Paradise Wildlife Park (Hertfordshire) - anyone been?

[Hulababy]

We (me, DH and 5yo DD) are going down to BIL's this weekend to babysit my 10 month old niece for the day. We fancy getting out and about as there is a nice forecast and DD entertained, as well as niece obviously.

BIL/SIL mentioned Paradise Wildlife Park zoo as it is quite close by.

Anyone been? What is it like? Enough to do and see for the day? What's the eating options like?

Thank you!

I go and stay until it shuts. The animals keep them interested for about 1/2 hour, but there are loads of play areaswhere mine will happily play all day. Also indoor ball pit (food costs more in there for some unknown reason) and huge paddling pool if it is nice. My dds are 6 and 7 and love it.

I always take picnics, but food is average fast food, not too badly priced from what I've seen

The train ride costs £1 and is rubbish. Tractor/trailor round the animal bit is free

Rubbish? Jelley, havent you seen the metal monkey with bolts for eyes on there?!!

We had an annual pass for ds1's first birthday. Had a friend with a car and also with a pass, so we went at least once a week!
Animals are good, play areas very good, there's a theatre with regular show things/indoor play, so at least there are wet weather options too.

I agree with Jelley; take a picnic. Then buy one portion of chips to share, therefore entitling you to sit in the cafe if its cold/rainy

Take your own lunch as it is chicken nugget shite but all in all agreat day out. Watch out for the stinky bat house.

the lemurs are great. its a really good zoo for very young children, nice and small with huge play area. also has nice viewing platforms for older children.

Another thumbs up here. Food rubbish, animals good, playgrounds excellent. The resturant does have a microwave as well if you need to heat up food or bottles for the 10 month old.

I would point out that it is a small private zoo so dont expect a huge number of animals etc .. but I think it is good for the younger ones. My ds likes the animals but on their own they wouldnt occupy him for long. The play areas are great though ... its worth a trip when you combine all the activities!

Yes, definitely enough for a 5 yo to do for a whole day. I don't remember anything about the food. See if you can get to watch some lucky punter feeding the tigers. I've done it myself (birthday present from dh)!

Thanks all. Looks like a definite for Saturday then Will try and get there earlish on if lots to do - not sure what time BIL/SIL are going out, but sure they won't mind a bit of extra time to themselves anyway.

And if wet area best remember the costume for DD I guess.

Can't do picnic really as we are staying at BIL/SIL's house and won't have the time to get organised, and don't really know way round area much anyway. We are happy to do fast food stuff for a one off. Also we will really need to be able to sit insdie somewhere so we can sort my niece out with milk and food. Will have to have a look round to find the better stuff - jackets, etc. maybe.

It is great for younger ones. Brookfield Centre is 5 mins away so you could grab a load of picnic stuff from Marks. The food is poor but there are plenty of picnic tables. The shows are good fun and the animal feeding sessions keep older children happy.

All sounds fab then

And the forecast for the area looks great as well: sunny and 23 degrees. So shall remember costume and towel for DD!

Just have to figure out how to fit my neice's Bugaboo in the back of my car!

We are frequent visitors! Great outdoor playground with a real steam train and fire engine, converted into climbing frames/slides. My boys love that! The food is mostly burgers/chips, though you can get jacket potatoes. If you want healthy, you're better of taking your own. Leave the indoor play area till the end. It's been redeveloped recently and is amazing but the kids will wear themselves out. Oh, and the indoor play area also has a Starbucks cafe so you can indulge yourself while they play.

Had a lovely day. Got there about 10:30ish and left about 5:30 or so. DD had a great time on the playgrounds, the water park, the soft play and the zoo. We watched the bird of prey show. My little niece enjoyed herself and spent half the day waving hello to all the animals. She also liked the little train.

Was excellent value. £32 for the 4 of us, and we got a full day in and could have been there longer.

As for food it wasn't too bad. We had sandwiches and DD had a hot dog. We had Satrbucks coffee late ron whilst DD was at the water park. There was more than just fast food - sandwiches, paninis, salads and jackets. And the prices were not bad considering it was a zoo.

Glad you had a good day Hula. I'm there most days! (we bought a yearly pass). If you took pity on a harrassed, slightly demented mother of two trying to drag my children off of the merry-go-round, it was me!

The weather was fantastic there today too. If we lived down here we would definitely have annual passes!