Lightwater Valley

History

In 1969 Lightwater Valley started life as a small self-pick fruit farm attraction which was quite popular with the local community. The farm was owned by the Staveley family, who had been in ownership of the land way back until 1516 when Cardinal Wolsey handed the grounds over to John Staveley. The farm was dealt a crippling blow in 1976 as a severe drought was brought to the region, having a huge effect on the strawberry crop which was the main source of the farm's revenue. Later that year a lake was excavated to help reduce the effects of a future drought. The lake became hugely popular with visitors in the warmer months of the year and the Staveleys quickly began to see new business opportunities in the form of entertainment for visitors. These early attractions included an adventure playground (later Fort William), canoes, rowing boats, a circus, and later on, a range of other rare and unique attractions such as a petting farm, BMX bikes, pedal carts (later Moon Cars), Skate Karts, petrol driven single and double seated Go Karts, a pitch and putt golf course, a hell slide, a water chute ('Devil's Cascade', later re-themed to 'Toad Hole') and many more. The park advertised itself as country park and self pick fruit farm during this time. A range of different fairground rides were introduced into the entrance areas of the park, such as chair swings, carousels, dodgems and waltzers. During this time the Lightwater Shopping Village was established.

For many, the birth of Lightwater Valley Theme Park proper was soon after the year 1987, during which Rat Ride was built. Robert Staveley wanted to expand on the family market and provide something for the thrill market whilst still being suitable for the younger audience. At the time, Robert Staveley's wife was a keen protector of the country park status and did not like the idea of having a roller coaster spoiling and compromising this. After much discussion, she permitted the construction of a roller coaster as long as it was out of sight. Robert decided he would bury the roller coaster in the ground and so was born the subterranean roller coaster themed on the dwellings of a sewer rat. It gave the illusion of an underground experience, and was later converted to Raptor Attack for the 2010 season. The ride was constructed by blasting large amounts of rock (which was sold) and capping the hole and exposed sides with a large barn style building. The ride attracted much attention, nearly doubling gate figures and setting the stone for future developments in the ride offering including, the following year (1988), the park's first looping coaster, the Soopa Loopa, featuring two vertical loops and a backward facing ride car.

Robert Staveley used the success of the Rat Ride to persuade his wife that a 'proper' roller coaster be built. He had liked the idea of having a roller coaster coming down the valley at the top of the park but was faced with the challenge of getting people to the top of the valley to board the train. His wife suggested that the train be sent out to the top and then returned with the aid of two drops. In 1990 construction began on the world's longest rollercoaster, costing £5.2 million and over 1.5 miles (2.4 km) in length, The Ultimate was opened to the public in 1991 (see below for more information).

Additional rides and attractions were added throughout the decade, including roller coasters such as 'The Viper', 'The Batflyer' (both opening in 1996), and arguably one of the most popular all time favourites, 'The Ladybird' (1993). Water rides such as 'The Beaver Rapids' log flume (2000), and the 'Falls of Terror' (1995) were opened. A number of rides were opened on short term leases rather than buying the rides, for example, the Beaver Rapids and the 'Heatwave', later ('Orbiter').

Moving on from family ownership

Robert Staveley handed the park over to his children, Amanda and James in the mid 1990s, but there was a change of ownership from a private family firm to Queensborough Holdings, who bought the park for £5.2 million in 1997. The park was sold because the park had run into financial difficulties following the heavy expenditure on The Ultimate.

Queensborough Holdings were also in ownership of Pleasurewood Hills Theme Park at the time, which resulted in both parks sharing the same mascot Woody the Bear. The parks were somewhat 'sisters' and operated under Leisure Great Britain of which Queensborough Holdings financed. However, the new owners put the park back up for sale within 11 months of buying it as they decided to re-focus their business in the current market. However, no bid was accepted during the following few years. The park was given a new lease of life in February 2001 when Queensborough Holdings handed management of the site over to Heritage GB, a company which was formed by Queensborough Holdings Chairman Kevin Leech and his son Allan.

The new ownership brought about rapid investment in the ride offering and brand imaging with new logos, mascots, websites and rides such as 'The Treetop Twister' and 'Black Widow's Web' in the first year, followed later on by rides such as 'The Octopus', 'The Eagle's Claw', 'The Grizzly Bear', 'The Caterpillar Coaster', 'Trauma Tower' and 'Skyrider'.

Following the unfortunate incidents of 2001 (see below) guest figures plummeted from their 1990 averages. Continual improvements to the family offering, brand imaging and marketing have resulted in vast improvements to customer satisfaction and attendance figures. Investment in the re-theming of the Sewer Rat to 'Raptor Attack', the introduction of the first themed 'area', 'Skeleton Cove' with five new rides (bought from the now defunct Loudoun Castle park in Scotland) along with new family friendly attractions such as the Angry Birds Activity Park, Eagles Creek Farm, the Vintage Car Rally and Jurassic mini golf course are clear examples of such improvement. Successful events such as the ever popular annual 'Frightwater Valley' Halloween event, 'Pirates & Princesses' weekend and UK bungee jump days have attracted record gate figures.

During the late 2000s talk began of the potential development of 'Lightwater Resorts'. Initial planning permission for holiday caravans and log cabins was rejected by Harrogate Borough Council due to concerns about the impact on traffic and local businesses. The park later re-designed and re-submitted their planning permission for 106 log cabins which was then granted. The development of the 'Lightwater Holiday Village' is ongoing with actual log cabin construction looking to begin very soon.

Attractions

Lightwater Valley has over 40 rides and attractions, ranging from thrill rides such as The Ultimate, Falls of Terror for the more modest thrill-seekers and small rides such as Dragon Boats for the park's young visitors. Lightwater Valley categorise their attractions into three groups - Ultimate Adventures (suitable from 9-adults), Mega Adventures (suitable from 5–9 years) and Mini Adventures (suitable for 2–5 years). This helps establish what rides are suitable for visitors and the expected height restriction for each. The theme park has a total of five rollercoasters, two water rides and various flat rides.

2017 Season

The park opens for the 2017 Season on Saturday 1 April 2017.

Lightwater Valley kicks off its new season in style – with four new attractions and the visit of children’s TV star Mister Maker announced.

Set within 175 acres of beautiful North Yorkshire countryside, the family theme park opens on April 1 offering the chance to experience many brand new thrills and adventures.

New attraction Jumpin’ Jacks! is a huge bouncy pillow for all the family to enjoy as they clamber, leap and bounce upon this giant inflatable, measuring 46 ft long by 33 ft wide.

Then, Flying Nellies is an exciting new ride for younger visitors taking them into the air on a magical elephant, while the Mini Sand-Diggers offer kids all the fun of playing with sand without getting their hands dirty.

And after that, parents can tire out the little ones by letting them run wild on Lightwater Valley’s new interactive adventure playground.

Children’s TV star Mister Maker heads up a host of special events taking place within the theme park, with his new live show.

With art at its heart, this fantastic show (August 26–27) encourages both Mini Makers and grown-ups to sing, dance and make some noise.

Also this season, following the success of his appearance last summer, children’s TV favourite Andy Day returns with a brand new live show, Andy’s Prehistoric Raps (August 12–13).

Superheroes Live weekend (June 3–4) invites visitors to come along in their best fancy dress and watch their favourite heroes live on stage dancing and fighting crime.

And the season ends with the park’s transformation into the sensationally scary Frightwater Valley (October 26–27) in the build up to Halloween.

2017 Events include:

- Superheroes Live! - Saturday 3 & Sunday 4 June- The Ultimate Bungee - Saturday 1 July- Andy Day's Prehistoric Raps - Saturday 12 & Sunday 13 August- Mister Maker Live Shows! - Saturday 26 & Sunday 27 August- Frightwater Valley - Thursday 26 - Sunday 29 October- Fabulous Fireworks - Saturday 4 November

2016 Season

The park opened on Wednesday 23 March 2016.

New for 2016 was 'Apollo', a 25m tall Star Flyer ride manufactured by Funlight (on loan from Alex Crow Amusements), designed to thrill both young and old on a sky flying journey above the treetops. A new soft play centre and café was opened to further improve the family offering at the park.

In February 2016, the park also announced plans to team up with Lake District-based Treetop Trek Ltd to open the company's second Treetop Nets attraction next to the park in the wooded area. The attraction features giant trampolines, walkways, slides and tunnels made from netting suspended 40 ft above the ground.

The park also hosted a number of events including 'Meet the Angry Birds' (Sun 29 & Mon 30 May), 'Superheroes Live!' (Sat 4 & Sun 5 May), 'The Ultimate Bungee' - (Sat 25 June), 'Teddy Bears' Picnic' (Sat 6 & Sun 7 August) and 'Andy Day's Dinosaur Weekend' (Sat 20 & Sun 21 August).

2015 Season

The park opened on Saturday 28 March for the 2015 season with an exciting season full of events including an Adrenalin Weekend consisting of a Bungee Jump, Zip Wire & Rally Car Racing (Sunday 24 May) and a Zip Wire and Racing Car Racing (Monday 25 May), Lightwater Valley Country Festival (Friday 26 - Sunday 28 June), Scouts & Guides Jamboree (Saturday 4 July) Pirates and Princesses Weekend (Saturday 19 & Sunday 20 September), October Half Term Fantastic Fireworks (24 & 25 October) and the return of Frightwater (30 October – 1 November). In May 2015 a new Vintage Car Rally ride was added. On May Bank Holiday a brand-new 18 hole £350,000 Jurassic Adventure Golf course opened. Huge life-size animatronic dinosaurs roar as you make your way around the course which is suitable for all the family. This operates as a separate paid for attraction from the Theme Park.

In the year ending January 2016, the park recorded a loss of £148,000.

2014 Season

The park opened on Saturday 5 April for the 2014 season and has a variety of events planned including Superheroes Saturday (Saturday 28 June), Pirates and Princesses Weekends (7 & 8 June and 21 & 22 June), October half term Fantastic Fireworks (25 & 26 October) and the return of Frightwater (31 October – 2 November).

The park returned to profit in the year ending 31 January 2015 after a number of years of reported losses. A pre-tax profit of £110,000 thanks to a successful 2014 season followed losses of £55,000, £500,000 and £168,000 in the years ending January 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively.

2013 Season

In May 2013 Lightwater Valley opened the UK’s largest Angry Birds Activity Park, bringing the world’s number 1 mobile game to life in a fun and active experience for the whole family. Incorporating all the Angry Birds characters, the Activity Park offers over 30,000 square feet of interactive indoor and outdoor adventure play. Eagle's Creek Farm was also introduced in 2013, a tractor ride around a farm with live animals aimed at visitors under 8 years of age.

The Ultimate

The Ultimate was designed by Big Country Motioneering and the park’s original owner Robert Staveley. Construction began in early 1990, taking 18 months to complete. The ride's trestles and large station building were constructed by Staveley's in-house construction team responsible for building Lightwater Valley's other buildings. The metal track work was ordered from BCM who used fabricators 'Tubular Engineering' to manufacture it. Much of the installation was, however, undertaken largely in-house and supervised by engineers from British Rail, after BCM were sacked due to track problems and slow progress. The scale of the project led to both companies contracted to supply the trains and track going bankrupt half way through its construction, leaving Staveley's team and British Rail to finish the project on their own. Staveley got assistance from American and German roller coaster manufacturers who advised him to ensure that there was enough flexibility in the track to allow for expansion and contraction under fluctuating temperatures. Overall, the project was over a year behind schedule and went significantly over budget. Staveley wanted to ensure that he was the first to ride his creation well in advance of its opening in order to give himself time to improve and re-work areas of track. He did so by riding in one of the trains which had not yet been fitted with any restraints using only rope to secure himself.

The ride was finally opened on 17 July 1991 by Frank Bruno. When opened, it was the world's longest rollercoaster at 1.5 miles (2.4 km), taking over 5 minutes to ride and costing £5.2 million. Initially, Staveley had not set out to break any records and it was only once construction had gotten underway that a colleague exclaimed that there couldn't be a roller coaster longer than the one they were building. Later that day, a colleague was sent to Ripon to buy the Guinness Book of Records which indeed confirmed that the length of track that Staveley had ordered was well over the record.

The Ultimate has four trains in all named after park staff involved in the construction of the ride. They are called, Mick's Meteor, Jim's Jet, Tony's Tornado (named after Tony Bolsover, the park's former Maintenance Manager) and Ron's Rocket. However, only the latter two are still in service today.

The trains also used to have over-the-shoulder-restraints until 1992 when they were removed and replaced with lap bar restraints to improve the ride experience.

In 2016 Lightwater Valley will be celebrating 25 years of The Ultimate.

The Valligators

"The Valligators" are three green alligator-costumed entertainers who currently act as the park’s mascots and entertain the younger visitors. They are better known as Harry, Sally and Baby Al. They were introduced to the park in 2001 to mark the beginning of a new era following Heritage GB takeover of Lightwater Valley.

When they were first introduced they were a well recognised face of the park. Harry was the oldest and the bravest of the three valligators, who liked to ride the Jaw Droppers, whilst Sally and Baby Al represented the Whipper Snapper and Nipper attractions respectively.

They are now less of a prominent feature of the park, particularly after the latest 2012 rebrand. The costumed entertainers can still be found wondering around the park entrance greeting guests on arrival however.

Accident

20-year-old Gemma Savage died on 21 June 2001 following an accident the previous day when two carriages collided on the "Treetop Twister", a spinning Wild Mouse roller coaster, which had opened in May that year. Police decided not to prosecute a maintenance worker, who claimed that he had only received an hour's training on that ride and had not seen its manual. Faulty wiring had also caused a malfunction on the ride. In October 2004 Deputy Coroner John Sleightholme at Skipton Magistrates' Court ruled death by misadventure.

Lightwater Valley's owners and electrician Eric Butters admitted breaching health and safety laws at Leeds Crown Court on 14 November 2006. Lightwater Valley Attractions Ltd was charged with failing to ensure the health and safety of riders, Butters was charged with failing to ensure safety through his work. Both pleaded guilty. A French manufacturer, Reverchon Industries SA, was convicted of two charges of failing to ensure the ride's safe design and construction.

Energy efficiency

In 2015, the park reported energy efficiency savings of around £130,000 a year thanks to the investment in renewable technologies. These include new carbon-neutral biomass boilers producing 400 kW per unit, enabling the park to move away from the conventional oil-based heating system. In addition, a new ground-mounted photovoltaic array was installed in the adjacent fields which has supplied up to 45% of the park's energy demand. The park remains committed to reducing its carbon footprint as part of Heritage GB's wider commitments to invest in green energy and environmental policy.