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and Land names, Gulliver’s is the brand and we tend now just to refer to them in our advertising as Gulliver’s Matlock Bath, Warrington or Milton Keynes to avoid confusion. Each park is slightly different but they have the same sorts of rides, and in fact we move some of the rides between the parks every few years.
When we got ideas for new attractions, we used to ask ourselves if we should buy one or if we could make it ourselves. Unfortunately you can’t go out and buy a little round ride for the kiddies these days, because they want to go on the bigger rides. Over the years we have built several rides for the parks, the biggest of which would be The Antelope wooden coaster in Warrington. That side of things has taken a bit of a back seat in recent years due to various regulations and restraints, but we still do all our maintenance in-house. I’m also very proud to say that both the Splash Zones and every bit of the hotel in Warrington were built in our own workshops and I think we've achieved a phenomenal standard.
Kids not teens
Our philosophy has not changed since Gulliver’s started in 1978, we are still looking after the youngsters, aged two to 13. That’s really why we needed the three parks – because families with young children won’t travel long distances. More recently Drayton Manor has come along with Thomas Land, then you’ve got Paulton’s down south with Peppa Pig World, and soon CBeebies Land at Alton Towers. These are all targeting our market directly, and the farm parks are now snapping at our heels too. It’s healthy competition though and we’ve always thrived on that. We have lost some local competition in recent years, including the American Adventure and Camelot [20 miles from Matlock Bath and Warrington respectively], in fact we bought some rides out of Camelot last year after they closed and will be installing the water slide soon in Matlock, which will be quite interesting going down the hill. However, just because you’ve lost those parks, it doesn’t mean the people automatically come here. The big shopping centres are now open around the clock, including Sundays, which was always seen as a leisure day. So now more than ever we have still have to give people great reasons to come and spend their time and money with us.
Matlock Bath is a historic day trip destination, where once you could “take to the waters”. In 1918 there were 3,000 beds for hire in the resort and while there are significantly less than that now, it’s still a beautiful destination that attracts all types of tourists. Thankfully, the Gulliver’s name is strong enough to keep the families coming too. Last year we bought a piece of property on the corner of the park in Matlock, we couldn’t not buy it because it was right besides our entrance, and that’s where we’ve put the Spy Zone, which was all down to Nick [Ray
• 12 persons • LED lighting package
• one semi-trailer mounted
• 22 metres swing (360 degr.)
• 4 hours set up • no crane required
NEW!!
Rotating seats
• 24 persons • LED lighting • 30 metres high
• 2 semi- trailers
• set up without crane
Gully Mouse and his mascot friends NOVEMBER 2013 61
INVERSION SICKO
IAAPA BOOTH 4863
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