A Great Little Park but Getting Old (Lightwater Valley)

Member Name: monkeywarrior

Product:	Lightwater Valley
Date:	27/05/04 (1376 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some great rides, Good value, Very quiet, few queues

Disadvantages: Some not so great rides, Getting old, in need of major investment, Poor food and upkeep

Lightwater Valley is a small park in North Yorkshire, just north of Ripon, easily reached from the A1 and A61. But anyhoo, I visit Lightwater Valley generally once a year and have normally left with a large grin plastered on my face. Prices for 2004 are £14.50 p/p which is pretty good value, keep your eyes peeled for BoGoF offers on their website too.

It is home to The Ultimate rollercoaster, once holder of many records (still the longest rollercoaster in Europe), but starting to look a little decrepit with its rusted track and poorly kept trains. But still, its one helluva a ride, especially after the 2nd lift where everything goes a little insane, be warned the coaster gets very very rough from hereon in but if you can handle it then you'll have a great time. Its also about as unique as youre gonna get in the coaster world, seeing as the company that built it went bust partway through construction and the ride was finished by LWV and British Rail!!

New in 2004 is the awesome Eagle's Claw which sits on the site of the old coaster, Viper. A KMG Afterburner - gyro swing ride - that is, a giant arm that swings and spins to provide a spectacular ride experience. This ride really packs a punch, just hope that its on a fairly decent ride program otherwise you're in for a disappointingly short ride. The ops have control of this so you could always ask for a good long ride if there's no-one else around - I did and got a huge program that nearly made me ill!

Also new for 2004 is Trauma Tower, a small Moser Spring Tower, think a large 'Frog Hopper' - bouncing up and down this ride is actually great fun but not exactly intense.

Although slated to open in 2003 I think The Grizzly Bear, LWV's newest
coaster only opened this year. It's a fairly bog-standard old Pinfari coaster with a couple of drops and helixes, nothing special.

The Falls of Terror are a set of flumes in which you are plonked in a tiny

little dinghy at the top of a huge tower and dumped down whichever of the three different drops takes your fancy. Very short, but worth it.

The Rat is an ancient underground coaster, very outdated these days but worth a go for the novelty factor. The ladybird is a modern, cool little coaster perfect for those younger thrill seekers and there's also the wave, a stomach churning swinging ship. Also there is a Huss Enterprise named Black Widow and several other small rides.

On the other side of the park is a large adventure playground, now looking fairly derelict and unsafe in places. To the side of that is the tiny Caterpillar coaster, I guess this might be fun for the kids...

Food is, predictably, awful and overpriced and there's no chains like Burger King or Pizza Hut present so you can't be guaranteed something edible. Best place to eat is probably the Granary restaurant in the shopping village nearby - this is worthy of note as its a good place for bored parents to go for a little retail therapy. The park's general cleanliness leaves something to be desired, and staff are a mixture, some very good, some bad...

Overall, this is an ageing park that just keeps struggling on - pay it a visit sometime if you're in the area - queues are rare and they usually try to have everything up and running so you will get your money's worth.

Summary: