rctneil Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 (edited) Hey all, I know this is technically not a theme park but I feel it falls into a similar theme. Today I visited Bethesda in North Wales to ride the worlds fastest zip line and the longest zip line in Europe. In the afternoon I visited a small park nearby called GreenWood Forest Park (Report arriving shortly for that). So I was booked in the zip at 10:30 so we made our way to reception and book in and get kitted up. Here's the free video that everyone gets with themselves featured in it every so slightly: Looks like we're in the right place The whole area is a slate quarry. It's a stunning area. All prepared and ready to zip! Our small groups heads up to Little Zipper This is the starter zip (to be honest, this is a bigger zip than most other ziplines around) The starting area The ending is those metal gates ay over there! Big Zipper zooms down towards us from way over there Brother all ready to zip! Zoom! Someone else ready to fly. Wheeeee! Arriving at the far side. Onwards to Big Zipper! During Big Zipper you fly over this lake at the bottom of the quarry but to get up there we need to take a very bumpy journey in a truck up to the top This is a view out the back of the truck into the valley See the lines above? We were down there somewhere at the start. Ready. Let's go! Our transport from the end of Little Zipper to start of Big Zipper. It was about a 15 minute ride. 3, 2, 1, Fly... and a video of two people starting their Big Zipper decent: This is the ending station of Big Zipper. At certain times, they ask you to hold out your arms at certain points along the zip to help slow you down enough for your arrival. Other people flying over and reaching speeds around 100mph! Here's me arriving at the bottom of Big Zipper. Thanks for looking and next up a report about GreenWood Forest Park! Edited October 16, 2014 by rctneil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intaman Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Nice report Neil, the "Big Zipper" looks really awesome; I have yet to do one of these "Superman" zip-lines, but I am suddenly inspired to find one near me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 This is such an awesome looking experience! Thank you so much for sharing these great photos with us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcjp Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 Nice report Neil, the "Big Zipper" looks really awesome; I have yet to do one of these "Superman" zip-lines, but I am suddenly inspired to find one near me. Me too. I found out there is one two hours from where I live which is pretty long (5045 feet) and pretty fast (80 mph). I have to try it out soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KBrylczyk Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 Looks like an awesome zipline! Way better than the two here in Vegas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 Definitely something I would try Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 That looks fantastic! The only one I've tried is like 40mph... Definitely something I would love to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rctneil Posted October 16, 2014 Author Share Posted October 16, 2014 As promised, here is my report of my afternoon visit to GreenWood Forest Park, a few miles away from Zip World Snowdonia. GreenWood Forest Park prides itself on it's environmental impact and to educate their visitors on how they can do the same and to have fun whilst doing it. A lot of the attractions at the park require some form of effort to be put in to be able to take advantage of them. For instance, the roller coaster, Green Dragon, at GreenWood is a world unique ride by way of it being "people powered"! By people powered it works by having a funicular system that the trains gets pulled up. It works as follows: Guest walk to the top of a hill and enter a carriage on one side of the funicular. The weight of people pushes the carriage down the hill and the train in the exit station on the other side gets winched up to the top. It's all locked in position, guests exit the carriage and are then required to walk up another hill on the other side up to the awaiting train to embark on their ride. Rinse and repeat! I was told that it takes around 9 to 10 people per cycle for the ride to be efficient and by having a full train, the ride actually produces electricity that the park pump back into the grid! Talk about efficiency and being eco friendly right! Right, a few photos: The park entrance Looks Green Dragon'ish to me See, by walking up the hill you gain potential energy The aforementioned hill This is the first part of the circuit Entering the cabin where your potential energy is converted into kinetic energy as the carriage moves downhill and the train uphill As above! The awaiting train ready to rise up Going down! Once at the bottom you depart and prepare climb two, up to the platform Yay, ready to ride! Wheeee! The ride is good fun, super smooth and a fantastic family ride that everyone can enjoy! Looking at the funicular system The rest of the park have more attractions all following the basic educate and environmental theme. A variety of slides, playareas, cimbing equipment, boardwalks, animals, den building area. The boat ride requires riders to pull themselves along the channel using ropes above them. Once again, put something in to get something out! Treehouse lookout View over north Wales Show and performance space. It was a weekday on my visit but I can imagine their to be a great family fun atmosphere at weekends! It's nicely wooded and perfect for families to spend a day This si the rainforest boardwalk area oooh and the Troll actually underneath! The maze Yep, they too have these things. (I can never drive these things properly) This is a very unique idea. It's called the Barefoot Trail where poeple get to walk a course but standing on a variety of different materials and textures including water, gravel and cobblestones. At the end they have excellent washing facilities. YAY I love these things, I feel like i'm back in Scandi! There we go! Make sure if you're in the area to nip down and check out this small park. Yes, it's not on the scale of the major parks but that is not their intention. They have some unique ideas and attractions and is well worth checking out. Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 100mph zipline? Looks and sounds both amazing and terrifying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattguyver Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 I would love to try both of those out. The zip looks amazing and the human powered coaster is very unique. Thanks for the TR! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 I've never heard of either of these parks--thanks for the photos! I like how the "people-powered" coaster also generates extra electricity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julioot Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 This reminds me of a south park episode.. The views are very pretty though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azza29 Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Adding ZipWorld to the to-do list for my next UK trip. Great photos Neil! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K1ngdaKa88 Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I've been on a 7550ft long Zip line but it is in two sections! The first section is about 5900ft long and up to 70mph fast The second section is a slower one which is 1650ft long It was an awesome experience!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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