Visiting Woodlands Family Theme Park in South Devon

Woodlands Family Theme Park is a great Devon day out for families with rides and play areas for children of all ages.

We have been visiting this 90 acre Devon theme park for the past four years and this year have annual passes. We live in nearby Dartmouth so Woodlands an ideal place to pop and entertain the kids for a few hours or a full day.

Find out more about Devon theme parks.

In the winter it’s a particularly great place to go on a wet day in Devon as there’s huge indoor play areas and soft play for little ones.

This guide to visiting Woodlands has been put together based on our experience of this theme park over a number of years and following a visit when it reopened in the week beginning 6 July 2020.

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What’s different during COVID-19?

Woodlands has the ‘We’re Good to Go’ accreditation, which means it is following all government and industry COVID-19 guidelines and has the relevant risk assessments in place.

The number of people visiting the park each day is being capped so you must book your tickets online in advance to secure entry. 

Staff are cleaning rides after each use, but with visitor numbers being limited this shouldn’t add much to queuing times. We visited during the afternoon on day two of reopening and there were no queues.

Indoor attractions such as the soft play areas, ball pits and mirror maze are closed in line with government guidance. 

However, the theme park’s large collection of outdoor play areas and rides are open.

There are social distancing signs around each play area and markings on the floor as you queue for rides and in cafes. Hand sanitiser is available around the park and all the toilet facilities are open for hand washing. There are hand washing stations in the zoo farm area.

Guests are advised to bring their own hand gel too. Masks aren’t necessary but you will see the staff supervising rides wearing them.

Be aware there is a 50p charge per person when you make your online booking. This is included in the day ticket price, but is an extra charge for each annual pass holder each time they visit. So, a family of four with annual passes will pay £2 each time they visit during COVID-19.

There’s a full set of Frequently Asked Questions on the Woodlands website.

Find more Devon attractions that have reopened from July 2020.

Woodlands Family Theme Park rides

Woodlands has a range of small theme park rides like a swinging pirate ship, bumper boats, vertical drop rides and slides, a toboggan run and tractor rides. Don’t expect rollercoasters.

What Woodlands does brilliantly is outdoor adventure playgrounds. There are themed play areas suitable for toddlers and teens all over this woodland site. This is where we focused much of our time when we visited early in July – the kids were shrieking with excitement to be let loose on the Toddlers Village and Ninja Towers adventure playgrounds.

There’s also a zoo farm, falconry centre with daily displays in the summer season, adventure golf, a mirror maze and huge indoor soft play areas for kids of all ages.

What ages is Woodlands best for?

Woodlands does cater for children of all ages. But if you are visiting with teens who thrive on thrills then you might want to manage their expectations. There are a few rides to get your heat pumping like the water coasters, Avalanche (a near vertical drop waterslide) and Vertigo (a drop ride) but there aren’t rollercoasters.

Woodlands Family Theme Park events

There’s plenty of seasonal and school holiday events at Woodlands each year. Look out for super hero and princess weekends, and dinosaur and robot character walkabouts as well as the Easter Bunny Grotto and Santa’s Toy Shop at Christmas. 

Extra charges apply to some of these events, but there’s also a chance to get discounted entry in the future if your kids wear fancy dress (check promotional details for each event). Keep an eye on the Woodlands Theme Park Facebook page or join their mailing list for more details.

Food at Woodlands 

There are four places to buy food at Woodlands. The largest is Ray’s Diner in the large indoor play area, The Empire of the Sea Dragon. This offers fast food, jacket potatoes, sandwiches and snacks.

Elsewhere around the park there is a snack shack, a pizzeria and cafe all serving fast food, ice creams and drinks.

Expect menus to be reduced during COVID-19. We visited the cafe by the Watercoasters and everything looked well stocked.

If you prefer healthier choices bring a picnic. There are plenty of benches around the park where you can eat your own food indoors or outdoors.

Woodlands Family Theme Park prices

Prices vary depending on the time of year you visit and which attractions are available.

For example, if you visit before Easter the price is lower as not all outdoor attractions are open. It is also possible to get seven day wrist bands and discounted entry across consecutive days at certain times of year. Look out for deals as it’s easy to fill more than one day at Woodlands.

In the peak summer season expect to pay about £15 per adult, £12 per child (between 92cm and 110cm), and £11 for senior citizens. Children under 92cm go free. Find out the latest prices.

Where is Woodlands Family Theme Park?

You’ll find Woodlands on the A3122 to Dartmouth in South Devon.

There’s plenty of free parking onsite.

Dogs are not allowed in the theme park but kennels are available for pets. Please don’t leave them in your car as there are no shady spots in the car park.

Camping at Woodlands theme park in Devon 

Woodlands has is own campsite for tents, touring caravans and motorhomes – Woodlands Grove. This reopened on 4 July.

There’s hard standing and grass pitches and a toilet block with launderette. Woodlands Grove also has a onsite convenience store selling basic supplies. 

Stay at the campsite and you get free entry to the theme park.

Woodlands Grove is open from the end of March to beginning of November each year.

So, that’s our guide to Woodlands Family Theme Park. Have you been? What’s your favourite thing about Woodlands?

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