Longleat Christmas. Best plan for the day?

[Funkybutnot]

We are visiting next weekend for the day and trying to work out the best way to plan. It's going to take us 3.5-4 hrs to get there.

I'm thinking leaving at 9 to get there for 1.

Enjoy the safari first,
packed lunch,
Walk through the house,
Boat, maze, butterfly house etc,
Santa train at 5,
Singing Christmas tree.

Does that all sound doable to the ones that have already done it this year?
Our days are always planned as accurate as possible to help DD as she doesn't like any changes.

Thank you rio makes me feel a bit better! DS is still being sick! :(

We're going tomorrow and hoping the weather overnight doesn't lead to closures. Debating whether to do boat first and safari in the middle (less queues, first boat of the day) or whether to do the safari first as most people will to avoid driving back twice.

If we do safari first we then do boat, penguins etc and then leave house and tree utnil after dark

Does anyone know how early they let you in? Is it entry at say 9.30 at initial gate with entry to safari at 10, or entry at ticket gate at 10? We can be early...

Not sure what you mean about the price Marzipan? It's 13.50 at Christmas which I think is a bargain!! (Obviously more if you buy ice skating and/or train but we don't).

We wonder about buying passes but its still at trek from us and as we get one Christmas trip in and one with tesco clubcards its not Quite worth it as we do about 3-4 trips a year. We wonder every time though!

Hope your little boy is soon better and you can go soon!

Oooh we're first in the safari queue! Yes you can get in at 9.30 and either go to cafes or drive to safari entrance. ... :)

Oh that's brilliant, Hope you have a lovely day. What's the weather like there today? Busy?

We are meant to be going tomorrow.

It was fantastic! We had a few showers in the morning but full sun all afternoon :)

We've been quite a few times before, so decided to skip the bit at the African bit where you can get out and just drove on through the safari. At most enclosures we were in on our own all the way through. Amazing. Seriously close to lions, tigers, ostrich (or emu?!) and a fantastic day. A few things weren't there - didn't see the giraffes or wolves, but the penguins were great, and feeding the parakeets is my favourite thing.

I think if you go to the parrot show you might get a personal show, its so very quiet compared to midsummer or the lead up to Christmas its lovely (if slightly eery first thing).

Hope you have a really lovely day.

arealpickle

I'm glad you had a brilliant day, sounds perfect.

DD hasn't been herself today but hoping all will be ok first thing, hoping to leave 6:30am.

Thank you for the update...felling very excited now.

Have you got A Plan? Anything you like to see in particular? I'm all excited for you, having got back all buzzing!!

The butterfly house is er. Well we saw one butterfly. I think its seasonal. There was no queue for holding a snake or a tarantula just next door though (shudder. I tried not to show fear when my 4 year old decided she wanted to).

How old is your dd? I'm happy to answer anything I can if its helpful (you mentioned she likes it planned first?)

It surprised me how quiet it was, and we actually got more done than we thought!

thank you.

Ideally get there by 10am and do the safari.
Boat trip
House
Parrot show...she loves things like that
Santa train at 5
Singing Xmas tree
DS would love to hold a snake...well done to you, very impressed! Showing no fear is a tough one.

We're there any queue for the safari boat? DD struggles with queues and longleat don't do a Special needs queuing system unfortunately.

Sounds a great plan :)

After you come off the boat trip you could easily walk across to the penguins/small monkeys if you wanted to (across the train tracks).

The parrot shows today I think were at 12,1,2 and 3, there's a board outside which advertises the times. This is near the butterfly/animal handling area. One year we were hanging around at showtime as we were the only people - and eventually someone came to show them to us! Mid summer its packed. The parrots do football, shopping, noises etc - well worth seeing if she'd like that.

We didn't queue for the safari boat today. In fact we didn't queue for anything at all. we were fairly early on everything but it wasn't busy at all. Really good timing going after Christmas!

The bats are worth a trip too and only take 10minutes... they swoop over your head :)

You might want a few coins to hand. You can feed the sea lions for £1 (you get a tub with 4 fish in) and you can feed the parakeets for £1 for a little cup of nectar. They will sit on your arm.

Thank you again, you've made me super excited now. Lol

Seeing the penguins and monkeys are a must and added to my list, I just hope it will be quiet tomorrow too.

We haven't been for a couple of years and there seems to be lots of new things there.

Will update tomorrow and hope we have a brilliant day like you.

There's been quite a lot added over the last few years I think. Hope you have a lovely day :)

pickle What a wonderful day and nice weather, cold but dry.

We arrived by 10:30 to find the safari quiet before going on the safari boat with no queue whatsoever. The boat was about half full.

Saw the parrot show, penguins, fed the parakeets etc.

My favourite bit of the day was DD holding Charlie the corn snake and Twinkle the tarantula. She has always been so scared of those kind of animals but actually wanted to hold them although she kept repeating 'I'm so nervous' while having a huge smile on her face.
The young keeper with the snake was brilliant, explaining all about the snake to the children.

Went on the train at 5 before seeing the Christmas tree at 6pm. Perfect day and the DC slept all the way home.

So glad you had a fantastic day in the end! It's much quieter after Christmas than before :) sounds lovely .x