Flamingo Land Holiday Village, North Yorkshire

...if possible I decided on Flamingo Land, it was cheapish, nearish and I couldn't see people driving from all over the country to spend the day in North Yorkshire. Flamingo Land was first set up in 1979. I recall people from school, spending two weeks in a caravan there and having a great time or so they said. Caravan Parks always remind me of Mablethorpe and my Nan's caravan as a kid - I had no great desire to relive a caravan holiday thanks very ...
...caravans. The accommodation offered by Flamingo Land in their adjacent Caravan Park is of a very high standard, with plush fittings. Apparently it's not the vogue to have calor gas lighting like my Nan had way back in the 70's. These caravans even came furnished with DVD players and microwaves -I'd have sold my soul for a TV and not have had to listen to Radio 2 every evening with my Grand dad smoking his pipe and humming along to some great classic ... more

There are plus points about having your birthday in the middle of the summer holidays - you'll never ever have to spend it at school being one of the main ones. But should you be a coaster junkie in the making it does rule out spending your birthday at one of the big parks scaring your Mum half to death. Niamh wanted to go to a theme park for her birthday she rattled off a list Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and Chessington being the main contenders. When it was pointed out that she'd be lucky to go on say 8 rides in a whole day she wasn't too frilled by the thought of spending her birthday in a queue. Niamh doesn't do queue Niamh's idea of a fun day is jumping off one ride and straight back onto another one. She's a firm believer in Fast Track Tickets as long as she's got a fistful of them.

With her heart set on going to a theme park but one minus queues if possible I decided on Flamingo Land, it was cheapish, nearish and I couldn't see people driving from all over the country to spend the day in North Yorkshire. Flamingo Land was first set up in 1979. I recall people from school, spending two weeks in a caravan there and having a great time or so they said. Caravan Parks always remind me of Mablethorpe and my Nan's caravan as a kid - I had no great desire to relive a caravan holiday thanks very much! But on deleving around Flamingo Lands web site I did notice that the caravan park bit of the operation has definitely gone up market, since the 70's and my numerous stays in caravans. The accommodation offered by Flamingo Land in their adjacent Caravan Park is of a very high standard, with plush fittings. Apparently it's not the vogue to have calor gas lighting like my Nan had way back in the 70's. These caravans even came furnished with DVD players and microwaves -I'd have sold my soul for a TV and not have had to listen to Radio 2 every evening with my Grand dad smoking his pipe and humming along to some great classic from the 40's or so it seemed! Customers that stay in either one of the plush caravan's or swanky log cabins gain admission to the theme park every day of their stay as well as evening entertainment, an on site pool and other leisure facilities - it doesn't come cheap in August expect to pay £800 for a week. Should you have your own touring caravan or tent you can pitch up on site pricing depends on the size of your party expect to pay £188 a week plus should you want to enter the theme park you have to pay the standard admission charges thankfully only the once for unlimited use during your stay. Private lets are also available on the site as well. Most people come to Flamingo Land not to stay for weeks on end but for the theme park.

I've never heard of it?

Most people probably haven't, it might well be a theme park attached to a caravan park but it's definitely not in the same league as the big boys. But before you scratch it off your to do list it does have something for everyone there. It's a park where you could take your toddlers, your tweenies, teens, thrill seekers and scared parents. It might not be wall to wall white knuckle rides but it's got a few. It's also got rides for toddlers, tweenies and scared parents plus a zoo.

Where is it then?

Flamingo Land is situated in the Vale of Pickering, North Yorkshire within easy reach of Scarborough, Bridlington and Filey should you be on a seaside holiday. It's also 30 miles from York so could easily be added to a York weekend should you fancy seeing all that York has to offer then have fun at a theme park.

Getting there:

I travelled by car exiting the A1 for the A64 York road and the followed sign posts to Malton/Scarborough till finally picking up the sign posts a little way out of Malton for Flamingo Land. It's practically a straight run from the A1.

Public Transport:

Train: The local train station is in Malton.
Bus: From York you should pick up the Yorkshire Coaster

Opening times:

March - October
The park opens at 10am and closes at 6pm during summer months. The closing times do alter during the year taking into account lack of day light etc. Personally roaming around the park in October wouldn't appeal due to how cold the area gets!

Cost:

Adults/over 12's: £17.50
3-12 £16.50
Under 3's -free
Seniors - £8.75
Wheelchair users and carers - £8.75 (each)

First impressions:

After nearly missing the entrance and screeching to a holt just outside it I was rather pleased to find the car park half empty and the fact that I wasn't going to have to pay for the privilege of parking my car. At 10.20am the queues to get in the park were minimal and to buy a ticket non existence. The thing that first strikes you is how much it reminds you off the seaside as you walk in. When I say seaside I'm talking about some run down resort struggling to get by with the advent of the package holiday and the crap British weather. To say I wasn't impressed was an understatement. My first look around revealed a tacky looking gift shop, a fast food outlet and a merry go round that looked like it had seen better days. Bracing ourselves for what was in store we soon found a ride to go on a rather old fashioned bike ride. Remember how seaside resorts were backed with those bikes that two people peddled and another two could sit at the back? Well Flamingo Land has a ride where you can relive this. Unfortunately you have to be 4'6" to be able to sedately peddle a bike around much to Niamh's displeasure. The park like other theme parks is divided into different areas on the map in reality the area's seem to mingle into one. It reminds me of a fair ground with little planning and a minimal budget for landscaping and aesthetics. But then again we weren't here to wander around admiring the views we were here to ride as many rides as we possibly could! Yes it might be faded and tatty looking around the edges in places, but you know something it had atmosphere, the attendants smiled and talked to people, the toilets were in plentiful supply and the fast food outlets didn't have Mac KFC, Burger any where on them -and there were loads of them about. The prices were similar to MacDonald's on the High St as well.

Queues:

Yes it was a Saturday bang slap in the middle of the summer holidays and we queued for an average of 10 minutes per ride. Even the big rides had small queues most averaged about 30 people My only gripe would be that some rides weren't open for the full day and it meant going back to see if they were now open apparently rides like The Bullet and Magnum only have a limited operational time. Flamingo Land doesn't operate a Fast Track Ticket scheme but give the most queues are small and far between it's not something that is really needed.

The Plaza

This is the first part of the park you'll come across from the main entrance, it looks and feels like the prom of some down at heel seaside resort that is in need of a face lift. With numerous fast food outlets and gift shops it's perhaps not the advertisement for the park.

Wave Swinger - remember the old fashioned carousels at the back of fairgrounds? Wave swinger is bang slap in the middle of The Plaza in is one of those rides with swings hanging off metal chains. The ride itself is fun as it takes you high above the park. The only problem being it does feel some what rickety especially when the wind catch you!

Metropolis

Flamingo Lands area's do just tend to mingle into one to be honest so you'd probably not realise you'd moved into the next section which is Metropolis. Things finally look up once you see what is on offer in this section of the park.

Corkscrew - a traditional roller coaster, aiming to scare you to death with two loops and a speed of 40mph

Velocity - if the Corkscrew didn't get you join the short queue and they were short for Flamingo Land's latest attraction the recently opened Velocity. Apparently it's the very first motorbike launched ride in the UK. Given the fact it propels you around it's circuit at speeds of 87kmph, whilst changing direct several times and attempting to scare you half to death to boot it's not a mystery why some people feel the need to travel great distances to ride this - but they have you know! Thankfully the 4'6" height restriction did mean the only speed lover in our party was too small for this ride!

Mousetrap - remember those old fashion mini coasters that have you turning corners at the last minute, throwing you down mini drops in little cars? Well Flamingo Land has one of these and it's rather good too! Niamh and I rode it 10 times during the course of the day -the queue was about 5 minutes long each time. It was rickety in places but that just adds to the fun!

Revolver - this is another new ride for Flamingo Land and it shows with it's gleaming paint work. Revolver is fun, it looks scary but it's not! If you can imagine a huge arch axis similar to the axis the big boat rides make, then add a large round platform for about 30 riders to ride on all around the edge, start by allowing the platform to gently swing up and down the axis, then a bit faster, then faster still then add a spin or two of the platform and you've basically got this ride! Just one note it doesn't fly off the upper part of the axis honestly -it just feels like it's going to!

Other note able rides in this part of the park include The Dragon Coaster -a kiddies coaster which is very rickety in places, Niamh declared it ok but a bit babyish , The Balloon ride - I loved it Niamh used it as a look out to work out what next to torment her parents with! The Circular - a hideous looking ride that I'm sure gave you sick bags as well and some rather dilapidated Pink Elephants which Niamh declared to be uncool and refused to ride!

Seaside Adventure

This part of the park looks very run down, home to several mini rides and two bigger rides.

Cliff Hanger - Most theme parks have their own version of this the tower of torment might be a better name. You know the kind of ride strap in a willing idiot, drop him from a great hide then, sling him back nearly to the top of the tower and do the same again. The speed people where being thrust upwards was enough to make me pray Niamh didn't make the height restriction. Thankfully Niamh's aversion to queuing kicked in and we hurriedly walked over to another torture ride!

Tidal Wave - now Niamh loved Thorpe Parks Tidal Wave a massive great water chute that throws you over the edge at zillions of miles an hour into a huge pool of water. Flamingo Lands Tidal Wave is a bit like Alton Towers Ripsaw, you get strapped in, why are rides with shoulder straps always worrying??? The platform then rotates in a variety of positions backwards forwards, up on a 90degree axis side ways and all number of combinations thankfully unlike Ripsaw it doesn't turn you upside down and squirt you with water!

Carnival Fair

Remember when the fair used to come to town and plonk itself in the middle of any kind of wasteland? Well Flamingo Land appear to have re-enacted this by plonking dodgems, waltzers and an old switch back ride in the middle of no where! You'll also find the junior driving school -which unfortunately only had two cars working so meant a 20 minute wait before Niamh could show us her driving skills -lets just say I doubt she'll pass her test first time! Across the rail tracks -Flamingo Land has it's own train and cable car to take you around the park you'll find one scary looking roller coaster by the name of Bullet and like it's neighbour Magnum it has limited opening hours. Both these coaster feature heavily in coaster junkie web sites. It's rumoured that Magnum will be sold some time this year to pay for further expansion. All I can say having see these rides I'm eternally grateful that Niamh is still under 4'6".

Lost Kingdom.

At the edge of the Zoo area you'll find the so called Lost Kingdom home to a variety of rides, this area does give you that manicured theme park feel to it. Here you'll find the obligatory boat ride -called Voodoo and a tame looking raft ride - think seaside peddle boats and you get the picture

The Lost River Ride - this had the biggest queue mainly due to the fact everyone decided to ride it last and not have to walk about for the rest of the day with damp clothing! It works on a similar principle to Thorpe Parks Tidal Wave i.e. it has only the one chute to go down. After being loaded up onto the rafts that take around twenty people at a time - aim for a middle row not the front or the back unless you want to be totally drenched. The ride ambles along past parts of the zoo if your lucky you'll even see the lions as you gradually make your way up to the top of the ride. As you reach the top you suddenly realise that it's rather along way down as you free fall or so it seems over the edge you get this great desire to scream but before you can you've reached the bottom and are drenched! If only it was just a wee bit longer then this ride might be even more fun!

Little Monsters Den of Mischief

This is perhaps one of the most run down looking areas of the park, rides could do with a good lick of paint. What you have in this area is the rides designed for the ankle biters in the party you'll find mini round about and the like as well as a rather fun "ghost train" - you'll have no problems taking a small child on this ride as it's aimed to amuse not scare! You'll also find the entrance to the reptile house here as well given my snake phobia I didn't venture in but Niamh found it rather exciting to see 10 feet pythons……..

The Zoo

In and amongst all the rides you'll find the zoo area, home to other a 1000 animals, including tigers, lions, rhinos, giraffes and monkeys.Oh and they do have some flamingo's as well! Should you be bringing smaller children then this area would be ideal to keep them amused, as they also have sea lion shows plus an under water exhibit. Unfortunately we only spent enough time to spot a couple of giraffes and rhinos before having a quick look around the under water exhibit. It's an area of the park I suspect you could spend all afternoon wondering around to see all it has to offer.

Flamingo Land might well be down at heel in places, but it is a park I would return to without any hesitation, for Niamh it was ideal and she can't wait to go back. It has something for every age group and should you have a family group that consists of teens, tweenies and tots then I suggest you'll not go far wrong with a day out to Flamingo Land.

Website:

www.flamingoland.co.uk

 

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