It’s been 13 months since Oakwood Theme Park in Pembrokeshire announced it was shutting down its rides for good. Many of them have been torn down and taken away, but what is the fate of the park itself?
02:00, 19 Apr 2026
What was Oakwood Theme Park, with Bluestone Resort in the background(Image: John Myers)
Mystery continues to surround the future of what was one of the best-loved theme parks in the UK – more than a year after its shock closure.
In March, 2025, people in Pembrokeshire were waiting for Oakwood Theme Park to open once again for the summer, just as it had done pretty much every year since it first opened in the 1980s. Then, an announcement came from the attraction’s owners which confirmed that, due to “unrelenting economic challenges”, the iconic theme park was no more.
It was almost 39 years ago to the day that Oakwood first opened, on April 14, 1987. It was a small leisure park then, with a narrow gauge railway escorting visitors from the car park to the fairly modest attractions inside which included a bobsleigh, go karting, and water slides. Read the biggest stories in Wales first by signing up to our daily newsletter here.
Despite its success, park bosses decided to take Oakwood to the next level in the 1990s and the giant rollercoaster Megafobia was constructed at a cost of around £1.7m. Soon after it was joined by other huge attractions which drew thrillseekers to a corner of Pembrokeshire from all over the UK and abroad.
Megafobia opened 30 years ago, in April, 1996(Image: Western Mail)
Vertigo, Bounce, Hydro, and Speed: No Limits all helped to solidify Oakwood’s position as one of the most popular theme parks anywhere, and it felt like a real coup that such an attraction was based in west Wales.
However, today, all that remains inside Oakwood are the remnants of the rides not yet torn down. Bounce had only re-opened in 2022 following a six-year, £400,000 makeover. Less than three years later, it was being dismantled for good.
Other rides taken away from the park include Drenched (formerly known as Hydro), Treetops, the Pirate Ship, and the iconic Snake River Falls.
A drone image of Oakwood Park following its closure(Image: John Myers)
If you’re a really keen thrill-seeker with an eye for nostalgia, there’s a chance that you could enjoy one of those rides again as many have been removed so that they can be reassembled and used in other theme parks around Europe.
The now quiet and rather depressing piece of land where thousands once headed for days out is still owned by Aspro Parks, a Spanish leisure corporation. The company owns 68 leisure parks in ten different countries including Spain, France, Finland, Portugal, and Switzerland.
Aspro bought Oakwood from the McNamara family in 2008. It was farmer William McNamara who founded the park back in 1987 as a way of diversifying his land after the introduction of milk quotas.
What happens next to the huge chunk of land which once made up Oakwood remains unclear.
Oakwood in happier times(Image: Handout)
If you speak to locals who live near the former theme park, many want to see Bluestone National Park Resort expand its operations by purchasing the adjacent land and making the resort even bigger.
The hugely popular Pembrokeshire retreat, which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, is owned by the McNamara family – the same that sold Oakwood to Aspro Parks almost 20 years ago.
One local said: “It would be nice if Bluestone could buy [Oakwood] and do something with it. If it had been kept up it could have been brilliant so we are still hopeful that someone could take it over and bring it back to what it once was.”
It seems that the chances of Oakwood ever re-opening as a theme park are slim, if not totally non-existent. For some, the closure has not represented a major loss.
The park’s ‘After Dark’ events were a huge hit after being first introduced in the 1990s(Image: Oakwood Theme Park)
One WalesOnline reader felt: “Sadly, the owners contributed to running this park into the ground. It has been a long time since it had any new attraction and looked tired and outdated, seemingly lacking investment.”
Another said: “Run down and no investment and no new rides, hence the lack of footfall over the years.”
But Aspro Parks said it had invested £25m in Oakwood since “rescuing the park from being at risk of closure in 2008”.
A spokesperson for the company said following the closure: “We are aware that Oakwood has been a much-loved destination for generations and a rite of passage for many young visitors. It is for this reason we feel such a sense of sadness.”
Megafobia always took pride of place at the park ever since it thrilled its first visitors in 1996(Image: John Myers)
Maybe it’s just a case of theme parks struggling to cope with an ever-changing world where people, children in particular, can be entertained more and more from the comfort of their homes thanks to streaming apps, iPads, phones and other advancements that kids knew nothing about in the 20th century. Maybe people don’t need to thrill-seek anymore?
“Locally there has been little discussion and comment about the future of the old Oakwood site,” said Di Clements, county councillor for the Martletwy ward of Pembrokeshire where the theme park was located.
“No plans have been made public or any that I am aware of. Other local attractions have, over the years, become popular with visitors and locals alike so Oakwood’s closure didn’t really have that much of an impact locally and it had been in steady decline anyway.
“Whilst some of the old rides have been removed there are still a number of structures prominent to the skyline.
“Ideally, if there are no future plans for the site as a theme park, these should be removed. It’s not particularly attractive to have rusting and rotting structures visible in such a beautiful area.
“It would be great to have an all-weather attraction for Pembrokeshire there as its position is so central. But it also lends itself to being used and developed by Bluestone but that’s for Aspro and Bluestone to consider.”
Everyone who ever went on the Pirate Ship will remember how they felt when it tilted to its highest point(Image: Media Wales John Myers)
Aspro Parks has been asked to comment on its plans for the future of the Oakwood site, but at the time of publication nobody from the company had responded to any queries.
Bluestone National Park Resort has also been asked to respond to suggestions that it could take over the site and expand its attraction, and while it has not commented on its future plans, a spokesperson for the resort indicated that it currently had no plans regarding the Oakwood site.