Emerald Park — Attraction in The Municipal District of Ashbourne

One of the greatest things to do on a holiday! Here are my highlights :

Cú Chulainn : The classic coaster everybody loves, and it's for a reason! Never really liked wooden coasters but this one is amazing! The drop from it being slow to go a fast pace for the rest of the ride is great. A decently long one, too! Surprisingly only about a 10 minute wait on some of the busiest hours on a Saturday. If you aren't afraid of roller coasters, this one is for you!

The Quest : My personal favourite, only complaint is length. First makes you go backwards, then after that a drop, and that keeps a fast pace for most of the ride, until you go backwards again! The first time going onto this was the best because I didn't know what could happen next. Has some great atmosphere, too! Fantastic job at tir na nog. Only complaint is that first time going on was the wait being about 40 minutes.

Air Race : This one is a heck of a ride! Getting on, you start rotating. After, you start flipping around and that's the best part! It was so, so fun and this is one i reccomend if you aren't scared of being upside down alot.

Na Fianna Force : This is one to DEFINETLY go on! Going onto it not knowing what's gonna happen is better : a long, fast ride, flipping you around sometimes, and that's apart of the fun! Definetly scary too, and you could barely know what it was going to throw at it next! Ready to join the Fianna?

More info on other rides :

Flight School : If you are only slightly scared of roller coasters, this one is for you! It has no drops, and keeps a nice steady pace the whole time. Decently fun with some nice airport decorations, which is my favourite! The ride itself isn't too long, but you go twice in one session along the tracks to make up for it. Just outside my favourites, wish it was a little more faster paced.

Celtic Dreamer (i think it's called?)

A slow one for a break. If your too scared for roller coasters, try this one out as it isn't too scary, yet isn't boring either. The pace is slow, yet looks MUCH faster looking at it. I'd reccomend to try it out if your looking for a break after roller coasters like the Cú Chulainn.

Power Surge : This one is great fun! Start off slow, and then go spinning around sometimes sideways! A long, fast paced ride for someone that needs some fun. Just at the barrier of my favourite rides.

Additional Info : I didn't go on the Viking Voyage, as it was a water ride and I didn't want to get wet. And also, the lines were really long. I also didn't go on the rotator... I was too scared myself. Also didn't fancy the sky walk, as the line looked well over an hour and we were running short on time.

Zoo Information : This park has a great zoo, with diverse animals! Birds, cats, apes, you name it! There is a wide variety of birds, from predator to prey. They also keep some more endangered animals, which i like, such as the pheasant and the amur animals. Sadly, I didn't know about the Lemur Woods and by the time I had seen it it was 10 past 4 and the lemur woods are open from 12-4PM. Definetly looks interesting, though.

On my visit, the only available animals you were allowed to touch were the sheep. You could see some rabbits, goat and alpacas though.

The meerkats were very, very interesting to look at! One is always watching for danger in the sky, and the others are walking. Who will tell them there's no danger here?

The macaques were fascinating to see, climbing around and being active. Also seen 2 macaques sleeping on eachother, which was cute!

Food Choices :

Want a filling, cheap enough meal? Try the Argentinian grill. There's chicken goujouns and chips meal, chicken bites and chips meal, bison burger & chips meal, and some others for €9.95, with some free optional sauces.

I would reccomend going for a nice day out. Definetly...

First time to come and visit. Family of 5 tickets all access €187 online . I would highly suggest you booked online rather getting it on the place that day as it’s cheaper.

The day we visited it was raining heavy in the morning , you can buy poncho in the gift shop for €2.50 each so paid €12.50 for us all.

So if you think it’s raining the day of your visit just bring your own raincoat or poncho.

You will see maps all around. All the junior rides are on the left side , with fairy house , the train ride , if I’m right there are like 12 rides or activity the junior side. There is all a height requirement for kids going in and kids that are unaccompanied also. The junior side have ice cream shop and 2 stalls for playing games and getting teddies on return. The duck game is €6 each but guaranteed you get a toy so spent €12 on it . The ball game €10 didn’t win anything 😂 .

Lunch we went to the restaurant. There was a long line for ordering food but the staffs are quick. Only waited till 15 minutes. Food selections was few . I have attached the menu on the restaurant they have kids meal too. Over all we spend €64 for all main meals and drinks family of 5 . The food was lovely And portion was big.

But few other options outside for pizza or burger foods too just didn’t know about it till we have reached the right side of the location.

Other option too is to bring your own foods and loads of places can sit down and eat or have a picnic with the family. Saves a fortune making your own food.

There is a big playground near the restaurant for all ages . But that day the few of the slides on the right side of the playground was close as it’s very warm . Only few slides were open the one shaded part under the tree.

Walking around towards the big rides there’s few animals you can see and there’s some animals you can pet too. The time we arrived on the petting area there was only goats as the alpacas were eating.

There’s a place you can get in and walk and see a lemur near you. Just no petting and bending down as they are wild animals and they do bit. It’s a quick one but very good for kids to close encounter wild animals and what to do around them to be safe.

We were on time for a bird raptors show that was 2:30pm and there were few time slots for it. The staffs were very good and the show last 25 minutes -30 minutes. Few raptors birds were in the show and it was nice and educational.

Walking down to the big rides like dino dash , the rotator , vikings and the rollercoaster .

We fell into the ball games again and mostly spend a fortune for the games €60 for all that games and didn’t win anything. Loose all the money and had grumpy kids as they didn’t have the big Teddies hopefully they can do a consolation prices for the small kids. Specially after buying so many games.

Anyway in vikings we weren’t allowed as my youngest lost her all access band we e were told to go back to the admission. Didn’t bothered as too tired to walk back .

Anyway we spend around €350 from tickets , foods and the games stalls. A very expensive day out but for me that day the kids had so much fun . So it’s worth it. There were loads of people as it was a weekend probably quieter on a weekend .

They have membership option probably can check out as probably can save fortune if you wanna come to the place all the time.

Staffs are all very nice and doing a great job! I more like the name tayto park tho than...

Hello. I’m writing this review really disappointed about our today’s experience in Emerald Park. As we’re from co.Cork getting to park took us 3 hours. We bought ticket for Special needs child plus carer showing my 5 year old son’s AsIAm card. He was so excited as it was a gift for him and our first long trip after me passing my driving test. We were given our tickets and fast passes and off we went to… constant disappointment… Every ride and roller coaster we head to and went through fast que we were told we couldn’t access first wagons. My son’s special interest are numbers and he loves number 1. I told staff we could wait two or three turns but he really wants to go to the first one. We were told on most rides it’s not possible because people are waiting long time in the queue and it would be unfair towards them. My child was crying every time he was denied first wagons. He loves rollercoasters and he couldn’t understand why people from staff was telling us everytime to go to the very back wagons. Don’t get me wrong. I do know how world works. We won’t get to be first most of the time and especially fighting system. I do know people are waiting in queues but these people don’t have disability and sensory issues which standing in the rain and being denied access when gates were opening first on the side of normal queue then for special queue was just ridiculous. I was talking to parents with older than my boy who also had autism. We pointed the issue out to staff waiting in the queue for dinosaur rollercoaster. They were telling us the same thing all over again that people are waiting and we can take whichever wagon will be free and if will be free. Isn’t that the whole point of fast track that people will get to chose their sits first even without needs as they payed for it? I raised the issue to the manager of the dino dash and she kept rolling her eyes at me and my crying son. Overall I needed to literally put my all efforts together and try to explain it to my child and instead of relaxing myself after long drive and seeing my child content I was stressing myself over making up for what they did wrong. But then I said you know what? This is rude what they are doing and I don’t agree with this. That’s what I told him. He was very upset and kept crying but I said you have right to be sad and angry and I’m sad and angry too. This experience wasn’t inclusive and we felt discriminated against disability. Btw I’m an adult with AuDHD. I raised issue to manager while leaving park she offered us tickets to compensate and we did took them I thought I would like to have this option for him to decide if he wants to come back or not while he will calm down and time will pass. Overall very dissatisfying experience which breaks my heart as a mother fighting for supports for my...