London zoo?? Would you recommend it?

[AnyoneForPimms]

hi,

It's my daughters 9 th birthday at the end of the month and she really wants to go to London zoo.

Is it worth a trip from Southampton?

Oh yes! Take the train and get a 2 for 1 leaflet to get one person in free, as otherwise it's expensive.

Spent a whole day there a few months ago and only saw about half of it. No elephants, though, which may be disappointing. You might prefer Whipsnade for more large animals.

Where do you get a 2for1 leaflet from?

Just seen you're from Southampton - Marwell zoo is fantastic. I last went to London Zoo 8 years ago and to be honest was a bit disappointed. However it was a cold, cloudy day and 90% of the animals were hiding in their shelters so we hardly saw anything. I'm prepared to think that if it had been sunnier we may have had a totally different experience. We went to Marwell a couple of years later and I thought it was batter than London zoo.

However we're off to London in a few weeks and DD wants to go so I'm prepared to give it a second chance if we have time.

I think London Zoo is pretty crap tbh. The cages are too small and a lot of the bigger animals have been moved out to Whipsnade, which is a much better place and well worth the journey.

Hi, we are Marwell pass holders. DH took our 2 year old to London Zoo last month. They don't seem to have had as impressive a time as I had hoped they would have, and in some ways Marwell seems rather better. DH said that London seems to have lots of fancy buildings that are too small/unsuitable for the animals planned to live there. There are reviews of the different zoo experiences on mumsnet and Marwell does come off better, though I bet you've been there lots!

we used to go from time to time when we lived a bus ride away, and enjoyed it, but i don't think it's worth a trip from outside of London

My dd really wants to go but it's so expensive.

Anyone else got any opinions?

Dh hates mar well zoo for some reason.

I think it's crap compared with say Chester or Bristol.

If she's really keen on seeing the animals in a zoo, I'd take her to a different one. OTOH, if she wants to see London, I'd take her to see something else.

Whipsnade is a fantastic zoo, it is a feeder zoo to london, but as some one has previously said the larger animals are at whipsnade. What is great about Whip is that you can take your car in, as it is set in such a large area you can drive to each area, then get out and take a look around, there is a train and also a mini wild africa that you drive through.

If you like the idea of driving through a 'zoo' Woburn is also very good.

For both places i would bring your own food though.

I like London Zoo and used to have a membership when we lived in London but I definitely wouldn't think it worth a trip from Southampton. Central London isn't the most suitable place to have a zoo. There are many things to do in London that are worth the trip from Southampton but there are probably 5 equally good zoos on the way there. (That's a random guess, not an informed opinion, by the way.)

What about Bristol zoo then?

I don't like it at all. The cages/enclosures are far too small and many of the animals look very unhappy. Whipsnade far, far nicer IMHO.

We live in London and have annual membership to London Zoo so go frequently as DD 2.11 loves it. However, I have terrific childhood memories of Whipsnade Safari Park and at 9 yo much preferred to go there. You may have to make your trip to London more worthwhile than just the Zoo, imo - would your DD like Madame Tussaud's too? Or the Planetariam or the big Aquarium on the Southbank - all of which my DD loves but it all ends up being expensive. What about the Science Museum (free) or Natural History Museum (free) in combo with Zoo? Sorry not to be much help; I agree that London Zoo isn't that brilliant as it's so small and better for toddlers/younger DC imo.

We went two or three years ago and found it really expensive and honestly didn't think it was that brilliant either. We much prefer Port Lympne and Howletts which are local to us. Think you can probably find something just as good if not better more locally and spend the money you save on a nice meal or something.