Saturday, 17 January 2015

TAKE THE FAMILY – SHREK, ISLANDS AND SHAUN THE SHEEP

There's the opening of a brand new Shrek attraction planned for London in Summer 2015, while a major £30 million project at Chester Zoo will bring to life the islands of the world in Spring where you can also meet the real-life Paddington (or at least the spectacled bear, inspiration for the beloved character coming to screens around the globe this Christmas).

With the release of the Shaun the Sheep movie, fans can't miss a visit to Bristol, home of Aardman (who create the movies), where giant Shaun statues will form part of an art trail next year.

Chester Zoo is delighted to reveal that they achieved their busiest year of all-time in 2014. Their visitor numbers reached 1,432,867 – the highest in their 84 year history.

Membership also hit record levels at 57,835, up 7,827 on the previous year and 1,507 animal adoptions were taken out in December – the most ever for a single month, smashing the previous best of 1,185 in 2009.

The figures come after they were named as the best zoo in the UK by users of travel website TripAdvisor.

Managing director Jamie Christon said:
"We’re thrilled that the zoo attracted such a huge amount of interest - locally, nationally and internationally - in 2014 , the highest visitor numbers in our history. As a conservation and education charity we very much rely on visitors to help fund the great work we do to protect species around the world and so our heartfelt thanks go to each and every person that has come here and supported us."

"The zoo is constantly evolving and looking to offer new and exciting experiences and with what we have in store later this year, we’re confident we’ll have even more to wow people with."

"And we're hoping the impressive numbers will be bettered again when our new £30m Islandsdevelopment opens later this year."

"Islands, the biggest expansion in UK zoo history, will recreate habitats from the Philippines, Bali, Sulawesi, Papua, Sumba and Sumatra and showcase species such as Sumatran tigers, Sumatran orangutans, cassowary and Sunda gharial crocodiles."

"Islands is incredibly ambitious. It’s unlike anything ever attempted before in the UK and aims to bring conservation to life – taking visitors on an adventure where, for a few hours at least, they feel like they’ve been transported to South East Asia."

"We’re incredibly excited about the year ahead."

No comments:

Post a Comment