School holiday ideas: top 10 theme parks
Teenagers will love scaring themselves silly on record-breaking rollercoasters, but
the UK's theme parks also have plenty of exciting but gentler fun for smaller kids
Rhonda Carrier
The Guardian, Friday 5 July 2013 21.00 BST
1 Alton Towers, Staffordshire
Grabbing all the theme park headlines this year (not least because of its late
opening, and ensuing technical problems), Alton Towers' new ride, The Smiler, fulfils
its dubious promise to "marmalise" riders through its world-record 14 loops. For those
open to the idea of being mentally beaten up by a theme park ride, it also comes with
"mind manipulations" to disorientate riders. For those less keen on being terrified, the
park has more than 50 other rides for all ages, including the charming Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory boat-ride.
• altontowers.com. Adults £46.20, under-12s £39
2 Lightwater Valley, North Yorkshire
Home to Europe's longest rollercoaster, the six-minute Ultimate, this theme park
close to the cathedral city of Ripon and a 30-minute drive from Harrogate, has
recently unveiled an Angry Birds activity park, bringing the smartphone and video
game to life in the form of slides, tunnels, slingshots and nesting towers. Also new in
2013 is the Eagles Creek petting farm, with tractor rides. Tickets include entry to the
Lightwater Valley Falconry, with its raptor displays.
• lightwatervalley.co.uk. Adults and kids over 1.3m £28, over 1m £23, under 1m £5
3 Legoland Windsor, Surrey
Lego Legends of Chima 4D Movie Xperience Lego Legends of Chima 4D Movie
Xperience
This favourite with toddlers and young kids has pulled out all the stops this year, with
several new attractions – the Legends of Chima 4D movie; the impressive Lego Star
Wars gallery; the Lego Hero Factory with its building tables; and, for those elusive hot
summer days, Duplo Valley Splash and Play, with the UK's biggest outdoor waterplay
structure. With so much more than a single day's worth of fun on offer, the on-site
hotel – rated among Trip Advisor's top UK hotels for families – is a tempting
proposition.
• legoland.co.uk. Adult £45.60, three-15 years £39
4 Oakwood, Pembrokeshire
Far from the madding crowds deep in the south Wales countryside, Oakwood has
expanded for 2013 with the addition of the Peter Pan-themed Neverland, aimed at
younger kids. Among its 10 new rides are the Skull Rock log flume, the Crocodile
Coaster, the Journey to Neverland interactive walk-through experience, Tink's Flying
School, Hook's House of Havoc softplay and the Sights of London "taxi-ride" taking in
Big Ben, the Tower of London and other iconic sights. Little ones will like the new
Circus Land, and existing thrill rides will keep older kids happy. Bluestone national
park resort is a short drive away.
• oakwoodthemepark.co.uk. Adults £21, kids three-12 £15
5 Pleasurewood Hills, Suffolk
This once-ailing park near Lowestoft is part-way through a multimillion-pound
investment that's bringing it firmly into the 21st century. Of its four new rides for 2013,
the headline-grabber is Hobs Pit, a horror-themed dark ride through an abandoned
mine that has a 12A age rating from the British Board of Film Classification (putting it
on a par with Nemesis Sub-Terra at Alton Towers). But there are also Pleasurewood
Paddlers (pedalos on the lake), the Woody's Tea Party tea-cup ride and the whalethemed Moby Dick. They join a host of attractions new last year, including The Jolly
Roger drop-tower and the Pleasurewood Pony Rail.
• pleasurewoodhills.com. Adults £19, children three-11 £16
6 Thorpe Park, Surrey
The adrenaline addicts' theme park outside London is the perfect spot for kids aged
10 and up (1.4m and over) eager to progress to hardcore rides. This year's new thrill
is The Swarm: Backwards. The existing Swarm – the UK's only winged rollercoaster,
which means the seats hang out over the sides of the track – has had its back two
rows of seats reversed, making the ride even more intense. Backward or forwards,
expect an inverted first drop taking you upside-down as you plunge; the panicinducing near-misses are only experienced forwards. Try it both ways and see which
is your favourite. Also new for 2013 is The Crash Pad, a temporary hotel on the
theme park's lakeside, with functional but funky cabin-style rooms.
• thorpepark.com. Adults £43.20, under-12s £37.20, under 1m free
7 Paultons Park, Hampshire
Peppa Pig World. Paultons Park, Hampshire
Attracting toddlers in droves with its Peppa Pig World, this park on the edge of the
New Forest has just opened a sensory cinema screening the award-winning Curse of
Skull Rock. State-of-the-art 4D technology, including moving seats and water effects,
means viewers feel like they're riding the waves, getting blasted by sea-spray,
peering through spooky mist and navigating the ocean bed. Other attractions include
a menagerie housing meerkats, penguins, wallabies and other tot-pleasers, the
garden-themed Trekking Tractors, Land of the Dinosaurs and a handful of daring
rides, including a volcano-themed drop-and-twist tower called Magma.
• paultonspark.co.uk. From £22.50pp (children under a metre tall free)
8 Chessington World of Adventures, Surrey
Kids who want to go on Zufari: Ride into Africa!, the new attraction at this younger
kids' park south of London, are questioned by an expedition leader as to their
suitability to become part of a research team. Then they head across rough terrain in
a 4x4 in search of mysterious carvings – and along the way meet animals from the
park's zoo, including white rhino and giraffes. For a full-on African holiday without
leaving the UK, stay over in one of the hotel's adventure-themed rooms, with tented
sleeping area for kids and four-poster bed for grown-ups. As well as the theme park
rides and zoo, Chessington has its own Sea Life centre.
• chessington.com. Adults from £32.40, kids under 12 and over 0.9m tall £25.20,
under 0.9m free
9 Blackgang Chine, Isle of Wight
Celebrating its 170th birthday this year, this gentle and quirky theme park has a notso-gentle setting in an eroded coastal ravine – the unstable terrain means that its
rides and attractions are being continually moved further and further inland. Most are
aimed at younger kids – Magical Fairy Village, Smugglerland, Dinosaurland (full of
fibreglass dinos dating back to the 1970s) and Rumpus Mansion, with its goblins,
boggarts and other mischievous critters. The Cliffhanger rollercoaster may be small
but it offers great views from its twists and curves.
• blackgangchine.com. From £12.50pp, under-fours free
10 Blackpool Pleasure Beach
Adding to the slightly nostalgic ambience of this classic seaside theme park, the new
Wallace & Gromit Thrill-o-matic is a gentle dark ride replacing the old Gold Mine ride.
Sitting inside one of Wallace's slippers, riders at least 90cm tall take a jaunt through
various scenes from the duo's films, including The Curse of the Were Rabbit. Tots
will like Nickelodeonland, where they can try out lots of tame but colourful rides and
mingle with Dora the Explorer, the Spongebob crew and other primetime characters.
For older kids, there's a good choice of thrill rides, including an exhilarating fivelooper, Infusion.
• blackpoolpleasurebeach.com. Adults £30, kids two-11 £27
Opdracht:
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Vertaal alle vetgedrukte woorden uit de tekst.
-
Link de volgende uitspraken aan de juiste pretparken(let op, schrijf de
nummers achter de cijfers) :
A: Heeft een 6 minuten durende achtbaan
B: Heeft een hotel en een zee-leven afdeling
C: Heeft een eng ritje door een verlaten mijn
D: Dit pretpark is vooral aantrekkelijk voor peuters
E: Dit pretpark is vooral aantrekkelijk voor kinderen ouder dan 10 jaar
F: Dit pretpark heeft meer dan 50 atrracties
G: In dit thema park aan de kust kun je een ritje in een slipper maken
H: Volwassenen moeten in dit park 21 pond betalen om binnen te mogen
I: Dit park is interessant voor de liefhebber van dinosaurussen
J: Dit park heeft de grootste water atrractie in de UK.
-
Naar welk pretpark zou jij het liefste gaan? Leg uit.
Marmalise = Dit woord bestaat niet.
Raptor = Dinosaurus
Elusive = Ontwijkend
Aimed = Gericht
Investment = Investering
Inverted = Omgekeerd
Rough terrain = Ruig terrein
Quirky = Eigenzinnige
Eroded = Uitgehold
Mischievous critters = Ondeugende beestjes
Ambience = Sfeer
Jaunt = Tochtje
A-2
B-8
C-5
D-7
E-6
F-1
G - 10
H-4
I-9
J-3
Ik zou persoonlijk et liefst naar Legoland gaan hehe, ben vroeger eens een keer naar
legoworld in zwolle geweest en vond da echt heel leuk, dus ik wil er toch nog eens
een keer heen.