Flambards Theme Park

The Flambards Experience

Previously known as Cornwall Aircraft Park
Location	Culdrose Manor, Helston, England
Opened	1976
Owner	Hale family
Slogan	The Best Day Of The Week Come Rain or Shine
Operating season	March-October
Attractions
Total	16
Roller coasters	1
Water rides	1
Website	http://www.flambards.co.uk/

The Flambards Experience is a family owned amusement park on the southern outskirts of the town of Helston in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1976 as the Cornwall Aircraft Park by Lt Cmdr Douglas Kingsford Hale MBE and his wife Audrey.

Now named The Flambards Experience, the amusement park features a combination of live entertainment from children's celebrities such as The Simpsons, Peter Pan and Snoopy, as well as fairground rides and exhibitions. There is a cafeteria and kiosks selling drinks and ice creams. The park's mascot is a bear named 'Ferdi Flambards' (There is some debate as to whether Ferdi is a bear or a fox. He clearly looks like a bear and is referred to as such in a page for the attraction on BBC Cornwall's website).

Accounts lodged with Companies House show that The Flambards Experience 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.

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 and summer overspill car park. [1]. Plans to develop this land as a supermarket appear to be opposed by Helston Town Council [2]

Attractions

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 Rockin' 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 (also known as the 'Exploratorium')

For the 2007 season, three new rides were added:

• The Rocking Tug
• The Carousel
• The Space Shuttle

For the 2008 season the Cornish mine train ride was added.

External links

• Official website
• West Briton article on 2007-01-18
• Flambards visitor reviews