Flamingo Land Review

Reviewed by Louise Totton

Theme parks are a firm favourite in our house as a choice for a day out. Living in West Yorkshire, we don’t have any particularly local ones, so when we do visit one, it tends to be a full day out that the kids really look forward to. Recently, we have visited Alton Towers, Lightwater Valley and Blackpool Pleasure Beach. For some reason, we haven’t been to Flamingo Land for several years, despite the kids loving it when they were younger and me having fond memories of it from when I was a child.

It was therefore a source of much excitement in our house when we were invited to Flamingo Land for the day for a review. My girls are 8 and 5, and are both real adrenaline junkies so we started our planning on the website, so we’d have an idea of which rides they could go on and what other attractions there were. We found the website really informative, and it meant we could have a really good go at planning our day before we went.

We set off from our house at about 8:30, having put the details into the satnav. It took around 2 hours to get there, partly because of bad traffic, but I found it to be a pretty easy drive and Flamingo Land is really well signposted from miles away. I think the day we chose was a rather busy one, because cars were queuing to get into the carpark. However, once we got to the front of the queue, we saw that there were several parking stewards directing people and trying to keep the parking moving as much as they could. There really is ample parking (although the overflow parking is on grass so I can imagine might be tricky in the rain), and we were really pleased to see that parking was free. So many theme parks charge £5-£10 for parking, on top of the already expensive ticket prices, so it was lovely not to have to pay for this.

We headed straight for the information centre to collect our tickets, and also to collect my daughter’s disability access band. Flamingo Land’s website has full details on the qualifying criteria for this. The band meant that she and one carer could access rides via the exit, minimising queue times and stress. We then entered the park, to be greeted by a great fun pirate show right inside the entrance. This gave me the opportunity to check the map and get my bearings whilst the kids were happy and entertained. We had decided that we were going to do a few rides until lunchtime and eat our picnic before looking around the zoo and then re-visiting any favourite rides.

We found that there was loads and loads for both girls to do. My eldest (Abigail) was measured in the information centre so we knew she was ‘officially’ tall enough for some of the bigger rides. My younger daughter (Chloe) wasn’t big enough for the bigger ones, but she was really pleased with what she was able to go on, and there really was plenty.

The park isn’t massive and sprawling like some theme parks are, and the themed areas are quite close together. This meant that we could zig-zag around the park a little and we didn’t feel like we were wasting time. There are also ample seating areas and picnic benches throughout the park which was great for little pitstops for tired legs.

It is probably not surprising that the absolute highlight of Abigail’s day was being able to go on her first really thrilling ‘adult’ rollercoasters. She was tall enough (at 1.3m), to ride on Kumali (a really thrilling suspended coaster, with four inversions, a zero-G roll and a maximum speed of 56mph. We did this ride twice because she loved it so much (as did I). Mumbo Jumbo was another massive favourite – it’s quite a different experience to Kumali, it isn’t a suspension rollercoaster and it doesn’t go as fast, but it is great fun. Once the world’s steepest rollercoaster, with a 112-degree vertical drop, it is certainly not for the fearless and at up to 4G-Force is a real experience.

She also absolutely loved Hero, which is an unusual one as you are restrained in a lying down position and she said she felt she was flying like Superman. Pterodactyl was possibly the most extreme ride for us though – not because it’s a terrifying rollercoaster, but because of the sheer height and openness to the elements. Pterodactyl takes pairs of riders 151ft into the air, circling round and round in what feel like open swings. On the day that we went, just as we got belted in, the heavens opened for a massive cloud burst and it got very windy and cold suddenly. 150ft up, and swinging round and round over the park in the wind and driving rain was certainly and experience, but we both loved it (although we were quite pleased to get our feet back on the ground too!).

But Flamingo Land has plenty to offer younger kids too. Both of my girls loved The Runaway Mine Train ride, which is a fantastic first coaster for younger children. Chloe also loved the aeroplane themed Zooom coaster as well as Twistosaurus, which for a 5-year-old is a really fast, white knuckle experience. Rides like the Frog Hopper, Gallopers Carousel, Pink Elephants and the Teacups were also brilliant for breaking up waiting times or walks between areas, as these very rarely had a queue of more than five minutes.

There is a brilliant area that we all loved called Children’s Planet – a huge play area where the kids can climb, crawl and balance to their hearts content. My two would have happily spent several hours here but we needed to move on and visit the zoo so they had to be content with half an hour.

The zoo at Flamingo Land is really great. We saw penguins, the new black rhinos, kangaroos, wallabies, hippos, camels and the highlight of my day – the giraffes. All of the animals appeared to be really well looked after and in comfortable and specious surroundings. The information boards were very interesting and presented in a very engaging way for the children, and prompted some very interesting conversations about endangered species and extinction. It was also lovely to read about what an active and important role the Flamingo Land Zoo plays in the worldwide preservation of certain animals and the kids loved hearing about it.

We found lots of zookeepers near the animals, and all of them were delighted to talk to the children about the animals they cared for and answer their questions. We also managed to catch the bird show, which was very interesting, informative and great fun for the kids.

There is a lovely train which takes you around the park, should your legs just be a little too tired. The children thought this was as much fun as some of the rides, and is a super way to get from A to B. We also loved the Peter Rabbit Adventure play area, which was another super place for the kids to run around and burn off some energy. It is situated next to the Mansion House, which is a lovely tea room. We didn’t go in, but did look at the menu and I was both surprised and delighted to see that the served gluten free afternoon tea as well as the standard one.

We had an absolutely wonderful day at Flamingo Land. The day we were there, the park was open until 6pm, so we had about 7 hours in the park and I still felt like we probably only managed to do about half of what was on offer. Whilst it is not a big park, it is very densely packed with things to do, and really is fantastic value for money.

It is significantly cheaper than some of the larger and better-known theme parks, which makes it superb value for money. Having the zoo onsite as well as the rides really does make it feel like two days out in one.

Without exception, every single member of staff we encountered was fantastic, and the kids were entertained from start to finish. We had a fantastic day and would really love to return. We missed the opening of the newest ride, Flamingo 1, by a few days so may have to come back to try it out!

Rating: 5/5

Tickets cost £38 (adults and children 4 years and above). Book online more than 2 days in advance and tickets cost £32.

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

Flamingo Land, Kirby Misperton, Malton, North Yorkshire, YO17 6UX |0800 408884