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Pleasurewood Hills
Matt N
TS Member
I went to the parks in the East Anglia region once, in 2024.
I’m glad I visited them for the experience, but I wouldn’t say any of the three are parks I would make the specific effort to return to any time soon, as someone who lives 250+ miles and 4.5 hours away on a good run by car and probably even further by train.
As someone who has ridden 137 different roller coasters both in the UK and abroad, the only ride in East Anglia that even entered my top 50% was Great Yarmouth’s Roller Coaster. The region does have a fair quantity of roller coasters, but none of them were anything particularly spectacular even on a UK scale for me.
This is not to do the parks down or say I didn’t enjoy my visits at all, but as a visitor from the opposite side of the country who drove 4.5 hours each way to visit, there’s nothing strongly pulling me back to the region theme park-wise and I would not lose too much sleep if I didn’t return.
Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach was probably my favourite of the three parks, but other than the Roller Coaster (which was good fun, to be fair) and a select few other rides, I didn’t find a lot there to meaningfully separate it from the likes of Brean Theme Park closer to where I live. It certainly hasn’t got nearly the same depth and breadth of heritage, uniqueness and overall standout ride lineup as a park like Blackpool, and I think if you took the Roller Coaster out, it would feel more like a permanent funfair than a true major theme park.
Joyland is admittedly charming and utilises a small space well, but Tyrolean Tubtwist was vile and in strong contention for my least favourite coaster of all time and the other two rides I rode there, while admittedly quirky and charming, are children’s rides.
Pleasurewood Hills, while probably the more “theme park”-y of the three parks in the area, had considerable swathes of decrepitude, more so than any other park I’ve ever visited, and just didn’t seem to have an awful lot to it. Before visiting, I kind of expected it to be a little like Oakwood in West Wales, and it met that expectation in many ways while also having notably weaker headline roller coasters, which I would have called the main positive attribute of Oakwood (Megafobia was brilliant, and even Speed was an admittedly impressive headliner for a park of Oakwood’s calibre). Jolly Roger was admittedly an excellent drop tower, and in strong contention for my favourite tower ride in the country, but other than that, not a lot at Pleasurewood overly appealed to me, and I was quite content leaving after around 2.5 hours despite it being a park I’d never been to before.
I hope Premier Attractions makes a success of Pleasurewood, and I’d love to see it thrive. The proposed attractions being discussed are not making me want to pack a suitcase and trek back to East Anglia, but I think it would be harsh to expect that from them having only owned the park for a couple of months, and I think the speed at which rides are entering, no matter the calibre of said rides, does signal intent.
I’m glad I visited them for the experience, but I wouldn’t say any of the three are parks I would make the specific effort to return to any time soon, as someone who lives 250+ miles and 4.5 hours away on a good run by car and probably even further by train.
As someone who has ridden 137 different roller coasters both in the UK and abroad, the only ride in East Anglia that even entered my top 50% was Great Yarmouth’s Roller Coaster. The region does have a fair quantity of roller coasters, but none of them were anything particularly spectacular even on a UK scale for me.
This is not to do the parks down or say I didn’t enjoy my visits at all, but as a visitor from the opposite side of the country who drove 4.5 hours each way to visit, there’s nothing strongly pulling me back to the region theme park-wise and I would not lose too much sleep if I didn’t return.
Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach was probably my favourite of the three parks, but other than the Roller Coaster (which was good fun, to be fair) and a select few other rides, I didn’t find a lot there to meaningfully separate it from the likes of Brean Theme Park closer to where I live. It certainly hasn’t got nearly the same depth and breadth of heritage, uniqueness and overall standout ride lineup as a park like Blackpool, and I think if you took the Roller Coaster out, it would feel more like a permanent funfair than a true major theme park.
Joyland is admittedly charming and utilises a small space well, but Tyrolean Tubtwist was vile and in strong contention for my least favourite coaster of all time and the other two rides I rode there, while admittedly quirky and charming, are children’s rides.
Pleasurewood Hills, while probably the more “theme park”-y of the three parks in the area, had considerable swathes of decrepitude, more so than any other park I’ve ever visited, and just didn’t seem to have an awful lot to it. Before visiting, I kind of expected it to be a little like Oakwood in West Wales, and it met that expectation in many ways while also having notably weaker headline roller coasters, which I would have called the main positive attribute of Oakwood (Megafobia was brilliant, and even Speed was an admittedly impressive headliner for a park of Oakwood’s calibre). Jolly Roger was admittedly an excellent drop tower, and in strong contention for my favourite tower ride in the country, but other than that, not a lot at Pleasurewood overly appealed to me, and I was quite content leaving after around 2.5 hours despite it being a park I’d never been to before.
I hope Premier Attractions makes a success of Pleasurewood, and I’d love to see it thrive. The proposed attractions being discussed are not making me want to pack a suitcase and trek back to East Anglia, but I think it would be harsh to expect that from them having only owned the park for a couple of months, and I think the speed at which rides are entering, no matter the calibre of said rides, does signal intent.
The BBC, late to the party as always, has decided to publish an article on the planned investment. The BBC’s usage of ‘spinning coaster’ instead of mentioning ‘crash test’ could suggest we’re not getting crash test, but it could just be them being as clueless as they always are on this area.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2d1jx42rl0o
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2d1jx42rl0o
Ive seen some people of Facebook moaning about the fact they are traveling rides. They can seriously expect the new owner to instantly drop peminant flat rides and a new coaster within a matter of months.
The park needs to re-establish itself first and grow visitor numbers before they consider more expensive investments. It's going to take several years.
The park needs to re-establish itself first and grow visitor numbers before they consider more expensive investments. It's going to take several years.
Mattie boy
TS Member
The planning app shows crash test dimensions, yet it could be a different model perhaps
slappyofmcguire
TS Member
And the same people will whine about the park getting neglected. I think they are doing the best they can with the resources available, but why this also feels like the last days of the American adventure. They gave it a go, but it was never going to be enough.
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Shaggy_Dog_
TS Member
Ocean Beach had a Big Apple coaster that left the park at the end of 2024 and they’ve also had a big wheel make an appearance some summers in recent years. I wonder if it’s these rides that will be coming to Pleasurewood Hills?
slappyofmcguire
TS Member
If it was the big wheel, it was quite a decent one.
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I do wonder if they’ll attempt to give up some minor theming to that farmyard style area or just leave it in its travelling form. James Mellor says that LWV will adopt an approach of theming the travelling rides they bring in, so I hope that PWH does something similar.
Mattie boy
TS Member
Seems the summer circus will return for 2026, be it either in the castle theatre ( id say unlikely as loopings let that rot too ) or in another space , there's plenty of room to squeeze it in
Castle Theatre could easily be refurbished quick as its already there
Mattie boy
TS Member
Mattie boy
TS Member
Well to be fair, McDonalds is nowadays considered and is generally worse than it was originally. Pleasurewood Hills introducing original new high quality food is a obvious no-brainer.
Mattie boy
TS Member
Yes yet we all know how dear it is on site to eat and drink anything, ive seen plenty going in and out during the day with McDonald's or using the tesco ( which we did on our last visit as the coffee was miles better)