GreenWood Forest Park, Gwynedd, Wales Review
GreenWood Forest Park
Gwynedd, Wales
Reviewed by Debbie Tasker
On Saturday we visited GreenWood Forest Park for a family day out. We travelled from Manchester and the journey took us around 2 hours to North Wales, it is very near the A55 Bangor exit. We found it easily as it is well signposted when you get nearer to the venue and parked in the car park. There were plenty of spaces and it is a two minute walk from the entrance.
On arriving we were greeted by friendly staff and given a map of the park and times the supervised activities were open. As it is peak season everything was available 10.30 – 5.00. I was also told that the show in the open air theatre would be at 2pm. I thanked him and set off on our adventure!
Where do you want to go first? I asked, which was kind of a daft question because the younger members of our party had already been looking online at GreenWood and were really looking forward to the people powered Green Dragon Rollercoaster so that is where we headed. It is a bit of a steep walk to it so if you have walking difficulties you might have to give this a miss. We arrived at the top of the hill and to our surprise there were no queues. We all squealed our way round the track and agreed it was a brilliant ride. I paid for the photo and thought I would be receiving an email of how to download but as of yet I haven’t. From there we moved on to the Great Green Run, a 70 metre sledge run, again no queues – we found throughout the day that everything runs smoothly and the only wait was for the Giant Jumper. The Great Green Run was a hit with all ages in our party and the two youngest members of our party (9 and 11) had several go’s. There is a toddler run next to it for smaller children. From there we went to Treetop Towers a huge tree house where they climbed and played for a while it is worth mentioning that there is only one entrance/exit here so little ones can explore and you have peace of mind they are in there somewhere, before moving onto ZIPadeedoodah as the name suggests it is two zip wires, we did have a bit of trouble getting a go on these as there was a large party of Brownies who didn’t seem to know the meaning of “turns” and leaders who didn’t seem to want to teach them but obviously this is not the fault of the park itself. By this time we were getting hungry so I headed back to the car for our picnic before finding somewhere to eat.
There is no shortage of picnic tables and grassed areas both in the shade and sun. We decided to set up behind the Theatre and as the show was on at 2pm and we could clearly see from that point it was an ideal location. Throughout our visit we had seen Ricardo the Pirate (who was the star of the show) around the park and he had spoken to the children on a couple of occasions he started his banter with his audience about 15 minutes before the show began and had everybody giggling. The show started at 2pm prompt and the auditorium was full. He really entertained and used a lot of audience participation for his magic tricks and jokes. I would recommend you fit it into your day here.
Next was the Maze, Moonkarts and Giant Jumper all fun, safe and easily reached. I am not a big fan of water but I braved the Jungle Boats and am glad I did. Each boat has one oar (why not two?) and you have to steer your way around the route, hanging above are ropes to pull on and help you with the task. We all loved this and when we came to the end went round again! I guess on a busy day you would have to re queue but as it was quiet there was no problem. We walked through Pets Corner which we were a little disappointed in and onto the Barefoot Trail, us adults didn’t take part in this but the kids loved it. The wildWEB which is new for 2014 was a hit, its enormous and everybody climbed and swung for a good 20 minutes. By this time everybody (especially us oldies) were getting tired so we stopped for an ice cream at one of the many kiosks. There was plenty of choice and seemed reasonably priced… We didn’t eat on this occasion but the food looked appetising and value for money.
After our break we looked at the map to see what we hadn’t sampled. On the back of it is an article on unique crafts so we headed over there. Unfortunately this wasn’t open which was a shame as it looked like a very interesting attraction. So onto Archery we went where more fun was had. Quite near to here is a fantastic toddler’s play area. As we had no tiny tots we never went in here but it was bustling with happy little people so must be good right?
It was getting near time to leave so I asked was there anything anybody wanted to do or have another go at… Green Dragon was a winner yet again so another go was had before we made our way back to the car after a lovely afternoon in beautiful surroundings.
GreenWood Forest Park offers an array of activities in a pretty location. The layout is very impressive and you do not have to cover too much ground so it is ideal for all ages although I would say under 12 are who it is aimed at mainly and who will get the most out of it. Everywhere is clean and tidy apart from the rest rooms where I am afraid there were problems. None of the toilets were flushing and all the floors were very wet and dangerous. I must point out that when we tried another block they were a little better but still not up to standard.
I would come here again if I was in Wales as it is great value for money and a brilliant family day out.
Dogs are allowed which is a bonus, while we were there a very vocal bull dog joined in with Ricardo’s Pirate show much to everybody’s amusement. Stunning location, well thought out, friendly staff and sunshine what more could we want?
Rating: 4.5/5
Individual tickets cost from £7.70 to £11.95. Family tickets cost from £28.20 to £63. Season passes (12 months) cost from £35 (child) to £164 (family ticket 2 adults, 4 children or 1 adult, 5 children).
For more information, special offers or to book tickets visit www.greenwoodforestpark.co.uk.
GreenWood Forest Park. Y Felinheli, Gwynedd, LL56 4QN | 01248 670076
