daytime would be best and I'm sure your children will love to see the orangs especially when the keepers encourage them to come down from the treetops for an up close meeting! I loved it and I'm a big kid!
did it recently with 8 yr old, 7 yr old and 4 yr old. they enjoyed riding round on the night bus but were really scared to walk around on foot.... very humid and could not see all the animals. i agree day time is better with kids. if u stay till closing time which i think is around dusk you'll see more of the animals coming to the front of the enclosures..
I took my 2 kids last year to the night safari. DS who was 6 did not enjoy it particularly but my then 1 year old threw a fit and cried nonstop. she got really scared because its very very dark there and it gets quite humid and hot at night. Secondly even I did not find the experience really thrilling because most of the time, the animals are hardly visible:(. I would rather do the day zoo and bird park and let the kids have more fun there.
Hope that helps.
Me too........a very long time ago with kids, a couple of times with adults and older children. It is a fun thing to do and suitable for all ages. As bubybee2 says, its well worth the effort. Your kids will love it;)