Overview

I attended The Enchanted Forest press night this year to test out their accessibility, the whole night was amazing.

Transport & Parking

The night I visited they weren’t running the accessible bus but I got told this would be available during the rest of the event dates for visitors that need it. You park at the Blair Atholl Distillery and the bus takes you to Faskally Forest. You can read my review from 2019 when I used the bus. For the press night my carer drove my car straight to Faskally Forest. It was really easy to get in with our tickets and car pass. I would say I noticed about 8 parking spaces where we parked but there may have been more. The ground was smooth enough for me to drive my wheelchair on. I am not from this area so I can’t comment on the public transport.

Access

The pathways throughout Faskally Forest were surprisingly very smooth for The Enchanted Forest not running for 2 years. Where there was bark at certain areas there were mats down for wheelchair users to drive on however, more mats need to be put down in the areas where you sit and eat some food. When you are on the viewing platform for a couple of the light shows the barrier in front of you is now glass so you are able to see everything that is going on. There’s still a bar above so it would still be visible for visitors who are partially sighted but it’s great to see everything that’s going on over the barrier. My wheelchair is able to rise up but I still really benefited from it. There are a few interactive areas throughout the event and the first one you come across is a DJ sound board that allowed you to press buttons and play different tunes, this was at a great height for a wheelchair user to get right under it and you can see me at it in an image below. Another interactive area is walking through strobe lighting and fog which was one of my favourite bits as the pathway was so smooth and accessible. You go up a ramped platform to get to this area and the only thing I’d say is it could have been made a little wider as my wheelchair is quite small and I just managed. Where you roast marshmallows wasn’t very easy for me to reach in my wheelchair but this is probably a safety measure and there is staff of hand if you need help. If you park at the accessible parking or get the accessible van there you should go straight forward towards the shop as there is a great photo opportunity here, the staff member was very helpful and told us about this so hopefully they do the same on other night.

Toilets

Unfortunately, there is not a Changing Places toilet this year at The Enchanted Forest. There are standard accessible portacabins within the event but I didn’t look at them as they are always too small. Where I parked there is an accessible toilet that is always there. It is fairly spacious and I’d say there is enough space for someone in a wheelchair and someone to help. You can see a photo below.

Staff

As always every staff member and volunteer I encountered were extremely friendly and helpful.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

They are running some autism friendly shows this year and these are the dates below: Wednesday 12 October at 5.45pm and 6pm Wednesday 19 October at 5.30pm and 5.45pm

Photos

Video