Cred Street
was a magical land for children, with a host of exciting
attractions and entertainment.
The area first became Cred Street in 1997 with the arrival
of Nickelodeon - Outta Control, the areas short-lived
signature attraction. The other feature of the new area was
the brand new Children's Fun Factory show in the theatre.
The rest of attractions were carried over from the area's
previous guise as The Land Of Make Believe, these include
the park's signature children's dark ride Toyland Tours, the
classic Mini Apple Coaster as well as the Vintage Cars,
Crown Carousel and a children's indoor play area.
The area
can't be said to have been the best addition the park ever
made, with the Mini Apple Coaster closing at the end of its
first season and the area's central ride Nickelodean Outta
Control only lasting until the end of 1998. By 1999
therefore the area had already lost its shine and was
looking suspiciously like the area of forgotten rides it
was, a feeling that was only moderately affected by the
addition of the new Frog Hopper ride, mid season.
The
following year, In a move that would shape the feel of the
area for the next six years, 2000 saw Cred Street become the home
of the legendary Barney the Dinosaur. The colourful TV
character and his friends took over the area's Theatre and
Indoor Playground, giving the area more purpose once again.
Barney
stayed at the park for three seasons until the Tweenies took over
the Theatre and Playground in 2003. Whilst in many ways the
park tried to emulate the successes of the Barney years with
the Tweenies, these years represent some of the more
difficult times for the rapidly ailing area of the park. 2004
saw an old attraction return to the area, with the
Gallopers Carousel, once a resident in the Land of Make
Believe return to it previous position in the centre of the
street.
Whilst
the 2004 season the Gallopers Carousel return to the area,
it also saw two of the areas veteran attractions close for
the season, with the end of the Street being shut off along
with the Cred Street Carousel and Vintage Cars, fuelling
rumours of a possible regeneration of the area. However in
a clear demonstration of the turbulence in Cred Street at
this time both rides returned to service the following year
and for 2005 the area's line up also gained the Bouncing
Bugs, another of the park's veteran rides, which moved onto
the site formerly occupied by the Cadburys Chocolate House.
2006
was an exciting year for Cred Street, which saw the much
rumoured regeneration of the area finally come to fruition. With the
departure of The Tweenies, Cred Street also said goodbye to
several of of its other long term residents as Toyland
Tours, the Vintage Cars and Cred Street Carousel all came to
the end of their tenure in the park.
The big
new attractions for the 2006 season came in the form of
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Ride, at the top of
Cred Street and the Peugeot 2007 Driving School, nestled
within the Towers ruins at the bottom of the Street. These
fresh new attractions breathed life back into the area, once
again bringing families back in. All of this as well
as a new look for the Cred Street Playground and Bob the Builder show in the
Cred Street Theatre.
In its
last couple of seasons in the park the main changes to Cred
Street were the shows performed in the theatre, with a
return to park-produced productions for ATTV in 2007
and The Wonders of Sir Algenon's Attic in 2008. It's last
season also saw the Cred Street Diner refurbished into a
Burger King, a move that saw much of its unique theming
removed to make way for a typical high street look.
One of
the effects of the 2006 additions was to highlight how drab
much of the Cred Street theming now was and so for the 2009 Cred Street became Cloud Cuckoo Land, a
land where imagination rules. Many of Cred Street's
attractions have seen major refurbishments to become part of the new land, but
with the end of Cred Street, 2008 also saw the final
season for Bouncing Bugs, the park's longest serving
children's ride, along with the Cred Street Playground,
which saw the removal of the long serving equipment within
to be replaced by something slightly more up-to-date.
