West Midlands Safari Park - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)
West Midlands Safari Park
West Midlands Safari Park
4
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
9:30 AM - 6:00 PM
Sunday
9:30 AM - 6:00 PM
About
Join us for the perfect family day out... Journey on the four-mile Safari Drive and come face-to-face world’s most extraordinary and beautiful animals such as the gentle giraffe, impressive rhino, inquisitive African wild dog, incredible African elephants and magnificent lions and tigers. Have a wander around the Discovery Trail and discover our Reptile House, Twilight Cave, Creepy Crawlies, Aquarium, Lorikeet Landing, Sea Lion Theatre and Penguin Cove. Visit African Village to see the cheeky meerkats & the playful lemurs in Lemur Woods. There are daily animal encounters, Sea Lion Shows, lemur talks and hippo feeds all included in the admission price! Step back in time as you journey through Land of the Living Dinosaurs and Ice Age, showcasing prehistoric creatures that once roamed the earth! Explorer's Play Park is an immersive, multi-sensory children’s play area which is perfect for younger visitors. Purchase wristbands to enjoy rides in the Adventure Theme Park!
Duration: More than 3 hours
Meets animal welfare guidelines
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  • AnnFrank
    98 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Lovely visit
    It was a lovely day when we visited but most animals were out. It was the first day of half term, so there were lot of children, but the park is big enough that this didn't have any effect on our enjoyment. A very enjoyable day, and we'll return. The soft drinks were incredibly expensive, so I'd suggest taking your own.
    Visited May 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written May 27, 2023
  • Louise J
    Leicester, United Kingdom5 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Fantastic experience 😀
    Absolutely brilliant! Cannot fault it! Well priced, so much to see and do, would definitely go again and a free visit added to the price is inspired and appreciated! If you want to save money take a packed lunch but the available food was great with pricier restaurants and also budget friendly food huts. Waiting times were good at the theme park and the safari was sublime. The lodges looked beautiful, overlooking the animals, would definitely stay there. Really wonderful time had by all! A day to remember 😁
    Visited May 2023
    Written May 31, 2023
  • V R
    Cosby, United Kingdom62 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    Worth a visit
    The Park was extremely busy, it took us 3 hours to travel around spending lots of time stationary in long queues of traffic, in areas where there were no animals. People were getting very frustrated. It had cost four of us £128 for the admission price. The rides wristbands were good value for money at £12 each and my grandchildren enjoyed them. They did have to queue but not for too long. There were quite a few other exhibits to see including a sea lion show. The park was clean and tidy. Worth a visit but try not to pick a busy time.
    Visited May 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written May 31, 2023
  • Alissa79
    Caerwent, United Kingdom19 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    Safari is long so beware!
    We arrived at the park shortly after opening and decided to do the safari first as we read previous reviews that recommended this as animals tend to be lazing in the afternoon. We did see lots of animals and got a chance to feed too which was nice. BUT, we did queue in places which was fine however, towards the end was the longest waiting for people to move on from feeding the giraffes. Cars were just parked up and they were taking advantage, feeding them and not giving other cars a chance. This is what causes the backlog. It easily added on another hour which meant the safari tool three hours in total not leaving much time for the park once we had lunch. We didn’t get to do half of what we wanted so be careful of you did decide to to safari first. I would go again but take the safari at the end. I guess the queues would move quicker as staff want us to get around so they can close at 6. Last entry to safari is 5pm suggesting it can be done in an hour. The safari was a lovely experience but too long for what was there.
    Visited May 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written May 31, 2023
  • Taryn M
    Pontypool, United Kingdom43 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Excellent theme park and safari park for families, children and adults.
    Love this place! Visit here every year in the summer. Great place for families and adults. We didn’t spend long in the safari park, only 2 hours which was good, didn’t want to be queuing for very long. Theme park rides are great, they have put in a few new ones since I last visited. Although the prices for food are a bit much, we went to the nearest McDonald’s outside of the park as the prices are too expensive. (£6.50 for a hot-dog) apart from that the experience was amazing! Would recommend getting tickets online and tickets for the rides online too, you save yourself so much money!
    Visited May 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written June 2, 2023
  • THE HUNGRY BIKER
    Halesowen, United Kingdom234 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    Why and where ?????
    Visited today with my wife and young daughter mainly for my daughter to meet Paddington Bear which she loved and that was very well organised, the theme park was beautifully laid out , very accessible, lots of things to look at and do we loved it , a good choice of places to eat and if you brought your own lots and nice places to sit and eat that part of our visit and amazing and then we went to the safari not i.e. the bit ya drive round and oh my days that was a shambles I have seen better organized car crash to they had let way to many car round at one time it was like a traffic jam with animals well apparently there was animal once ya get past the first section you are lucky to see any it was very disappointing to the point it got boring . I so want to enjoy driving seeing the animals with my little girl but we ended up just wanting to leave . It would have been better assigning time slots to go round the animals or maybe a tour bus but something needs doing me and my family probably won't visit again the way it is and we heard a lot of people complaining so returning customers may be low .
    Visited June 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written June 3, 2023
  • Anna U
    Nottingham, United Kingdom12 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Anna
    a very well spent day. It was amazing how close the animals came. the car ride was very safe. The big advantage of the trip was that the staff were by car in places where there was a big queue. when the animal approached the front of the car and did not want to leave, after a while a patrol with an staff drove up and drove the animal away so that the car could move. We all enjoyed seeing the animals. The place with Lions and Tigers is very well protected, the gates are locked, only a few cars can enter. tigers behind fences. the only downside of our trip was that while passing through the safari giraffes were behind the gate. it was in the morning so maybe because we hit the time of their feeding . it would be good if there was information about which animals go out of the gates in the case of a giraffe. the entrance to the park whehe penguins, sea lion show was great. park with dinosaurs an extra thing for children who love dinosaurs. park with parrots a new experience, parrots sat on people's hands and heads very willingly. park with carousels very interesting, adapted to the height of children. There is an indicator of how tall a child can go. You also have very nice and interesting attractions for adults. my partner had a lot of fun on some of the attractions. we will definitely go back there because we lacked time to visit the lemurs and the African village.
    Visited June 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written June 5, 2023
  • Rachael T
    10 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Best day out!!
    We had a brilliant time at the park. We were there from 10 to 5pm and could have easily gone back for a second day. So much to do and see. We opted for minibus tour of the safari so we could go together in our group and it was brilliant!!! Our tour operator Don was just amazing. His knowledge was so impressive, he was funny and great with the kids and got us so close to animals to feed them, it was the best part. The live shows were great, especially sea lion show and we enjoyed the dinosaurs. I would suggest taking food and drink as a few kiosks were closed, queues were quite and things were expensive!
    Visited June 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written June 5, 2023
  • Catlady
    2 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    Disappointed at new system
    Disappointing visit today. We deliberately went after half term to avoid the crowds and the park itself was not too busy. However, they have now introduced a time slot system to drive around the safari and it was terrible. The last slot was 12-12.30 and it was so busy. Bumper to bumper all the way around. Didn’t actually see much of the animals. Whenever we have visited in the past we have opted to drive around the safari later in the day to avoid the crowd. This new slot system crams everyone in together in the morning. With tickets now more than £30 we expected better organisation. Thank god for the lovely giraffes at the end.
    Visited June 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written June 6, 2023
  • Rimshah H
    3 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Amazing safari adventure
    The favourite part of my experience was the drive through. It was absolutely amazing. We fed the deers, zebras and the giraffe! It was mind blowing. I would definitely recommend everyone to come here if you’re looking for a good day out with your loved ones. There’s also a theme park after the drive through and a parakeet landing which was fantastic.
    Visited June 2023
    Traveled with friends
    Written June 10, 2023
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

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loveholsLoughborough
Loughborough143 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2020
This was my first visit to this attraction and it was really poor. I wish I had seen recent reviews before we booked.

The tickets are pre-book only which, according to the web site, allows WSP to carefully manage numbers for guest safety. The park was absolutely rammed and there were literally no mechanisms in place to limit numbers in some areas. You can therefore only assume that WSP over booked for commercial reasons, to the detriment of visitor experience and, in our opinion, safety.

The toilets were a good example. There were no restrictions on numbers entering at any time which resulted in lots of people trying to use the hand washing facilities together. This was also the same in the discovery zone and, again, people huddled close together. We felt so uncomfortable we left.

As for the actual safari, it was awful. There were so many cars it felt like a journey on the M25 with so much time at a complete standstill. It took well over 3 hours, most of which was just queue time with not an animal in sight, so by the end of it the children were desperate for the toilet, tired and hungry.

However, our main concern was safety and we did not feel safe at all. Ironically, the sea lion show, which is open air, was controlled very carefully with coordination of seating all in place. The trainer running the show went on at length about how we should all stick to the restrictions in place to safeguard the safety of the trainers so they can look after the animals. Agreed but please, have the same respect for your visitor's safety.

Not a cheap day out and they clearly allowed far too many tickets to be sold. Whoever makes these decisions and is responsible for safety at the park should, in my opionion, be ashamed of themselves and should be questioned very closely. Let's hope nobody is ill as a result of it.
Written August 28, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Laura H
Oxford, UK4 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2020 • Family
I am writing this review whilst queuing to get out of the lion enclosure.....complete grid lock. Some cars have overheated & not made it! We have been to West Midlands Safari Park before and had a good day out. Not today, despite online booking, there have been little to no measures to limit numbers and this results in a huge traffic jam around the safari which completely spoils the experience. Kids have lost interest as we've seen more cars than animals!
There's a one way system for the toilets, but no actual way of socially distancing at the hand basins and some people can not read or take no notice of this guidance.
At £88 for a family of 4 it is not value for money, I would not recommend coming here at the moment.
Written August 10, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

elaine s
Dudley, UK19 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2020 • Couples
Awful experience, I thought booking on line meant controlled visitors not at all, 6 car lines the 3 on the right were going down quite quickly yet the far left hand lane never moved so indicated over and got lots of abuse that was just the start, finally got in to drive around 2 abreast now if you want to sit in a traffic jam smelling clutch burn then this is for you! Rangers in cars constantly shouting to move on and don’t feed the animals yet you sell animal feed to feed the animals? I have not queued for an hour to be shouted at and waved on at every opportunity. Poor animals, while they are undoubtedly looked after this is more like a zoo then a safari park, totally disappointed, penguins and sea lions are living in a rock zoo with a pool of water, well you can forget re visiting I don’t do zoos or circus’s because I worry about space for the animals and always said I would prefer a safari park, I’ve now changed my mind this place is also on the list, the place looks very tired and I don’t know why lemurs would want the noise of a fair on their doorstep or the meerkats living in a small sand pit, hated the experience and would not recommend it. Uploaded photo summed up the day!
Written September 9, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Lauren F
West Midlands, UK1 contribution
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2021 • Family
We arrived at about 10.15am with two very excited ten year olds. The trip cost 150 pounds for two adults and two children including wristbands and I had planned it for a month. We purchased a box of animal feed. We used the toilets before going in to the safari as we'd had a long drive. No queue and very clean. We then drove in to the safari and for the first 15 mins we were really just in a queue with not much too see. The traffic started moving and as It was sunny and about 20 degrees so the animals were out and about which was good but so far it was really the deer type animals to look at which was fine as I knew that the other sections we're coming up. I was especially looking forward to giraffes. We went through the carnivore section which was good as the lions were sitting in prime position on their rock about 5 of them also the males were sleeping together in the shade. We saw the tigers sleeping and the African dogs were out albeit at the back of the enclosure. All the while we were in long long queues which was a bit frustrating for our daughter and her friend in the back. I felt that it was so busy other drivers were getting frustrated if you stopped to really look at the animals so you felt you had to move on. The kids were looking forward to feeding some animals. There were signs virtually everywhere saying do not feed these animal??. Some cars fed the camel's which were the only animals that came near to the cars. We didn't as the signs said not to. I was still looking forward to seeing the giraffes. Unfortunately the giraffes we're not wandering free and were in an enclosure! We were very disappointed as there was so much traffic we couldn't pull up next the the enclosure. So basically we didn't feed any animals and I still have the full box of food ! I have always loved the WM Safari but have decided I won't go again. It was an ok visit but I felt I didn't get my money's worth this time. I have since seen a friend's Facebook post where the giraffes are not in an enclosure so feel as though we missed out! The children were fed up and a bit disappointed they didn't get to touch or feed any animals. The theme park after was ok but very tired looking in some parts.
Written June 6, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

1985LJ
Worcestershire, UK21 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2021
We’ve been loyal visitors for many years, but this was a disaster. We checked the Covid precautions on the Safari Park website and only booked tickets because it claimed to be operating with reduced customer numbers and full social distancing in place. On arrival, this was simply not the case. We arrived early, but it took almost 45 minutes just to get onto the site. The drive-through safari? Full. Car park (including overflow)? Full. Fairground / walkaround area? Almost full. The Safari Park had made a token ‘tick box’ effort to put signs up and close off some restaurant seating, etc. but the park was the busiest we’d ever seen it. There were just too many customers on site for any sort of meaningful social distancing to be possible. We were uncomfortable buying wristbands because staff were corralling multiple families into the same space to have them fitted, with no social distancing possible. Even when families tried to step away from the kiosks to make space, they were called back. We complained to the Safari Park and received what seemed like a pro forma response which doubled-down on their Covid safety protocol claims (rather than accepting there was a problem with them). We paid over £100 for a day out; which consisted of 3 rides before we abandoned the walkaround section, followed by sitting in a traffic jam before we abandoned the drive-through section as well. We’re sympathetic to businesses that have been affected by Covid, but it feels like the Safari Park have put profits before public safety here and crammed the park to capacity.
Written April 19, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Michael
2 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2020 • Family
Had a pretty miserable time here today. FAR too busy, clearly not limiting the number of visitors as they should be, took over 2.5 hours to drive round the safari, it was nose to tail traffic all the way around! Didn’t move an inch for 5/10 mins on occasion. Felt rather trapped at times.

Why on earth are people encouraged to feed the animals here too? Do not feed the animals seems it would be much easier to enforce, expecting people to be sensible with seems seems rather naive to me. We saw several cars stopping and feeding the animals inappropriate food, ham sandwiches to deer for example!? And when it’s so busy, people stopping their cars to feed the animals only added to the chaos! Can not do the animals any good to be fed junk, seemed exploitative and rather sad to see to me.

No management of the numbers of people entering the toilets etc, nor did we see them being cleaned. Lots of people acting as if the pandemic is over with, made me feel rather uncomfortable.

We paid £68 entry, to be trapped in a traffic jam, and then were unable to socially distance on foot due to the lack of management of the crowds, and the overcrowding. Left as soon as we could. Wouldn’t return if they paid me to be honest.

Went to Knowsley about a month ago, and the experience could not have been more different, all facilities are very well managed, and seem to only be allowing a sensible number of cars in so you can actually enjoy driving the safari route...
Written August 8, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Dean K
1 contribution
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2020 • Family
Social distancing is near impossible. Especially going In and our walk ways are separated but you got people stopping outside gift shops or queuing for waffles or toilets. Bought the animal feed but they let so many people into the safari at once it was impossible to get near the animals was so unorganised I felt sorry for the animals I spelt £12 on feed and was able to feed one animal just help sorry for them the queue of cats was unbelievable that all day took 2 and half hours to get around the safari bumper to bumper and the smell of burning clutches was awful. People were beeping other cars who were taking too long with animals scaring them, Surely could be organised better like time slots for safari. Felt really unsafe there even though outside it was so crowded everyone stood around in areas supposed to be mapped out hardly anyone wearing masks it was crazy quite clearly putting profit before the animals and guests. Spent near £100 for the day and couldn’t wait to get out of there! Don’t bother so many better places to take your family for a day out!
Written September 15, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

eddie L
Barnsley, UK304 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2020 • Family
Bit of a mixed bag for us, visited on Saturday 12th sept which may explain the experience we had. We arrived around 10am and the queue in was horrendous, it was bumper to bumper 4/5 lanes wide to get through the pay both and then went down to 2 lanes.
Due to the long queue we decided to park up and see the animals inside first. Because it was quiet I did see some Covid measure in place but no one manning this. When it got busy the Covid measures were not good enough, I don’t know if they really did monitor the amount of people booking with how many people was there.
The Safari part said 2 hours it was worse than rush hour on the M6 literally bumper to bumper for 95% of the drive round, It took us closer to 3 1/2 hours to get round in the end. Don’t bother with the off road track it’s just big pot holes in the road.
For all it’s flaws we did have a good time, my daughter and wife loved it and we will be sure to make use of the free return ticket hopefully it will be less busy when we return!
Written September 16, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Ant
2 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2020 • Couples
First of all when entering the park social distancing was almost impossible with toilets filled with waiting people. I continued to try and enjoy my day and decided to go for some food which again was another joke, at every “take away” bar the wait was over 15-20 minutes long taking around 8 minutes to re heat some frozen chips and microwave a hot dog with an extra added price of £5 from what you could get at your local shop.
After waiting so long to get food I attempted to quickly walk over to see the seal show which was at 15:30 I arrived at the gate at 15:27 to find the gate close and maximum capacity sign up for the arena, I was very disappointed as this was the main thing I wanted to see. I decided to try and step in a wooden bench and tip toe over to see the show when I was to find over 30-40 seats free in the arena, after about 30 seconds I was spotted attempting to watch the show and the women “entertainer” obviously a failed comedian decided to call me out infront of the whole crowd and make a massive issue that I was attempting to peer over after asking the crowd to” turn around and look at the gentleman” I was not amused at the slightest and after getting off the wall I left straight away.

I would defiantly not be coming back here again and would never spend £50 for a ticket for two adults after many many issues. In general a stressful disappointment.
Written August 31, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Jemizcle
48 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2022 • Couples
We visited West Midlands Safari Park as part of a two day trip along with a stay at the cheetah lodges (I’ve done a separate review) and a VIP tour.

We had some amazing weather, not too hot but sunny and warm, which aided the experience.

It took us 2 and a half hours to get round the 4 mile safari initially, with a giant pile up being near the Giraffes as everyone wants to feed them! I imagine this being a headache for the keepers and patrol staff, and it can be a bit of a wait.

It was a nice drive around and all of the animals you got to see although some were sleeping in the midday heat! You can purchase boxes of food at the entrance to feed to SOME of the animals which I would recommend as it’s a more amazing experience.

Once we had finished the safari we parked up to go into the theme park/discover trail where there are even more things to see and do, before heading to our lodge for the night.

We had booked a VIP tour for the next day, which starts at 8am so that you get to visit the park before anyone else. We went ‘behind the scenes’ in the rhino house, fed giraffes, got to see the lions being let out for the day, saw the dholes active, amongst much more on the safari. We then went to the discovery trail part to have a hot drink and a snack. We got a personal sea lion show, and helped to feed some snacks, went behind the scenes in the reptile house where we got to hold some reptiles, and then into the lorikeets to feed them some nectar! Our tour guide, Ryan, was amazing, very knowledgeable about the park, and knew all of the animals by name!

Dinner is included and you can go to any of the food places on site, where there is a range of options :)

We got ride wristbands, animal feed, photographs on a memory stick and guide books included.

Ryan left the memory stick at the reception for us to pick up as we explored the rest of the park, and he left a lovely note inside.

Would highly recommend the VIP tour.
Written April 22, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for taking the time to review your experience at WMSP. We are so pleased to hear you enjoyed your VIP tour and seeing all of our safari animals. Great phots of our giraffes and lions!
Written July 6, 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

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West Midlands Safari Park - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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