This year is Pleasurewood Hills is a family theme park and this year it is celebrating its 30th anniversary, yes it has been open for 30 years, I couldn’t quite believe it. I visited Pleasurewood Hills when I was around ten years old the first time and absolutely loved it and went back again in my teens.
I was asked if I would like to visit again as it is the 30th anniversary and I jumped at the chance to take my family there as none of them had been.
We decided to go in the summer holidays on a week day rather than a weekend and set off early as it takes us around 2 hours to get there. The weather was fantastic which makes for a better experience. As soon as we arrived we went into the reception and was greeted by very friendly staff we collected our wristbands and went on our way to have a good time.
The Parrot show attraction was about to begin and as we were walking in that direction we decided that would be our first port of call. As we walked in we could see three parrots on their perches sitting patiently. As soon as the doors closed the music began and a small parrot walked across a rope like mission impossible. As the show continued we saw different parrots doing different things, riding bikes, skating, pushing a pram and even driving a car we also saw an owl.
This was an amazing experience for us and especially for my children they loved every minute of it. At the end of the show we were able to purchase things my youngest daughter wanted a parrot poster and she was able to have photos taken of her with a parrot on her arm that really made her day.
We went on a lot of rides, the first my husband and eldest daughter went on was Wipeout which is the region’s largest rollercoaster at 120ft tall and goes 50mph. I am not a lover of heights so I gave this one a miss.
My husband who is also afraid of heights but loves thrill rides absolutely loved it my eldest daughter came of it with jelly legs, I don’t think she was expecting it to go backwards but nevertheless she still really enjoyed it and has been telling friends and family about it at every opportunity she gets. They are braver than me that’s for sure.
I decided to go on a ride that looked like it would spin us around and then go up in the air while spinning but it only spun on ground level. I still enjoyed it though.
The Enigma rollercoaster was hilarious, it was the first thrill ride my 6 year old had ever been on and she was really excited to be going on it that was until it started. Going up the rollercoaster she was ok then there was the drop and it starts rattling you about. All I heard was “stop, I’m falling out, I’m gonna die.” I grabbed her hand so she felt more secure but couldn’t stop laughing nor could my husband and eldest daughter who were sitting in front of us.
My husband and my eldest daughter then went on to do the Jolly Roger which goes 0-60 mph in 0.8 secs and plummet 60ft per second with a 5.5G force. It goes up really slowly and then seems to stay right up the top for ages then when you least expect it, it drops. All I could hear was my daughter screaming. We thought after that ride my youngest daughter would prefer some children’s rides. She went on all of the rides that were there for the children and thankfully she never shouted to them to stop this time. She was finally happy that she had found some rides that she actually liked.
We were starting to get hungry so went to Flying Fish restaurant where we had burger and chips and a drink each. We also got extra drinks as it was so hot we were finding we needed lots to drink so filled our water bottles up. But there was also drink vending machines everywhere with ice cold bottled drinks.
We wanted to try out Hob’s Pit but as my six year old wasn’t old enough to go on it my eldest daughter took her back to the children’s rides and the carousel which looks like a real old fashioned carousel but so beautiful with all the horses pained different colours and having different names.
HoB’s PiT had a long queue and while queuing up several teenage boys and girls walked out as soon as they finally got in which started worrying me, when more came out every time they let more people in I was really worrying and almost bottled it myself but I couldn’t let my husband go on it like a billy no mates. We finally got our turn to go in, it was really dark and we had to do a bit of walking in which I was clinging onto my husband for dear life as I didn’t know what was about to happen or pop out at us. A door opened and we went through more darkness and had to squeeze through a small opening and we reached a woman that shouted loudly at the two boys that were with us poor boys. We were pointed to the cart and we got in. This was the old Fairytale train that used to be at Pleasurewood Hills but revamped with blood and gore and all things scary. It was real dark quite jumpy at times. When the ride was finished there were screens with pictures of us on the ride. From the talk up about Hob’s Pit “one of the scariest rides in the UK!” I was a little disappointed. Yes I jumped a few times but I had imagined it to be a lot scarier than it was.
My favourite of all was the Sea Lion Show, and I think it was a lot of peoples too. The stalls were completely full from top to bottom and more people were standing at the back.
We were told a little bit about Sea Lions and then the first Sea Lion jumped up to the railings and showed its teeth and gave an awesome smile. The audiences was asked for 3 people to hold out hoops so the Sea Lion could jump through each one. We found it all completely amazing. They did handstands, balanced balls on their noses and jumped up in the water to hit a buoy with it’s tail.
Once this attraction had finished we had some hot fresh donuts which were divine and popped into the gift shop. Then it was then time to go home. I couldn’t believe how quick the time flied while we were there.
We had a fantastic day at Pleasurewood Hills, all of the staff were friendly whether it was for the rides, attractions or shops. My children haven’t stopped talking about it since we went and are wanting to visit again.
Disclaimer: We were given free entry tickets for Pleasurewood Hills in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own and are not influenced in any way.
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