Nestled away in Narberth in Pembrokeshire, you’ll find one of Wales’ biggest family attractions – Oakwood Theme Park.
Popular with holidaymakers and schoolchildren, no doubt you’ll remember your summer holidays spent in West Wales, and if you were lucky (and good, of course!), you would be treated to a visit to Oakwood Theme Park.
Until now, we hadn’t yet taken my daughter, who recently turned four to a theme park. However, she is now at that age when kids seek thrill and adventure. It also helps that she has had a growth spurt, making her big enough to make the most of a somewhere such as Oakwood. It has always been a concern of ours that we’ll take her to a theme park and find out that she can’t go on anything, leaving her disappointed and us out of pocket – Oakwood offers the perfect first theme park experience.
We live in Cardiff, so a trip to Oakwood is approximately 1 hour 40 minutes by car, which isn’t too bad unless you find yourself stuck behind a tractor. To break up the journey, we also made the pilgrimage stop-off at Pont Abraham Services for a toilet break and to pick up some snacks. For anyone that has travelled on the same journey, you’ll know at this point it marks the end of the M4 and the start of where the city meets the countryside. Just a little bit of added nostalgia for you!
When going on any day-trips, we would usually be the family to set off at first light and be the first ones in the car park to guarantee a space. However, we wanted to do things differently this time. Although we wouldn’t be able to physically stay until the park closes at 10pm because of the little one, we had heard about the new ColourFest activity that takes place just before dark, so we wanted to try and make that. So, in order to do this, we set off from Cardiff at lunchtime and rolled into Oakwood at 2.30pm.
For those of you who have never experienced Oakwood After Dark, here’s a little teaser…
Although we weren’t able to stay until the very end, we had a fantastic time with the outdoor entertainment adding a festival-like experience to our visit.
Until after we arrived home from our visit, I hadn’t read any of the recent online reviews. What I would say is that Oakwood Theme Park is not Alton Towers, so don’t expect it to be.
Park Map
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Our daughter is four years old and is the reason that we went – she was over the moon having experienced Skull Rock (log flume), Crocodile Coaster, Tink’s Flying School, Spook 3D, Snake River Falls, Boating Lake, Bobsleigh and more – we actually didn’t get to do everything for her age group whilst we were there. We also paid an extra £4 for face painting, which was worth every penny!
By us arriving a little later in the day, we found the whole experience very relaxing. We didn’t feel like we were being rushed or hurried to go onto the next ride before everyone else does – we didn’t have to wait very long for any ride whilst we were there. This also allowed the clouds to burn away and we enjoyed a lovely sunny afternoon.
We found there was plenty of choice when it comes to food with multiple food outlets and restaurants available across the park. The only niggle that we did have was that our drinks were warm (no ice) at the outdoor burger restaurant on the hill.
Top tip
Don’t forget, you can also save 20% OFF the gate price by booking online in advance!
