Hi ya! I work at the zoo, but I'm not entirely biased because I love the Safari Park also, they are just totally different feels. Here are some facts:
-Both are VERY large and require tons of walking.
- Parking at the zoo is free, parking at the Safari Park is $10.
-The Safari Park has a tram that takes you through some of the exhibits, making you feel like you're on a safari (duh), while the zoo has a bus tour that covers about 70% of the animals. Both are included with regular admission.
-The park focuses more on African animals, whereas the zoo has tons of other animals too (for example polar bears, koalas, camels, kangaroos, pandas, and other types of bears are only found at the zoo). Basically the zoo has many more types of animals whereas the park just has large numbers of the same animals living as herds in the "open".
- The park has some baby cheetahs I believe, and the zoo right now has a baby hippo, baby giraffe (less than 4 weeks old!), baby capybara, baby takin, and a few other random babies around.
Either place is great and takes a full day to explore, so just to commit to one and enjoy!