A fantastic day out with my granddaughters age 3 and 5 .just before Christmas. The penguins were the absolute favourite. All the staff were super helpful and kind ; the keepers, the ride operators a... See more
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We had a great time on a cold wintery day. We wrapped up warm & enjoyed observing the animals, they all looked well cared for. The Christmas decorations were lovely & impressive, the elves were work... See more
Company replied
The waiter/barstaff/ hospitality worker in the hot food area didn’t thoroughly wipe the table which isn’t then sanitary. He did it without looking at the cloth and did a haphazard zig zag. The table... See more
Company replied
As well as making a return visit to Drusilla's after a number of years it was an opportunity to meet up with some old friends, some of which I had not seen for close on 50 years. Drusilla's was an ide... See more
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4.3
Excellent
53 reviews
No recent history of asking for reviews
This company hasn't invited customers recently, so reviews may not be representative
Replied to 100% of negative reviews
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Far to expensive for what it is
Far to expensive for what it is, our two and half year old grandson was charged full adult price as they don’t have a children’s concession, there are no real big animals apart from a couple of camels, no big cats or bigger wildlife.
After paying an extortionate price to get in you are charged again for certain experiences and rides.
Will definitely not be recommending or revisiting
May 19, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from Drusillas Park
Thank you for taking the time to get in touch after your visit, we learn a great deal from listening carefully to visitor feedback.
We're sorry you felt disappointed by the price of entrance. We pride ourselves on providing great value for money so are saddened to hear your feedback. We are sometimes contacted by people who feel adults should be charged more than children for entry and some people who feel children should be charged more than adults, as the park is designed for kids. We made the decision a long while ago to charge everyone equally and believe we are clear and transparent with our pricing policy.
Our latest research shows visitors stay in the Park for 5-6 hours, on average. For the cost of entry, we offer the chance to get nose-to-nose with over 80 exotic animals through our uniquely designed interactive zoo, two large outdoor adventure play areas, Amazon Adventure soft-play, Adventure Maze, free Spotter trail, Zoolympics trail, Jurassic Jungle our animatronic Dinosaur area, and unlimited access to our 7 family rides. We also recently removed any charges for our coin-operated rides and opened a free gaming arcade with 6 new machines.
You may not be aware, but we offer a 20% discount on tickets when booking in advance online. Our ticket prices vary throughout the year to reflect peak and off-peak seasons, but we always offer a 20% saving on any day of the year against the gate price on that day, and this is valid up until midnight the day before you visit.
We do hope you can use this offer for a saving on your entrance fee in the future and we can welcome you back to the Park.
Best wishes,
Drusillas
Why not to work
They can improve by getting kinder and nicer employees. I got bullied their as a staff member when I was their working. Thankfully not working their now. My experience of working their was awful. Wouldn't advice it. I was threatened by one of the volunteers please keep me anonymous.
March 9, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from Drusillas Park
Thank you for leaving us feedback. We're very sorry to hear that you had such a negative experience when working with us. We do have grievance policies in place, so if you ever decide you would like to take this matter further please do contact us and we will investigate further for you. We want to assure you that all complaints of this nature are dealt with in the strictest confidence. Please do contact us if we can help at all.
Best wishes,
Drusillas
Do not expect a disabled persons career to get in free
Ok for the grandchildren as plenty of rides and play areas. The Zoo part is kept clean but felt the animals came second. Most disappointing is web site advocates careers go free, you need to take personal government paper work with you about the disabled person as proof. They refuse to accept the nation careers identity card as proof. So we had to pay full overpriced on the gate for the needed career. They said they would refund if I sent copies of government disability paper work for the disabled person.I will not do this as it contains personnel information that could be used to clone identity. If it were not for the grandchildren then would not go.
September 1, 2023
Unprompted review
Reply from Drusillas Park
Thank-you for taking the time to give us feedback on your visit. We greatly value customer feedback and learn a great deal from it.
Our aim is to make the Park as inclusive as possible and the reason we have rules in place around the proof we require for carer tickets is because we never wish to pass judgement or subject to visitors to questioning of any sort. We would never want to discriminate and so we issue tickets to individuals who have been through a government recognised application process. Many disabilities are invisible, and we wouldn’t want our staff to have to decide whether a visitor is disabled or not. DLA/PIP/ESA are all well recognised and government approved, and using these schemes as proof of eligibility allows us to allocate carer tickets in a fair and consistent manner.
We use these payments as proof for carer tickets in order to treat our visitors fairly and equally. However, we do understand that not everyone who requires a carer receives DLA/PIP/ESA/Attendance Allowance disability payments or wishes to claim them. In response to visitor feedback, we now also accept Access Card with the Essential Companion (+1) symbol too.
We do try and make this as clear as possible on our ticketing page and our accessibility page: :https://www.drusillas.co.uk/access-statement so that visitors know in advance what proof is required and can have the right documentation ready and available when they visit.
We hope this explanation of our carer ticket policy helps to explain why you were asked for documentation. We would never ask someone to prove they were disabled, but we do have to have rule in places rules in place to allocate our carer tickets in a fair and consistent manner. However, we do understand your frustration and will of course pass on your comments to our management team. We continually review our policies and will take your feedback on board and want to assure you it certainly hasn’t gone unheard.
Please accept our apologies for any upset, we do hope we can welcome you back to the Park again in the future.
Best wishes,
Drusillas
I could not believe the gate price
I could not believe the gate price. No family ticket and £35 for everyone over the age of two, so with a three year old, an 11 year old and three adults it was £172.50! Nothing amazing in the zoo, not much has changed in 20 years. The play area has improved with a water feature added and children were enjoying themselves, but I wonder what planet are they on. How can they charge this extortionate amount. If it wasn’t for the kids being excited I would have left.
June 2, 2023
Unprompted review
Reply from Drusillas Park
Thank you for taking the time to leave an review and share your experience of the Park with us. We greatly value customer feedback and learn a lot from it.
We feel the Park offers good value for money with plenty to do. Our latest research shows visitors stay in the Park for 5-6 hours, on average. When you visited, the full zoo route was open as usual, as well as unlimited access to 7 family-friendly rides, Amazon Adventure soft play, Go Bananas! (under 5's play area), Mungo's Adventure Maze, free Spotter trail, Zoolympics trail, Jurassic Jungle our animatronic Dinosaur area, and the House of Fun (both the free toddler rides and free arcade). It's also definitely worth remembering that while our ticket prices vary throughout the year to reflect peak and off-peak seasons, we offer a 20% saving for online tickets on any day of the year against the gate price (and this is valid up until midnight the day before you visit).
We’re very disappointed to hear your feedback on nothing having changed in the Park. We have put significant investment into the Park in recent years, this year we opened a new state-of-the-art 500k Colobus monkey habitat, and last year we unveiled a £250k Lynx habitat. We have also opened a new coati habitat and refurbished our dwarf mongoose habitat. In terms of our play offering, we have refurbished our Go Bananas! play area, introduced many fun and free interactives, including a free arcade, created a conservation station and Shark Alley climbing wall, and introduced our Rainforest adventure area, which was new for 2021. We also opened our exciting immersive play experience SPARK in 2021. We are always looking for ways to maintain and update the Park and are sorry to hear you haven’t noticed these changes and the considerable investments we have made.
Best wishes,
Drusillas
It was my Birthday treat and what a day I had
It was my Birthday treat that my Daughter gave me never been there but passed it most days when I was working and said must go there and take some photos well it happened had a super day with the staff that looked after us and the Photographer Stuart what can I say he was outstanding and helped me as and when I needed it as I'm Disabled also Stuart helped anyone that was at the Photograph day with there Camera with advice and what settings to use bye the way this was a photography day where you do go into some encloser's
March 12, 2023
Unprompted review
Reply from Drusillas Park
Thank you very much for leaving us feedback, this was wonderful to read! We're delighted you enjoyed your day with us and hope to welcome you back again soon.
Best wishes,
Drusillas
I went today
I went today, a cold wet January day and there were hardly any people there. The entrance cost is the same year round and I think it should be cheaper in January to attract more visitors and it being a lean month for most families following Christmas. There were many animals off view and a few of the attractions. Ate in the restaurant, food was good and good value for money. Drucilla’s please consider having cheaper entrance fee in January, you would get more visitors
January 7, 2023
Unprompted review
Reply from Drusillas Park
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review. We're delighted to hear you enjoyed your visit and eating in our restaurant, but sorry to learn you didn't feel the day represented good value for money.
Our pricing structure does reflect customer demand and visitors are charged less at off peak times in January, in comparison to more popular times such as the summer holidays.
It's also definitely worth remembering that while our ticket prices vary throughout the year to reflect peak and off-peak seasons, we offer a 20% saving for online tickets on any day of the year against the gate price (and this is valid up until midnight the day before you visit).
Best wishes,
Drusillas
This is the letter I sent to Drusillas…
This is the letter I sent to Drusillas after my visit
" I would like to express my extreme sadness at the conditions many of your animals are enduring. I visited on Saturday 19th November with four family members, but will definitely not be returning. The entrance fees are expensive, which I would not mind - IF there was evidence of them being used to provide modern conditions for the animals. However, so many animals were obviously distressed, bored, understimulated and leading totally miserable lives - eg. Serval cats, Giant Anteaters, Fenec Foxes, Macaques, pacing the same routes around their cramped enclosures and large birds such as Ibis and Spoonbills unable to do more than fly a few feet. I remember conditions like these from visiting zoos as a child in the 1950s - I certainly did not expect to still find them in 2022. I spoke to a couple of staff members about this - they were polite but bemused, so I don't suppose anything will come of that. You must be making large profits from the high entrance fees - isn't it about time you did something to improve the lives of these poor, depressed creatures? Try visiting a modern zoo, like Chester, for information on how captive animals can at least have a semblance of a natural, fulfilling life. I was left feeling utterly depressed by the whole experience - these are sentient beings who are imprisoned and leading dreadful, miserable lives."
So far, I have not received any response to my email to them.
November 19, 2022
Unprompted review
Reply from Drusillas Park
Many thanks for your feedback. We really do always appreciate visitors who genuinely care about animals and take the time to raise concerns they have.
We’re very sorry to hear you felt upset after your visit. We completely agree with you that animals need access to the right amount of space, not just to meet their needs but to create the best possible habitat for them to thrive in, and this can vary from species to species. Our enclosures are inspected every year by EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquaria) , BIAZA (British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums), and as part of the Secretary of State’s Standards in Modern Zoo Practice. All animal habitats are carefully designed and it’s not just about space, but also by ensuring the enclosure is designed to make the best possible use of the area for species specific animals. It's also worth remembering that studies show that variety, challenges, and options within animal habitats can be just as important as physical space. A great deal of thought and planning goes into which animals share habitats. It’s certainly never a case of ‘running out of space’, rather a calculated decision to house animals with species they will interact and thrive with.
All species at Drusillas have access to open, outdoor space available to them 24 hours a day, as well as their indoor areas. In these outdoor areas they may have greenery, tree, pools, heat lamps, rocks etc, depending on what is appropriate for the individual species. Everything in the habitat, from the size, to branching (Including thickness of branching), to the vegetation, lighting, temperature, etc is carefully designed and continuously assessed to make sure it provides the best possible living space for the animals.
Please be assured that animal welfare is at the heart of everything we do at Drusillas Park and our dedicated team of keepers works hard to ensure our animals are happy and well cared for. All of our Zoo Keepers are experts in their field and consistently go above and beyond to ensure our animals' mental and physical welfare. Drusillas’ animal department has more than 10 inspections yearly and passes all the criteria set to the highest standard; something we are very proud of.
We hope this helps put your mind at rest and hope to welcome you back to the Park in the future.
Best wishes,
Drusillas
Went for 1st time with 10 month old who…
Went for 1st time with 10 month old who absolutely loved it. We totally loved our day at the zoo but when it came to food we were extremely disappointed. Little choice, apparently only one food outlet is open during the week. It offered no healthy choices. The food we reluctantly bought was of poor quality and greasy. paid almost £30 for 2 Mac cheese & 1 sandwich and ate about 5% of meal and couldn’t stomach any more. Lots of flies landing in food. A throughly unpleasant experience. Will definitely bring own food if we go again. Eating out was going to be part of a lovely day out but sadly very disappointed.
Enjoy the zoo but don’t expect quality food!!! Photos of lots of flies on food sadly available.
September 16, 2022
Unprompted review
Reply from Drusillas Park
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave us a review. We're delighted to hear that you enjoyed your visit, but very sorry to learn that you didn't feel our food was up to scratch. We put a lot of time and effort into our menus and always aim for our food to be of a high standard. We receive lots of positive feedback about our catering and are very sorry this wasn’t your experience this time.
Thank you again for leaving a review, we very much hope we will still welcome you back to the Park in the future.
Best wishes,
Drusillas
Maximum capacity and double it
Visited number of times however this time it was character day and it was Bluey and Bingo. Anyone who has young children knows that they are an absolute hit so you would have expected some sort of organisation to queues which were extremely long and disorganised. No chance of getting to the splash area as this was occupied by extreme amount of people and again no organisation there so if you didn’t go there first thing you didn’t get a chance and it felt dangerous due to the amount of people bundled into such a small space. The on the ground staff did their best to accommodate for everyone but clearly it felt understaffed. The amount of announcements of lost children in such a short period of time was shocking and I have never experienced that number even in but theme parks. Everyone who we bumped into and talked to said how they felt it was dangerously busy and how they felt that it was disorganised and the fact that it felt as if the maximum capacity has been doubled.
The animals are great but i would prefer them having more space to enjoy themselves instead of all these rides which actually are pointless and last about 1 minute. The poor Servals could really do with much more space, would probably not make look so unhappy and lethargic.
Also there are attractions which are not included in the standard ticket. Now, I think it is very expensive as it is to go there and to have to pay extra for other attractions to me that is rather greedy. The annual pass is rather expensive and to be honest I don’t feel it is worth it’s while unless you live literally round a corner and your child doesn’t mind doing the same old thing.
After 1 hour we were considering leaving and asking for our money back as it felt dangerously busy and kids were very unhappy compared to the other times. Would never go again in the summer and unless the kids really ask to go will avoid.
All in all 2 stars for the animals and to thank the staff who did the best in the the worst situation. Personally there is way too much ch in such a small space and to let the amount of people in made it feel extremely small. Unfortunately, it feels too profit driven. When we mentioned this to one of the senior members of staff all we got was that they will have debrief. Such a shame as we do love animals.
August 24, 2022
Unprompted review
Reply from Drusillas Park
Thank you for your feedback regarding your visit on the day of our Bluey event. We are extremely sorry your visit was frustrating and unenjoyable, on what should have been a really special day out for your family.
We were caught off guard and totally overwhelmed with the amount of people who came to Drusillas to meet Bluey and Bingo. Although we tried very hard to deal with the situation we found ourselves in on the day, we understand that many visitor’s days were ruined, something we are very disappointed in.
Please be assured we are conducting a full review into this day and will be making significant changes to our event operations in the future to mitigate any repeat occurrences.
We are also sorry to hear you were concerned about our servals during your visit. We really do always appreciate visitors who genuinely care about animals and take the time to raise concerns they have, so thank you.
Please be assured that animal welfare is at the heart of everything we do at Drusillas Park and our dedicated team of keepers works hard to ensure our animals are happy and well cared for. All of our Zoo Keepers are experts in their field and consistently go above and beyond to ensure our animals' mental and physical welfare. Drusillas’ animal department has more than 10 inspections yearly to ensure the animals are well looked after - this includes the Secretary of State’s Standards in Modern Zoo Practice, which is a rigorous inspection looking at everything from diets to habitat size. Drusillas passes all the criteria set to the highest standard; something we are very proud of.
Thank you again for your feedback and once again we are truly sorry for the experience that you endured.
Best wishes,
Drusillas
Zookeeper for the day '…
I was given a 'Zookeeper for the day ' gift for my 60th . Honestly the best present ever. My zookeeper Julie was awesome , so knowledgeable and made the day even better , never minding answering the hundreds of questions I asked
December 3, 2021
Unprompted review
Reply from Drusillas Park
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave this lovely review, and for your kind words about Julie, which we will pass on. We hope to welcome you back to the Park in the future.
Best wishes,
Drusillas
Great Park, will go again
Had a great day out with about 10 people, toddlers, teenagers, and adults. Play area and soft play was brilliant which entertained them for hours. Zoo was good and had a few close ups with the animals.
Wish we had a park like this near us.
August 8, 2021
Unprompted review
Reply from Drusillas Park
Thank you for leaving us feedback, it's made our day reading your review and hearing what a lovely day out you had. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience- we really appreciate it.
We hope to see you all again soon.
Best wishes,
Drusillas
Shocking and terrible!
Shocking and terrible!
Booked kids to see Santa £66.
We travelled 99 miles.
On arrival showed tickets and expected to walk into our appointment at 10:15 with Santa.
BUT OH NO! we needed to pay an additional £107 !!!! WOW!
I asked why?!!! And the answer was “ Santa is in our park and the only way into the park is to pay an additional £107 for our 3 kids.
So booking online £66 for Santa for 5 mins.
+ £107 as “santa is in the park”
£25 fuel
£198!!!!
A complete joke and il be taking this up with manager after Xmas.
DONT BE FOLLED WHEN BOOKING ONLINE!
This should be a clowns circus they replied back four years later! WOW
OMG.
So it’s coming up to that time of year again instead of replying to me four years ago you decided to reply now just in case you lose some business I’m sure you will what a joke
December 19, 2020
Unprompted review
Reply from Drusillas Park
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review about your experience with Santa tickets and visiting the Park. We are very sorry that this misunderstanding happened to you and your family.
We make it very clear on all our Santa information online, at every step of the booking journey, that you also need to book tickets to visit the Park. We are sorry if you missed this. We also include this information on the booking confirmation details.
Again we are sorry you misunderstood all the information and very much hope we will welcome you and your family back to the Park in the future.
Best wishes,
Drusillas
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