Sundown Adventureland – Eggbert’s Easter Egg Trail Review

DISCLOSURE – THIS EXPERIENCE WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST/S FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW.

Reviewed by Sheridan Brown

We love taking our two grandchildren, aged 9 and 4 out for the day and Sundown Adventureland, a theme park targeted at under tens, sounded like a perfect treat for us all! What’s more, in the run up to Easter, the park has laid on a new event, ‘Eggbert’s Easter Egg Trail’. With an activity card supplied at reception, children are invited to search the park for Eggbert’s friends – simply drawing a line from pictures of characters, to one of the themed areas where they are hidden. At the end of the trail, children can redeem their completed card for a chocolatey prize – what’s not to like!!

We spent a little time before our visit looking at the website. This was really informative and gave clear guidance about the rides, attractions and play areas available to guests. This was particularly useful as both Mable and Ollie are on the autism spectrum and knowing a little bit about what to expect helped us to plan the day.

Travelling to the park was easy. Satnav took us most of the way – but once we came off the A1, the park was clearly signposted with brown signs. This was very helpful. We arrived in a very large carpark and were clearly guided by marshals to our parking place. We were really pleased to see that toilets were available right next to the carpark and, after our journey we all took advantage before we headed into the park. The toilets were spotlessly clean and smelled fresh – but understandably busy at our 10.15am arrival time. Queuing for entry was also very well-organised, with four prettily painted ticket cabins and a little loudspeaker telling guests which cabin was free. We were given a map of the park and our Eggbert’s Easter Egg Trail cards – one for each of the children.

On the website, there was a suggested itinerary for the day – play and rides in the morning, lunch, and then Eggbert’s Easter Egg Trail in the afternoon. But in the end, we just did our own thing – and found Eggbert’s friends as we explored the park. Even though our grandchildren could complete the puzzle themselves, we thought that adult help was needed. Using the map we found which areas Eggbert’s friends were hiding and then gave the head’s up to the children as we arrived. They were sometimes so excited by the play area and rides, they forgot to look for the characters! Some of the characters were trickier to spot than others.

The park was very cleverly laid out, with only a short walk between attractions. This was a good thing for little legs (and Nana and Grandad legs) as they didn’t get too tired from too much walking! Little pathways and clear signposting between the activity areas made it easy to get from one place to another. A nice feature of the layout was that we could catch glimpses of nearby attractions and the children could then decide what they wanted to do next.

The park itself was beautiful. All the attractions were really well maintained (only Lollipoppet Castle was closed for refurbishment). The grounds were very clean and tidy and beautifully planted. There were lots of spring bulbs in flower in many parts of the park – along with themed planting in certain areas – for example – lush ‘tropical’ foliage in the WILD Ostrich Safari ride. There was ample seating around the park – some benches and picnic tables were in sunny spots, others in the shade – so we could choose to suit our preference.

Each activity area was really well thought out – fabulous play equipment and lovely rides. It felt very safe and the children could explore many play areas without a closely-supervising adult – of course, this would depend on the age and ability of the child. We went on all but one of the rides (we simply ran out of time!) and they all were run and supervised by super friendly and helpful staff. They paid close attention to safety and ensuring their guests had a good time. Particular shout out to the team on the Jolly Pirate Boat Ride, getting families in and out of the ‘barrels’ really efficiently and safely. They worked really hard. I was so impressed with the help I got getting into and out of the ride – thank-you! We left the barrel ride until last – and we did get a bit wet (there is a warning!) but it was a hot day, so we didn’t mind. It might be a bit miserable getting wet early on a colder day – so bear this in mind.

There are 3 cafes on the park; we made use of two of them. We had a snack lunch at Honey’s Pumpkin Patch Café – the food and drink were reasonably priced – with a choice of hot and cold food. Because it was such a hot Spring day, we decided to eat inside and enjoyed the air conditioning immensely! The eating area was very clean and well presented – although I can imagine it getting a little congested during busy periods. There were lots of places to eat outside if you have brought a picnic with you. A little later in the afternoon, we bought drinks from Rodeo Corral Indoor Play Centre. Whilst we were impressed that bottles of water were only £1 and not over-inflated in price for the captive audience – we would have liked to have seen water refill stations positioned around the park to top up our water bottles as we went. Near to each of the eateries were toilets. Again, we found them to be clean and well kept.

Our only reservation is that, although the whole of the park is accessible by wheelchair, there was no actual wheelchair access to any of the rides. If a person can get themselves (or be helped) out of their wheelchair, they could be accommodated – but we wondered if the Tractor Ride and the Rocky Mountain Railroad might include an adapted vehicle/carriage to allow a wheelchair to be wheeled onboard. This might be something to think about for future improvements.

Overall, we all had a really lovely day. The children thoroughly enjoyed all the rides and play areas. Our granddaughter’s favourite ride was the Jolly Pirate Boat Ride and our grandson couldn’t make his mind up between Monkey Mayhem Driving School and the Okie Yolkie Ride. They both agreed that Rodeo Corral Indoor Play Area was brilliant fun. We enjoyed sharing the day with the children – we went on some of the rides together, but also enjoyed watching them tackle some of the rides and play areas on their own – building confidence and independence. We enjoyed the park for more than 6 hours and felt it was great value for money! We loved it.

It’s also worth noting that overnight lodge accommodation can be booked in Wild Acre Village – so you can enjoy the park on more than one day!

Rating: 5/5

Dates: Eggbert’s Easter Egg Trail – 29th March – 21st April 2025

Tickets: £20 Adult/child over 90cm (advance online booking) £24 on the day. Children under 90cm free. Most rides require children to be over 90cm to be able to go on unaccompanied.

Tickets available here: www.sundownadventureland.co.uk