ATTRACTIONS


Oakwood Theme Park plans £2m attraction refurbishment


Oakwood Teme Park in Pembrokeshire, Wales, has revealed plans for a major £2m investment, installing a Legend of Sleepy Hollow area featuring a range of new attrac- tions to replace the park’s Wild West zone. Due to open in 2015, Te Legend of Sleepy


Hollow area will feature a “secluded glen with a haunting atmosphere” to be home to the Headless Horseman and the “Tree of the Dead”. Te new attraction at the park – which is owned by Aspro – will also be accentuated with mythical local tales of haunted spots and twilight superstitions. The announcement coincided with a


visit from Welsh tourism minister Edwina Hart, who praised Pembrokeshire’s “for- ward looking” tourism businesses. Details: http://lei.sr?a=F6D8b


National Gallery drops photo ban


The National Gallery in London is allowing visitors to take photographs of its collection for the first time, aſter relenting in a losing battle against smartphones. Until the end of July, the


gallery had banned all pho- tography by members of the public, but staff found it increasingly challenging to differentiate from when guests took photos on their phone or were simply using the gallery’s free wifi to research the works online. Te gallery will now per-


mit visitors to take photos using their phones and standalone cameras. Te decision means the Gallery has fallen in line with most UK museums and galleries by allow- ing photography of its permanent collection. Te museum does, however, continue to


Te Gallery has adopted the same policy as the majority of UK institutions


uphold a longstanding ban on flash photog- raphy and tripods, while some temporary exhibitions and certain significant pieces will be marked as not for photography. With technology an ever-increasing presence in


A reported air conditioning fault was to blame


Tyneside waterpark forced to close just days after opening


A recently opened waterpark in North Shields, Tyneside, was forced to temporar- ily close aſter reports of breathing difficulty and sickness among the park’s visitors. Wet ‘n’ Wild entered into administration


in October 2013 despite the attraction being profitable for “much of the year” and it later underwent an extensive £1.1m revamp. Moirai Capital Investments appointed


Serco to manage and operate the waterpark, which has been leased to Serco for 25 years. The waterpark offers more than 1km


(0.62m) of slides including The Hurricane, The Kamikaze, The Abyss and Calamity Canyon. Te recent investment has seen the development of a new reception, shop and café, as well as a specially-designed chil- dren’s soſt play and birthday party area, plus a dedicated family changing village. “Wet ‘n’ Wild closed one hour early on


Friday as a result of technical problems we were experiencing,” said a spokesperson. “For the comfort of our staff and customers, we took the decision not to open on Saturday to allow us to check all pool water and humidity levels. Details: http://lei.sr?a=g3P8x


14 Top UK attractions fall short on disabled access


A survey of the UK’s top attrac- tions has thrown up a number of concerns regarding accessibility, prompting the minister for disabled people to call for higher standards. Disability charity Vitalise con-


tacted the UK’s top 100 attractions – based on visitor statistics from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions – to gauge how well people with disabilities are accom- modated across the UK’s top sites. Of the 52 attractions which responded, the survey found: • 63 per cent of attractions said they were not fully wheelchair accessible • Of the 27 venues that charged for entry, 44 per cent offered no discount for disabled people • Hoists were available in 19 per cent of places, a facility which Vitalise describe as “an indis- pensable item for some disabled guests” • 25 per cent did not have fully accessible approaches, including from carparks • Only 13 per cent said all their staff had disabil- ity awareness training • 26 per cent of attractions did not have acces- sibility information available on their websites


Read Leisure Opportunities online: www.leisureopportunities.co.uk/digital


UK attractions – including Google Glass, Oculus Rift, video games and an array of other new technology – elements such as ‘digital reach’, social media influence and high quality tech installations are becoming ever-important for museums and galleries, so as not to seem outdated, and to effectively spread the word of what they have on offer. Details: http://lei.sr?a=W2q7t


Mark Harper has urged UK attractions operators to up their game Te results prompted minister for disabled


people Mark Harper to urge attractions to up their game, also pointing out that businesses “were missing a trick” from a financial perspec- tive by not being fully accessible. “Everyone deserves to enjoy a summer holi-


day – people with disabilities are no exception. I’m calling on all in the British tourist industry to look at what more they can do to better cater for disabled travellers,” said Harper. “There are eleven million people with a disability in Britain and they have a combined spending power of £80bn.” Details: http://lei.sr?a=n6e9f


Twitter: @leisureopps © CYBERTREK 2014


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