Rainbow Park - Hunstanton

Many of us as children sat in the back of our parents' cars, we didn't care about road names, roundabouts or traffic lights. All we cared about was knowing that somewhere out there you could peek over the front seat and see the blue sea and the tip of the Lighthouse Slip or to us back then a slide with indoor steps, it's hard to believe this slide greeted people for over 55 years and is still been used today as a travelling attraction.

It was at that point we realised we were stareing down at Rainbow Park in Hunstanton & your parents realised in the terms of Jaws "they are going to need a bigger wallet".

I always found Hunstanton a strange resort with its pier that's not a pier (They blamed it on a storm that happened in January 1978 but I'm sure someone will say it was a weather-making machine).

So here we are, now we are the adults doing the driving down Redgate Hill and turning onto Oasis Way, only now we are no longer greeted by the spear of a Lighthouse Slip, instead, we are greeted by a Star Flyer that was tightly but neatly pushed into the opening corner of the park. Truth is, much has changed within the park some good, and some bad but every one of them is necessary to keep the park moving forward in what can only be described as its most challenging years.

Since Covid, many smaller parks around the UK coastline have started to struggle, and in some areas where the parks are not helped by holiday traffic they have ultimately seized trading, however, at Rainbow Park, it looks like the Roper family is taking a completely different approach with keeping a steady stream of reinvestment into the Park with new or fresh rides becoming a regular feature. Their latest addition to the park in February/March was Insomniac & on our visit seemed to be fastly becoming one of the most popular rides, I'm sure this ride will be playing a huge part in their main summer season.

Despite the new, faster and more intense rides arriving at the park it's great to see that this modernisation is still been offset by the keeping of some of the older and more traditional rides such as the Mack Dodgem set that has served the park since the mid-1980s, Gallopers that was made by local-ish ride builders Savage that opened in the park sometime in the '50s. From the beachside, the view is still one of nostalgia with customers being greeted by the many hills of the giant slippery Dip Slide that was manufactured by Bennetts sometime in the 70's.

One thing for sure about this park is the values are that of providing families with the perfect memory of a great day, with its blend of new and old, high-octane thrill rides to a great selection of juvenile rides the park remains in great hands with their current owners the Roper Family.