Dismaland Review 2015

As soon as I found out about Dismaland  in the nearby seaside town Weston Super Mare, I was on the website trying to book tickets to this amazing 5 week Event created by Banksy the Bristolian street artist..

Unfortunately I tried the website around five to six times constantly clicking on the calendar to book a ticket. In the end I gave up thinking I had been to slow to get a ticket. I checked all my social media platforms mainly Twitter to find out if I had just been unlucky and loads of people would be tweeting smug comments about going to the theme park. As I scanned through my feed no one had managed to get tickets. I knew the queue would be major but I decided I needed to see Banksy’s next creation. I arrived at the Tropicana at around 10:00am on Saturday 22nd August the first day Dismaland opened to the public. The queue looked horrendous as I made my way through the gated area I was around half way through the first queue and predicted a three hour waiting time. The day was sunny and everyone was excited to see Dismaland. Many people had travelled pretty far to get to the park.

Dismaland at Weston Tropicana Lido

As it turned 11am the other people beside me in the queue were in two minds in leaving due to the vast length of the queue and the time it would take to eventually see Dismaland. I convinced them to stay as I was really enthusiastic to what we would see in the park and how great to be one of the first few thousands to experience the delights of Dismaland. The queue was moving steadidly now as I reached the ticket office to pay and get my wrist band. It was great knowing I had paid and surely this meant I would get to see the theme park today! I carried on round and had a quick bag check by security. I was now in the second gated queue that little bit closer to the magic of Dismaland.

Dismaland Wrist Band

As I was waiting I posted a few pictures on my social media accounts and checked the time around hundred times. It was getting close to 1pm the time I thought  I would eventually get in to Dismaland. I checked the time and it was around 13:20 when I was at the front of the queue, literally minutes away of entering Dismaland. They were allowing around ten people to enter the park at a time. Our group crossed over the street to the entrance of the old Tropicana lido and we were greeted by a misareble couple of girls with pink hi vis jackets on and micky mouse ears. One of the Dismaland staff members asked how long we had waited in the queue for and a guy in our group said three hours. In a mono tone she told him “It’s not worth it” We all laughed and headed in to the security section just before the entrance to Dismaland. The security room was awesome and every piece off equipment was made out of cardboard including the CCTV cameras. After being verbally abused by the security guard I entered Dismaland. 

I was so excited as I tried to look at everything at once. I had a quick look round and headed straight for the castle that looked like a run down version of the Disneyworld castle. The castle was pitch black and I was scared to enter. I walked through and was pretty impressed with what I saw. I then started going to every section of the park taking a photo every two seconds.

I really had had enough of queuing for the day but I needed to see what this place had to offer. I joined the queue for the art gallery which took about twenty minutes for me to get into another pitch black room with loads of flashing lights and weird exhibits. The art gallery was amazing full of outstanding art work by various artists. My favourite piece I saw in the art gallery was a shark painting by Josh Keyes an American contemporary artist.

Art by Josh Keyes

I stayed in the art gallery for quite a while and looked at all the amazing creations it had to offer. I then headed back into the main park area and found another queue to join. This queue was quick and painless waiting to get into a small circus tent in which I had a quick look round and saw the Damien Hurst exhibit. A few hours later I was satisfied I had seen every part of Dismaland. I checked around and finally went up some stairs to a roof bar terrace, sounds a lot nicer than I’m making out. I took my last few photos of the whole park then I saw the sign for ‘Exit through the gift shop’ I couldn’t resist buying a tshirt and programme. As I left I was actually sad to leave and so happy I had decided to make this trip to one of the weirdest places I’d ever been to. 

This Banksy art exhibition is not around for long and has been thought out to the last detail. If you can make it to Dismaland in the seaside town of Weston Super-mare it’s definitely an experience you will never forget.