Be at the panda base for opening or do not bother going

The pandas eat at about 8:30 and are asleep by eleven. Arrive at midday and you will queue to look at a grey lump in a tree.

Book online in advance — morning slots go first — and take a taxi in time for the 7:30 opening rather than trusting a bus. Head straight for the nursery and the sub-adult enclosures while everyone else is still buying coffee, then wander the rest of the park on the way out.