The sun was shining, thanks to a later than usual night at the club the children all slept in and were in good spirits, the ground was set for a fun family day out.
We made our way over to Pleasurewood Hills which was REALLY easy to find, literally a few hundred yards off the A12 between Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. When we arrived the sun was blasting so I smothered the children with sunscreen and promptly the sun disappeared behind the clouds for the rest of the afternoon. Were we going to let that spoil our day? Were we heck!
The car park was packed, so we thought we would be stuck in a massive queue to get in, but we were passed through very quickly and received a welcome smile at the gates. Let the fun begin . . .
From the car park, Curly had been watching the Wipeout and was really eager to give it a go until we got up close. Then, he wasn’t so sure. Hubby said that he would go on it with him later, but would he? . . .
Our first stop was the Tales of the Coast, as this was something the whole family could go on. It’s a kind of lazy river/ghost train, though we didn’t realise this until we got on it. There was a sign at the start of the ride, but we were too busy chatting to notice it. Curly and Beanie Boy thought it was great but Little Bean was a bit frightened, I think it must have been one of those days for her. The characters reminded me of Scooby Doo’s ‘baddies’, which was how I tried consoling Little Bean, but she just hid on Daddy’s side until it was over, regardless.
Because of the age gap between Curly and Little Bean we had to plan our day carefully as there were quite a few rides that Little Bean was too small to go on which upset her immensely. We would do a ride for Curly and then find a ride for Little Bean but conveniently placed next to Enigma were a few large play areas which kept Little Bean more than happy whilst Daddy and Curly went thrill seeking.
We took one look at the Pirate Ship and decided to give it a miss, we hadn’t long had lunch and we didn’t fancy seeing it again but plenty of people seemed to be enjoying it. Little Bean loved the Flying Elephants and the Motorbikes with Daddy in Kidzone, but her driving skills left a little to be desired; I think Daddy is thanking his lucky stars that he won’t have to get behind the wheel with her for a good few years yet. Curly loved the Sky Hooks, and Beanie Boy waved every time his big brother went past.
We rested our feet for a while and watched the Sea Lion show, which was fantastic. It was one of the funniest and most entertaining Sea Lion shows I have seen in a while. The Sea Lions George and Claude clearly love their trainers and have a brilliant rapport with them, they had lots of fun doing their routine and we had lots of fun watching it. I did video the show but I’m not going to show you, you’ll have to go yourselves to see what I’m talking about.
We had a really fun day at Pleasurewood Hills, the children had a blast and I was surprised by how ‘brave’ Little Bean became having her big brother around to encourage her on the rides. We had quite a few tears when Daddy and Curly went on the Snake in the Grass as she was too small, and the same again with the Dodgems and the Chair Lifts. Next year, we will have to come back and give her the opportunity to be a ‘big girl’. As the day wore on, Daddy’s nerves left him, and after spinning around on one of the Kidzone twister rides, he felt a little tom-dick, so he decided that Wipeout wasn’t really for him, and unfortunately, the queue for the Timber Falls was too long, so the boys missed that one too.
Little Bean LOVED the Carousel and the big wavy slide although I personally think it should have been manned at the top as children were sliding down before it was clear at the bottom and knocking some of the smaller children out of the way. This happened to Little Bean which really frightened her and she wouldn’t go on it again.
I loved watching Hubby and Curly’s face on the Wave Breaker, he wouldn’t even let me buy the photograph at the end!!
The perfect end to the day was when Woody came out to say goodbye to the children and have his photograph taken with them. We didn’t manage to do the whole park but we had a great day regardless. Since it was the summer holidays and right after the Bank Holiday it was so busy there were queues for all rides, most of the time we queued for anywhere between 30-45 minutes for the more popular rides but this is just part of the territory with theme parks.
DISCLAIMER: We were given free admission to Pleasurewood Hills for the purpose of this review. All photographs, words and opinions are my own and may not be copied without my express permission.
Great fun we were there last tuesday, couldn’t get four of mine off the pirate ship or daddy either!
It was a bit chilly though wasn’t it!! I wore a sundress and was freezing, still had a good day though 🙂