We visited Wicksteed park last week! We visited the year before last and absolutely loved our time there and was really excited to be invited back again. The one thing we love about Wicksteed is that you can make it a cheap/free day out or spend a bit of money. Entry is free, the playgrounds are huge and there is plenty to do for everyone.
Wicksteed Park is the UK’s first playground for children and offers a wide range of activities for all the family across the park. From meerkats, birds and other animals to several playgrounds, rides, a boating lake and theatre there is just so much to do at Wicksteed. Activities and rides change occasionally and this visit there were some new rides, an update to the meerkat enclosure and a theatre is being finished!
Our first visit had to be the meerkats, Izzy absolutely loves meerkats and was so excited to discover they had a brand new enclosure that allows you go get much closer and watch the meerkats play in their habitat.
Whilst at the Meerkats enclosure we heard some music and discovered a little area we either missed last time or has recently been installed with musical pipes which the girls really enjoyed creating music with.
We also stopped at the bird aviary looking at all the different colourful birds flying around us. We love this area, it’s so lovely to get up close to the birds although you need to watch your step as there are often little ones on the floor.
Next we headed to the main playground, last time we visited during a heatwave so the metal was too hot to play on, this time however the weather was perfect. The girls spent a good 30 minutes running around trying out all the different climbing frames, see-saws and swings. There’s something there for all ages and its absolutely free to play here.
Next up we had to do the train ride, we love a train ride and the scenery around the park is stunning! After our train ride we returned to reception to collect the £40 meal vouchers we were gifted in exchange for blogging about our visit. The girls decided to have a hot dog from the cafe and we had chips, cheesy chips and burgers from Franks which were lovely and great portion sizes too.
Once we had eaten we decided to have a slow walk down to the lake where we discovered a smaller play area and a sand pit for the kids to play in.
We stopped there for a bit then headed inside the mini theme park area to have a go on the rides. There are several rides to choose from including their latest, Galaxy Invaders!
The girls are still getting used to rides, especially Eva with her sensory sensitivities however she managed to ride a few rides in the end including the dinosaur rollercoaster, lady bug rollercoaster and the paraglider rides. Izzy even managed the lady bug rollercoaster although she said it was a little too fast for her still and the honey bear ride which she really loved, especially as she could make me really dizzy spinning us faster!
Next we headed to the land rovers for the girls to have a drive around the little course they have. These are so cool and I’m a little jealous I’m too big for a go haha!
Of course we had to visit the slides next where the girls had a few turns and really enjoyed themselves. I had to miss out on the tree top walk this time due to my mobility worsening but as our friends came with us, Eva was able to join them and do the walk while we checked out the goats below. Izzy and I decided to have a few cheeky goes of the clown rollercoaster ride while we waited too which she really loves. It’s great for the younger ones who don’t want to go too fast!
By this point we were all exhausted and couldn’t wait to head back to the ice cream parlour for a lovely ice cream to cool down with. We then headed to the gift shop but the girls have far too many teddies and we couldn’t find anything with the Wicksteed park logo on it which would have been nice as we love collecting things like that to look back on all the places we’ve visited. The prices are fair though and there are quite a few toys and teddies to choose from.
Finally we headed back for one last visit with the meerkats before heading home, finishing our day off nicely.
We were really glad to be asked to visit Wicksteed Park again as it is an all round lovely place with plenty to do, we still missed parts of the park where I slow us down a lot, a camping trip would be ideal to fit everything in next time!
