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Matt N’s Musings

A blog by Matt N in General

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Entries in this blog

Thorpe Park

Thorpe Park 20th September 2025

20th September 2025: Thorpe Park Hi guys. Today, I took my first visit to Thorpe Park of the season. While there hasn’t been anything new at Thorpe since my last visit, I was still keen to get back and experience some of my favourites again! I was particularly excited to get back on Hyperia given that I’d only ridden it on one visit last year and it definitely made its mark on me, making its way into my top 10 and christening itself my favourite UK coaster! Also, I was frankly keen to get back t
Thorpe Park

Thorpe Park 18th August 2024

18th August 2024: Thorpe Park Hi guys. Today was an exciting day; the day of my return to Thorpe Park to finally ride Hyperia! I was going to Thorpe today seeking sweet, sweet redemption… I’d already been unsuccessful on a previous attempt to ride Hyperia back in June, with me having to agonisingly watch it test before it reopened 2 days later… that tasted particularly bitter, and to rub salt in the wound, I then watched tons of other people, including my sister who isn’t overly into coaste
Thorpe Park

Thorpe Park 15th September 2023

15th September 2023: Thorpe Park Hi guys. Today was an exciting day; it was the day of my dad’s trip to Wentworth, and thus my now annual solo trip to Thorpe Park! I know I’ve been to Thorpe Park many times, but I always look forward to my solo trip there, so I was excited for today!   My dad and I left Gloucestershire at around 7:25am this morning, and even with a stop for petrol and a stop at Reading services, we made it to Thorpe Park by around 9:30am. After making brilliant ti
Thorpe Park

Thorpe Park 10th September 2022

Hi guys. Today was, interestingly, my first visit to Thorpe Park of the season; by my usual standards, September is quite late in the season for me to be visiting Thorpe for the first time! Today was also the return of my solo theme park tripping; as with last September, my parents’ love of professional golf was greatly useful, as they were going to watch the championship at Wentworth and offered to drop me at Thorpe for the day.   We left early and made very good time; entry was very
Paultons Park

Paultons Park 5th June 2025

5th June 2025: Paultons Park Hi guys. Today was an exciting day; in the words of our former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, “I went, as we all must, to Peppa Pig World”… yes, I returned to Paultons Park in Hampshire! I hadn’t been to the park since 2021, but I felt that the addition of Ghostly Manor, a unique new interactive dark ride, was the perfect excuse for me to return!   The day started at around 6:45am, with a 30 minute drive across the Welsh border to Severn Tunnel Junction
Matt N’s Solo South East Jaunt 9th/10th June 2024

Matt N’s Solo South East Jaunt 9th/10th June 2024 (9th June 2024: LEGOLAND Windsor)

9th June 2024: LEGOLAND Windsor Hi guys. Today was an exciting, albeit also somewhat nerve-wracking, day for me; it was the first day of my first ever solo stay away from home. For my first solo stay away, I decided to go for a trip to LEGOLAND Windsor and Thorpe Park, two of the London area Merlin parks. This was because I felt that I should try this with something that wasn’t ridiculously far from home what with it being my first time, and even putting aside my anxieties about doing my fi
Matt N’s Frolic in Florida 10th-24th June 2023

Matt N’s Frolic in Florida 10th-24th June 2023 (24th June 2023: Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios Florida)

24th June 2023 (Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios Florida) Today was the last day of our trip and the day of our flight home, so we decided to head to Universal Orlando for one last visit. If I’m being honest, today’s report will probably be short and quite dull, as we only spent around 4 hours in the parks themselves and it was one of those days where few things seemed to go right. Let me start from the very beginning.   As we didn’t have to check out of our house until 10am
Matt N’s Frolic in Florida 10th-24th June 2023

Matt N’s Frolic in Florida 10th-24th June 2023 (22nd June 2023: Busch Gardens Tampa)

22nd June 2023 (Busch Gardens Tampa) Today was a hotly anticipated day for me; today was our trip to Busch Gardens Tampa! I was really excited to get on Iron Gwazi, my first ever RMC, as well as to get on a couple of other new rides and get back on some of the other rides at the park!   Me, my mum and my dad set off for the park today (my grandparents and sister did not accompany us today, as my grandparents don’t like intense rides and my sister wasn’t fancying Busch) at just gon
Matt N’s Frolic in Florida 10th-24th June 2023

Matt N’s Frolic in Florida 10th-24th June 2023 (21st June 2023: Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios Florida)

21st June 2023 (Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios Florida) After an empty day yesterday, we headed back to Universal Orlando today! I was excited to head back to the park and hopefully try to get back on some favourite attractions I’d ridden earlier in the trip, and it was also my nan’s first time at Universal Studios Florida of the trip!   We left a little later today due to heavy rain, with us leaving at just gone 8:30am, so we did not arrive at Universal until after 10am:
Matt N’s Frolic in Florida 10th-24th June 2023

Matt N’s Frolic in Florida 10th-24th June 2023 (19th June 2023: Universal’s Volcano Bay)

19th June 2023 (Universal’s Volcano Bay) Today, we decided to break up the theme parking with another waterpark visit; we returned to Universal’s Volcano Bay! Today was an interesting one, because until very little time before our arrival, we had no idea that the Juneteenth federal holiday fell during our trip, and as that day was today, we thought that a waterpark might be a better, more relaxing place to go than any of the theme parks. Federal holidays notwithstanding, we also really enjo
Matt N’s Frolic in Florida 10th-24th June 2023

Matt N’s Frolic in Florida 10th-24th June 2023 (17th June 2023: Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios Florida)

17th June 2023 (Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios Florida) After a little detour away from Universal yesterday, my parents and I headed back to the Universal Orlando Resort today! It had been 5 days since we went to Islands of Adventure and 4 days since we went to Universal Studios Florida, so we were excited to get back to the two parks and reride some of our favourites, as well as go on a few attractions that we didn’t try the other day! Our original plan was to just visit Islands of
Matt N’s Frolic in Florida 10th-24th June 2023

Matt N’s Frolic in Florida 10th-24th June 2023 (16th June 2023: SeaWorld Orlando)

16th June 2023 (SeaWorld Orlando) We went for our first day at a non-Universal park; we went to SeaWorld Orlando! I was excited to go back to this park to ride Mako, my current number 1 coaster, as well as take a ride on new rides like Ice Breaker, Pipeline and Infinity Falls!   As per usual with our park days, we left our house at just gone 8am, and with a stop for petrol (or should I say gas seeing as we’re in America?) on the way there, we arrived at around 9:15am. When we arri
Matt N’s Frolic in Florida 10th-24th June 2023

Matt N’s Frolic in Florida 10th-24th June 2023 (14th June 2023: Universal’s Volcano Bay)

14th June 2023 (Universal’s Volcano Bay) We went for something slightly different today… unlike the last two days, we went to a waterpark! And it wasn’t just any waterpark, it was one that none of us had ever visited before… Universal’s Volcano Bay! The last time we drove down the Universal end of the I-4 in 2016, this park was under construction, so we were interested to see what the park was like now it was open.   Before I get started, I should apologise in advance for the fact
Matt N’s Frolic in Florida 10th-24th June 2023

Matt N’s Frolic in Florida 10th-24th June 2023 (13th June 2023: Universal Studios Florida)

13th June 2023 (Universal Studios Florida) Today, we did the other park at Universal Orlando that we didn’t do yesterday; Universal Studios Florida! My grandparents didn’t join us today, but those of us who did go were excited to get back into the park and ride a combination of previous classics like Revenge of the Mummy and new attractions like Fast & Furious: Supercharged!   As with yesterday, we left our villa at just gone 8am and arrived at Universal Orlando at around 9:15
Matt N’s Frolic in Florida 10th-24th June 2023

Matt N’s Frolic in Florida 10th-24th June 2023 (12th June 2023: Islands of Adventure)

12th June 2023 (Islands of Adventure) Today was a very exciting day; our first theme park day of the trip! As we had booked 14-day Universal Orlando tickets, we decided to start with one of those parks, and our choice was Islands of Adventure! We were really excited to get on both VelociCoaster and Hagrid’s, so we thought we may as well start in IOA!   We left our villa in Haines City at about 8am, and the drive took about 1h 15m, so we arrived at about 9:15am. I must say that it
Matt N’s Frolic in Florida 10th-24th June 2023

Matt N’s Frolic in Florida 10th-24th June 2023 (10th June 2023: Travel)

10th June 2023 (Travel) Hi guys. Today was a very exciting day; the start of my 2023 Florida trip! This trip is my first time heading to Florida in 4 years, and my first time heading to the parks we’re visiting this time (Universal Orlando, SeaWorld and Busch Gardens) in 7 years, as well as the first time my grandparents have joined my family and I in Florida since 2014. There are so many new rides I’m excited to get on; VelociCoaster, Iron Gwazi, Hagrid’s, Pipeline… the list goes on! We’re
Matt N’s Expedition to East Anglia 11th-13th August 2024

Matt N’s Expedition to East Anglia 11th-13th August 2024 (12th August 2024: Pleasurewood Hills)

12th August 2024: Pleasurewood Hills We had our second park day today, visiting the final new park of the trip; Pleasurewood Hills in Lowestoft, Suffolk! I was interested to get into this park and try out attractions such as Cannonball Express, the unique Schwarzkopf, and Wipeout, my first ever Vekoma Boomerang, amongst others!   With our hotel being less than a mile down the road from Pleasurewood Hills, we left at a bit after 9:30am, and after stopping at the nearby Tesco supers
Matt N’s Expedition to East Anglia 11th-13th August 2024

Matt N’s Expedition to East Anglia 11th-13th August 2024 (11th August 2024: Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach/Joyland)

11th August 2024: Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach/Joyland Children’s Fun Park Hi guys. Today was an exciting day; today, me, my mum and my dad set off for our trip to East Anglia! I’ve never been to any of the parks in the region, and to be honest, me and my mum had never actually visited East Anglia full stop (unless Watford and Stansted Airport count, being part of what the ONS technically considers “the East of England”…). My dad had been to Great Yarmouth once back in the 1980s, when he s
PortAventura

Matt N’s Excursion to España 9th-12th September 2024 (PortAventura Overall Review and Trip Summary)

PortAventura: An Overall Review and Trip Summary Right, then; I’ve now landed back in the UK, done all of my post-trip spreadsheet stuff, and just about recovered from the journey home! Spending 4 hours waiting in Barcelona Airport and arriving back in Bristol Airport at 1am to temperatures of 6 degrees when used to (and dressed for) the beautiful climate of Salou was certainly a rude awakening from that trip bubble, but the journey mostly went well, and now I’m back, I’m in the mood to wri
PortAventura

Matt N’s Excursion to España 9th-12th September 2024 (9th September 2024: Travel)

9th September 2024: Travel Hi guys. Today was an exciting day; the start of my big foreign theme park trip for the year. This year, that trip is my first ever trip to PortAventura World in Spain! This will be my first time ever experiencing the likes of Shambhala and Red Force, amongst other major rides, as well as experiencing a pretty major European theme park resort in the form of PortAventura World for the first time and seeing the delights it has to offer through a fresh set of eyes! I
PortAventura

Matt N’s Excursion to España 9th-12th September 2024 (12th September 2024: PortAventura Park Day 3)

12th September 2024: PortAventura Park Day 3 It was our final day in PortAventura Park today before heading home! We weren’t really able to have a full day today, as we had to be out of the park by 3:30pm to catch our shared transfer back to Barcelona Airport to fly home, but we nonetheless headed back into the park to mop up some more goes on some of the best attractions!   I headed into the park early on my own this morning, with my mum and dad joining me later. I headed down to
PortAventura

Matt N’s Excursion to España 9th-12th September 2024 (11th September 2024: PortAventura Park Day 2 and Ferrari Land)

11th September 2024: PortAventura Park Day 2 and Ferrari Land We had our second day today! Today, we headed back into PortAventura Park for another day of fun, and also headed into Ferrari Land to get on Red Force for the first time!   Similarly to yesterday, we entered via the Gold River hotel entrance at a bit before 10am. It looked a little busier here today, and I did have some trepidation about whether it could be busy due to it apparently being a public holiday in Catalonia
PortAventura

Matt N’s Excursion to España 9th-12th September 2024 (10th September 2024: PortAventura Park Day 1)

10th September 2024: PortAventura Park Day 1 Today was the day, folks; our first day inside PortAventura Park! I couldn’t wait to get inside, ride attractions like Shambhala for the first time, and just generally see what the park had to offer for the very first time!   Now before I start this report, I should declare that perhaps controversially, we decided not to buy any form of Express Pass for our visit to the park today. We figured that if it was terrible today, we could alwa
Europa Park

Matt N’s Europa Park Initiation 26th-30th April 2022 (30th April 2022: Europa Park Hotel Resort, Travel Home and Trip Summary)

30th April 2022 (Europa Park Hotel Resort, Travel Home and Trip Summary) Today was considerably less busy than the last 3 days, so as such, my report of our actual day will be far briefer. We had no 4th day on our entry tickets to Europa Park, but our flight out of Baden-Airpark was not until 7pm, so after checking out of our room at 11am, we had time to kill. And as we were on a huge resort and hadn’t explored too much of the other hotels aside from our own (Castillo Alcazar), we decided t
Europa Park

Matt N’s Europa Park Initiation 26th-30th April 2022 (29th April 2022: Europa Park Day 3)

29th April 2022: Europa Park Day 3 Today was the final day of Europa Park awesomeness! We started a bit earlier today, opting to head in for ERT, and my mum had actually looked at the map and jotted down a plan of action for today, so we certainly had no shortage of things to do!   My mum and I headed on into Europa at slightly after 8:30am this morning, with my dad joining us a touch later. As with both of the previous days, we used the hotel entrance, accessed via El Andaluz:

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