Wicksteed Revisited! (Wicksteed Leisure Park)

Member Name: takeachance

Product:	Wicksteed Leisure Park
Date:	24/08/09 (92 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: location for me, family friendly, excellent for the younger children

Disadvantages: 15 year olds are not interested! car park charge

Having enjoyed being taken to Wicksteed Park by my parents when we were young I now delight in taking my children. Personally Id say its a fantastic all family day out especially for those with children 12 and under.

Wicksteed Park can be found at Barton Road, Kettering, Northamptonshire.
For those of you with the sat nav's NN15 6NJ.

Wicksteed Park is foremost a 'ride' attraction but it also has beautiful gardens, spacious green areas for lazing, having your own game of cricket of picnicing! It also boasts one of the biggest and best FREE adventure playgrounds in Europe.

On arrival parking will set you back £6 which although seems a little steep its excellent to have your car on hand. If you choose not to park on site than you can enter the park free of charge.

Just through the main gate you will find the free adventure playground area which in my experience keeps the kids busy for an hour or so itself!
There is an area in this playground that is undercover and all bark chippings underfoot. This area is aimed at the younger guests age 5 and under and includes climbing, slides and a 'pedal' roundabout.
The remainder of the playground is uncovered and tarmac. To name just a few it contains both baby and bigger swings, seasaws, climbing frames, slides and tunnels, a play tyre, a basketball net and a play 'jeep'.

To go on the rides you will need to visit a ticket kiosk first. There are four ticket offices dotted around Wicksteed but I must say that I have visited on days when they have not all been open so I would recommend you visit the main one located on the other side of the playground.
Here you have two choices. You can buy wristbands which offer you unlimited rides all day long or sheets of tickets which you trade in at every ride. Prices were as follows in JUly 2009.

Child wristband £15
Adult wristband £10
OAP wristband £7.50 (nice touch I thought!)

children under .9m ride free and ther are aprox 12 rides that are suitable for these little ones. Wheelchair users are also free of charge.

Tickets can be bought in sheets of 30 for £20, 12 for £10 or single tickets for £1 each. Most of the rides apart from the baby ones are two tickets per person so the wristbands really do offer good value for money. Left over tickets can be used on a later visit though if for example you are rained away! The ticket kiosks open at 10.15am and the rides at 10.30am.

The park is split into 5 areas. I have covered the playground except to say that the pirate ship and carousel are also located here. As is a small outdoor stage area which weather permitting hosts the 'Wicky Bear Shows'.
We visited such an advertised show two weeks ago but unfortunately the children were quite disappointed as it lasted aprox 5 minutes and Wicky Bear dashed off at the end without letting the children have a cuddle! I can only assume that Wicky had diarreoh or such like perhaps as on previous visits the shows were longer with lots of audience participation and photo opportunitys with Wicky at the finish!

The Fairground hosts the dodgems (Im sure when I was little they were bumper cars, these days they are all'dodge' cars!)The wavy slide (after climbing the stairs the 5 allowed go's dragging the heavy mat the children are suitably worn out so save this til last) the small rocking tug boat, the bouncy castle, mini jets, laser tag, golf, cups and saucers.

The Wicksteed pavillion hosts the sunken garden which is excellent for 5 minutes calm, peace and quiet. Wickys cave is here and you'll need to check the blackboards for show times and the bandstand.

The arena houses the older action rides. The roller coaster, Rocky river falls (Wicksteeds newer ride and pretty much a log flume - yes you will get wet!), the racing cars, a small ladybird roller coaster.

The Lakeside is just as it sounds. Rides on or around the lakes. Here is Wicksteeds oldest ride The Waterchute, the veteran cars, nautic jets (that splah you will stale smelly green water), childrens canoes, the monorail (not for the weak legged!) bumper boats and rowing boats (no this is not as easy as it looks!) there is also a sandpit to play in here and another playground area (both foc) and finally the Wicksteed railway. This steam engine basically gives you a tour around the bottom half of the park which the children love but dont be tempted to use it to get from one area of the park to another as it doesnt do stops!

For those with children or weak bladders there are toilets located in three spots, lakeside, the arena field and the fairground area. They are clean enough be very old with old fashioned chain pulls and in two of them only one handbasin.

We usually take a picnic but there are various eateries around the park offering hot and cold drinks, snacks and ices. The Hexagon offers pies, burgers and chips. There is a family friendly licenced restaurant which offers bar meals. I cant really comment on the restaurant as theres no way Id ever get the kids to sit still for an hour so have never tried it! There is even a Cornish Pasty Shop!

For the children looking to spend their pocketmoney there is a gift shop and a sweet shop located near the main ticket kiosks.

The caravan and camping field is worth a mention although I cant comment as have had no experience of this. As I understand it there is no electric hook up at the moment but will be in the future. It is also all on grass for the time being. THere were quite a few tents up when we visited The cost for this is £12 per night per unit.
There is a fishing lake available for all to use at the cost of £5 per adult / half price for children.

As well as the rides and activities mentioned, Wicksteed and the Pavillion host various events throughout the year from rallys to shows, Beer festivals to dragon boat racing, summer balls to halloween events not to mention firework night and christmas parties.

All in all Wicksteed is a fun filled packed day out enjoyed by families and I have enjoyed revisiting with my children and the grandparents (Well they are half price afterall!). I live half an hour away so will definately visit again but not sure that I would travel anything over an hour to get here!

Summary: If you live within a 50 mile radius then give it a go!