Penguin Parade — Attraction in Summerlands

We went early April and on a Sunday during school holidays. We sat and waited on hard concrete benches for 2 hours while a ranger continuously told people where to sit, squeeze in, coming around scolding people, it was a sold out night so they were squeezing people in uncomfortably close to each other. There were THOUSANDS of people there, it was a little sickening, not what I remember from visiting as a child. It is also a long 10-15 minute walk along the boardwalk and longer on the way back, it's a nice walk but worth knowing if you're needing assistance! The walk back in the dark is reminiscent of the subway in Tokyo not what you would expect in a conservation area where humans far outway penguins.

We saw only 20 or so penguins and one bandicoot! I feel they should really advertise this online that there are only small groups coming through at this time of year. Of course you can't control nature but they should be setting people's expectations as their photos online show hundreds and the sign at the front said they had 700 or so penguins the night before and then also for the night that we were there. I'm not sure how they calculated this?! I wouldn't be calling it a parade. It was small groups of 5 penguins every 20 minutes or so. The ranger spoke for a couple of minutes and that was it! Not much information, it felt more like a warning about 10 minutes before they came out that there would only be small groups because of the season. Would have been handy to know this prior.

I certainly wouldn't bother with the VIP experience, they sat right in front of us and had no closer access to penguins nor did they see more etc the only benefit is that they didn't have to sit and wait for hours just to get a good spot.

The whole place has just become a money making machine, when you look at the thousands of people there and the average cost of $30 per ticket you really would hope all of that is going back into conservation, though by the looks of the brand new huge building and the gift shop it seems their focus is more on commercialising the whole experience. It's a shame, we didn't enjoy it nor did our kids.

We came and stayed in Phillip island and this was our main attraction and purpose of visit, I would be suggesting to people not to travel all this way just for the penguins as it's quite disappointing to say the least. I had family from overseas who came on a bus tour only days earlier and were equally as disappointed!

I think I will have to remember the good old days of the penguin parade when it wasn't just about $$$ and numbers and getting as many people in as possible. It was so underwhelming I actually don't have more than a couple of photos of the...

We spent a day at Philip island and this was the most disappointing of all the sights! Firstly, there was a lot of hype with the claims by the commentator that 40,000 penguins residing on the island and everyone was expecting an entire beach full of them, but all we saw were pathetically sporadic appearance of tiny groups of 5-6 penguins appearing for brief moments before disappearing into the tiny sliver between the 2 stands, while at the same time being blocked by hundreds of other heads. From a distance and an awkward angle, the looked like little rats walking with 2 legs. Even the board walk experience was more like a bored walk, as you could hardly see anything in the dark while having to jostle again with the throngs of hundreds of tourists.

Also, the staff here behaved more like prison wardens, shouting and yelling at tourists in the most uncouth manner. This is also an extremely hostile environment for any individual with special needs. My child with ASD was (understandably) getting restless after the lack of anything happening for some time and was repeated being shouted at to sit down or keep quiet. When I tried to distract him by blowing sensory balloons that made no sound at all, I was again being shouted at by a staff who thought I was smoking (?!!) and when I explained that I was only blowing balloons for my child with special needs, I was again rudely chided with ‘NO BALLOONS’!

Secondly, the whole concept of wildlife conservation reeks of hypocrisy, especially when the attraction is exploded to such an obscene scale. Furthermore, the impact to the other wildlife is disturbingly visible from the grisly road kills of other creatures along the road towards the penguin parade. We counted at least 30 road kills along the road from koala centre to the penguin parade, mostly because of the hoards of tourists being channeled in daily by massive tour buses and all. All the money earned from the thousands of tourists they receive each day could be better invested to protect the rest of the wildlife on the island. Unless is it really true that the lives of penguins (owing to their cuteness factor) are worth more than that of the other animals e.g. wallaby’s, as they generate more money?

This place reeks of mass tourism at its very worst. Would recommend wholly skipping the penguin parade altogether and focus your time on the other more spectacular sights that the island affords. If you really want to see wild penguins, I wholly recommend South Africa, which affords a much more magnificent sight of wild penguins when you can actually see them I.e. when there...

My low rating isn't for the overall Penguin Parade but my personal experience. I think you can have a great experience but I didn't. We paid for the general viewing and tried to arrive early, as recommended, but could only get a seat in the fifth row.

Now this is my issue: I couldn't see a thing. I understand the penguin parade is very popular and gets a huge turnout but I just don't see the point in having seating in areas where you can't see the penguins. In addition, it was a little disappointing that everyone who ignored the staff and stood up or moved around probably saw loads of penguins; whereas I, who tried to follow the rules, went home seeing none. Also, by the time I gave up and walked back toward the boardwalk, it was so dark that I couldn't see the penguins who were moving around near the burrows.

So here is my bit of advice: Don't sit in the middle rows. I think these are the worst. If you want a close-up view, get a seat in the first three rows or pay for the more expensive viewings. If you don't mind a more distant glimpse, then stay in the standing area at the back. Also, if you hope to see the penguins as they go into their burrows, do note that the area is almost completely unlit so go before the sky is dark.

My last observation is just a guess but when you first step onto the boardwalk, it branches off almost immediately. A staff told us to head left but the sign clearly said that there was general viewing seating to the right as well. I actually think the seating on the right-branching boardwalk is closer to the penguins, from what I could tell.

Edited to add: I feel the photos of the penguins being shared in these reviews are a tad misleading. You're not allowed to photograph the penguins. Any photos being shared are those taken by the staff and later sent to visitors who request them. So you're not going to get these incredible close-up glimpses of the penguins, as per the POV of the photographs (or not if you paid for general...