Flamingo Land Resort: Difference between revisions

Flamingo Land is a theme park, zoo, and resort, in North Yorkshire, England. It attracts about 1.8 million visitors per year^{[citation needed]}. Flamingo Land is also the 12th most visited theme park in Europe.

Some of the major attractions at Flamingo Land include:^[1]

• Pterodactyl - A Zamperla Vertical Swing installed in 2012 in the new 'Primeval' land - adapted to 'Dino-Stone Park' for the 2013 season.
• Mumbo Jumbo - Opened in Summer 2009, this rollercoaster featured the steepest drop in the world at the time (Guinness Book of World Records).
• Flip Flop - Flip Flop is suspended over an artificial lake and features two large ship funnels on either side of the station.
• Kumali - Installed 2006, this is a Suspended Looping Coaster.
• Navigator - Installed 2005 it was the first 'Mega' "Disk 'O'" type of ride ever to be built.
• Velocity - Installed 2005 it is the UK's only motorbike launch coaster and is the tallest and fastest of its kind in the world.
• Cliffhanger - Opened in 2002, this is the first and tallest S&S Combo Tower in the United Kingdom.

Also on the site is a gym, a leisure centre, a spa, a golf course and a large collection of log cabins and static caravans.

Flamingo Land Resort began in 1959, when an old, small and bankrupt country club was bought up by a resident of Scarborough, an entrepreneur in the cinema and theatre industry called Edwin Pentland Hick. Hick named the site The Yorkshire Zoological Gardens and initially covered a mere nine acres of land. However Hick had grand ideas for the park; a vision which he had since military service during World War II. Hick has been described as both an eccentric and a visionary by his critics^[who?]. He originally rented animals until receipts allowed him to buy more.

Hick wanted to have dolphins in his park, which at that time were not found anywhere in captivity in the UK^{[citation needed]}. In 1963, he organized expeditions to many locations around the world to capture bottlenose dolphins and sperm whales, including to the Indian Ocean and off the coast of Greenland. Hick was commended for his treatment of the animals^{[by whom?]}, which were fed well and kept in expansive enclosures. One of the dolphins was named Sooty after the children's TV character.

A colony of pink flamingos were among the first animals to be housed on site and, remaining one of the most popular group of animals in the zoo, the flamingos became a kind of mascot for the entire park (hence Pentland Hick's final choice of name for the park.) The descendants of the original flamingos are still resident in the zoo today, and the flamingo colony at the park remains the largest in the country.

Throughout the 1960s a small fun fair began to be held on the site, yet another idea of Hick's, only to steadily gain momentum and bring more and more visitors to the site. In the 1970s, the fun fair was well established and amusement rides had become a permanent fixture of the park along with the zoo, becoming the first site in Europe to combine the attractions in one location.

Pentland Hick, believing his vision complete, floated the company on the London Stock Exchange as Associated Pleasure Parks in 1965, and renamed the site Flamingo Park Zoo on Monday 12 July 1968. A large shareholder was the ICI Pension Fund and the ownership of the business began to change with the steady growth of the park, eventually being sold in full to Scotia Leisure Ltd, a company which dealt mainly with bingo halls, a casino and Bailey's Hotel in London, and package holidays. Scotia Leisure were based in South Audley Street, Mayfair, London and also owned Cleethorpes Wintergardens, Dudley Zoo and Cricket St Thomas Zoo under the name of Scotia Pleasure Parks Ltd. The main directors then were Robin Buchanan (based in London), Don Robinson, David Cook (both based in Scarborough and whose background was in entertainment) and Jim Jackson who was based in Cleethorpes. In 1974, a major revamp took place under David Cook and Kevin Taylor, the recently-recruited Marketing Director. Howell Jones Sneider Weaver, a London advertising agency with a base in Yorkshire, was appointed and, using Disney as inspiration, Flamingo Park was renamed Flamingo Land. More emphasis was placed on the day out experience with fairground rides, a haunted castle, model railway and a jungle cruise raft ride on the lake, all this using the animals in the zoo as the core. Flamingoland also had a static caravan, mobile home, and touring caravan site and Kirby Misperton Hall, the stately home at the centre, was used as a popular venue for local hunt balls and a regular Saturday evening Dinner Dance and Cabaret called The Continental. Despite a more professional marketing approach led by Taylor, which saw regular guest personal appearances by celebrities and stars of the day including the racehorse Red Rum, Flamingo Land continued to lose money and it was thought that it would close and the animals be dispersed to other zoos.

However a director of Scotia Leisure was Robert Gibb who had been in charge of the bingo division until it was sold to Coral. Gibb saw an opportunity and decided to buy the park from the company in 1978, shortly before Scotia Leisure collapsed due to an embezzlement scandal that also left Pentland Hick broke. Hick had long since had had nothing to do with Flamingo Land, moving into theatre and television scriptwriting, and becoming an author. Meanwhile, Robert Gibb set up his own board of directors for the park and formed Flamingo Land Ltd with Kevin Taylor as Director & General Manager with day to running responsibility and Trevor Pullen in charge of the catering. Wholesale redundancies ensued amongst the staff, apart from the animal keeper, as a more or less full staff had been kept on throughout the winters, leeching any profit that might have been made. Most of the redundant staff were then re-engaged on seasonal contracts.

Gibb, with Taylor and Pullen, developed the complex so that it was more suited to be a nationwide instead of a local tourist attraction, including developing the growth of the amusement rides and the uniqueness of the animals in the zoo. Initially the restructuring was successful and some innovative and creative management saw the park make a profit after just one year, the first time it had done so for over a decade. Kevin Taylor was head-hunted by the then under construction Thorpe Park in Surrey at the end of 1978. Flamingo Land's recovery was a slow process, but eventually a successful one. The year 1991 (whilst the park was still under Robert Gibb's management) was one of the most productive in the park's history; it was in this year that the famous rides Bullet and Thunder Mountain were constructed.

Robert Gibb died in a car accident in 1995; Pullen also died. Gibb's son Gordon Gibb, who was only 18 at the time, took control of the park with the rest of family, later becoming the chief executive of Flamingo Land Ltd.

Flamingo Land also used to operate Pleasure Island Family Theme Park in Cleethorpes since its opening in 1993 until 2010, when it became independent.^[2]

On the former site of Cleethorpes Zoo, construction for an amusement park was begun in the 1990s by RKF Entertainment. During this time RKF went into administration and Robert Gibb purchased the site as a second park to Flamingo Land. When his son Gordon Gibb became Chief Executive of the company, his sister Vicky Gibb and later other sister Melanie Wood took the responsibility for the Cleethorpes park.

In 2010 Melanie Wood attained her goal of taking ownership of the park, separate from the rest of the family company. Pleasure Island is now operated by Dewarsavile Enterprises Ltd, directed by Wood. This marked the end of the association between Pleasure Island and Flamingo Land.

The park still shows many signs of Flamingo Land's former ownership. In the past, rides cleared from Flamingo Land for new development were installed at Pleasure Island. Furthermore, the success of the Flamingo Land Lost Kingdom show, the Bongo Warriors, led to the introduction of a copy concept into Pleasure Island under the name Masai Warriors.

One time^[when?] Flamingo Land claimed to be the largest animal holder of its kind^{[clarification needed]} in Europe, housing over 1,000 animals. Flamingo Land houses exotic birds, rare fish, mammals and reptiles. Some animals include camels, zebras, guanaco, hippopotamus, giraffe, meerkats, Baboons,Chimpanzee, lions, rhinoceros, tigers, sea lions, Parrots, and peacocks. The park take part in breeding programmes an example of which is the Mangabeys featured in the 2006 series of ITV1 show 'Theme Park'. Flamingoland official TV stopped broadcasting in 2009, although previous episodes are still available for viewing on their website. In June 2010, Flamingoland started work on a new penguin enclosure, the first stages of which were completed in August 2010.

Flamingo Land is a member of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA)^[3] and the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA),^[4] and has connections to other parks in the country:

• One of the older Flamingo Land elephants, Jangoli went on to give birth to calves at Chester Zoo - in this manner the elephants at Chester Zoo are descendants of Flamingo Land's elephants. One of the parks current giraffes is also from Chester Zoo.
• The park's male lion, lioness and her cubs were originally located at Longleat Safari Park before moving to Flamingo Land to start a new pride.
• Chessington World of Adventures was also once the home of one of the park's sea lions Clive. Benson the sea lion was a true California sea lion coming from Sea World at 18 months.(1984 to 2011) ^{[citation needed]}

The park's emphasis is on their collection of African animals, housed in the Lost Kingdom and African Plains. The water ride (the Lost River Ride) was designed to give a safari experience before its final drop, and meanders through Savannah-style grasslands with giraffe, ostrich, zebra, hippo and rhino. The 'Forgotten City Lion Reserve' is also located in the middle of the ride.

The park has a large holiday village with static caravans and log cabins. In the holiday village there are leisure facilities including a leisure centre, a swimming pool and a café.

On the outskirts of the park lies a nine-hole golf course. Also adjacent to the park runs Costa Beck, a stream locally noted with crystal-clear water and fly fishing is available here free to those staying in the holiday village. Trout, dace, grayling, salmon, kingfisher and pike can all be found in Costa Beck.

Also in the holiday village is the American Bar, an entertainments venue which is exclusive for caravan owners and people staying on site overnight. It is a venue capable of holding over 1000 people and boasts a large stage and resident shows as well as light entertainment performed by visiting cabaret acts. Various artists have performed there over the past years, for example in 2009: X Factor finalists such as Maria Lawson, Same Difference and Ben Mills among others. Soap stars were presented in 2009, including Ryan Thomas and Mark Hancock. Chesney Hawkes also appeared on the showbar stage during this season. The 2011 season also saw Take That tribute group Re-Take That throughout the season and Chico during the summer. The venue is only open when the holiday park itself is open, which is from March till early November.

Park slogan: "Wild Animals, Wilder Rides".

Plaza

Lower Metropolis begins with the main day visitors' entrance and contains food outlets such as the Metropolis Bar and Grill, gift shops, cash machines, pay-to-play game stalls, the Flying Clowns ride and The Wave Swinger ride, as well as the New for 2011 Mia and Mylo Show (featuring the New for 2011 mascots Mia and Mylo Meerkat) which replaces the 2009 Postman Pat Show. Also for the '09 season was the introduction of Pitchers Sports Bar featuring many TVs showing sports; it is open all day for guests but provided throughout the night for holiday resort guests where shows are on-stage until closing.

Metropolis

Upper Metropolis is themed as a busy city. It contains such rides as Velocity and Navigator. This area of the park has received a lot of attention with the addition of Velocity, a booster-bike roller coaster manufactured by Vekoma rides; it is the only motorbike launch roller coaster in the UK.

Seaside Adventure

This area is themed on the ocean and a seaside resort with themed stores and a pizza restaurant called the 'Jolly Sailor's Restaurant'. There is also the Jolly Sailor Takeaway (for takeaway pizzas) and the 'Something Fishy Takeaway' providing traditional fish and chips. It contains the highest drop tower and the only S&S Combo Tower in the UK, Cliff Hanger, which is themed as a lighthouse, although it now only has its trademark red and white panels on the lower part of the tower after complaints that it spoilt the views from outside the park; it is now painted a 'blend away' grey on the top half.^[5]

Splosh!

This area was introduced for the summer of 2007. "Splish Splash" is a water playground with squirting jets and water dropping palm trees. This has now been refurbished featuring a new colour scheme for the 2011 season and also saw the introduction of a new sponsor in the form of Capri Sun. "Splash Battle" is a submarine themed ride where ride cars and off ride posts around the ride are equipped with water cannons.

The thrill ride Flip Flop is located in this area of the park, a Top Swing built by Fabbri. The ride has a large swing-through station and sits over a lake with water jet effects.

New for 2008 in this area was the 4D cinema, which screened the "Haunted Lighthouse" film which was also at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and various SeaWorld parks. 2009 saw the Haunted Lighthouse replaced by SpongeBob SquarePants 4D which then was replaced by Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 4D in 2011. 2012 also features a new 4D film - Happy Feet which was previously at Drayton Manor.

Swooosh

This is a new area for 2011 themed as an area of flight adjacent to Splosh! to allow for a quick transition between water and sky. The area features three rides; Sky Flyer (formally part of Splosh!), Red Baron (formally part of Muddy Duck Farm) and a new family roller coaster for 2011 called Zooom. Zooom is Zamperla Air Force featuring a custom layout and significantly larger footprint than the standard model which has a train themed like four aeroplanes suspended from a light blue track.

Muddy Duck Farm

Formally known as the 'Little Monsters Den of Mischief', this area is mainly aimed at children, and includes the attractions Little Monster's Wacky Races and Mischief Mansion. Over the last few years this part of the park has been slowly phased out to make way for "Muddy Duck Farm" an area themed around the farm animals; however elements of the previous mascots still remain. Furthermore, a safari type ride, like Lost River Ride but more child-friendly, has been created: the Tractor Ride where children 'drive' the tractors around the farm animals' pens. This area holds a new ride, "Helitoys", which forms the centrepiece of the area. The go-gator coaster has been moved to the old "monsters explorium" site which was cleared at the end of 2007 to make way for new rides. Another New For 2009 Venue is the Coach House Pub which is a traditional family pub serving traditional English country food.

Lost Kingdom Reserve

Holds Flamingo Land's most ambitious projects ever with such rides as Lost River Ride and Voodoo. In 2006 Kumali was built in this area. Made by Vekoma Rides, Kumali reaches over their lakes at 75 feet high and reaches speeds of 56 mph. In 2009, a new roller coaster Mumbo Jumbo opened, manufactured by S&S. It had the steepest drop in the world at 112 degrees that year in the Guinness Book of World Records and has a maximum acceleration of 4g.

African Plains

This is an all-animal area containing various animal paddocks and is located in a quiet, secluded area of the zoo. The monorail offers a bird´s eye view of the animals, as does the elevated pathway that goes over a small lake to the new Penguin Coast.

Children´s Planet

This new children's area was opened in 2011 and combines both play areas and animal enclosures.

• 
  Mumbo Jumbo
• 
  Velocity
• 
  Kumali

• 
  Lost River

There are more 120 different species of animals in the park, including: hippos, camels, meerkats, reptiles, exotic birds, giraffes, lions, chimpanzees, tigers, sea lions, baboons, zebras, rare fish, penguins, otters and many others.

• Bird Show - exotic birds at the Zoo.
• Mia and Mylo Shows - children´s show at Metropolis.
• Sea Lion Show - sea lion show at the Zoo.

Flamingoland is a pay-on-entry park. Wristbands have to be worn by Holiday Resort guests in order to enter the Holiday Village but for day trippers there is no wristband because everyone who enters the park pays for a riding ticket. Children over 4 pay the same as adults.

There is a "Q-Buster" system which at a cost (up to £3 per person per ride) allows visitors to enter a virtual queue on certain rides. Visitors must purchase credits and then send a text message detailing the ride and number of passengers. The credits needed for rides vary between 1 and 3 credits; for example Mumbo Jumbo requires 3 credits, Kumali requires 2 credits and Cliffhanger needs only 1 (per passenger). The credits are deducted from the visitor's account and a time slot is provided. This allows guests to bypass the standard queue but enter a virtual queue of which the more people wanted 'Q-Busters' for that particular ride makes the time slot later thus allowing guests to explore other areas and attractions at the park.

Theme Park on ITV

Theme Park is an ITV docusoap shown in the Yorkshire and Tyne Tees Regions, following the behind the scenes activities of Flamingo Land. The first series was broadcast in 2001 and a prominent part of the show was the building of new area "The Little Monsters Den of Mischief" including attractions such as "Mischief Mansion".

The series in 2004 particularly followed the development of the new water ride, The Lost River, which replaced the previous log flume Klondike Creek. The Lost River was Flamingo Land's most ambitious project ever when it was undertaken in 2004. The water ride was a concept attraction which was to form the centrepiece of the Lost Kingdom themed area of the park. The idea was to create a safari style ride which also had a thrill element.

2006 saw the third series of the popular ITV1 show. This particularly followed the construction of the park's new coaster for that season, Kumali.

Zoo Vet

The park's animal collection has also been a main feature of Zoo Vet at Large, which follows vet Matt Brash, both at his North Yorkshire surgeries and in his role at head vet at Flamingo Land. There have been multiple series which were aired on ITV1 and are often repeated on the digital channel Sky Real Lives.

Chuckle Vision

In one episode on 'Chucklevision', The Chuckle Brothers visit Flamingo Land in search of a pair of underpants which they believe to be of great value. The ride they predominantly ride during the episode appears to be the Crazy Loop.

ITV Weather Sponsorship

Flamingo Land took up the sponsorship of ITV Yorkshire weather in June 2007 and ITV Tyne Tees weather in July 2007. The campaign ran until the end of the season. This sponsorship was renewed with both ITV regions in March 2008 at the start of the new season.

Talk Flamingo

Talk Flamingo was a popular and long running discussion based website about the park with news, construction, history, pictures, reviews and multimedia. The site closed at the end of the park's 2009 season.

Flamingo Land Official TV

Flamingo Land Official TV is also available on the website and on YouTube providing monthly updates on what's going on at Flamingo Land. Currently there are 21 editions to watch with exclusive close up footage of the animals, new arrivals and the rides and attractions. Flamingo Land Official TV stopped in 2009. However, previous episodes are still available on the Flamingo Land website.

Other Sponsorships

2011 saw Flamingo Land sponsor the following programmes on ITV 1: Animals Do The Funniest Things, Babboons With Bill Bailey, Lion Country, Survival.

They became a sponsor of the children's show Milkshake on Channel 5 while also being part of a competition prize from The Gadget Show on Channel 5 offering a 1 week holiday.

Udzungwa Forest Project (UFP)

This is a Wildlife management project whose aim is to maintain tropical rainforest in Eastern Tanzania. The Flamingoland initiative operates in the villages closest to the Magombera forest. The purpose of the project is to provide villagers with a long-term fuel alternative, through education and research, therefore reducing firewood collection within the forest, and thus the pressures placed upon the local environment.

• Flamingo Land Park & Resort - main website for the Park and Resort.
• Flamingo Land Gym and Leisure Centre - website for the Flamingo Land Gym and Leisure Centre.