Whilst on holiday we chose to visit the Welsh Mountain Zoo in Conwy. The drive from Pensarn was easy along the A55 towards Llandudno the only problem we had was that the SATNAV took us to a private estate without the zoo grounds so we had to follow the signs to find the entrance, I must add this was really easy as the signs were clear.
We had ordered our tickets online the night before as they were slightly cheaper, 5% I think. I am glad we did because the kiosk to pay is on the way the car park which we hadn’t anticipated and meant I had to try and find the code on my emails whilst still in the car. I found this a very unusual way of paying as for me the kiosk was on the passenger side and I was lucky Hubby was in the car to talk to the member of staff. There was plenty of parking available which I liked and it was directly in the middle of the zoo which meant we didnt have to take everything with us unlike most places we have visited.
The zoo itself was far bigger than I had expected and had a huge variety of animals. I had assumed it was slightly bigger than a farm but it was huge. We took the pushchair so that Ellie didnt have to walk everywhere. The zoo was great for pushchairs with plenty of ramps to get around.
Ellie spent the first 50 minutes obviously feeling very overwhelmed as she cried non-stop…again! Which meant she missed seeing the wallabies and the deer but after her initial meltdown she enjoyed looking at the other animals and running around. She had so much freedom as there is plenty of green space for her to explore. We spent a long time watching the cheeky penguins and the very noisy sea lions (which amazed me as ive never seen sea lions!) Ellie loved watching them swim under water and kept woofing at the sea lions 😂.
We saw as many animals as we could but didnt get to see them all sadly. I was surprised at how many animals the Zoo had compared to other zoos I have been to and loved that you can get quite close to some of them.
For me I loved the views, we were surrounded by beautiful hills and it made me feel so peaceful as did the Zoo Gardens which was surrounded by hardy and tropical plants giving the gardens a vibrant colour we strolled around letting Ellie explore a bit more to find two bears casually lying in their enclosure not too far away, spectacular!! Ive never seen a bear so close before.
We took a small picnic so cant comment on the food however I did venture in to be nosey and the café looked very clean.
To finish our day Ellie raced off to the little woodland play area to let off any energy she had left, the smaller park was great for younger kids with swings, a see saw and a climbing area with slide.
The zoo was clean and easy to navigate which gave me peace of mind that Ellie was safe to wander around (even if sje wont let go of our hands when she is walking) and we had a lovely family day out.
Online price was £12.68 per adult and Ellie was free as she is under 3 so it wasnt an expensive day out at all and I felt it was worth the money for a nice family day out.
Mothering A Rainbow 