A top eco tourist attraction is gearing up for the new season with a brand new ride and is taking on 100 workers.
GreenWood Family Park, in Felinheli, near Bangor, in North Wales, has invested more than £100,000 in importing the giant Forest Glider slide from the Netherlands and installing it just in time for the Easter holidays.
The spectacular new ride, known as Gleidar y Goedwig in Welsh, is the only one of its kind in Wales, standing 20 metres tall with a thrillingly steep 75 metre drop.
GreenWood also launched a major drive to recruit seasonal workers to beef up the 30-strong permanent team at the environmentally-friendly adventure park, recently named by Trip Advisor as the best tourist attraction in North Wales.
This year also sees the 20th anniversary of the Green Dragon, zero carbon, people powered rollercoaster of its kind, which goes on a 250 metre loop through the park’s woods.
The centre’s other 30 rides and attractions also include Solar Splash, powered entirely by solar energy and has a huge water slide with two 60 metre long wave chutes.
The park is owned by the Continuum Attractions group whose portfolio includes some of the most successful visitor attractions in the UK, including The Coronation Street Experience, the Loch Ness Centre and Emmerdale The Village Tour.
The installation of the Forest Glider was overseen by rides and activities manager Peter Froment.
According to Peter, he has the best job in Wales because an important part of his role is road testing all the new rides and he gave the Forest Glider a big thumbs up.
He said: “We’re always looking to freshen things up at GreenWood with new rides and attractions.
“I absolutely love the Forest Glider – it’s a brilliant and thrilling new addition to what we have to offer. It’s a lot of fun.
“People go down the slide sitting on a rubber ring called a snow tube and it can be a single rider or an adult and a child together.
“The length of the slope is around 75 metres, so it’s a good distance to travel and the angle is pretty steep at different points.
“As part of the GreenWood ethos, people use their own energy and power drag their snow tubes from the bottom of the hill all the way up to the top. In essence, they’re powering their own ride.
“All the rides and attractions we have are designed with the whole family in mind and once you’ve paid the entrance fee, there’s no restriction as to how many times visitors can do things.
“We’ve also introduced a locals’ loyalty past for people living in the LL postcode area and they get a great offer, £150 for the whole year to come to GreenWood.”
Marketing manager Kim Howie revealed that travel industry experts are predicting a significant upsurge in tourism this year, and one of the key trends is an increase in the popularity of eco-friendly and “sustainable” destinations and attractions like GreenWood.
She said: “We’re gearing up for a big year at GreenWood and all the signs are that it’s going to be a bumper one, particularly given the shift towards eco-friendly options.
“The arrival of the Forest Glider is great news and we’re looking forward to celebrating the 20thanniversary of the zero carbon Green Dragon rollercoaster.
“GreenWood has pioneered the notion of green tourism and we are still leading the way, providing fun-filled family friendly rides and attractions.
“All of this means we need to recruit an additional team and that process is already well underway.
“We’ve already had a recruitment day here when we interviewed 30 local people and we’ve attended a jobs fair in Llangefni to share our vacancies.
“With more visitors and more jobs in 2024, we also aiming to give the local economy a big boost.”
