Today celebrates the 25th anniversary of Universal Studios Florida (and in essence the entire Orlando Resort but more on that later). Instead of revising for my exams I've decided to share how the park has fallen, picked itself up hugely and become a real competitor to Disney.
It started nearly 35 years ago with the idea of Universal building a theme park on the East Coast coming into managers minds in 1981. It was a big move, Hollywood was already in place as a working studios with the studio
Sup ridefans,
So I work for a charity where we run playschemes and respite care for disabled children up to disabled young adults, split into three groups; play (5-12), youth (12-18) and young adults (18-25); specialising in our 'non-exclusion policy', meaning any young people are welcome, no matter how severe or not severe their disability is. I work at the youth scheme near Guildford, and on Saturdays we sometimes go on day trips. So today, we went to Chessington.
That was an experience. I d
I'm gonna say this straight out, I love my job. I'm so happy to finally have one, it's a massive weight off my chest
But I am way too used to having so much freedom to organise what I do.
For everyone that doesn't know, my air cadet squadron is my life. Completely. Almost everything I do within my cadets capacity isn't for myself, it's for them. I run my squadron's marching band which I have actually built myself from nothing, I have to organise most events, and I help the staff run the squa
Yes I know what you're thinking, another Europa Park/Disneyland Paris trip report from Mark9. I was blown away by Europa Park in 2010 and 2013 and surely this trip can't be any different. And how could I possibly compete with the three blog wonder of Matt Creek's comprehensive Disneyland trip reports. Well... this is a report with a little bit of difference (Or at least I hope so, this is all on the fly so might just end up me complimenting every aspect of Europa Park). Nonetheless, I hope this
Despite our slightly stumbly trip back from Mcdonalds, we made it back to the hotel in where Part 3 of the trip shall now entail.
After a waking alarm at 7am, packing our bags and everything, we headed back to Disney, this time using Peajy Taxis instead of the train.
During the 2nd day at the park, we gain a sixth person to our party, Sam [Lightyear93] as one of my sixth form mates was able to join us for the day [who is currently doing a placement in Paris]. He too has a Disney Pass.
Aft
Welcome to Part 2 of Disney & The Creek-The Report. Previously we left you with some magical photos of Big Thunder amongst others. What other interesting sights is there to be discovered in what could be the happiest place in Europe?
Adventure Isle, home to some great theming
More Great Theming
Further great theming
And most importantly Pirates Of The Caribbean, an amazing ride full of great theming from the moment you enter the queueline.
Pirates Of The Caribbean is an absolute
Once Upon A Time, in a land of Merlin empire lived a Creaky Themepark Fanatic who had a life long dream to visit Disneyland Paris. Living under the curse for 21 years, many attempts to break the spell in 2014 were unleashed, but none prevailed.
However many months later in to 2015, The Creek encountered Buzz Lightyear & Remy who cooked together a magic plan.
Joined by a Mickey Taking Sorcerer.
And The Spell Was Broken!!! Matt Creek had made it to Disneyland Paris. Transformed back t
Well I guess you could say my winning streak continued at the Chessington meet this weekend
Oh and I had my first go on Vampire ever. Yay another credit!
So first, Empires. A brilliant game IMO Pick a ride (any ride as long as it's operational) and people try to guess it, while you're trying to guess theirs. Anyone you guess takes on your ride name and becomes a part of your empire, until someone guesses the name of your empire and it all becomes theirs.
Well, IF someone guesses yours... Le
Yet another brilliant week was spent in Blackpool, and as we have BPB season passes we spent most days in the park, which was great fun despite a few negatives which I will get to later in the trip report.
BPB is still my favourite park, purely because it has my favourite rides, and the history and charm adds to it - my top three coasters are The Big One, Wild Mouse and Grand National as well as my overall favourite ride being Valhalla, so to have these and a fantastic collection of wooden
Welcome to the last instalment of this blog before I venture off to Belgium in June So let's head to somewhere new and prepare myself for something I'll see a few times in Belgium.
Sign lies. Puddle will get my shoes wet, I'll walk into the bin which will hurt. Already looks painful.
KMG=Pain in my stomach
Vecoma
Schwartzkopf know for pain.
Let's get it over and done with.
Sure is difficult to understand. And rough, so PAINWOOD
This is good.
Like really good! So let's fi
So yeah, my family booked a trip to Marwell Wildlife (zoo) for my birthday. Here goes...
It was in the middle of nowhere, but there was really bad traffic for the last mile or so (reminds me of a certain Staffordshire theme park), but we made it in.
And here we have the main attraction: The man with a pushchair!
Thier Penguin enclosure is a great deal bigger than Chessie's.
'Just smile and wave boys, smile and wave.'
This animal looks like my dog.
It's a pink chicken.
The worl
Lots of people always go on about wanting to go to the greats of Florida for Disney and Universal. More people are able to visit DLP but there's a little place in this country that makes you feel like you're at Disney or Universal. Thing is, I couldn't quite work out which company clearly secretly owns this park. Of course, it is the one and only Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach. So let me show you why I'm not sure if it's Disney or Universal.
From the outskirts it doesn't look great. But hey, U
For a few years now Towers has been subject to a mind marmalising force known as the Ministry of Joy and I think it's only time I reveal some of the hidden secrets after we persuaded a few Smile Assistants we want to help correct others. To do so we had to receive a grand tour of the correctional device. Be warned, what you see and read today is top secret and may correct you just by looking at it. It is your own choice to continue reading this...
Before embarking upon the process we decided
Alton Towers finally happened!
SCB can tell you, we've had a countdown going for ages and finally we went, so I am no longer an AT 'virgin' as some would put it.
When it came to actually going I was nervous, as a lot of hate had been spread around about low standards and operations and the like compared with last season; however this time I once again found myself in the position I was in at CWoA, not knowing what to expect so practically being an ordinary punter.
So, day one.
We started the
As very much everyone is aware, I will (hopefully) be making my first ever trip to a Disney park one month from today, a time even this far off I'm absolutely buzzing for.
However, still being a 'Disney park virgin' for the time being, I though I would conjure up a series of rides, places and attractions ive been on that I believe the closest 'present' experiences I've had to the authentic disney rides I shall be riding, whether the result of this is fairly close or just a complete joke in comp
So, spooning.
I've tried to describe this to many people without it sounding completely strange, and failed miserably. It is bizzare, but definitely fun. Especially if you win on your first ever time
Hold onto a spoon at a theme park all day. How? Oh and come 3pm people can attack your spoon. What?! Those are the rules, but they aren't always stuck to. Shoutout to J.S217 who managed to go through three spoons in one day... Whereas I was the first person ever to finish the day with a complete
Sup nerds,
Before last August I'd been to a theme park a maximum of probably 10 times.
Then in August I'm dragged on Stealth for the first time.
December I'm taken to Winter Wonderland.
January I get bought a Merlin Annual Pass for my birthday (thanks SCB!)
February I go to Thorpe Park's early opening.
And this month I dash to the proper opening day of Thorpe Park after college, narrowly missed out on a spur-of-the-moment jaunt on the London Eye, and go to Chessington' Annual Pass Preview
I went skiing this week with my Explorer unit. (yay)
now, you can stop reading there, or you can continue reading about how everything went.
Day 1.
I spent 14 hours on a train with 3 of my mates, and 16 13 year olds. It was great, because I just sat there, watched movies, and threw food at them, but also bad because they'd throw it back, continue to ask me questions about the scout leader (who was, my mum. Ergh.) and it was 14 hours, on trains, for 700 miles.
Although, in this time, we did
The Castle is full of history. And Merlin.
Welcome to Warwick Castle. Oh, follow these signs for the distances labelled and you can go to Merlin places of magic. Historic.
Don't you just love being ticketed.
Some decent shows. I really like the year round Annual Pass show at the Stables Ticket Office.
So much rich history. First date though... 2015
More NEW stuff! Very historical the year of 2015 is.
Look it's old!
Really old rope fence. 1340 that.
Artsy shot of a thing t
Welcome to part two of a bored, slightly humorous random blog post on a Sunday Evening!
*PRE-WARNING, THIS IS ALL A-BIT OF FUN, PLEASE READ THIS LIGHT HEARTED*
Last week, I introduced you to The Merlin Rollercoastermatic Universe, (which is like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, just less Iron Man and more disappointment).
There's been two main phases since Merlin's take over in (2007/08), the first one is named, hype, and you can read about it here!
The second phase is called, unoriginal;
Welcome to a bored, slightly humorous random blog post on a Sunday Evening!
*PRE-WARNING, THIS IS ALL A-BIT OF FUN, PLEASE READ THIS LIGHT HEARTED*
While watching some POV's, I was thinking about since Merlin took over, and how their four (I'm leaving Chessington out of this as they've not seen a new rollercoaster since 2004) theme parks have had rollercoaster investments in 'phases', much like the Marvel movies! Introducing, The Merlin Rollercoastermatic Universe;
There's been two main
WARNING: High Liam content.
Well, what an amazing day this was! It was a joy to see everyone again and to meet some new faces
(Btw, I got the xmas smilies by googling them, started typing this during xmas, was gonna remove them since but meh, it's a Christmas meet )
After being greeted with hugs and smiles at Waterloo station, it was off to The Eye (and that wonderful 4D experience). It was a clear day so we got some great views, could even see Stealth! Liam was such a tourist (actually, he
Well first of all I would like to say, if you ever decide to go to PortAventura via Barcelona, once there, get the train!!!! We had a large proportion of our day cut in PA because we were waiting for the shuttle bus to arrive, which was an hour late, we then waited an extra 25 minutes so that the bloody grump that was the driver, who wanted a fag break then proceeded to have an argument with someone on his phone... yeahh wasn't exactly pleased but yeah rant over and onto the trip report!! This w
