REVIEW: Blair Drummond Safari Park
(AD-Gifted) We were lucky enough to be invited along to Blair Drummond Safari Park – our admission and meal were gifted in return for an open and honest review. As always opinions are our own.
S loves animals (I’m sure he thinks he’s a cat at times!) so this was the perfect day out for us – we had been once before when he was about 2 years old but at 4.5 years old we knew he was going love it more this time!
We checked the weather forecast before we headed off and it looked like we were in for a wet day!
Location
Blair Drummond Safari Park is located just outside Stirling, for us it was about a 2 hour drive from Aberdeen which makes it perfect for a family day out… if you ignore the fact S was asking if we were nearly there every 10 mins then fell asleep 15 minutes away from the park!
Rides
As soon as we were there and parked S wanted to check out a couple of the amusement rides, these varied in price from ride to ride (I think the most expensive one was around £5)
S first pick was the Spinning Cups (Priced £2.50) which he choose me to go on with him. He’s not been on many rides before and thought this was great fun waving to Daddy every time we passed by.
Then it was onto the Dodgems (priced at £4), and I’m not sure who had more fun on these Daddy or S! One thing is for sure, Daddy can teach S to drive when he’s old enough!
Sea Lion Show
There are various shows and talks throughout the day at various animal enclosures. We got to the park just in time to see one of the sea lion shows.
We were amazed at how well trained the sea lion was and the tricks it could do – I didn’t realise quite how intelligent they are!
S watched on in amazement, excited to see what the sea lion was going to do next.
Lunch Time
After the Sea Lion show we headed to the restaurant to get some lunch. There are lots of options available and as you can expect for kids there was a lunch box option, which S opted for, where they can pick any 5 items from the fridge for £4.80.
S picked a ham sandwich, raisins, milky way, pom bears and an orange.
With the cold weather outside we opted for hot meals to keep us warm. For myself I got macaroni cheese and chips (£8.50) – you can’t beat macaroni on a cold day! (You could also get veg with it)
With Daddy going for the fish and chips, priced at £9.
Safari Walk & Pets Farm
After warming up with lunch we headed out to see the safari walk and pets farm area of the park. First up we seen a couple of S favourite animals – meerkats and penguins.
“Meer, Meer, Meerkat!”
It was so sweet watching him trying to talk to the meerkats through the glass! He finds them fascinating and I’m sure could have stayed there for ages watching them!
S is obsessed with The Greatest Showman just now so asked, if this was the elephant from the film!
The Safari
As we headed off round the safari a zebra decided to stop on the road! By the time we were round near it there was enough room to get past but as we looked behind after it had fully blocked the road in front of the car behind, who patiently waited for it to slowly cross!
S was amazed at how close we could get to the animals!
My favourite on the safari has to be the deer and her fawn – the fawn was so so cute! It was clearly very young as it was a little unsteady on its feet with it’s mum keeping a close eye.
Planning your visit
Opening Times: Blair Drummond Safari Park is open seven days a week, from 10:00am until 5:30pm, with last admissions at 4:30pm.
Prices: At the time of writing (April 2019) the prices were: Adults £17.75, Children (3-15) and Seniors (60+) £14.65, Infants Free. If you buy your ticket online through the website before your visit the prices are slightly cheaper. They also have annual membership options too – great if your local or plan on having a few trips to the park over the year.
Map: You can also find a map of the park on the website and plan out your day.
Superhero Takeover, 24th to 27th May 2019
From the 24th to 27th of May 2019 there is going to be a Superhero Takeover, with acrobatics, real live superheroes and a superhero training academy for the kids!
All this is included in the standard price of admission.
What We Thought
We had a lovely family day out, despite the rainy weather, and will definitely be back at some point. You can spend a whole day there and not be stuck for something to do.
I can imagine it would be great on a sunny day as the play park area is huge and there are also lots of picnic spots around the park – it is a great option for something to do during the kids holidays.
You can also see more from our day trip to Blair Drummond Safari Park in this little YouTube video we made: