It’s the school holidays and one thing we always do during the six-week break is take a trip (or two!) to Crealy Adventure Park in Devon.
In this post I share some of our favourite things about visiting Crealy that keep us coming back year on year.
Crealy is a lovely adventure park just ten minutes from the M5 in Devon, with plenty to do for the whole family.
There are over sixty different attractions at Crealy including:
- Huge Indoor Soft Play
- Water Slides
- 2 Roller Coasters & Log Flume
- Sooty Land (rides, indoor play and Sooty show)
- Splash Zone
- Bumper Boats
- 8 Outdoor Adventure Play Areas
- Wilderness Trail
- Tropical & Farm Animals
- Family Friendly Rides and Much more
6 Reasons We Love Visiting Crealy
1. Plenty of Picnic Benches
If like us you need to stick to a budget during your summer days out, then bringing a picnic is a must to save some cash.
We usually bring our own food but do have a little splurge on ice creams at some point during the day.
One of the things I love about Crealy is there are absolutely loads of picnic benches throughout the park making a picnic lunch very easy.
Our recent trips have both been during school holiday weekends, when the park is bustling and we have not had an issue finding somewhere to sit down when needed.
While there a plenty of benches close to the main attractions and the indoor areas.
2. Free Return Tickets
Crealy runs an offer during the Easter Holidays and Devon School Summer Holidays which enables you to get a free return visit for seven days after your first – essentially two days out for the price of one.
We always take advantage of this offer when it is running (please check before you visit!) as it makes the ticket price of £24 per person much better value for money.
To take advantage of this offer, you do need to get your photograph taken as you leave and the same people need to return on your second visit. There are staff that will remind you and direct you to the right place!
You’ll be given a ticket to scan when you go back where you can enter using the annual pass holders queue.
As with any offer, please check the Ts&Cs directly with Crealy before booking.
3. Splash Zone & Wilderness Trail
These are two of our favourite things to do at Crealy, but because they are at the far end of the park, I think people often miss them.
This year was the first time we’ve used the splash simply because it’s been warm enough on the days we visited and we remember to pack swimming gear for the kids!
The Wilderness Trail is a great option for days when the sun is shining and you want to take advantage of the shade.
A series of tricky bridges take you across a small stream and range from ‘so easy even Mum & Dad can do it’ to ‘you might fall in the water if you’re not careful!’
There are other things to see and do along the way, including birdwatching huts, a treetop adventure course and a very small escape room as well spotting some of Crealy’s resident Deer.
4. Sooty Land At Crealy
Sooty is a childhood favourite for many, and Crealy is the only place in the UK with a Sootyland.
This area is perfect for younger children, with several small rides, even if they’re not familiar with Sooty.
There is also an indoor playzone where you can meet Sooty at various times during the day and the circus tent where the Sooty show is performed twice daily.
5. Open Green Space
Behind Crealy’s main attractions, there is a large lake surrounded by open Green space (the wilderness walk runs along side this).
This area is perfect is you want to get away from the hustle and bustle or you have children that would benefit from quieter time during a busy day out.
We like taking our picnic to this area for a chilled lunch break!
6. Short Queue Times
Even when visiting Crealy at the height of summer, queue times remain short.
Most rides we have been able to get on the next go or maybe had wait one more turn after that… but rarely more than about ten minutes and often much less.
This is perfect if you’re visiting with young children and toddlers that struggle to wait for a long time.
Queue times are a bit longer for bigger attractions such as Twister and the Maximus coaster, but we’re talking half an hour rather than the long queue times you see at big theme parks.
I also think these rides would benefit from a queue time at the entrance so people can make an informed choice on whether they want to wait.
My advice is to get to Crealy early and make these rides your first stop of the day.
We love Crealy and will keep returning each summer as our main family day out, especially when the free return offer is running.
There is so much to do we find it hard to fit everything into one day and when we return it can feel like a different day out as we try out attractions we didn’t have time for on the previous visit.
Have you been to Crealy recently? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!