Drusillas Park – Our Family Day Out in East Sussex

Drusillas Park

Drusillas Park is an award-winning zoo park in East Sussex in England. Their motto is “no ordinary zoo” and this sums up our visit earlier this month because it is so much more than just a zoo.

We have been lucky enough to visit Drusillas Park a few times over the years but our latest trip was back in 2015 so we were excited to see what had changed, and to try out the many new attractions.

We were on a holiday in the nearby Bexhill-on-sea so it was just a short 25 minute journey in the car. We arrived shortly after 10am and the car park was already filling up nicely, a great sign of a popular attraction.

Eden’s Eye Maze

The rides at Drusillas Park don’t open until 11am, so first we made our way to the Eden’s Eye Maze. We had lots of fun spinning the wheel to determine which way we should walk, and the boys were thrilled to find Eden’s Eye at the end.

Drusillas Play Areas

After finding our way through the maze we headed to check out the play areas before the park got busy. There are two fantastic play areas at Drusillas Park – Go Bananas! and Go Wild! They are targeted at different age ranges, and both have masses of climbing aparatus, swings and slides. Our personal favourite was the ‘hamster wheel’ in the Go Wild! area, it was very funny to watch the boys trying to stay on, and even Daddy Splat had a turn!

The park also boasts an indoor soft play complex, called Amazon Adventure and a very fun looking splash pad called Get Wet! The boys usually love splash pads but it was pretty chilly when we visited (don’t let those blue skies fool you!). We will definitely be taking our swim gear next time to try it out.

Eating at Drusillas Park

We took a packed lunch with us on this occasion but we have previously eaten at the Explorer’s Cafe. They serve hot food until 4pm, and it is reasonably priced too. There are several other cafe’s across the park selling things like burgers, jacket potatoes and salads, and the station buffet that sells doughnuts and smoothies! There are lots of places to sit if you don’t want to take your own food, with benches all around the park. We settled on one of the benches in the picnic area by the train station. This is right by the events arena so would be a great place to catch the entertainment too!

Hello Kitty Secret Garden

After our play in the park, and a spot of lunch we headed over to the Hello Kitty Secret Garden. This is the first Hello Kitty attraction in Europe. There are three children’s rides here including the 25ft hopper, the Hello Kitty Car Ride and the Tea Cups. There is also a Hello Kitty house where she makes appearances throughout the holidays.

Go Safari!

Next on the agenda was the second area of rides called Go Safari! There are another three rides in this area and the attraction is african themed. You can ride on a Flying Cheetah, the Hippopotobus and on the Safari Express Train. The train was great to get a good view of the park, and plan our next stop.

Zoo Route at Drusillas Park

The thing we were most looking forward to was discovering the animals at Drusillas Park. They have over one hundred different species including monkeys, camels, red pandas and penguins!

The zoo part of Drusillas follows a fantastic trail around the park, it’s very easy to follow so that you don’t miss anything and it has lots of interactive elements to keep kids (and grown-ups) interested. The boys loved completing the Zoolymics Challenges where you could balance on one leg like a flamingo, hang from a bar like a monkey and run as fast as a cheetah!

We enjoyed seeing all of the animals, and their enclosures were clean and looked authentic. The animals seemed happy, and the staff took their time to tell the boys lots of fun facts about the animals too. We especially enjoyed seeing the new baby Macaque, and there was a fantastic viewing area so we got really up close and personal with them.

Education

As a home educating family we are always looking for educational places to visit and the boys learned so much on our trip as well as having a lot of fun. These are the times we all do our best learning, when you don’t realise you are! Each animal enclosure has an information board with lots of information and facts to learn, and there are lots of interactive exhibits too. There are of course some educational packages available for groups and schools.

Walk-through enclosures

Our absolute favourite part of the park was the spectacular walk-through enclosures. You can walk amongst the ring-tailed Lemurs at Lemurland, walk among the sloths and bats in the close encounters walk-through, and our most favourite part of the entire day – feed the Rainbow Lorikeets at Lory Landing.

The park itself is in a beautiful setting and there are loads of fun things to discover around the park like a singing crocodile! The grounds are well kept and clean and there are beautiful flowers all around the park.

We were pleasantly surprised that when we had finished seeing everything it was time to leave! Usually we are in and out in a few hours with these kind of attractions but there is so much to do, it was a very full and fun day.

Drusillas Park is open all year round (except for 3 days over Christmas) from 10am and close at 5pm in the winter and 6pm in the summer.

You can find out more information about Drusillas Park over on their website: drusillas.co.uk and you can follow them on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter