AT86
TS Member
Given the musings in the Pleasurewood Hills thread that the park might not have long left, I headed out for a first time visit today to see the place.
It’s about a 2 hour drive for us and we arrived for around 11.30am, staying until 4pm.
The car park actually looked fairly busy on arrival and with it being the last day of half term I wondered for a second if we were in for more queues than I had expected. In the event that wasn’t the case, there was still a fair few folks in the park, giving it a bit of atmosphere - but we didn’t queue longer than 10mins for anything.
Now it’s safe to say I had low expectations going in, based on what I had read and seen ahead of time, and of course I have no emotional connection to the place and didn’t get to experience the park in its heyday - but overall I was pleasantly surprised.
The staff we encountered were all friendly and polite, the place was clean, there was a good variety of attractions for different ages and even the toilets were better themed than anything at Alton Towers (not that it would take much), with Bayliss and Harding hand soap - boujee!
However, it definitely feels like a park of two halves. You can tell where they have spent money (and where they haven’t!)
In certain areas it looked really nice, with some impressive landscaping and you could tell some effort had been put in.
Sadly, other parts looked overgrown, with many empty concrete slabs that clearly once had rides on them that are no more.
This theatre looks like it has been out of action for a while, any locals remember when it was last used?
Then there is this monstrosity. From what I can gather the remains of some kind of diving show? Just remove it, what a mess!
As someone who grew up near The American Adventure this one was certainly a nostalgia hit - surprisingly smooth and forceful actually, great to get back on The Missile, and it was looking in good nick
.
The other coasters all seem to be showing their age, especially Cannonball Express, rides like a shopping trolley down a cobbled street and looks to be in a pretty grim state.
Enjoyed the train around the park and the Chairlift (perhaps the world’s slowest?).
Food wise we took stuff with us but partook in some donuts (it’s the law) and a beer in the sunshine. The latter came in a nice souvenir cup which made up for the lack of anything worth buying in the shop. It was pretty sparse in there.
Despite some of my negativity here it really feels like this place has the bones of a good theme park, and you can tell Looping have made an effort in some areas, I just hope they carry on around the rest of the park and fill in a couple of those empty spots.
Having been at Flambards a couple of weeks before it closed Pleasurewood doesn’t feel like it is that close to the end. Fingers crossed it keeps on keeping on!
It’s about a 2 hour drive for us and we arrived for around 11.30am, staying until 4pm.
The car park actually looked fairly busy on arrival and with it being the last day of half term I wondered for a second if we were in for more queues than I had expected. In the event that wasn’t the case, there was still a fair few folks in the park, giving it a bit of atmosphere - but we didn’t queue longer than 10mins for anything.
Now it’s safe to say I had low expectations going in, based on what I had read and seen ahead of time, and of course I have no emotional connection to the place and didn’t get to experience the park in its heyday - but overall I was pleasantly surprised.
The staff we encountered were all friendly and polite, the place was clean, there was a good variety of attractions for different ages and even the toilets were better themed than anything at Alton Towers (not that it would take much), with Bayliss and Harding hand soap - boujee!
However, it definitely feels like a park of two halves. You can tell where they have spent money (and where they haven’t!)
In certain areas it looked really nice, with some impressive landscaping and you could tell some effort had been put in.
Sadly, other parts looked overgrown, with many empty concrete slabs that clearly once had rides on them that are no more.
This theatre looks like it has been out of action for a while, any locals remember when it was last used?
Then there is this monstrosity. From what I can gather the remains of some kind of diving show? Just remove it, what a mess!
As someone who grew up near The American Adventure this one was certainly a nostalgia hit - surprisingly smooth and forceful actually, great to get back on The Missile, and it was looking in good nick
.The other coasters all seem to be showing their age, especially Cannonball Express, rides like a shopping trolley down a cobbled street and looks to be in a pretty grim state.
Enjoyed the train around the park and the Chairlift (perhaps the world’s slowest?).
Food wise we took stuff with us but partook in some donuts (it’s the law) and a beer in the sunshine. The latter came in a nice souvenir cup which made up for the lack of anything worth buying in the shop. It was pretty sparse in there.
Despite some of my negativity here it really feels like this place has the bones of a good theme park, and you can tell Looping have made an effort in some areas, I just hope they carry on around the rest of the park and fill in a couple of those empty spots.
Having been at Flambards a couple of weeks before it closed Pleasurewood doesn’t feel like it is that close to the end. Fingers crossed it keeps on keeping on!
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