Oakwood Park, the largest theme park in Wales is set in the heart of the rolling countryside of Pembrokeshire.
It’s a park that has been a regular fixture on our to-do list over the years mainly because it offers a theme park experience without the crowds and excessive wait times that you might encounter at some of the more popular parks in the UK – there is no need to pay extra to queue jump the rides here.
Oakwood is home to a variety of attractions perfect for families including the magical world of Neverland, which is why Holly (7) and Chloe (10) love visiting it so much.
Tip – You can use your Tesco Clubcard vouchers to use towards an adult or child ticket, this will help reduce the cost of entry which for a family of four can be expensive. Alternatively check out the Oakwood Park website or Facebook page for the latest offers.
We have been lucky enough to visit some of the world’s best and biggest theme parks, but there is something about Oakwood that keeps drawing us back each year.
The Oakwood experience starts with a ride on the miniature train which takes you into the park from the ticket office. It’s actually quicker to walk into the park but for Holly in particular it was such a fun way to start her day at Oakwood.
The benefit of arriving at Oakwood early is it’s basically deserted first thing so we were literally had the park to ourselves.
With our park map in hand we set off to find the latest addition to the park, Spooky Street. First up were the Cauldrons, which gave the kids the perfect opportunity to let off some energy after our car journey west to Pembrokeshire.
The star attraction of this area was the family rollercoaster, the Creepy Crawler. Thankfully, Holly our seven-year old made the minimum height restriction, which meant we all could give it a go.
Once was enough for me as it was quite bumpy in parts but Chloe in particular loved it and took advantage of the no wait times to ride again.
For children who don’t mind being spooked there was the Spooky 3D experience whilst the new Witch Hunt attraction looked a little scary for families with younger children so we left to explore the rest of the park.
Chloe is becoming a real adrenaline seeker and once she spotted Megafobia, the enormous wooden rollercoaster which dominates the skyline across from the boating lake so made a beeline for it. I kept Holly company as we watched my husband and Chloe rattling past at speeds up to 47 mph around the 3,000ft track.
Because of these credentials it attracts visitors from across the globe, including a large group from the European Coaster Club who were visiting the same day as us.
Seeing their beaming faces afterwards, there is no denying that this is a fun coaster to ride, especially as its one of the biggest and fastest wooden rollercoasters in Europe. For nervous rides the middle seats are best, yet by the end of our visit we had ridden on Megafobia at the back, front and the middle of the coaster!
We gave Speed, the parks vertical steel coaster for adrenaline seekers a miss and headed for treetops.
This rollercoaster is a brilliant family friendly attraction that was one of our favourite rides of the day.
It was nice that the girls could go on this together to experience the fun while we stood from the side watching their faces light up as they whizzed through the tree canopy at 22mph.
It was the perfect ride for my seven year old to experience with her sister, as the likes of the Megafobia was a little too scary.
It was lovely watching them having so much fun especially when they made sure that they were ready for the camera when their picture was taken on the ride, each circuit offering them the chance to pull a different facial expression!
There was no wait time which allowed the girls to ride this several times (I think it was 10 consecutive rides) before excitedly heading off to Neverland.
Neverland takes pride of place for families at Oakwood. Essentially a park within a park, it’s screened from the outside world and as you walk through giant entrance into Neverland you are transported into the magical world of Peter Pan.
With 10 rides and attractions we got to ride on a taxi past some of London’s most iconic Landmarks and visiting the Darling’s London home before arriving in Neverland itself.
Tink’s flying school was the real highlight for us in Neverland. This was the closest you could come to flying without needing magical pixie dust.
Climbing aboard our boat with a moving sail you literally fly through the sky like Tinkerbell would. It’s such a unique ride which we haven’t experienced at any other theme park
More fun still was at Skull Rock the parks water flume ride which takes you around Hook’s secret fortress before you drop from the skeletons mouth into the water below. Luckily it was a really warm day so we dried pretty quickly from the soaking we had at the bottom.
Tip – It might be worth packing a raincoat or a poncho as you will get wet on the water rides such as Skull Rock.
When Holly didn’t want to ride some of the more thrill-seeking rides with her bigger sister there were lots of other rides to keep her happy such as the aerodome and crocodile coaster.
We spent most of the afternoon here and could have happily stayed longer if it wasn’t of the lure of getting an additional adrenaline fix from the rollercoasters.
Not all of the park is as nicely presented as Neverland, some areas like Circusland are looking rather tired which is a shame, but it still kept Holly in particular entertained on its clown coaster and the teacups. Hopefully as the investment programme continues at the park it will refresh these areas with new rides and attractions.
Tip – Its worth checking with Oakwood before you visit which rides are operating when you plan to visit as some of the major rides can be closed. Drenched was closed during our visit and the Creepy Crawler stopped running in the afternoon.
Other rides and attractions at Oakwood included a pirate ship, boating lake, playgrounds, soft play – located in Neverland and two more water rides the Waterfall and Snake River Falls. Chloe thought this was so much fun as you can see in the photo below.
No trip to Oakwood is complete without taking a ride on the alpine-style bobsleighs. This was my husband’s personal favourite descending down the track which is full of twists and turns picking up speed as you descend.
You have to be 7 to ride alone but Holly was more than happy to control the bobsleigh with her daddy as a willing passenger as they sped down the slope.
In August the parks headline fireworks show ‘After Dark’ is performed every Wednesday and Saturday, which looks absolutely spectacular from the promotional clips I’ve seen.
Before we left Oakwood we couldn’t resist having one more go on our favourite rides of the day, Megafobia and Treetops.
Watch our video
Overall
We had such a fun time at Oakwood, it’s a lovely little theme park for younger families. The gorgeous weather and practically no wait time for the rides certainly helped enhance our experience, the girls are already asking to go back to ride Treetops, Tink’s Flying school and Megafobia again .
For the latest ticket prices, special offers and more information please visit the Oakwood Park website
We were guests of Oakwood Theme Park for the purposes of this review, but our views are our own