Blackpool Zoo Review 11th May 2017 Being a resident of Blackpool it have always found it great to have a zoo on your doorstep and having not been for around 2 years I was looking forward to visiting the zoo. Blackpool's Zoo is well away from the promenade section of Blackpool and is situated around the back of Woodland by the old De Vere Hotel complex. Very little has changed in the two years since I last went except the development of a Gorilla Island and an ongoing Elephant development. Princing - 5/10 Blackpool is quite pricey for a zoo that is relatively quite small, with an entry fee of £17.99 (£13.99 if booked in advance) and with a £2.50 parking fee on top, £20.49 for one adult to pay on the day is pricey enough. At £57.50 for a family pass plus £2.50 for your car, £60 does seem rather expensive for me compared to what other parks offer for less or similar costing. Staff Interaction - 6/10 For me this is one of the let downs. Upon walking around the Tapir exhibit, I noticed one of the two Tapir's had a nasty cut above it's eye. Being a caring person I decided to tell the next keeper I saw, to which their response was "I'm sure he'll be okay". I would personally hope for a bit more concern for an animal than this. Also in Amazonia there was a young girl constantly on her phone, whilst she was meant to be making sure that the Spider Monkey's were kept from jumping on people. When I was last at Blackpool, a keeper was walking around showing a snake to people, this may have been a one off or because it was school holiday's but today there appeared to be little in the way of keeper / guest activities and interaction. The Orangutan talk was okay, but all through the talk one of the adults was attacking a baby, and nothing seemed to be done about it, to the horror of younger guests. The keeper didn't seem that bothered either or mention if this was normal to the guests watching on in horror as this poor youngster was being attacked. The Sea Lion show as always was very good (albeit not changed in two years) whilst the Big Cat talk was again informative and good to watch. On the whole the lack of care from keepers to the animals and interaction with guests forces me to score it no higher than 6. Exhibits - 12/20 Blackpool is very hit and miss when it comes to it's exhibits. Quite what it's Dinosaur Safari adds with paint faded damaged dinosaurs I don't know, around a dirty pond with floating dead fish in it, but I'm sure the kids like the models. The plus parts of Blackpool are most definitely the Ape and Primate exhibits, some work has been done on the Gorilla Island, and whilst the main centre island was not open today, it does look impressive. Wolf Wood and Lemur Woods offer good viewpoints whilst the big cat Lion & Tiger exhibits also offer good views. I must admit whilst the Elephant House is being redone, the old site is outdated and poor and you feel sorry for the one Elephant on her own. The Zebra paddock had no grass in it despite being spring and the Zebra's were kept on the dirt section. The same lack of grassland was clear in the Camel exhibit. The Penguin exhibit is poor given how small it is given the number of birds, whilst the out of show viewing of Sea Lion's is again pretty average. Blackpool does have some good exhibits but some are not viewer or photographer friendly and a little small. On the whole it is above average but there is room for improvement and 12 is a fair reflection. Catering - 6/10 The catering at Blackpool is fair but apart from burger and chips, or sausage and chips the choices this time of year are limited. Only one cafe was open and no refreshment kiosks were open as well. There is an ice cream parlour as well, but again choices were limited to 10 flavours of ice cream. There are no healthy choices on the menu either, which holds down the rating. Range Of Animals - 16/20 Blackpool scores highest on it's range of animals and notably two types of big Cats, Wolves, a wide range of Apes and Primates, Birds, Hooved animals and Reptile House which is expected to improve when the Elephants move later this year. With only a few more exotic animals missing, Blackpool is close to receiving top marks on it's range of animals and there is very much plenty to see. Animal Experiences - 10/20 A pleasing Sea Lion show, a close encounter with Spider Monkey's and Lemur's makes Blackpool show promise on it's interaction, whilst the Big Cat feeding demonstration also excels, however with unfriendly staff, very little hands on experiences and little information given about it's animals it's clear to see that Blackpool can improve it's animal experiences. With very little feeding extra's offered, and a Birds Of Prey show that is now limited to 2 birds because of a recent outbreak of Avian Flu, the experiences are actually rather limited. I do hope when the state of the art Elephant House is finished, that Blackpool decide to do Elephant Talks, and it would be nice if they introduced Lemur feeding as well at some stage. An updated Sea Lion show would also not go amiss, as the same show for 2 years running is a bit repetitive and whilst kids will enjoy it when they see it, it's the sort of show you only wish to see once. I feel given the range of animals on show at Blackpool the actual experiences could be better. Potential - 3/10 Blackpool doesn't have a great deal of space to expand, and the new Elephant exhibit is a welcome addition and it will be interesting to see what is developed in it's place. I feel the Penguins need a new exhibit as well, but where they can go to get a bigger exhibit I'm not sure. I'm sure the Dinosaur Safari could also be replaced with a better exhibit but apart from the named exhibits I'm not sure what changes Blackpool can make given the limited space available on it's site. Therefore I don't see much potential to expand and bring in new exhibits and animals so the potential has to score lowly. Overall - 58/100 Blackpool scores very average but it doesn't detract it from being a Zoo with a wide range of animals. The one thing Blackpool has is variety and it's exhibits on the whole are good but some need updating, which is something which can be said of many other things in Blackpool. Unhelpful staff and average catering and a lack of any real Animal Experiences drag Blackpool's score down from what could be a good few points higher with some fine tweaking here and there. I like Blackpool Zoo as there are some good photo opportunities and there are a couple of good talks and enjoyable shows, but for all that is there, the place could offer so much more which is a shame. At £20 an adult or £60 a family, the Zoo is also relatively expensive as far as Zoo's go in the North of England and at a price only £4 less than that of the North's Premier Zoo attraction Chester. With improvements in catering, animal experiences, pricing and staffing Blackpool could easily be scoring into the 70s whilst removing the outdated Dinosaur safari for a new animal exhibit would help increase it's potential. For me Blackpool is very much a run of the mill zoo, albeit with a good range of animals. There are worse Zoo's out there for the money, but also better ones as well. I hope when I visit later in the year, some improvements will have been made so it's rating can be increased. It is however a good day out for those who want to see a wide range of animals.
I have to admit I find it somewhat amusing that you think that a range of ten flavours is a "limited" choice given that this is probably more than the majority of other ice cream parlours found in UK collections. Not sure I agree with your belief that Blackpool holds so little potential, nor your logic that if a collection has limited space this merits marking it down. I presume your eventual review of Trentham Monkey Forest will give the collection a mark of zero for potential on the grounds that all they can/will do is bring in even more Barbary Macaques
I suspect 20, I've been to Chester before and I enjoyed it and I am planning to go there again later in the month.
I wouldn't give Chester 20/20 as that would imply perfection - for a collection which lacks marsupials, gorillas, is thin on small mammals, a shadow of its one-time reptile collection ...
This being one of the problems with the scoring system - if one gives Blackpool 16/20 in this regard there isn't much scope for collections which are even more diverse to be given correspondingly higher scores. That said, although the species in question is not on-display yet Chester no longer lacks marsupials
Well done zooreviewersuk! I shall be visiting Blackpool Zoo soon and I shall be writing a review on that too. Can't wait to read more of your reviews!
An interesting review, but I'm a bit puzzled by your comments about the orangs as the youngest of the 4 there is 15 years old.
You got there before me! There is no baby, just an adult male and three mature females. Also the Gorilla Island (originally designed for Chamois) has been in use for many years now.
Blackpool actually does one of the best ranges of experiences including one for disabled people. Animal Experiences | Blackpool Zoo. For information, the Amazon exhibit houses Squirrel monkeys, not Spiders and the sea lion keepers swim with the animals when the weather's warmer. I've always found their staff to be helpful when I've asked anything, but perhaps the person you asked was new. Who eats healthy food on a day out? I imagine they get asked for burgers and chips more than anything else!
That is one harsh review! I too am perplexed by the criticism of only ten ice cream flavours, the criticism of staff is pretty cruel in my view and I don't see the point in giving a rating of how much potential a zoo has. I would urge anyone who has been put off Blackpool Zoo by this review to give the place a chance!
Hi ZooWho sorry if my post offended you, firstly the Animal Experiences I mean are the ones which are part of the entry fee, I appreciate they offer extra cost experiences and if I do any of them I will review them, but when I am reviewing the Animal Experiences on the main review it is based on what you get for the entry fee or a few pounds more advertised on entry, Sorry yes I am aware they are now Squirrel Monkey's and not Spider monkeys, I apologise for that. I have been 2/3 times to Blackpool and have never seen the Sea Lions swam with in the show, so I can only comment on what was shown when I visited. I appreciate staff have been kind and helpful to you, but you can only judge on personal experiences and I did state in the review I would like to see a change when I next go, and I just caught someone on a bad day, but again I have to review it accordingly. You may not eat healthy on a day out and myself either for that matter, but I was pointing out that many Parks have healthy options, but Blackpool don't and in my eyes that is something they can improve upon.
Pertinax, thanks for your reply, the Orangutan being bullied was the smallest of them and looked young, I presumed it was a youngster, the one attacking it seemed to have a very huge throat like it had some form of tumour. I appreciate the Gorilla Island has been open for a few yeas, but all I was saying was in the 3 visits in the last two years I've had, the Gorilla's never seem to be out on it and on my visit last week, the gate was closed preventing them from going on there.
Thanks for your reply, I appreciate that it comes across as harsh, but for me I was disappointed by the visit and had to review it accordingly. I wasn't trying to put off anyone from going to Blackpool and if you read the end of my review I still say it is a good day out for people who want to view a range of animals but I reviewed it as I found it, and for what it costs to visit is was disappointing. Other parks which charge similar or less, have been much better, like Twycross for instance.
The smallest one is Summer and the one with the large throat is Vicky her mother. Vicky has this large throat due to air saculitus which is a problem which quite a few apes have. She has had two operations due to this condition. I don't understand why Vicky would attack her own daughter as they both have quite laid back personalities, unless this was one with large cheek pads than I might understand it more as that would be male Ramon.
Last week the Gorillas were shut out on the Island in the morning, then allowed free access indoors and out after that. I suspect where you see them is dependant on the weather and time of year. btw, have you not been to Blackpool at all for the last two years, as you said at the start of your thread, or three times- it helps to be consistent...
Vicky looked okay when I went but I noticed her enlarged throat sac seems to be draining all the time, and she picks matter from it with her fingers. She also grimaces a lot and appears to be masticating regurgitated(?) food but I know she's been like this for many years. I think the 'bullying' was perhaps rough play between either Ramon or Vicky and one of the others perhaps. I saw no interactions between any of them during my visit.
I went Mar 2015, June 2015 and then May 2017, so hadn't been for 2 years but had been not long before my earlier visit in 2015.
