Marwell Wildlife Marwell Annual Pass? Worth it?
- Thread starter sealion
- Start date
i have an annual pass for marwell and i think its well worth it. it costs around £50 for the year and you can use it at a number of other collections including edinburgh, hwp, colchester, chester, belfast, dublin, copenhagen, twycross, bristol, paignton and i'm sure there's others i have missed out. this year i have already had two visits to marwell, two visits to twycross, one visit to bristol and am going to colchester next month.
i guess it depends how many times you think you will visit marwell during the year and if you think you will visit any of the other linked collections.
i guess it depends how many times you think you will visit marwell during the year and if you think you will visit any of the other linked collections.
Deviant*Strain
Well-Known Member
For an Adult Annual pass it's £52.50 and well worth it as it has 11 other zoo's. I've vistied Marwell twice since getting my new pass and going this month as well 
So well worth it.
So well worth it.
sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
Get a pass for another zoo, offering reciprocal entry to Marwell.
Why? Because Marwell insults its loyal members with no annual report, and a pitiful magazine which will take no more than five minutes to read. How can a serious scientific zoo not publish an annual report?
After being a member for many years, i gave up my subscription a year or two ago. I was tired of being patronised.
Why? Because Marwell insults its loyal members with no annual report, and a pitiful magazine which will take no more than five minutes to read. How can a serious scientific zoo not publish an annual report?
After being a member for many years, i gave up my subscription a year or two ago. I was tired of being patronised.
I agree sooty mangabey.
I have been a member since 1988. Being forced to become an "Annual Pass Holder" and give up my position as a member of the Zoological Society nearly did it for me.
I voted against merging the Zoological Society and the Preservation Trust.
The magazine is filled largely with features that either suggest yet more ways to throw money at the zoo (sorry, I mean "Marwell Wildlife") or general PR crap - the kind of stuff you would expect in a local newspaper.There is precious little for those who are actually interested in the collection and its particular animals.
Has the annual report be abolished altogether? Presumably there must be one, just not distributed to "Annual Pass Holders".
sealion
Well-Known Member
So I should get an annual pass to one of: edinburgh, hwp, colchester, chester, belfast, dublin, copenhagen, twycross, bristol, paignton
Trouble is, none of those are near me at home or uni. :/ It's a pity ZSL aren't part of it because that would make it more worthwhile for me!
(I've never been a member/annual pass holder before so don't really know what to expect!)
Trouble is, none of those are near me at home or uni. :/ It's a pity ZSL aren't part of it because that would make it more worthwhile for me!
(I've never been a member/annual pass holder before so don't really know what to expect!)
It shouldn't matter. Say if you get a membership to Chester, you should get unlimited free entry to Marwell for as long as your membership lasts. That's how I see it anyway.
sealion
Well-Known Member
Right, it just seems weird getting it for a Zoo that i've never been to and probably won't visit. Surely the updates will be a bit pointless then?
Also, can they change the terms of the "membership" whilst ur on it, i.e if i were to buy, say chester's and then they stopped the multi-zoo free entrance? I presume they could do this at any time.
That's a good point actually. I can't see why they would, but if you do go for another then definately read the terms and conditions very carefully. As for the updates, it would seem pointless, but from what I can gather you don't get any updates with Marwell at all.
Saying that though, it is completely your decision. I am becomming a member of Chester at Christmas, and in my opinion it will be the unlimited free enntry that will make it worth it (the magazine and reports etc. will just be an added bonus). It will be worth it if you go enough times to make the cost up.
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Zoo`s can and do pull out of the agreement to let members from other zoo`s in free of charge,personnaly i can see a day coming when your membership will only get you into the zoo you are a member of because i know some zoo`s have had a problem with people joining a zoo further away from them because there membership was cheaper,than the zoo on the doorstep to them.
I think there's a reasonable chance of that (or being restricted to one visit per annum at reciprocal zoos) becoming commonplace within about five years time. I think the scenario would be speeded up if/when zoos get around to properly recording free entries from reciprocal zoos (which some don't seem to at present). An alternative scenario might be for all zoos in a group to charge the same for annual passes and then divide the pot up by the number of visits each one receives from members, however I can't see them cooperating like this, probably for "political" or self-interest reasons.
Some of us crazy folk pay a few quid more to get an annual pass at a more distant zoo because our local zoo's membership scheme was chaotic, disorganised and poor
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sealion
Well-Known Member
Interesting points you've all raised, seems like a complicated business!
Sussex isn't too great for large zoos,- well we don't have any! Port Lympne is an hour or two drive, but not an obvious choice for a quick visit, I think Howletts is about the same although I have never been there. Chessington also is an hour or two and Marwell is the only big one close to Southampton.
I don't know how much time I will have for visiting zoos, and will most likely have to go by myself so it's hard to know what is worthwhile. :/
Sussex isn't too great for large zoos,- well we don't have any! Port Lympne is an hour or two drive, but not an obvious choice for a quick visit, I think Howletts is about the same although I have never been there. Chessington also is an hour or two and Marwell is the only big one close to Southampton.
I don't know how much time I will have for visiting zoos, and will most likely have to go by myself so it's hard to know what is worthwhile. :/
sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
This is going to sound like criticism, which it is not - more puzzlement. You are obviously fairly interested in zoos, as you have posted many times on this website. You live within easy driving distance, and not-too-difficult train distance, of one of the major zoos in Europe. You're old enough to be going off to university. And yet you've not yet got around to visiting Howletts. i find this very odd!
And if you're interested in zoos, and you're going to be living in Southampton, then of course you should be going to Marwell, frequently, even if it's not the zoo it should be. And there are plenty of day trips to be had from the south coast to places of zoological wonder: I very much hope you'll be hopping over to the Isle of Wight, down the coast to Bournemouth, up to Portsmouth (aquariums), New Forest Owl & Otter thing, up to Weyhill....
I too grew up in Sussex - rural Sussex at that - so I sympathise to some extent, but get out there, stop faffing around deciding what sort of membership to buy (ultimately, does it matter?), and do some zoo-going.
Johnny Morris.
Well-Known Member
I was 36 before i'd heard of Port lympne and Howletts (Roar introduced me to it.) I had seen a programme about Aspinal years before, but to me living in Wales, Kent might as well have been in a different continent. It's only since i found this site that i have found out about many many more zoos in this country.
As for the Membership issue, if you are near to Marwell, then get their Membership, i think people should support their local zoo.
As for the Membership issue, if you are near to Marwell, then get their Membership, i think people should support their local zoo.
sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
Surely you could have used a library? Again, I am flabbergasted.
To be fair going to a local library may not easily yield a full list of UK zoos. In the pre-internet days it was difficult, though not impossible, to build up a definitive list of what's out there.
I was lucky enough, about 8 years ago, to stumble accross the Independent Zoo Enthusiast Society and Bartlett Society and through their publications and related people I've met, learnt a lot about what collections are out there and which are worth visiting.
Just think, if you lived in Devon (say) and had not accessed ZooChat you might struggle to know of the existence of (say) Hamerton, Amazona, Five Sisters and the Rare Species Conservation Society. It's not much of a stretch to imagine someone being similarly ignorant of the Aspinall places.
Johnny Morris.
Well-Known Member
Strange comment.
Why on earth would i use a library to find out about something i didn't know existed?
Prior to finding this site, i had no idea i was a zoofanatic, i didn't even know such a thing existed. I had visited zoo's and always enjoyed them, but this site has fueled my passion for visiting them and seeing new animals. I also didn't know about all the politics and sniping that goes on.
sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
Maybe I am strange, but if I'm interested in something, whatever that might be - zoos or other stuff - I find out about it. Shorts presents a very cogent argument above, but I think there's a big difference between knowing about Hamerton, say, and knowing about an internationally significant place like Howletts.
It was harder, but not impossible, to find out about zoos in the pre internet era. As a child I saved up for months to buy copies of the International Zoo Yearbook, having first seen this book of wonders in the reference section of the Chichester library.
However, if it is the existence of this website which has turned you from being someone who was mildly interested in zoos to someone who is fascinated by them, then that is excellent.
I wasn't sniping - I just didn't understand how this situation could have arisen.
sealion, if you have a car a day trip to twycross is also possible. i live in reading, which is about an hour north of southampton and it only takes me two hours to get to twycross. marwell also has special members evenings where they have talks that might be of interest to you. i haven't been able to go to any yet, so i can't tell you what they are like, but they do sound interesting.