West Midland Safari and Leisure Park Reviews 157

In April 21, WMSP advertised a unique experience, stay in 1/8 lodges (6Elephant/2Cheetah), enjoy a 3course dinner and breakfast in their Cellarz restaurant/cocktail bar. It sounded amazing, so I booked for my partner's birthday (his 50th was in lock down) for March 2022, Cost £438 for Lodge/£333VIP tour (Total £771). As the lodges were new, we had to trust what WMSP were claiming in their adverts, as we couldn’t read reviews, prior to booking this unique!!experience.
Since April 21, They now have 18 lodges (Orig 8, plus 4Giraffe,4Rhino,2Red Panda) with new Tiger Lodges also coming. Some lodges, are still in the process of being built, causing bad reviews about parts of the park, being a large building site. They claim you have the lodge from 2pm-11am. But due to transport to and from lodge, you have to pre-book transport time, so you won't get 21hrs you paid for. Lodge guests are no longer allowed to dine or use the bar in their Cellarz restaurant. This temp covid closure, is now permanent and isn't being changed back, so guests must now eat in their lodge. WMSP, claim that guests want meals this way, to enjoy the experience fully. But guest reviews are saying that, it gets boring, as once you are in – you are in (You can't get back to your car) and once it’s dark, you cannot see any animals as they are put into overnight pens. Food is delivered late and cold/warm not hot.
I believe WMSP, stopped guests using the Cellarz restaurant, as it's being advertised for weddings again. Plus if they cannot manage to deliver hot food on time to the handful of lodges now being used, how can they deal with the major problems, connected to moving guests around in 18+ lodges. So they all claiming guests want food in their lodges, as they think it will stop complaints. But guests paying up to and over £1k for a experience of a lifetime, should be given the option of where to eat now covid restrictions have been lifted as other hotels are allowing guests to use the facilities they paid for, including restaurants. One guest review, explains that they asked to be taken from the lodge to the park area to have a break from their lodge and were told no, as there wasn’t any staff free to take them. That shows, WMSP doesn't care about customer service, satisfaction or respect, their guests.
Their limited menu, changed to fussy options, like starters (Parsnip & Smoked Apple Carpaccio,silver birch syrup,watercress or Wild Game Terrine,spring grove woodland berry compote and black pepper toasts), mains (Slow Braised Ox Cheek, Parsley Mash, Pancetta & pearl Onions, honey glazed root veg or Pan fried Salmon, olive oil crushed potatoes, green beans and Hollandaise sauce or Wild mushroom, smoked mozzarella, music bread, Green almond pesto and broccoli). Every person I have shown that menu to have said they wouldn’t want to eat any of it.
WMSP unique experience is- you cannot ring and get through to the lodges, customer services or managers, when you ring and push most options, the call is cut off after the automated system tells you to go online and complete their form. But don’t get your hopes up that your query/complaint will be dealt with as they don’t phone back or reply to online query/complaints either. I know as, since the 20.02.22, I have tried ringing, left messages, rang other departments, asking to be put through to lodges, customer services and managers. I have been cut off by staff and have only had one call back from Katy B (21.02.22) – who told me of staff issues and customers complains about the food and that WMSP have sent out for food to keep guests happy.
I would like to write in what was said in an email on the 24.02.22, unfortunately I don't have enough space, but I was promised a bottle of wine or full refund from Belle 24.02.22. I tried to contact them to discuss a new menu, but I cannot get through to answers to queries, so now I am trying to get a call or email to confirm that they will cancel and return my money. I don't feel that 21hours trapped in a lodge, without seeing any animals (its not guaranteed) and burger and chips (instead of 3course dinner), is my idea of an unique experience. This is not the birthday I planned or wanted for my partner when I spent £771 as a replacement 50th.
So just remember, they won't deal with your query or care if you get any satisfaction from your stay. You are not guaranteed to see any animals and they are put in pens overnight. You have no control over the time you get to or leave the lodge and once you are in - you are in, so expect to be bored and hope you actually like the food options as you can't pop to a takeaway. So before you act like the idiot I was, really think before you part with your money. They don't care if you have any type of experience, as they have your money. But unhappy guests don't come back and take other future guests with them.

The safari was good, we got to see most of the animals and it didn't take too long to get round (about 1.5 hours). The sea lion show was great and the kids really enjoyed seeing the animals in the walkaround areas. The disappointing part was the rides. We weren't told when we bought wristbands that most of the rides for older children/adults were closed. Our teenage children were left with little choice of rides suitable for their age group/height, but that didn't stop WMSP charging the full price!
The ride operators were mostly well mannered, but some were quite belligerent. One attendant tried to stop my son from entering a ride that he was clearly tall enough for (we checked before joining the queue). It was only after a 'discussion' that he accepted he was wrong and let my son on. Given that this person, in his own words, had been operating this ride for 5 years, it seemed odd that he hadn't a clue what the height requirements were!

What an absolute horrific experience, especially the Safari!
Nearly 3 hours to get around, bumper to bumper stop and starting for what??? The lions, tigers could have been stuffed or cuddly toys as far as we could tell as none of them moved at all they were lifeless
Packed overcrowded with cars god if little ones or seniors need toilets or become unwell as you are trapped in your car with nowhere to go for hours.
The wild woods where u wait for an eternity for the gates to open with all the windows having to be locked was a farce, there was no sign of any lively animals, 1 or 2 sleeping in long grass enclosed which could be mistaken as logs or clodges, oh sorry a Magpie did fly past us once!!
Cars were cheating the queue to get any sort of sighting and were even short cutting the course to get out - not really good is it when people are trying to get out of an entertainment/ attraction parks at any cost
The shows or ok and the food is very expensive and of poor quality
NEVER EVER AGAIN - what a RIP - OFF

Lovely park restaurants absolutely ridiculous shortages of food restaurants still wanting to charge the same price on the menu when with burgers or chips was missing as they had ran out

No disability awareness at all. Staff were shockingly rude. Caused my autistic son to leave early and self harming. Awful place.
The safari itself was awful, huge queues and really boring! Heard other families say the same thing.
I won't be visiting again

We all went on a trip to the saffari park today which the two year old had really been looking forward to, we arrived at 15:01, was due to be earlier but however there was an accident on the motorway which delayed us around an hour.,

Upon arrival the woman at the kiosk said we had to go straight in as it was last entry but I explained that the two year old child had an accident in the car on the way in so we said could we quickly go to the toilet to get her changed, the lady at the desk said that was no problem so we bought food at the kiosk to feed the animals with,she said she would let the park rangers know we was running slightly late took our reg and we carried on in.

After going to the toilet we then arrived at the entrance gate to the safari park we sat & waited for the gates to open for around 5 minutes we also tried to ring the office several times but didn’t get through, so we proceeded to drive back around and go to the main reception.

My partner explained the situation to the woman at the desk who then went on to try and say we could not be allowed entry as we had missed the last entry slot even though we was promised we would be fine to go in, this obviously left the two year old really upset as she never got to see the animals & enjoy the afternoon we had planned for her.

We had explained to the lady on reception at the time that our child had a duplex kidney condition which can cause her to need to go to the toilet several times

We had explained to the staff member who was on reception at the time we had told the lady at the kiosk our child needed to go to the toilet before entrance to the safari park so we could change her due to having an accident & soiling herself on the way in, the staff member then went on to respond saying “it wasn’t her problem” and she couldn’t do anything about it we had missed the last entry and we couldn’t go in, all while being promised by the kiosk lady there would be no issue whatsoever. We then went on to ask to speak to one of the managers there which she refused saying she wouldn’t go and get one of them without giving us a reason why not .

We was left feeling disgusted as to how the staff were treating us & felt discriminated against as the child had an accident so she had to be left out while all of the other children were allowed access without a problem.

After a long process of discussions with the receptionist she went on to say we could go in but we would have to miss the vast majority of the animals & catch up with the other cars, we tried to reason with her and ask for our free return to be re-issued so we could use it again at a later date so the child wouldn’t feel left out , after another long discussion with her saying no she finally agreed to have a free return on the condition that we only went into the safari park & we weren’t allowed to go into the rides area where the other animals & children were.

For a so called “child friendly” establishment we couldn’t believe how we had been treated & discriminated against all because our child had soiled herself, trying to explain to a two year old that she wasn’t allowed to go and join the other children & animals was heartbreaking.

This is totally unacceptable that the one thing she was most excited to see was Dinosaur area that she wasn’t allowed to go in!.

Overall we had a rushed 10 minute safari drive around, missed half of the animals & left with a very upset child as she wasn’t allowed to go and join in with the others all because she had soiled herself before arriving.

The overall experience from West Midlands Safari park was an utter disgrace , left feeling discriminated, zero understanding from the staff, we couldn’t even enjoy the 10 minute safari drive after feeling that belittled .

This needs to be addressed as no customer should be left feeling this way from a well known big establishment as yours, I have never experienced customer service like this before to be victimised I will be taking this further and seeking action

Love this place its great, it was a bit over crowded but tbh i didnt mine because they must of needed more visitors in to pay for the well being of the animals since they had no income for a while i had a query about my free return and they sorted that straight out aswell i can understand peoples complaints but you have got to think of it from the other perspective also masks where worn in all indoor areas but not outdoors so to me no rules were broken i cant wait to stay in one of the lodges but nothing available until next year i would like to know if you do veterans discount on these aswell many thanks also what the guarantee of seeing the animals is :)

Usually we love West Midlands but not since they have decided it's okay to over pack the park since the reopenings of the covid 19 panedemic. Your grid locked around the safari, stopping and starting on hills so much that it burns the clutch on your car and have to be escorted off, wouldn't of minded if it had just been a one off fluke happen to us but 4 others cars had the same issue within 20 mins. Park is way over capacity, safaris should be time slotted and they should have staff on the bathrooms because around 70% of people going in aren't wearing their masks because nobody is checking, its narrow set bathrooms with no social distancing, I would not recommend West Midlands and they are NOT in line with the current government covid 19 requirements.
Waste of a day, waste of money.. and a trip that is now costing us a new clutch much sooner than needed.
Very disappointing

The only good thing about this is the animals. I went on spec on 5th Sept as we were passing and i had a friend with me from Romania who was thrilled to see we had a safari park. I joined the queue of cars 6 or 7 lanes wide and queued for over half an hour. As i approached the kiosk to pay there was a notice saying "please ensure you have pre-booked" what the use is of putting the notice on the kiosk and not at the entrance i have no idea. I couldnt leave the queue and so i had to wait to see if i could pay at the kiosk.I was turned away as they were full . The girl seemed please that i could not enter as she smiled and said i could not come in. I complained about the placing of the sign but this didn't seem to make any difference.- I booked and went the next weekend. Again the place was absolutely heaving. the 6 or 7 lanes merge into 2 lanes after you go through the kiosk. Cars are sounding horns and generally driving aggressively to get in front of you so much so that there was a collision which held everyone up for 10 mins. We got moving and without exaggeration it took an hour to move 100 yards as the rhinos are the first animal you see and everyone stopped to look at them. There was another accident as one lady rolled into the car behind as you stop and start on a steepish hill. Make sure you have a good handbrake and clutch as you are consonantly stop starting. After an hour the traffic thinned out and it was a little more leisurely. The sheer amount of traffic made me think what effect this was having on the animals as it must have an effect with that much traffic. I really didnt think it would be as crowded. And the animal food was expensive at £3.50 for a small box of food. I bought 2 but only used 1 as most animals didn't bother eating it they must be sick of it. the place is looking dated and the quality of the enclosures is a little tired. In summary the place seems to be more of a money making business these days. I wont be using my return tickets and didnt enjoy the visit as much as i thought i would. The place is just badly organised. It took over 3 hours to go through the safari alone.

I booked and was horrified how busy it was they said limited entry absolute rubbish it was heaving.
After the safari we went into the park and walked straight out zero distancing far to many people.

Avoid at all costs very rude staff and no social distancing what so ever was told to hurry up on safari when I've paid not my fault you let too many people in when ment to be limited people yeah right also no cleaning anywhere or on the rides no faces masks when should be the place is just a joke and most of all the staff need to learn manners and stop been so bloody rude

West Midlands safari park is a great day with loads to do for all the family

went with the grand kids and had a lovely time. good quality time with family and the safari was really good. the grand kids were jumping for joy

could have been better but the management is corrupted. unprofessional disorganized.

Went today 29th September with return ticket ,but only had photo of ticket as the original went home with sister-in-law . Got to the desk to be told no entry for us as it was against company policy. All staff were rude and unhelpful, just to get rid of us. Would of given it a 0 but it won't go that low. The time we went previous half the park closed and had to pay full price not happy with them at all.

Unfriendly and rude staff ruined what could have been a lovely family day out