It felt like time for a father and son day out with my three year old.   Without wanting to spend half the day in the car we looked for something local, and for no reason other than that we had never been there before, and had no idea what to expect, we decided our destination would be Gulliver’s Land in Milton Keynes.  I knew nothing about Gulliver’s Land, except that I had it tagged in my mind as an ersatz Disneyland, and I knew that Milton Keynes bears little or no relation to the Sunshine State of Florida.  It is fair to say that my expectations weren’t all that high before we went - but that just shows how wrong I can be.

If you don’t know of “Gulliver’s Land” it is a “theme park” very loosely based on Gulliver’s Travels.  I think it’s fair to say that you don’t need to have read the book to be able to enjoy the park.  The attractions include, roller coasters, carousels, water rides, spinning tea-cups, Ferris wheels, dodgems, and lots of other things you really shouldn’t go on once you’re the wrong side of thirty. In addition there are a number of “unsupervised” attractions such as some “mini-diggers” and a soft play area.

I think we were fortunate to be able to go on a weekday during term time, and the park was fairly quiet, with no queues for any of the rides. In some cases the ride operator said we should just let him know when we had had enough, which for me was fairly soon on some of them, but for a three year old was quite a lot longer.  (The ride that simulates a tugboat in a perfect storm should definitely be done before lunch.)  As with all parks, the experience may be different when it is busy.

The rides were nicely thought out and seemed to be thoroughly exciting for my three year old without ever inducing sheer terror and tears (except in his father).  With him standing at just over a metre high there was only one ride we couldn’t go on.  This was something of a relief as it was their “Python” roller coaster, which I didn’t fancy at all!!

Due to the height restrictions, unless the child is at least 110 centimetres, they need to be accompanied on almost all of the rides (although this varies). I could imagine that being a single adult with two small children would create all kinds of practical difficulties, although I am told that they are very good at managing this problem as best they can.  Children below 90 cm would be excluded from a lot of the rides (which is why there is no admission charge for them).

The staff at the park were, without exception, friendly, polite, and seemed genuinely interested in making sure the kids had a good time and they managed this without ever falling into the false “have a nice day” type of thing. They really did help to make it a great day.

Perhaps the only slight disappointment was the food, which was a very limited menu, and (inevitably) felt expensive for what it was – but it was well cooked and nice enough.  However, there seemed to be lots of space for bringing your own picnic, which is what we will do next time.

On the practical side of things, the park was easy to get to, there was ample parking, the toilets were spotless, the baby changing facilities looked clean and adequate, there are nappies and wipes on sale from the store, and there is a feeding room as well.  It is also quite compact (without feeling small) which means it is not a five-mile hike from one attraction to another, which is a relief after some of the larger parks we have visited in the past.

The only difficult moment of the whole day was trying to get my son to leave - a sure sign of a great day out.  Needless to say, Dad had a good time too.