Fantasy Island - Ingoldmells

Fantasy Island

This is something slightly different to our normal days out, as this was actually a holiday stay at the Fantasy Island holiday park, in Ingoldmells, Lincolnshire.

The holiday park has it own sprawling theme park attached, although it should be noted the theme park is not exclusive to the holiday park and can be accessed by the general public too.

Fantasy Island is just up the coast from Skegness and at the top of the rollercoasters you have a great view down to the nearby Butlins at Skegness.  

As with all theme parks the rides are primarily graded by height restrictions. However there are also some requirements for those with disabilities, which can be found in their access statement. The most crucial of which is that wheelchair users must be able to transfer themselves to and from their chair onto rides, particularly in the event of an emergency!

The first thing that struck us upon arrival was the size of some of the rides, in particular the two main rollercoasters, The Millennium and The Odyssey. Much to my wife's delight our Little One came in too small for both of these coasters, needing to be 1.2 & 1.3 metres tall respectively - although that didn't stop me from riding The Odyssey and my granddaughter joining me on The Millennium.

Our Little One is a bit of an adrenalin junkie, having metaphorically cut his teeth at LegoLand, where he could ride The Dragon all day, if allowed! It was for this reason we decided to try out Fantasy Island. The rollercoasters in particular are a great way to meet his sensory needs, although any ride with a lot of movement does the job!

At this point I should add my usual caveat. Our Little One isn't what I would describe as a typical autistic child, due to his deafness issues he isn't particularly bothered by sound, he has no problem with movement or bright lights. He does have an issue with queueing, as he doesn't understand the concept and sometimes gets frustrated, although rarely has meltdowns.

While there is no access pass system in place at Fantasy Island, they pride themselves on having low queues and waiting times. Our visit took in a weekend of good weather at the beginning of May and we didn't experience any queuing times ourselves.

It should also be noted that some of the walks from the entrance to a ride, and to then actually getting on, can be quite lengthy, and some have steps, which again could be a potential problem for those with mobility issues. Some of the entrance gates to rides could also be problematic for wheelchair users, as they seemed rather tight for space at times.

Although too small for the big coasters, we did find find other rides he could enjoy. The Rhombus Rocket is a fairly decent coaster, which got up some speed, with enough twists and turns to make him happy!

Although a smaller, kids style rollercoaster, the Apple Coaster was probably one of our Little One's favourites. It's another of those small coasters that doesn't seem to do much, but then picks up speed and centrifugal force in the corners - he loved it!

The highlight for our Little One though, was one of the indoor rides. A small rollercoaster called Jellikins. We discovered when we tried to join him on the coaster, that there is a maximum height limit on this ride of 1.6 metres, which both my wife and I clearly exceed! Initially we walked away, as he has never been on a ride, unaccompanied, due our fears for his safety.

Eventually we did relent and decided to let him try the coaster. After a slow start, while they waited for other passengers, he started to get a bit fidgety, but as soon as the coaster started moving he held on tight to the seat safety bar and loved it.

He was beaming as his carriage came past the ride camera - I think my wife and I both had a tear in our eyes at this stage. It might not sound like much to most people, but it was such an important moment for him and for us - this was literally the first time in his 7.5 years, that he has done something where we couldn't reach out to him for his safety! During our stay he visited the ride several more times and came off literally bouncing, from sensory overload, each time.

There are many more rides that a child, particularly with sensory needs, would love, like our Little One did. I have added a short video below of some of the ride photo captures we got with our holiday wristbands.

To sum up. If you know your child's needs and what they might and might not like, then I think it might be worth considering a visit to Fantasy Island - note also, they do offer a 50% discount for accompanying carers with the usual evidence!