So today I went to Lightwater Valley theme park in Yorkshire, England with my parents, 12 year old sister and best friend. The family of 5 ticket would have cost us £115 but with a year's worth of Tesco Vouchers it went down to £15 (cheers Tesco!)
After an hour and a half drive we arrived at around opening time (10am) and queued up for the park. The queues were surprisingly short actually, I'd expected to spend 90% of my day queuing but it wasn't too bad. I've missed a few rides out as we didn't manage to get on everything, sorry. So these are the rides we went on:
Carousel:
This was really just your typical vintage style carousel. Not what you'd call an adrenaline rush but its all in good fun. I went on this one with my whole family and we all enjoyed it, a good laugh. 6/10
Skyrider:
So this ride was another vintage style one. It had small swings that flew round when the ride span round. It was quite high and fairly fast although this ride was listed under 'ultimate adventure' which I thought was too high a rating. My parents' didn't enjoy this ride but the rest of us did. If you go on it, don't hold on. Swinging your legs and having your arms out makes the ride amazing!
9/10
The Lightwater Wheel:
The Lightwater Wheel is basically a Ferris wheel with glass pods that tend to tip a little when you're coming up to the top of the wheel. I went in a pod with my sister and my friend and it was pretty good. It was a little slower than I might have personally enjoyed but I understand why it was the speed it was. The views from the top spread across almost the entire park. 7/10
The Eagle's Claw
This ride was another 'ultimate adventure' and probably the scariest ride I went on. It was a set of six seat sets facing each other which swung and span at the same time. I only went on this with my friend and we felt so ill afterwards! It's actually a more extreme version of 'Devil Rock' which is our favourite ride at our local fair. Although I thought I was dying afterwards, right fun! 8/10
Eagles Creek Farm:
The next 'ride' was one basically designed for babies but whatever. It's basically a set of tractors that go around a mini farm with chickens, cows, horses, pigs and goats. My family wanted me to take a picture with them in a tractor so naturally me and my friend had to jump in the next tractor and go around singing at the top of our lungs. 10/10!!!!
The Falls Of Terror:
The Falls Of Terror are 3 water slides that you go down in inflatable rafts. I went on 2 and 3 with my friend and I was pretty impressed. Number 2 was 2 fairly steep drops and a fast straight at the end. Number 3 was a twisty slide which went so fast thanks to a track going along the bottom of the slide. Awesome! 9/10
The Black Pearl:
This ride was a classic swinging pirate ship ride except it went all the way over the top. I went on this twice with my friend and it was amazing. I loved it when I was hanging forwards, just flopping my arms, and when it went over the top because it felt like 'a giant roly-poly' to quote my friend. Ironically, I can't go on a regular pirate ship ride without throwing up. 8/10
Flying Camels:
Technically this is a kid's ride but they're more funny anyway. Basically it's camels spinning on a circle but you get your own lever to make your camel 'fly' WHICH DIDN'T WORK. Anyway, me and my friend squeezed into a camel together (who we named Timothy) and sang a lot. Shame about the lever breaking 5/10
Black Widow's Web:
I wasn't particularly keen on this ride. It was in the style of a side ways Ferris wheel which me and my friend thought it would be fine to sit in the same pod except we're a bit too big. It spins incredibly fast and goes upside down and sideways. Thanks to being blessed/cursed with incredibly long legs my knees were crushed every time we went upside down. 5/10
The Ladybird:
Next I went on yet another kid's ride with my sister and friend, The Ladybird junior roller coaster. I think I screamed more on this ride than on the adult roller coaster. Almost every kid on the ride had an absolute blast so I'd say it was pretty good. 8/10
The Twister:
The Twister is what I'd call an extreme kid's roller coaster with individual carts that spin around whilst speeding around the track. I went on this one with my friend and my family took a cart in front of us. I could hear my sister screaming from in our carts. It was really fast and had tight corners, incredibly fun. 10/10
Wild River Rapids:
This was the only water ride at the park where you got full on wet (ignoring the time it threw it down with rain). I went on this with my friend, sister and mum. I actually don't think I've ever laughed so hard, I'd recommend holding on tightly which I learnt when we hit a wave and I catapulted towards my friend. There's a few big splashes and sharp turns. By the way, I'm judging you a little if you wear a raincoat on the water ride. 10/10
Raptor Attack:
This was probably the scariest ride at the park for me. The build up for the ride was walking down the old mine with a story of a man who went missing down the mine...with dinosaurs. I've always had a fear of being underground so the start wasn't brilliant for me but it was lit enough for me to be okay. The actual ride started after a few levels underground. They were based on a mine cart and went into pitch black. Several model dinosaurs popped out during the ride but it was terrifying because it was really fast and had lots of sudden drops you couldn't see. Very intense but I was a little bit wobbly afterwards. I do think the whole set up bit was a bit too long for my preference 9/10
The Ultimate:
The Ultimate claims to be the longest roller coaster in Europe at 1.5 miles long and travelling at up to 100mph. Great choice for a first proper roller coaster. The queuing was really good, we only had to wait about 10 minutes the first time. I went on with my friend and my dad was behind us. The first drop was terrifying and the highest on the whole roller coaster. After that there was some wavy bits of track followed by a second drop. After the second drop it went into the forest and went on to a track that leant sideways. I hate sideways roller coaster tracks because my knees get bashed about something crazy. Overall I think it was a pretty amazing ride and tons of fun. However the second time I went on with just my friend it started bouncing it down with rain that hit our faces at 100mph. Lovely. 10/10
My overall opinion on this theme park is that it is amazing! We're considering going back next summer, even if we don't have a massive discount. If you're ever in the area make sure to check it out.
