Wicksteed Park - anyone been - what was your experience like?

[ByThePowerOfGreyskull]

I live close. Have been wit the DS's a few times. ermm what do you want to know - my experiences depends on the DS's mood on the day we went

hi, i live quite close to wickstead park and take my dd (4) quite a bit, the play park is open all year round and free if you park car outside and walk in. the rides open at easter and you pay for a wristband or tickets for individual rides. not very good for older children like teens as they may get a bit bored.

Thanks -
DS1 is 4 and DS2 is 2 - we went to legoland last year and loved it but have run out of tesco vouchers and it is expensive so am looking for alternatives.

I am in Cambs so it isn't too far.
How expensive is parking?
What are queue's like?
Do you have to get there early to avoid crowds?
Is it better to go on a week day?
How far is it if you park outside and walk in?
Should I take a Buggy for DS2 are there places to leave a buggy if we are on a ride?
What is the food like?
Should we take a picnic?

Things to avoid
things to make sure we do

Sorry - quite alot really
FaQ & Pink - if you can help with any of the above please let me know.

Hi

It is quite good for the age of your dcs. We go occasionally - usually take a picnic as food is chips and burger type stuff. We've always gone at a weekend and queues aren't too bad.

There are a few playgrounds around the park which are great (and free!).

You'll need a buggy as it is a reasonable walk round but parking isn't that expensive - they've got a website with details.

thanks sundew

just thought of another question..

will we need a full day? - should we book a travel lodge so we can stay late?

Thanks

Hi - no its not that sort of place - more like a huge park with rides (rather than an Alton Towers sort of place).

We tend to stay about 4 - 6 hours depending on the weather. Its nice for a day out if you live close - but not sure how far I would travel to get there - it takes us about 30 minutes.

The rides are all quite tame - think carrousels (?sp) and beetle rollercoaters.

We prefer Woburn Safari Park for a big day out - which also uses Tesco Clubcard vouchers but it depends on which direction you live I suppose.

IT's on a different ilk to Alton Towers, Legoland, etc etc, much less grand (and not to mention less expensive ) and if you buy tokens and don't use them all on the day you can keep them and take them with you next time you go.

Definitely need a buggy, but there's lots of space for them just to run around and play too.

With regards to Woburn that sundew mentions, I personally prefer Whipsnade Zoo think it's better value for money, and if you've got young children who "NEED" to see the animals you're safer at Whipsnade .

aaahhhh,
i was born in Kettering, used to love going to Wickys.

it is a bit lame though.

there is a very rude parrot if i remember correctly.

it sounds perfect..

Thanks

Have been to woburn and whipsnade and we liked both but for very different reasons.

Looks like Wicksteed is on the list of things to do this year.

joosey - I admit for older children (teenagers) it's probably quite lame. But my DS1 and 2 love it (8 and 5yrs). I don't think little children expect the same illusions of "grandeur" that older children do.

it's about 20-30 minutes drive from us > and when H and I were together we sometimes went just to let them play on the free play bits !

it's true, little ones would love it.
esp. the sweary parrot!

FAQ - we've fone that too!

done, done done - I can spell honest - just tired after a night of vomiting from dd2

definately take a buggy and picnic, in season think it cost approx £6 to park the car in the park all day, you will probably find about 4-6 hrs is plenty. out of season the playgrounds and the grounds are open but not the rides, we take our dd on a sunday afternoon or in the week if husband has day off, we live approx 20 mins from kettering.

faq and sundew where abouts are you, we are in northampton.

pink - I'm along the A45 in Wellingborough

on a different subject faq, what are the schools like in wellingborough. we have just looked at a new house on the doddington grange estate, built by bryant, can't find the nearest school though.

sorry for hijack OP

Pink - they're not bad, from my research (admittedly on Ofsted) into Northampton schools a year or so back (for my exSIL) it would appear over all the junior/primary/infant is generally a lot better than Northampton .

I've just had a look for the cloest (I think?) Junior school though at it had a shockingly bad Ofsted in October last year. Although I had a friend who's DS attended there (until she moved up to Glasgow) and she was very happy with it.

Another school (not too far from there) used to have a pretty poor reputation, but I have heard that it's improved considerably in recent years.

thanks for that info, maybe not such a good move then, we are looking at kettering as well. we don't want our dd growing up in northampton. schools aren't much good from what i have read on ofsted reports.