On my first visit here this year, I was amazed to see the rapid advancement and general improvement at this 4 year old park. It could be best described as a classy and modern funfair with a smallish very good zoo attached. All tastes are catered for with a huge and brilliant Rollercoaster and other scary adult rides, plus lots of Zipwires, Playground rides, Water sports etc. for younger kids. The moving Dinosaur display is good and the Restaurant is great. The Zoo holds lots of unusual species, mostly Cats and small Carnivores and some cracking Birds all in good enclosures, (much improved since last year). Tiger, Amur Leopard, Puma, Lynx, in really big well decorated/planted exhibits. AArdwolf, Tayra, Fishing Cat, Corsac Fox, etc. 3 Owl species, Bald eagle and several interesting Pheasants, (most with chicks) are the pick of the birds. The animals are perfectly at ease and not unduly disturbed by the noise/sight of the fairground, which due to clever planning and tree planting is greatly muffled/hidden. Although the park was packed it was evident that the vast majority of visitors spent most of their time in the fairground and the Zoo was very quiet. It seems to me that the Fairground is where the real money is made, and all credit to the owners for investing heavily in providing such a very nice Zoo. Highlights of this visit were a beautiful pair of nesting Japanese Cranes in a nice new netted enclosure with good water feature and the giant Rollercoaster. (still shaking). Restaurant food is above average and reasonably priced and entrance fee is 14e (about 10£). Well worth a visit and a lovely walk around such a well planted park with some very exotic animals.
It is obvious to me that only a very small percentage (5 to 10%?) of the worlds population cares much about animal welfare at all, other than as a menu item. Within this small percentage there are, Animal Rights groups, Career conservationists, Birdwatchers and casual Zoo goers.(Familys, Walkers etc.) and of course the Zoo nerd (always after a bargain and a tick.) Most of the small to medium Zoos in the UK for example, will struggle to survive much into the future, unless they adapt, reduce species numbers, improve exhibitry and add other features to compete with more exciting attractions. T.P. is an example of the "new Zoo". It is already happening with Bristol, Dublin etc. with the expanding/increasing playgrounds/picnic areas etc. combined with better housing/cages and decreasing animal numbers. I am afraid that any Zoo that continues to cater to the low spending and ever moaning Nerds, without embracing raw commercialism is doomed. Zoos will always pay more heed to the more organised and aggressive animal rights groups than they will to the disparate whining of us poor overly sensitive Zoo fans. I suppose anywhere else this would be an interesting subject for discussion but what the heck, we can only try.
Personally I think a zoo can do just fine without all the funfair attractions and with a large number of species. There are many great examples of such like Burgers' zoo, Plankendael, Cologne. The trouble is we lack such world class zoos in the UK and in Ireland. Chester is set to join their ranks hopefully. To be honest I don't know how profitable those zoos are but at face value they don't seem to be struggling. Also l'd have to challenge your view that at most only 10% of people care about conservation, I think many people care but feel unable to make a difference so just focus on the immediate problems in life.
Or they would care, if they didn't have to focus on the immediate problems in life. I would say a significant number, if not a majority of people in this world, have to put so much focus into their job and providing for themselves and their family that they can't afford to think much about the greater problems our world is facing. It's unfortunate, but I certainly don't blame them.
I don't think there is that much new about what Tayto Park are doing. It seems to be exactly on the same lines as Chessington World of Adventures and Flamingo Park, two other places with quite extensive animal collections which are rather overshadowed by the large and popular themepark/funfair side of these attractions. Both have been in existence for decades, as has the smaller Drayton Manor Park, also run along these lines. I think they represent one specific type of Zoo, on the other hand are the equally commercial but 'purer' zoos/animal collections, while the Safari Parks form another, third group.
Yes no doubt these parks are on the same lines as T. P, but afaik they have a very high entry price which is a major drawback if my main interest is the animals. TP has a low entry price (14e) and then has extra optional charges for the fairground stuff. Looking forward I have no doubt that the themepark zoos have many advantages in attracting visitors (general public and families plus zoo fans) and esp. racking up return visits and memberships. In my own case I would normally visit Dublin and Belfast once a year, but reckon T.P. will be much more appealing to my family/companions and so will most likely visit more often.
That's certainly the case at Chessington outside of the winter months when the rides are closed and they open just the zoo at a special reduced admission('zoo days' they call it) but only on selected days e.g. holiday periods. At other times it is virtually prohibitive if you don't want to pay a sky high price for the whole amusement park. Perhaps that's why news about Chessington does not appear on here too often. Not sure about Flamingo Park but I think they have a similar blanket charge too- but I can't remember. I think doing it the other way round as Tayto are doing is a good way of promoting the Zoo as an important part of the whole. I think 'Tayto' is a great name incidentally- derived from Potato I think?
