Visited Gullivers on the last Sunday in May (09), had never been before and didn't know what to…read moreexpect. Had one 14 year old and a 22 month old, plus one wife 30+! Not too crowded and didn't have to wait long for rides.Only a few rides for bigger kids but we all had fun, got very wet on log fume. Shared large pizza for a 'cheapo' lunch. Dora and other characters were wandering around which pleased little ones. If you've young kids it's a great place to go and at £12.50 good value too. Under 90cm kids free. Just been again 13th September Grandparents Day. Buy one ticket and Grandparents go free! Keep an eye on the web site.

Very tired but loads of fun for younger children. None of the hard sell of more commercial places…read morebut none of the attention to detail either. Friendly staff. Tip: if you're going for a birthday, tell them and they'll announce it at the "closing parade".

Had a go at Rock Climbing for the first time last week. Had the chance to do something with Tanja…read more(my wife) while the children Tim (4) and Jamie (15 months) were off our hands for 2 hours. Well what do you do with 2 spare hours. Living in MK there are many things you can try your hands at. We had to book a week ahead to get the time we wanted and once there we were introduced to our instructor (Austen). As soon as he attached our line we were off. Not having done this before I did not know what to expect. Let's just say we had GREAT fun. In 30 minutes we both managed to get up to the top 5 times. If you use your legs to push your arms do not get too sore, but I did get a bit of a sweat on. The hardest thing for me was the first time I had to descend from the top. 13 metres up and having to let go. After a couple of goes I was really enjoying the drop. Will we go again? Definately.

Sno zone is located in the Milton Keynes Xscape Centre. We went by car, it's easy to find with lots…read moreof carparking spaces. We booked asession for my son as a present and for somthing different. He has skied before quite recently but I hadn't skied since I was at school. You are provided with skis, boot and poles with the price of the session. You can hire trousers and jackets, we wore our own waterproof ones. It is important that you take your own gloves as they DO NOT hire them and they are expensive to buy. Believe me you will need them as it is very cold inside the dome. We really enjoyed ourselves and since we have been have booka weeks ski in March.

Eh. I can't get that excited by Snozone, which is sad because that was pretty much the entire point…read moreof going. It is impressive - seeing a high slope covered in what appears to be something like snow in the middle of Milton Keynes is unexpected. However, this is the second time I'm trying skiing, and the first time was on a dry slope, so I can't comment really on the snow quality as some others have done. I was pretty psyched by the set up though. My main issue was the lesson. As complete beginners, my boyfriend and I booked onto one lesson to see if we would like it. In total, the lesson and clothing hire for both of us came to £90 - so basically quite a big deal for us. We were there mainly because when I left my previous work, they gave me a voucher as they knew we were considering trying skiing, so we didn't take the full whack, but it would clearly be a serious consideration if you wanted to do the whole course. I appreciate it must be expensive maintaining such a facility, but on the other hand, if you're going to commit to spending several hundred pounds on skiing lessons, I imagine you might as well just go on a skiing holiday. Basically I thought the lesson was way too slow. People have different learning levels, I get that, but really we did so little that it was hard to get really enthusiastic. In a 90 minute session, I would estimate that I went down a slope about 10 times - and by slope, I mean the lowest 15 metres of it. The vast majority of the lesson was spent waiting around. My only point of comparison is the lesson I had on a dry slope several years ago, where I distinctly remember being a lot freer to go down when I was confident enough, and we covered things like turning pretty early on, which didn't even get reached at Snozone. It was just quite a disappointing experience that neither felt like a special, exciting treat nor gave us much insight into whether we would like actual skiing. PLUS - just to note that apparently gloves are mandatory on the slope, which I don't think I saw on any of the booking materials. We happened to have brought some, but if you don't then you can't hire them there, so you'd have to buy them for £30.

We took our daughter on this in the summer. Granted, she was only 18 months at the time so she…read moredidn't fully appreciate it but it was a fun thing to do. It cost £7 per adult if my memory serves me correctly. While I felt the price was a bit steep I didn't begrudge it as it's a small volunteer-run line. The staff aren't paid to do it, which means it just runs on Sundays most of the year. If you're going to go on and it's a popular time of year get there early. The ticket window only opens about 15 minutes before the train departs but as there aren't that many seats (I'd say around 25-30) tickets go quickly. There's a cafe next door where the staff are really friendly and helpful. The journey takes about an hour in total including a 20 minute stop at the coal yard to look at some old equipment and a small craft shop. The first 10 minutes or so of the journey is rather spoilt by the housing estate that's grown up along the line but obviously there's nothing the volunteers can do about that other than continue to protest against further development, which they are doing. All in all it's a typical old-fashioned fun trip out.

If you have young children this is a fun day out. The narrow-guage railway is an old quarry line…read morethat has been preserved by enthusiasts and has now been in operation with increasing popularity for over 20 years. The line runs from Pages Park at the South of the town through the back yards and streets of the town to the West, over roads where a guard stops the traffic with a red flag, and up past playing fields and onto a terminus in what was an old quarry at the North of the town. The railway has about 7 delightful steam engines, some of them straight out of 'Thomas the Tank Engine'. Be sure they're actually running a steam engine on the day you go - sometimes they have a diesel engine instead. Kids love it, I know mine did - and afterwards they can run around in the Park to let off their own steam.

We took our Son and Daughter here last week and they loved it…read more Its easy to find and we walked from the central train station (as we dont drive that was a bonus to us!) and we got a nice autumnal walk through trees and passed lakes as an added bonus. Activity land is great you walk in and pay and let your kids run wild :o) Indoors there is an under 5s bit for your toddlers including a slide, ball pit, cars they can get inside of and race round a small track, and climbing areas. The over 5s area is massive and contains so much for them to do, my son (and husband) particularly liked the ball cannons. There is also a wall climbing apparatus and your child gets a certificate for reaching the top. There is lots of seating but this is a very busy place so dont expect to get a seat! And a Cafe providing Costa Coffee and hot and cold food and drinks. Outside there is a race track and children over a metre can race round a track set up like a road with traffic lights and road markings using hte go-karts provided. There is a big T-rex statue next to 2 sandpits where dinosaur eggs are hidden and your child finds them and wins the dinosaur insidemy sons pride and joy! There is also Gold Panning, it was too cold to do when we went but i think 5 nuggets gets you a medallion. Also there is a small wooded area where your kids can ride small trikes between trees - another favourate of my kids. The only downside is that it does not state on the website that the dinosaur egg hunting, gold panning and wall climbing is a separate charge of 2 pound per activity.

We absolutely loved the drive thru safari. The animals look calm and happy as they stroll around,…read moreextremely close to your car. Excellent experience. The after you park your car exhibits were mostly enjoyable, sweet animals but please someone needs to clean the animals sleep areas, inside boxes and such. The Otter sleep area was disgraceful and there were babies. Looks like it hadn't been cleaned out in a month. No way AZA has been there in a while. Otherwise a very nice day.

It is great. You need to book the ticket online before your trip, it is very smooth to get in the…read morepark. Not very big but a lot to see. we stayed about 2 hour. It is a special experience to see the wildlife.

I love Santa Pod and my main interest is the Volkswagen car events such as Bug Jam which is held…read morethere in July and is one of the biggest Volkswagen festivals in Europe. They have loads of specialist weekend and one day car events on all throughout the year as well as Run what ya brung car racing where you can race your car down the quarter mile track as well as loads of racing events. There are loads of seats to watch the racing as well as a huge grass bank and an area behind the start line - but don't stand there when the jet cars go up the track!! There are usually lots of stalls to buy things from as well as plenty of burger vans, pizza stands, jacket potato vans and other food products to tuck into. The campsite is huge and split over two fields. For the really popular events like Bug Jam it is advisable to get there as early as you can on day one as the fields get packed out with tents, camper vans and cars. The atmosphere is great and the facilities such as toilets and shower blocks have dramatically improved over the past few years. The portaloos are still not something I would venture into though. I would rather queue for the toilet blocks! You do have to pay £1 for a shower which I guess is OK considering the amount of people that these events attract. The water consumtion must be huge, although the prices of the weekend events is now really high and I know it has put a lot of people off going as it is just too expensive, especially if it rains as you can't do a lot apart from sit in your tent listening to the rain.

Fantastic raceway in Northampton, can see drag racing, classic car events and events throughout the…read moreyear, also has a great website, well layed out and a great family fun day out The online tickets work out cheaper than buying on the day so its worth taking a look. They also offer different vip and corporate packages to make the day extra special

Santa's Magical Steaming…read more Every year, at Buckinghamshire Railway Centre they do a magical train journey on Thomas The Tank Engine, where Father Christmas rides along with you and gives a present to the kids. From the website it looks like a great day out, unfortunately in reality it's not quite so. Don't get me wrong, the kids (mostly) enjoyed the experience but the weather and the route that the train takes means if you've travelled a long way to get there you may feel a little cheated. On arrival, I'll give the centre it's due credit, Thomas is sitting on the platform (and he really is a great Thomas steam train), steaming away, with Christmas lights strung along above him. When the kids see him they do go nuts which is lovely to see. You have allocated seating on the train, and as we went with another couple and their kids we had a compartment all to ourself. The weather was cold, raining and windy. This meant the windows were not only all steamed up but rain covered too. You might not think this is a big deal but the route the train takes is forwards and backwards. Several times. No corners, no inclines, no speed. Outside there are opportunities to see other carriages and engines, and James also puffs along pulling a sleigh full of presents. The kids seemed to enjoy it all though, and when Father Christmas arrives to give them their presents they light up! When you get off you are treated to a complimentary mince pie and mulled wine, and after being outside in that kind of weather they are most welcome! There is also hot food like Chips available, plus tea, coffee and juice etc., all relatively cheap. Inside the 'station' there is a set of carriages made up to look just as they would have been in the 20's which does at least hold some interest for the adults. There are also shows to attend; the day we went there was a magic show by a man who looked and sounded exactly like Rod Hull. I say magic, but use it loosely. I say show, I use that loosely too. Even the kids were completely bored so we walked out halfway through. There is a miniature railway too although with the weather being what it was, and the fact that there seemed to be no other way to reach it than over a stepped bridge across the tracks (not easy with two pushchairs) we decided against it. Then we began the long trip home, and almost wished we hadn't bothered. I'd only recommend this if you are completely selfless or live nearby. It may be more enjoyable with nicer weather but as you're going to be there in November or December anyway I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

The old Oxford Railway Station was taken down from its original site and rebuilt at Quainton and…read moreused as part of the museum buildings. This means you have have tea in the old station café and see Churchill's train standing at the platform under the graceful Victorian metal and glass building. There are plenty of trains to see and lots of restoration work being done. They also have steam days. Check the website for details. Quainton is a very cute oldie English village. It even has a windmill. So it is worth having a wander round while you are in the neighbourhood.