Robin Hoods Wheelgate Park — Attraction in Newark and Sherwood

We visited for the Santa experience but decided to make a day of it as we’d travelled a fair way to visit. First impressions weren’t great, went for lunch in the first cafe we came across and it was a shambles - so dirty, clueless staff and only 2 highchairs (which were both in use). Pizza was mediocre.

On to the rides, no staff around so queues built up and one staff member had to close down the ride she was on to open another. It was a very sad and pathetic looking park. Looks like its not had an update since the 90’s.

Next we visited the alien base to see santa, we were slightly early for our slot so decided to sit down and have a coffee whilst the kids played in soft play (which again was filthy and run ragged with preteens even though it was for toddlers). I ordered a hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows, took a sip and the drink spilt from the side of the cream and scalded my face - far too hot! I approached staff and asked for some milk to cool it and was told they didn't keep any in (the guy behind the counter had 0 people skills). I then approached a group of staff and explained i had just been scalded by a hot drink and two pointed to another and scurried off. The one who “helped” me said there was nothing he could do and if i had a complaint to go to reception. A short while later my partner ordered a cold drink and caught a completely different staff member mocking me and saying “well ive just tried one and its not hot”. When my partner spoke up and suggested she approach me and tell me, she got embarrassed and approached me sheepishly and said she didn't think it was hot and asked if i even had any injuries to prove id been scalded (i showed her the very visible mark on my face). She also didnt drink this hot drink infront of anyone but regardless, thats very unprofessional. 40 minutes after the inital incident and after i ran to the ladies toilets to apply cold water to my face - i was approached again and was asked to fill in an accident form and was offered an ice pack. Totally mismanaged!

We saw santa, it was good.

Then we visited the animal barns - wow, those poor animals. Rabbits and ferrets next to each other (predator and prey species to one and other). All animals looked very sad and unkempt. Again, looks like the enclosures haven't been maintained since the 90s.

By this point i was fed up so we thought we’d visit the “gift shop” on the way out. For one, i thought we’d accidentally walked into a stock room, overpriced tat that clearly hadn't been rotated or purchased because it was covered in dust.

Overall, a terrible experience. Will not be revisiting unless a drastic makeover is done and the animals are at the very least given some enrichment.

I have emailed customer relations and have yet to hear back yet.

Very not worth the £100 we...

We took our 4 year old for an Easter treat, and it certainly was a very fun filled day out! Plenty for a child that age to be interested in and get excited about. From that perspective I cant fault the place. Animals, rides, bouncy castles, adventure playgrounds, a maze, mini golf, splash Park, play town, sand pit and amusement arcade machines....its all there!

But heres the thing, they don't say to bring cash, make sure you do. Some of the extra activities such as a "unicorn" ride only take cash. If you want to feed the animals, that's 50p in a slot machine too. Second, a lot of the park needs a bit of TLC. Amongst other things i observed, you can see in my pictures the dead plants in the tropical house and the carousel pony that needs restoration. Some of the ball blaster guns weren't working and the the vacuums to take the balls up were weak, some of the air jet pods weren't working either... I was also baffled about some of the height and weight restrictions , I could send my child on a runaway train - the biggest ride there, but not get on the campervan due to being too short and a weight restriction so adults can't ride. Terribly frustrating for all. Another frustration was that booking a 1 hour slot at the splash Park is ESSENTIAL if you want to go in. Not sure how i missed it when booking the tickets on line, thankfully it was a relatively quiet day and we managed to book on to a late slot at the splash gate. Very lucky. On A hot and busy day I am certain we would not have been so lucky. I wasn't impressed to see parents smoking cigarettes on the park (golf course and maze) and no staff around these areas to challenge it. There is a no smoking policy on the park so parents that do smoke should consider this - I understand it is possible to get stamped so you can leave the park and come back which may be helpful for you. Finally, the ice cream/ice lolly prices are extortionate. Hoping my short term memory serves me right (happy to be corrected!) - A rocket lolly was over £2, a twister the same, Magnums were over £3, and let's face it they are no where near the size they used to be! Its a shame for such a thing to be so ridiculously priced at a place that is otherwise good value!

These are the reasons why I have marked down to 4 stars.

What I was impressed with was how safety conscious the park "rangers" were. Every single ride attendant measured all the children before they could get in, they were quick to respond to sneaky queue jumpers and had everything bolted and chained up while a ride was in motion. Nice work 👏 For the very reasonable grand total of under £50 plus food (food menu and prices in the photo below), 2 adults and a 4 year old had a lovely day out in a safe and child friendly environment. It's a yes from me. But a definte no to...

We visited Wheelgate Park today for the first time. There was no wait time. On arrival, we were greeted with two dressed up characters which was fun for the children. It was unfortunate that it rained on and off for most of the day but it didn’t seem to affect the day too much for us. We found a few rides were shut as soon as we arrived due to the weather when it wasn’t even raining at the time which seemed strange. There was also a couple of big rides down for maintenance (like the merry go round) which I guess can’t be helped but was a little disappointing. The Maze outside was brilliant, we were in there for ages but the kids & adults loved it! Overall, there was quite a lot we could do here- from the rides, to all the animals (reptiles, farm animals & furry friends like bunny’s & guinea pigs & ferrets), all the bouncy castles, trampoline area, sand areas, go kart areas, several large playgrounds and soft plays & more.

Plenty of indoor places for when it rained heavy including quite a few rides indoors too which was very helpful. Food was great, came fast as well. The Falcon talk was amazing and both of my children got to wear the glove whilst the owl flew to and from them. It was a great experience. We also got to see the otters being fed which was good too.

We went in the tropical house and was a little confused really. It was very small and there wasn’t a single butterfly in sight. The fish were beautiful. We tried to pay for food to feed them except the machine was empty so we couldn’t feed them. Apart from the train ride, we found a lot of the rides were quite basic and not much different to eachother. Staff were mostly on the friendly side, but there were quite a few staff that really didn’t look like they were happy being there. Like someone else said on their review, I also agree with not understanding why adults have to pay so much more than children’s tickets when there weren’t many rides the adults could actually go on.

They also had golf which looked good but we didn’t have a go. Our children loved the village/houses, it was one of their favourites. We also had a look at the splash park, which we didn’t get to go on today, but I can imagine would be amazing in summer so we would definitely love to come back next summer to give that a go.

The boats were fantastic & there was an option to pay £1 to use the water canon to try and spray the people on the boats which was good fun.

Please know that if you book to go here, that there’s so much going on and so much to do, that you & your child won’t get bored- I can promise you that!

For reference, we stayed for 5 hours!

Thank you for a...