"Scotland's Theme Park" Motherwell
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Recommendation added: 13/04/2006 08:58
By: phoenix06 (YSUK rating +31)phoenix06 has been thanked 4 times for this contribution
"Having only been to a handful of theme parks in my life (well, 3!!) I couldn't wait to go to M&Ds when the opportunity arose. A lot of people gave me the impression that it wasn't that great, that the rides weren't very good and there wasn't really all that much to do, but I decided that I'd make up my own mind.
The date was set, and I'd be travelling with my girlfriend and her family (her mother driving - took the pressure off me as I tend to be quite rubbish at finding places). We left at about 10:30 and got there just after the opening time of 11:00AM. It was a fairly pleasant drive, simply had to follow the road for Edinburgh (from Glasgow) and take a turn off for Motherwell.
When we arrived I was very nervous - just earlier that month had I been on my FIRST EVER rollercoaster (I was trying very hard to overcome a fear of them) and you can imagine my worry when the first thing that caught my eye was a great big 'inverted' rollercoaster known as the Vortex. I didn't want to let on that I was scared though as the 7, 11 and 13 year old siblings of my girlfriend were mesmerized by these sights and simply couldn't wait to ride!
The pricing was excellent, for an unlimited ride wristband it's just £38 for a family ticket (any four people) when booked online and we also had a couple of vouchers which meant the cost worked out at just about £40 for the 6 of us - that's very impressive for a full days worth of rides considering how much you'd expect to pay at the likes of Alton Towers or Thorpe park.
It turned out that Fraser (the 7 year old) was only just tall enough to go on all the rides, which meant that he didn't miss out one bit. This didn't stop me using him as an excuse to go on some of the smaller rides (e.g. the 'caterpillar' which was a surprisingly enjoyable 'child's' rollercoaster).
Everything you'd expect to find at a good theme park was there; the inverted rollercoaster was incredible fun and was easily our favourite ride, also there was a mammoth sized rollercoaster known as 'the tornado' which I managed to work up the courage to go on (it's funny how much you can make yourself do by closing your eyes!!), there was a log-flume, spinning tea-cups things, dodgems, a 'magic-carpet' ride, traditional chair ride and loads loads more.
They advertise that even if it's raining it'd be worthwhile making the trip but I certainly feel that if we had been confined indoors (where they have many an arcade machine, a bowling arena and loads of those 'never win' hand-grabber machines) then we would've spent a lot more money and had a lot less satisfaction. It's great to have the indoor facility there of course but you can't really go to a theme park and spend the time without going on rides.
There's also a building which we never visited (costs a seperate entrance fee) called the 'arizona'. As we never ventured in there I couldn't speculate what it's like but I believe there's all sorts of snakes and wild birds etc in there which I'm sure would be worthwhile checking out.
After the end of a long day (we managed to get on our last ride at 7:55PM) the park finally closed it's rides at 8:00PM. We were all very hungry and weren'y too sure whether we should 'risk' the park's restaurant (we all know that some food at these places isn't always up to scratch) but we decided just to give it a go. What a treat it was! They had a great menu on offer and I got barbecued chicken strips and hand-cut chips, my girlfriend got gammon steak and everyone else picked great, traditional meals leaving everyone perfectly satisfied! How great it was to have somewhere so relaxing and comfortable at such a busy place - the atmosphere was great in the themed restaurant (some parts a library, others a pirate ship etc..), very friendly people and extremely fast service.
We finally went home talking about all the rides we'd went on and what a great day it was. I truly feel that it was very much worthwhile and at the prices they charge, it's a great value day out for everyone!
Information: -
website : www.scotlandsthemepark.com
tel : 0870 112 3777
opening : school holidays and all summer
times : vary (usually 11am till 8pm)
cost : £38 for online family ticket
no of rides : approx 25"
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