pluk Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 There seems to be a massive lack of decent waterparks here in the UK. The only one I've ever been to here that was not basically a normal pool with a couple of flumes attached was called 'fantaseas' in Dartford. It was just amazing, a full continental style water park but mainly inside. As it closed sometime in the early 90's I don't expect anyone here to remember it, you'll have to take my word for it, it really was something else. The only other decent experience pools I've come across, although definitely not actual waterparks, are the domes at Centre Parcs. The one at Elveden especially is great fun with, the spectacularly rough and dangerous outdoor rapids the highlight. They seem to be developing these too, with this teaser released for something big and new coming soon. The problem with these though is you have to be on a (usually very expensive) holiday there to gain access. So, are there any proper water parks I'm missing out on? Could a decent sized full on water park successfully exist in the UK? I can't understand why no one has tried in the last 20 years. Surely people would visit? I know I would. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 Isn't Sandcastle at Blackpool meant to ok? The UK climate just doesn't lend well to water parks being built, such is the way of things. Building indoor ones to contravene this issue means higher costs and potentially more difficult planning permissions to tackle... I think though it's mostly the lack of suitable climate and desire to go and see some topless fat bloke in a speedo... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke_A Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 Sandcastle Water Park in Blackpool is very good, it's all indoors and has had 2 new slides this year. It's got something for everyone, and quite a few good thrill slides too. It's very well themed as well! It's literally right opposite the Pleasure Beach, great views of PMBO and the other rides from the windows and slide towers! Splashdown, Poole also looks like a great park at Tower Park in Poole, not been here yet but going in August. They have an indoor and outdoor section. Never seem to find many good pics/videos of this park but this shows it pretty well below... Splashdown, Quaywest is a fully outdoor Water Park in Torquay, right by the sea. Went here when I was about 12/13 and seem to remember most of the slides being very similar, one of them though was pretty impressive with just a straight down near vertical drop. Wouldn't really recommend this one as much tbh as they've not got many new slides. pluk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidders Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 Splashdown, Poole also looks like a great park at Tower Park in Poole, not been here yet but going in August. They have an indoor and outdoor section. Never seem to find many good pics/videos of this park but this shows it pretty well below... Been here loads of times. The Screamer is great (2:54) but lasts about 5 seconds and drowns you at the end. The Black Baron is the same but only lasts two seconds, and the gert green thing with the optional rubber rings outdoors is actually okay (the first slide in the video, where the koolkids are penguin diving). By FAR and away the best slide is the Mississippi Drifter (the one at 1:54), which can genuinely be every bit of the word lamazing if you've got some mates and can actually find a rubber ring. It's the one everyone likes to race everyone else on, but it's SO hard to manoeuvre in those rings (as you can see in the video), hence why it's amazing because, especially when all the effects are on and the outdoor section is open, it lasts about ten minutes excluding the time it takes everyone to make it back to their rings for the tenth time. Some people abandon their rings completely! So yeah, LOVE THIS ONE. But word of advice - watch out for the paedos in the first bowl because there was a fat guy in his fifties who kept volunteering to help 'younger' ladies unfortunate enough to fall out of their rings (which happens A LOT) back into them on my last trip... odd. Watch out for queues as well - they can get pretty beastly. The rest is pretty **** even by Somerset's standards. Some of the slides are so crap you actually stop in them, and some of them look like ventilation pipes. Watch out for the stairwells up to the slides though - they're more industrial-looking than Saw's interior themeing. It's almost like someone left a tap on in a warehouse so don't expect too much when you do go. Good value for money. £11.99 for all day. WOO WATERY VENT PIPES (That's Colorado Coaster on the right, Red River Roller in the middle and some other crap one). pluk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Users Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 Splashdown is hilarious. Nearly all the slides are lovably stupid. The 'rapids' normally results in getting stuck in at least one of the slides and flipped over into a whirlpool where you have to attempt to get back into you ring. The really slow enclosed slides are horrible though due to their tiny diameter. Sidders 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidders Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 Splashdown is hilarious. Nearly all the slides are lovably stupid. The 'rapids' normally results in getting stuck in at least one of the slides and flipped over into a whirlpool where you have to attempt to get back into you ring. The really slow enclosed slides are horrible though due to their tiny diameter. Yep, if you're anywhere near normal height, the ones in the picture I posted are impossible to do because you have to lie down, and that makes you stop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pluk Posted June 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2012 Splashdown Poole and Sandcastle Blackpool don't look bad, they don't look amazing either though. Sandcastle looks like it has changed a hell of a lot since I last went years ago. They do though seem to you standard pool with some stuff attached as best they can, but the buildings aren't really designed for it. I wish I could find some pictures of Fantaseas, but I can't find any at home (I must have some somewhere) and none seem to exist online either, which is strange. I can't even find any pictures of the outside of the building which is really bizarre as it remained standing for a decade after the pool closed down, looming large over the Dartford River Crossing and getting quite a lot of press as people complained about how ugly it looked decaying all that time in such a prominent position. While it was open though, it was something else. It was very well themed in a tropical style, no part of it ever felt like just a swimming pool. -The main flumes, which I think there were about 6 or 8 of, were accessed from a 'launch tower' which was a long way up, this meant the flumes were long and fast. At least one was dark with lighting effects in, they really were American water park standard. My favourite was a really thin blue one, the speed you could get up to in there was astonishing. -Standard lazy river winded around the whole complex. It would reroute outside in warm weather but stay inside on cold days. -'The Bermuda Triangle' was similar to Mississippi Drifter above, but was a lot rougher with the pools between the slides really fast flowing whirlpools, ropes would hang by the exit chute from each pool to grab as you went passed to haul yourself onto the next bit of slide and a few of the pools had multiple exits so you could take different routes. It was massive too, it would often take 20 minutes or so to complete and was suspended above the other areas of the park. This was always the highlight. It would often end up with far too many people in the pools, a big bundle of people and rings. Looking back it really was quite dangerous, I'm not sure they'd get away with it today. -'Kamakazi' was a near vertical slide, although not very long. The big difference with this compared to any other I've ever seen was that instead of having a flat run off to slow you it had a lip at the bottom to throw you up into the air with a fairly large landing pool to catch you bellow. Just crazy. -The main pool was huge, with gushers squirting into the pool that would knock you off your feet. Every half hour or so the waves would come for a few minutes. The end of the pool was kind of circular and shallow, so the waves would push you against the wall and round the corner, dumping you in the lazy river if you went too far. It really was a clever design. I can't explain without pictures just how good it was, I'm going to have to try and hunt some down. This is what I want to see in the UK again though, a proper water park. Luke_A 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Doughty Posted July 9, 2012 Report Share Posted July 9, 2012 Their also Splash (Butlins, Skegness) Alton Towers I know there isn't many outdoors due to the weather climax we can't have them due amount of cold weather which we expirience they wouldn't get much money all year round that way. I would love uk to bring something like what Germany has, It's basically giant waterpark indoors but in the summertimes the roof opens up so you can enjoy the sun whiles getting soaked! It might be worth a visit if you ever get bored of uk's water parks. It's only a ferry away xD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pluk Posted July 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2012 Both of those, especially Butlins, are really very small. Not worth visiting unless you happen to be there already really. Altons water park I've always thought was a massive wasted opportunity, they could have done anything they liked with it and all they did was that. Designed as a free add on to a hotel stay, now used as a paid 'destination', which it really does not warrant. At least Centre Parcs have started to do a bit of development. The new Elveden slide has now been unveiled and looks pretty good. Videos: http://www.centerparcs.co.uk/discover/news/newsplash.jsp?uri=/discover/news/index.jsp You know the name of the German park? I may be passing through Deutschland later this year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPJames Posted October 27, 2012 Report Share Posted October 27, 2012 Splashdown,Poole is the best water park I have been to in the UK, however I think alton towers could expand their water park to make it awesome and thorpe could build one too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul123 Posted October 31, 2012 Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 SplashDown poole is pretty decent IMO, They have some pretty good slides, and you can easily be entertained for a good few hrs, I just love riding the Spacebowl Slide nearly all day , be warned though that Splashdown is Water Slides ONLY, there is NO main swimming pool area, so dont go there expecting to go for a nice swim as well unlike The Sandscastle and others which offers everything in one, this is still not a bad thing of course, because if you like WaterSlides, you will still like/love the place I think, Also its open all year round too, they simply operate with all the indoor slides in the winter season, and open the outdoor slides come the summer,Mississippi Drifter still operates in the winter/off season as it diverts down another flume instead of Grand Canyon which is quite a clever thoughtout process I dont know what the future really holds for this place and Tower Park in general though as the whole place did go downhill slightly, but it suddenly went under a big modernisation adding new restaurants,refurbishing the cinema and bowling, and its kinda payed off with visitor numbers much improved, but Splashdown CANT really expand as they dont have the room, they did add a new flume this year, but its their first major Flume sinse they added The Spacebowl which I think was back in 2005/06,cant remember exactly,Torpedo Run went under a change and re-theme in that time, but thats it. Also cant believe no one has mentioned it, but WaterWorld in Stoke is quite decent, Been there a couple of times, and its quite good, It seems to attracts a LOT of chavs unfortunutly, and it always gets busy(Was busy on all the times I tryed it anyway), but there are some decent slides on offer(including a Master Blaster), and my personal favourite again, A Spacebowl slide,plus the swimming area is quite good with good children facilities, and slides too, defo worth a visit when you're in the area Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidders Posted October 31, 2012 Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 SplashDown poole is pretty decent IMO, They have some pretty good slides, and you can easily be entertained for a good few hrs, I just love riding the Spacebowl Slide nearly all day , be warned though that Splashdown is Water Slides ONLY, there is NO main swimming pool area, so dont go there expecting to go for a nice swim as well unlike The Sandscastle and others which offers everything in one, Well hey now, Splashdown does have that adorably pointless Jacuzzi thing at the top of the Black Baron, next to the Mississippi Drifter. Awks how only about three of the vents actually pump the pool with warm water and how the whole thing serves as the only entrance to the upper slides, meaning while you're relaxing you've got people of all ages splashing past you as they hurtle towards the Black Baron... Aww, Splashdown... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pluk Posted November 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 The new water ride at CP Elveden opened today, video on the link... http://www.centerpar...tropicalcyclone Hard to tell from a vid, it looks alright but not sure it makes the most of the bloody great cone. The crazy rapids there still look better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted November 22, 2012 Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 I love that in the facts and figures section is states proudly that 'the top of the water ride stands at 18m tall - that's the equivalent height of an English oak tree'. 'Our slide is as tall as a tree'. But seriously this actually looks decent and I'm surprised it's the first to combine a space bowl and cone (I think?!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pluk Posted March 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 Trawling through rubbish internet I've stumbled upon pictures of fantaseas! Great memories for me, I've not been able to find any pics before now, and haven't seen it since the early 90's... Only a tiny glimpse of what was in there, but great to see after all this time. What a place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Posted March 1, 2013 Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 Ahh waterparks... This was my childhood waterpark http://www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/coralreef#&panel1-1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted March 1, 2013 Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 The Waterpark I visit quite alot : http://www.basingstokeleisure.com/aquadrome I think that my two favourite waterparks are Sandcastle at Blackpool and Blue Lagoon in South Wales. (Next to Oakwood theme park) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubbles1 Posted March 1, 2013 Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 I'm looking forward to see what changes have been done to coral reef, as its been closed for a few months for improvements. Not sure what though. Does anyone here know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted March 2, 2013 Report Share Posted March 2, 2013 I'm looking forward to see what changes have been done to coral reef, as its been closed for a few months for improvements. Not sure what though. Does anyone here know? I think it's just maintenence rather than huge changes. It seems strange that it is taking so long though because they replaced all the flumes with identical ones before the winter closure - but maybe they have unforseen problems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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