Longleat — Attraction in Horningsham

We visited Longleat over the weekend for a full day of fun! We arrived early to join the boat ride as we’d been advised by our Air bnb host that if we didn’t get there first we’d queue all day - and this was true! By the time we got off we walked past a very long line. We read online to be outside the gate at 9.30 (in 0° weather) and the gate ended up opening at 10am, we didn’t have any staff members on our side of the gate to ask why so we still aren’t sure. The Santa train was booked months ago, and it was absolutely fantastic. It was cute, festive, clean. The elves were absolutely lovely and waved as the train came and went, chatted with the children and made it much more fun. The decor in the Santa area was really amazing and the toy given to each child was excellent quality (and not one anyone else can just buy in the gift shop). The pizza place was where we ate lunch, the pizzas were made right infront of us which was lovely, the only issue was absolutely no one knew where to line up to order. Otherwise, fantastic. We did some rides, then went over to the safari area in our car. The girls loved the safari but make sure you follow the signs as a lot of people were getting lost - which seems to be a theme with this place. We went into the large gift shop and I was very pleasantly surprised how reasonably priced the toys were. Generally a cuddly toy is far too expensive in places like this, but for £40 each (gifted by a grandparent) the girls had a jellycat toy, a book, a slapband wrist toy AND a balloon. They were thrilled! The light show/ light festival was excellent. Absolutely excellent theming and the quality of the set up was extremely high for both adults and kids.

Now for the cons of longleat - the toilets aren’t clean at all, nor is there soap in many of the dispensers. Taking 2 children meant we went in many many toilets and I heard many other mums comment about the kids touching the dirty loo’s. Next was the organisation around the light festival. At around 3.30pm a lot of areas were beginning to close, and after having family members needing to find the food area in a hurry we found ourselves walking in long circles. One staff member was frantically running around trying to stop an old couple cutting through, and the staff member later on we found to be very helpful said ‘oh, dear. Yes you’ve caught the inbetween time where you can not get through and we don’t know what we are doing..’ which really was the truth. Young kids and old people literally stuck with a long walk from the house back to where the attractions were - which was very frustrating. There were not boards or signs anywhere to tell you when things opened or closed. When the lights eventually came on we enjoyed them alot, but because you aren’t given a paper map and there is no phone signal (it’s very much a dead spot for o2 and 3) you can’t use the app (which isn’t very responsive anyway) so I stood watching for a while and noticed an awful lot of people asking the attendants what was on and where could we go. There was very little direction and I really did notice this was a big frustration, especially for people who couldn’t walk very far as we had absolutely no idea how far away you needed to go or what was even there.

Lastly we went into the chameleon tree last thing for dinner. The food is quick service, but my husband took 35 mins to bring it back to the table and by this time it was very cold. My chicken strips taste wise were nice but they were truly freezing cold. Whilst I waited with the children we found watched a lot of people walk outside and get things from the burger style vans outside and come and eat inside. In the end I wish we had done that as our £80 meal was a plate of cold chicken and chips, 2 kids sausage and chips meals and 1 adult and chips with 1 soft drink and 1 water.. It closed before 7pm but this was long before people were leaving the actual park. The burger vans also were last...

The red panda VIP experience was absolutely amazing! Our keeper was fantastic did their very best to make the experience accessible to me (a wheelchair user) and to coax the hot and tired red pandas out for some snacks. It was a great success and we were able to hand feed 3 red pandas and get some wonderful up close photos while listing to various interesting facts and stories about them and red pandas in general.

Regarding accessibility for the VIP experience: We went over flat, paved ground to get to the gate to the enclosure. Through the gate there was a small flat area and then an area of raised dirt. The main feeding area was next to that raised dirt.

I am able to stand confidently and have an active manual chair so could get my wheelchair right near the main feeding area and then stand on the (uneven) ground to get to a better level and reach the pandas. Sitting in my wheelchair on the uneven lump of ground I did still have a closer and more impressive view of the red pandas than with standard viewing. I would have been able to get good pictures of the ones who came out for snacks even if they didn't come close enough for me to be able to feed them myself.

If you are unable to stand confidently on uneven ground or your wheelchair can't handle going up a small hump onto uneven ground then you may have a more limited experience. There was a feeding platform that would have been in reach for me I'm my chair and on flat and even ground, but it's up to the pandas where they want to go and there's no guarantee they'll be willing to go there.

If you have accessibility concerns it could be worth contacting them beforehand to ask if anything can be done to improve your chances of a successful encounter. . . .

Feeding the deer on the safari was a great and slightly chaotic (in a fun way) experience. Some of them are a bit pushy and shoved their head into the car or nudged others out of the way.

The lorikeets were also great and some of them were a bit silly or pushy too which was fun. You're unlikely to leave that enclosure without getting up close to one or having one stand on you.

It's really nice that they have interactive experiences available for low pieces (something like £1 for cups of feed for deer or lorikeets) so anybody can have their own little VIP style experience. . . .

Staff in all areas were friendly and passionate. It was really nice hearing some more about all of the animals like their names and some of their personalities. Especially in the Meerkat and Lemur areas where staff are inside the wall through enclosure and you can easily stop to ask questions.

The boat ride was hilarious and informative. The view of the animals wasn't fantastic, but it was well worth the ride just for the commentary. . . .

Wheelchair accessibility across the whole park was good. Some areas were a little awkward with airlock style doors or slightly uneven or rough ground, but I don't remember anywhere that I wasn't able to access or that I noticed as likely to be completely inaccessible to wheelchair, walkers or other aids. Disabled parking couldn't be any closer to the entrance and there appeared to be a good amount.

There isn't a lot of seating in any of the animal/ viewing areas. It's mostly just in the entrance area. If you have issues with standing or walking for longer periods you might want to bring an aid. . . .

There is a water bottle refill station by the restaurant which was useful.

The restaurant is a basic canteen style place, but the food is good and I was pleased to see so many vegetarian options. There are also benches and grassy areas where you can bring your own food to eat.

It's easy to fill a whole day looking around so I would definitely suggest arriving as early as you can and planning to stay as late as you can.

Special thanks to Caitlyn (human keeper), Forest, Everest and Emma (red pandas) for a wonderful...

We are regular annual pass holders, so can definitely say if you are able to go at least 4 times a year, it is well worth the money, especially as you can get into the season events for the £1 booking fee.

Top tips for the safari From experience there is no best time to go into the safari, for seeing the animals, as it's hit and miss as to how active the animals are.

Remember to use the right hand lane when queuing! Don't join a queue of 15 cars on the left when the right hand lane is empty, also pay attention to which way the gates between each enclosure opens, if you are front of the queue, and the gate opens from the right, get in the right lane, if you sit in the left, you'll have to wait for the gate to fully open before you can move forward.

If you are an annual pass holder and plan to visits lots of times, don't hang about for ages parked up next to the animals, you'll get to see them over and over again, and tbh you get just as good as a look driving passed as you do stopping (they don't generally move!)

The Bongos: if you can see them wondering about when you first come enter the safari, keep looking left along the top fence line as that's where they like to hide.

Parking area before entering the safari: Stop here for a tactical wee, even if you think you don't need to , as it's your last chance to use the toilet, the safari can take between 1.5 hours to 3 hours on a really busy day.

The giraffes, painted dogs and lemurs are well worth a visit.

Don't waste your money in the gift shop, exact same gifts are available in the main square shops, oh and if you didn't guess, don't fill up on drinks as you won't get another chance for a toilet break.

Zebras and ostriches: The ostriches tend to hang about in the first part of the enclosure and the zebras towards the exit, so don't hang about once you've seen the ostriches as you're not going to miss anything move straight onto the zebras

Warthog: if you get to see him you are very lucky! He tends to hide on the left of his enclosure or don't in the mud.

Flamingos, vultures and cranes: they are nice, don't really move, don't really do anything, get a quick look and get ready for everyone s favourite part!

The monkeys!: if you car has a; Traditional stick style Arial (that can unscrew) 3D /4D number plate Anything loose on your car Anything that can be unscrewed by hand (i.e. roof rack / cargo trays)

Take it off! Otherwise you risk the monkeys donating them as a secret Santa present at the Longleat Christmas due!

If your parking sensors aren't flush (they stick out the bumper a little) proceed with caution, as they will have them out.

Oh and don't feed the monkeys!

Anne the elephant, camels and deers: The deers are near the entrance, once you seen them go straight to Anne's house, but be prepared to not actually see her! Been going regularly for Nearly 10 years, never seen her out her house! Got a few good sightings through her door. Once you have passed Anne, don't hang about, the rest of the enclosure will be empty until you get round the the camels near the exit.

Red deer: opportunity to feed the deer, nothing exciting tbh, once you have fed them near the start, there's usually a few more near the exit, if you want to save 10 to 20 minutes, it's generally worth skipping.

Rhino: on the left, usually can get a good view of them if they are out, but sometimes they like to stay inside, from here, is where queue for the big cars start, if the right hand lane is free, move into it and go around the queue of traffic!

Tigers: you will always see a group of tigers on the left hand side after the first bend,

Lions: again you will always see some behind the fence on the left

Hyenas: good luck if you see them!

Wolves: it will vary where they are,

Cheaters: 1 or 2 will always be on the fence line on the left, with 1 or 2 in a fenced of part of the...