Theme Parks

ALTON TOWERS
Alton, Staffordshire ST10 4DB, open 9.30am daily, 2008 season starts from 15 Mar, closed during winter (Nov-Feb), closing times vary according to season, admission £34 ages 12 & over/£24 ages 4-11/£17 senior, disabled/under-4s go free/£90 family (2 adults & 2 children)/£100 family (2 adults & 3 children). Discounts for advance booking online. Ffi: 08705 204060, www.alton-towers.co.uk • Alton Towers has been around for over 20 years now and last year won the award for best UK theme park at the British Travel Awards. Ride-wise, many are old favourites. Anyone wishing to make the trip this year will remember classics like Corkscrew, a snakelike coaster not for the weak of stomach, and Oblivion, a ride that encourages you to “feel the fear”. More recent white-knuckle attractions include Rita - Queen of Speed, which apparently accelerates from 0-100 in just 2.8 seconds. The Haunted House is now an interactive action-packed adventure ride called Duel, where riders will actually do battle with ghosts and ghouls and shoot at 'living' targets - although hopefully not at their parents. There's also plenty for younger kids and for those visitors who aren’t such adrenaline chasers. Recent additions include a big 'Charlie & The Chocolate Factory' themed ride, plus an Extraordinary Golf course (open all year round, weather permitting) and an adventure playground for younger visitors called The Dung Heap. The Peugeot 207 Driving School is perfect for keeping speedier kids occupied. Of course, as everyone knows, Alton Towers is full of people. Some also have quite bad manners. Even in the supposedly ‘quiet’ periods it will be busy. No, it will. And you will spend an awful, awful lot of time queueing for some of the most popular rides at busy times. If you are still determined, bring plenty of reading material or investigate advance booking of Shortcut and Families First tickets, which will be of some help. And make sure you queue with friends and family who you actually like.

CHESSINGTON WORLD OF ADVENTURES
Chessington, Surrey KT9 2NE, open daily 10am-5pm (later hours at peak times), 2008 season begins on the 15 Mar and ends on 29 Dec, admission £25 ages 12 and over/£18 under-12s/£22 senior/children shorter than 1m get in free. Family tickets available at various prices, discounts for advance booking. Ffi & booking: 0870 999 0045, www.chessington.co.uk • Offers more than just high-octane thrills and spills. As well as the stomach-churning coasters, of which Rameses Revenge, Dragon's Fury and the fearsome Vampire are the most notable, there's also a steadily growing collection of exotic animals, including monkeys and big cats. The newest family-friendly attraction is a 250,000-litre aquarium, which includes 20 marine-life displays and a walk-through ocean tank. Our favourite bit, though, is Beanoland, where there are rides inspired by Dennis the Menace, the Bash Street Kids, etc. Good range of rides suitable for a wide range of ages, with rides graded by 'adventurer' experience level required (i.e. how much you want to hold on to your lunch). Anyway, all good clean tacky fun.

COMBE MARTIN WILDLIFE & DINOSAUR PARK
Combe Martin, Ilfracombe, Devon EX3 0NG, open daily from 10am throughout the season 15 Mar to 2 Nov, last admission 3pm, admission £12 adult/£7.50 ages 3-15/£8.50 seniors/free for children under 3/£34 family (2 adults, 2 children). Group and school party discounts available. Ffi: 01271 882486, www.dinosaur-park.com • As the name suggests: lots of birds, animals and a butterfly house, though the real stars of the place are the members of the resident wolf pack. They occasionally run these really cool evening workshops in which participants learn how to howl and then test their skills on the actual wolves, some classes are even given by Shaun Ellis, a wolf-behaviour expert. But kids will be just as thrilled by the animatronic dinosaurs. Also some lovely gardens with interesting botanic specimens.

CRICKET ST THOMAS
Nr Chard, Somerset TA20 4DB, open daily throughout the year 10am-6pm, shorter hours in winter, peak admission charges during school Easter & Summer holidays £8.75 adult/£7.50 senior/£6.50 ages 3-14/£27.59 family. Admission rates are slightly lower at other times. Ffi: 01460 30111, www.cstwp.co.uk • One of the West Country's biggest and best wildlife/theme parks, which also used to be the setting for TV's 'To the Manor Born' (ask your parents). Anyway, your money gets you into a beautiful parkland wildlife centre, housing over 600 animals, with a conservation remit - take a walk through the lemur woods where the loveable primates swing through the branches. Other highlights include the primate island and safari railway, plus the usual play areas and educational bits. There's a lively programme of daily events and displays, such as lemur feeding, pony rides, etc. Phone for details of what's on on the day of your planned visit.

DIGGERLAND
Verbeer Manor, Cullompton, Devon EX15 2PE , open 10am-5pm every Sat, Sun & BHNs until Oct 2008 and daily during school holidays, admission £15 ages 3-65/£7.50 over 65/under-3s get in free. Admission includes unlimited rides and drives on all building-site diggers and dumpers, but not coin-operated activities. See website for details of discounts and family tickets. Ffi: 08700 344437, www.diggerland.com • What a brilliant idea! A place where you can get to ride on JCBs, dumper trucks, quad bikes, mini tractors and loads more - even robots. Boy heaven, or what? All sorts of theme park rides as well, such as Spindizzy and the Sky Shuttle and mystery rides in the Land Rover Safari. For overgrown kids, you can pay extra for things like taking part in JCB races or even have a proper two-hour JCB driving course. This place may have dissatisfied customers, but we've never met any. There are also branches in Co Durham and in Kent, if you're going that way.

LEGOLAND
Windsor Park, Windsor, Berkshire SL4 4AY, open 10am-5pm on most days, with extended hours during school hols (phone or see website to check), 2008 season starts 15 Mar and ends in Nov, admission £34 adult 1 day/£26 child, senior 1 day/£66 adult 2 day/£50 child, senior 2 day/under-3s go free. Discounts available for booking online, check website for details. Ffi: 08705 040404, www.legoland.co.uk • Everyone’s favourite, because even though it's full of rides ranging from the innocent (those marvellous boats) to the terrifying (the Jungle Coaster), there’s still a whiff of the worthy and educational. Lego is good for young minds and fingers, so a theme park based on the stuff must be good, too, right? Not really, but it is a brilliant place... Huge range of rides and adventures, only a few of which are really queasy. New for 2008 includes the Land of the Vikings featuring the Longboat Invader Ride and the Vikings’ River Splash. Favourites include the Fire Academy in which families of 'fire cadets' can compete to be the fastest at leaping out of trucks and putting out 'burning' buildings, and the Driving School for kids. The main draw, of course, is Miniland, which features pocket-sized versions of many international and national monuments, all made from Lego. Full range of events running throughout the season, including laser shows, medieval jousting, puppet shows, firework displays, etc.

LONGLEAT
Nr Warminster, Wilts BA12 7NW, Safari Park & attractions open for the new season daily from 15 Mar to 2 Nov, Passport Ticket £22 adult/£16 child 3-14 yrs, seniors. Save 5% if you book online. Ffi: 01985 844400, www.longleat.co.uk • Britain’s original theme park and the setting for BBC’s ‘ Animal Park’ is in some ways rather underappreciated these days. The Days Out Guide adores this place because it’s not a bland corporate attraction run by a marketing department whose default assumption is we are idiots. A great deal of it reflects the forceful and eccentric personality of its owner, Lord Bath. A lot of visitors are astonished at how impressive the house itself is, with very ornate interiors and a very serious collection of paintings; it really is one of England's really great houses. The Safari Park is great fun, but those monkeys really do vandalise a lot of cars, so the "at your own risk" warning as you start to drive through is deadly serious - again, the sort of thing no other theme park would contemplate for fear of compensation culture or some vague fear of spoiling the “visitor experience”. The safari boats and railway are probably the next most popular attractions, but there are loads and loads of other things to do. Expect to have to queue for a few things if you visit at busy times. You might also want to plan two visits if you want to cover everything; the Passport Ticket gives you one go on all attractions at any time during the year, so you can always come back a second time at no extra charge.

OAKWOOD
Narberth, Pembrokeshire, open for 2008 season from 20 Mar until 28 Sept, admission £14.95 age 10 and over/£13.50 ages 3-9/£10 seniors/free to children age 2 and under. Family and group prices are also available. Ffi: 01834 861889 , www.oakwoodthemepark.co.uk • White-knuckle heaven out in the wilds of Wales - and a serious idea for a day out from Bristol/Bath as driving through South Wales is generally rather pleasant once you get past Swansea. Good family day out, and also good for gangs of 20- and 30-something friends; maybe hare out there for an evening’s fun during the ‘After Dark’ sessions in August. Apart from the more tame attractions, you get: Hydro, " Europe's fastest and wettest water coaster"; The Bounce, a drop-tower coaster that travels at 70mph; and the skydiver-designed free-fall simulator Vertigo (extra charge). Also a state-of-the-art rollercoaster called Speed, joining the existing vast rollercoaster called Megafobia.

THORPE PARK
Chertsey, Surrey KT16 8PN, open from 10am-5pm, with longer opening hours during busy season (school holidays etc), 2008 season from 16 Feb to 9 Nov, admission £32 adult/£21 children under 12/£88 family ticket (2 adults, 2 children). Discounts for advance or online booking. Ffi: 0870 444 4466, www.thorpepark.co.uk • England's leading attraction for serious adrenaline junkies of all ages. The aptly-named Colossus is the world's first 10-looping rollercoaster, while Detonator proudly "hoists a cargo of human misery" (their words, not ours) 100 feet up in the air and fires them back down again at 5.5Gs: "the most the body can take". Other rides have names like Nemesis Inferno, Rush and Slammer. Stealth, "the fastest and tallest launch coaster in Europe”, made its debut a couple of years ago and was upgraded last year with the promise that it would make it even more terrifying. The park announced in January that it had been granted permission to build a fourth giant rollercoaster, rumoured to include a “beyond vertical drop” from 100 ft. Estimated opening for this new ride is 2009.

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