Yorkshire Wildlife Park

[Heyduggee123]

Am currently sat seething on hold to Yorkshire Wildlife Park. My parents bought us annual passes for Christmas. I've just gone online to book to see if there is anything available this weekend. Not surprisingly there isn't much left. I don't know why I thought to look on the paid tickets section. Well fuck me I can go on Sunday morning at 9am if I'm willing to pay £42. How can they possibly limit annual pass holders?

AIBU or is this totally nuts!! We've not managed to actually use them yet! No email offering a part refund or to extend the expiry date of the annual passes.

@twoshedsjackson

The annual passes give them predictable income. If too many pass-holders get hacked off at getting no use from them, that predicable income may slowly dwindle.....

But there's no suggestion here that they can't get any use from them.

Zoos and theme parks are operating on limited capacity so they're bound to fill up quicker than normal. It's not their fault they're having to operate under such restrictive policies.

[quote Jumpers268]@sunflowersandbuttercups very true haha. Obviously it just struck a nerve for me! 🙈😂.[/quote]
To be fair, if I tried to book that far ahead and couldn't, I'd probably be pissed off too

Ok I was fully expecting for there to be no availability this weekend, I went onto the website with the view that if they had space then we’d go, if not then I’d book for another time, no big deal 🤷‍♀️

But then knowing that they had plenty of space if you were prepared to pay, is really outrageous. Given that it is only 5 days away and they still had space they’d want the income from the food outlets, gift shop etc

I didn’t manage to get through when I called but the recorded message encouraged me over and over again to consider a annual pass for unlimited access so there is somewhat of a contradiction there

@Heyduggee123 you may want to book for June half term or summer holidays if they're showing any availability .

Harewood House is doing the same. And many other attractions probably. I think annual pass holders will have to do a lot of pre-planning to get use out of them this year.

I don’t think they’re being unfair. There will be a limited amount of pass holder places for each day and a limited number of paid places you just didn’t book on in time OP. They can’t fill the day with pass holders who aren’t actually paying to get in. They’ve still had animals to feed and care for and bills to pay whilst they’ve been closed so they need to make an income somewhere.

But I have (or my parents) paid for the annual passes. What a shit deal for those people who have given their money up front.

Yes I understand it’s been a terrible time for everyone, we thought we were doing out bit, buying annual passes, going regularly (as we are very local) and spending our money there. What incentive is to buy another pass next year. I feel like it’s a lose lose situation

@Lockheart

Their sandbox, their rules. Like it or lump it I'm afraid.

Having an annual pass does not give you priority for tickets at other places (e.g. National Trust).

I’m also a national trust member, I understand their system, I still get to go free, but all tickets are open to every single person regardless of whether you are a member or not

An annual pass means she can go as often as she likes and pay nothing - she just needs to be a bit more organised.

No, not at the moment necessarily.

Take Longleat, for example. They've released tickets until mid June. There is zero availability at the weekend for this entire period, so if you have a school age child your tickets are basically worthless now.

There are people on FB complaining about this who literally tried to book within 2 hours of the tickets being released, and were too late. This probably gives some example of the ratios of annual pass to other tickets available. Btw, all of these weekends are free and most have high availability of tickets (its a different colour).

I understand their problem, in that they need the money now, but those sorts of season tickets are expensive, and not even being able to go 3 months in advance, when a paying person could go this weekend, just isn't good enough.

@Babyboomtastic

An annual pass means she can go as often as she likes and pay nothing - she just needs to be a bit more organised.

No, not at the moment necessarily.

Take Longleat, for example. They've released tickets until mid June. There is zero availability at the weekend for this entire period, so if you have a school age child your tickets are basically worthless now.

There are people on FB complaining about this who literally tried to book within 2 hours of the tickets being released, and were too late. This probably gives some example of the ratios of annual pass to other tickets available. Btw, all of these weekends are free and most have high availability of tickets (its a different colour).

I understand their problem, in that they need the money now, but those sorts of season tickets are expensive, and not even being able to go 3 months in advance, when a paying person could go this weekend, just isn't good enough.

Totally agree! There is zero incentive to buy annual passes going forward

@Babyboomtastic

An annual pass means she can go as often as she likes and pay nothing - she just needs to be a bit more organised.

No, not at the moment necessarily.

Take Longleat, for example. They've released tickets until mid June. There is zero availability at the weekend for this entire period, so if you have a school age child your tickets are basically worthless now.

There are people on FB complaining about this who literally tried to book within 2 hours of the tickets being released, and were too late. This probably gives some example of the ratios of annual pass to other tickets available. Btw, all of these weekends are free and most have high availability of tickets (its a different colour).

I understand their problem, in that they need the money now, but those sorts of season tickets are expensive, and not even being able to go 3 months in advance, when a paying person could go this weekend, just isn't good enough.

But those restrictions are in place because Longleat can only let a limited number of people in at once.

It even says on the website that once restrictions ease, you can go as normal with no need to pre-book anymore. They're also extending annual passes to account for the closures they've had to put in place.

I mean, I appreciate it's frustrating but I can't imagine kicking up a fuss over something the business has no real control over. If everyone demands a refund and refuses to go, Longleat will just go under.

@Giraffe31

I don’t think they’re being unfair. There will be a limited amount of pass holder places for each day and a limited number of paid places you just didn’t book on in time OP. They can’t fill the day with pass holders who aren’t actually paying to get in. They’ve still had animals to feed and care for and bills to pay whilst they’ve been closed so they need to make an income somewhere.

Exactly.

I think a lot of people have no real idea how much these places have suffered due to the pandemic. If they just let everyone in for free, they'll go bust. It's not sustainable.

Or would people rather get in for free for three months, then never be able to go again because everywhere has folded?

The zoos definitely need the income, but that shouldn't mean that pass holders suffer for it. They are loyal, committed supporters who have paid like everyone else. They're not given membership cards out of charity. I paid ~£200 a year for zoo passes when my DC were little.

We live pretty close to Yorkshire Wildlife Park and visit a fair amount.

I have just looked to buy tickets (we are not pass holders) and the first date shown as having tickets is 1st May. I checked every date between now and then are it says there is no availability.

Disappointed but pleased for them. We will just have to wait until May

Kew Gardens is the same with limited numbers of slots for those with passes. We went on Sunday and I was going to buy an annual pass beforehand but looked and saw that all of the timed slot for members had gone but good availability for non members. Next time we want to go I'll be more organised and not try and book less than a week in advance.

Also OP you may want to keep checking as if a passholder cancels their pre-booked slot that will become available to another passholder. I had that with Legoland for June. I'm like a crazy person at the minute 😂😂😂.

If it is the same as National Trust there is something to do with their charitable status and ability to apply for funding which means they have to have a certain level of availability for non members. Obviously slots for people with passes will go more quickly, but they cannot give slots which have to be available to anyone over to pass customers as it convenes accessibility criteria. So that's probably why, nothing they can do about it, and they have to operate that way to stay open.

@BlowDryRat

The zoos definitely need the income, but that shouldn't mean that pass holders suffer for it. They are loyal, committed supporters who have paid like everyone else. They're not given membership cards out of charity. I paid ~£200 a year for zoo passes when my DC were little.

How else would you do it, then?

They can't survive if they let all the annual pass-holders in without paying an admission fee. £200 a year is only 4-5 visits - not even once trip a month.

We booked tickets for Friday yesterday (pass holder ones).

Its Covid. You can't do things spontaneously at the moment.

DD and her family live close to YWP. and have membership like several of their friends. They'd sometimes just pop in for an hour or so after school, and before lockdown, they really got their money's worth. However, they understand that numbers are limited because of Covid, even for pass holders, and realise they won't get in for a while. They also want YWP to succeed, and that means they need to attract paying visitors.

If, as I believe, passes are to be extended, booking well in advance seems to be the only option until all restrictions are lifted. Once that happens, the passes will again be great VFM.

Well said @lynsey91!

I'd be sell a block of 6 tickets at a reduced price and be upfront that they're redeemable only at limited availability. Not say 'visit as much as you like' when half the slots available each day aren't open to you. Passes aren't free.

@lynsey91

We live pretty close to Yorkshire Wildlife Park and visit a fair amount.

I have just looked to buy tickets (we are not pass holders) and the first date shown as having tickets is 1st May. I checked every date between now and then are it says there is no availability.

Disappointed but pleased for them. We will just have to wait until May

I’m genuinely thrilled for them too, I’d hate to see it close. This was the availability at 1pm today but showed absolutely nothing for pass holders

We are members at Fishers Farm in Sussex, they have extended the annual passes so that we are not paying during lockdown and they don’t seem to be limiting the members tickets (in fact I think members are getting priority). I thought this would be the norm tbh, these sorts of attractions do need to make money I agree, but they rely on their members for a lot of their income and it’s in their best interests to look after them or they won’t renew!

I can book for 2.30 on Sunday. You would at least hope that if not booked up by the day before they would be released to pass holders

London Zoo has been easy to book member tickets. Going on Friday