North Yorkshire Water Park, Wykeham: Yorkshire activity centre introduces water park with biggest inflatable unicorn in the world that took six hours to inflate

The North Yorkshire Water Park is situated on the Wykeham lakes, near Scarborough, that have been around for thousands of years as they were formed during the Ice Age.

Due to a surge of adventurers, sailors and athletes such as windsurfers visiting the area in the 1990s, the decision was made to turn it into a water sports venue.

In the late 2000s, they began to put plans in place and in 2017, the first aqua park was built called Wipeout.

It was successful until Covid hit, then plans and investment were put in to give the venue an uplift and turn it into the attraction it is today; cafes were built, the reception was renovated, changing rooms were installed and the function room was constructed.

With the size of the space, they decided to build extra aqua parks which took place between 2020 and 2021 and were fully open to the public in July 2021. The new features included a 250-metre zipline, a climbing wall and two other aqua parks: Warrior and Splash Kingdom, which is for toddlers.

The venue now has 20 activities on land and on the water and are averaging 60,000 visitors a year.

General manager of the North Yorkshire Water Park, Gareth Davies, shared their future plans for the attraction.

“Coinciding with all of that, the camping site has expanded, we have grown now to what we class ourselves as North Yorkshire Water Park Activity Centre,” Mr Davies said.

“The Unicorn Splash Park and laser tag coming up this year was a big step for us, they’re the two new activities that have taken us up to 20.

“We’ve always tried to evolve every year and bring something new, it makes people come back. We see returning customers but we also see new customers.

“Over the course of the last two years, we’re averaging about 40,000 [people] on activities and aqua parks.

“We have a lot more people just coming to watch, visit the cafe, walk their dogs and use the park. We estimate around 60,000 people throughout the year, last year it crept up to 80,000.

“That draws from all over Yorkshire, from the M62 corridor, people travel about two and a half hours because they can make a full day of it. We get them from Teesside and Humberside.”

The new aqua park has the biggest inflatable unicorn in the world and has been popular with families.

“The idea of it was to link our Splash Kingdom which is for our toddlers before people come on to the main parks which can be quite strenuous and challenging,” Mr Davies said.

“This is a little bit more benign but it’s really good fun; it’s three unicorns and one of them is the biggest inflatable unicorn in the world. It took six hours to inflate one unicorn.

“The three unicorns are sighted on the lake and they are various sizes; the small one has a trampoline and a slide, the medium sized one is a bounce park, you can jump and slide off, then the big one is a bigger version of that one again and you can get 20 people on it.

“Everyone loves a unicorn. We’ve a young primary school which we’ve had all week, all the year groups have been coming through.

“Every time they get dropped off and walk over the hill into the park, the screams, cheers and reactions to the unicorn is brilliant. They love it.

“The idea is that if grandma or granddad bring their grandkids, this park is accessible to them.”

The North Yorkshire Water Park runs campaigns for families such as the Schools Out Splash About.

“There are a few coming up,” Mr Davies said.

“One in particular is the School’s Out Splash About which is coming up in the last week of term, we’ve got a special offer of £12 this year and we run those sessions after school during the week. We push out various [campaigns] for families.

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“We link up with holiday resorts around Scarborough, so if they’re booked in there they get a percentage off to come down. What we try and do is allow people to build their own day.

“We’re more than just a water park now, we offer that full weekend offering for people to come and stay at the campsite with the new camping pods that will be coming at the end of July.

“They will allow families to come, stay here, walk down from the campsite and the quality of food that we [serve] allows people to go back with a smile on their face having enjoyed a full day.”

There have been more groups of friends choosing an adventure days out instead of a night out drinking as a surge of stag dos and hen parties are being hosted at the North Yorkshire Water Park.

Operations manager at North Yorkshire Water Park, James Whitehead, said: “We’re seeing a lot more interest from stag dos and corporate groups looking for an exciting outdoor experience.

“People want to challenge themselves, have fun, and create memories that last – and we’ve got the perfect setting for that.”

Co-founder of alcohol-free beer Mash Gang, Mike Baggs, said: “Stag dos without the three-day recovery? It’s happening.

“People are clocking on that you don’t need to write off your entire weekend just to have a good time. We’re seeing more groups swap the all-day hangover for all-day adventures.

“The best part is you still get the laughs and the memories - just without the bit where you wake up wondering why your wallet is empty and your dignity is in question.”

The additions of land-based activities mean that the attraction is popular all year round.

“Obviously summer is our mainstay, that’s when people want to be out in the water having fun, but we are extending with the dry activities,” Mr Davies said.

“Throughout the year, the cafe is open now for the dog walkers coming down for any other activities and events that we hold throughout the year.

“During the winter period we do Christmas-themed events; we have Santa’s Grotto, Breakfast With Santa, we do Halloween events.

“The dry activities and the cafe allows that to become hopefully not as seasonal as we were in the first instance with just the water activities and we’re seeing that actually.

“This year the cafe has done carveries in the winter as well, bringing people in on the weekend. It’s very busy with Park Run which runs every week throughout the year.

“We have an average of about 250 to 300 runners every week that come and enjoy the park, the facilities.”