My brother is a big fan of this park and has been there a couple of times already. So as it came highly recommended and we had some friends coming to see us, we thought that might be a nice change of scenery. Of course we can't compete with Disneyland here, but who can... 😉
Parking
Parking was easy and well managed. We came early in the morning to make sure it won't be too busy and too difficult to park. Some SatNav/GPS systems will not have the new access road in their database, so make sure you double-check you're heading the right way. We used GoogleMaps in our car and therefore made sure used the GPS location as target rather than looking for the road.
Once you get there, you will have loads of staff members carefully navigating you through the parking lot, telling you where - and how - to park. And they take their jobs serious. Our neighbouring car literally just drove the car in and thought he's done, but one of the staff members came over and asked him to park a bit more considerate so more cars can park. Altogether they were very friendly and quite efficient in communicating. 🙂
Nice Park
Generally I have to say, the park has been nicely designed. Some of the greenery is just amazing. In loads of parks you'll find tarmac everywhere, a few pretty flowers and that is pretty much it. Here however it's been kept mostly natural. Many of the paths will be surrounded by bushes or trees (some more some less big) and a big area, particularly right after the entrance is coverered in huge bamboo hedges. There are lovely flower designs, not far from the penguins is a lovely - what looks like a lava-stone - area. You get the idea, it is very green, lush, topically designed. There are several smaller water features. However, the park is basically built around one big lake, with a bridge crossing almost in the middle and then each corner of the park has it's designation for flora and fauna. You'll find loads of little corners to sit on benches or even do picknicks on the grass.
However, like with every entertainment park one, they are usually big so you are expected to walk a lot and all this (fake) natural beauty comes with a downside: you will walk a lot. Much unlike other parks, where you will have opportunities to take a ride from one area to another, here you will have to walk. Also a lot of things are positioned rather illogically. So you may realise that one snack bar is closed and it will take you 10min to walk to the other one (that is, if you know the way, 20 if you don't). And as I already hinted, not always is the path clear, signs not in a place where they are being expexted - don't get me wrong, they have a lot of signs - but then suddenly you stand at a 4-way crossing and that's exactly where there is no sign. Maybe a coincidense (repairs?) but we had this situation a few times.
But despite all this, you will still find new things everywhere, a little viewing point, a little quiet corner there, some lovely and well maintained plants and most of the animal cage and display areas are well thought-through. Information through-out as well. Having said that, remember to take a map or program with you at the entrance, because you're not going to find that anywhere else and did I mention, there is a lot of walking involved? If you're out with small kids, consider a pushchair or loads of breaks.
Service in general not that great
The toilets were absolutely yucky. I was only in the men's toilets, but it smells of wee everywhere, you're literally walking in it. The whole floor is covered in it. I know men can be yuk but some of those toilet I really wouldn't be surprised if they haven't been cleaned in a while - or - are leaking. I have never seen so much dodgy liquid on the floor. And seriously, it really reeked!
Some toilets have massive queues, not just the ladies', also the men's toilets. What surprised me though is, how terrible any other park visitors behaved. Our friends' daughters tried to get to the ladies and were trying to find a free cubical and three (!!!) ladies were so rude and pushed them out of the way. And, now imagine me seeing that from outside on the path, in some toilets you can literally see the cubical doors (and visitors) from outside.
Shops/coffee and food stalls are understaffed. Particularly during high traffic periods. I.e. there was a bird show to begin in the arena and there was a massive (seriously, it was huge) queue trying to get in. There was a food/coffee stall with two windows, only one window was open. One lady was working and the first thing she said was, that she had no coffee as they ran out. When the show ended, the queue at that shop was huge, by then the second shopkeeper didn't make much of a difference anymore either.
Same with the bbq restaurant we got there just before the lunch storm hit and we already had to wait about 20min to get our order and the queue started just behind the door (so really not long). By the time we finished and walked out, the queue was around the corner alongside the building, who knows how long they had to wait. One till. Having two people using the same cash machine is not really efficient. They'd need at least 3, then the queue started on the pick-up side, because the chicken needed longer cooking times. So all in all not very efficient. Two coffee machines (you get a coin at the till) but one machine had an error message in French (needed maintenance, but was still working), that many people couldn't read nor knew how to get rid of the error message. So people started queue on the other coffee machine.
A few other food stalls were closed, it was a hot day, about 34°C. Hardly any shade anywhere despite all the greenery. So in order to get some drinks, a couple of grown-ups had to walk through half the park to get something for the rest of the group, as we tried to find shade with the little kids. If you are not planning the visit ahead, try to avoid too sunny days or bring a big back (in a pushchair!).
Bird show in the arena
When you come in to the entrance, directly to the left you will find the arean for the bird show. Again, it was a really hot and sunny day and of course (arena, bird show...!) no shade. So slap a few layers of sunscreen on! Particularly for the kids. Ours were not happy and quickly started complaining about the heat and also, as it was too sunny, bad view.
A bit disappointing that they have so much staff in that arena but then decide to just play a boring tape recording of someone giving very basic facts about the birds and their habitats and then some staff in the background let the birds fly over you. Other parks actually talk about the birds and give facts about the specific birds on display, let them munch or fly around freely and on occasion call them over or make them fly over the crowd. Here the hole show was pretty much that... a tape recording and some overpasses. Towards the end, they let the birds sit down in the middle of the arena and all birds walk out like in a circus arena good-bye. Honestly, I did not like it, our kids didn't care much for it (though weather may have been the reason too). When questioned later, the bird show did not come up.
Loads of animals to see
The range of animals is quite impressive. And beautiful birds, that seem to be kept in good conditions and clean. Butterfly house, and there was a penguin/fish area, which unfortunately was shut down and we couldn't find access to the Australian area with the kangaroos which our daughters desperately wanted to see. The only path we could find to go there seemed to be closed with a gate but no further information. My brother went to the park a few months before us and he took some amazing photos of the area. So hopefully on your next visit, it will be accessible again.
We had the lucky occasion that two pelicans escaped. They managed to climb onto one of the stone walls, jumped off and waddled around like it's the most normal thing to do. It was the moment that we were waiting for half our group to find something to drink so we enjoyed sitting down on a bench and have the two pelicans waddle around between us. They had no fear whatsoever and one walked so close by, he even swiped my leg. It was an amazing view. We assumed that this is normal. Just two normal pelicans going for a stroll. But eventually they drew quite a crowd and our little improvised picknick turned out to become a focus point for a curious crowd with cameras out. Clearly the staff noticed as well (at which point we realised it's not meant to happen) and two guys came, grabbed them by their huge beaks and carried them back to their golf cart to take them back to their enclosure. The pelicans didn't even struggle, they clearly knew that this would happen. I have to say the staff members were very efficient and kind to the birds.
Last piece of advice
Follow a set path. My brother went there and they followed a set path and managed to see most of the park. The group we went with was rather chaotic, as we followed the kids' interest and we walked around lots of places multiple times and of course also got lost many times (again: signage could be improved!).
Overall, I think it's a nice park but it really needs improving on customer services like toilet cleanliness, toilet, food and drink availability, and more staff inside the park rather than outside the parking lot.
Oh one more thing...
...to get out of the park: ONE (!!!) turnstile. Why they didn't just open the bloody gate is beyond me. Considering that no more than 2 people can go into a turnstile gate, not even considering people with push chairs. We were 2 families, with 3 kids between us (and they got scared of that massive steel construction where people constantly got stuck). Watching other people waiting and getting stuck in a turnstile (also people not waiting their queue and being pushy) didn't help at all. Sometimes I am surprised how bad people behave, also in front of their own kids, they really should know better.
