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Flamingo Land: General Discussion

With any park, I always try and take it for what it is. If you go to Flamingo Land expecting it to be Cedar Point, you're going to be disappointed.

If you go expecting a nice selection of semi unique rides and an OK zoo, you'll have a good time, in my experience - especially at this time of year as the waits were minimal.

I think we paid £37.50 online, which I didn't think was entirely out of whack.

I won't be going back any time soon, but that's a reflection on my reduced desire to go to parks full stop, rather than anything specific to that park.
 
MaxPower said:
I miss the Schwarzkopfs, it was worth going up just for those back in the day.
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Even sadder to know is that had Loudoun Castle had still money leftover after getting the towershot ride from Southport, it was very nearly a close thing that one or even both Schwarzkopf coasters would have moved up to Scotland to be based there.

God, imagine if Magnum Force had gone up there, Scotland wouldn't be a joke and Loudoun may have not only been still here but maybe thriving. If only...😞
 
MaxPower said:
It's a shame what happened with Loudoun, there was a lot of waisted potential with that place.
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Yeah, just had such bad luck, owners were good and cared about the park unlike M&D's, just lacked the money and had poor marketing.

Anyone with larger amounts of cash in the pocket would have transformed that park into something great.
 
Rick said:
Would they have got the money back though ... ? I am not sure the opportunity is big enough.
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Not at once, over a few years invest gradually e.g like Paultons, then it would have done well in the longterm.

The lack of marketing though was really the root cause of preventing it from growing, so much so that when the place did close people in nearby Kilmarnock, just some 20 miles away, hadn't realised there was a theme park there never mind that it had closes. That tells you how poor marketing was.

Many will say that a theme park in Scotland would never work with many pointing at the lack of crowds of M&D's and investment, though what some fail to realise is that many know how crap the place is and how the owners don't care. If Loudoun did better to attract attention from M&D's then you'd see a change in which their attendance would have helped them greatly.

Anyway, let's bring this topic back on FL, you can carry on this conversation in the M&D's thread.
 
Visisted Flamingo Land for the first time last week my thoughts are this:

Obvisouly was looking forward mostly to sik, the soundtrack really was banging, (is that what the kids call it nowadays?) lovely large station too. It was a smooth enjoyable ride, it does what it says on the tin really well. My first thought was obviously it's collussus 2.0, does everything collussus does but better. Didn't realise sik was an actual clothing brand either, odd thing to name a rollercoaster after, but then again we've seen worse names elsewhere. It's a strong addition to the flamingo land lineup, if not the best, can't fault it whatsoever. Hardly the best rollercoaster in the UK but top 10 for sure.

Was pleasntly surprised with Mumbo Jumbo, I expected it to be rough and uncomfortable but it was a fun unique ride experience.

Kumali i've heard to be quite hyped but it tends to have all the issues other SLC's have being rough. Enjoyable enough though and not the worst SLC experience i've ever had. Velocity was fun and my better halfs favorite ride of the day but overall other than the launch itself everything else was very subpar little airtime and just helixes.

Hero was just terrible hated every second of it. Felt like I was in a medevil torture device holding on for dear life.

We went on a quiet day so by midday we had done everything we wanted, very limited lineup there and I think they're a bit stuck on who they're actually trying to aim the park at - thrill seekers? Families? Young ones? Not to sure really I felt they're having a bit of an identity crisis. It's not really a theme park but a glorified amusement park with the odd contribution to themeing here and there.

But the zoo was easily our favourite part of the day, lots of animals, shows, talks, even on a quiter day, unlike drayton manor who I felt have neglected their zoo, Flamingo Lands zoo was really looked after with a wide variety of animals. Was quite fond of the lost river ride they've done well to plant it right in the middle of the zoo floating around the exhibits and animals. The drop was brilliant too and i'd argue one of the best flume drops in the UK, slow build up to it, not being able to see the bottom, slowing floating to the edge only seeing the sky while the beat of the jungle gets louder and louder.

Overall a decent park who's trying their best and I can't fault it. Wouldn't visit again for a while but well worth the visit and we both enjoyed the day.
 
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Jb85 said:
Apart from the trying their best statement
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Really? The staff were friendly on the most part and they’ve installed a decent new rollercoaster. Sure some of the rides were
worse for wear, example that comes to mind is flip flop - looked like their should have been water surrounding it and looked quite bad having a large dirty ditch. And that little water park they’ve got going on is just odd. I know very little about flamingo land and their operations or history, but from a first time prospective I struggled to find anything absolutely terrible about the park or day out. Other than hero 😬
 
Flamingo Land is, all in all, not a bad park. It has some decent coasters and modest theming. It just feels like it’s missing something. There’s not much atmosphere, traditionally the staff haven’t been great although this has to be fair, improved a lot in recent years, they have a very weird layout and, I dunno, it just doesn’t feel right. It’s not a magical theme park, you don’t ever leave thinking you’ve had an amazing day, but it’s fine, it’s an alright park. Not at all an elite one, even by UK standards which are pretty low.
 
We visited FL last week for the first time since I was a child so I didn’t remember much. We had a good day - a mix of ages from 2 to adult and a big group of us so there was enough to keep us entertained all day.

Really enjoyed Sik - it’s amazing how free you feel with lap bars!

Absolutely drenched on River Ride so stayed damp all day.

The most amazing part was the queue times. All below 20 minutes compared to Alton Towers the week before which was 2 hours for Rita! It makes the day for me - no one wants to wait that long!
 
Just came across some interesting footage of the park back in 2004. It's mostly just VHS footage of the zoo, but near the end there's an early POV of Mischief Mansion back when the Animations were kept up, the lighting was good and the ride system wasn't slow as a snail. It looked like a really good dark ride back then. Unfortunately the video quality isn't high sorry.


From: https://youtu.be/UgLORILf000
 
Has anyone been to Flamingo Land yet this year since the theme park reopened? If so, have all of the rollercoasters been open?
 
Hi, me and my partner are going to FL next Friday, but we can’t figure out the opening hours. The website just lists the times of shows/activities, describing the theme park rides as open “all day”. Does anyone know if it opens at 10 or 11?

www.flamingoland.co.uk

What's On & Opening Times - Flamingo Land Resort

Like to know when we’re open? You always find specific details on our homepage or more general information here.
www.flamingoland.co.uk www.flamingoland.co.uk

Thanks!
 
James5696 said:
Hi, me and my partner are going to FL next Friday, but we can’t figure out the opening hours. The website just lists the times of shows/activities, describing the theme park rides as open “all day”. Does anyone know if it opens at 10 or 11?

www.flamingoland.co.uk

What's On & Opening Times - Flamingo Land Resort

Like to know when we’re open? You always find specific details on our homepage or more general information here.
www.flamingoland.co.uk www.flamingoland.co.uk

Thanks!
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They open at 10 I think, and ride close will be between 5 and 6 I'd expect. You could always contact them to ask.
 
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