammed but everywhere else was great. Bring your waterproofs and go on a day with rain forecast!

The enclosures are quite large so plenty of viewing areas. We went at the weekend and it was busy but no issues seeing the animals.

I was there today. It was actually pretty quiet. We queued for about ten minutes to see the snow leopards but this meant that there was no crowding round to see them. We had no issues seeing any other animals and saw lots of babies, including the new giraffe born last week.

I expect next week to be busier as Chester schools don’t break up until tomorrow.

I love Chester it’s my favourite zoo, as others have said it’s a whole day trip, I’ve been twice now and still don’t think I’ve seen it all! Well worth the money. Highlights for me are the butterfly house and the boat ride in the area where the tigers are

I think it's a lot of money personally. I know two years ago you could get a much cheaper afternoon ticket. This was on the day from the booths from 2pm.
We saved a lot and still saw what we wanted to in 3.5 hours.
I'd ring and ask if they still do them.

Alternatively, it's a bit further afield but Monkey World remains excellent value.
Afternoon Tickets at Chester Zoo - Visit Cheshire

Home - Monkey World (bing.com)

We went at Feb half term. We arrived at 10am and were some of the last people out as it was closing just before 5pm. For the length of time we thought it was well worth it (especially compared to the £36 we spent on coffee and cake at a grubby Costa the day before!). Definitely agree to take food. Enjoy!

If you live near enough, it’s worth becoming a member.

Thats all so helpful - thanks so much!

It was HEAVING on Sunday!

we are members, 50 min Que for the snow leopards and 20 for the giraffe. I’m avoiding like the plague over half term.

Oh and there's a Greggs services off near Lymm if you struggle making picnics.
If you decide to do Monkey World instead, you'll get cheaper tickets still with Kids Pass (but don't forget to cancel straight after your free trial and I know some on here, myself included, struggled to get it cancelled).

Stay, play, explore would give you Twycross Zoo, and two other trips in a nice hotel. £169 for one night (hotel/breakfast/ 2 adults 2 kids/Twycross/Conkers/Bosworth) Conkers and Bosworth could be done on the same day/ second day.
Fabulous StayPlayExplore great value, cheap short breaks from only £169 | Stay Play Explore (bing.com)

Finally Twycross I think is on Tesco Clubcard.

I also love still Knowsley Safari Park even though my car doesn't

How old are dc? Can you get offers on club card points or similar?
We're also members and similar queue times for the snow leopards/giraffe on Saturday. I'd expect busy over the next couple of weeks but if you get there by 11ish then usually plenty of parking. It's really big now and with DC4 we tend to do 3/4 hours tops and get round part of the zoo rather than the whole thing. You probably only need to go 3 or 4 times a year to make membership worth it.
Definitely take a picnic, the food there is expensive and unless you're in the pub not great.