Review: Jurassic Falls adventure golf Chingford

We drive along the A406 a lot.

In the last few weeks, on our way to get meatballs from IKEA, or crafty bits from Hobbycraft, or ride the space rocket lift in Mothercare, the kids have been very excited to see dinosaurs on the side of the road.

After the latest round of excited shouts of ‘DINOSAURRRR!’ we decided to find out what exactly they are doing there…and it turns out they are guarding a golf course.

Seems like a good idea? Well the kids thought so, and so off we went to investigate.

First off, the car park is actually insane. There were so many people trying to get in and out I was convinced we might not actually ever make it to the dinosaurs and end up extinct ourselves. Luckily, someone vacated a space and we managed to wedge ourselves in – and with a big sigh of relief, off we went.

Luckily the chaos didn’t extend to the welcome desk, which was remarkably serene. We waved our pre-printed ticket at them, then they waved us on to pick up our dinosaur golf adventuring kit…there were plenty of golf clubs in varying sizes, and lots of colourful golf balls to choose from. Then we went out of the door…and…potential chaos again!

Because there were so many people there (the perils of easter holiday adventuring) we had to wait in a queue for 15 minutes before we even got started. BUT this is where the excellency of filling a golf course with dinosaurs comes in – the kids were kept occupied identifying the dinosaurs, stepping in the dinosaur footprints, and of course cheering on the people in front of us (often accompanied by a critique of golfing prowess from Seb, who considers himself an expert on such things).

Being a fairly new attraction, everything was in excellent condition, and the course was well designed with a lot of variation for each of the 18 holes. Once we got past the first couple of holes, the queuing lessened a lot and we only had to wait a minute or two for our turn at the most.

There was no real staffing out on the course, which caused problems a couple of times as there were some impatient people who felt they didn’t need to follow the rules, and went round the course backwards so they wouldn’t have to queue. This was quite irritating as they kept walking across the greens and pushing past the flow of people going the other way. No staff around also meant people were constantly climbing next to the dinosaurs to take pictures with them, even though there were big signs saying not to! (It’s worth noting at this point that some of the dinosaurs do move their arms, mouths and tails, something which caused a toddler to wail in fright as his family held him up for a selfie and he found his head being swiped by a T Rex…).

Despite that we had a very fun time. The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly, the kids had fun, and I even managed to get a hole in one, yeah! (total fluke…)

There is a small seating area on site where you can sit and watch if you don’t want to play, and also a cafe area selling drinks, snacks and ice creams. And also slush puppies with popping candy on top – of course the kids wanted those, being the most sugar filled, artificially coloured concoctions there were – and I have to say pouring popping candy on top of a slush puppy is quite an entertaining experience…make sure you stand well back!

Outside by the entrance is a larger food and drink cabin, selling takeaway options if you’re feeling a bit hungry after all the putting balls into little holes drama.

Getting out of the car park was equally crazy, in fact I reckon it was even busier than when we came in.

Overall, despite the sometimes craziness it really was a fun family day out, and fairly reasonably priced too. We’ll definitely be back again, but we’ll remember to get there early to make sure we get a space!