Lightwater Valley, Ripon, UK

Lightwater Valley can be found to the north of Leeds. It is not a massive park but they have got their name on the theme park map by building The Ultimate, the longest rollercoaster in the world in 1991. While The Ultimate no longer holds this record, it is still the longest rollercoaster in Europe.

For a park with 6 rollercoasters, Lightwater is a surprisingly cheap £16 entry, a pound less for those under 1.2m and free for anyway under 1m. Once you get inside however, you realise that the park is mostly rollercoasters. While this isn't a bad thing for coaster enthusiasts, you may find that rides for those who are not big on rollercoasters a little thin on the ground, especially for older children. A water ride such as a log flume would be a beneficial addition to the park I think. Maximum height limit is 1.3m, most attractions are ridable by all over 1.2m

The theming of the park is variable, certainly it seems less of an effort has been made on the newer attractions that on the older rides. Certain rides such as the Sewer Rat look as though considerable thought went into the queue line to make it look like a sewer, however the several of the flat rides look as though they have been rented from a travelling fair and just placed in the park grounds. Lack of theming I can live with, but this strikes me as something worse, a lack of effort. Making several of the rides look a lot less temporary would greatly help the parks atmosphere.

In terms of layout the park is fairly straight forward, with the path travelling in a big loop, starting from and finishing at the entrance, with several offshoot paths to allow access to the attractions. Food is available throughout most of the park at standard theme park rates, about £5 for a meal. A wide range of food is available including the increasingly-popular Rollover Hot Dogs. They also have no objections to you bringing your own food if you so wish.

The park doesn't have the longest opening hours, ride operating times are about 10:30am until around 4:30pm. It is open weekdays during the summer but tends to only be open weekends otherwise.

Glance at the park

As you enter the park you'll find several rides in the entrance area, including Skyrider, a chair-o-plane, as well as a small undercover childrens park and some slower-than-average dodgems. You will also find a nice carousel, as well as several stalls and games. Magic Marc's Terrific Magic Show is also located here.

Heading left round the lake we pass the Station for the Lightwater Express. This minature railway travels round the park and has another station near the Ultimate. Further round you'll encounter Trauma Tower, a Moser drop tower that is very similar to an oversized Frog Hopper. Standing only about 20ft tall, this attraction is less of a white knuckle attraction and more of a family ride. A taller drop tower would be another good attraction for Lightwater along with the aforementioned Log Flume. As you pass the woods you will also find the park's nature trail.

Passing round the lake you start to come into a child aimed area with numerous kiddie rides and a 'Wacky Worm' style coaster called Catapillar. I'm getting a little bored of these coasters now, surely you can spend a little more for something far more unique. However it entertains small children, even if coaster enthuasiasts have ridden this design so many times before. Also located here is a pleasant adventure playground for children.

Keeping up with our current walk, we continue round the lake passing a path to the Swan Pedal Boats. We head past the Go Karts which almost uniquely are free. The Octopus and the enterprise Black Widow's Web are located here also and are a prime example of the 'fairground ride dumped on a patch of grass' park building philosopy that I dislike. In addition to these attractions, the splashdown area for the Falls of Terror dinghy slide is here and a small path heads off to The Wave pirate ship.

Further north you hit what could be refered to as 'coaster country'. 5 of the 6 rollercoasters in the park are located here. The first two you'll hit are on opposite sides of the path. Ladybird is a medium sized Zierer Tivoli coaster, suitable for all over 1m. It is fun family coaster, far better than the Catapillar. Grizzly Bear, the ride opposite is for the slightly bigger and braver riders, having a height limit of 1.2m. This ride is fairly fun with pops of airtime but it isn't going to beat a proper high thrill attraction such as Nemesis. It also has a nasty S-bend at the end just before the brake run that spoils an otherwise decent ride. Over the railway and past the station for the Lightwater Express, can be found The Ultimate. This is an very variable ride, the first part of the ride is a nice example of an airtime coaster, while the second twister part of the ride is insanely fast and intense. Your enjoyment of this ride seems to depend on where you sat, my ride at the rear of the train was far smoother and far more enjoyable than my ride in the middle, where my knees recieved an excessive amount of bashing. Nearby, behind the skate kart, you will find a far smoother and nicely themed rollercoaster, in the form of the Sewer Rat. While not as thrilling as the Ultimate, the ride is far smoother and produces a very nice and fun ride. The flowing water and sewer theming is well done too. The final rollercoaster is the Twister, a standard Reverchon Spinning Coaster. It is smooth and flows well but it still isn't as good as the Maurer-Sohne Spinning Coasters. Also to be found in this area are the Skate Karts and the Amazing Maze, which would be a little more amazing if it was a little tricker and the grass wasn't worn away on the through routes.

Finally as we head back towards the entrance, we pass the queue for the Falls of Terror dinghy slide. This is fun but has big queues due to it's low throughput. They also force you to have two people in a boat, so it's not worth queueing for single riders. On the left there is a path to the parks KMG Afterburner, Eagle's Claw. This is a flat ride that looks like it has had some thought gone into it, it isn't themed but it doesn't look like it's just been dumped. in. Finally on the way back you past the Toad Hole, unfortunately it was closed for maintainance on my visit.

Leonardofury, Last modified 15/09/2006