The Flambards Experience

Infobox Amusement park
name=The Flambards Experience


location=flagicon|ENG Culdrose Manor, Helston, England
postcode=TR13 0QA
season=March-October
area=
opening_date=1976
previous_names=Cornwall Aircraft Park
rides=16
coasters=1
water_rides=1
owner=Hale family
slogan=The Best Day Of The Week Come Rain or Shine
homepage=http://www.flambards.co.uk/
footnotes=

The Flambards Experience is a family owned amusement park in the town of Helston in Cornwall, England

Photo available at http://i19.tinypic.com/6h5q7mf.jpg

History

The Flambards Experience (formally Flambards Village theme park) was founded in 1976 as the "Cornwall Aircraft Park" by Lt Cmdr Douglas Kingsford Hale MBE and his wife Audrey.

The Current Park

The Theme Park features a comination of live entertainment from children's celebrities such as The Simpsons, Peter Pan and Snoopy, as well as all the rides, and exhibitions. The park is hosted by mascot, Ferdi Flambards.

Major Rides

* The Hornet Rollercoaster - A Zierer Hornet style coaster
* The Canyon River Log Flume - made by Zamperla
* The Cyclecopters - a pedal powered monorail made by Zierer
* The Balloon Race - made by Zamperla
* Extreme Force - Keith Emmet Skymaster style ride supplied by Joseph Manning
* The Chariot Race - former fairground ride of the SuperBob style
* The Thunderbolt - Superrides International made Superstar ride (SS6) previously owned by Scott Manning as "Wildthing". This ride was used in the millennium celebration on the Mall in London.
* The Rocking Tug - Made by Zamperla; formerly owned by American Adventure Theme Park
* The Chance Carousel - Formerly owned by The American Adventure Theme Park

Children's Rides (Ferdi's Funland)

* Human Cannonball
* Pirate Ship
* Tea Cups
* Animal Express
* Space Shuttle - Formerly owned by The American Adventure Theme Park
* The Cornish Children's Eye
* The Cornish mine train - Formerly the Rio Grande train at The American Adventure Theme Park

Exhibitions

* The Victorian Village Experience
* The Britain in the Blitz Experience
* The Memory Lane Experience
* The Hands on Experience (commonly known as the exploratorium)

For the 2007 season, three new rides were added:-The Rocking Tug-The Carousel-The Space Shuttle

The 2008 season saw the opening of the Cornish mine train ride

The park has a cafeteria, and various kiosks where you can buy drinks and ice creams.

Future

Changes for the 2007 summer season include: The "war of the robots" - moved from its previous location outside the dropslide, now positioned next to sea legs play area in replacement of the long range basket ball shooter which has moved in place of the "Nice Ice" ice cream kiosk.

A paintball range has been installed adjacent to the Demon Dropslide.

The Park made a loss in the 12 months up to the end of Jan 2005 in the region of £350,000 and had an overdraft and other loans totaling in the region of £2million (from accounts submitted and available from Companies House).

In March 2008, Managing Director James Kingsford-Hale announced Flambards was to sell off some of its land, despite "an 11% increase in visitor numbers." The land in question was originally planned for a helipad field used during the summer as an extra car park. [http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/2087428.flambards_to_sell_land/] If this land is sold it is likely to be developed into a "sainsburys" supermarket however Helston Town Council doesn't appear to be in favour of this [http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/helston/Planning-chairman-speaks-superstore-plans/article-367253-detail/article.html]

External links

* [http://www.flambards.co.uk/ Official website]
* [http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144143&command=displayContent&sourceNode=144131&contentPK=16421281 West Briton article on 2007-01-18]
* [http://www.cornwallinformation.com/things-to-do/attractions/flambards.php Flambards visitor reviews]