Agreed! But I'm very glad I went on Friday. Fortunately, as a member it cost me nowt, and it only took me 45 minutes in the car. If I'd paid £26 to go in + £22 for each child and/or I'd travelled a long way then I'd have felt a bit cheated.
Has any other top zoo ever opened a multi million pound expansion with errr... four pigs!? Bless you Chester Zoo, one of my favourite places, but dear oh dear! and on the very day my two hundred quid membership renewal notice came. And this is my second post on this subject that can be construed as negative, which I don't want as I really do love the place, but surely there's a lesson learned that a soft opening is by far the most sensible approach. Do the blaze of publicity once its open and proven.
Yes, there's the rest of the zoo to see ... But, if I had spent c.£90 bringing my family to the zoo earlier in the year (perhaps at Easter) and was then persuaded to spend another c£90 to come again in July because "the new Islands exhibit has opened", and then found it was some planting, 4 pigs and a cassowary I might be a bit peeved.
I see what you're saying but to be fair if the zoo has kept it's prices the same as pre-islands then there's not much they can do. The zoo has stated online what species are in islands currently and it's not their fault if people can't be bothered to look online at the place they are taking their family for a day out.
The zoo implied there would be far more animals on display, and a much, much nearer completion than the reality. By the time you queued with kids and your general enthusiasm punctured by the misinformation and the unjust hype, most members I saw could not be bothered with the rest of the zoo on Sunday. Yes if I been told at the zoo entrance or even at the "Islands entrance" what I would experience I would have happily confined my family (baby's first visit) to the rest of the zoo and had a worthwhile day out. But for different members of staff to state at the boat ride entrance that it is an hour's queue time, and to be asked by a loyal member (not from my party) what animals can you see from the boat- the reply was "I am sorry I don't know, I've not been on the boat ride" is ridiculous. If I didn't have lifetime membership I would probably not renew for one year as much as I was disappointed. I really find it bizarre that people can't empathise that really Chester Zoo messed up big time and the misguided communications from website to the zoo have been indefensible. We all know that many would have paid for hotels or put other plans on hold, etc; in hindsight would have preferred to have the option of postponing their visit. The zoo should have honestly advised "Islands" was a skeleton preview and any animals encountered would be a bonus.
Thanks for the run through Gentle Lemur, it was very good to get an idea of how all the exhibits fit together. A couple of questions: -Is there any audio on the boats or signage for the animals you see from the boat? -Do you get off the boat at the exact same point as you embarked? Separating those would save some time, but increase staffing. -Is the Banteng paddock visible on foot too? The Bali island itself does not appear large enough to hold the exhibit, but is it visible across the boat ride water at all? While I am less than impressed by the tiger exhibit fence, the rest of the complex looks stunning and will hopefully become one of the highlights of the zoo world (especially if an extension is built). The opening has been bungled by PR though, which is a shame. Hopefully the opening of the second phase, especially Monsoon Forest, will bring everyone back on board though.
also worth noting are the reaction of two seperate parties i know who visit the zoo but are not members. first group took up the offer of a refund from the zoo when it was announced the exhibit would not be as advanced as it was hoped, and would re book when they felt appropriate. second group took up the offer of continuing their visit as planned but also taking up the offer of a reduced second visit once the exhibit was advanced to completion........ the second group have already booked their second visit regardless and on the look of islands will be becoming members at the beginning of september, such was their response to what they saw and experienced. the first party have now decided to visit the zoo in 2 weeks, when its £20 per adult pre-booked on line, no matter if islands is finished or not, and this is based on new pictures seen and conversations with other visitors, as they said, thers no charge for islands and they would visit the main zoo also, anyway. i attended the weekend and yesterday and observed there was a better response yesterday, and the que more manageable for the boat ride as entry was free time and not set and everone wasnt rushing just to get on the boats. A few though, still didn't notice the cassowary stood in front of them.
There is no audio on the boat. I am pleased about this as it allows for a more peaceful trip. There are 'authentic' signs from the boat that fit into the themeing. I can't remeber the exact wording but along the lines of...."Panay Island warty pig conservation area" or "watch out for tigers" etc There is one boat jetty with passengers embarking from the left and alighting from the right. The banteng paddock is visible on foot but this section isn't yet open. The viewing area is to the left of the sandy paddock. Bali island actually features on both sides of the river. The bird temple is in the middle and over a bridge is the banteng enclosure. I think the chain link fence is pretty ugly, but necessary of course!! I assume there will be a lot more planting to blend it in. The best views of the tiger will be on foot however - again this section is not yet open. There will be clear views over a high sunken rock wall, tiger tunnel with glass viewing into both sides of the exhibit and under water viewing. As has already been mentioned, the best is yet to come!!
Thanks CZF. Signs like that sound ideal, and very inkeeping with the immersion style. The tiger viewing on foot sounds awesome, can't wait to see photos when it opens. I hope to see it in person in the near future. I am intrigued by the signage for the Anoa I saw in this article (Chester Zoo: 10 things you need to know about new £40m Islands zone - Manchester Evening News) which describes them as the "demons of the forest". Slightly odd, unless its supposed to show what the "locals" think?
I don't know if we will ever find out the story behind all the delays . I do , however , feel very sorry for the staff at Chester Zoo having to cope with all of this , stress levels must be very high . Should the delays be down to the Contractors I do hope penalty clauses for late completion are in place . I was not able to make the preview weekend and look forward to an Autumn visit when hopefully all of Islands will be open and settled down .
I wonder if there is more signage at the exhibit to explain this? From the zoo's website: "The anoa has been called the ‘demon of the forest’ as it is rumoured that they come out of the forest at night like demons and use their horns to puncture cattle." Demon of the forest | Islands at Chester Zoo
There will be, completion mechanisms are the basis of most standard forms of building contracts. However the contractor will only suffer financial consequences of x amount per day late and may sour relationships with the zoo meaning they will not be invited to tender for any more projects from the zoo. However the zoo is a single client in a large list for the contractor so this loss would just be offset against other projects. Unfortunately regardless of any late completion penalties it is still the zoo who's name is all over the advertisement of islands and it will still be them that suffers any reputation damage which can arguably be worse and cause more loss of revenue than a one off penalty.
Did anyone see / hear any media coverage of the opening? There are a couple of videos on various news sites but I wondered if it had made the TV or radio news??
a few minutes on granada reports last night, from coral sands with Mark Pilgrim, warty pigs, cassowary and from the boat..
There was an interview with a cassowary keeper on BBC Breakfast on Monday - unfortunately I only just caught it as I was heading out so not sure how much of a feature it was. Safe to say cassowaries and warty pigs have never been so high-profile in the news!
Lots on BBC breakfast Monday morning, and then also BBC Mersyside was transmitting from Islands all morning.
A couple sitting near us on the boat opined that "I hope they're going to have a tannoy or something to tell us what we're seeing". No, no, no. The (very nearly) silent operation of the boat was wonderful!
