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Trip Report: Tayto Park 11/07/15

Kieron

TS Member
Following the announcement of the new Gravity Group coaster Cú Chulainn coaster this park had sparked much interest amongst the forum and close friends, so in usual 'race to the coaster' fashion, we decided to make a trip to Dublin to gain the extra credit.

On planning the trip we noted that the flight prices were fairly cheap and that with Ryanair's schedule it was possible to go to/from Dublin in a day, leaving at 8am and returning at 10pm. Getting to the park is fairly easy via Taxi which takes about 20 minutes.

The taxi driver en-route to the park was puzzled that there were 4 adults she was taking, as looking at the booking she presumed 2 adults, 2 children. She was jokingly-concerned we had travelled all the way from the UK just to do one rollercoaster and that the park is primarily aimed at children.

On arrival at the park the entrance plaza looked modern, fresh and new and the first thing that took our attention was the Crisps collection point where Mr Tayto himself hands you a complimentary packet of crisps on exit.

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Weirdly this park is similar to Blackpool in that you pay for entry then inside the park you can either pay €15 for an unlimited ride wristband or you can pay €1 per token which can be redeemed for rides (most attractions are 3/4 tokens). Once you have paid for your wristband you are then given a multipack bag of Tayto crisps of various flavours.

Luckily the staff had told us a few tips when buying the wristband in that the coaster and zip-wire were the attractions with the largest queues, so we went to the zip-wire first as the coaster didn't open till 11. After harnessing up and walking across the park and up what looks like about a 75ft tower (definitely not for those who are scared of heights). The zip-wire was slower than expected but gives you a good adrenaline buzz jumping off the platform with only a harness keeping you safe. Across the park there are multiple high ropes courses and climbing nets and slides for the more adventurous children. The largest slide myself, Dan & Matt couldn't go on as we were too tall but Joel managed to scrape by.
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The coaster definitely warmed up throughout the day and delivered some fantastic airtime, the group was split in opinion as to whether front or back row was best, I personally preferred the front row. The ride broke down a couple of times whilst we were there - firstly due to the trains over-speeding back into the station causing a lift stop. Secondly someone lost a scarf mid-ride and this caused the train to jam in a set of brakes. Teething problems aside, the over-banked turn and timberliner trains make the ride a unique experience and it certainly delivers on speed and air time. Unfortunately the ride does have a few dead spots so it doesn't rank amongst the top of my woodie favourites but never-the-less is certainly better than the likes of Grand National & Big Dipper. The themeing is minimal but what they do have is impressive, the entrance of the ride, themed trains and staff uniform looks impressive, but the lack of audio, poor queue line and lack of station themeing could be improved.
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Along side the coaster are some flat ride attractions: Air Race (the same as Drayton Manor) and Rotator which delivers a long and nauseating ride cycle. There's also a 5D cinema powered by Simworx which showed the film red star, a fun yet enjoyable show. Unfortunately even with a walk around the zoo, there doesn't seem to be much to do to fill an entire day, by 1/2pm we had finished everything and ended up re-riding the coaster multiple times. We even had to arrange the taxi company to come pick us up earlier as we had got bored by 5pm.

As we visited on the weekend, the factory tour was quite boring with no production in progress, all that could be seen was a mess of crisps on the floor and dead machinery. Although at the end of the tour is the infamous vortex tunnel.
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Food wise the park has a few different options: The two that took our fancy was a bison burger grill by the coaster and much further away in the corner of the park was the lodge restaurant which offered a very large carvery for €12. There is also a Pizza restaurant and if that doesn't take your fancy there are places dotted around the park selling packets of Tayto crisps. I would highly recommend for a mid-day snack to visit the Twisted Chip stand (many of you who have been to Efteling will know the delights of this).

The staff were all extremely friendly, enjoying their jobs and seemed amazed we had travelled all the way to ride their new coaster. There's plenty of merchandise in the shops all themed around Mr Tayto and his adventures.

For a park that is only 4 and a half years old, they have really invested well into the park, the prices is reasonable, children seem to enjoy it and overall offers a much better experience than Chessington WOA and promotes the brand enormously as opposed to the likes of Cadbury World.

If you can find cheap flights and have a spare day to do something different I would highly recommend visiting Tayto Park, if you're lucky enough to finish the park quickly I would have liked to have visited the city of Dublin but as the park is quite far from the city, we would've spent a small fortune in taxi fares.

Thanks Mr Tayto!
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Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Not sure whether I'd go over to Ireland just for one major coaster when I have the rest of Europe and the world to explore. Nevertheless it sounds like a great park, and who knows, in a few years time when they've added more attractions, maybe even some less major coasters, it could be one of the best parks around the UK area. :)
 
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"UK's leading parks" ? Ireland is a separate country ;)

Yeah I see your point, it was one of those cheap and cheerful trips.
 
Nice to see you actually post a TR for once, DeRp. ;)

Pretty much confirms that there is nothing of interest for me there.
 
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