My wife and I were in London last Saturday week and thought we would indulge in one of our periodic trips to Regent's Park. We got there to find a huuuuuuge queue to get in, and were told it would take 45-50 minutes to get to the entrance. So we went for a canal walk instead. Delighted as I am to see the place busy (though looking through various perimeter fences it didn't look that busy inside - more of a logistical problem processing admissions) I wonder how many other potential visitors also walked away. The arrangements at the gate itself looked very cramped, with few paypoints, and several locked/ exit only gateways which could have been used, but weren't. So why doesn't ZSL make more of an effort to facilitate access?
There was a big queue when I went about 3 weeks ago, and many of the booths shut. I think one of the problem is asking all the stuff for gift aid, it takes time and holds everything up. Why not do as Chester does and have someone getting your details while still in the queue.
Certainly sounds like they need to do something. But I think you will find you are just about the only person on ZooChat who does not arrive at a zoo right when it opens, so most of us never encounter this problem.
Yes,contacting the zoo about this would be a good idea. The question asked is "do London Zoo want visitors?", the answer of coarse is yes, very much so. I would consider a 45 minute wait to get in unacceptable and I am sure there must be many potential visitors who have walked away if they have to wait this length of time. I agree that most zoo enthusiasts try to get to a zoo for the minute they open the doors in a morning, (myself included), however most zoo visitors are not enthusiasts, they are just "normal" people coming for a good day out and if they have been good enough to turn up to the zoo with entrance money in their hands to expect them to wait this unacceptable length of time is not on, perhaps there is a problem with time taken to fill in gift aid forms, well to adopt Chester's system would be a good idea, London should certainly open more pay boxes at peak times if this is the case as they need every penny piece they can get, make hay while the sun shines London, you have got a new tiger house to pay for!
When my family visited in October half term, we queued for well over an hour - which shortened our actual visit significantly as we had a restaurant booked in the evening and had to get the tube to our hotel and get ready - ended up missing aquarium and reptile house amongst others - and couldn't really get to appreciate Blackburn Pavilion.
It's a big problem and they should do the gift aid as people queue. I always feel very lucky - and a bit smug - as I walk pass to get my card scanned and walk straight through. Out of interest, is queing a big problem for other London attractions? I know Madame Tusauds often have long lines but that is all I can think of off the top of my head.
On three of the last four visits I have made, I've been at the gate for 10am and they have not raised the shutters until 5-10 minutes after the advertised opening time. Surely it is not beyond them to be ready for opening time. Every other zoo I visit, including ZSL Whipsnade, manages to do it.
When I went to the London aquarium last year the queue was so hideous I didn't go in. I really should have pre-booked it as there seemed to be a pre booked queue too.
I've never been there, but being unfornunate enough to have endured Whipsnades Border Control patrolled by Whipsnades Gestapo earlier this year, it hardly surprises me that the sister park is run in a similar way.
As mentioned London Eye is always busy, we pre-book tickets now and the same for the Aquarium. We have never visited Madame Tusauds but Ripley's museum and Natural History Museum always have queues. We arrived at NHM about half an hour before opening once (bad timing on foot) and the queue was long then and it was a very cold New Year's Day. I think the problem here is the security checking bags.. they would be better investing in an electronic system that scans like the airports?? Also, when Buckingham Palace is open and the state rooms these are always incredibly busy (could be down to only opening for one month a year??)
So it would appear that London Zoo is not the only major visitor attraction in London that suffers from lengthy queues at peak periods, it has been posted that an hour wait was experienced during the October half term holiday, young children must surely become bored and restless having to wait this length of time and how unfortunate that someones visiting time in the zoo was cut short resulting in having to miss several of the exhibits, I wonder if other major zoos in the U.K. have a similar problem with long queues during the school holiday period, it has been stated that Chester have people filling in the gift aid forms while the visitors are in the queue, a good idea, what about Colchester, Paignton, Twycross, do their visitors have to wait up to one hour to get in?, I'm glad I don't visit zoos during the school holidays, however for many people this is the only time they ara able to make their visits, when I was a child and visited London Zoo during the school holidays we used to enter the zoo by the South gate after a pleasant walk through Regent's Park after travelling by the Tube, when the zoo had two entrances I cannot recall spending great lengths of time in queues, and the zoo was very popular then, although there was no such thing as gift aid forms.
It seems like everywhere is overcrowded these days. Last year I went to an exhibition at the Royal Academy and the queue was over an hour and we really didn't fancy that so rather than walk away we went in and paid to be annual members! - £80+ if I remember – and jumped the queue. Same at Tate Britain - HUGE queue and running out of time - another £70 to be members (worth it for us as we live in Londoners and go to lots of exhibitions, but not an option for many people). So it's far from being just London Zoo. You can of course book online and there is now a new fast-track entrance just to the right of the entrance to the Broad Walk where they will scan your ticket and you can walk straight in.
no every attraction in london always seems busy and being the capital and the airports and public transport in and around the world and his wife visits. we tend to visitb london zoo at new year. usually on new years eve/day and there is rarely a quque. this could be down to the freezing temperatures lol. i do not like queing and i think they should have a system like chesters or open more gates at peak times. mayb even open gates slightly early as chester do allow you through but not into the main zoo itself??
Paignton: The queues at Paignton seem to move fairly briskly. As a member I don't have to join them so have only observed. They have a one queue system leading to several pay points and gift aid form filling is done in the queue.
In the past few years I have driven to Regents Park, then parked in the ZSL car park where you can pay a combined car park and entry fee, which means that I bypassed the queue at the main gate by waving my ticket. Does this system still apply? Alan
Become a Fellow, its not the insular system it once was and you would be making a tangible contribution to the ZSL..you can then bypass the heaving masses.Car parking is free in the week and easily found for free at weekends [when Fellows pay too]in the streets to the north of the zoo.Incidentally at the AGM two years ago the Society claimed that it could not provide an adequate visitor experience if attendances where much higher than they are now with the current infrastructure of facilities-it would seem that the lengthy queues prove this.
I was there a few weeks ago and even at 10 a.m.(and yes the shutters did go up right on time!) there was a smattering of people waiting for it to open, mostly families with pushchairs etc. I watched the entry process carefully- it seems far more complicated than the old days of 'cash and ticket'- first there is a sort of conversation between each prospective entrant(s) and the booth operator, presumably about the extra donation etc, then they compute the number of tickets/price, then there is often the delay of people keying in debit/credit cards etc, before the tickets are printed off and handed over and someone else can move into the place. Each transaction seemed to take at least a couple of minutes, sometimes more. I can imagine the severe delays and frustration at busy times. I presume the plans for a new entrance may in part improve things? Incidentally I also went to the Tower of London and the system there was very similar although the paydesk area is much more modern than ZSL's.
I agree becoming a Fellow of the society would be an excellent thing to do for a zoo enthusiast who has an interest in London Zoo but most "Joe public" visitors would not be interested in becoming fellows,they simply want to pay and enter the zoo without having to wait up to one hour.Looking at the positive side of this I suppose it is in a way a good thing that they have big queues and thus increasing the zoo's bank balance, a far rosier picture than what it was twenty years ago thank goodness.Regarding shifting queues quickly, the best person I have ever seen do this was the late Mrs. Kitty Roberts in the booking office on Robert Brothers Circus,she had it off to a fine art.
