West Midlands Safari Park
- Thread starter Dora
- Start date
I had done the Safari bit since the mid 2000’s but I been to a few firework events in the past. I was booked to go last year but got a refund. It’s not as good as Drayton’s firework event but they have a bonfire to keep everyone warm.
The Sea lion show is good and like there Aquarium but there funfair is rubbish but the Safari and animals is the main pull of the Safari Park.
The Sea lion show is good and like there Aquarium but there funfair is rubbish but the Safari and animals is the main pull of the Safari Park.
Love WMSP. The animals are the main draw but they have some pretty good rides too to be fair.
I visited a few weeks back (the day after the bank holiday). Teacher training day but DMP wasn't open.
Couple of things of note which stood out as the parent of a (tall) dinosaur obsessed 5 year old. Firstly the height mechanism was different, rides were all in 20 cm gradients for entry and you were allocated a grading on entry. Now - this meant that as he was over 1.2m he could go on the water rides. Which with the new 1.3m limit at DMP isn't possible.
There is also a much more mobile and exciting dinosaur trail. Which he wanted to go back round time and again.
There was a shared management system of some rides as the park was quite quiet, it meant that the rides were open, but the operator was shared so that you had to wait for them to finish on a different ride before they came to let you into the one you were queuing for. There did seem at times to be an attempt to save on staffing as the queues to get in took a long time to get through the cars and many entry booths weren't open.
Also though that the park was open when DMP was closed, now I know that the safari is a bigger draw with the rides as an add on, whereas DMP is the reverse, but I'd gladly take a walk around the zoo and buy a cuppa and a hot dog on many a day in the close season.
The little lad loved his trip and has already asked when he can go back.
Will be interesting to see if any of these kind of things will be introduced to DMP.
One hint if you are tempted, I paid for the visit by trebling up tesco clubcard vouchers. But you can't use these against guidebooks or animal feed which are extras at the booking process.
Couple of things of note which stood out as the parent of a (tall) dinosaur obsessed 5 year old. Firstly the height mechanism was different, rides were all in 20 cm gradients for entry and you were allocated a grading on entry. Now - this meant that as he was over 1.2m he could go on the water rides. Which with the new 1.3m limit at DMP isn't possible.
There is also a much more mobile and exciting dinosaur trail. Which he wanted to go back round time and again.
There was a shared management system of some rides as the park was quite quiet, it meant that the rides were open, but the operator was shared so that you had to wait for them to finish on a different ride before they came to let you into the one you were queuing for. There did seem at times to be an attempt to save on staffing as the queues to get in took a long time to get through the cars and many entry booths weren't open.
Also though that the park was open when DMP was closed, now I know that the safari is a bigger draw with the rides as an add on, whereas DMP is the reverse, but I'd gladly take a walk around the zoo and buy a cuppa and a hot dog on many a day in the close season.
The little lad loved his trip and has already asked when he can go back.
Will be interesting to see if any of these kind of things will be introduced to DMP.
One hint if you are tempted, I paid for the visit by trebling up tesco clubcard vouchers. But you can't use these against guidebooks or animal feed which are extras at the booking process.
We took advantage of the comp ticket to the safari park on 23rd October. Learning a few of the lessons from the visit above we went and did the non-safari animal bits first, then the rides and then did the safari last. I'd really recommend this way round as you get the best of all worlds.
HIghlights, definitely go early to the Lorikeets Landing and invest in some nectar, we were both covered in these birds and it was thrilling to see the look on the little lads face.
The Bats enclosure was really good too, if you spent the time to properly adjust your eyes too and you can see them roosting on the trees in there.
Their Halloween event involved a scratchcard where the right colour circle was scratched off to reveal the key word. This worked really quite well.
There was a lantern event in the evenings too. I can imagine this would have been really good, and you wonder whether it may be replicated at DMP going forward as unless the items are hired rather than owned then it would make sense to get more use out of them.
As for the rides section, well it is strange that as so much has been invested to spruce up DMP that some parts seemed a little unloved. It was quite a murky day which probably didn't help. That being said we had so much fun on the log flume (8 times never queued) and also on the dodgems. Neither of which there is a comparable ride at DMP for a five year old under 130cms.
It will be interesting to see what operational aspects will be transferred over to DMP or vice versa
HIghlights, definitely go early to the Lorikeets Landing and invest in some nectar, we were both covered in these birds and it was thrilling to see the look on the little lads face.
The Bats enclosure was really good too, if you spent the time to properly adjust your eyes too and you can see them roosting on the trees in there.
Their Halloween event involved a scratchcard where the right colour circle was scratched off to reveal the key word. This worked really quite well.
There was a lantern event in the evenings too. I can imagine this would have been really good, and you wonder whether it may be replicated at DMP going forward as unless the items are hired rather than owned then it would make sense to get more use out of them.
As for the rides section, well it is strange that as so much has been invested to spruce up DMP that some parts seemed a little unloved. It was quite a murky day which probably didn't help. That being said we had so much fun on the log flume (8 times never queued) and also on the dodgems. Neither of which there is a comparable ride at DMP for a five year old under 130cms.
It will be interesting to see what operational aspects will be transferred over to DMP or vice versa
We could be going to the lantern show next month. I think the looping group see the animals and safari as the main draw to the park and that’s why since they brought them in Jan 2019 they invested heavily on the safari, Animal enclosures and the lodges and they see the amusement park as just extra income that’s why they added no new attractions but re-themed some of there attractions. I usually go to there bonfire and fireworks event.
Had a great trip to the safari park a few months back, and it genuinely became a bit of a toss-up as to whether we would renew Drayton passes next year or get the safari ones (with rides). I think we're going to stick with Drayton, despite the safari park being closer. I still wish they would explore the possibility of a joint pass, we'd definitely be interested as based inbetween both parks.
I went April this year and used our free ticket that comes with our pass.
It was the 1st time I had done the Safari since mid 2000’s and loved it but gave the amusement park a miss.
It was the 1st time I had done the Safari since mid 2000’s and loved it but gave the amusement park a miss.
Does anyone know if the free visit is still included on our current passes?
Well I got a free ticket for WMSP when we purchased ours in the autumn.
I've enquired about being allowed to upgrade our "gold" passes to platinum but not received and answer back as yet. I'll be honest, I'm not too fussed about the actual safari bit but I think the static animal offering and attractions are something we'd go round enough times to justify the extra.
I've enquired about being allowed to upgrade our "gold" passes to platinum but not received and answer back as yet. I'll be honest, I'm not too fussed about the actual safari bit but I think the static animal offering and attractions are something we'd go round enough times to justify the extra.
Elise
Administrator
I believe the free visit from the 2022 pass is valid until April (?) this year. Best to double check with the park though.
I know WMSP have released a booking system for their own Free-Return system too (As I got an email about that for the one I got due to visiting in December)
Me and a few other members of my family came to WMSP today (Monday 21st). If you don’t want to read the whole post, in short we had a great time and I would definitely recommend visiting.
We arrived at the park at around 9ish so we could be the first ones to go round the drive through safari. We were using Tesco Club-card vouchers to get in and we did not realise that you had to book a time slot for the safari. All was good though, we went to the ticket office and got it all sorted out.
The safari itself was great. It doesn’t feel too long but also not too short. It’s the perfect length really. Some of the animals came right up close to our car and we managed to feed them. I also had a good look at the safari lodges which look amazing and in the future I would love to stay in one. My favourite animal had to be the Painted Dogs (African Wild Dogs) which unfortunately did not come up to our car. I managed to get a few pictures of some of the animals which I have listed below. (I apologise my photography skills aren’t great haha)
Afterwards we headed down to the animal bits that aren’t in the actual safari. After walking through the main building, which has the gift shop and some food places, you are required to scan your ticket and are then handed a little scratch card which is pretty complicated to explain how it works but I’ll try my best - there are little boards dotted around the park with questions which you have to answer with the corresponding number on your card. If you get them all correct, you can post them into a little bin for a chance to win a VIP lion feeding experience. My younger cousins had fun doing this.
The Ice Age and Dinosaur bits are well worth checking out. There are lots of photo opportunities and the models themselves just look awesome. I really hope Drayton can take notes from WMSP’s dinosaur area as the one here is clearly the overall winner.
We then headed to the theme park itself where we purchased wristbands. It is definitely worth getting a wristband over individual ride tickets as you get to ride anything as much as you want.
Speaking of rides, me and my 2 older cousins went on Kong (zamperla disco) as our first ride. They both hated it and I absolutely loved it. We then did Dr Umbotos Catacombs, the Caterpillar and finally the Zambezi log flume. Thankfully I didn’t get too wet as I was being shielded by my family in-front of and behind me. We also did the Rhino and Monkey Mayhem which were both fun. I forgot to mention that when we purchased our wristbands, we were told that Venom (drop tower) would be out of action and it was unlikely to re-open that day. I was absolutely gutted about this as it is the standout ride for me at the park. However, while I was queueing for the River Rapids I saw it drop with people on it so I was very happy.
Everybody was hungry so we went to get lunch from the Dino Diner. It was very well themed with some animatronics that would randomly start singing some weird songs which was honestly quite funny. I had a margherita pizza and I’m pretty sure everybody else in my family had pasta, apart from my younger sister who had a sort of kids lunchbox thing. The food itself was nice but I would still recommend bringing a picnic because of the prices (My pizza was £13.50 - can’t remember any other prices).
We then queued up for the seal ion (not a typo - you’ll understand it later) show at 2:30. I won’t spoil too much of it but what I will say is there were 2 seal ions that came out for us. One was called Callum and the other, Jack. The man telling the seal ions what to do said that people would sometimes call the seal ions things like whales and best of all, seals. Callum then started ‘barking’ (i guess you could call it?) when he was called a seal. The instructor told the crowd to call out what animal Callum was to get the audience involved. And because I’m such a funny guy (not really) I called out “SEAL!”. The instructor then said he heard someone call out seal, and of course my family pinned it on me. The guy then told everyone it was me and they were all laughing at me. Looking back on it, it was very funny and I will now forever refer to seal ions as such.
Afterwards, I finally got on Venom (I loved it) and we did a few re-rides before heading home for the day as we were all pretty tired. I had a brilliant time and would definitely recommend it to others!
Feel free to ask me any questions of things I have missed out as this took a while to write so I am bound to have missed some details.
Be sure to keep an eye out on ‘non drayton discussion’ as I will be posting my review of Twycross Zoo within a few days as I am going on Wednesday.
We arrived at the park at around 9ish so we could be the first ones to go round the drive through safari. We were using Tesco Club-card vouchers to get in and we did not realise that you had to book a time slot for the safari. All was good though, we went to the ticket office and got it all sorted out.
The safari itself was great. It doesn’t feel too long but also not too short. It’s the perfect length really. Some of the animals came right up close to our car and we managed to feed them. I also had a good look at the safari lodges which look amazing and in the future I would love to stay in one. My favourite animal had to be the Painted Dogs (African Wild Dogs) which unfortunately did not come up to our car. I managed to get a few pictures of some of the animals which I have listed below. (I apologise my photography skills aren’t great haha)
Afterwards we headed down to the animal bits that aren’t in the actual safari. After walking through the main building, which has the gift shop and some food places, you are required to scan your ticket and are then handed a little scratch card which is pretty complicated to explain how it works but I’ll try my best - there are little boards dotted around the park with questions which you have to answer with the corresponding number on your card. If you get them all correct, you can post them into a little bin for a chance to win a VIP lion feeding experience. My younger cousins had fun doing this.
The Ice Age and Dinosaur bits are well worth checking out. There are lots of photo opportunities and the models themselves just look awesome. I really hope Drayton can take notes from WMSP’s dinosaur area as the one here is clearly the overall winner.
We then headed to the theme park itself where we purchased wristbands. It is definitely worth getting a wristband over individual ride tickets as you get to ride anything as much as you want.
Speaking of rides, me and my 2 older cousins went on Kong (zamperla disco) as our first ride. They both hated it and I absolutely loved it. We then did Dr Umbotos Catacombs, the Caterpillar and finally the Zambezi log flume. Thankfully I didn’t get too wet as I was being shielded by my family in-front of and behind me. We also did the Rhino and Monkey Mayhem which were both fun. I forgot to mention that when we purchased our wristbands, we were told that Venom (drop tower) would be out of action and it was unlikely to re-open that day. I was absolutely gutted about this as it is the standout ride for me at the park. However, while I was queueing for the River Rapids I saw it drop with people on it so I was very happy.
Everybody was hungry so we went to get lunch from the Dino Diner. It was very well themed with some animatronics that would randomly start singing some weird songs which was honestly quite funny. I had a margherita pizza and I’m pretty sure everybody else in my family had pasta, apart from my younger sister who had a sort of kids lunchbox thing. The food itself was nice but I would still recommend bringing a picnic because of the prices (My pizza was £13.50 - can’t remember any other prices).
We then queued up for the seal ion (not a typo - you’ll understand it later) show at 2:30. I won’t spoil too much of it but what I will say is there were 2 seal ions that came out for us. One was called Callum and the other, Jack. The man telling the seal ions what to do said that people would sometimes call the seal ions things like whales and best of all, seals. Callum then started ‘barking’ (i guess you could call it?) when he was called a seal. The instructor told the crowd to call out what animal Callum was to get the audience involved. And because I’m such a funny guy (not really) I called out “SEAL!”. The instructor then said he heard someone call out seal, and of course my family pinned it on me. The guy then told everyone it was me and they were all laughing at me. Looking back on it, it was very funny and I will now forever refer to seal ions as such.
Afterwards, I finally got on Venom (I loved it) and we did a few re-rides before heading home for the day as we were all pretty tired. I had a brilliant time and would definitely recommend it to others!
Feel free to ask me any questions of things I have missed out as this took a while to write so I am bound to have missed some details.
Be sure to keep an eye out on ‘non drayton discussion’ as I will be posting my review of Twycross Zoo within a few days as I am going on Wednesday.
I’m glad you had an amazing time. We do Safari every few weeks. It’s an amazing attraction. We usually book the safari for 3.30 as it’s always dead and you pretty much are one of the only cars on the drive. We head to the park first and by doing this , because the park is not busy the staff allow you to stay on rides you want to reride. Our first ride tends to be the log flume which we do 6 times in a row and then the rapids which we do a further 4 times in a row. For context I have a 6 year old who is pretty much too small for any other water ride in our local parks such as Drayton so he loves being able to go on these rides by being over 1.1. I would highly recommend the Mexican food place and the ice cream parlour. Also if you have a sweet tooth, the pick and mix sweet store do old school sweets and the prices of the pick and mix tend to be cheaper than a pick and mix in a shop.
It’s lovely. So many photo opportunities and not many rides. Wmsp has heavy focus on animals. There is a bird house you can walk through where the birds are free to land on your hair or jackets etc. you can walk though the dark to see bats. The sea lion show is amazing and you have opportunities to feed penguins in the day. The food is good but can be expensive. You have the option to pay for ride tokens or you can go for a wrist band which gives you unlimited rides. It is a lot of walking especially up and down hill to get back to the cars but there are plenty of toilets within reach. Throughout the year they have different characters to interact with. I’d recommend doing it if you get
The chance. Here are a few photos from our last visit.
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Have you got the Dual Pass for DMP and WMSP?
I don't have it but I think it's worth it if you will visit both parks enough times throughout the year to make up the extra cost. Are ride wristbands included in this pass or do you still have to pay extra?
Yes we have the dual pass as we live half way between each location so it makes sense for us as a family. I have already spent the cost of the passes alone if I had of paid for each visit seperate. I also like the thought of if money is tight , I have to guaranteed places I can take my boy.