Twinlakes Theme Park (Aprl 2015) Review
Twinlakes
All Action Theme Park
Melton Mowbray
Reviewed by Linzi Davies
I was asked to review Twinlakes theme park and I thought it would be a nice trip out during the children’s Easter holidays, what I didn’t check was how far away from us it was ! A five hour round trip had to be planned for. We set off at 7:30am, myself and my cousin with our five children, two aged 8 and three aged 3, armed with copious amounts of food, drinks and tunes to play. What we should have remembered though were ear plugs to block out the constant, “are we there yet ?” and that was before we had even got over Runcorn bridge!
After a slight detour due to some poor map reading by myself, we arrived in the not so sunny Melton Mowbray just after the park opened at 10:30am.The car park was vast but was quite empty and we managed to get a spot not far from the entrance. The kids all rushed up to the mouse character that was hovering by the pay desks and a series of high fives ensued.
Our first zone was Buccanners Island, first impressions by myself was it looked tired, dark and a bit grubby. The children however were totally different, shouting wow, look at that one, what shall we go on first and all running in opposite directions, after managing to round them up, the two bigger ones and Sam headed to Shark Bite, a six seated ride which went vertically in the air and then dropped towards the floor. The less brave Thomas and Jake who unfortunately was too small, played in the Dolphin Soft play area whilst they waited. The staff member on the Shark Bite (no name badge) was the best member of staff we met all day, extremely engaging with the children, friendly and encouraging. Other rides in this are included a clockwork wheel, spinning barrels, small pirate ship and the brand new Wind in the Willows. This was a favourite in this zone either because of the UV light making their clothes extra shiny or the cuddly badgers, foxes and other animals which were hiding in the cleverly painted scenery. The travois rafts were not operating in this area and I didn’t see the bouncing buccaneer. The children had a few minutes in the master blaster area but it wasn’t really accessible to the younger ones as it was up a lot of stairs.
Next we headed to Red Rooster farm area which included sheep, ponies, goats, guinea pigs, rabbits, rats, merekats, marmoset monkey and a lovely new addition piglets, which were born on the 4th April. We only caught the tail end of the pig racing which Amy won but the children all still managed to get a sticker, much to their delight.
Time for lunch and as the park was so quiet (Leicestershire schools had the previous two weeks off) we managed to find a lovely picnic table in a rare sunny spot. With full tummies it was time for a toilet stop before more fun. Big negative here in my book, the toilets were not nice at all. Strong smell of urine and soaking wet floors.
The Labyrinth Venture zone was next on the list, the first ride to be conquered by Lee, Evie and Sam was Icarus Sky Flyer, this was a firm favourite although I had to ride alongside Sam. This one required lying flat on your front and holding the handles in front whilst you basically flew round up in the air in a large circle. Three turns on the run later, I was feeling slightly sick much to the amusement of the little people. The Mercury mini coaster was good fun and all the children could ride although adults needed to supervise children under the height of 110cm which seemed strange when the Buffalo Stampede which was quicker and longer they could ride without an adult from 1 metre. The outside area was much nicer than the indoor one. The Trauma Tower wasn’t working and the gladiators play area was filthy, so much so I asked the children to come out. The dust on the stairs was inches think in the corners and the slides were very very grubby. This area needs some serious work if it is going to continue to attract visitors. Also out of order was the pirate ship, this didn’t look like it had been working for ages.
Now although the weather wasn’t fantastic the Dragon Zone splash play area was totally closed off. I am not sure if this is seasonal or not but if it is included generally in the price then a discounted ticket should be available if it is closed.
We then headed to the indoor picnic area to watch the Frozen Sing-a-long. The company The Singing Princesses had good voices and engaged the children well, getting them up on their feet during Let it Go before staying to sign autographs and have pictures taken. I don’t know if this was at an extra cost as none of ours fancied it.
Some of our favourite parts during the rest of the day were the bumper boats, although Evie’s rang out of fuel and she had to be towed back, the dizzy dune buggies, the toboggan run and the zip slides.
Unfortunately another visit to the toilets (different ones) left even more bad memories as three of the four actually had faeces and other things on the outer rim and the floor. I felt so strongly about this I went and spoke to the only member of staff I could find in the café who just stared at me and said, “oh right”. She didn’t inspire me that anything was going to be done about it.
The park overall has the potential to be amazing, presently it is ok. I wouldn’t drive 2.5 hours to go their again and at a cost of £17.99 per adult/child 108cm and £8.99 per toddler 95/108cm it isn’t the cheapest place to visit either. I don’t believe adults should pay the same when they are no rides solely for adults and they are obviously only there to supervise children.
The outside play areas are fab, clean, large and very inviting. The inside areas at this park let it down heavily. It is in desperate need of painting and a very deep clean. On the staff side the older members of the team were great, hardworking, respectful, engaging. The younger ones not so, a distinct lack of training is evident and disinterest is clear.
All this considered, it doesn’t take away for the fact that the children had an awesome time as they look at different things to adults. The journey home was much quieter as all were asleep ten minutes after leaving.
The children rated the park 5/5 whereas the adults rated it 2/5 so for the purposes of revising I would give the whole experience a 3/5.
Rating: 3/5
Tickets cost: Adult £17.99, Child £8.99 (save money by booking online).
For more information or to book ticket visit www.twinlakespark.co.uk.
Twinlakes, Melton Spinney Road, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, LE14 4SB | 01664 567 777
