I think Ms Redrobe is making mistake after mistake. The little train that is so so popular is not going to be working until about October but they have got this monstrosity of a land train what a complete waste of money that is ? I keep looking on trip advisor to see what they have to say and some are not good here are a few, I used to have annual membership of Twycross Zoo but moved away and hadn't been for 3 years and my, how times have changed. The lions went years ago but they still have the sea lion show, right? No, gone. Well at least they still have those wonderful giraffes that run around the paddock? Right? No, also gone, dispatched to a safari park in Scotland apparently. But not to worry as its all been replaced by children's playgrounds, discovery centres and shops. What happened to the old fashioned idea that zoos should have animals? The place was like a building site and most of the paddocks were so overgrown you couldn't see the animals. I went with my wife and 2 grown up children and the entry cost me a whopping £67.80. Daylight robbery. I will never go there again. and here is another, What a terrible reception when I returned a child's fish and chips. comment to another member of staff - she says this is not good, slung the meal in the bin and proceeded to make up another. I wish I had just requested money back because the next one had four what look like battered fish but it must have been the tiniest piece of fish imaginable. to make matters worse the were so hard couldn't be eaten, I think they were double fried with extra batter fish inside was so hard if you could find it. I am a regular to the zoo but have noticed the standard of this bar is getting worse I would like to think that purchasing food means you can eat it. Sorry I feel that Ms Redrobe is making all the wrong choices and she needs to get someone on board that knows how to run a business. I know people will say I have rose tinted glasses but at least in the old days they made money and kept people happy. I was told that they get a lot of letters of complaint how true it is I don't know. It saddens me to read all the bad things and if someone says something FB it is removed. and then they are asking for people to fill in a questionnaire.
It is a pity that the conventional train will not be in operation until October, and as for this "land train", does a zoo with not a great deal of pathways suitable for such a vehicle need such an attraction. I understand that it runs from the car park up to the elephant house, a couple of minutes at the most, how very monotonous this must be for the poor driver. I am also concerned about the complaints people have about this zoo's catering outlets at present, before this was put out to an outside company I always found the food to be up to standard and the catering staff, some of whom having worked at the zoo for many years, most obliging. The zoo is at present offering a 25% discount on tickets purchased online until mid July , is this an appropriate time to offer such a discount in the Summer season when hopefully the weather will be good and fetch the visitors out?, and if it is why not offer a discount to local residents in the area, as Blackpool Zoo do, and advertise it in the local paper, perhaps the zoo are offering the discount as they may think they may not have a great deal to offer the Joe Public visitors at the moment for the full admission prices they are currently charging.
Are you tired?, or are our postings not to your liking?, if it is because of the first then perhaps an early night may be in order, if it is the latter then may I take the liberty of asking yourself why you find two postings on this interesting new thread perhaps boring when all we are doing is taking the time and trouble of informing the membership of this discussion group of recent activity which has taken place at this zoo that we both have great affection for, and indeed are taking the trouble to suggest ideas that may be of an advantage for the zoo for financial and other reasons, how can that be boring I ask?
Well I know I am no fan of either this or the previous management of Twycross but even I am getting sick of the sniping at them now. Also if you are going to post things get your facts right first the road train that you are slagging off Ms Redrobe for wasting money,was actually bought and pretty much never used under the mangement of Mrs Boardman,so I for one would like to praise Ms Redrobe for at long last getting some use out of something that Boardman bought and than never used to anything like what it could be!!!!!!!!!!
I'm not quite sure that it's altogether fair to blame the CEO of a company for the fact that the fish wasn't fried very nicely.....
Trouble is this isn't the old days and the current management are trying to make a passable purse out of the tatters of a sow's ear.
I have to say, that as i previously posted on the main Twycross thread, i found the quality & prices of the fish& chip bar comparable to my local chip shop, which by zoo standards is not bad going. Have the people moaning paid London Zoo or Chessington prices? Ok i live 100 miles south, but please be realistic! As for the entrance, i would say that at worst Twycross is average, probably cheap compared to some zoos! I get in for nothing, but i would probably still make my 2 hour annual drive to pay £17 to get in, i paid nearly double that at Longleat, which was much worse value for sure!
OK perhaps I am biased but I was not a fan of Mrs Boardman and I am not a fan of the CEO that is there now. OK I agree it isn't anything to do with the zoo the catering but the rest is it discusses me the grounds are discussing ok perhaps she doesn't like places to look pristine but how can you get everything out of the pens when the grass is so long, I was told not so long ago they only cleanout every other day how true that is I don't know because I personally can not visit because it is not suitable for wheelchairs as I have read on their Facebook and Trip Advisor which is a real pity because I would like to go and see it all for myself instead of getting the information 2nd hand.
True, but the visitors do not know that the catering has been rented out, as far as they are concerned they are purchasing food from Twycross Zoo, and therefore it should be the zoo's duty to ensure the food sold is up to standard.
I visited Twycross for the first time about 2 months or so ago while visiting a friend. From the recent comments on here I went with very low expectations but I really enjoyed it. Yes I could see problems, e.g. some of the ape housing looks in desperate need of improvement, the penguin parade was fairly pathetic, & the massive holes in the big aviary at the entrance don't create a great first impression, but I certainly didn't feel there was a lack of animals-we filled a long afternoon with ease, the food we bought was pretty much what I'd expect at a zoo, I saw species I hadn't seen before & thought some of the (I presume) newer enclosures were quite good. Whilst it won't be becoming my favourite UK zoo anytime soon, I would happily pay to visit again (& would happily visit quite regularly if I lived nearby).
Well in that case people should stop moaning and slagging the place on places like trip adviser,and say something when they are there so that something can be done at the time!!But then its to easy for people to hide behind a keyboard and not say things to peoples faces,which is what I far prefer to do,in fact I don't say anything on here that I wouldn't say to a persons face!!
For god sake can we please give it a rest about this collections mistakes allegedly, getting rather too much forum space for repeated attack after attack, I along with I'm sure many more want to get on with real zoo news not attack after attack on a place trying it's hardest.
