AIU to have felt peeved after this zoo visit?

[Captaintango]

School trips at the zoo.
Has anyone else visited the zoo in term time with toddlers and had a bad experience due to children on school visits?
We visited a large zoo on Monday this week with a 2 & 3 year old and found it very difficult for the toddlers to see or do anything as they were pushed out of the way/ stepped in front of by groups on school trips.
(Seven coach loads on premises on the day of our visit)
Aiu to think that the schools should stay together on the trips so that other customers can avoid them and have a chance to enjoy their visit too?

Zoos are much more fun when virtually empty but virtually empty zoos don't stay open for long.

At the zoo find out the name of the school and complain to the supervising teachers.

The zoo probably resents badly behaved children but can't do much about it.

I have found visiting later helps avoid school trips. Most will be leaving at 2 ish to get back, so we go after lunch, arriving 1.30 ish then they are only there for a short time, we can stay til closing!

Go in September/October, there are no school trips, the wasp theme park has been closed for the season and the weather can be really nice.

The zoo is a frustrating place imo. I hate it when adults all stand pressing their noses to the enclosures so children can't see. Selfish bastards.

No doubt your child will be do exactly the same when he/she goes on one of those school trips. You best volunteer and keep those pesky school children in line

Yanbu, i experienced this recently. There were three different colour uniforms around so at least three schools in at once.

My daughter is only small, just a toddler, and more or less every time we let her on the reins to wander about she was knocked or pushed past when near the enclosures.

I know kids will be kids, but some were particularly rough, and i didn't once hear their teachers or parent helpers tell them to be careful around other people or calm down.

The Zoo's should really limit the number of school trips in one day to avoid this as it spoils it for other visitors. We purposely went during term time to avoid excessive crowds , thought we might as well take advantage while we still can, but it was actually worse than school holiday time!

YABU. A toddler is smaller than an older child - not much the zoo can do about that. Certainly the toddler's experience shouldn't be prioritised above the child. Just wait for the kids to move on if it's too busy for your child to see.

YABU.

The fun part of being in a school trip is that you get to tear off with your friends and have a bit of freedom. Where's the fun in staying in an orderly group?

I agree, school trips are a huge pita for anyone else there. Sadly, there isn't anything we can do about it. We went on a nursery trip to Yorkshire Wildlife Park on Tuesday, we had 5 coaches BUT we weren't in big groups, each child had one adult, and when we got off the coach and in the park, we all just went off and did what we liked for the day, as long as we were back on the coach no later than 2.

There were 27 coaches in total at YWP on Tuesday, there were school groups everywhere. 3yo DD was pushed in front of and barged past quite a few times, but luckily she is very vocal, if she was stood looking at something and another child pushed in front of her, before I had chance to say anything, DD, in her loudest and clearest voice would go, 'HEY! This little boy/girl just PUSHED IN FRONT OF ME!' And 1 of 2 things happened each time, either their teacher would hear and remove the child, or the child would look so surprised at being called out by a toddler, that they would shamefacedly move out of her way :o

YANBU
We have a smallish wild life / Zoo park local to us. We have a yearly pass and every week go to a group for under 5s, some crafts and a talk on a different animal each week sort of thing.
The ladies toilets are in a huge block, probably about 30 individual cubicles, a couple of weeks ago a school were using the toilets before their lunch and a teacher had positioned herself at the door and was refusing entry to any other members of the public including the toddler group on the grounds of 'child protection' we were all very