Colchester Zoo

[liamsdaddy]

We are planning on taking our DS (13 months) to Colchester Zoo this summer.

So far, we haven't been brave enough to have lunch out. Often we try to go somewhere in the morning and get back for lunch, or directly go out after his lunch and have him fall asleep in his pushchair whilst we are out.

But you can't really visit a zoo just for an hour or so before/after lunch. It's not a really big zoo, but it will still take a while to have a leisurely walk around.

There are a few foodie places, any experiences? Is the food edible, for us and him? (I would plan to bring food with us, but it's nice to have something different if it exists) Do they have decent highchairs?

Any recommendations whilst we are there? Aquatic animal areas are a must I think.

I love Colchester Zoo.
Haven't eaten there though as we generally take a picnic with us when we go out as so much cheaper with 2 kids who can eat loads on a day out!
A 13 month old is a lot cheaper to feed though!
However, I would still go for a picnic as I tend to find that food at these sorts of places is always over-priced and a bit rubbish.

Aquatic area is good, and the Afican animals area is fab. There were times when you could feed the giraffes when we went. Check the timetable.

Hi liamsdaddy we love taking our DD (15 mths) to Colchester zoo - so much so we have 'gold cards' so we can have a 'free' day out when we get the chance. It's so good for kids because there is a lot to see!
Don't worry about lunch - the place is buzzing with kids, and no one expects a 13 mth old to have perfect table manners! Ours is a particularly wriggly baby who doesn't like to stop, (like most babies I imagine), so we find it better/easier to at least bring DDs food because we think she is more likely to eat what she knows! As for you guys it's mainly fast food there, but there are plenty of picnic tables around if you want to take your own. It depends what you prefer! I would say the high chairs are pretty much on a par with other places - functional but may require a good baby-wipe down!
As for the attractions we like the penguins, sea lions (tunnel bit), orangutan and baby rhino and hippo best, but it's all good! (No we don't work for the zoo we just love the animals!) Hope you have a good day!

It's bigger than youthink and lots of hills but saying that my dc loved it we had gold cards for 6 years only stopped as we moved away recently.

The Inn at the zoo has widest range rest are really fast food places expect pay about 5,or 6 pound for you and dp they often offer chips and something , jacket spuds a curry plus one other . My adice is take drinks and snacks with you as it's these that add up

but on plus side the train rides are free as is indoor play area

Excellent day out. Use your tesco vouchers (if you have) to get in for a lot cheaper!
What will your ds eat? Quite hilly, so follow the 'easy route' if you have a buggy and it will be fine.

The Inn at the zoo is a sit down type cafe with hot food, sandwiches etc. They do fish fingers and chips and similar for children too. My ds tends to have the breakfast cereal if we go there, but he's fussy as anything... Seating indoors and out but can get very busy.

There's a pizza place (not great) near the farm animal type bit.

There's a chips and dips by the amur tigers.

There's a hot dog place too near the lake, but not always open.

And a fast food (burgers fries etc) up near the ark/chimps. Again indoor and outdoor seating.

And lots of snack shops (icecream, cakes, drinks etc) in between all those.

Not all open all days, but in summer most should be open. The Inn and the fast food place always open.

Plenty of picnic spots too, so can be much simpler just to bring your own. Oh and if you want/need chocolate take your own as they don't sell chocolate bars!

Thanks for the advice everyone, we went today.

Generally DS likes toasted jam sandwiches for lunch, plus some jelly or yogurt. Since we were trying to travel light we had brought along food for him (except his usual yogurt/jelly) but not for ourselves!

The inn in the park (Cafe UmPhafa) was the best location. It was also the only place that we saw high chairs (might of been some in the Fried Chicken place, but we didn't look in there). Although these were a tight fit on our chunky 14 month old (much older and wouldn't fit I suspect). We did have the travel high chair in the car, but I wouldn't want to lug it around a zoo.

I definitely could of done with some chocolate or energy drinks after pushing 13kg+ DS and pushchair up the long hill though....

Glad you had a good day out, definitely get a gold card if you plan on going again as it's cheaper than going three times and you get into Santa's grotto for free at Christmas.

Did you do the really killer hill up by the spider monkeys or did you do the not so bad but still quite steep hill up from the train and goes past the wolves? The easy route recommends the second options but it's not always easy to see which way to go.

I was pretty sure you would need the chocolate! I always take my own nowadays

It was the long slog from the tigers up to the top past the wolves that really did my feet in.

I think the other hill was signposted as out of bounds for pushchairs/wheelchairs - at the top at least.

I suspect we will get a gold card once he is a little older.