We were given complimentary entry to Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach as we are Great Yarmouth Ambassadors.
Great Yarmouth is fast becoming one of my favourite places to visit. There is literally so much to do and you don’t need to travel too far from the promenade either. During our last visit we received tickets to visit Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach and the boys were so excited! Especially as we walked past and they saw all the rides.
Parking in Great Yarmouth
We were planning a full day at Great Yarmouth and not knowing the area that well, we resorted to Google to let us know of the best local carparks. We chose to park at St. Nicholas Car park. It cost us £9.30 for all day parking which was perfect for us. However, Great Yarmouth strip is full off on-road car parking and one machine we walked past had £8 for full day. Next time we visit, we would most likely use that parking instead.
Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach
Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach is an amusement park full or rides, stalls, attractions as well as amusement arcades and games. Pleasure Beach is open daily for 2 sessions a day, 11-2pm 2.45-5.45 and some days there is even a 3rd session 6.30-9.30pm. This is all subject to change depending on peak/off peak times. This are the peak (school holiday)times. We had a pretty straightforward drive from Peterborough for the day and was booked in for the 11am-2pm slot. We had a pretty full on day with a visit to the Hippodrome and dinner at The Empire booked in. So it was perfect for us!
Our first stop was the toilets so we headed to the ones that was next to one of the gate entrance. After which we headed to the rides. Arthur and Oliver love the Dodgems, however Mark can’t ride them because of his back, and it isn’t one I am particularly keen on. Usually I need to sit with one of them so they can go on it, however the restrictions for driving was a minimum height of 1.2m which made their day! It meant both Arthur and Oliver was able to go on, and both be able to drive!
The Dodgems were opposite the Ghost Train, which Oliver and I went on. We were able to walk straight on and Oliver really enjoyed it. He was wanting to go on and on over and over. It got a bit boring after the 4th time! But he loved it! Our next ride was the funhouse. This was pretty deceiving, it looked a lot smaller than it actually was. We went inside and it was big! There were lots of little travellators which the boys found hilarious.
More thrilling rides
Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach is also home to some big thrilling rides. Oliver is my little thrill seeker and he had a great time going from one ride to another. We started with the Log Flume. It was an overcast morning and we knew we were going to get wet! So my top tip is to head their early, or wear a poncho! Because you will get wet! If you have bags or anything you can leave them with the ride attendants and collect them at the end. Arthur came on the ride too, and both of them came off the ride, grinning from ear to ear.
NB: The Water is seawater, try not to get any in your mouth! (A lot easier said than done)
We only really had to queue for 2 rides and that was the Scenic Rollercoaster and the Family Star. The Rollercoaster was awesome and Oliver loved it! He wanted to go on it again, this had a pretty long queue, it was moving quickly, but still we wanted to go on other rides too. The Family Star is a cross between the teacups and a rollercoaster. The seats spin round, you can’t control this, whilst it goes around the tracks. I must admit, I came off it feeling a little green.
Food Options
We didn’t bring a packed lunch with us when we visited Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach instead we were planning on buying something to eat. There is plenty of food and drink stands, we went to the food court and ordered 2 chips, and 3 children’s meals. The children’s meals were around £6 and was actually good value considering its an amusement park. The choices were hot dogs, pizza, burger with fries and kids drink. The portions were pretty decent and was enough for Jack, (teenager).
The boys then spotted the Slushy stand! So many flavours to choose from! It cost £3.50 for a medium sizes slushy and you are able to choose a mixture of up to 3 different flavours. If you spent more money you could buy a souvenir bottle and the refills would then cost £2.
Other attractions at Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach are the amusement games, there are so many of them! I have a love hate relationship with these but I love the variety of 2p machines. There are plenty of sanitiser stations which was great too. The games are all pretty squashed together so if you have a pushchair or wheelchair you may struggle to manoeuvre easily around them. The boys were all so excited and then I introduced them to the PacMan 2p game. We must have broken this game about 4 times before we gave up, the poor attendant had to keep coming out to fix it.
We then headed off to the 4d Cinema. It is included within your entry and the show is only around 10-15minutes long. There was a little wait to get in, but the queue went pretty quickly. The waiting is only due to having 1 screen and an x amount of seats. They also make sure everyone has left before allowing the next group into the seating area.
We really loved the show, and the boys loved how immersive it all felt. I almost forgot my 3d glasses, so make sure you pick a pair up! However it is a must see!
We all had an enjoyable time at Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach and the boys are looking forward to coming back!
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