MackMan
Mega Poster
Emerald Park Review!
So after moving to the Ayrshire Coast (near Glasgow) I have been kinda missing coasters. My nearest park is M&DS which I don't even feel is worth the effort to visit? Flamingoland is quite far away and honestly that's about as accessible to me as it gets.
So flying it is! So the 40 minute flight to Dublin became very attractive for Emerald Park, I always wanted to visit Dublin and the the little hop from Glasgow made things very attractive!
Now my flight to Dublin was really early in the morning, me and my boyfriend got our return tickets for £25 each with Ryanair. Look definitely not for everyone, but we had random seat allocation and a little backpack each with bare essentials. Honestly for 1-4 day trips this is enough IMO, gotta play by the Ryanair rules lol.
We left Dublin Airport and headed straight to Emerald. Via public transport you will need to get two buses, but this is pretty easy to navigate. The easiest way is via the TFI (Transport for Ireland) app which we used and found easy. If you're going to Ireland this app is a must! It took just over a hour from the Airport, it will take slightly longer from Dublin itself. The park is certainly very accessible though compared to some other parks.
The entrance itself is fairly impressive with animals as you drive in. Cu Chulainn also towers over the car park as a spectacle.
Now the park has kind of a odd layout. You have all your thrill rides/big coasters on the right hand side of the park, then your zoo and kids stuff to the left. The parks zoo was fairly good, loads of animals though I would say is more of a medium sized zoo. I would recommend spending some time there to maximize the ticket price. It can be quite a pricey theme park so definitely maximize your day. You probably could half day trip for the creds, but there's a fair amount of non coaster stuff to do
Now I'm just going to talk about the main coasters of the park, I didn't actually ride their family coasters (barring Quest) as the park had hundreds of school trips that day..
Quest:
Great little Vekoma Boomerang. Probably my favourite out of the 3 I have ridden. The layout feels so low to the ground and I love it's interaction with Fianna Force.
Cu Chulainn:
My first Gravity Group! Overall I was very mixed. This coaster has an amazing layout, it's got everything. The first drop is brilliant, the ride has great airtime moments, laterals, length. The ride is incredibly forceful and fun, though in terms of rerideablity I would say it's a bit much! I definitely had a headache after riding, it's definitely rattly and rough. It's a shame as I feel if it was smoother it would be elite, though even how it rides now, I would still say it's a great wooden coaster. I definitely was smiling hitting the breaks, but ultimately for me 2 rides was enough. I actively needed a drink after that!
Na Fianna's Force:
This was my favourite coaster in the park. B&M inverts are definitely a model I like but something about Vekoma's take on inverts are just really fun. I find this layout to be very flowy, every element flows very naturally into the next. The ride has a great mix of forces and has a duration that feels satisfying. I love the little Intamin style direction change at the end, I love the inversion over Quest's station, and I love the first drop.
The ride runs butter smooth, has great restraints that accommodate my very tall boyfriend comfortably, it's just a overall another strong showing of Vekoma. My only complaint is that the queue line is OBNOXIOUS. They have a very cramped room before the station which with school trips gets very LOUD. I wanted to rip my ears out and sell them on eBay, it was like 150 kids shouting in a room for 20 minutes straight.
Anyway my general opinion of Emerald Park is positive- I enjoyed the food though it was really expensive, they have two very good coasters that are worth riding IMO. Fianna's Force is brilliant and Cu though rough is still a very unique and relentless Woodie. Cu eats any Woodie in the UK for breakfast.
Anyway that's my report, my advice. Don't move to Scotland if you're an enthusiast lol.. Great for hiking terrible for creds.
So after moving to the Ayrshire Coast (near Glasgow) I have been kinda missing coasters. My nearest park is M&DS which I don't even feel is worth the effort to visit? Flamingoland is quite far away and honestly that's about as accessible to me as it gets.
So flying it is! So the 40 minute flight to Dublin became very attractive for Emerald Park, I always wanted to visit Dublin and the the little hop from Glasgow made things very attractive!
Now my flight to Dublin was really early in the morning, me and my boyfriend got our return tickets for £25 each with Ryanair. Look definitely not for everyone, but we had random seat allocation and a little backpack each with bare essentials. Honestly for 1-4 day trips this is enough IMO, gotta play by the Ryanair rules lol.
We left Dublin Airport and headed straight to Emerald. Via public transport you will need to get two buses, but this is pretty easy to navigate. The easiest way is via the TFI (Transport for Ireland) app which we used and found easy. If you're going to Ireland this app is a must! It took just over a hour from the Airport, it will take slightly longer from Dublin itself. The park is certainly very accessible though compared to some other parks.
The entrance itself is fairly impressive with animals as you drive in. Cu Chulainn also towers over the car park as a spectacle.
Now the park has kind of a odd layout. You have all your thrill rides/big coasters on the right hand side of the park, then your zoo and kids stuff to the left. The parks zoo was fairly good, loads of animals though I would say is more of a medium sized zoo. I would recommend spending some time there to maximize the ticket price. It can be quite a pricey theme park so definitely maximize your day. You probably could half day trip for the creds, but there's a fair amount of non coaster stuff to do
Now I'm just going to talk about the main coasters of the park, I didn't actually ride their family coasters (barring Quest) as the park had hundreds of school trips that day..
Quest:
Great little Vekoma Boomerang. Probably my favourite out of the 3 I have ridden. The layout feels so low to the ground and I love it's interaction with Fianna Force.
Cu Chulainn:
My first Gravity Group! Overall I was very mixed. This coaster has an amazing layout, it's got everything. The first drop is brilliant, the ride has great airtime moments, laterals, length. The ride is incredibly forceful and fun, though in terms of rerideablity I would say it's a bit much! I definitely had a headache after riding, it's definitely rattly and rough. It's a shame as I feel if it was smoother it would be elite, though even how it rides now, I would still say it's a great wooden coaster. I definitely was smiling hitting the breaks, but ultimately for me 2 rides was enough. I actively needed a drink after that!
Na Fianna's Force:
This was my favourite coaster in the park. B&M inverts are definitely a model I like but something about Vekoma's take on inverts are just really fun. I find this layout to be very flowy, every element flows very naturally into the next. The ride has a great mix of forces and has a duration that feels satisfying. I love the little Intamin style direction change at the end, I love the inversion over Quest's station, and I love the first drop.
The ride runs butter smooth, has great restraints that accommodate my very tall boyfriend comfortably, it's just a overall another strong showing of Vekoma. My only complaint is that the queue line is OBNOXIOUS. They have a very cramped room before the station which with school trips gets very LOUD. I wanted to rip my ears out and sell them on eBay, it was like 150 kids shouting in a room for 20 minutes straight.
Anyway my general opinion of Emerald Park is positive- I enjoyed the food though it was really expensive, they have two very good coasters that are worth riding IMO. Fianna's Force is brilliant and Cu though rough is still a very unique and relentless Woodie. Cu eats any Woodie in the UK for breakfast.
Anyway that's my report, my advice. Don't move to Scotland if you're an enthusiast lol.. Great for hiking terrible for creds.