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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Seriously? £86 for family entry?

311 replies

biggirlknickers · 04/07/2021 20:35

This is for a visit to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park for 2 adults and 2 children.

I mean, who can afford £86 on tickets? That’s before you’ve factored in petrol, extortionate icecreams / coffees and no doubt a huge gift shop that you are forced to exit through with kids.

We are professionals on decent enough wages - we’re not rolling in it but we are doing ok. But that is truly beyond our reach for a single day out!

I’m thinking too of all the lower income families that I work with every day as a primary school teacher, for whom this couldn’t even be a consideration. Yorkshire children who don’t have a hope in hell of ever going to Yorkshire Wildlife Park.

AIBU to think that it’s really too much?

OP posts:
laddyandthetramp · 04/07/2021 21:29

You really need to think of these things as donations- you're helping out the place to keep running, and getting a day out in return

They are expensive though, definitely not a regular thing

BackforGood · 04/07/2021 21:29

I actually don't think £20 - £25pp is a huge amount for a full day out.
We were having to pay that 10 years ago when mine were the right age for family days out. It would be our "treat day" for the Summer holidays. Obviously, if you haven't got the money, then it is expensive. But £10 would be expensive if you don't have it.

When we did go to a zoo or theme park or whatever, it did used to amaze me what people would then spend once inside the attraction. For us, the day out was the treat. We would take a picnic and drinks with us and wouldn't buy stuff in the gift shop. There is no compulsion.

OnTheBrink1 · 04/07/2021 21:30

@NautaOcts

See someone’s already mentioned Paultons… crazy money was something like £130 for our family of five. Felt that it was a one off thing to do though and dc3 (5) hadn’t been. She did love every minute but I would’ve been seriously annoyed if it had been raining!
It was £175 for our family of 5 so you got away lightly! How did you manage only £130?
CornishTiger · 04/07/2021 21:30

We just don’t do the attractions due to cost. There are several well known attractions right by us. This year we didn’t get an annual locals pass to either. We used to have both but the children got bored. Shame because now we rarely do anything.

We have free stuff to do but have got into a rut as a family. Next year I will get an annual pass as the youngest will start to enjoy it.

CornishTiger · 04/07/2021 21:31

We did a Legoland treat a couple of years ago. It was £££££ but the memories are still spoken about how.

Handsoffstrikesagain · 04/07/2021 21:33

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

SimonJT · 04/07/2021 21:34

A lot of places are expensive, I have a merlin pass, it more than pays for itself, but of course a lot of people would struggle with the initial outlay.

Peppallama · 04/07/2021 21:34

@Blueberriesonmyshreddies

Unless the attractions are full all the time wouldn't it make sense to lower the price and have higher footfall. That would mean more money spent on food, drink and merchandise. Especially if a family goes back multiple times as opposed to once a year.
That's why most zoos allow you to buy a yearly season ticket for not much more than 1 day entry. As a result we go to the zoo at least twice a month (although tbh rarely buy anything there). Unfortunately this does result in my DC thinking that Cheetahs and Tigers are 10 a penny
sqirrelfriends · 04/07/2021 21:36

Honestly that doesn't seem so bad. Round here everything is around £40 pp. one of the local places which was always a bit cheaper has had to put their prices way up and are asking for donations because it cost so much to feed the animals and pay the keeps during lockdown.

kindaclassy · 04/07/2021 21:39

£20-£25 per person is not outrageous.

Yes, it would be nice if we could all book a night at the Ritz for a tenner, and a week in a luxury family resort for £100 including flight, wouldn't it.

But do YOU offer your work for next to nothing?

None of these places are essential or a charity, they are a business. They tend to be fully booked and/or absolute packed, the demand is there. The running costs are incredibly high too!

I can't see £20-£25 for a full day is extortionate, if anything it's a bargain.
You don't have to go, but you are very unreasonable to complain.

cheeseychovolate · 04/07/2021 21:39

Days out are a treat for us as they are so expensive. We've got national trust membership for £10.50 a month for a family, not as exciting as a theme park but is good value for days out in between expensive theme park type day trips.

kindaclassy · 04/07/2021 21:42

People are also moaning about the cost of seasonal attractions like Lapland UK, costing £400 or £500 for 2-3 hours for a family.

Still worth it, and the tickets are really hard to get they sell out so quickly.

As long as you don't spend your entire day queuing and do nothing because the place sold too many tickets, there's nothing to complain about.

Moonlaserbearwolf · 04/07/2021 21:43

@ILoveAnOwl

I've just look at Paultons. Over £100 for three of us. Crazy!
Wow, that’s got a lot more expensive. I last went a couple of years ago and it was nothing like that!
Floralnomad · 04/07/2021 21:44

AFAIK they are the only zoo / wildlife place in England that has polar bears so I would happily pay more than that just for the privilege of seeing them. We are planning a trip to Yorkshire just to see the bears later in the year .

kindaclassy · 04/07/2021 21:49

With their finance in tatters after months of closing, I'd be happy to pay a lot more to ensure they stay opened. The lockdown must have been a disaster, they were not highly profitable places to start with.

HandlebarLadyTash · 04/07/2021 21:50

I promised london zoo, left it too late to get tickets for the weekend I had booked the hotel for. Saw that if we were members we could get in.
£198!!
Planning on getting my money's worth in the next 12 months 😆

Higgeldypiggeldy35 · 04/07/2021 21:53

I've just looked at the Birmingham sea life centre for my son's 3rd bday and he would cost the same as an adult at 3 years old (£23) so for all 3 of us it is £69 without the extras and from all the reviews it's quite small and only takes a couple of hours. Absolute rip off.

IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 04/07/2021 21:54

I don’t think £21.50 for a full day out is a lot. Animals are expensive to care for, there’s staff costs, cleaning costs etc.

Blondeshavemorefun · 04/07/2021 21:55

We are going towhipsnade in aug Will be £45 for one adult one child so guessing you would be £90

Yes it’s a lot but equally £22per person for an amazing day out isn’t that bad

It’s not an every day treat

PickUpAPepper · 04/07/2021 21:56

Birmingham Sea Life centre was one of the larger ones as I recall. Wonderful place. They are expensive, but how else do you think the animals get fed and housed?

lastcall · 04/07/2021 21:56

YANBU at all.

Why we've never been there or lego land or alton towers or the like. Rip off Britain.

RampantIvy · 04/07/2021 21:57

@Whyo

YABU the cost of caring for the types of animals in these parks is astronomical. I also don’t think it’s unreasonable price at all.
This ^^ IMO the cost of entry to YWP is worth every penny. We go at least once a year.

We are going to Longleat tomorrow. Cost is £34.95 each.

Thevoiceofreason2021 · 04/07/2021 22:01

It’s a treat - not a weekly thing. The cost of a steak dinner for 2 plus wine is £100 , so I don’t think it’s particularly expensive. I would try and use Clubcard vouchers though!!

Kona84 · 04/07/2021 22:01

We went a couple of years ago and I’m sure I paid £25 for 2 adults which I didn’t think was too bad.
Looked recently and decided not to go, I think they have to raise their prices due to covid. I imagine they have a year of takings to try and recover and feeding the animals isn’t cheap

Youdiditanyway · 04/07/2021 22:06

Yeah, it’s a total rip off but all zoos are the same. I have 5 DC (luckily 2 are currently under 3 so free) and it costs us just over £100 to go to any zoo or wildlife park. We went to Knowsley safari park last time and that was over £100 entrance plus fuel, food at the cafe (we could’ve negated this with a picnic I know) and then the DC spotted the bloody fairground rides so I think I spent £20 extra on those… Crazy.

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