North Texas’ newest theme park stars a cartoon pig named Peppa. For those of you who don’t know, Peppa is the celebrity behind Peppa Pig, an animated British children’s show that’s wildly popular with the preschool set. The brand-new Peppa Pig theme park opened in North Richland Hills last Saturday.
Arts Access editor Samantha Guzman and her 2-year-old son Camilo joined me on a field trip last week to give the park a test drive. Right inside the gates was our first stop.
“What are we going to do first?” Samantha asked Camilo. “Do you want to go to Granny Pig's garden?”
“Yes!” replied an enthusiastic Camilo.
“Can you say Granny's pig's garden?” Samantha asked.
“Granny pig's garden!” Camilo said.
“Hello, my little ones. Welcome to my garden,” said Granny Pig’s voice as we headed inside the play area.
As you can probably guess, this garden – and really the whole park – is like stepping into a cartoon town. And I mean that literally. Besides the primary colors that leap out at you, and the cute cartoon music you hear throughout the park, there are life-size statues of Peppa and friends around every corner that make you feel like you're living in Peppa Pig's world.
You may have heard of another Peppa Pig experience, in Grapevine. That’s right! There are two! Peppa Pig’s World of Play in Grapevine is an indoor play experience, whereas this new location is an outdoor theme park with 5 kid-size rides. There are things like an aerial carousel and a miniature roller coaster that has a cute little waiting area that Cam actually liked better than the roller coaster.
Of all the rides, Camilo gave the biggest thumbs-up to the Grampy Rabbit’s Dinosaur Adventure ride. Kids and their parents can hop on the back of a dino that’s on a sort of monorail track for a quick spin around a prehistoric land with volcanoes and mountains.
When they finished, Samantha asked Camilo for his thoughts on the ride.
“Did you like it?” Samantha asked.
“Uh-huh!” Camilo nodded.
“Can you tell me all the colors of the dinosaurs you saw?” asked Samantha.
Camilo replied, “There was an orange one, a green one and a purple one.”
“What is the noise the dinosaur made?” Samantha asked.
“That does not make any noise,” Camilo pointed out.
“Yeah, but there was one that made noise. What did it say?” asked Samantha.
Camilo then gave us his best dinosaur roar.
For a two-year-old, he had a great roar. And he was an incredibly good sport.
The park has nine different play zones, each with different activities. The one I thought was the coolest was an indoor area with a track for riding tricycles. The space is decorated to look like a nature trail, complete with tents, trees and even a camper. It’s also worth noting the park has a good-size splash pad area which will definitely come in handy once summer is here.
There has been some controversy over the park. The animal rights group, PETA, wants the park to stop serving meat and go vegan. They staged a small protest at the opening this past Saturday.
Winding up our visit, we checked in with Camilo about other favorite parts of the park. He really loved the show at Mr. Potato's Showtime Arena, where a large costumed Peppa comes out with her friends and does a little song and dance. The shaded performance area has big pillows perfect for bouncing on while you watch the show. After her performance, Peppa did a meet and greet with her fans.
I'll let Cam to tell you more.
“Did you get to meet Peppa Pig today?” asked Samantha.
“Yeah!” said Camilo.
“Did Peppa Pig do the dinosaur hands?” asked Samantha.
“Yes!” said Camilo.
“How did you do the dinosaur hands?” asked Samatha.
Camilo obliged us by putting up his hands in the air and with clawing motions, gave us another big dinosaur roar.
I would say that constitutes a thumbs-up.
General admission tickets are available for online purchase at the Peppa Pig Theme Park website. Find more arts news and events going on around North Texas at KERANews.org/Arts.
