Gift Exeriences | Experience Days

For any ski or snowboard lover who wants to get a bit of time practising or learning at the largest indoor real snow ski slope then a trip to the Chill FactorE in Manchester is where you need to be heading.

You can read more about the Chill FactorE here, but on this page we are just going to give you the prices and costs to use the ski slope and other activities.

Recreational Lift Pass - These are only available for those who are competent enough to control speed and direction, link your turns, stop and use the button lift unassisted.

Off Peak times are up to 6pm on weekdays.
Peak times are after 6pm on weekdays and all weekends and bank holidays.

Rally Driving to most will open up a totally new and unique way of driving. You can throw out of the window lots of your day to day driving experience that you use on tarmac roads in order to get to grips with driving on mud and gravel!

Rally driving tends to be done on loose and slippy surfaces such as mud and gravel and not on your standard UK roads. Professionals even race rally cars on ice and snow!

The great thing about a rally driving experience is the fact that you are EXPECTED to get the car sliding around and you won’t get in trouble if you end up spinning the car. Most rally driving gift experiences take place on specially designed tracks and circuits that are there to help you learn and enjoy getting to grips with how to rally drive but also designed with your safety in mind too!

Sat along side a professional instructor (most are ex or current rally drivers themselves) you will be taught the tips and tricks of how to get your rally car around the circuit as quickly and safely as possible, this might mean power-sliding it and using the handbrake to get the car around corners and also how to set yourself up for a corner by getting it sliding in the right direction before you even reach the corner!

Sitting inside a stripped out rally car with a bucket seat, steering wheel and a roll cage pretty much all there is inside the car with you, you get to really get to grips with what is going on, you can hear every stone that flicks up and can feel the rear of the car sliding behind you. You learn fast and it won’t be long before you can power-slide the car round a corner by sending it into a deliberate slide and then nursing the power on and off to get you out the other side and heading towards the next corner!

Get active up in the trees on an adventure course off the ground. Go Ape is the adventure course in the forest trees!

Go Ape adventure courses are a great way to get some action and adventure out side in the fresh air. The specially designed courses are fully equipped with safety in mind first so you can crawl through the tunnels, cross rope bridges, slide down zip slides, cross high wires and more all off the ground through the trees. Take a look at a Go Ape video.

Everyone receives a full safety briefing and fitted with a safety climbing harness before you set off on your Go Ape adventure.

As you’ll be out doors, you should dress in clothes you are comfortable in and that you are comfortable getting dirty, decent footwear should also be worn that are suitable for climbing. The Go Ape course can take between 2-3 hours to complete and is a superb action adventure that everyone will enjoy.

The minimum age for participants on Go Ape is 10 years old (1 adult for every 2 children aged 10-16 and 1 adult for every five children aged 16-17), a minimum height of 1.4m / 4 feet 7 inches and a Maximum weight: 130kg / 20.5 stone

The cost of Go Ape is around £28 per person. There are 21 locations across the UK to go on Go Ape, including: Aberfoyle, Whinlatter
Forest Park, Grizedale Forest, Dalby Forest, Rivington, Delamere Forest, Buxton, Sherwood Pines, Cannock Forest, Wyre Forest, Margam Country Park, Forest of Dean, Wendover Woods, Woburn Safari Park, Thetford Forest, Haldon Forest Park, Moors Valley, Alice Holt, Swinley Forest, Bedgebury Forest, Leeds Castle

Chill FactorE is the largest indoor real snow ski slope in the UK a ndis located in Manchester near to the Trafford Center. The Chill FactorE is basically an indoor winter wonderland where you can ski, snowboard all year round, even if it’s sunny and 30 degrees outside!

Chill Factore

For anyone wanting to learn how to ski or snowboard before they go away then this is the ideal place to take your lessons. Unlike other ski slopes in the UK the Manchester Chill FactorE slopes are made with real snow and not an artificial mat. The difference it makes to learn on the real thing is huge. There are 2 slopes inside the huge building, one large slope that is 180m long and 40m wide and then a smaller 40m x 40m nursery slope that is great to practice and learn on.

Picture of Chill FactorE main slope from the BBC

The large slope can take up to 260 people at one time and takes around 20-30 seconds to ski or snowboard down it. To take skiers and snowboarders to the top of the slope there is 2 Poma lifts that drag you up, the same type of lifts that you find in ski resorts all over the world. Don’t worry if you are worried about balling over on the way up, there is safety mechanisms in place so that you don’t cause a pile up

Also in between the 2 slopes there is a 60m luge that you can go for a slide down on specially designed mats. The slide is actually inspired in design by the Cresta Run in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Chill FactorE is basically one large refrigerator that keeps the slope at -1C and each night 16 tonnes of real snow are created through the vast refrigeration equipment, so every night in Manchester it snows

Click here to view a picture gallery of the Chill FactorE

Sit back and enjoy the sounds, smells and views of going on a Steam Train trip.

Steam Trains are now a seldom used method of transport as faster electric and more modern trains are used to transport people around the country. Not to fear though, despite Steam Trains having been replaced they are still available for trip and rides.

Steam Train trips and rides

There is nothing quite like the sound of a steam train or the sight of one being spotted from a distance as it’s trail of smoke rises into the air.

It is not just train spotters & train enthusiasts who will enjoy the experience of a steam train trip but both young and old alike who want to experience what it used to be like to travel and enjoy the beautiful British countryside.

Steam trains look amazing too, the large engines at the front that power the train are full of character and unique in design.

There are plenty of steam train trips to enjoy, such as trips on the Orient Express, The Northern Belle, British Pullman or The Cathedral Express to name a few.

If you book to go on a steam train ride then make sure to pack your camera so you can capture all the wonderful sights that a nostalgic day like this will bring.

For the real team train enthusiast how about going that one step further and doing some train driving and fulfill that job ambition you may of had when you were a lad!

Buyagift are the leading UK gift experience provider. With over 2,000 different gift experiences on offer Buyagift can provide you with the lot, from driving a tank over a car to a hot air balloon flight over the countryside and a whole range in between.

Buyagift UK gift experience days

You name it and Buyagift UK could well be able to provide it. Set up in the late 1990’s Buyagift has gone from strength to strength to provide their customers with the very best experience days that are on offer.

They are clearly the gift experience company to deal with having also worked with the likes of Barclaycard, McDonalds, The Daily Telegraph, American Express, Tesco and KitKat.

Due to the sheer volume of experiences that customers buy through Buyagift UK they are able to get discounts which they can pass onto customers making them very competitively priced. They set their prices so well that Buyagift also offer a 150% money back guarantee on all the experiences that they sell if you find the same experience cheaper within 14 days!

Why go looking at any other gift experience company when you have the latest and best offers and a price guarantee like this. www.buyagift.co.uk or www.buyagift.com

Airkix are one of the UK’s leading indoor skydiving and body flying experiences companies.

Airkix indoor skydiving

What Airkix offer is a wind tunnel like is used by Formula 1 teams but turn it on it’s end so you have the wind blowing upwards at speeds of around 120mph. The great thing is that this indoor skydiving experience doesn’t include the skydiver the task of having to jump out of a plane, but it does offer them the feeling of free-falling in a controlled and safe environment.

Airkix is located in Milton Keynes although there are plans for another larger Airkix in Manchester to be built next to the Chill FactorE indoor ski slope.

Airkix allow almost anyone from the age of 5 upwards to experience the upward wind tunnel and is hugely popular as many can’t stomach the idea of having to jump out of an actual plane to experience what skydiving it like. Don’t be mistake, the sheer adrenaline rush you will get from jumping out of a plane to this won’t be the same but you will have an absolutely brilliant time safe in the knowledge that you are only a few meters from the ground at all times!

Airkix also offer you a DVD & pictures of your flight so you can relive it over and over again. With prices for a single flight only costing around £45 it is relatively inexpensive too.

If you think skydiving is probably a step too far for you to do as a gift experience then why not try the next best thing that even those who feel sick at the thought of a skydive should be comfortable doing, indoor skydiving.

Indoor Skydiving

Indoor skydiving is run by Airkix and is perfect for those who want to feel what it feels like to be fall at hundreds of miles per hour yet are doing it from only a few meters above ground. In specially designed chambers you can kit up and go into what is basically a wind-tunnel pointing upwards, you then have enough air blown out at you at speeds of up to 170mph meaning that you can float there. Obviously you don’t have the jumping out of a plane bit to deal with or the worry about the parachute not opening, you can just have the solo free-fall part of the experience.

Even for anyone who has been on a real skydive or wants to practice to get an idea of what it is going to feel like indoor skydiving is the perfect happy medium to get you there.

The cost of indoor skydiving starts at around £50 for a single or you can have a indoor skydiving experience for two costing around £95.

You may even receive pictures and a DVD of your flights so you can enjoy watching back over them again!

These wind chambers have also now been adapted to take in other sports such as air Zorbing/Sphereing, where the Zorb is kept suspended in the air by the wind and the Zorbing experience takes place while floating around and not while bouncing down a hill.

Does jumping out of the side of a plane at 12,000 ft with a rucksack tied to your back sound like fun? If not how about if you had an experienced skydiver who had a rucksack on their back that was filled with a parachute? If this still doesn’t sound like something that you want to do then stop reading now as Skydiving probably isn’t for you, maybe look indoor skydiving or at some other extreme sport gift experiences or something completely different.

Skydiving offers the ultimate adrenaline experience

So if skydiving does take your fancy and you think you are going to be able to cope with falling towards the earth at 100 mph then you really are a plucky so-and-so as you are going to need all the bottle you can find to do that first leap. Once you manage it though you are going to love the thrill of the experience. Seeing the earth become bigger as you hurtle towards it with 7,000 ft of free fall, with the wind rushing in your face while you wait for the parachute to be deployed where you can start to relax and enjoy the 5,000 ft gentle descent to ground while enjoying getting to see everything form a birds eye view. Watch as the ants you see as you are coming down eventually grow into full size people!

As far as extreme sports go, skydiving is one of the big ones, although anyone scared of flying or heights will probably not be wanting to add this one to the list of experiences that they have done.