M&Ds
Encyclopedia
M&Ds is an amusement park
located in Motherwell, Lanarkshire
, Scotland
. 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.
On 4 July 2011, nine people, ranging in age from 9 to 49, had to be rescued from the park's Tsunami rollercoaster, after a mechanical failure on the ride left them stranded 60ft (18.2m) above the ground for almost eight hours.
Planet Fun has been held in towns across Scotland, such as: Falkirk; Stirling; Kilmarnock; Granton (Edinburgh); Portobello (Edinburgh); Leith (Edinburgh); Murryfield (Edinburgh); Perth and Greenock.
Usually, a wristband is available one day during the duration of the fair.
Rides include Bomber Mark 2 (Booster Maxxx (Fabbri)), Spiderman (Smashing Jump (Fabbri)), Mad Mouse (Spinning Rollercoaster (Fabbri)), Giant Wheel (Big Wheel (Fabbri)), plus others.
Amusement park
thumb|Cinderella Castle in [[Magic Kingdom]], [[Disney World]]Amusement and theme parks are terms for a group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people...
located in Motherwell, Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire or the County of Lanark ) is a Lieutenancy area, registration county and former local government county in the central Lowlands of Scotland...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. Bordering on Strathclyde Park
Strathclyde Park
Strathclyde Country Park is a country park located in Lanarkshire, Scotland.The park covers some 4 km², centred on the artificial Strathclyde Loch. It is located next to the River Clyde between Hamilton and Motherwell. Strathclyde Park forms what used to be known as the Low parks of the now...
, the park contains five rollercoasters and two water rides among others as well as an arcade
Video arcade
An amusement arcade or video arcade is a venue where people play arcade games such as video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers , or coin-operated billiards or air hockey tables...
, theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, ten-pin bowling
Ten-pin bowling
Ten-pin bowling is a competitive sport in which a player rolls a bowling ball down a wooden or synthetic lane with the objective of scoring points by knocking down as many pins as possible.-Summary:The lane is bordered along its length by semicylindrical channels Ten-pin bowling (commonly just...
and indoor reptile house, Amazonia.
On 4 July 2011, nine people, ranging in age from 9 to 49, had to be rescued from the park's Tsunami rollercoaster, after a mechanical failure on the ride left them stranded 60ft (18.2m) above the ground for almost eight hours.
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. Most are travelling rides owned by the parks operators.Rollercoasters
- Tsunami: Inverted rollercoaster ride 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.
- Tornado: This is the largest rollercoaster in M&D's, 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.
- Express: One of the newest rollercoasters in the theme park. 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 300 m long. The highlight of this ride is arguably the giant fibreglass apple it travels through.
- Runaway Mine Train: Another children's rollercoaster. This ride has a track just over 200 m long, featuring several dips and turns.It used to be Jamming. 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.
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'.
- 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.
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.
- 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.
- Flying Carpet: The Flying 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.
- 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.
- 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 ride is 55m tall, and can reach speeds of up to 144 km/h. The Bomber Mark 2 is usually a travelling ride and only visits the park for a few weeks at the end of the summer. As of 2009, the ride will remain in the park for the whole season, apart from a few special touring dates; The ride travels to Newcastle at the end of June, T In The ParkT in the ParkT in the Park is a major British music festival that has been held annually since 1994. It is named after its main sponsor, the brewing company Tennents. It was originally held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire but since 1997 has been held at a disused airfield in Balado, Kinross-shire...
in July, Nottingham from end of September, Hull in October, and Belfast from October/November.
Kiddy rides
- 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 "Taxi's", "Sea Storm", "Flying Jumbos"
Eat and drink
- The Family Restaurant: Formally bizarre, is a family friendly restaurant with bar.
- 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'.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 ingrediants.
Planet Fun
Planet Fun is M&D's Travelling Theme Park, which features most of their travelling rides, plus more from other showmen.Planet Fun has been held in towns across Scotland, such as: Falkirk; Stirling; Kilmarnock; Granton (Edinburgh); Portobello (Edinburgh); Leith (Edinburgh); Murryfield (Edinburgh); Perth and Greenock.
Usually, a wristband is available one day during the duration of the fair.
Rides include Bomber Mark 2 (Booster Maxxx (Fabbri)), Spiderman (Smashing Jump (Fabbri)), Mad Mouse (Spinning Rollercoaster (Fabbri)), Giant Wheel (Big Wheel (Fabbri)), plus others.