Lightwater Valley Theme Park is located in Ripon, North Yorkshire. It is close to Thirsk and an easy drive from York. Many love Lightwater Valley because its target market is the kids rather than just been a theme park aimed at teenagers and thrill seekers.
We visited Lightwater Valley with our 5 year old and 7 year old and we had a wonderful family day out. Today, I wanted to share with you our theme park review and a few photos, so that you can decide if Lightwater Valley is on your to do list.
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Lightwater Valley Ripon
It has taken us until now to visit Lightwater Valley, and the reason for that, is that it felt that little bit too far to commute to, for a day trip.
You see, we live in East Yorkshire and according to Google Maps it is a 1hr 50 drive. So then doing that both ways and you have almost 4 hours of driving.
Whilst the other theme park in Yorkshire, Flamingo Land is based in Malton and only an hour away. This makes us lean a lot more to a visit to Malton rather than Ripon.
But I still wanted to take the kids to Lightwater Valley and see what all the fuss was about.
Last summer we did a fun family road trip to Scotland and back and we made it our final stop on the way home to go to Lightwater Valley and its that day trip that we are talking about today.
Weather In Light Water Valley
So, when visiting Lightwater Valley, you are very much reliant on the good old English weather! We visited in early September, just before the kids went back to school and found that it was cold in the morning and warm in the afternoon.
If in doubt I recommend going in your favourite hoodie (I always wear this one that I bought the hubby, but I always wear!) and then as it gets warmer, tie your hoodie around your waist or put it in your bag. It will take up a lot less room, compared to taking a coat and then having to spend the day carrying the coat around with me.
If you check out the pics in this theme park review, you will notice that in some pics me and Jorge are wearing our hoodies and in others we just have a t-shirt on.
Rides At Lightwater Valley
After getting parked and going through the admissions process at Lightwater Valley, you are now ready for the Lightwater Valley rides.
Like I mentioned in the introduction, its all about rides for the kids and not a place for thrill seeking, though there is the odd one such as the eagles claw ride.
The kids loved the rides at Lightwater Valley, and went from one ride to another to another. There was never much of a queue and the staff were very friendly and welcoming and very good with the kids.
You also didn’t have to walk far in between the various rides, which is always a brilliant plus point for any mum that is out with their kids.
Though I will let the photos I took do the talking about our great day at the Lightwater theme park….
These were the typical rides that Sofia and Jorge went on, and we just walked around and they went on what they liked the most.
If you are wondering about the rollercoasters, then you have two really good ones for the kids. Our favourite Lightwater Valley roller coaster was the one designed like a ladybird. Great fun and not much of a queue to worry about.
If you are wondering about the Eagles Claw Ride that everyone is talking about, unfortunately our kids weren’t tall enough.
Facepainting + Mirrors
This North Yorkshire theme park didn’t disappoint with other things to do.
The kids loved having their faces painted and Jorge went for Spiderman, whilst Sofia went for a Unicorn theme. The kids got so excited about this and sat patiently as they were transformed into their favourite characters.
Then the funny bit was what I call the silly mirrors. You look into a mirror and it can make you really wide, really tall or highlight another feature. The kids haven’t seen these in many places before so were very intrigued.
Lightwater Adventure Golf
We decided to save the best until last and went to the mini golf just before we left the theme park.
Us and the kids love mini golf, and it was the main highlight when we would visit Krazy World when we lived in The Algarve.
The Lightwater mini golf is a fun end to the day, and is just like any typical mini golf. But because not that many people do it, its often not that busy and you can have some chill time with the kids.
Lightwater Valley Visitor Information
- Where is Lightwater Valley? Lightwater Valley, is one of two popular theme parks in Yorkshire. It is near Ripon and Thirsk. Its full address for your sat nav is Water Ln, North Stainley, Ripon HG4 3HT.
- Lightwater Valley Opening Times. Lightwater opens from 10.30am to 5pm during the popular summer season and then out of season it is mainly weekends from 10.30am until 4pm.
- Lightwater Valley Prices. You can get tickets for a family of four for £106. But if you have kids that are below 90cm then they can enter the theme park for free.
- What age is Lightwater Valley aimed at? From personal experience of visiting LWV I would suggest that it best suits the under 10’s. Our kids loved it and at the time of visiting they were aged 5 and aged 7.
- Is Lightwater Valley good for 13 year olds? Only if you are bringing a 13 year old with younger siblings and they can get enjoyment out of riding with them. As there is not many teenage rides compared to other theme parks.
- Which is better Lightwater Valley or Flamingo Land? Flamingo Land has the zoo and also caters more to the teenagers than the young kids. But if you have kids under 8 they will probably get more out of a visit to Lightwater Valley.
Pin Lightwater Valley Review For Later!
Well, that’s a wrap, do you have any questions then do ask below and if you want to refer back, to this later for planning your Lightwater Valley visit then don’t forget to pin it to your travel board or days out board on Pinterest.
