| Product: |
Sundown Adventureland |
| Date: |
10/09/04 (1889 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: great fun, caters well for younger kids, good value
Disadvantages: not enough loos
INTRODUCTI ON
During the summer holidays, we went to Lincoln to see my family. While we were staying there, my Dad suggested we go to Sundown Adventure Land. I had been with my own kids about three times before, but they had been younger then. I thought they might be getting a bit old for it ? well, not my youngest (8 years old) but the other three are now 11, 12 and almost 14.
Dad and Lynn (my step mum) go to Sundown regularly. My little sister, Beth is almost 4 years old, so it?s the perfect place for her and she loves it. It?s less than an hour?s drive away too, as it is situated in Rampton, Notts. Anyway, we went there mid-week in August ? four adults and five children in total.
It is billed as a theme park for the under-10s and teenagers are only allowed as part of families. It isn?t cheap for large families either at £6.50 each. Kids under two are free, but all other children are eligible for the full £6.50 each, so it was an expensive day out for my Dad who paid for all of us!
However, you can easily spend a day here and still have things left to do, so you get pretty good value for your money. Sundown opens at 10am but closes between 4pm and 7pm, depending on the time of year. It is best to get there as close to 10am as you can, as you need to be there as long as you can.
SUNDOWN
Sundown is divided up into Disney-like mini-worlds. This means you can avoid areas that your children dislike and can prioritise the parts your children prefer. For instance, there?s an under-fives play area which you may spend hours at or be able to pass by completely. It is a large area with wood chips on the ground for safety. The equipment is well spaced out and includes slides, swings and roundabouts for the little ones.
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You won?t find any fast rides at Sundown; it is all at a slower pace than somewhere like Alton Towers. You may still have to queue, but waiting times usually aren?t very long. There are no ticket systems, you simply wait your turn and can rejoin the queue as much as you want. All the rides are free too, being included in the ticket price.
SANTA?S GROTTO
A lot of the attractions are reminiscent of the old Santa?s grottos at department stores with moving figures and animals in displays behind glass. There is even a Sleigh Ride based on the whole Santa?s grotto experience, which is open all year round. It is a nice, slow, gentle ride with lots to see and point out to your little ones. The only complaint that my step-mum and I had was that, both being larger ladies, we found the seats in the ride rather too small.
MARKET PLACE
The first main area you come to on entering Sundown is the Market Place. The centre of the area has a large round market stall display with talking animals and fruit. We told all the children that if we got split up at all over the day, that we would meet at the donkey there. This was a really good idea and we did end up using it once, when I missed meeting up with my eldest after a visit to the gift shop.
Around the Market Place, there is a mixture of real and pretend shops. The real ones include a lovely gift shop with a variety of toys, ornaments and various souvenirs. The toys are generally good quality and reasonably priced and beanie fans will be interested to know they sell TY products here too.
On the far side of the Square are a range of little shops for children to explore. They are often inter-connected and include little furniture to sit on, slides, ro
pes, windows to wave out of and steps to climb. A few years ago, when I was slimmer and fitter, I went in these with the kids and thoroughly enjoyed myself, it?s great fun!
In this area, there is also a pretend Pet Shop with various animals to look at and plenty of buttons to press to see them move and make various sounds. It?s lovely to be able to let the kids loose in this kind of place and not have to keep saying ?NO? to curious little fingers!
WILD WEST AREA and JUNGLEMANI A
The Wild West Area is not one of our favourites, but for any wannabee cowboys and cowgirls out there, it?d be ideal. There are rooms to explore, full size (but not real) horses to sit on and a bear show (not real bears!).
This is also the place where the main refreshments are. It is a good enough café with a range of hot and cold food, mainly burgers and chips, cakes, crisps and chocolate. The prices are reasonable but waiting times can be long and it gets very hot and crowded. The chairs are also sealed on to the tables, which makes it hard for us bigger people to squeeze through the gaps and often calls for some ungainly climbing.
The food area also contains Junglemania, which is separated into two areas. Smaller children have a soft play area and ball pond, while the older ones have an indoor adventure playground of rope swings, slides and levels to climb up to. This is ideal for kids who can?t sit still (I have two of those) and those who just get fed up waiting for their food order to be ready.
There are height restrictions here and the bigger area also has an age limit, but my almost 14 year old played here happily and no-one stopped her. This is a very noisy area, as you can imagine, so not a great place for migraine sufferers, as I discov
ered!
RIDES
Besides the Sleigh Ride and tractor rides given in the farm part, there are two main rides at Sundown. The Rocky Mountain Ride is a rollercoaster type ride on a long train. It is probably too scary for very young children and not fast enough for the older ones, but those in the middle will enjoy it. There are also pirates and smugglers dotted around the rocks, which kids can point out and pretends to shoot if they wish.
The better ride in my opinion is the Boozy Barrel Ride which is a round boat which follows a circuit in the pirates? area. It is shallow water and the boats are ushered through at a steady pace, so it is suitable for any age. My eldest was rather annoyed that the staff wouldn?t let her on without an adult, but this ensures everyone is safely supervised and will hopefully behave sensibly.
PLAY AREAS
There are a number of outdoor play areas dotted around Sundown. As well as the under-5s one mentioned earlier, there are plenty for the older children too. Fort Apache and two other sites offer plenty of things to climb on, play in and explore as well as there being the usual slides, swings and roundabouts.
Each site has a suitable flooring of grass, sand or wood chips and the equipment all seems safe, secure and well maintained. Depending on your child?s age, confidence and ability, these areas often provide a welcome respite for adults and a good chance to ensure your kids sleep well that night!
The equipment is often of the traditional park type but there are many things that also stimulate a child?s imagination, as they pretend to sail boats, drive trains, defend forts and play houses. I think the outdoor play areas are one of the highlights of Sundown for this reason.
A few years ago, the grass play area wa
s very much centred towards older children but this time, a lot of those pieces of equipment had been removed. There are still more daring things to do in this section, but there is an obvious bias towards the under-10s here and this is not a bad thing.
GO-KARTS
There are two areas of Go-Karts, supposedly to split the kids into age groups. These areas are contained, flat areas for safety and have seating for adults. However, even though there are many Go-Karts available of different sorts, there are no staff members around to check these are being used safely or that everyone gets a fair turn. This is left to the parents and grandparents to sort out.
FARM AREA
When Sundown first started out, it was a farm with lots of animals there. I remember seeing pigs, goats, horses, rabbits and so on. Then the Foot and Mouth crisis affected them and after that, their animals dwindled and now there aren?t any real ones there at all. This is a shame, but there are other attractions in the area which do have animals (such as Rand Farm). Sundown?s Farm Area now consists of fake animals, little houses and tractor rides.
STORY BOOK VILLAGE and NURSERY RHYME LAND
One of those Grotto-like areas is Nursery Rhyme Land. This is really only for young children and consists of cabinets featuring moving tableaux of famous nursery rhymes. A button summons the spider to terrorise Miss. Muffet and so on. Kids can also follow paths here and hide in a house.
Story Book Village follows a fairytale theme and you can follow the paths around the area. Here you will find Cinderella?s coach, Dick Whittingto
n, the characters from the Wizard of Oz and even the famous Yellow Brick Road.
My little sister?s favourite part of Sundown is here ? the big purple dragon which moves its long neck and roars. It is the kind of thing which kids love or are terrified of, but my sister loves dragons and for her, it?s like revisiting a friend.
COMPLAINT& #83;
For a place this size, it really does need more food and drink outlets. Besides the main café in the Wild West area, there are only a couple of ice cream vans and drinks machines dotted around. Another café area would be a very good idea and would relieve the pressure on the one there now.
Another complaint along the same lines is the lack of toilet facilities. There are only toilets in two areas of Sundown, which often means a walk of up to ten minutes to get to them. This can be a long time for a child with a small bladder and the ability to go from ?not needing a wee? to ?got to go NOW? in five seconds. This really does need to be addressed by the management as a wet child can spoil a fun day out.
On the day we went this summer, there was a huge problem with wasps. There were signs up warning of this, but apparently the shops there were not allowed to sell insect repellent or anything and I heard of several people getting stung, including children. Hopefully this won?t be an issue in the future.
OVERALL
Apart from my complaints above, I would definitely recommend Sundown. If you have kids aged under ten, it is ideal for them and even those a couple of years older will enjoy it. We all had a great day out ? despite the wasps ? and it?s the kind of place where it doesn?t matter too much if it rains, as there are several things to do indoors too.
TIPS
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;part from the entrance fee, you will only need money for food, drink and anything from the gift shop.
Wearing sensible, flat shoes is advisable, as you will do a lot of walking.
Taking a camera or camcorder is a good idea, as there are plenty of photo opportunities.
Arrange a meeting place, if anyone gets lost.
Bottled water, tissues and baby wipes are a good idea for everyone. A change of clothes for little ones is advised.
www.sundownadventureland.co.uk
Capital letters courtesy of: http://www.chuckleweb.co.uk/fixit.php
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Last comment:
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t4mof - 22/09/04 Yes, the toilet situation is a let down for a place aimed at little ones.
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