Our household celebrated the start of transition to post-lockdown life with a trip to Chester Zoo. Chester Zoo had been featured on the media asking for lockdown restrictions to be lifted in order to support their business, and so it seemed logical to go along and visit them, buy tickets and support them. We made the ~40 mile trip through some particularly heavy rain, and had our first family day trip since February (sitting together on the B&Q car park while Mum does a Click and Collect doesn't count).CHANGES
There are one-way systems in place around most of the park, especially at the entrance, with social distancing being operated at the entrance turnstiles. Where the staff were present, at locations such as turnstiles, toilets and the food outlets, social distancing was constantly observed and there were often markers on the ground.
All of the indoor attractions (the reptile house and the aquarium for example) are closed. However, there are still plenty of outdoor animals to see.
You have to remain a safe one-metre distance from all glass surfaces - and there's certainly no touching the glass. Staff are present at locations such as the lion area and the penguin tank, reminding customers to stay back and stay apart.
FOOD AND TOILETS
There are various food outlets available, but none have indoor seating. A number of them have outdoor seating (picnic tables, socially distanced), and there was enough seating when we needed it. The toilets we used (near the ice-cream stand and by the main entrance) had queue markers on the ground, with staff supervising a one-in-one-out system.
SAFETY
It's always been the case in zoos that the best animals get the most interest. Best could be biggest, tallest, most dangerous or most cuddly. On the day we went, the best animals were in The Islands, and this meant crowds of unsupervised people, who had walked along a long path through a one-way system, gathering around windows and fences to see pigs, or baby squirrels, and so on. It was unfortunate that there were no staff in this area, as any attractions which are - well, attractive - need staff to help keep people moving.
There were several points through the Islands where we came to a complete standstill as we waited for people to move on (the paths weren't wide enough to have space to move past people and skip certain attractions) and try to pass them later on. There were a couple of occasions where I loudly reminded my children about two metres - and if the people nearby heard me, then it was because they were too close too, and there weren't enough staff around to tell them instead.
Other areas, such as the penguins, which were also very popular and very animated when we visited them, were well-staffed, with staff calling to visitors to remind them to keep apart. The staff at the penguin tank were also very knowledgeable, telling us (from a safer distance) about the penguins' names and ages (did you know that some of the penguins are eight years old, and some are even older?).
So - yes, it's well-staffed, but would probably have benefited from more staff being more vocal in some of the busier areas (since some of the visitors were determined to stare at bare trees, trying to find animals who were definitely sheltering from the rain).
OVERALL
This was our first family day-trip post-lockdown, and I think it's fair to say none of us were sure what to expect. I wasn't expecting so many other visitors to be so lax about social distancing, and it was unnerving to see how many people would remain socially distanced while they were moving, but forget all about it when it came to standing in a queue. The changes and adaptations that Chester Zoo have made so far certainly helped - making it easier to eat outside, markings on the pathways and so on - and I would recommend more staff around the site for now, especially until people become more adjusted to social distancing.
Would we go again? It was enjoyable, but it's 40 miles away for us; it's on the expensive side, and some of the biggest attractions for us (the aquarium) were closed, so no, we probably won't be going again soon.
