Christmas is now starting to feel like a distant memory but thankfully we’ve still got our fantastic festive days out to look back on. After previously visiting Chester Zoo Lanterns, we were interested to see Knowsley offering a similar experience. Enchanted Christmas at Knowsley Safari Park seemed to be a smaller version of what Chester Zoo offered and while you don’t walk around carrying lanterns, the light up animals looked really affective. We therefore decided to book tickets to see how the two compared.

Enchanted Christmas at Knowsley Safari Park Prices

The main selling point of Enchanted Christmas at Knowsley Safari Park is the relatively low price. We bought the tickets online, and they cost just £7.50 each for both children and adults, with kids under three going free. We opted to pay an additional £7.50 per child so they also got Santa’s grotto included in the price.

What Is The Enchanted Christmas at Knowsley Safari Park?

The event starts after dark and runs from mid November to just before Christmas. You book your tickets for a specific day and you can enter any time between 4.30pm and 7pm, with the park closing at 8pm. Santa’s grotto is booked for a specific time so you want to organise your entry so you don’t miss your slot.

The Enchanted Christmas at Knowsley Safari Park consists of an illuminated trail through the foot safari where you can spot brightly lit animals on your way around. As with Chester Zoo, you don’t actually get to see the real animals, just their illuminated recreations.

Enchanted christmas at knowsley safari park - three illuminated reindeer

Enchanted Christmas at Knowsley Safari Park : Our Experience

We’ve visited Knowsley Safari Park in the Winter before, but only for the traditional safari. We were therefore excited to see what the evening had in store.

We had pre-booked our Santa’s visit for 6pm, so arrived at Knowsley for 5pm. We were able to park the car easily (free of charge) and made our way to the admissions. We were told we would have enough time to complete the illuminated trail before our allocated time for the grotto so we set off to find our favourite animals.

The animal lanterns were very similar to the ones we saw at Chester Zoo, just on a smaller scale. All our favourites were there, including zebra, tigers, and reindeer.

Enchanted christmas at knowsley safari park - three illuminated tigers

My daughter has an obsession with penguins after watching Mr Popper’s Penguins the week before so she was delighted to spot her favourite animal in all their illuminated glory!

Midway through the trail there was the chance to toast some marshmallows which the children loved. There wasn’t an additional fee like there was at Dunham Massey’s Christmas Lights. There was also room for the kids to sit down and enjoy their treat.

The trail lasted approximately 30 minutes which isn’t as long as the trails at Chester Zoo and Dunham Massey but considering the low price we felt it was still good value for money.

Santa’s Grotto

Despite having pre-booked we still need to join a queue to see Santa at our allotted time. The wait wasn’t overly long though, only around 15 minutes. The waiting area was nicely decorated and festive and the time soon passed.

When at the front of the queue we were greeted by an enthusiastic elf who had the kids giggling. Even our usually surly non-believer, who goes along with it all for his younger siblings, was caught laughing! They then went through to meet the big man himself and told him what they’d like for Christmas. They were each given a gift, all of which were unwrapped so they could actually choose something they wanted. Each gift had an animal theme in keeping with the surroundings.

Three children sat with santa at Enchanted christmas at knowsley safari park

Food and Rides

After the trail and visiting Santa we head to one of the stalls selling refreshments and sat down for a drink and a warm up next to the heaters. My husband had a rather disgusting hot chocolate (more hot water than hot chocolate), while the kids and I safely enjoyed our soft drinks. There was the opportunity to make hot drinks more festive with a shot of brandy or Baileys for an additional fee.

There were plenty of rides for the kids to enjoy, as there is when you visit during the day time. The prices were the same, £2 per child or £10 for an unlimited wristband. We opted for unlimited wristbands for the kids because we knew they’d only need to go on six rides each to make it worth the money.

There are plenty of rides to make the wristbands worth it and the kids had a great time. We actually stayed ride up until closing time. It was much quieter after 7pm so they were able to just walk on whatever ride they wanted without there being any queue. They probably managed over ten rides each before the park closed. We like to get our money’s worth!

Enchanted Christmas at Knowsley Safari Park : Summary

While Enchanted Christmas At Knowsley Safari Park isn’t on the same scale as Chester Zoo’s Lanterns, we still had a great time. The trail had the majority of the animals we would want to see including zebra, giraffes, tigers, and reindeer.  It’s an event that’s as expensive as you wish it to be. If you simply wanted to do the lights for £7.50 each you could easily do so. It’s just the additions fees of Santa and the rides that can make the evening a more expensive one.

The event was well organised with staff on hand to help, and despite the queue for Santa it all ran smoothly. We would definitely visit again in 2020.