Flamingo Land 5.73

Flamingo Land is a theme park, zoo, and resort located in Kirby Misperton, North Yorkshire, England.HistoryFlamingo Land Resort was established in 1959 when a cinema entrepreneur, Edwin Pentland Hick, sold his cinema chain and used the funds to purchase a bankrupt country club to use the land for a zoo. The site, which occupied nine acres, was initially called The Yorkshire Zoological Gardens. A colony of flamingos were among the first animals to be housed on site.In 1963, the gardens became home to the UK's first captive bottlenose dolphins - one of whom was given the name Sooty after the children's TV puppet. During the 1960s a small funfair began to be held on the site. In 1965 the company was floated on the London Stock Exchange as Associated Pleasure Parks and, in 1968, the park was renamed to Flamingo Park Zoo.In the 1970s, amusement rides had become a permanent fixture of the park along with the zoo, becoming the first site in Europe to combine the attractions in one location.The park was losing money by 1974 and underwent a major revamp when it was renamed Flamingo Land. More emphasis was placed on the "day out" experience - with fairground rides, a haunted castle, model railway and a jungle cruise raft ride on the lake. Despite a more professional marketing approach which saw regular guest appearances by celebrities and stars of the day (including the racehorse Red Rum), Flamingo Land continued to lose money.