Days Out in Great Yarmouth // Pleasure Beach

Part of a Paid Collaboration with Visit Great Yarmouth.  All opinions are my own

Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach is situated right on the seafront and splits into two halves.  The Pleasure Beach has a gated entrance and costs £15 per person to enter which gives you unlimited rides, and the Pleasure Beach Gardens is free to enter and has paid for attractions including mini golf, an upside down house and a grand prix track, as well as Sara's Tearooms which serves hot and cold food as well as drinks and cakes.  We visited both parts on our recent trip to Great Yarmouth so scroll down to read more!

The Pleasure Beach

It cost £15 to enter (under 2s are free) and for that price you have a four hour slot to explore the park at your leisure.  With the limited tickets we found that this gave us plenty of time to go on all the rides we wanted (some several time) as there were virtually no queues on our trip (this may be different in the height of summer but for a hot June weekend we were impressed).  Inside the fun fair there are also games you can pay extra for, such as hook a duck and shooting games, and stalls to buy food and drink.  

With young children, I find it important to see what they are able to ride before we go and there is a handy table here with more information. The boys (aged 7,9 and 10 and all over 1.3m) were able to go on every ride unaccompanied and Cora (nearly 6 and 1.1m) could ride on all bar 7 rides.  Rex at 7 months enjoyed watching his siblings from the safety of our arms or the buggy and was mesmerised all day by the colours and movement. 

Our favourite rides were:

Me - The Classic Roller Coaster. I love the wooden roller coaster, it was mild enough that all the children could ride on it, but had enough bumps that you can put your hands in the air and scream. It stands proud in the centre of the Pleasure Beach and was as bright as the summer sky

Dylan- Dylan took some convincing to go on the Log Flume and we all got totally soaked but he loved it all the same.  There was a machine you could use for £2 to dry off afterwards which the boys made good use of! I ended up buying the picture of Ed and the four children on there as a fridge magnet.

Archie - The dodgems will always be a favourite for this boy, he doesn't stop giggling as he drives round.  You can ride in the dodgems from 1 metre but you need to be 1.25 to drive.  Often one of the busiest rides in a fair, we never had to wait longer than 5 minutes for a turn.

Finn -  The Haunted House and the Fun Factory next to it were Finn's favourites.  The Haunted house takes you round in a small car that sits 2 and the Fun factory you walk round yourself. Do be aware for the fun factory, closed toe shoes are necessary for entry so no sliders or flip flops allowed.

Cora - The Big Apple ride was a favourite for Cora. A rollercoaster designed for smaller children where you sit in a caterpillar.  They all liked to sit in the back carriage as we think it goes faster. 

We had a fantastic visit to the Pleasure Beach and the children are already insisting we book to go again.  Find out more about Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach and book your tickets here.

The Pleasure Beach Gardens

Next to the Pleasure Beach is the Pleasure Beach Gardens which is an attraction in itself.  With the large Great Yarmouth letters in the background, the safari themed mini golf is a great place to start.

With 12 holes it is a great length for younger children and we were given a score card with our clubs and brightly coloured balls.  The course was relatively simple and the children enjoyed the challenges. It was easy to navigate and felt well looked after.

The Pleasure Beach Garden's area includes a large cafe called Sara's Tearooms where you can get hot or cold breakfasts and lunches, cakes and drinks.  The milkshakes came with cream and marshmallows and were a big hit with my boys! We had a hot lunch and I was excited to see vegan options on the menu for me. There is plenty of indoor and outdoor seating and a few smaller tables on the beach side which are perfect if you want to enjoy a drink whilst the kids build sandcastles.

Also in the gardens are a race track with ride on motorbikes and trucks which takes £1 coins and are always a hit with my children, and the upside down house.  It was our first time visiting something like this and the children all thought it was amazing! They particularly liked doing Spiderman poses below the bed.  You can explore the two stories but be aware that you can't take babes in arms inside as the sloped floors make it unsafe.

There is easily a full day out to be had between Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach and the gardens (although our visit was split over two days).