Twycross Zoo Avis 

Chris’s tripadvisor score 2/10

Brilliant day out, if you like looking at over grown cages with no wildlife.

The only highlight was the outside catering which we took ourselves, this really saved the day, as 1 ice cream I expect to be pricey in these places but £3.80 was a pure ripoff. I was gonna to ask reception for a crime reference number owing to the fact it was day light robbery. All in all a very disappointing day out with our family. I’ve seen more wildlife walking round our town on a Friday night, like to know if the animals were on holiday this week, thinking they just packed up there suitcase and thought even I’ve had enough of this place. If it wasn’t for the lego animals scattered around the park of which were very well built and very good likeness well apart from that Cheater trying to mount the Gazelle!! In all fairness I think Twycross definatly had a lot of similarities to my own dog. Both being a Shih Tzu.

All in all the only silver lining to the trip was the catering 10/10 would book for every disappointing day trip!

Expensive and falling apart. Someone save those poor animals and get them shipped to Chester. Very disappointed as none of the animals seemed to be out and their enclosures were basic to poor.

The zoo itself is a treat, very good for our younger children, that is if you can book !!
I purchased a year pass in 2023, added my granddaughter to my account, then went several times.
2024, they system has been UPDATED !!, now I can't find how to take my grandchildren, my wife was on a paper pass, now she can't find out how to get on the system. Tried to contact them by telephone .. Its IMPOSSIBLE .. only leave a message will get back to you. Still waiting !!!

We visited the zoo whilst on holidays and to be frank it was really expensive for not a lot
As previous reviews have stayed the small amount of animals we saw were in small unkept enclosures ...there were lots of empty enclosures or no animals to be seen at all
Sadly the zoo seems to be taken over by fair type kiosks and a Gruffalo area
On entry the first thing you see is a large soft play area which costs an extra 7
£7.50 per child..you don't actually see any animals until your a good 5 minutes walk in
I think the zoo needs to make a decision as to whether it's a zoo or a child's play area and concentrate on the one project
Also the toilet facilities were really poor
All in all not a good experience sadly

I was a little reticent given the spate of poor reviews, but my wife and I took my granddaughter on a hot an busy weekday.
Online booking a breeze, no queue on entry ( we arrived at lunchtime) and although the zoo was busy, it had retained all the good bits from when we visited with our own kids and have added more. Gruffalo Discovery Land is great, the Bricktacular is spectacular and adds to the overall vibe, particularly as kids can build their owns models, and the soft play barn a must for any 3 year old. Went home happily exhausted. Well done the Twycross Team.

On the morning of Saturday 15th June I bought 2 adult advance tickets on-line to visit on Monday 17th. These were for my son and grandson who were visiting from Australia. The on-line advertised price was £24.25 each, but at check-out I was charged £26.95 each which I paid without realising the price had jumped up. For whatever the reason I was charged the pay-on-the-day rate of £53.90 instead of £48.50.

During our visit on the 17th I went to Customer Services, showed the girls the tickets and enquired why I had been overcharged, and I politely asked for a part refund. The two girls in reception did not understand what had gone wrong, but on inspecting the tickets agreed I had been overcharged and one of them wrote the details on a form saying I would hear back in a few days. I didn't hear back, so following 2 emails via their website and 4 via their email address - deathly silence. By the way, forget about trying to get any sense out of them by ‘phone. All I wanted was the £5.40 paid back to my debit card. Simple enough - so I thought.

One of the girls said that the zoo might decide to take the £5.40 over-payment as a donation. What? I know it’s only a small amount but I strongly disagreed with that off-hand assumption, because to my mind, a donation is a voluntary offering or gift.

Anyway, I guess they will never get in touch and I can wave goodbye to the £5.40. It seems, to me, that the zoo exists for the preservation of the zoo. Their customer service really sucks. Beware.

The refurbished gruffalo experience was excellent, my 3 year old loved it. We went on a slightly wet day and it was empty. We saw the snow leopard whilst having a coffee at the entrance and the monkeys were lots of fun to watch.
The food options are a bit limited but picnics are welcomed. Some areas do look a bit tired but it’s an older zoo and this didn’t ruin our experience.

Despite the mainly negative reviews both here and elsewhere, we gave it a go. My wife, niece, her husband and two year old. I’ve never visited a zoo, despite my 60 years so was quite looking forward to this. I’m in a wheelchair but access isn’t a problem anywhere inside, apart from a few dirt paths on the way to the giraffe. In the wet these would have been more of a problem. Sadly there were lots of empty exhibits and the first actual animal we saw was a zebra, a good ten minutes into the place. The weather was overcast but not cold, yet everything seemed to be hiding away. Eventually we got to see the tiger, a far off rhino, giraffe, giant tortoise, gorilla, a few chimps… and that was it. The penguins were out and about but by then our little one was tired. Gift shop was large but packed. Would I return? Difficult to say. They need to restock to fill those enclosures.

Totally agree with previous review. Expensive...no animals to speak of....run down and closed buildings....they say you can visit free for 12 months....why would you want to....

We visited Twycross zoo today and found it to be a bit of an eye opener. Alot of the enclosures and exhibits were either empty or closed and some blocked off with no animals in them. We found that some animals looked forgotten about a Lizard in particular needed fresh food and water. The gruffalo area has pretty much taken up some of the zoo and taken over alot of the land where past enclosures and exhibits were and it was quite disappointing as its taken the zoo out of the zoo! Leopards and tigers were pacing up and down in their enclosures as they were stressed and you could see that they had worn paths where they constantly paced and had no engagement and enrichment provided, same with the monkeys, birds and apes. What happened to the rest of the monkeys, seals and other animals? We're sure there was more back when I last visited! The Ferno coffee kiosk was expensive and the staff were rude and didn't want to even be there. The other cafes were expensive and crowded. What broke my heart was knowing that most of what made Twycross zoo was pretty much lost. I remember it being an wonderful zoo with so much more !

Went today with 3 grandkids, saw a few miserable monkeys, couldn’t see the tiger, couldn’t get anywhere near the giraffes unless you pay extra to feed it a few branches. Very disappointed kids. Enclosures were a disgrace, dirty. Small. Overgrown. Play area £7.50 for 1 hour play. Total rip. Best part was when the tiger mascot came out at the end. Wouldn’t recommend this zoo & wont be going again. Awful experience. Not good value for money. Wish we’d gone elsewhere :(

Lovely place to visit with the kids. Nice and clean with lots of areas for them to run around. The play park and splash pad are a bonus too.

What a disappointment.

Just got back from twycross ,left early as seen it all in 2 hours very few animals ,1leopard ,1 tiger ,not good living on there own ,2 giraffes ,1rhino ,3 giant tortoises, a few other animals, famous for chimp conservation,where are they , used to be loads, ,food outlets all closed apart from the catch ,£27 pp no oap concessions now ,partner couldn't use his DDS service veterans card as to be booked on line didn't state that and nowhere to do it online ,most enclosures empty apart from overgrown weeds ,needs closing and animals rehoming ,they look very sad all in all a waste if money stay home

Bought x2 tickets for a surprise present ( to be given in a few weeks time.) Filled out form & even filled out who were from etc. At very least expected gift cards!!!
Received E- tickets & passcodes. No messages etc. but also instructions that had to fill out with details & picture within 2 weeks!! Emailed & explained situation. Response back came’ they can still be a surprise once you’ve given them’ ???
This continued after I sent further emails. Now nothing after I have requested a refund!
No phone lines are being answered. EVERY PHONE LINE HAS SAME ANSWER! - PERSON BUSY.
Trying for over a week.
They are not answering my emails.
I am frustrated & feel as though I have wasted almost £50.00 of hard earned money!!! They are burying their heads in the sand!!!! It used to be a great place!!!
All I want is a refund a I’ll find another place to visit. Definitely not this one!!!!!
Help!!! RIPPED OFF!!!!
UPDATE:20.6.24
Was promised an immediate refund, almost as soon as this review went out. After umpteen emails had been sent along with chain explaining situation. Refund email stated it would take 7-10 days to process.
This was the 5.6.24!! and still no sign of a refund? Have emailed & no sign of a reply either!!! Come on Twycross!! What’s happening?!! Explain please? If we owed money, you’d surely be chasing it?!
ZERO CUSTOMER SERVICE!!! ZERO SUPPORT!!! MONEY PROMISED & RETURNED ZERO!!!!

What a sad and depressing zoo, little to no animals. Most cages appeared to be empty, the entire place was extremely run down and shabby, I think they must have also sacked the gardener as there were tall weeds everywhere, it was a very very expensive day which was definitely not worth the money, all of the animals should be removed and relocated to better environments, I would not recommend this Zoo to anyone!

The zoo was if anything really busy, having to queue into the car park. I understand this is probably because of the buy one ticket go for the rest of the year deal, when going to look at the animals it was extremely crowded especially the chimpanzees and giraffes.
Because of the insane amount of people there was little to no parking available ultimately leading to people blocking others cars in, and people parking on the grass verges.

Twycross seems to have an awful amount of monkeys and seemed to “care” more for them, giving their monkeys elaborate cages; I saw this especially with the chimpanzee and orangutan’s. Compared to the other animals such as the lamas, who in which cages where much less “fancy” they had little to no logs or drift wood to fill their cages, paint on the walls was falling off and it overall looked quite empty.

The ratio of monkeys to other animals was very uneven, as it seemed nearly 90% of the animals were monkeys.as I went round I only saw 2 giraffes 1 rhino 1 snow Lepord 1 tiger ( I understand some could have been inside too).

Finally the prices, the soft play was £7.50 for an HOUR! In a tiny soft play filled with kids.
The gift shop was absolutely filled to the brim, I barely managed to stay with my children.
The prices where quite high, but yes I know it’s a zoo: 6 pound for a tiny teddy, £34 for a 20 cm grufflo, and £16 for a soft plushy snake.

We did find some enjoyment in the many different monkeys and other animals,the gruffalo trail was OK I suppose, zoos good for kids but quite poor.

Bought last year a day pass that allowed my family to go anytime in the year (as advertised when I booked the pass), when I go to book any day or time that the website offers you as free to go, each transaction no matter the day or the time throws an error 401 and doesn't book anything.

I am pretty sure that if you pay for the ticket the transaction will be successful.

False advertisement to get you to buy tickets.

Very, very poor and expensive. Next to no animals to see. just lots of empty cages. Totally underwhelming, not going back until vast improvements take place and price falls dramatically. One star is an over rating.

Put some animals in for people to see. I paid a lot of money for nothing and will never go again. Shameful when they take your money and give you nothing back,waste of a day.
DONT GO.