Gullivers Kingdom - Matlock Bath

Weekend at UK Theme Park

Want to get away for the weekend with some quality fun time? Have you an overnight visit to a UK theme park.  We visited the Gullivers Kingdom in Matlock, the Gullivers frachise have four locations, each with their own attractions. Visit their website to find one close to you.

Let's Embark

The thought of visiting Gullivers Kingdom first started when I saw a deal on Wowcher at £39 for a family of four, with the youngest of the brood being 90cm or under she goes free! If you’re a regular user of Wowcher you'll know after making a few purchases you accumulate what is known as Wowcher wallet credit, this brought our ticket price down to £36! Bargain if you ask me!

Parking

The parking is spread between a few car parks along the road to the entrance and it's free - hurray I imagine you say. Let's just hope you haven't lowered or attached a front splitter to your car as the road is steep, narrow and very windy and I can imagine many customers taking pieces of their cars home in the boot. As this is a private road all highway expectations went out the window...good luck!

Covid-19 & Weather

The UK law advising the public to wear masks had just been introduced, therefore in an effort to comply Gullivers Kingdom decided masks were to be worn on rides and in queues. As you can imagine this put a damper on the day along with the forecast... all-day rain! In between light drizzle and raining cats and dogs we managed to get on all rides, no doubt anyone without pre-booked tickets decided today was not the day to visit Gullivers Kingdom. With so few customers at the park, the queuing was minimal, so much so, that on some rides, we just stayed in our seats and yelled, "again, again".

There were a few restrictions that had been put in place due to Covid-19, what most confused me was the log coaster, one family at a time but this was limited to four people so I had to miss that ride and customers could only sit in the front carriage. This made joining a relatively short queue of 10 families take about 30 minutes to get to the front of the queue. Meanwhile, queue for the Pirate Ship, three groups were allowed on - front, back and middle - and all five of us could ride together. Is anyone else scratching their heads at this?

Another thing to bear in mind was a few of the attractions were closed like the soft play and rides were closed down for staggered cleaning for roughly 30-45 minutes once a day.

Chair Lift & Giftshop

I was very surprised when my youngest of three years old was allowed to ride the Chair Lift in their own seat especially when she wasn't allowed to ride the Drop Tower with an adult. The ride didn't faze her second but Lexah at nine was considering bailing at one point. Riding the Chair Lift down to the bottom of the park, you disembark through to a conveniently placed gift shop! Beyond this, there is a small free arcade with games such as the Don't Buzz the Wire game, a few mannequins of "an old man" which most of us would know as Elvis and the Pirate Ship ride.

Riggers Revenge Zip Line

The kids couldn't wait to get on this, under 110cm can't ride but for those who can, measure stand against the height chart to find out which colour coordinated harness you need to ride. Genius! After seeing many riders take the jump, the faster you launch yourself off the platform the messier your landing is!

Water Rides

If you're going to cue up for the water rides I'd recommend the Dino Falls over the Log Flume. The log flume is a bit of a lazy river with a slow ride through a passage of high rock but the ending is a little disappointing not to mention when you get in the 'log' I put my foot straight in the water lingering inside - not the kind of splash I had in mind!

Two can ride on a small dingy, Dino Falls has two slides - the one to the left in the dark is fast and exciting but prepare to come out with a soaking right leg and cheek! The other to the right is open and probably my favourite, there is a splash but you won't get up with clothes sticking to you!

Opening Times & Prices

Gullivers is open Monday to Sunday from 10:30 to 17:00 although due to Covid you may have an entrance time of 11:00 due to staggered arrival times! The park is open 12 months a year and annual passes are available for £89 per person.

Tickets start at £21.00, and children under 90cm get in for free - a rare thing! NHS workers and Blue light cardholders get in for £11.00. Buy tickets online to save 35-40% or look out for vouchers online - remember to prebook with these on their website.

Age & Height

If you wish to find out if your children are tall enough to ride check out their website in the rides section, using their easy slider bar you can narrow it down by minimum ride height to see what attractions they visit.

Costs

We've booked a room at a Premier Inn for £35 a night with free cancellation up to three days before. Although we hope to use the restaurant in the Premier Inn for breakfast and will go out for dinner in the evening, we'll take a picnic and drinks with us into the park to keep costs down.

As discussed earlier we paid £36 for our tickets and booked a Premier Inn just 7 minutes away for £35 and we ordered a takeaway costing £20 including delivery to our accommodation. The next day we woke up ready for breakfast, due to the covid pandemic Premier Inn was opening for breakfast the day after we left - typical! We ventured into the town of Matlock which has a lovely charm to it. We all ate in the local cafe for £25.

Although there is food available at Gullivers it's the fast kind and due to Covid, these have been reduced. As you would expect, buying for all the family adds up. I thought ahead and packed a picnic of things that wouldn't melt or require a fridge to keep them chilled such as cheesy bread buns, crisps, apples, raisins and Mr Kipling's cakes! We did treat the kids to a pack of 4 doughnuts for £3.50 and a couple of rock dummies.

The fuel was probably the most expensive item on our trip, but with our trip costing a smidge under £125 I really can't fault its value.'

Homeward Bound

We really enjoyed our time at Gullivers Kingdom, however, a few things to bear in mind, if your children are over 13 you may want to look elsewhere as this is aimed at younger kids. The park is starting to show signs of wear such as needing a coat of paint but nothing major and no safety concerns.

It's built around a hillside and although there are some beautiful views bear in mind it's not the easiest to get around. I would definitely recommend a visit here before your kids get too old, there's something for everyone, its pricing is fair and reasonable and the staff were friendly and helpful.