To want a refund... Longleat safari.

[Mrsweasley123]

Visited longleat for the festival of lights yesterday, have been before for the christmas event and loved it. It was an absolute disaster. Sat stuck in the safari for 4 hours, staff had to put all the animals away so the gates could be kept open to ease traffic so nothing to look at. We were standstill in an enclosure for an hour, nose to nose traffic of idling cars, my 6 year old niece wet herself because we were stuck for so long with no access to get out. Made it out eventually, another 30 minute queue to access filthy toilets. 45 min- 1hr queues for food. On foot attractions closed. The lights themselves were impressive but it was so overcrowded people were getting crushed, children crying. It was honestly horrendous. We complained to guest services who acknowledged they were over capacity. I expect christmas events to be busy and expect to queue but aibu to think this is ridiculous and expect a refund?

Having been a big longleat fan and visitor annually for about 30 years, there has been a big decline in standards since Lord Bath handed over to his son.
we won’t return now. The girls have been a few times now, but each time it’s worse. It’s such a shame, we used to love it

YABU for expecting anything different.

It's an abomination of a place.

I think the sooner people stop going to these places and parting with their hard earned cash the better. I feel sorry for you OP for being stuck in your car for 4 hours, but I feel way more sorry for those poor animals having to live amongst the fumes of all those cars, in a climate that is too cold for them just so that humans can go and look at them.

Probably if you college enough stories it's a national rather than local newspaper story, particularly if you can get in an animal welfare angle

I’ve always wondered about the climate with places like this. We went to Yorkshire wildlife park in summer and I was watching the polar bears (not a climate controlled enclosure) wondering how the hell they survive when the temperatures reach 27+ degrees.

These events are all about making as much money as possible. Id never take DS to any of them. I hear horror stories year after year.

This is why I don't bother going at Christmas anymore. They massively over sell tickets and it's so crowded you can barely move around the lights, you have to just sort of move as one big entity. God forbid your children leave your side, you'd struggle to find them.

The best time to go is mid week early December. Not quite so manic.

At peak times the safari can take forever. It sucks any enjoyment out of it.

Don't even get me started on the two red panda cubs dying of hypothermia last week.

You'll be best off emailing them as no one answers the customer services phoneline.

That sounds so badly managed. If anyone is in Yorkshire I highly recommend the winter illumination at Yorkshire Wildlife Park.

You won't get to see the animals as they are inside their shelters after dark, but the draw for this event is the illuminations, which are brilliant, not the animals. And there are plenty of toilet facilities.

I went yesterday and had an amazing time - saw lots of animals and yes, it was busy, but that was to be expected.

Agree 100%.

Everythings going to the dogs in this country or in this case the hyenas.

@UseAMuckySock that is normal summer weather for wild polar bears... they don't live on the ice all year.

YWP also closed during the heatwave last yearso they could concentrate on animal welfare

I had a horrendous Santa experience last year. Everything about it was awful and there was a mass exodus the minute the kids got their £1 selection box from the dodgy santa.

They would not refund me. Even though what they advertised was not what we got.

So, I hope not, but expect pushback.

Oh really? I stand corrected then. I assumed they only lived in cold climates

I probably know far too much about the Polar bears there, they are my favourites (we live local).

We went last year weekend before Christmas. We had an amazing time. It was busy but didn’t feel overcrowded. Saw loads of animals and lights were amazing .
really surprised to hear all this.

They also pay staff minimum wage and always have loads of vacancies. Neglect of basic H&S, filthy staff facilities, staff often don't get breaks.

The place needs to be shut down and investigated. There is nothing special about it.

Pretty sure the artic circle doesn’t get up to 27 in the summer!

*arctic circle

I would write to them, or tewwt.
This happened to me when I took my family to a well publicised attraction.
So many things wrong.
I wrote a curteous letter outlinging what went wrong and how it impacted our comfort and enjoyment.
The company responded quickly and gave me a full refund for all the tickets.

us too!

Omg I saw the red panda cubs on TV yesterday had no idea they had died. 😔

We had a similar experience there in the summer: they clearly massively over book, it’s pure greed really. I was going to complain but didn’t get round to it: I guess I should’ve done - you never know if enough people make a fuss they may rethink their strategy.

Bloody hell. I opened this thread thinking you were probably being unreasonable but that's ridiculous. Of course they should issue a refund. It sounds like a horrendous experience.

We’ve been to Longleat for the lights for years now. It is always busy, but we’ve never experienced anything like the OP describes.

We’re off again next week, and hopefully it will be like previous years, busy but moving. The longest we’ve been in the safari is 2 hours, I reckon. It does get annoying when both lanes get parked up and no one can move, but thankfully we’ve never been stuck too long.