As we were visiting Brighton for a short break, several friends recommended that we visit Drusillas. We arrived at 10:30, and it was already very busy, There was plenty of parking though. The day itself was absolutely brilliant and our 11 year old daughter, and friend were occupied the whole day not just looking at all the animals but with the interactive, fun finding activities that are found throughout the park . The play areas are amazing and for all ages. The facilities generally were of a very high standard . The gardens are beautifully kept and everywhere is clean and tidy.
The animals all looked so healthy and their surroundings very well thought out , they were obviously happy and content because so many were breeding.
We left at 6 pm having enjoyed ourselves so much. We will definately go back!

THE GOOD: My 4 year old loved it. And that was the purpose of the day so it was a success. He hasn't stopped talking about Drusillas since and wants to go back.

There's lots for infant school aged children to do, lots of flaps to lift, buttons to push etc, and my son wanted to lift and push every single one of them!

The guidebook is a lot lower priced than most places you go to at only £2.99 and has lots in it, lots of activities for slightly older children to do.

The free books are good too, there's a 'zoolympics' one where you record your childs score on the many animal related tasks around the park, and an animal spotter book, great for the little ones to stamp the animals in the book as they go round.

The park is very clean throughout, I saw now litter as we were walking around, the toilets are cleaned regularly and the animal enclosures are spotless.

THE BAD: The price is the thing that stands out. I used Tesco vouchers as I think many people do, but had I paid cash I would have been very disappointed. £42 for a family of 3 and £55 for a family of 4. (We left our 8 year old at home as we felt he was a bit old for it, and glad we did at that price as he would only have been bored).

There are many extras inside that are not included in the price, e.g. crazy golf, bouncy castles, panning for gold and if you were to use these the day could become priced in the same range as the likes of Chessington for example.

You are forced to go on a particular route, you cannot choose your own route through the zoo and go back to your favourites later on, you have to go the way the paths take you, which not only make it very crowded, but (in my opinion) more difficult to navigate. A few examples - when you arrive you are inside and it feels very claustrophobic, we went straight through this part to return later, only to realise we would have to leave the park to get back to this bit. We let my son choose which animals he wanted to see first, but when trying to get to them realised that you couldn't choose your order, so the animals he wanted to see first were actually the last ones. Once you are in the play section of the park, you are stuck there, you can't get back into the zoo from that side, your only option is to take the 'shortcut' back to the start of the trail and start all over again. Feeding times mean that you have to time your 'zoo trail' very carefully, penguins were fed at 4pm and we would have gone back, but the fact that you had to start all over again instead of going direct to them meant that we didn't bother and went home instead.

Food is also dear, we did take a packed lunch so wasn't an issue but we did look at the prices - over £4 for a jacket potato and almost £5 for a childrens meal!!! This is obviously not unique to Drusillas, but I only wish these attractions would lower their food prices, they already have the captive audience so to speak, so why not reduce their food prices and they would sell far more. (The doughnuts however were very nice and I thought reasonably priced at £3.10 for 5 large hot doughnuts!)

The gift shops - as you'd expect from any tourist attraction it's overpriced, but there are very few actual souvenirs of Drusillas. One shop is cuddly toys (fair enough in a zoo), one is very commercial, all characters, and totally unrelated to the park - Toy Story for example, to be honest, I walked in and straight back out of that one, and the 3rd is mostly Thomas, as they have a Thomas themed railway that is to be expected but this leaves only one bay of proper souvenirs. There was none of hte usual traditional souvenirs that you find in other attractions. We managed to get a bookmark and snowglobe, but the only other things we could find were a drusillas penguin and cups.

THE INDIFFERENT: Thomas is very well done, but for all the hype on the website I was expecting much more. The track is very short, perhaps 2 laps at quieter times would be better? The theming, is pretty non-existent, there are a few characters dotted around, but from the website I was expecting more of them and more easily accessible, unfortunately they are positioned so that there are no good photo opportunities.

The play areas - It almost feels that a lot of the 'zoo' has been cast aside in favour of huge play areas. They are very good, but seem to take up half of the park, making the zoo even smaller than it actually is.

IN CONCLUSION: The site is small and they have done a lot with it, but it's not an all day attraction, we sat for a while eating our doughnuts and left the park to have our picnic for about an hour, but were still only there for just over 4 hours, you could do it in 2 easily. The prices I think are unfair. It is a young childrens attraction, so why not lower the price for adults? £14 for under 10s and half price for over 10s and adults would be a lot fairer in my opinion. They probably wouldn't lose any money by doing that as people would then be happier to spend more on food, extras and souvenirs.

I've given it 3 stars as an average - my son would give it 5, but I would struggle to give it 2. I'm going to put that I would recommend it, but on the basis that you can leave any children older than infant age with someone else for the day and that you use Tesco vouchers.

Drusillas Park is a zoo and adventure playground combined. There are none of the bigger zoo attractions such as giraffes, lions, etc, but this is thouroughly made up for by the sheer number and variety of other animals they do have. They are completely set up for families with small children, with steps up to make sure the kids can see in each enclosure, numerous hands-on learning activities, lots of information on each animal, clean loos with toddler seats. They even have wasp traps around the picnic areas! The adventure playground was described as "The best I've ever visited" by my 7 year old daughter, but the 4 year old had a wonderful time too. Definitely bring a camera, and arrive early as you'll want to spend all day there.

We have been taking our children (now aged 2 and 5) to Drusillas 3 or 4 times a year since they were babies, and they both love it more than anywhere else on earth. You can easily spend a full day there without seeing everything, and (for train obsessed boys) the fact that they can go on the Thomas ride as many times as they like is a great bonus. It does get busy in the summer, but - on nice days - there is always something to do that isn't too crowded. On rainy days, though, the indoor softplay can get extraordinarily packed.

It isn't cheap but, for the under 9s, they will enjoy it a lot more than attractions (like Legoland) which are double the price.

We took our two year old for a birthday treat with grandparents and had a fab day. We used clubcard vouchers which represents great value for money. We went on a Monday before the school holidays and although busy at midday it was really quiet by late afternoon and we had a great time doing the zoo olympics. The Thomas ride is short but this is perfect for young children and you can go on it as many times as you wish. This is a great park for young children very compact and the outdoor play area entertained us all. It isn't their fault that there aren't enough road signs but sat nav got us there fine. All in all great day out.

We had a really enjoyable day out with our family aged 6yrs, 2yrs and 5 months. Just the right amount of animals and the lagoon was really nice to cool down at the end, the food was also very good and made to order which i liked 10/10

Had a fantastic family day out. Have been going for years and it's great to see all the improvements made. Very friendly staff and very clean and tidy. Miss it, Miss out!

I visited on Sunday 25th July 2010, with my wife and three year old daughter.
We had a wonderful time and were very impressed with the educational and fun aspects of our day.
The park was very well administered and it's no surprise to us that they have won awards for the efforts they all put in.

We hold anual passes as a family and therefore spend a lot of time at Drusillas Park. No matter how frequently we go the little ones never get fed up! The park is always clean and tidy but mostly great fun, with very helpful happy staff :) Would recommend Drusillas to anyone for an excellent day out.

We went to Druisillas to have a family day on my 40th birthday. I have been before about 2 years ago and was impressed. this time was fantastic, the quality of the product is premium, everywhere is so clean and well maintained. The enclosures, gardens, walkways, paths are beautifully kept. Nothing dirty or broken or tatty. Well done it must be quite a job to keep it all so impeccable. Keep up the brilliant job!

We visited as part of a group of 18 family and friends and had a brilliant day. The New Maze and playground is superb. There is lots to do and the children especially liked the Zoo Olympic Challenges. Leave plenty of time for the play area as it is vast. Dont forget to visit the restaurant as it has a nice aminal/jungle theme.

I promised my 4 yr old & 17mth old a day at the zoo. Upon arrival I found the staff extremley helpful, in offering us guide maps & also explaining the attractions as on that day Scooby Doo was there so my son was over the moon. Both children found the animals entertaining & interesting especially the penguins & the meercats!!. Also the Farmyard area was interesting for my son with lots of information for him to take in. The play area was out of this world with lots of slides etc. I also had lunch at the zoo & there was alot of choice & also for children....
Obviously the best part of the day was meeting Scooby Doo.
I would highly recommend Drusillas to my friends & family as it was a lovely day out. I also enjoyed meeting Scooby Doo...shame there was no Shaggy!!

Drusillas is a small zoo located just off the A27 between Brighton and Eastbourne. It has been around since the 1920's.
Don't expect any big cats or elephants here but there is a decent selection of small animals (monkies, lemurs etc). Their habitats are on the whole adequate however there are a few exceptions where the animals didn't appear to have a good enough environment.
The park is highly geared around small children with plenty of things to see and lots of play areas.
Special mention to Lemurland where the ringtail boys are free to roam and check you out. Also the bats are not behind wire which some may find a bit disconcerting but it's nice to get a good unobstructed look at them.
There are some good shops and places to eat. It's a shame there aren't any shortcuts around the zoo if you want to quickly go back to a place. In fact despite its size you can get a bit lost.
Prices are ok. It might be better to go in the afternoon after the initial rush as it is a small place and can easily become crowded.

Had a lovely time at Drusillas with the family recently. A nice array of animals to see and friendly staff.

On the down side - the front entrence is very congested. After you pay to get in there are animals on view straight away. So no sooner have you got in then everything is at a standstill while people view the animals. It would be better to have a free area where people can decide which direction they want to go - rather than getting stuck in a bottle-neck.

My biggest issue was everyone over the age of 2 (yes 2) gets charged adult price. Perhaps everyone over the age of 11, they could even get away with 6 - but 2 seems a bit of a con to me.

I live only about 10 minutes from Drusilla's so have been there a few times. I think that the entrace price is far too expensive, why is a 3 year old the same price as an adult?? £13.60 each is a total rip off considering the amount there actually is in the park. There are no decent animals, a farm section with animals that you can see in any field around this part of the country. A few rodents, tiny monkeys and a few meerkats-oh and guinea pigs-LOTS of guinea pigs!!
The playground is very good and is probably more fun for the kids than the so called "zoo". The thomas train is a big hit for the younger kids but on peak days there are huge que's for a very short train ride. The paddling pool is good for our very few nice summer days.
The food is pretty good quality but so expensive. I hate that they charge you extra for some of the activites, especially when you pay so much to get in in the first place!
I wouldnt reccomend this park and would advise anybody to travel a little further afield and go to howletts or port lympne to visit a PROPER zoo!

We used Tesco clubcard vouchers to visit - so paid £10 in vouchers and £1.20 cash - so great value for a day out ! but without these it would have cost £41.20 for 2 adults and one 2 year old !! So we won't be going again - worth a visit once but not for future - as soon as you pay at the desk and wander on through it feels claustrophobic and dark and we felt not easy to navigate - only afterwards we found out about the Explorers Lagoon area. The play area though was really great especially the younger section with a trampoline built into the ground. Overall OK, def use Tesco vouchers if you can, avoid the pricey food - but we won't be making another visit.

Drusillas is a great day out for all the family, we all loved the zoo side with the added bonus of a large adventure play area for the children. When we went they accepted Tesco days out vouchers so it only cost us £15.00 worth of vouchers rather than the full entry price of about £54.00. Would have been excellant value for money even if we had to pay the full price. Don't miss the Lemurs feeding time.

seriously this place is fantastic. A great day out for children of all ages.

Visited on the may bank holiday weekend with our children ages 1 and 3. It has a great range of animals and a few hands on bits too, our daughter got to hold a cockraoch, and stroke the goats :) There is also a walk through lemur enclosure.

The children are given a passport as they go in, and they have to stamp their book as they see the animals, and do a series of challenges throughout the park(all of which were working unlike other attractions)and at the end they hand it in and get sent a certificate for taking part.

The food was the usual sort of prices, but a good range (even gluten free bits) and tasty, there were no queues and it was easy to find a clean table.

They have a railway running round the park, with Thomas the Tank Engine which the kids were delighted to ride and have photos taken on, it runs continuously so there were no queues which was fantastic considering it was a bank holiday weekend. There is loads of playplaygrounds, slides, walkways, swings, banana boats

The park was clean and tidy, the animals seemed happy and the kids had an amazing day.

This place is the best, We have been twice now and each time it has been brilliant (and Im 32!!!!)

Its a small zoo and excellent for kids especially with big play areas and petting areas but it has the funniest monkeys, penguins and otters ever and the keepers are really friendly passionate and infomative, feeding time is great!

It is a nice compact size to walk around yet all the enclosures are a good size and the animals seem content in their surroundings.

Good choice of food, drink or picnic areas ansd plenty to keep people of all ages entertained for a day

If in Eastbourne or the immediate area this is a must visit place!

Drusillas Park is a long established zoo plus adventure park with some old fashioned but charming attractions plus plenty of new ones. It will successfully amuse kids from 2 up to about 13 years for a day.

Driving from Brighton and parking and admission was easy-peasy. Our admission for a family of five was £60 but I didn't expect that we had to pay £2 per child extra for each activity like Panning for Gold, the Dino Dig, the climbing wall and the bouncy castle-slide once we got inside. The crazy golf is extra too.

I think its reasonable to charge extra for arcades and workshops but these are things which there is apparently little extra cost to the park to offer, so I felt the park was lo-balling the admission charge and making it up on the activities that nearly all kids will want to do. Against pester-power, I don't think parents can resist shelling out for them. There was a extra day-pass offered for £6 but then it didn't actually cover all activities. So, if you do everything, it'd be the same cost to pay for the extras individually.

It seems current practise now for small zoos, given the small size of the enclosures, not to keep any large primates or cats anymore (I was told years ago it used thave chimpanzees) which I agree with. All the animal enclosures were of good quality and had plenty of information. A slight criticism is that the map is a bit too cartoonish to be totally clear and there are not enough short cuts around things if you need to get off the zoo route and find a toilet or something and young children will need to stay close or they will get lost as some parts are a warren with poor sightlines. There are lots of fun stops, like the petting zoo, where you can groom the goats, and a bat house and bug house.

The old 'Safari Train' has been rebranded recently as 'Thomas The Tank Engine' which is successfully done although some of the set dressing looks tired already. This railway around the park takes about three minutes and it was incredibly popular. It's a good photo-op if your kids are not too old for TTTE and it is free. Our kids wanted to ride it six or seven times in the day. Note to other theme parks: Thomas is now too ubiquitous and the HIT version doesn't retain the charm of Awdrey's incarnation.

The 'Animal Olympics' is a good touch where kids (and adults) can compare their abilities to animals. Ours especially liked seeing how fast a seven year old could run (about 40 kph) and how loud they can scream (about 110 decibels).

We found the staff very helpful especially explaining the feeding and were knowledgable in a display of endangered animals and the trade in ivory and skins we went into. The staff on the climbing wall were encouraging and took great care.

Not so helpful was the poor PA system by which we could not hear the appeal for a parent to collect a child who had wandered off and got lost for several minutes.

There are two restaurants in the park. It's increasingly depressing - as I visit more theme parks - how expensive the food in them can be and how awful the service and menus are. I know good quality food and service does not have to be expensive; just look at Pret A Manger. At least this park don't seem to mind you bringing a picnic but be careful about which table you sit at. We tried the Oasis Cafe and the kids' burger deal and kids' packed lunch and I thought it a cheat that the sandwich bread was just a factory hot dog bun. The menu is the typical combinations of burger and fries (the so called deals are not much saving on individual items and so pointless) and our order took too long to rustle up even though it wasn't peak time. This restaurant is closed on winter weekdays. The other Explorer's Restaurant (sit down) does all you can eat ice-cream for £1.99. I don't think that is a healthy message for kids nor good value as mine (thankfully) can't finish a Nestle Magnum.

The play area next to the Oasis restaurant is very good. There is a wide range of fun equipment for all ages. Our kids soon had a game going with other kids running in the 'hamster wheel' which turned into a tumble-dryer when others jumped on it and they all fell out. The park remind you this area is not supervised by park staff and you should be keeping an eye on your blighters.

The toilets here - mainly used by children naturally - were in a terrible state and smelt bad although others in the park were OK.

We didn't try the 'Explorer's Lagoon' paddling pool but it looked as if loads of toddlers were having a great time in the fine weather. It would have been nice to know in advance it was there but that's not their fault. The swimsuits on sale were incredibly overpriced (compared to Gap ones I had bought a day earlier).

We avoided the several shops. One look at the prices in one aimed at 'pocket money' purchases told us all we needed to know.

There's some stupid petty things. The Station Buffet - signposted as selling ice cream and doughnuts - only sells scoop ice cream with their wafffles. If you don't want a pre-packaged lolly, you have to go further down the park to get a cone. Why?

Overall, a good place for younger children but bring your own food and budget £20 per head with all the extras and an ice-cream.

If you read my other reviews you might consider I have a bee in my bonnet about theme park prices but given a UK minimum wage of £5.35, (or sterling exchange rates), British theme parks generally are not great value.

At least this one tries to be competitive with yearly pass for locals which pays for itself after four visits but I don't know if there's enough here to warrant five visits in a year though.

What a great day out, highly recommended we took our 2 children aged 6 and 10 and their friend aged 13 and they all had a great time. It was very educational without seeming to be lots of buttons to press and a cool zoo trail which kept the kids interested. Loads of different animals with feeding times throughout the day so we got to see most of them being fed while being told about the animal. Then there was a big adventure playground for the kids to let off steam, and a free train ride arounds the park. Highly recommended day out for all ages.