The Milky Way Adventure Park Review

Reviewed by Nicola Wilkinson

On Thursday 2nd August I visited The Milky Way Adventure Park near Bideford with my husband and four children (aged 11 months, 3, 6 and 8 years) and we all had such a great day out even with a little bit of rain! The Milky way is well signposted and there is also a large free car park on site which is great and not far from the main entrance.

On arrival we were greeted at reception by lovely member of staff who told us all about what we could do on site and gave us a really handy leaflet with a map and details of everything that was available and what times the shows were on.

So now we had to decide where to start, this place has so much to offer for all ages my children were very excited. As it was raining we headed to the massive Time Warp indoor Adventure Play area. In here there was something for all ages with separate areas for the under 5’s. All my children loved the bumpy slides (baby on daddy’s lap) and my oldest liked the death slide into the ball pool. My two youngest really enjoyed the ball pool for under 5’s this whole area was really clean and tidy.

There is also another under 5’s area just outside the dodgems which includes a fantastic Bouncing Balloon Room, I’ve never seen this before and my youngest absolutely loved it. The balloons must be really strong as I only heard one pop.

The Dodgems were also lots of fun, I love how for the younger/smaller children (above 0.8m) they do a young rider rides which is slower than the usual ride. Although only my oldest would go on, on the occasion.

Outside there are two rollercoasters the Cosmic Caterpillar is for children over 0.8 and the Cosmic Typhoon is for people taller than 1.2m my children loved the caterpillar, I always go on these rides with my children but they even managed to get daddy to go on this time.

The train is a great time to get the children to sit still for 5 minutes, the very friendly conductor was really good with the children and asked them to count how many animals they could see on the way around. This became a little bit competitive between my oldest with them trying to spot the animals before we got to them, but it was fun.

On the other side there is another outside area this has Golf, The North Devon Bird of Prey Centre and they also put on a fantastic Birds of Prey outdoor show. You could really tell the falconry’s passion for these birds and the information he told the audience was just enough to keep the younger one’s attention.

My children enjoyed the jumping pillows again there are two pillows one for under 5’s and accompanying adults this made it more enjoyable for my 3-year-old as there were no big children in her way. These are next to the newest attraction which is the Gravity Rider so my youngest children were entertained while my oldest went on this. The Gravity Rider is 30ft tall and 200ft long fast and fun slide which you sit in a donut my son loved this. This was the only ride we had to queue for all day but I think this was because it was after the bird show so everyone went there after.

Throughout the day there are many shows, there is a galaxy show, indoor bird show, science show and Merlin’s the big show close up. This was our favourite show, Merlin was a semi-finalist on Britain’s Got Talent, a program my children enjoy watching so they loved watching this. We thought the illusions were the best bit and his BGT water escapology was amazing to see a definitely must see.

To finish our day, we walked around the Sci-Fi Memorabilia any Star Wars fan would love this. Its unbelievable that’s its one man’s collection. The children enjoyed pressing the buttons on the way around.

There are plenty of picnic tables both inside and outside for you to bring pack lunches and there are also very reasonable priced cafes which we brought baguettes, chips and drinks where were all nice and freshly cooked. The whole site is really clean and tidy and every member of staff were friendly and really helpful.

We all had so much fun, our day at The Milky Way flew by and unfortunately we were unable to do everything. I think you could easily spend two days here. We will definitely be back soon to finish everything we didn’t get chance to do. My children are already asking when we are going, my oldest two would like a go at the Archery and I would like to take the youngest two to the little stars play area.

I would highly recommend The Milky Way its great fun for all ages in any weather and we can’t wait to return.

Rating: 5/5

For more information or to book tickets visit www.themilkyway.co.uk.

The Milky Way Adventure Park, Higher Clovelly, Bideford, North Devon, EX39 5RY