Being A Brave Boy At The Adrenaline Zone At Robin Hill

Back in April, my jaw dropped when I got my first glimpse of the Adrenaline Zone.

It was a building site at the time, but you could still see the outline looming over the Robin Hill car park.

I was particularly excited as the Isle of Wight was lacking in a high ropes course. I believe there’s one at PGL’s Little Canada but that is mostly used by school parties and you can’t wander up to try it out.

I had also spent a few summers running tides that previously lived on the Adrenaline Zone site, so this was the equivalent of finding that someone had replaced your childhood cottage with a swanky town house.

We finally got round to trying out the Adrenaline Zone last week – or at least enough of it to get the general idea.

Your options at the Adrenaline Zone

The first thing to make clear is that the Adrenaline Zone is a separate attraction to Robin Hill.

It sits next to the park and there's a path linking the two but  it isn’t included in the standard ticket price. You also don't need to pay to visit Robin Hill to get to the Adrenaline Zone so it's not really an add-on.

Some keyboard warriors complained about this on social media, but these are the sort of people that would ask for a tenner if you were handing out fivers in the street.

In reality, it couldn’t be included in the standard admission price of about £15 - £23. Center Parcs charges about £45 for its high ropes whilst Go Ape is about £37 - £40 when I checked. Expecting something similar to be included in Robin Hill admission is pie in the sky. Robin Hill season ticket holders currently get a 10% discount at the Adrenaline Zone.

The second thing to explain is that there are four (or five) attractions in the Adrenaline Zone. You can buy a bundle for about £35 including everything if you want to fill several hours or just pick and choose what you want.

The main event in my eyes is Ozone, which is a high ropes course that takes about an hour and costs about £20. This is the section we completed and is what I’ll waffle on about in a minute.

Ozone has three layers - one for children under 135cm and two for brave boys like me

A separate set of steps lead to Zoom, which is a circular zip wire that will cost you about £7.

Zoom is the circular thing in the top right hand corner of this photo

Your third option is a series of ‘Clip n Climb’ climbing walls, for about £15.

The climbing walls at the Adrenaline Zone cost about £15

Finally, there is Magma, which are three giant pillows that you can jump onto from a great height for £10. For that price, you get five jumps and can choose from three different platform heights.

Magma didn't appeal to me, but I might be feeling braver next time

Our trip to the Adrenaline Zone

Mrs Guru and I have established roles at this sort of thing.

My role is to ‘supervise’ the children by enthusiastically joining in. I like to think that I am encouraging them to have an adventurous spirit. Mrs Guru knows that I am really refusing to grow up myself but she has the grace not to say this out loud.

Mrs Guru’s role is to ‘watch the bags’ even when the bags don’t really need watching. I agree not to point this out.

We decided to keep it simple on our first visit. Child one and I would do the high ropes (Ozone), whilst child two would do the junior ropes. The key height to check is 135cm as this determines which course you need to do.

We opted out of Magma (due to cowardice on my part) and Clip n’ Climb (due to time limitations). Unfortunately, Zoom was out of action when we visited because of a technical issue. We had planned to do that, so we’ll need to return to give it a go.

In hindsight, I probably should have given Magma a go for the purposes of research. Child one wasn't keen on it either though, so I felt able to opt out. We've done a very similar Clip n' Climb on the mainland and can thoroughly recommend that option.

Harnessed Up

We presented our QR codes and were assisted into our harnesses by the staff before being sent over and clipped onto Ozone.

The junior course is very tame and sits about one metre off the ground. Child two was happy doing this but is getting quite close to 135cm and will be keen to try the higher ropes when she can.

The main course is over two levels, with a staircase linking the two. There isn’t a set route and it’s possible to skip any sections that you don’t like the look of. It’s also been designed so that other people can easily overtake you, rather than you feeling like a 10 year old is glaring at you because you’re hesitating to follow a tightrope across a significant drop.

I (bravely) worked my way round everything on the course including wobbly boulders, two climbing walls, twisty netting, stepping stones, a see saw, walk-the-plank and so on.

The juddery seesaw can be found on the upper level at the Adrenaline Zone

These see-saw stepping stones offered a squeaky bum moment

The course uses a good mix of ropes and other things to clamber across

The hairiest moment was when I briefly lost my footing on the high ropes climbing wall and dangled by my arms. Of course, I was attached by a harness and so the actual risk of death was minimal but it still gave me a good wobble.

This climbing wall gave me the heebie-jeebies

Shortly after this, I told child one that I would be spending a little more time on the lower level. She asked why, to which I bellowed across the attraction that I was “feeling a bit scared”, since I couldn’t think of any other reason. A child who was about 30 years younger than me offered a sympathetic look.

As mentioned earlier, we couldn’t try the Zoom part of the Adrenaline Zone. These things often end with a zip wire or something similar but we’ll need to come back for that one. 

We thoroughly enjoyed our hour at The Adrenaline Zone, so that won't be a big burden.