Flamingo Land Resort was established in 1959 when a cinema entrepreneur, Edwin Pentland Hick, sold his cinema chain and used the funds to purchase a bankrupt country club to use the land for a zoo. The site, which occupied nine acres, was initially called The Yorkshire Zoological Gardens. A colony of flamingos were among the first animals to be housed on site.

In 1963, the gardens became home to the UK's first captive bottlenose dolphins – one of whom was given the name Sooty after the children's TV puppet. During the 1960s a small funfair began to be held on the site. In 1965 the company was floated on the London Stock Exchange as Associated Pleasure Parks and, in 1968, the park was renamed to Flamingo Park Zoo.

In 1968, the park purchased a killer whale from an aquarium within Seattle. Flamingo Park became the first within the UK to house a killer whale, who lived alongside the bottlenose dolphins. Cuddles soon became aggressive towards both the dolphins he lived with and the trainers he worked with and was sold to Dudley Zoo in 1971.

In the 1970s, amusement rides had become a permanent fixture of the park along with the zoo, becoming the first site in Europe to combine the attractions in one location.

The park was losing money by 1974 and underwent a major revamp when it was renamed Flamingo Land. More emphasis was placed on the "day out" experience – with fairground rides, a haunted castle, model railway and a jungle cruise raft ride on the lake. Despite a more professional marketing approach that saw regular guest appearances by celebrities and stars of the day (including the racehorse Red Rum), Flamingo Land continued to lose money.

The owners, Scotia Leisure Ltd., sold the site in 1978 to Robert Gibb – himself a former director at Scotia leisure. He put a team in place to develop the complex as a national, rather than local, tourist attraction, including investing in amusement rides. Many staff were made redundant with most re-engaged on seasonal contracts.

In 1995 Robert Gibb died in a car accident. His son Gordon Gibb, only 18 at the time, and his two sisters, Vicky and Melanie, took over the running of the park.