Gulliver's Kingdom, ho, ho, ho! (Gulliver's Kingdom)

Member Name: mreyre

Product:	Gulliver's Kingdom
Date:	29/01/02 (909 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great for little kiddies!, very good admission prices, great views!

Disadvantages: steep hills, gift shops not totally amazing

I lived in the Derbyshire area for over 20 years before moving to Norfolk. As a child, I loved to visit “Gulliver’s Kingdom”, situated high in the hillside of Matlock Bath. It only used to take us about 20 minutes from my parent’s house and to have a theme park of this nature so close to our doorstep was a great luxury.

However, if you do live elsewhere in the UK, getting to Matlock Bath and the Gulliver’s Kingdom theme park is actually very easy. If you are coming from the M1, exit from Junction 28 and follow the useful “toruisty” brown signs. If you are coming from the M6 Southbound, take the exit towards Lichfield, following North again, until you see the brown signposts. Having said all that, the AA Routemaster on www.theaa.co.uk proves a very useful guide for getting from A to B.

Ok, so now you’ve found out where it is, why make the effort?

Well, as the brouchure claims “At Gulliver’s, we aim to provide the best possible day out for families with children between 2 – 13 years”. Well, I would actually disagree with the claim “the best possible day out” as actually we had more fun at LegoLand and even Drayton Manor, but for a theme park of this size, it is excellent value for money. Last season’s prices were only £6.50 per person (with children under 90cm entering free of charge). This makes the park very competitively priced, and you can afford to go just for a few hours (especially with little children) and visit another attraction in the same day (obviously not possible with a larger theme park).

There are many rides for smaller children, which is ideal for our three year old. I have always loved the Chair Lift which takes you from one end of the park to another. The park, like most theme parks, is split up into sections;

Little Switzerland
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Log Flume, Mine Train Ride and Tour, Dancing Waters Show, Family
Fun Show, Aquablaster and Animal Farm.

This section is great for families – plenty of toilets and some eateries, and plenty of picnic tables and benches for hot days. The Mine train ride is quite unique – I will spoil the effect if I tell you all about it – very young children may be frightened though, but good for inquisitive adults – very dark, too. The dancing waters show is really clever – the combination of lights, music and computer-controlled water fountains is a really interesting idea, and keeps children (and adults!) mesmerized for ages. Well, it did me, anyway….simple things and all that!

Western World
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Adventure Fort, Hillbilly Shooting gallery, Sheriff’s office, Wild West Saloon.

Not many rides here, but a good place to let the kids run around and a good photo opportunity. I still have photos of me as a child talking to the pretend bar man and sat on the horse. Sometimes children don’t need expensive, fast rides to keep them amused for a while. There was a good gift shop here last time – I find the Top Entrance shop better than the bottom entrance one. It’s also handier for car – parking.

Palais Royale Play Area
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Honey Swing, Log Roller Coaster, Cycle Monorail, Ladybird Ride, Bouncy Bed, Talking apple, Singing Orange, Chair-o-plane ride, Pedal go-karts, Gold Panning, Billy Bob’s Bi-Planes.

Billy Bob’s Bi-Plane ride was a new attraction last year , don’t go on this ride if it’s windy or if you have had a new haircut as your head is almost blown off! You do get really good views of the surrounding town of Matlock Bath though, if you can dare to open your eyes! Again, simple things….but I still love the cycle monorail in this part of the park. You have to sit in a box-thing with wheels which is really high up, and pedal it all along the monorail – an effective,
yet tiring way to keep an eye on the kids! The gold panning is a really good experience, too – watch out for fool’s gold! Finally, all little kiddies love the ladybird rides!

Bourbon Street
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Chair Lift, Horses carousel, Ball Crawl, Under 5’s play area, adventure golf, lazy river boat ride, Barrell Play Area, Veteran cars, Balloon Ferris Wheel, Gift Shop, Pirate Ship.

As you can see, a lot of rides here are common to those in theme parks all over the UK, but still very enjoyable. This is a good place to drop Mum (or Dad) with the littler kiddies, whilst Dad (or Mum) takes the older ones on the more exciting rides. The pirate ship was another new edition last year and is just like the one at Drayton Manor.

Lilliput Land
^^^^^^^^^^^
Lilliput Castle, Crazy Barrell Ride, Gulliver’s Travels ride, Jumping Star, Rio Grande Train Ride, Stepping Stones, Millennium Maze, Tikki Bird Show, Giant Chess, Shops, Amazing Journeys of Gulliver (new in 2001).

A variety of rides here, all are worth queuing for – you may get rather wet on the Barrel ride – you have been warned!!

Fantasy Terrace
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Dodgems, Chair Lift, Diggers, Toy Shop, Flight of Fantasy.
Another good place to let the kids let of some steam and run around.

There are many special events organised throughout the year, and although do vary from year to year, they usually take the form of:
Easter Egg Hunt
Bonfire Night Spectacular
Halloween
Christmas special shows

The opening times themselves do also vary from season to season, for the exact opening dates and times it is well worth phoning the infoline on 01629 57100 or visit the website on www.gulliversfun.co.uk

One disadvantage, obviously one which could not be prevented as the site is situated halfway up a very steep hill, is the wheelchair and pushchair access. The elderly may find it difficult to
cope with the slopes.

Have a good day!

PS. If you're wondering about the titile of my review, it comes from the advertisng campaign that used to come on the tele when I was a little boy!! (Wonder if anyone else remembers it, or am I just completely sad??)

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