M&D's is an amusement park located in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland.[1] Bordering on Strathclyde Park, the park contains five rollercoasters and two water rides among others as well as an arcade, theatre, ten-pin bowling and indoor reptile house, Amazonia.
  M&D's entrance | |
| Location | Motherwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 55°48′00″N 4°02′23″W / 55.80011°N 4.03966°W |
| Owner | M&D Group |
| Slogan | "Scotland's Theme Park" |
| Operating season | Complex open all year around. Theme Park open March - October |
| Attractions | |
| Total | 40 attractions |
| Roller coasters | 5 |
| Water rides | 2 |
| Website | www.scotlandsthemepark.com |
Attractions
M&D's Theme Park claims to have over 40 rides and attractions, including five roller coasters and several water rides in addition to a number of rides designed for younger children.[1] Most are travelling rides owned by the parks operators, Matthew and Douglas Taylor.
Roller coasters
- Tsunami: Inverted rollercoaster manufactured by Pinfari, with corkscrew twists, turns and loops. This rollercoaster is 650m long and can reach speeds of up to 65 km/h. The average duration of a ride is just over 1 minute.[2]
- Tornado: The park's largest rollercoaster. Marnufactured by Pinfari, with over 1 km of track. The track contains two 360 degree loops in addition to several banked turns, pulling -2Gs at some points. This ride has a top speed of over 80 km/h.[3]
- Space (Originally Express) : One of the newest rollercoasters in the theme park which has recently being repainted to blue and green with new signage and a new location for the 2012 season. It has a 500m long track up to 10m off the ground. This ride reaches speeds of up to 60 km/h and has a duration of just under 1 minute.
- Big Apple: One of the smaller rollercoasters in M&D's. Aimed at children, this rollercoaster travels significantly slower than the other rides with a figure-of-eight track 300m long. The highlight of this ride is arguably the giant fibreglass apple it travels through.[4]
- Runaway Mine Train: Another children's rollercoaster. This ride has a track just over 200m long, featuring several dips and turns. Prior to 2007 the train had spinning cars, however this has now been replaced with a traditional fixed train and a traditional chain lift instead of the tire propelled one.[5]
Thrill rides
- Wave Swinger: The Wave Swinger is a traditional chair swing featuring 32 tilting chairs. The chairs, suspended by chains, are swung round at speed, with the ride reaching up to 14 revolutions per minute. The ride is constructed in a way that the chairs climb and fall as they swing round.[6]
- Captain's Curse: The Captain's Curse is a pirate ship themed ride in M&D's. It recently underwent extensive refurbishment, being absent from the park during 2007-2008 when M&D's received it from Pleasureland. Similar to other pirate ship style rides, the Captain's Curse swings backwards and forwards, going increasingly further each swing although it does not complete a full rotation.[7]
- Magic Carpet: The Magic Carpet, also known as "Ali Baba's Carpet" seats up to 40 people. The ride reaches a height of 14m at the top of a revolution, and swings at 14 full revolutions per minute. The seats are fixed facing forward while rising and falling, travelling round in a loop.[8]
- The Bungee: The Bungee consists of a spherical steel cage containing two seats, fixed to the end of bungee ropes attached to the towers sitting at either side of the ride. When released the cage is launched into the sky, spinning 360 degrees. Upon launch, the cage can accelerate to 93.2 mph.[9]
- The Giant Condor: It’s gigantic, it’s awesome, it’s the only one of its kind in Europe. You can soar into the sky to over 30 metres in 28 custom built gondolas built for two! It's big, it’s very scary, it’s the Giant Condor.
- The Bomber Mark 2: The Bomber Mark 2 seats sixteen people, eight in each cab on either end of the main axis. This rides rotates in two different directions, with the main arm rotating clockwise, and the cabins on either end allowed to spin freely. The extreme ride reaches 55 metres high, and can reach speeds of up to 144 km/h. As of 2014 The Bomber Mark 2 has been travelling around the United Kingdom attending some of the bigger fairs annually such as Hull, Nottingham Goose Fair and Kirkcaldy Links Market. The ride has been replaced at the park with a new ride called The Giant Condor.[10]
Water rides
- Moby's Revenge: Moby's Revenge is a three-in-one water slide. The rightmost slide is a steep, straight chute, whereas the leftmost one is a winding spiral slide. The path in the centre is a straight chute similar to the one on the left, however this slide is not quite as steep and features several 'waves'.[11]
- White Water: The largest water ride in the theme park. White water is a 42m long whitewater ride, featuring two drops of up to 20m. This ride reaches speeds of up to 70 km/h at points. Souvenir photographs are also available to purchase at the end of the ride.[12]
Junior Rides & Attractions
- Trampolines: 10 trampoline beds. Roughly around 5 minutes per session
- Crazy Boot: Inflatable fun house, which consists of slides, ball pools and soft punchbags.
- Other smaller rides include "Taxis", "Sea Storm" and "Flying Jumbos"
Past rides
Kamikaze which was replaced by The Bomber Mark 2.
The Bomber Mark 2 which was replaced by the giant duck
Other attractions
- Amazonia: The only indoor rainforest in the whole of Scotland, it contains exotic animals such as the poison dart frog, tarantula and python.[13]
- Devil's Island: An 18-hole miniature golf course, played over water and in caves.[14]
- Krazy Congo: Giant indoor soft play-area, for young children.[15]
- Gamezone: Giant amusement arcade, containing over 150 different games, including the most recently developed games.[16]
- Alona Hotel: The on-site hotel for visitors staying for a period of time. It contains a glasshouse restaurant and bar and an atrium for views overlooking the Strathclyde Loch.[17]
Food and drink
- The Family Restaurant: Formally Bizarre, is a family friendly restaurant with bar.[18]
- Downtown USA: A 1960s styled diner serves American food and drink, and is decorated with Harley Davidsons and an authentic Italian carousel. The diner is also home to a 'Wimpy Bar' and 'Pancake Palace'.[19]
- Cosmic Bowl: Cosmic Bowl is Scotlands first glow in the dark bowling alley.It contains a restaurant and 'inside out' bar. There is also arcade games such as Time Crisis, basketball & air hockey.[20]
- Inside Out: The theme parks sports bar. 'Inside Out' shows a variety of sports on 6 LCD widescreens. The bar also has its own beer garden, which overlooks strathclyde loch.[21]
- Diamond Lil's: An American Pool Bar. The bar contains 8 Pool tables, 2 Snooker Tables and a bar that primarily serves cocktails from various city's in the USA to give it a "more genuine" feel, similar to America it is over 21s.[22]
- Guiseppi's: The parks Italian coffee shop and ice cream parlour. The bar looks out over Strathclyde Loch and serves a range of coffee's, ice cream, milkshakes and sandwiches, made with traditional Italian ingredients.[23]
Malfunctionings
In June 2009, six people were stranded on the park's Tornado rollercoaster when high winds caused safety systems to activate.[24]
On 4 July 2011, nine people, ranging in age from 9 to 49, had to be rescued from the Tsunami rollercoaster, after a mechanical failure on the ride left them stranded 60 ft (18.2m) above the ground for up to eight hours.[24]
In March 2016, eight people had to be rescued from the Tornado rollercoaster after it became stuck 20 ft (6.09m) above the ground at the theme park.[25]
References
- ^ a b "Scotland's Theme Park, M&D's, Lanarkshire - Home". Scotlandsthemepark.com. Retrieved 2012-08-25.
- ^ Tsunami
- ^ Tornado
- ^ Big Apple
- ^ Runaway Mine Train
- ^ Wave Swinger
- ^ Captain's Curse
- ^ Magic Carpet
- ^ The Bungee
- ^ Bomber Mark 2
- ^ Moby's Revenge
- ^ White Water
- ^ Amazonia
- ^ Devil's Island
- ^ Krazy Congo
- ^ Gamezone
- ^ Alona Hotel
- ^ The Family Restaurant
- ^ Downtown USA
- ^ Cosmic Bowl
- ^ Inside Out
- ^ Diamond Lil's
- ^ Guiseppi's
- ^ a b "BBC News - Nine rescued from Strathclyde Park rollercoaster". Bbc.co.uk. 2011-07-04. Retrieved 2012-08-25.
- ^ "Eight rescued from rollercoaster at M&D's theme park". BBC News. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to M&D's.