Review: Southport Pleasureland 2022
Southport Pleasureland is back! And we’ve missed our amusement park while it’s been away.
The park reopened for the 2022 season on Saturday, 26th March, and is now gearing up for Easter weekend, one of the busiest times of the year.
It is the first time in three years that Southport Pleasureland has been able to open for the start of its traditional season, having been impacted by Covid lockdowns in 2020 and 2021.
Children, and families, across the UK have missed out on so much. There is a feeling in the hospitality and leisure industry this year that people are eager to make up for missed time.
That was certainly the case with our family. As with many people in Southport, I have very happy memories of days out at Pleasureland when I was a child. Being able to return with my own young daughters now is something quite special.
I have really missed not being able to take them over the past long months of the pandemic, with the exception of the excellent Day Of The Dead Festival last November.
For parents, it is great to see a real sense of tradition still in place – this is the place where memories are made, and it was fantastic to enjoy a ride on the Southport Pleasureland Miniature Railway – a unique train which has carried millions of families since it first opened in 1911.
Many of my favourite rides from my childhood are no longer there, such as the Fun House, the River Caves, The Cyclone and others, some of them which were sadly torn down by the previous owners when they upped and left.
But the spirit of a great family day out remains. Owner Norman Wallis has been in charge of the park for over a decade now and the improvements have been constant. Every year there is something new and different to enjoy.
Inside the park is immaculate. A small fortune has been spent on landscaping, flowers, and other aesthetics. There are greenhouses and polytunnels on site to grow some of the plants. That self-sustainability is important, with Southport Pleasureland eager to become the first net zero carbon theme park in the UK.
Standards of customer service and staff training are also high. Everyone we met who worked there couldn’t have been friendlier, or more helpful.
There are dozens of rides to enjoy, for people of all ages, from the gentler ones such as the Apple Coaster (we went three times on this one!), Balloons, Canoes, Hook-a-duck, Convoy, Ghost Train, Dodgems, and Dock Funhouse, to the faster or higher Log Flume, Twister, The Rocket, Waltzers, or Dumbo, to the more thrill-seeking Frisbee, Flying Swings, Looping Coaster, Matterhorn, Remix and others.
There was so much to do – we didn’t get around everything that we had planned. It was non-stop fun.
For our two daughters, aged 6 and 10 years old, they loved every second, didn’t want to go home at the end and couldn’t wait to go back again.
The park was busy, but not so busy that we had to queue for long to get onto anything, as you do at some amusement parks.
There is a different admission system in place now than previous years. Previously, there was unlimited entry into the park, with people able to pay for the rides they wanted to use, topping up ride cards as they went along. The cost could soon mount up – who wants to leave an amusement park halfway through the day?
Now admission includes unlimited rides all day. There is a general admission of £26.50, with children under 90cm free, £9 non-riders, £99 family tickets, and concessions for disabled guests with carers.
People who book tickets this April can also get 50% off a return visit any time before 31st May 2022.
People are being encouraged to save money by booking their tickets through the Southport Pleasurerland website rather than on the gate.
This is considerably cheaper than Blackpool Pleasure Beach, which is today charging £46 for adults and £40 for children 11 and under.
The good news is that Southport Pleasureland is only going to get better. There are exciting plans both for the short term and longer term too.
Very soon, people will be able to enjoy rides on the brand new 35-metre observation wheel, ‘The Big Wheel Southport’.
A brand new Viking themed adventure golf attraction is due to open this summer.
A new dinosaur park is scheduled to open soon.
Planning permission for a new 260-metre long roller coaster has been granted by Sefton Council, while longer term transformation plans are incredibly exciting.
- Southport Pleasureland is on Marine Drive, Southport. For more details please visit: www.southportpleasureland.com
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