Home to some of the most beautiful and endangered creatures on the planet I take my first ever trip to this UK gem. Here’s my West Midland Safari Park 2020 review.
I’ve never been to a safari before but the idea has always appealed. I love the fact that the animals can roam free and the enclosure space is usually much larger than that of which you’d find in a zoo.
With a theme park, zoo, and safari all wrapped into one I was sold and booked tickets instantly to come and visit.
Buy the £7 Tour!
Upon arriving at the safari park it was absolutely rammed. There were queues as far as the eye can see for the safari itself as cars were bumper to bumper resulting in an already long 2 hour tour looking as though we could be there for 3 hours or longer.
You want to be driving effortlessly through a safari and taking it all in rather than being stuck in traffic where the only animals you witness are angry drivers in front of you beeping or getting irate.
Thankfully, we had purchased a £7 mini-bus tour and it was worth every single penny and more.
We parked the car in the car park and met at the entrance of the park before jumping on our mini-bus. The mini-bus had lots of room and with new safety measures in place, we had to wear face masks throughout the trip.
Given animal food we were able to shuffle around out of the side windows and feed a variety of animals as they came over.
One thing that I would say is that I felt a mini-bus probably wasn’t the ideal vehicle for this particular safari. When the animals came over we were clambering over the front seats to get to the window but thankfully everyone in our group was lovely and allowed people at the back to come forward to feed the animals too.
Just simply adding little slide windows for every seat aisle would combat that problem.
Our tour guide was able to skip past every queue as instead of following the track we were allowed over the grass and wherever we wanted which meant that we were up close and personal with animals you wouldn’t otherwise be on a standard public tour.
Split into the following areas including African Plain, Wild Asia, Carnivores, and Elephant Valley our driver was able to get us closer than ever to some of the world’s most majestic creatures.
When we entered the lion enclosure our tour guide radioed the watchtower who advised us where the animals were. A group of male lions and a cub were hidden behind a rock away from the public eye from the main track. Without warning the van went off-road, slipped behind the rock and we parked up admiring these outstanding lions mere inches away.
It’s such a shame the weather was bad or these pictures would have been so much better without rain droplets on the window!
Not only is your car parked safely away from an oncoming rhino but the experience is more intimate and tailored. For someone like myself who hates queues, I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
I even thought that they should have another van or bus kitted out with tables so you could have a meal as you go around, it all felt so relaxing and what a wonderful experience that would be.
Years ago I remember reading about a tiger lodge down south where you could stay in a lodge and one of the lodge walls was glass and on the other side was a tiger enclosure. Something like that at West Midlands Safari Park would be outstanding and it saves me going all the way to Kent to experience the exact same thing.
The second I wrote the above sentence I did some research and found out that the park is adding Cheetah and Elephant lodges that do just that!
Roll on 2021 as I’d love to come down and check those out!
Theme Park
Once your safari tour is over you can head into the theme park. For an upcharge price of £14, you can buy an unlimited wristband which will have you on the dodgems, Reverchon spinning coaster, and the 98ft Venom drop tower in no time!
Upon entering the park it’s clear to see the care, love and attention that has gone into creating this wonderful park.
Numerous safety measures for social distancing and more make West Midland Safari Park 2020 a safe place to visit. Not once did I feel unsafe as queues were socially distanced, gaps between ride trains were adhered to and there were plenty of hand sanitizing stations dotted around the park.
From the theming to the tidiness and layout of the park it’s compact but filled with wide paths, a one-way path system and lots of outdoor and indoor attractions you can easily spend a whole day here and potentially miss something out.
We missed the Sea Lion show, the African Village and the reptile house but currently, the park is doing a special offer of a free return anytime before November if you come back in the same car as your first visit.
They take your registration number during the booking and you can return before November for a complimentary free trip.
What I will say about the theme park is that the ride staff are some of the nicest park staff I’ve ever met.
At many big parks you get the younger staff members who are sometimes a little miserable, a little rude and they certainly don’t help the experience.
I found the staff at West Midland Safari Park were slightly older than your general theme park staff members but a hundred times nicer!
Manners don’t cost a thing and when a ride op is dancing in front of my Go-Pro before I ascend 98 feet it certainly puts me at ease and makes for a much better experience.
West Midland Safari Park also allowed me to film on the rides so I just want to extend a huge thank you to the Marketing team for allowing me to do so.
The park really is a Midlands gem and a place I’m ever so glad I visited and I’ll be returning before November you can guarantee it.
The rain was pouring down and with the addition of a £3 poncho this would usually dampen my spirits but nothing could stop me from enjoying such a wonderful time at this absolute gem of an attraction!
From top to bottom, it is a magical experience and I hope to return to try some of their VIP experiences very soon which include feeding animals such as the lions and tigers and also a private jeep tour before the park opens which includes food, theme park entry and more!
I hope you enjoyed this West Midland Safari Park 2020 review as much as I loved experiencing it!
For more information on this wonderful park head on over to https://www.wmsp.co.uk/
