I’VE been hearing about Gulliver’s World for years, both because the Warrington “branch” is our nearest theme park and because it has a reputation for being a bit, well, run down. But when we wanted to do something special for the last day of half term, it seemed like the best place to introduce Harry to the wonder of the theme park (before assaulting his senses with the joys of Disneyland Paris next month!).
Despite the startlingly high (in our opinion) entrance price, our expectations were pretty low. And they were lowered further by the first thing we saw: a man dressed as a lion, singing on stage while about three people watched, disinterestedly. It was like something out of a sitcom, but it actually made me feel quite nostalgic for the rubbish entertainment at the theme and holiday parks of my own childhood! Harry, however, was already completely overexcited.
One of my worries was that Harry wouldn’t actually be willing to go on any of the rides. My other worry was that, at Gulliver’s World, an adult is required to accompany any child on most rides. I’m not a huge rollercoaster fan so what did Harry pick first? Yeah. The Runaway Mine. This is a proper rollercoaster and since Harry’s only ever been on kiddie rollercoasters before, I was worried how he would react. Despite what the (awful) photo above would suggest, he absolutely loved it. He laughed all the way round while I screamed my head off. And then he made me go on it again.
Other rides weren’t quite as successful. The Tomb Raider ride was laughably poor, like something from the family fun day in Phoenix Nights. A car trundled in a circle past skeletons and grinning monkey statues… for probably less than a minute. A dinosaur egg ride was equally boring. But the Pterodactyl ride on which we had to lie down was fun (for Harry, that is – I thought I was going to revisit my packed lunch).
All of the good rides were in the Lost World and Adventure World parts of the park where we spent most of our time. Worried that we were missing out, we finally dragged ourselves over to Alice’s Wonderland where we found a teacup ride and a maze made out of playing cards. From there we wandered over to Western World which, while atmospheric, had little to detain us. Harry wasn’t interested in any of the rides in either Circus World or Smuggler’s Wharf and they did look pretty boring, I have to say (plus the queues were increasing by this point – mid-afternoon).
Although it was pretty run down and could certainly do with a few more rides aimed at the over-fives, Harry had an absolute whale of a time. I’m just worried now that, if he loved Gulliver’s World so much, the far superior Disneyland may actually cause him to explode with joy! [Keris]
Factbox: Adults & children over 90cms £12.50
Opens 10.30am
Pushchair accessibility: Good
Facilities: Good loos
Cafe: Were warned off the cafes (both by TripAdvisor users and friends) so took picnic instead
SatNav postcode: WA5 9YZ
Website: http://www.gulliversfun.co.uk/
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