Tayto Park

Tayto Park (Irish: Páirc Tayto) is an amusement park in Ireland, based on the Irish potato crisp brand Tayto. It is located in the townland of Kilbrew, in County Meath. The park first opened in November 2010.

Tayto Park

LocationCurraha, Ashbourne, County Meath, Ireland
Coordinates53.545377°N 6.459375°W / 53.545377; -6.459375
StatusOperating
OpenedNovember 2010 (2010-11)
OwnerAshbourne Visitor Centre[1]
Operated byAshbourne Visitor Centre
Attendance750,000 (2015)
Area55 acres (22 ha)[2]
Attractions
Total18
Roller coasters4
Water rides1
Websitewww.taytopark.ie
Location of Tayto Park in the Republic of Ireland

Tayto Park was designed by Stewart and Sinnott Architects, landscaper Anthony Ryan and designer Milo Fitzgerald, with an €8.5 million investment from Ray Coyle. The park developed 22 hectares of County Meath farmland into an American-themed park, which includes a Native American village, Ireland's only wooden roller coaster, a Maxi Dance Party 360, adventure playgrounds and an exotic zoo.[3][4]

It is the sixth most popular paid-for attraction in the Republic of Ireland, with 750,000 visitors in 2015.[5]

The park is set to change name at the end of 2022 after Tayto Snacks announced it would not renew its sponsorship agreement.[6]

General attractions

Tayto Park has attractions for all ages, including playgrounds, mazes, vortex tunnels, a 5D cinema, zip lining, arts and crafts, magic shows and face painting, as well as a factory tour, where visitors see how Tayto, a popular brand of crisps within the Republic of Ireland, are made.[7]

Zones

Eagle Sky Adventure Zone
Name Picture Additional Information
The Cú Chulainn CoasterA wooden roller coaster, manufactured by The Gravity Group, opened on 6 June 2015.[8][9]
The RotatorA Maxi Dance Party 360.
Air RaceManufactured by Zamperla.
Viking VoyageContains 1.7 million litres of water.[10]
Endeavour
Flight SchoolA steel roller coaster opened in 2019.

Junior Zone

The Junior Zone features a 10-metre shot tower manufactured by Zamperla, a steam train ride,[11] a car driving experience manufactured by Nissan, a spinning roller coaster manufactured by Visa, a spinning boat non-water ride and a leaping ride manufactured by Zamperla.

The Zoo

The zoo features a collection of exotic birds, rare breeds of farm animals, ocelots, ring-tailed coatis, Amur leopards, Amur tigers, fishing cats, corsac foxesndoned, aardwolves, mountain lions and Eurasian lynx.

Incidents

A number of minor incidents have occurred within Tayto Park.

In June 2012, Helena McDonnell, a former employee who was working as a tour guide at Tayto Park, broke her ankle after she went down a 60-foot slide. The slide was not open to the public at the time but she, along with other employees, were told to try it so that they could "get a feel of it". McDonnell sued Ashbourne Visitor Centre Ltd, trading as Tayto Park, as a result of the accident. She also sued Hags Aneby AB of Sweden and Spraoi Linn Ltd, the manufacturer and supplier of the slide respectively. The case was settled out of court. Following the accident, the ride was altered in relation to how steep it was and at the turns.[12][13] In October 2016, a wooden staircase in one of the park's Halloween attractions, "House of Horrors", suddenly collapsed injuring nine people.[14]

Official website

Reference
  1. "Privacy Statment [sic]". www.taytopark.ie.
  2. Donnelly, Margaret (1 July 2014). "Tayto Park among top 10 tourist attractions". Agriland.ie.
  3. Casey, Ann (17 November 2010). "Opening of Tayto Park near Ashbourne brings 85 jobs". Meath Chronicle. Archived from the original on 4 August 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  4. "Cú Chulainn - Tayto Park (Ashbourne, Meath, Ireland)". rcdb.com. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  5. "Ireland's top visitor attractions revealed". Your Days Out. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  6. Gleeson, Colin. "Tayto Park to be renamed as facility seeks 'new identity'". Irish Times. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  7. "Theme Park Attractions - Tayto Park". Tayto Park. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  8. Marden, Duane. "Cú Chulainn  (Tayto Park)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  9. "Tayto Park to debut Europe's largest inverted wooden rollercoaster summer 2015". Archived from the original on 4 May 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  10. "Tayto Park's insane new ride Viking Voyage is officially OPEN". Evoke.ie. 16 June 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  11. "Texan | Severn Lamb". severn-lamb.com.
  12. "Woman who broke ankle on Tayto Park slide settles action". The Irish Times. 14 February 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  13. "Concerns raised over rollercoaster regulations". RTE.ie. 2 February 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  14. Hennessy, Michelle (23 October 2016). "Nine people injured after House of Horrors staircase collapse at Tayto Park". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
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