I think I heard a good summary for this park while watching My Name is Earl. It described a visiting fair as being like "Disneyland for poor people." O.K. that's not a perfect line as it can wrongly be taken to be derisive. I think "Disney done on a budget" is closer to the mark. Disney parks appeal mainly to families, have high production values, and strive to make just walking around the park an experience. Three things you can say about this park as well.

The parks production values are excellent. Much of this park is set in a very pleasant garden environment, and all the rides and attractions are kept looking in great condition. What really brings it up a notch are nice small touches like pot plants and a small pond to help beautify their small family coaster Stinger, or decorating the miniature railway station with themed period signs. Small but personal feeling touches that help enhance the atmosphere and welcoming feel. Something I think a lot of parks can learn from, especially when you consider small touches like that are relatively inexpensive.

The park does also mainly appeal to the family market. It has the Cobra, one of the countries best family coasters, plus a good selection of other rides for the younger section of the family market. What I really like about the ride selection though is despite catering for the junior family market they've got enough low to mid level family thrill rides and water rides to ensure that it doesn't feel like there excluding older age groups either. Although there are no intense white knuckle rides there is at least something to cater for all but the most extreme adrenalin junkies tastes in some way.

The final comparison to Disney is how walking round the park is an experience. Perhaps this doesn't quite apply to the whole park like at Disney, but like a Disney park there are quite a lot of non ride attractions to entertain you as you walk round the park. To start with there are quite a few walk through attractions and exhibitions such as the charming Wind in the Willows Ride, a maze, the novel Romany Experience and several other attractions. Not only that there is a large collection of exotic birds, plus several other animals to view, plus some pleasant gardens meaning there is a lot to do round the park.

When I went it was a quiet day and I expected to spend 30 minutes to an hour on the Cobra, plus an hour or two on the other rides at the most before maybe heading back to Southampton for the rest of the day. Instead we ending spending practically the whole day at the park, and could have probably spent another hour there at least before running out of things to do. These attractions would have been even more welcome on a busy day as it means you don't have to spend the entire day going from queue to queue.

So are there any problems with the park. The only real problem on my visit was the lack of places serving food more substantial than a chocolate bar. in the end we had to make the walk back to the entrance to the only hot food place open. To be fair we went on a quiet off peak day, and the food places were the only places not operating. We didn't even have to wait for an operator on any of the rides, as the park had ensured each ride still had it's own operator. The food itself was a little pricy but it was of a very good quality.

There is a little room for improvement on the ride selection. Although it doesn't feel like it's excluding anyone I think a few more rides at the thrilling end of the family market would help broaden it's appeal. However writing this feels more like speculation than an actual criticism as the park does such an excellent job of catering for it's current market.

Overall this park might not be everyone's ideal place to visit due to the lack of the more intense and thrilling rides, but for me the presence of the Cobra, a fun selection of family rides, and the fact the park is so pleasant to walk around is enough to make this a park I will want to visit again. If you live nearby, or are organising a trip to some parks around London, I'd recommend adding this to your to do list.