Gullivers World

babyamy

15th February 2009

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good for children under 12

angiemc1974

Gullivers World, Warrington, Cheshire. 21st December 2008

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If you have read the previous review (the near death) then this is totally exagerated! we have been to this theme park on several occassions and my kids love it! Infact we were only there today on the santa themed day (which i would truly recommend!) and this cost no extra than any other visit! My children are aged six and two, and granted there isnt much for the younger one but the eldest could go on everything. I cannot comment on eating as we always take a picnic, which is cheaper and the kids prefer this. i can understand that it is more expensive to eat there but isnt everywhere you go like this? It is stated that this is a theme park especially designed for children, so if adults are looking for the same same kind of thrills as a six and two year old I suggest they try Alton Towers!

dhillcrest

Near death experience 22nd August 2008

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For clarity, this is the review of Gullivers in Warrington - not Milton Keynes or Matlock.

This is going to be one of those reviews where I'm going to be squeezing every last bit from my memory and failing. It wasn't long since I last went . last summer I think but as I sit here I struggle to remember the finer points. There may not have been any. It's possible. Likely. Well, certain.

The thing is that this, my wife decided, was to be a birthday treat for me. In other words, we needed to do something in the sprawl of the summer fore the kids and guess what - hey, my birthdays in the summer isn't it? Much like having a Happy Birthday Vasectomy or trapping my todger in the patio doors to add some spice to a dull winter Sunday.

Don't get me wrong. I like the fairground but we now suffer from being adrenalin junkies and I want my rides to attempt to kill me and the closer they get the better. But, I also know that I need to feel some security that the ride will fail and this park just gives an unsatisfying compromise of not having the intention to kill, but might by accident.

Getting there
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Gullivers World is sort of near Warrington in the way that Reading is sort of near London. If you head for Warrington, you'll find the signs but still have to go nowhere near it to get to your final destination. That said, it was easy to find and you'll get there from North or South on the M6.

The cost
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First moan. Kids £11, Adults £11, Children under 90cm - free. Fine if you can go on every ride, in fact - good. However, if your daughter is 128cm and your son is 135cm, and your son can go on things your daughter can't go on, I have World War 3 to deal with! If you can go on less rides than someone else, it should cost less - not the same. Is that hard to work out? Really annoyed me. She wants to go on the roller coaster - not the teapots. Actually, no-one wants to go on the tea-pots.

The rides
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Don't worry - I won't describe every one. To be honest, there is no need. Imagine evry second rate theme park you have ever been to and they'll be the same. In fact, literally the same. I think the lame-park brigade just pass one to the other as they get bored of them. There is the water ride, the roller coaster, the pirate ship (actually, more of a rowing boat), the kiddies things and things that spin. Check out the website, it describes most of them but in terms that I don't recognise.

My original paragraph referred of the fear of death by accident, not near-death by intent. Some of the stuff here looks close to being condemned. I'm sure it isn't and I'm certain it is well within the regulations of health and safety. It just doesn't look or feel as if it is. I thought this might add to the fun but, I was wrong. It might have if the rides felt even slightly smooth but to be honest, they actually left me in pain - the rollercoaster especially - an ancient wooden affair that rattles and juddered, throwing your head so violently that my neck felt as if it might snap. In fact, it was so uncomfortable that I worried for the 8 year-old next to me being actually injured. He wasn't and after a few drinks I was better too but I remember thinking at the time that this wasn't fun. The ups-and-downs might have been, but to be honest I was trying so hard to stop my head smashing to a pulp that I hardly noticed the thrill.

It would be unfair to judge the whole place on the bigger rides (what there are of them) and some of the less adventurous were probably fine, but I was left feeling very unthrilled.

The other amusement park type things
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You know, food - stuff like that. The facilities again look tired and grotty and slightly untended. There are shops to buy kid-crap and burger stalls to spend excessive money in but nothing stands out as special in anyway. The toilets are there, but slightly widely dispersed if I remember and a bit on the 'I don't want to put my bottom on that' side of hygiene Nothing terrible, just a bit unkempt. There has been an attempt at landscaping which sort of failed but the place is mostly hard stuff on which knees can be scraped.

Apart from rides there seem to be a plethora of low-maintenance 'activities' such as amusement arcades and soft-play areas. Someone seems to have thought 'Hey, lets put some plastic diggers and push cars in a circle of hay-bails and call it a ride'. I think that's actually an exaggeration but that's the ethos of the place that you get.

Did the kids enjoy it?
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Yes damn it they did. What do I know. We were there for about 5 hours. They played, rode and frolicked, smiling all the way. So there - it ain't for 37 year-olds. Even on their birthday

All info (opening times etc) can be found at:
www.gulliversfun.co.uk/

May also be on other review sites.

Summary: If you're desperate, give it a go.