Edinburgh Zoo Pandamonium to hit Edinburgh! #2

Javan Rhino said:
A good idea for museums maybe, but with that nothing's going to change. Imagine having your ticket booked, you go to Edinburgh to see the pandas (making a long journey in some cases) and then the pandas are asleep in a back corner and practically invisible? It will work well to stem the flow to start with, but if I was up there especially to see them and I'd travelled a good few hundred miles to do so, I would like the option of going back and too if they're hidden away for the first ten minutes.
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I agree with your there JR, I have a feeling that this may happen in my case.
 
Davef68 said:
Actually, you can - you'd be surprised how many airliner liveries and military aircraft markings are actually decals rather than painted on..
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You're quite right. A friend (who worked for Boeing) once told me such practices were frowned upon, but that was some time ago and one of my clients - who edits a commercial aviation magazine - just confirmed it's regular practice these days.

Here are some artist impressions: PICTURES: FedEx reveals Panda Express Boeing 777F decal
 
Javan Rhino said:
A good idea for museums maybe, but with that nothing's going to change. Imagine having your ticket booked, you go to Edinburgh to see the pandas (making a long journey in some cases) and then the pandas are asleep in a back corner and practically invisible?
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Give it a month or two for all the marketing fluff and nonsense to die down and for visitor numbers to decrease. I wouldn't imagine the timed tickets will last for long.
 
I imagine people turning up without knowing about the ticketing (and those without the internet) will be why they're keeping a percentage of tickets back for on the day giving out.

From the previews of the enclosures on the news today it looks like if the Pandas are out then you'll be able to see them. Even in the wee cave things they won't be hidden.

I wonder how long they'll keep the ticketing up. I can see them getting rid of it when it's quiet (or perhaps relaxing on it), but then picking it straight back up for school holidays in Easter.
 
TARZAN said:
would it not be easier to have marshals at the panda house keeping the anticipated crowds moving?
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I saw footage once of visitors at a Giant Panda exhibit in Tokyo(Ueno?) Zoo in Japan, huge crowds were being hurried through the exhibit by marshalls, like the commuters on their underground system, with each getting just a short glimpse of the Pandas.

I'm sure it won't be like that at Edinburgh as the crowds aren't likely to be quite as dense. Also as others have noted, the furore is likely to die down after the initial months and outside of school holidays- there will be weekdays I'm sure when you can just walk up to a near empty exhibit. London Zoo Panda exhibits were frequently like that in the past, after the initial interest/'pandamonium' waned.
 
Pertinax said:
the furore is likely to die down after the initial months and outside of school holidays- there will be weekdays I'm sure when you can just walk up to a near empty exhibit. London Zoo Panda exhibits were frequently like that in the past, after the initial interest/'pandamonium' waned.
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I'm aiming for a foggy weekday in March.
 
Pertinax said:
I saw footage once of visitors at a Giant Panda exhibit in Tokyo(Ueno?) Zoo in Japan, huge crowds were being hurried through the exhibit by marshalls, like the commuters on their underground system, with each getting just a short glimpse of the Pandas.

I'm sure it won't be like that at Edinburgh as the crowds aren't likely to be quite as dense. Also as others have noted, the furore is likely to die down after the initial months and outside of school holidays- there will be weekdays I'm sure when you can just walk up to a near empty exhibit. London Zoo Panda exhibits were frequently like that in the past, after the initial interest/'pandamonium' waned.
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I cannot remember when Chi Chi first arrived at Regent's Park but I can remember when Ann Ann came to join her at her new home at the cattle sheds, I also remember when Chia Chia and Ching Ching were first installed on the Sobelle Pavillion and in later years Bao Bao and Ming Ming, there was none of this pre booking business at any of these arrivals and the zoo was very busy in those days. Due to the giant panda being mainly active at dusk I think a lot of people with viewing tickets are going to be disappointed at not seeing them, I can hear the complaints on here and elsewhere now, agree however that things will calm down after the initial excitement, although, hopefully not too much as I would think the zoo will need every penny it can lay its hands on to pay the large rent/lease for the animals concerned. I note that my enquiry regarding commercial sponsorship has met with silence, is it therefore fair for me to think that none has been forthcoming?
 
Panda Booking system

So after the excitment of the pandas coming (strangely i was not excited about seeing them but i have 2, 4 yearold neices who are constantly asking about them i now confess i do have a ting of excitment) I decided to try and get a a booking time slot last night. So after 3 attempts i called the Zoo who told me to keep trying they were having trouble with the system. So this is what i did, you can imagine my horror when i checked my emails and they stated that all of the 9 times i tried before i was sucessful had been charged to my account. Thankfully the banks and the zoo were very helpful and i am now booked up for only one session on my birthday.. the 30th of December.

I think that the ticket system, if works properly, is a decent way to allow everyone to get a chance to see them. We all complained about the people who stayed infront of the cheetahs all day and didnt let other people and children in to see them. I think this is a good way to atleast stop that. The members have been told that the booking system will be atleast till the end of january 2012. Still i think i will be making a few trips up in jan to see them again if i get the chance.
 
TARZAN said:
there was none of this pre booking business at any of these arrivals and the zoo was very busy in those days. Due to the giant panda being mainly active at dusk I think a lot of people with viewing tickets are going to be disappointed at not seeing them, I can hear the complaints on here and elsewhere now,
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I think the only time London experienced real mass 'visitor hysteria' with huge queues, was with 'Brumas' the polar bear cub rather than with any of the Pandas, though obviouly the Pandas did generate extra interest/visitors. I never saw queues or crowds at either of ChiChi's enclosures, or with ChiChi/AnAn or the later ones either, but maybe I never went when they were new arrivals. The last Panda I saw at ZSL was a sleeping BaoBao- there was hardly a soul in sight, let alone in front of the Panda exhibit.

Regarding Edinburgh's forthcoming pair, its worth noting they are already mature animals, so won't be playful like cubs are, and will have set activity periods. On the upside, there's a strong likelhood they will breed them as both animals are proven- though with other partners.

I am unclear if the male has fathered a cub by natural mating or 'only' by AI. Anybody? This to me seems to an important factor in their chances of breeding them.
 
I think the only time London experienced real mass 'visitor hysteria' with huge queues, was with 'Brumas' the polar bear cub rather than with any of the Pandas, though obviouly the Pandas did generate extra interest/visitors. I never saw queues or crowds at either of ChiChi's enclosures, or with ChiChi/AnAn or the later ones either, but maybe I never went when they were new arrivals. The last Panda I saw at ZSL was a sleeping BaoBao- there was hardly a soul in sight, let alone in front of the Panda exhibit.
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I remember when AI was attempted with Ching Ching in 1981 it generated a lot of media interest. If a cub had been born at that time and another home found for Pole Pole I suspect that history might have been very different.
 
I don't seem to be very excited about pandas. I have a photo of trip to London zoo in the 80s of a sleeping panda, not sure I want to travel up to Edinburgh to get another one the same. :)
 
TARZAN said:
I cannot remember when Chi Chi first arrived at Regent's Park but I can remember when Ann Ann came to join her at her new home at the cattle sheds, I also remember when Chia Chia and Ching Ching were first installed on the Sobelle Pavillion and in later years Bao Bao and Ming Ming, there was none of this pre booking business at any of these arrivals and the zoo was very busy in those days. Due to the giant panda being mainly active at dusk I think a lot of people with viewing tickets are going to be disappointed at not seeing them, I can hear the complaints on here and elsewhere now, agree however that things will calm down after the initial excitement, although, hopefully not too much as I would think the zoo will need every penny it can lay its hands on to pay the large rent/lease for the animals concerned. I note that my enquiry regarding commercial sponsorship has met with silence, is it therefore fair for me to think that none has been forthcoming?
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Why don't you email the zoo rather than assuming?

It's hardly likely with everything going on in the past 24 hours that they'll have had anyone free to see info on forums so better to just ask surely?
 
Julz said:
Why don't you email the zoo rather than assuming?

It's hardly likely with everything going on in the past 24 hours that they'll have had anyone free to see info on forums so better to just ask surely?
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My enquiry was not aimed at Edinburgh Zoo itself, it was aimed at the users of this forum who are usually knowledgeable in these matters, and why should I waste my time and that of the zoo when it is clearly obvious that they have NO COMMERCIAL SPONSORSHIP for this expensive venture WHATSOEVER.
 
Yeah, far better to assume that no announcement means that the zoo tried and failed to get a corporate sponsor than actually finding out.
 
Just found out that the members get to see the pandas three days before they go on show to the public. Got my ticket booked!
 
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