Updated - great day out! (American Adventure Theme Park)

Member Name: SusanLesley

Product:	American Adventure Theme Park
Date:	28/12/00 (366 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good value for money and few queues, Safe, Good variety of rides

Disadvantages: Not as many rides as Alton Towers

One of my favourite theme parks is one called American Adventure situated at Ilkeston, Derbyshire.

It is relatively flat, quite compact being set around a large lake. You can see across to all rides so it feels very open making it safe for children to run on ahead. It is better than Alton Towers in that respect, where paths twist round blind corners with a lot of walking involved.

When we went in 2000 there was a party of four of us, three adults together with an eleven-year-old child. I had won four tickets in a competition in our local paper. Entrance to American Adventure would have otherwise cost us £54, which would have been a bit steep, but once inside almost all rides are free. (See Sky Coaster below)

American Adventure Park might seem to be a poor relation when compared to such as Alton Towers but I'm sure that a visit here will soon convince you otherwise.

There are several big rides, biggest of all being Missile, a roller coaster which drags you backwards to a great height, then fires you round a track twisting, turning you upside down, spinning you sideways, stopping before finally returning you backwards to where you started from!

There is a double looping coaster called Iron Wolf, which has most seats facing forwards, together with a few facing backwards. What a horrible thought that is!

Europe's highest Log Flume is also here at American Adventure. There are two ‘minor’ drops; I use ‘minor’ in its relative sense here, before a huge final drop spraying water in all directions.

There are other rides such as Rapids, a Pirate Ship, go-karts, Bumping Cars, Buffalo Coaster, Big Wheel, complete with many others including some great children's rides too, with old favourites such as an helter skelter together with a set of gallopers.

There is a motion cinema showing a great roller coaster type film so that even smaller (but braver) children can feel as th
ough they have joined in. You sit in chairs that move from side to side, backwards or forwards, in time with on screen action. They don’t move too far, but you do wear a safety belt to be safe, just in case!

For a real terror ride try Sky Coaster! This ride is for one, two or three people at a time who are harnessed together on to a cable, which pulls them up to a height of about 200 feet, suspended between two poles. A member of staff at ground level shouts ‘Three, two, one fly!’ whereupon one person high above ground pulls a ripcord. This lets them go so that they swing like a huge version of a child’s playground swing, until they stop.

You have to pay extra for this one presumably to cover costs of extra insurance, together with many extra staff involved to make sure that safety is paramount. Each flight is a standard price, £21 in 2000, so one person would pay £21 to fly alone, but three people flying together would only pay £7 each. I have to admit I am only brave enough watch this one, believe me that’s bad enough!

A train is on hand for a ride from one area to another if you’re getting tired or there’s a paddle steamer if you prefer riding on water.

There is a Wild West rodeo show every couple of hours at weekends, daily during high season, which are well worth a look. Superb horsemanship is displayed, with a witty MC who keeps everyone entertained.

Entrance fee to American Adventure is about £12 for adults or £8 for children but keep your eyes peeled for special two for one offers in newspapers - it all helps to keep costs down.

Car parks are easily accessible from where all rides are, so with a pass out you can return to your car to collect a packed lunch brought from home to make your day more economical. There are also plenty of toilets, which are kept extremely clean!

All in all there aren't as many white-knuckle rides as there are at Alton Towe
rs but, then again, there aren’t as many queues either so you can have as many goes as you like!

Summary: