Gulliver's Kingdom — Attraction in Derbyshire Dales

As a family of four ( two adults and two children - 5 years & 4 months)) we did the eat-sleep-play on a Friday-Saturday-Sunday. Before going I did try and find as much information as I could but found there wasn’t much on the website. There is a brief list of what to expect with your email when you do the Eat-sleep-play. What I was looking for was something more.

We turned up and checked in at 4pm at the front desk which wasn’t easy to find as it is up the road past the front entrance and up a tight hill. You can park there if your in any of the rooms except willow which is located back at the front entrance. It’s a steep walk. Check in was easy, they were polite. They informed us of the location of the room. They asked us to pre book for the breakfast time the night before. No issues.

Our room was in the willows. The room was stunning, massive, clean and the beds were very comfortable. Unfortunately no fridge and only a small bin.

We brought the birthday package which was extra and we thought it was worth it. It includes a Character meet and greet at the room, ballons and banners waiting in the room, it did say a cake but we got a great quality chocolate character and a gullivour bear.

The evening meal is included (total price main £10 for the adults and all children’s meals I think are included in the offer) you can upgrade and add sides and drinks at a charge. (Menus posted from the accommodation and park).

Breakfast was good and you can also upgrade. The first evening and morning meals, were had down stairs where the entertainment and front desk was (this I didn’t find as nice as when we eat in the restaurant) The entertainment was good definitely children oriented. There is a tuck shop where you are able to buy snacks and drinks. There is a limited bar.

The park overall needs a redo. As you find there are some parts of the park that are broken (still in view, some are scary to see by young children.) The mining ride worked as you go around but a lot of the dummy’s were missing parts and the laser guns didn’t work. There are old animation bears, western statues, small buildings etc they are creepy. The log flume ideally needs a clean and a lick of paint. This area, the pirate area and parts of the dinosaur area definitely need a revamp.

The soft play, upside down house, rails, pirate ship, dinosaur water slide, merry go round and the chair lift are amazing. There are a few play areas which do look new and are great for the children. The new safari area was great and a good amount of money has been spent.

They have two entrances and gift shops that are not to bad, they are what you expect. There is a lot of up hill walking ideally hard for wheelchair users and those with prams.

There are ice cream and food outlets dotted all over. We ate at the safari and western restaurants. Reasonably priced and a little wait. It was a little out of season and some waiting happened as poor staffing levels.

There was an ideal place for breastfeeding which is in the bottom main entrance in a side baby room( Baby changing area and a seat) great place for young children and families.

Would we go...

I went here with my wife and 7 year old daughter. We did two days with a stay in the willows. Instructions to get to the Hotel were dreadful really, it wasn't very clear in communications where abouts this was, if you park by the front entrance you have to walk up the hills to get to reception. You cant drive up as the parking is very restrictive, especially outside the main hotel reception point which was a free for all, people taking two spaces with bad parking or people just parking where there wasn't a space. We booked in at the end of the first day to be told there were no early dining tables left, not great as we had a hungry 7 year old. Loads of space in the restaurant when we did get in at 6:30 so i assume this is a staffing issue. But again no comms to say book early for dining, as space is usually limited. The Willows apartments were nice and fun, no frills. The food in the restaurant was good but there were waiting times for it to be served and for the drinks. But the staff were friendly and apologetic about the wait. The queues for the rides were good apart from Dino Falls and Riggers revenge which were over an hours wait. Dino falls just seemed to be badly managed where people were coming out the end but was a long delay getting the next raft going. throughput could be doubled here with better time\people management at the top, so we only went on once which was disappointing. The same could be said for the riggers revenge, whilst waiting for the person to go round you are just waiting, there are two harnesses so with two staff on here they could have been hooking up a second person which would have reduced the queue times but there was just one poor lad trying to deal with it.. all other rides were fine and queues were around 30 minutes for the coaster. the tower drop was about 10-15 minutes. so not too bad to be fair.

A few of the rides could do with some TLC as they are looking a little worn or for example the silver mine ride didnt seem to work at all, shooting the targets doesn't seem to do anything most of the time which felt like a real let down.

But all in all the rides were fun for the age range and we would certainly look to go again in the future. Getting there early certainly pays off for parking and hitting some of the...

All in all a great day out for the family and good enough value. Different themes (pirates/ dinosaurs/ ancient civilisations/ jcb digger zones etc) and plenty of rides to keep most children entertained. We have been to Gullivers Warrington a few times but would say this is more than different enough to warrant a separate trip. I would say this attraction suits pre teens / young uns more than older teenagers. We went on a hot sunny day during the school summer hols and even then the queues were very small. This in itself was a fantastic bonus compared to other places where you needed to wait over an hour for a ride. The staff were all polite, there were plenty of toilets (all regularly cleaned) and lots of picnic areas and numerous break off playparks. Personally thought the prices of the ice creams/ slushys a bit crazy. I think i wasnt alone as dont think i saw 1 person have a slushy. Owners need to realise that times are tough and people cant afford to spend around £20 on slushys etc for a family of 4. Surely they'd sell more and make more profit by slightly lowering the prices. Lots of parking (but make sure you have good clutch control and handbrakes :) The only real downside (and it can't be helped as it's due to the nature of the location) was the very steep walks to navigate the venue. I'm not exaggerating by any stretch but most of the venue involved walking quite extreme gradients either via stairs or ramps. Without moderate fitness I wouldn't bother. Sadly didn't see anyone in a wheelchair and with the greatest will in the world it would be a tough day out for them despite the ramps. They did have one 'travelator' but it isn't enough really to make it wheelchair friendly. Perhaps they could investigate some small lifts for disabled access only (but again the terrain/ layout may pose some issues). As people have already suggested- try to work your way down the venue and then make use of the chairlift. Dont be worried about getting wet on the logflume/ water rides as you dont get too splashed really. To finish on a positive note- an unexpected bonus was the gorgeous natural surrounding views. The attraction was etched into a forest- the views were stunning and this alone would make the wait for the chairlift...