Flamingo Land Resort

Flamingo Land Resort

Previously known as Yorkshire Zoo, Flamingo Park
File:Flamingolandlogo2005.png Park logo
Location	Malton, North Yorkshire, England
Coordinates	54.2097°N 0.8082°W / 54.2097; -0.8082
Opened	1959 (1959 as Theme Park)
Slogan	"Wild Animals, Wilder Rides"
Operating season	March - November
Area	375 acres (152 ha)
Attractions
Total	59
Roller coasters	8
Water rides	2
Website	www.flamingoland.co.uk

Flamingo Land is a theme park, zoo, and resort, in North Yorkshire, England. It attracts about 1.8 million visitors per year. Flamingo Land is also the 12th most visited theme park in Europe.

Some of the major attractions at Flamingo Land include:

• Pterodactyl - A Zamperla Vertical Swing installed in 2012 in the new 'Primeval' land - adapted to 'Dino-Stone Park' for the 2013 season.
• Mumbo Jumbo - Opened in Summer 2009, this rollercoaster featured the steepest drop in the world at the time (Guinness Book of World Records).
• Flip Flop - Flip Flop is suspended over an artificial lake and features two large ship funnels on either side of the station.
• Kumali - Installed 2006, this is a Suspended Looping Coaster.
• Navigator - Installed 2005 it was the first 'Mega' "Disk 'O'" type of ride ever to be built.
• Velocity - Installed 2005 it is the UK's only motorbike launch coaster and is the tallest and fastest of its kind in the world.
• Cliffhanger - Opened in 2002, this is the first and tallest S&S Combo Tower in the United Kingdom.

Also on the site is a gym, a leisure centre, a spa, a golf course and a large collection of log cabins and static caravans.

History

History of Flamingo Land

Flamingo Land Resort began in 1959, when an old, small and bankrupt country club was bought up by a resident of Scarborough; an entrepreneur in the cinema and theatre industry called Edwin Pentland Hick. Hick named the site The Yorkshire Zoological Gardens and initially covered a mere nine acres of land. However Hick had grand ideas for the park; a vision which he had since military service during World War II. Hick has been described as both an eccentric and a visionary by his critics. He originally rented animals until receipts allowed him to buy more.

Hick wanted to have dolphins in his park, which at that time were not found anywhere in captivity in the UK. In 1963, he organized expeditions to many locations around the world to capture bottlenose dolphins and sperm whales, including to the Indian Ocean and off the coast of Greenland. Hick was commended for his treatment of the animals, which were fed well and kept in expansive enclosures. One of the dolphins was named Sooty after Corbett's creation.

A colony of pink flamingos were among the first animals to be housed on site and, remaining one of the most popular group of animals in the zoo, the flamingos became a kind of mascot for the entire park (hence Pentland Hick's final choice of name for the park.) The descendants of the original flamingos are still resident in the zoo today, and the flamingo colony at the park remains the largest in the country.

Throughout the 1960s a small fun fair began to be held on the site, yet another idea of Hick's, only to steadily gain momentum and bring more and more visitors to the site. In the 1970s, the fun fair was well established and amusement rides had become a permanent fixture of the park simultaneous to the zoo, becoming the first site in all Europe to combine the attractions in one location.

Pentland Hick, believing his "vision" complete, floated the company on the London Stock Exchange as Associated Pleasure Parks in 1965, and officially renamed the site Flamingo Park Zoo on Monday 12 July 1968. The ownership of the site began to shift about with the steady growth of the park, eventually being sold in full to Scotia Leisure Ltd, a company which dealt mainly with bingo halls and package holidays.

However a director of that leisure company was Robert Gibb, who cared for the park greatly and decided to buy the park from the company in 1978, shortly before Scotia Leisure collapsed due to an embezzlement scandal that also left Pentland Hick broke. Hick abandoned the park, moving into theatre and television scriptwriting, and becoming an author. Meanwhile, his protégé Robert Gibb set up his own board of directors for the park and formed Flamingo Land Ltd.

Gibb renamed the park Flamingo Land Theme Park and Zoo and developed the complex so that it was more suited to be a nation-wide instead of a local tourist attraction, including developing the growth of the amusement rides and the uniqueness of the animals cared for in the zoo. It was slow process, but a successful one. The year 1991 (whilst still under Robert Gibb's management) was one of the most productive in the park's history; it was in this year that the famous rides Bullet and Thunder Mountain were constructed.

Robert Gibb died in a car accident in 1995. His son Gordon Gibb, only 18 at the time, took control of the park with the rest of family, later becoming the chief executive of Flamingo Land Ltd.

Pleasure Island

Flamingo Land also used to operate Pleasure Island Family Theme Park in Cleethorpes since its opening in 1993 until 2010, when it became independent.

On the former site of Cleethorpes Zoo, construction for an amusement park began in the 1990s by RKF Entertainment. During this time RKF went into administration and Robert Gibb purchased the site as a second park to Flamingo Land. When his son Gordon Gibb became Chief Executive of the company, his sister Vicky Gibb and later other sister Melanie Wood (née Gibb) took the responsibility for the Cleethorpes park.

In 2010 Melanie Wood completed her desire to take ownership of the park, separate from the rest of the family company. Pleasure Island is now operated by Dewarsavile Enterprises Ltd, directed by Mrs Wood. This marked the end of Pleasure Island and Flamingo Land's association and the two parks are now independent of each other.

The park still holds many indications of Flamingo Land's ownership. In the past, rides cleared from Flamingo Land for new development were installed at Pleasure Island. Furthermore, the success of the Flamingo Land Lost Kingdom show, the Bongo Warriors, led to the introduction of a copy concept into Pleasure Island under the name Masai Warriors show.

Animals

General overview

Sealion Show

Bird Show

One time Flamingo Land claimed to be the largest animal holder of its kind in Europe, housing over 1,000 animals. Flamingo Land houses exotic birds, rare fish, mammals and reptiles. Some animals include camels, zebras, guanaco, hippopotamus, giraffe, meerkats, Baboons,Chimpanzee, lions, rhinoceros, tigers, sea lions, Parrots, and peacocks. The park take part in breeding programmes an example of which is the Mangabeys featured in the 2006 series of ITV1 show 'Theme Park'. Flamingoland official TV stopped broadcasting in 2009, although previous episodes are still available for viewing on their website. In June 2010, Flamingoland started work on a new penguin enclosure, the first stages of which were completed in August 2010.

Affiliations

Flamingo Land is a member of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) and the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), and has connections to other parks in the country:

• One of the older Flamingo Land elephants, Jangoli went on to give birth to calves at Chester Zoo - in this manner the elephants at Chester Zoo are descendants of Flamingo Land's elephants. One of the parks current giraffes is also from Chester Zoo.
• The park's male lion, lioness and her cubs were originally located at Longleat Safari Park before moving to Flamingo Land to start a new pride.
• Chessington World of Adventures was also once the home of one of the park's sea lions Clive. Benson The Sealion was a true California sealion coming from sea world at 18 months.(1984 to 2011)

African Animals

The parks emphasis is on their collection of African Animals, housed in the Lost Kingdom and African Plains. The parks water ride (The Lost River Ride) was designed to give a safari experience before its final drop, and meanders through Savannah style grasslands with Giraffe, Ostrich, Zebra, Hippo and Rhino. The ' Forgotten City Lion Reserve' is also located in the middle of the ride.

Holiday village

The park has a large holiday village with static caravans and log cabins. Within the holiday village there are leisure facilities including a leisure centre, a swimming pool and a café.

On the outskirts of the park lies a nine-hole golf course. Also adjacent to the park runs Costa Beck, a stream locally noted with crystal-clear water and fly fishing is available here free to those staying in the holiday village.Trout, Dace, Grayling, Salmon, Kingfisher and Pike can all be found in Costa Beck.

Also in the holiday village is the American Bar; an entertainments venue which is exclusive for caravan owners and people staying on site overnight. It is a venue capable of holding over 1000 people and boasts a large stage and great resident shows as well as light entertainment performed by visiting cabaret acts. Various artists have performed there over the past years, for example in 2009: X Factor finalists such as Maria Lawson, Same Difference and Ben Mills among some others. There were also soap stars who presented in 2009, these included Ryan Thomas and Mark Hancock. Chesney Hawkes also appeared on the showbar stage during this season. The 2011 season also seen Take That tribute group Re-Take That throughout the season and Chico during the summer. The venue is only open when the holiday park itself is open, which is from March till early November each year.

The Theme Park

Park slogan: "Wild Animals, Wilder Rides".

Plaza

Lower Metropolis begins with the main day visitors entrance and contains food outlets such as Metropolis Bar and Grill, gift shops, cash machines, pay-to-play game stalls, the Flying Clowns ride and The Wave Swinger ride, as well as the New for 2011 Mia and Mylo Show (featuring the New for 2011 mascots Mia and Mylo Meerkat) which replaces the 2009 Postman Pat Show. Also for the '09 season was the introduction of Pitchers Sports Bar featuring many Televisions showing sports; open all day for guests but provided throughout the night for holiday resort guests where shows are on-stage until closing.

Metropolis

Upper Metropolis is themed as a busy city. It contains such rides as Velocity and Navigator. This area of the park has received a lot of attention throughout the seasons with the addition of Velocity, a booster-bike roller coaster manufactured by Vekoma rides and it is the only motorbike launch roller coaster in the UK.

Seaside Adventure

This area is themed on the ocean and a seaside resort with such themed stores and Pizza Buffet Restaurant called the 'Jolly Sailor's Restaurant'. There is also the Jolly Sailor Takeaway (for takeaway pizzas) and the 'Something Fishy Takeaway' providing traditional fish and chips. It contains highest drop tower and only S&S Combo Tower in the UK; Cliff Hanger, which is themed as a lighthouse, although it now only has its trademark red and white panels on the lower part of the tower after complaints it spoilt the views from outside the park (it is now painted a 'blend away' grey on the top half).

Splosh!

This area was introduced for the summer of 2007. "Splish Splash" is a water playground with squirting jets and water dropping palm trees. This has now been refurbished featuring a new colour scheme for the 2011 season and also saw the introduction of a new sponsor in the form of Capri Sun. "Splash Battle" is a submarine themed ride where ride cars and off ride posts around the ride are equipped with water cannons.

The thrill ride Flip Flop is located in this area of the park, a Top Swing built by Fabbri. The ride has a large swing through station and sits over a lake with water jet effects.

New for 2008 in this area is the 4D cinema, which screened the "Haunted Lighthouse" film which was also at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and various SeaWorld parks, and features interactive features to immerse the experience. 2009 saw the Haunted Lighthouse replaced by SpongeBob SquarePants 4D which then was replaced by Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 4D in 2011. 2012 also features a new 4D film - Happy Feet which was previously at Drayton Manor.

Swooosh

This is a new area for 2011 themed as an area of flight adjacent to Splosh! to allow for a quick transition between water and sky. The area features three rides; Sky Flyer (formally part of Splosh!), Red Baron (formally part of Muddy Duck Farm) and a new family roller coaster for 2011 called Zooom. Zooom is Zamperla Air Force featuring a custom layout and significantly larger footprint than the standard model which has a train themed like 4 aeroplanes suspended from a light blue track.

Muddy Duck Farm

Formally known as the 'Little Monsters Den of Mischief', this area is mainly aimed at children, and includes the attractions Little Monster's Wacky Races and Mischief Mansion. Over the last few years this part of the park has been slowly fazed out to make way for "Muddy Duck Farm" an area themed around the farm animals; however elements of the previous mascots still remain. Furthermore, a safari type ride (like Lost River Ride) has been made (but more child-friendly) is the Tractor Ride where children 'drive' the tractors around the farm animals pens. This area holds a new ride "Helitoys", which takes the centrepiece of the area. The go-gator coaster has been moved to the old "monsters explorium" site which was cleared at the end of 2007 to make way for new rides. Another New For 2009 Venue is the Coach House Pub which is a traditional family pub serving traditional English country-side food such as chicken and beef dinners and Lasagne Meals.

Lost Kingdom Reserve

Holds Flamingo Lands most ambitious projects ever with such rides as Lost River Ride and Voodoo. In 2006 Kumali was built in this area. Made by Vekoma Rides, Kumali reaches over their lakes at 75 feet high and reaches speeds of 56 mph. In 2009, a new roller coaster Mumbo Jumbo opened, manufactured by S&S. It had the steepest drop in the world at 112 degrees that year in the Guinness Book of World Records and has a Max G-Force of 4G's.

African Plains

An all animal area containing various animal paddocks and is located in a quiet secluded area of the zoo. The monorail offers a bird´s eye view of the animals, and so does the elevated pathway that goes over a small lake to the new Penguin Coast.

Children´s Planet

This new kiddie area was opened in 2011 and appeals to children with its friendly theme that combines both play areas and animal enclosures.

• 
  Mumbo Jumbo
• 
  Velocity
• 
  Kumali

Roller Coasters

#	Name	Type	Opened	Manufacturer	Themed Land	Description
1	Kumali	steel inverted	2006	Vekoma	Lost Kingdom	Reaches a speed of 55 mph (88km) on a 2203 ft long track (672m) and a height of 118 ft (36m) with 4 inversions (loop, cobra roll, zero g-roll); height limit 1,37m. Train 2x10, SLC shenlin model.
2	Velocity	steel sit down	2005	Vekoma	Metropolis	A motorbike launched coaster that reaches a speed of 54 mph (87km) on a 2109 ft long track (643m) and a height of 57 ft (18m); height limit 1,37m.
3	Mumbo Jumbo	steel sit down	2009	S&S Worldwide	Lost Kingdom	The steepest roller coaster in the UK, reaches a speed of 20 mph (34km) and a height of 98 ft (30m); height limit 1,21m. Train 2x6, El Loco model.
4	Hero	steel lay down	2013	Zamperla	Metropolis	Suspended above the busy streets of metropolis. On the site of the old Wild Mouse. New for 2013
5	Zooom	steel suspended	2011	Zamperla	Swooosh	An aeroplane-themed junior suspended coaster. Train 2x5, Air Force model.
6	Twistosaurus	steel sit down	2013	Zamperla	Dino Stone Park	Twisting around the old jurassic jungle.Twisting coaster. New for 2013
7	Runaway Mine Train	steel sit down	2007	Zamperla	Metropolis	A junior mine-style coaster for children; height limit 1m. Train 2x6, 80STD Gravity Coaster.
8	Dino Roller	steel sit down	1988	Cavazza Diego	Dino Stone Park	A junior coaster for the kids to enjoy. Train 2x10, super Nessi junior coaster was originally named as Dragon Coaster has been rethemed in 2013 as Dino Roller as part of Dino Stone Park.
9	Go Gator	steel sit down	1982	Wisdom Rides	Muddy Ducky Farm	A very small coaster for the youngest kids. Train 2x7, go gator model.

Thrill Rides

#	Name	Opened	Manufacturer	Themed Land	Additional Information
9	Cliff Hanger	2002	S&S Worldwide	Seaside Adventure	The UK's only S&S combo drop tower ride. The ride is themed like a lighthouse, it is the tallest drop tower in the UK at 180 ft (60m); height limit 1,3m.
10	Navigator	2005	Zamperla	Metropolis	The first 'Mega' "Disk 'O'" type of ride ever to be built; height limit 1,21m.
11	Flip Flop	2008	Fabbri	Splosh!	A gyro top swing over a man made lake with water effects; height limit 1,3m
12	Pterodactyl	July 2012	Soriani	Dino Stone Park	A 151 ft (46m) tall vertical spinning swing tower; height limit 1,21m
13	Sky Flyer	1994	Vekoma	Swoosh	A double inverted swinging ship style ride; height limit 1,21m.

Water Rides

• 
  Lost River

#	Name	Opened	Manufacturer	Themed Land	Description
14	Splash Battle	2007	Preston&Barbiari	Splosh!	It was the first interactive water ride in the UK. Ride cars themed as submarines travel along a track where targets must be hit to prevent the riders from being soaked; height limit 90cm. Also outsiders may squirt people on the rides.
15	Lost River Ride	2004	Bear Rides	Lost Kingdom	A 335m spillwater ride that gently meanders through animal enclosures such as rhinos, hippos, giraffes and lions before taking a 18m high plunge into a pool of water; height limit none / 1,2m without adult supervision.

Other rides and attractions

#	Name	Opened	Themed Land	Description
16	Voodoo	2003	Lost Kingdom	A swinging Pirate ship ride; height limit 1,07m.
17	Happy Feet 4-D	2012	Splosh!	Presented in breathtaking digital 3-D and brought to life with fun and exciting 4-D
18	Little Monsters Den Of Mischef	2001	Muddy Duck Farm	A haunted house is suitable for families, it features horror characters including Frankenstein, Dracula as kids.
19	Cycle Monorail		Metropolis	Where you can cycle on the track; height limit 1,37m
20	Wave Swinger	1994	Plaza	A wave swinger; height limit 1,21m
21	Balloon Race		Metropolis	A balloon themed gondola.
22	Rotataur		Dino Stone Park	A wheel themed ferris wheel, it was originally named as Wagon Wheel has rethemed as Rotataur part of Dino Stone Park in 2013.
23	Tractor Ride	2006	Muddy Duck Farm	Tractor ride; height limit 1,07m.
24	Professor Bubbles Seaside Adventure	1990's	Seaside Adventure	On track ride, where kids can drive around.
25	Dodgems		Metropolis	Bumper cars; height limit 1,21m.
26	Gallopers		Seaside Adventure	A merry go round.
27	Rockin Tug		Seaside Adventure	Rocking tug boat ride; height limit 90cm.
28	Frog Hopper		Seaside Adventure	A junior drop tower; height limit 90cm.
29	Helitoys	2001	Muddy Duck Farm	Helicopter ride for kids; height limit 90cm.
30	Fun Slides		Muddy Duck Farm	Slides for kids.
31	Swoosh Air		Swoosh	Airplanes; height limit 90cm.
32	Pedaloes		Lost Kingdom	Pedal boats; height limit 1,21m.
33	Wacky Races		Muddy Duck Farm	On track Ford T-models; height limit 1,07m.
34	Jungle Carousel		Muddy Duck Farm	Merry go round.
35	Flying Clowns		Plaza	A suspended roundabout.
36	Spotted Cow Ride		The Zoo	A junior carousel
37	Crazy Combat		Splosh!	Laser battle.
38	Exploratorium		Muddy Duck Farm	Magic House for you to explore; height limit none / 1,07m alone.
39	Chair Lift		Lost Kingdom	It takes guests on a chair lift for an elevated view of the park; height limit none / 1,4m alone.
40	People Mover		Seaside Adventure	Travels from Seaside Adventure to Muddy Duck Farm; height limit none / 1,3m alone.
41	Daktari Express		Lost Kingdom	This 20 min narrow geige train ride takes you around the zoo; height limit none / 1,3m alone.
42	Zoo Monorail		The Zoo	For a bird´s eye view of the animals; height limit none / 1,3m alone
43	HMS Bounty		Splosh!	Indoor play area.
44	Pink Elephants		Metropolis	Roundabout.
45	Playground	2011	Children´s Planet	Play area.
46	Reptile Encounter	2011	Children´s Planet	Reptiles.
47	Rock Slide		Seaside Adventure	Toboggan slides.
48	Sand Play	2011	Children´s Planet	Sand play area.
49	Splish Splosh	2007	Splosh!	Water play area.
50	Spotted Cow Ride		The Zoo	Roundabout.
51	The Swan		The Zoo	Roundabout.
52	Water Play	2011	Children´s Planet	Water play area.
53	Cyclosaurus	2013	Dino Stone Park	Small Cycling Roundabout

The Zoo

There are more 120 different species of animals in the park, including: hippos, camels, meerkats, reptiles, exotic birds, giraffes, lions, chimpanzees, tigers, sea lions, baboons, zebras, rare fish, penguins, otters and many others.

Shows

• Bird Show - exotic birds at the Zoo.
• Mia and Mylo Shows - children´s show at Metropolis.
• Sea Lion Show - sea lion show at the Zoo.

Past rides and attractions

#	Name	Opened	Closed	Description
1	Magnum Force	2000	2005	A Triple Loop Coaster built by Anton Schwarzkopf, originally toured German funfairs as Dreier Looping & Sunway Lagoon,Malaysia. Now located at La Feria Chapultepec Magico, Mexico City
2	The Bullet	1991	2005	Unique shuttle loop style coaster designed by Schwarzkopf. Originally known as Wiener Looping and previously operated in Austria, Florida, and on the German travelling funfair circuit before arriving at Flamingo Land, in 2012 the ride has been sold to Selva Magica in Mexico which will open in 2014.
3	Corkscrew	1983	2011	One of the first rides to arrive at Flamingo Land, it was originally from the Spanish City fun fair. It is standard Vekoma Corkscrew coaster, The ride was taken down in January 2012 and it's been relocated to Luna park in France.
4	Thunder Mountain	1991	2004	Enclosed within a rock themed structure to create a dark coaster. The track system was Pinfari Z40.
5	Flying Trapeze	1998	2001	Four man bob coaster was built by Zierer was previously operated in Trentham, Alton Towers, Pleasure Island before arriving in Flamingo Land and it is now in Loudoun Castle as SBNO since 2010.
6	Crazy Loop	1986	1995	Was a coaster was built by Pinfari was relocated to former sister park Pleasure Island, it is now operating as Shockwave in Brean Leisure Park since 2003.
7	Wild Mouse	1997	2012	A Maurer Söhne Wilde Maus Classic roller coaster. It was the standard model.
8	Top Gun	1996	2004	Unique attraction where riders sat inside two seater plane themed cars. The cars span around the centre tower while moving toward the top. The riders could choose to turn their cars up-side down during the ride. It was built by Intamin based on the film of the same name.
9	Klondike Creek	1999	2003	Triple drop log flume with a mine theme, believed to have been extended with sections of the removed Drayton Manor log flume. It was an ageing ride and was removed when the Lost River was built (a more modern water ride).
10	Waikiki Wave/Tidal Wave	1994	2008	Vekoma Waikiki Wave ride, removed to make way for Mumbo Jumbo.
11	Terroriser/Circulator	1995	2007	Was a frisbee ride & it was removed in 2007, and was moved to Pleasure Island.
12	Enterprise		1990's	spinning wheel ride
13	Junior Driving School	1999	2012	Where kids can drive electric buses; height limit 90cm - 1,2m max.
14	Circus World	1990	2000	A circus show which featured acrobats, animals.
15	Dolphin Show		2001
16	Log Flume		1998	An original water ride.
17	Dive Booster			A spinning thrill ride
18	Waltzer	1980's	2006	A spinning thril ride
19	Zig Zag	1994	2006
20	Formula Car			A go karts ride
21	Cine 180			A cinema
22	Flying Carpet	1991		A thrill ride
23	Ferris Wheel
24	High Flying Jets
25	Century 2000
26	Razzle Dazzle
27	Sherlock Showtime	1996	2000
28	Clown Slide
29	Dead Man's Drop			A near-vertical steep slide. Was located in the current Exploratorium.
30	Rock A-fire Explosion			Animatronic robot band entertainment show.
31	Gravitron	1994		Spinning stand up ride.
32	Tri Star	1995		A thrill ride

Paying and queueing

Flamingoland is a pay-on-entry park. Wristbands have to be worn by Holiday Resort guests in order to enter the Holiday Village but for day trippers there is no wristband because everyone who enters the park pays for a riding ticket. Children over 4 pay the same as adults.

There is a "Q-Buster" system which at a cost (up to £3 per person per ride) allows visitors to enter a virtual queue on certain rides. Visitors must purchase credits and then send a text message detailing the ride and number of passengers. The credits needed for rides vary between 1 and 3 credits; for example Mumbo Jumbo requires 3 credits, Kumali requires 2 credits and Cliffhanger needs only 1 (per passenger). The credits are deducted from the visitors account and a time slot is provided. This allows guests to bypass the standard queue but enter a virtual queue of which the more people wanted 'Q-Busters' for that particular ride makes the time slot later thus allowing guests to explore other areas and attractions at the park.

Flamingo Land in the media

Theme Park on ITV

Theme Park is an ITV docusoap shown in the Yorkshire and Tyne Tees Regions, following the behind the scenes activities of Flamingo Land. The first series was broadcast in 2001 and a prominent part of the show was the building of new area "The Little Monsters Den of Mischief" including attractions such as "Mischief Mansion".

The series in 2004 particularly followed the development of the new water ride, The Lost River, which replaced the previous log flume Klondike Creek. The Lost River was Flamingo Land's most ambitious project ever when it was undertaken in 2004. The water ride was a concept attraction which was to form the centre piece of the Lost Kingdom themed area of the park. The idea was to create a safari style ride which also had a thrill element.

2006 saw the third series of the popular ITV1 show. This particularly followed the construction of the parks new coaster for that season, Kumali.

Zoo Vet

The park's animal collection has also been a main feature of Zoo Vet at Large, which follows vet Matt Brash, both at his North Yorkshire surgerys and in his role at head vet at Flamingo Land. There have been multiple series which were aired on ITV1 and are often repeated on the digital channel Sky Real Lives.

Chuckle Vision

In one episode on 'Chucklevision', The Chuckle Brothers visit Flamingo Land in search of a pair of underpants which they believe to be of great value. The ride they predominantly ride during the episode appears to be the Crazy Loop.

ITV Weather Sponsorship

Flamingo Land took up the sponsorship of ITV Yorkshire weather in June 2007 and ITV Tyne Tees weather in July 2007. The campaign ran until the end of the season. This sponsorship was renewed with both ITV regions in March 2008 at the start of the new season.

Talk Flamingo

Talk Flamingo was a popular and long running discussion based website about the park with news, construction, history, pictures, reviews and multimedia. The site closed at the end of the parks 2009 season.

Flamingo Land Official TV

Flamingo Land Official TV is also available on the website and on YouTube providing monthly updates on what's going on at Flamingo Land. Currently there are 21 editions to watch with exclusive close up footage of the animals, new arrivals and the rides and attractions. You can see everything from a baby tapir to POV shots from the test run of Mumbo Jumbo. Flamingo Land Official TV stopped in 2009 however, previous episodes are still available on the Flamingo Land website.

Other Sponsorships

2011 saw Flamingo Land sponsor the following programmes on ITV 1: Animals Do The Funniest Things, Babboons With Bill Bailey, Lion Country, Survival.

They even became a sponsor of the children's show Milkshake on Channel 5 while also being part of a competition prize from The Gadget Show on Channel 5 offering a 1 week holiday.

Udzungwa Forest Project (UFP)

A Wildlife management project whose aim is to maintain tropical rainforest in Eastern Tanzania. The Flamingoland initiative operates in the villages closest to the Magombera forest. The purpose of the project is to provide villagers with a long-term fuel alternative, through education and research, therefore reducing firewood collection within the forest, and thus the pressures placed upon the local environment.

External links

• Flamingo Land Park & Resort - main website for the Park and Resort.
• Flamingo Land Gym and Leisure Centre - website for the Flamingo Land Gym and Leisure Centre.