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Report - - Barry Island Pleasure Park, Oct 2014 | Leisure Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Barry Island Pleasure Park, Oct 2014

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Zudge

28DL Member
28DL Member
"Barry Island Pleasure Park was[1] an amusement park situated on the coast at Barry Island in the Vale of Glamorgan, about 10 miles south west of the capital city Cardiff, Wales. The park opened annually at weekends from Easter onwards and daily during the school summer holidays, until the first weekend in September. As of September 2014, it is closed until further announcements are made." -Wikipedia

Year after year the same thing happens with Barry Island Pleasure Park. Someone new buys it, they bring in some travelling rides, the old rides fall further into decay. This year, it appears the old rides are being given some..undesirable attention. I was walking past with a friend and saw how empty the place was. This led to a rather spontaneous explore!

History is all over the internet so I won't go into too much detail, however this is the famous Barry Island. Set of TV shows such as Gavin and Stacey, Being Human and also Sarah Jane Adventures. It officially opened as an amusement park in 1897 and thrived for many years featuring various rides from roller coasters to tea cups. Sadly, not much remains of the original park aside from the Log Flume and the main circuit of the jungle ride. The Haunted Mine Ghost Train is currently being demolished and I'm afraid the other rides are soon to follow.

Once a bustling site for beach-goers and thrill seekers alike, not much remains.
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Plush toys and stall prizes are strewn across the site reminding any passers by of the joy the location used to bring to small children.
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Mascots and signs are also laying on the ground
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There are still reminders of the fair ground there such as decaying rides like the tea cups and the pirate ship.

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The Log Flume and the Jungle Ride still remain.

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The log flume looks a bit worse for wear

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The Haunted Mine Ghost Train:

This was my favourite bit of the explore. I've always loved ghost trains, and this one has definitely got a history behind it. Originally it was a boxcar racer themed dark ride, but throughout the years it started to look a bit run down. The owners of the park asked John Wardley to come and help redevelop it. John Wardley is known for having major roles in world famous rides such as Nemesis, Air and Oblivion at Alton Towers, Colossus, The Swarm and SAW - The Ride at Thorpe Park as well as various other attractions world wide. When John Wardley helped redevelop the box car racer ride, it became Dr Frankenstein's Scream Machine and featured a very different layout to what it was originally and what it is now. The ride was later redeveloped again into The Haunted Mine, it featured a much smaller layout than the original ride yet still had some of the same effects and props such as the falling boxes and the Frankenstein's Monster from the facade.
Unfortunately, the ride is in a rather sorry state with the facade completely missing and half of the props inside either broken, vandalised or missing.

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This was not part of the ride, this is the result of the demolition.
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Some of the effects:

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It was a fun couple of hours, I've always wanted to look around some of these rides and I'm considering heading back there soon to go a bit deeper into the Jungle Ride.

Thanks for reading.
 

dweeb

28DL Regular User
Regular User
Re: Barry Island Pleasure Park (Including inside Haunted Mine ghost train)

Great report, that's fantastic.

Sums Barry Island up in a nutshell really...
 

WildBoyz

Is this the future?
28DL Full Member
Re: Barry Island Pleasure Park (Including inside Haunted Mine ghost train)

Looks like a bomb went off in Disney Land.

Good report, enjoyed looking at that.
 

slayaaaa

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Re: Barry Island Pleasure Park (Including inside Haunted Mine ghost train)

Dam that's trashed. Nice report mate. Thanks for sharing. :thumb
 

The_Raw

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Re: Barry Island Pleasure Park (Including inside Haunted Mine ghost train)

Really enjoyed this despite the state of the place, cool report :thumb
 

Madasirrah

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Re: Barry Island Pleasure Park (Including inside Haunted Mine ghost train)

Fantastic report, really interesting to see the ghost mine, iv had an interest in a John Wardleys rides and seeing how they work for some time, so having read about the scream machine this was very interesting to see.
Thanks again.
 

CA954

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Re: Barry Island Pleasure Park (Including inside Haunted Mine ghost train)

Is the whole park going to be cleared then? or is it being redeveloped by someone?
 

ZerO81

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Re: Barry Island Pleasure Park (Including inside Haunted Mine ghost train)

Something a bit different, big fan of amusement arcades (even though I have never visited any closed ones!).

The photos could do with being resized though :thumb
 

The Stig

Urbex = Nosey Bastard
28DL Full Member
Re: Barry Island Pleasure Park (Including inside Haunted Mine ghost train)

Is the whole park going to be cleared then? or is it being redeveloped by someone?

Most properly turning it into a Tesco or something like that :p:
 

JCasey

28DL Member
28DL Member
Re: Barry Island Pleasure Park (Including inside Haunted Mine ghost train)

Had absolutely no idea this place had shut down! Such a shame, so much nostalgia. In fairness, not much was really done to prevent it, I went a couple of years ago and it was a shadow of it's former self.
 

Session9

A life backwards
28DL Full Member
Re: Barry Island Pleasure Park (Including inside Haunted Mine ghost train)

Enjoyed that, good report. Sad to see it in such a state though.
 

CA954

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Re: Barry Island Pleasure Park (Including inside Haunted Mine ghost train)

Thought you might all enjoy this (hope its ok to share!) my friend made this video earlier in the year with his drone, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCQe-8-JP04

As I don't 'know' the park I could match up the pictures in the report to what WAS their when Locky filmed
 

pauln

too old to be reckless
28DL Full Member
Re: Barry Island Pleasure Park (Including inside Haunted Mine ghost train)

That's a great report. Shame to see it so trashed
 

NoirLune

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Re: Barry Island Pleasure Park (Including inside Haunted Mine ghost train)

I found that really emotional, looking at the kiddies' rides, teddy bears and stuff... The kind of place my youngest would have enjoyed.

I'm a bit of a softie aren't it? Nice pictures chap.
 

Coxieboy

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Re: Barry Island Pleasure Park (Including inside Haunted Mine ghost train)

I remember this in its heyday of the 60's (1969 to be precise) we went on Holiday to Butlins and I remember visiting here. I went again about 20 odd years ago, it was a bit of a sorry state to what it was then..... or was that just my memory. Great photos and report, reminding us about the importance of taking photos as part of history.
 
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