Chester Zoo — Attraction in Backford

Chester zoo was an amazing memory for me as a child, my parents would bring me every summer.

Pros - The enclosures are amazing, they are among the best I have seen alongside Longleat and West Midlands safari. I really appreciate how much effort was put into certain enclosures to make them feel and look great, whilst actually meeting animal’s needs.

They have a wide range of animals, larger than most zoo’s; it’s definitely the biggest zoo I have been to.

The conservation efforts are also amazing, they are doing wonders to support many endangered and very rare species, some very close to extinction, their work truly matters.

The walkthrough areas are the highlight of the zoo, it’s truly magnificent to walk into areas that felt like I was transported into another world and into the exact locations and regions the animal’s were from. There’s something very enchanting about these parts of the zoo, even though we came mainly to see the jaguars, snow leopards, cheetah (that doesn’t seem to be there?) tigers and lions all of which we didn’t get to see either due to closures or empty enclosures.

Cons - The staff were incredibly rude, out of the many I met there were only two nice individuals and they were doing the harder work. The rest however ruined the experience, they talked down to me and treated me poorly, felt like they judged me based on how I looked. One of the worst experiences in terms of staff friendliness out of any place I have been so far and this impacted my rating dramatically, I came for a nice day out, that I had been looking forward to for many years. Some of the staff were also just not very helpful.

A lot of enclosures were closed, empty and some very unkept, there were some that had clearly been forgotten about as they weren’t the main focus. It should’ve derailed on the website that these would be closed, otherwise I might’ve chosen to come another day. There were many viewing locations only for small children, so most adults wouldn’t be able to see, especially taller people. Most of the photo-op areas were also child only.

They didn’t have many events running despite the size of the zoo, seen many more zoo’s that are much smaller have more events and more enrichment for the animals. And you cannot even know when the events are on without the app, there are no signage or anything indicating them.

The zoo is much more catered about children than I remember, for example there used to be more “family” focused things to do (such as the railway, which is now gone) and now there is many more play areas. I did not like this environment and some interactive activities were poorly placed next to very shy animals, meaning lots of crying and screaming children next to enclosures where the animal simply wouldn’t leave it’s den.

The cost. £74 for two adults is extreme, it is the most expensive zoo I have been to aside from longleat during their light show that felt much more worth the price. Given the closures, empty enclosures, and that it’s September on a weekday, this is far too overpriced, to follow this their gift shop was the most overpriced out of any zoo I’ve been to yet, same with their food.

Ending thoughts -

Given the cons, the cost, I feel this zoo has unfortunately become very overhyped. It is missing the charm it had when I was younger, the excitement, and just has become very money grabby. I’m glad I went since it was nostalgic for me, but I do not think it’s worth it at the price I paid. I would not come again and I don’t think others should at this price point either. Slightly disappointed and disheartened, again, I feel I wouldn’t have rated this so poorly if I didn’t have high expectations and if the staff hadn’t been so rude. I was torn between giving this zoo 3.5/5 stars but with further rude staff in the gift shop after spending a lot of money, just let me down. More animals doesn’t always mean a...

We went as a group of 5, 23c heat. VERY sunny, beautiful day.

Price☆☆☆☆- considering its one of the bigger UK zoos, the price was super reasonable. Considering the absolute huge collection of animals here.

Guest Facilities☆☆☆- frequent beverage stands, which was a godsend as it was VERY hot. Frequent resturants paced around the park. Some smaller goft stands around for childrens toys, but the prices were a little outrageous. Would of been nice to have stalls selling caps/sunglasses/fans, as i forgot my cap and it was blistering heat. Toilets were plenty, reasonably clean. The gift shop at the end was pretty MEH. A lot of overpriced crappy stuff, not a lot of branded items. And a lot of none zoo related items, which i always find silly. It was ABSOLUTELY packed, we could'nt get around with the wheelchair. It was just general chaos. For zoo as large as chester, it could benefit from a larger gift shop. The staff in there were super lovely though, keeping it tidy as kids absolutely trashed the place.

Education☆☆☆☆- Plenty boards and interactive displays around the park. There were times you could attend talks.(they are hard to attend on the weekend as it gets VERY busy)

Animals☆☆☆☆- One of the biggest selections of animals in any zoo i've been too. With a large collection of rarer animals such as bears, panther etc. The enclosures were ABSOLUTELY huge, and made to look like their natural habitats. Animals looked super healthy. They put signs in enclosures thay didn't have animals/animal in vet care so you didn't look aimlessly for the animals. The only downside, which isn't really, is that it was often hard to spot the elusive animals as they had plenty of places to hide, but that's preferable for the animals welfare :)

Accessibility ☆☆☆☆- I'm a part time wheelchair user. It probably one of the most accessible zoos i've been to. Some parts of the park have log/ridged bridges but they do warn with signs and give alternative routes. Lots of accessible bathrooms. I genuinely don't think there were any parts of the zoo we couldn't access with the wheelchair. The butterfly house had automatic doors which was a revaluation. The other houses had manual doors, but they were all push doors so i could push through them myself. They had a lift for the orangutan house too which was amazing. No stairs or steep slopes around the zoo, all ramps. The pavement was neat everywhere which was good! The only difficult thing were the sheer amount of people, and not being able to get a good view of the enclosure due to people, or being too low down. Sadly there wasn't many disabled spaces, but we still got to park closeish.

All in all it's pretty 5 star zoo! One of the best honestly. The staff were just amazing from start to finish. The parking attendant noticed i had a wheelchair in the back of my car and told us where the disabled parking was, i explained i didn't have a blue badge but he insisted it was fine. All of the beverage stand staff were lovely and bubbly, i saw a staff member helping a family try and spy the tiger out. Honestly the staff deserve a raise at this place, put all other zoo staff to shame. The only massive downside, is the zoo is HUGE. It's incredibly hard to get it done in one day. Absolutely shattered, like walking a marathon. Could do with some...

Me my mum and my neice went to Chester zoo, and it wasn't about seeing the animals. It was spotting how many empty areas we saw No elephants/ the snowy leopards./ couldn't see a tiger or tigers/ bird Avery, but we could hear sounds so they may be speakers. We have a glimpse of a rhino. Senior a male lion looked really old, you could see the spine. All I can say is this we walked around. And the only animal that was plenty of was human beings 💰 🤑 💸 💲 for the zoo. And not only this the colour zones , they were. It's almost like they were designed to confuse people because though it points it this way, people still asked each other where to go. You could only ask the people in the food stands. So I think the roads that they're walking on, it should have arrows with the colours. So for blue zones that way, we should have a blue arrow and the odd blue line every now and then. To state this is the blue zone to actually point the way like they do in hospitals. When the hospital receptionist tells you just follow the red line, you follow the red line. And you get to A&E part, what you want, they should do that at the zoo. Basically, what I see and now realised other people see is 1000% profit, but no animals. Where are the animals? What you see on TV. We don't show you, oh, by the way, we got on empty Chester zoo. What they should do, it maybe is give all the animals to other zoos and shut it down. Because I remember going here 10-12 years ago. Cost me £25, to get in. Plenty of animals not far to walk and there was plenty and monorail to help you get around .I love the zoo, i grew up going to the zoo. Now all you're doing is paying to get in to see no animals and now it's £38+ per adult went to see elephants, definitely no elephants, theres no longer a monorail. They say it's about conservation and breeding if that's the case, why is there not plenty of animals? Why are there no youngsters of a lot of different species basically, it looks like, and I'm not the only one that thinks this. It's like Chester zoo is getting shut down, but you still taking the money while they're doing it. But I do like the comment where it says, somebody asks how long does it take to get around Chester Zoo comments by someone is 2 hours Yeah, if you don't wanna see any animals, but there again, you won't see any animals anyway just plenty of empty spaces and cages. If and when you see any animals, it will take you 4 hours to get around, one last thing it was the first time ever in over 35+ years. That I seen Peacocks 🦚 in a cage every time I ever went to chester zoo, they will always walking around the zoo freely. A lot of us were really, really sad about this. They don't harm people. Well, all I can say is this they just walk around. But when we've seen them in the cages, I'm going to be honest, a lot of people's reaction was obvious and really upset. Even me and my mum, had that conversation. Why are they not roaming free. There's a hotel where I work and peacocks roam around there. They're not put in any cages like chester zoo., they literally just roam around...