At the weekend we visited Paradise Wildlife Park for the first time after they invited us along to check out their brand new World Of Dinosaurs zone. I had watched a documentary not long ago on big cats which featured the Big Cat Sanctuary owned by Paradise Wildlife Park, which is dedicated to the captive breeding of endangered cats and helps to support big cats from all over the world. It was really heart-warming to watch and it made me keen to go and visit Paradise Wildlife Park.
As soon as we arrived on Saturday the boy's faces lit up with excitement as we walked past a huge play area with really fun ideas for slides in. There was a slide in a fire-engine, a steam train and even a huge pirate ship. The boy's couldn't wait to play on them!
Our first visit however was to the bird section where we sat and ate lunch on a picnic bench just right next to the tortoises. It was such a lovely quiet (even for a Saturday!) spot and we even got to see some of the owls flying past and doing their training whilst we ate, which was so lovely.
Incredibly friendly staff
After that, it was on to another play section that we'd spotted which had a large snake-themed tunnel slide as well as a fun multi-coloured slide for the children to play on. The boys absolutely loved it and the staff members there were so friendly with all of the children going on the slides. In fact, throughout our day we encountered nothing but super-friendly staff at Paradise Wildlife Park. I find it makes such a difference when staff go out of their way to smile and to be chatty with visitors - it really does brighten the experience so much more.
Feeding experiences
After the boys had a few turns on the slides, we went and got ourselves some animal feed (mostly chopped up vegetables) to feed the farm animals. It was so nice to be able to feed the animals, it made visiting the animals so much more interactive, it's great for the children to have this sort of experince and learn more about animals this way. I had a go at feeding some of the animals too and as you can see from my facial expression (down below) it made me laugh so much as they really tickle your hand when they eat.
Up close with the animals
One of the things that stood out the most about Paradise Wildlife Park was just how many animals we saw. I've never been so close to big cats and have never seen a Red Panda out as much as I did on Saturday. Don't get me wrong there was plenty of places for the animals to hide undercover or away if they wanted to, but it was almost like they were really comfortable to be out and about. It was fantastic to see the animals so visibly.
If you're looking for the perfect place to stop and get lunch at Paradise Wildlife Park then I can't recommend Tiger Treetops enough. It's a lovely cafe with a huge viewing window inside out on to the tiger enclosure, whilst we sat and had a drink we could look out and see the tiger sleeping - it was a little bit surreal.
Attention to detail
Another thing I absolutely loved about Paradise Wildlife Park was how much thought had been put into each area for both the visitors viewing the animals and also the animals themselves. I liked that on several occasions it was possible to see the animals both under water and above like is pictured below. The reptile section is inside of a temple and there are other different zones where it's clear that so much thought has been put in to giving visitors the best experience.
The children can go inside the tunnels at the meerkat section to get a closer look at them - my boys loved this!
The Best play areas
The play areas at Paradise Wildlife Park are some of the best I've seen, there really is so much fun to be had for the kids and that's even with the fact that we didn't manage to fit in the indoor play center or the Paradise Lagoon which is a splash zone for children for when the weather is nice and warm.
NEW World Of Dinosaurs
New for 2018 is Paradise Wildlife Park's World Of Dinosaurs and it really is a must-see for any dinosaur fan. As soon as we entered the new zone we came across the Dino-Dig area where the children can dig in the sand for dinosaur fossils. There's also a Safari Stage close by where the staff are brilliant with the children encouraging them to get up and dance and take part.
The Rex express mini train next to the stage is great - it takes you around all of the new animatronic dinosaurs whilst giving your little one's legs a bit of a rest. The only thing that I would say is that it would be nice to see the cost for this (which I think is only a couple of pounds) included in the main entrance ticket price as the train ride isn't that long and most train rides in similar parks are included in the entrance ticket cost, but even so it's a lot of fun!
If you don't take the Rex Express then you are able to walk around the dinosaurs and take a longer and closer look at them (we did both). The animatronics are brilliant, some of the dinosaurs even spit out water and they sound really life-like. They're also quite big, you can really imagine what these dinosaurs would have looked like back in the day. My little boys loved running around spotting them all and my eldest, Ethan was keen to tell us the names of each one. It's the perfect place to take any dinosaur-fan!
Paradise Wildlife Park exceeded our expectations - we can't believe that we hadn't been before, but we're so glad that we've now discovered it. The theming is brilliant, the staff are friendly, the animals look content and are easy to see, the park wasn't too crowded despite it being a Saturday when we were there and the attention to detail and thought that has gone in to all aspects of the park is totally brilliant. I 100% recommened a visit if you haven't already been.
Thank you for reading. Alex xo
