Twycross Zoo Reviews 

All we saw was empty enclosures and Lego. You may as well head down to your local pets at home as you will probably see more animals.

Ignore the other reviews as they are blatant lies. I went to Twycross Zoo yesterday with my dad and Nan, my dad got in free as a carer and for me and my Nan was £63, so not sure where people are getting £100 entry fee from for two people.

Someone also mentioned there was no tigers, they must be blind then because they have 2! A male and a female and we saw the female yesterday during an educational talk and watching her eat a cows leg hung up near the enclosure glass.

Booked an annual pass for the family just under a year ago. Used it once, went to book again but they make it so hard to rebook a visit I have not been able to go. Feedback online does not work. Email address given is not monitored and no phone number to discuss the issue with a human being. Absolutely dreadful customer service. Feel conned, having been roped into an annual pass that is seemingly impossible to rebook. Communication (lack of) has been dreadful and frustrating.

I’m extremely disappointed with the way these animals are kept, it was an amazing place 10 years ago they needs to start investing in the enclosures. I think the RSPA needs to check it out.

we went yesterday which took us a hour and 15 min drive got there at 11 but left by 12:30 it was raining which we knew forecast was but with how busy it was it was too much for our son we couldn't take pictures because everyone was pushing in front and knew we were trying to take pics but still pushing in front, our son can't see very well as he's visually impaired so we take pictures for him to see them normally but we couldn't and also he's autistic he couldn't deal with how overcrowded it was even our girls couldnt see cause the adults just pushed in front, we are gutted as it was our first time going and it wasnt fun at all not the experience we were hoping for especially for our kids to enjoy and they didnt we wasnt expecting it to be as busy as it was on a rainy day but hopefully as much as it will be busy in the summer we can have a better day then!!

Whilst at a ice cream vendor, having queued up for nearly half an hour, I had a horrible experience

Very friendly staff, each one of you made the trip a happy day, along with the sunny day but apart from that, lots of visitors, lots of space to keep walking around in circles but lack of animals to view. If there was a glimpse of an animal, lots of visitors would dash and crowd that area because overall, it was boring. It's ok if you are able to use the annual return pass but if not, it works out expensive. I can see most reviews are on the £3 parking charge too, this is pure greed. Couldn't get on my mobile data to work, lack of reception and couldn't connect to their wifi to pay via via QR code and pay machines not working in the lobby. The toilets are well overdue to be cleaned, extremely stinky and no loo roll, the improvement could start here at least.

Cost us over £150 to gain entry, had to pay another £3 each car to park. It was more like a farm than a zoo there were no elephants tigers leopards lions very very disappointing, will not be going back even with the free pass we got, then to top it all off we had to pay £8 per child to go in the soft play area

Avoid at all cost this place is a total rip off !!
Admission prices are already expensive and yet they tuck you up for another £3 just to park ! Where else can you park !!! Most enclosures are empty and the Gruffalo walk is an embarrassment. Food prices are daylight robbery - Baked potato and beans £8 !!! Even the indoor play area for the kids is an extra charge. Never Again !!

Absolutely shocking paid £100 to get in for 2 adults 1 child and a baby and an hour drive seen 5 animals the whole way round spent more time queuing than walking around wouldn’t even waist your money

On the whole had a Fantastic day just a few things that stopped me giving it five stars,

Good points, everywhere was clean and tidy and well sign posted, and the staff where AMAZING FRIENDLY AND SUPER UNDERSTANDING my son is autistic and was struggling with the entrance ques but staff noticed straight away and took as round to another entrance where only one or two people where waiting, every staff member I spoke to was really chatty and friendly, I was paying for my parking and little one thought it would be funny to run the other way but the staff on the door said don't worry you do that I'll make sure he doesn't venture to far and distracted him with a sticker which was lovely, and they had a good selection of animals and the gruffalo trail is fantastic for any gruffalo fan.
Now to the not so good things
It was £8.00 to go in the soft play which can't exactly be avoided when its right where you go in you have to book a slot but nowhere did it was this and the play parks they have are very much aimed at younger children and the equipment they have on them is limited so not really comparable with the well set out soft play.
The toilets cubicles where not will lit and very dark which makes taking a child and assisting them on the loo practicality impossible, alot of the paths where not tarmac so where quite slutchy and muddy, but these things will put us off and we will return but there are just these few things that are stopping it from being a 5 star visit

I don't know where to start, i have been to many zoos this one was the worst one we have been too in our lives.

£100 plus to get, to then have to pay to use the indoor play area really expensive too, that closed half way through, i have never known to have to pay for this once you have paid to get in.

Empty enclosures lots of them. Hardly any animals for a zoo even with the lego ones included lol.

For the price this was absolute theft.

Ladies toilets, cubicles in the dark.

Butterfly farm, we counted 9 in the whole enclosure, was empty, never been to a butterfly farm with hardly no butterflies lol.

I could go on, but all i will say is save your money for a day out somewhere else, unless they drop the prices.

Staff were lovely

Twycross zoo return visit seems to be a scam. You cannot book a return ticket on rhe "new visitor portal" just goes round on circles. Wouldn't bother going if you want to use this offer as they make it clear you can't just turn up. But give you no way of actually booking it.

1st time returning here in a few years and it was worse this time than before many empty enclosures. Not much to see unless you like lego there's plenty of lego built animals dotted around we was starting to think we had turned up at lego land in error 😅🙈 tried to enter the bird enclosure to be told the birds arnt hungry so we got denied.
we went on a Sunday but it was very quiet no ques or waiting times.
definitely won't be returning there again.

The prices weren't too bad and the zoo seemed to be quite spacious instead of crammed in like others are. Very clean! However, we didn't really see many animals. Not as much as we would expect to. There was quite a few empty enclosures and animals that just did not want to show themselves. Maybe we just caught it on the wrong day!?

It was a really enjoyable family day out, and the yearly pass is great!

I had a family day out at Twycross last weekend and we all had a great time. My three-year-old loved the Gruffalo Discovery Land and meeting the Gruffalo. We especially enjoyed the penguin talk/feeding and the giraffe talk. Although it was busy, we had no trouble finding a parking space. We ate in the Gruffalo cafe. The cheese sandwich was pretty poor; it was a dry roll with no butter and a cheap cheese slice... Not great and too expensive.

The staff were friendly and considerate. Many thanks for a great day! I will certainly visit again, but I will bring my own sandwiches next time ha!

Disappointment for a large family day out for my granddaughters 6th birthday 6 adults 6 kids.alot of money spent to get in and the only reason i gave 1star was that the fish n chips were beautiful to be honest we have been before with my own kids but taking my grandkids was awful where to start expensive.dirty.rundown but most of all hardly any animals monkey enclosures cracked glass dont really want to say anymore except that the animals that are there should be moved to another perhaps cleaner zoo where more care and attension is needed for these animals as the ones we did see looked bored n p'doff and the amount of comments from other families walking around where are the animals rang through out the grounds there was more focus we betieved on the lego animals than the real ones even down to the fact that when the tortoise moved my granddaughter whos birthday it was shouted out that the lego tortoise moved until we explained that was an actual animal we tried our bit to help in giftshop buying each of our grandchildren a gift even two of the ones they picked burst in car onway ome cant see any of us returning anytime soon and think that the place should be closed down or at least get some real investment put in take a good look at these animals and their wellfare as they cant tell you how they feel

We went on 7th September 2024 we saw all the animals the only thing we didn’t see was the Sumatran Tigers but we left before feeding time.

As for all the bad reviews it can only be due to the school holidays so best to come when the kids are back in school if you can. Maybe the animals don’t like all the screaming ?

Booked soft play on line. Filled in the waver forms on line, shouldn’t have bothered as we still had to queue at the gate and fill in a paper form. Also the QR code sent with the booking confirmation was not read when we arrived. It looks like they have not got the technology in place to deal with this. Disappointing!

Hadn’t visited in 20years but saw they had an ‘improved’ gruffalo land which is our children’s favourite book and the prices seemed high so we presumed the whole zoo must have been improved a lot since last visit. On arrival we were immediately disappointed to see that the small soft play centre was already an extra expense next to an overpriced coffee stop area and vile toilets. Too unhygienic to change babies in them so changed them on a bench outside! The view into the snow leopard cage was spoilt by smeared glass and people scrambling over those eating to get a look. We then went through to zoo entry where staff were just miserable and treated visitors like cattle. Went straight into gruffalo land which was the ‘best’ bit of the day. We do think gruffalo land still needs a lot more improving, many of the animations weren’t working properly and were covered in layers of thick dust. We felt there was lots of wasted opportunities for more interactions and related animals exhibits. We then continued round the ‘zoo’. The zoo is more like a desert just a dust bowl desperate for water and life. We walked round twice and were just met with several completely empty enclosures or animals sat in off show areas. A lot of the apes outdoor areas resembled prison courtyards and not surprisingly they appeared miserable. No real enrichment for them just high brick walls surrounding them. The amount of tortoise enclosures was just irritating. Seemed every other cage was either empty or housing a tortoise. The zoo on a whole was dirty and not fit for purpose. Wouldn’t say that there was any thought or care about conservation just a place to enslave the odd animal in order to entice people in so they can rip them off and bleed them dry.