What a trip to Yorkshire Wildlife Park – we have really enjoyed it and all agree there is something for everyone.
Firstly, it is so easy to get to – just off the M18, it took 1 hour 15 mins from just outside Malton.
On arrival, our ticket was scanned and in we went, very excited.
We started off by going to Pangea – this area of the park that is inhabited by lots of moving model dinosaurs, Henry found this really interesting. The best bit of Pangea was the amazing Dilophosaurus – it spat acid (obviously water!!)! It was amazing how you could see the Brachiosaurus from all the way across the park!!! The Dinosaurs were amazingly detailed from the smallest Oviraptor hatchling to the giant T-Rex. If you have a dinosaur obsessed child, this is a must-see.
Next stop was to see some live animals. They certainly didn’t disappoint! Experience Ethiopia is home to some extremely hairy monkeys! Some animals were hiding (cheeky Hyenas and Rhinos) or keeping their distance (social distancing leopards) but there were plenty out to play! Giraffe feeding time meant we could see them out in their pen – how tall are you in comparison to a giraffe? Into Africa is home to the Zebras, Kafues and Common Elands (which are both types of Gazelle), and of course, Lion Country where we saw the 3 prides of lions and learned about their transportation from Romania! Their size certainly astounded Eliza.
Meerkat Manor is home to some extremely active Meerkats. The Baboons certainly had us laughing!! They kept the crowd entertained with all sorts of antics. Lemur Woods is amazing and you can get really close. We saw the Ringtailed Lemurs being weighed which was fab – all sitting in a line. The Wallaby Walkabout was another chance to get close. They were fab and the keepers were on hand to answer the kids questions.
Project Polar 1 was AMAZING!! One polar bear kept us entertained with his scratching and walking around whilst another played with a canoe on the lake whilst another looked knowingly on. We loved it here and it was amazing to learn about such animals.
As we were starting to leave having seen some very sleepy ant eaters and very perky armadillos, we passed the okapis who are stunning and the tiger…..what a treat, one was sitting beautifully on the platform roaring! What a noise.
There are a variety of keeper talks throughout the day. Times printed on your map on arrival.
There are indoor and outdoor play areas throughout the park – details here The outdoor play areas were spacious with plenty of places for parents to sit and much for the kids to enjoy. We didn’t visit the indoor play area on our visit as we were enjoying the animals so much.
This really is a wonderful day out with loads to see and do. The tracks are well maintained, wide and clean. Perfect for pushchairs or if taking a grandparent, you can hire mobility scooters for £20 per day. There were plenty of bins around which were emptied regularly. The toilets were very clean. Plenty of benches to sit on and enjoy the animals. Given we have had such a hot summer, one comment would be there wasn’t much shade. There were plenty of places for refreshments. This has been an absolute highlight of the summer holidays – the kids loved it and they so enjoyed finding out about the animals. We arrived at 1pm and left at 6pm having had a great time – it was well worth the drive.
Book in advance to save £5 per person.
Adults: £23 (£28 on day)
Child: £21 (£26 on day)
Under 3s: FREE
*For the purpose of this review, we did receive an adult and two child tickets. However, this would not ever persuade us to give anything but an honest review.