M&D's
 | |
 M&D's entrance | |
| Location | Motherwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 55°48′00″N 4°02′23″W / 55.80011°N 4.03966°W |
| Status | Operating |
| Opened | 1996 |
| Closed | Unknown |
| Owner | M&D Group |
| Slogan | "Scotland's Theme Park" |
| Attractions | |
| Total | 41 attractions |
| Roller coasters | 2 |
| Water rides | 1 |
| Website | www.scotlandsthemepark.com |
M&D's Scotland's Theme Park is an amusement park located in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. Bordering on Strathclyde Park, the park contains two operating rollercoasters, two water rides, several fairground rides, and a arcade, a theatre, Cosmic Bowl and an indoor tropical house, Amazonia.[1]
In 2018, North Lanarkshire Council approved an expansion proposal from the park.[2]
The park went into administration on 23 April 2020, but was purchased on 22 June 2020.[3][4]
Attractions
[edit]M&D's Theme Park has many rides and attractions, including two roller coasters (four just before the faillissement), a log flume, several fairground-type rides, and many more rides designed for young children. Most were travelling rides owned by the park's operators, travelling showmen Matthew and Douglas Taylor.
Roller coasters
[edit]- Runaway Mine Train: Prior to 2007, this roller coaster had spinning cars and a tire-propelled lift. These were replaced with a traditional fixed train and chain lift in the winter maintenance the train was painted from grey to red
- Big Apple: A children's roller coaster with a green caterpillar cart and is a good first roller coaster for younger children
Thrill rides
[edit]- Air Raid:, new for 2024 is an Extreme built by UK manufacturer Tivoli Manufacturing. This is thrill ride in M&D's that spins you all over the place. The ride spent the 2022 season on loan at Alton Towers as Spinjam.
- Chair Swing: A 32-seat Swing ride
- Captain's Curse: A Pirate Ship ride. It was absent from the park during the 2007–2008 season for refurbishment.
- Miami - Rip Tide: A Miami Trip. Replaced 'Fast & Furious'. In the 2022 season of M&D's.
Water rides
[edit]
- Moby's Revenge: A three-lane dinghy water slide. The rightmost slide is a steep, straight chute, the middle slide is a shallower straight slide with dips, and the leftmost one is a spiral slide.
Junior Rides and Attractions
[edit]- Trampolines: 10 trampoline beds. Roughly around 5 minutes per session
- Mini Dodgems
- "Flying Dumbos": an elephant ride that is based of Walt Disney's hit film Dumbo.
Pirate Ship frog hoppers: bounce up and down but the noise it makes can get Annoying at times.
Entertament
[edit]High Diving Pirates: If you go at the right time it will be on it is a show on at summer not on all the time but it is worth it.
Past rides
[edit]- Kamikaze, a Ranger, closed in 2005.
- The Bomber Mark 2: A Fabbri Booster. Closed in 2014.
- The Giant Condor: The only one of its kind in Europe. Riders go up 30 meters in 28 2-seater gondolas. It debuted in the 2015 season as a replacement to The Bomber Mark 2.
- Space Coaster (formerly called Cobra and then Express): it was sold after the 2015 season to Oakwood Theme Park.
- Tsunami: Manufactured by Pinfari, was the only inverted roller coaster in Scotland. It closed due to an accident on 26 June 2016. Formally closed on 27 February 2017.
- Tornado: Was the park's largest roller coaster. Manufactured by Pinfari, with over 1 km of track. The track contains two 360-degree vertical loops in addition to several banked turns, pulling −2 Gs at some points. This ride has a top speed of over 80 km/h.[5] It formerly had a corkscrew which was removed after the 2005 season due to being exceptionally rough. It was sold in November 2020 to Parc d'Attractions Marseillan-Plage.
- Big Apple (1st): A children's roller coaster, which used to travel through a large fiber glass apple. It was removed in 2021 and relocated to Web Adventure Park.[6]
- Mad Mouse: A Spinning Wild Mouse roller coaster. 2016-2021.
- Magic Carpet: Formerly known as "Ali Baba's Carpet" was a Magic Carpet ride, with a capacity of 40 people. The ride reaches a height of 14 m and a top speed of 14 rpm. It was replaced with a newer model in the 2017 season.
- Fast & Furious: A Miami Trip. It replaced the Magic Carpet at the start of the 2020/21 season.
White Water: a log flume at M&D's for years then was removed in the winter of the 2023 season and was replaced by Space and Air rade
Other attractions
[edit]- Amazonia: The only indoor rainforest in the whole of Scotland, it contains exotic animals such as the poison dart frog, tarantula and python.
- Devil's Island: An 18-hole miniature golf course, played over water and in caves.
- Krazy Congo: Giant indoor soft play-area, for young children.
- Gamezone: Giant amusement arcade, containing over 150 different games, including the most recently developed games.
- Alona Hotel: The on-site hotel for visitors staying for a period of time. It contains a glasshouse restaurant and bar and an atrium for views overlooking the Strathclyde Loch.
Incidents and accidents
[edit]In June 2009, six people were stranded on the park's Tornado roller coaster when high winds caused the safety systems to activate.[7]
On 4 July 2011, nine people, ranging in age from 9 to 49, had to be rescued from the Tsunami roller coaster. Due to a mechanical failure on the ride, the group was stranded 60 ft (18.2m) above the ground for a total of eight long hours.[7]
In 2013 there was an incident on the White Water Log Flume where a teenage girl's leg was trapped between a barrier and a splash back on the ride's structure, causing a serious injury.[8]
In August 2015, three people were injured when the White Water Log Flume slipped on its track,[9] and later the same month a 58-year-old woman and three teenagers were forced to walk down from the top of the ride after it got stuck at the highest point.[10]
In March 2016, eight people had to be rescued from the Tornado roller coaster after it became stuck 20 ft (6.09m) above the ground.[11]
On 26 June 2016, the roller coaster Tsunami derailed, injuring eight children and two adults, which make a total of ten people. On the way down it hit the main structure and came to rest on the walkway.[12]
References
[edit]- ^ "Theme park's pirates offer egg-stra treats". Evening Times, 3 April 2012 / Caroline Wilson
- ^ "M&D's Theme Park Planning Expansion".
- ^ "Scotland's largest theme park Glasgow, M&D's goes into administration". Glasgow Times. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
- ^ "M&D's theme park saved from administration by a company called Lochview Theme Park". Glasgow Times. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
- ^ "Our Selection of the Top Theme Parks in the UK: M&D’s". Weather-Whatever, by Shannon Harto Monday 15 July 2013
- ^ "Big Apple - Web Adventure Park (York, North Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom)". rcdb.com. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
- ^ a b "BBC News – Nine rescued from Strathclyde Park roller coaster". Bbc.co.uk. 4 July 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
- ^ "M&D's left me scarred like a shark victim" Archived 6 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Daily Record, 3 July 2016, By Graeme Donohoe
- ^ "Children hurt as M&D's ride malfunctions, log flume slid backwards crashing into cart behind" Archived 18 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Daily Record, 6 August 2015 By Shirley Bartynek
- ^ "M&Ds log flume terror: Gran's horror as she is forced to shuffle down 60ft high rollercoaster" Archived 31 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Daily Record, 24 August 2015 By Beverley Lyons
- ^ "Eight rescued from roller coaster at M&D's theme park". BBC News. 26 March 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
- ^ "Rollercoaster crash: Children among 10 hurt at M&D's theme park". BBC News. 26 June 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
External links
[edit]
