Gulliver’s Land – Milton Keynes

OK yesterday was grey and drab, not today! The Places We Will Go went to Gullivers Theme Park in Milton Keynes. We set off with coats and jumpers in fog and drizzle and by the time we had tripped about 70 miles south it was warm and bright with the sun just edging through the autumn clouds. Bugs soon discarded his puffa jacket in favour of his t-shirt: October the 30^th: beyond amazing!

We have been to Gulliver’s Kingdom in Matlock Bath previously which is on the side of a steep valley, the Milton Keynes sister site thankfully isn’t. The theme park is flat and nicely set out, a real pleasure. And, most pleasing of all, the park was quiet, so wonderfully quiet, getting on rides and doing things was a joy.

The park was of course dressed with; spiderwebs, pumpkins, ghosts, and colours of orange and black for Halloween. There was a large number of activities and mini shows around the place to celebrate all things gruesome…and it seemed always with the chance of obtaining sweets.

To be honest we avoided most of the seasonal frivolity: apart from a Zombie attack on Bugs and I, and a fat vampire, which jumped out on me causing me to jump about 50 feet in the air….naturally this was much to the amusement of Bugs and Boo.

Bugs and Boo are 6 and 10 and this park suited both ages absolutely perfectly. There are a range of rides and things to do. They both loved them all. The park has three rollercoasters of note. The Python – the best ride, extremely smooth, quite fast and really enjoyable even of ran adult. We went on it 4 times. Twist ’n’ Joust – A short but reasonably fast rollercoaster with cars which spin around as they move along the track – we had 3 turns, and The Runaway Train – an older more rickety train in a fern wood, which is OK. Boo and Bugs liked it but the Python won the day.

The infrastructure and buildings are a bit tired in places but on the whole provide a good experience. Other rides we really enjoyed include the self peddling monorail…which it turns out is a perfect workout for daddy. The Drop Tower – which Mummy and Boo loved – raised up and (bet you can’t guess)..dropped and Maxwell and I enjoyed the Veteran Cars, which was being run by Batman…among others. Finally, but not means least there is a small train which you can get on near the entrance, it circles the whole park. Only one station so not a time saver but quite a good way to understand the park and see what you will be doing later. We didn’t go on the log flume or the water slide for fear of wetness…we are wusses!…but they look good and hey there is always next time.

All-in-all we had an excellent day. The picnic went down well and there is loads to do. We highly recommend it, definitely worth the trip if your children are between the ages of 3 and 10. Until next time…over and out.