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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
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
Thorpe Park

Thorpe Park 12th May 2026

12th May 2026: Thorpe Park My period between jobs is rolling on, so with me having secured a permanent role, I thought; why not use the Merlin pass once again and go for a midweek Thorpe Park visit? I know I was only in Thorpe a month or so ago, but I made the spur-of-the-moment trip decision after noticing the quiet crowds last week and I like Thorpe. Sue me! I left home at about 6:30 this morning, arriving at Bristol Parkway just after 7am to take a 7:29 train to Staines, with a change in Rea
Data Analysis

How accurate are advertised ride queue times?: A statistical analysis using data from Alton Towers and the UK Merlin parks

Disclaimer: This is a long, geeky post. If you don't like statistics or maths talk, turn back now! If you'd like a more concise summary, a TL;DR can be found at the bottom. Hi guys. When you go to a park, you will often see advertised queue times all over the place to help you determine how long the ride queues are. But sometimes, you might find that these do not necessarily tell the truth. At times, you might get in a queue with a reasonable advertised time and wait far longer than expecte
Paultons Park

Paultons Park 16th May 2026

16th May 2026: Paultons Park After a quiet day at Thorpe Park on Tuesday, I had a day today that I was sensing would be busier; I attended the opening day of Valgard at Paultons Park! I was excited to see the area and ride Drakon for the first time, and also see an opening day for my first time! We (me, my mum and my dad) left our home at a little before 7:30 this morning, and after a drive where we saw a bizarrely high number of Citroen 2CVs (it seemed like an oddly specific classic car to see
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:
Alton Towers

Alton Towers 7th/8th August 2022 (7th August 2022: Alton Towers Day 1)

7th August 2022: Alton Towers Day 1 Hi guys. Today was the first day of my latest 2 day Alton Towers trip, which is always an exciting day, particularly when your break entails a stay in the Alton Towers Hotel! I know it’s only been two months since my last trip to Alton Towers, but I got offered a theme park trip of my choice for my birthday this year by my parents, and as I had a nice time at Alton in June, I thought “why not go back there?”!   We left home at about 7:15am this
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
Flamingo Land

Flamingo Land 7th August 2023

7th August 2023 (Flamingo Land) Hi guys. Today, I visited a new theme park that I’d never previously visited before; I visited Flamingo Land in North Yorkshire for the first time! This visit was a present from my parents for my 20th birthday last week, and I was interested to see what the park had to offer; prior to today, Flamingo Land was probably the most major UK park I was yet to visit, and Sik was probably the most revered UK coaster I was yet to ride!   We’d actually made t
Matt N’s Solo South East Jaunt 9th/10th June 2024

Matt N's Solo South East Jaunt 9th/10th June 2024 (10th June 2024: Thorpe Park)

10th June 2024: Thorpe Park It was the second day of the trip today, and another day can only mean another park; today, I visited Thorpe Park! Today marked my first visit of 2024 to the UK’s most thrilling theme park, so I was excited to get back on some of my favourites at the park for the first time in 2024!   After my night in the Premier Inn in Staines, my Thorpe day started at a little before 9am, when I took a short walk to Elmsleigh Bus Station in Staines to catch the Sulli
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
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
Parc Astérix

Parc Astérix 29th June 2026

29th June 2026: Parc Astérix Today was an exciting day; after months (well, years) of UK park visiting, I had my first foreign park visit since September 2024, and it was to a very exciting park; today was my first ever visit to Parc Astérix in France! I couldn’t wait to get on the rides for the first time, particularly Toutatis! We’re currently staying in a house somewhere broadly between Parc Astérix and Disneyland Paris (that’s coming later in the week), so we left this morning at around 9am
Europa Park

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

26th April 2022 (Travel) Hi guys. Today was a very exciting day; the start of my first ever trip to Europa Park! This might possibly be my most significant theme park trip in some time, and it’s quite a significant change in tune compared to the bulk of my recent trips, with a number of new experiences in store for me; my first time travelling abroad post-COVID, my first time at Europa Park, my first time in Germany full stop… I could go on, as there are so many firsts for me this trip! So
Alton Towers

Alton Towers 19th/20th June 2022 (20th June 2022: Alton Towers Day 2)

20th June 2022 (Alton Towers Day 2) We had Day 2 in the park today! We got up fairly early and as we were staying in the Alton Towers Hotel, we had somewhat of a head-start (or I did, anyway; my mum and Nan joined me later); even though Early Ride Time is no longer offered, the park opens its gates early to allow you to get to your first ride and queue for it before opening time, and staying in the hotel will naturally allow you to get here ahead of the regular day guests, which is always a
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 (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
Brean Theme Park

Brean Theme Park 9th September 2023

9th September 2023: Brean Theme Park Hi guys. Today was an exciting day; I went for my first ever visit to Brean Theme Park, near Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset! Now I know that that might not sound too exciting to many of you, but I was glad to finally tick it off seeing as it’s actually my closest semi-major theme park! Oddly given that I’ve lived in the South West of England my whole life and amassed a coaster count of over 100, I had never been to Brean Theme Park (or any theme park in my l
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
Alton Towers

Alton Towers 26th/27th July 2025 (27th July 2025: Day 2)

27th July 2025: Alton Towers Day 2 We had our second day in the park today! I was looking forward to getting back into the park and doing some rerides, as well as potentially some things I hadn’t done on the first day!   After breakfast in the Alton Towers Hotel, which I actually thought was perfectly nice given all of the drama around Aramark, I headed into the park on my own and took advantage of a perk that I haven’t seen offered in years… Early Ride Time! I can’t think of the
Europa Park

Matt N’s Europa Park Initiation 26th-30th April 2022 (28th April 2022: Europa Park Day 2)

28th April 2022 (Europa Park Day 2) Day 2 today! I know I said that we were planning to have a more relaxed day today, but we had more left to do rides-wise than we’d previously anticipated, and if I’m being honest, I am quite naturally drawn to rides compared to Europa’s other stuff, so I’ll digress that that did go out of the window somewhat as the day went on. It wasn’t quite as intense as yesterday, however; there were less coasters involved, and my parents said it felt more relaxed tha
Europa Park

Matt N's Ode to Europa Park: A Review from my First Ever Visit

Matt N's Ode To Europa Park: A Review from my First Ever Visit For those of you that don't know, I recently returned from my first ever visit to Europa Park in Germany. I wrote a trip report series which can be viewed in earlier entries in this blog.   Now I know that I did a brief summary of my thoughts on Europa Park at the end of my recent trip report series. However... now I've been back for a couple of days, I'm finding myself wanting to say a lot more than I said in that sum
Alton Towers

Alton Towers 25th/26th March 2023 (26th March 2023: Alton Towers Day 2)

26th March 2023: Alton Towers Day 2 We had our second day in the park today! And it was an interesting one, with some new stuff experienced today that we hadn’t done yesterday!   We started out somewhat earlier than we did yesterday, arriving at Alton Towers at around 9:30am for entry into the park at around 9:45am: For our first ride, we headed off down Haunted Hollow to a certain new ride that none of us had ever done before… The Curse at Alton Manor T
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
Alton Towers

Alton Towers 28th July 2024

28th July 2024: Alton Towers Hi guys. Today, I returned to Alton Towers for a revisit after receiving a free return ticket following our weak visit to Alton After Dark back in March. Another visit to Alton Towers is not exactly anything new for me (today was my 43rd day at the park in total and my 3rd day this year), but one aspect was new for me… despite having visited Alton Towers so much over the years, today was my first time ever spending a solo day alone at the park! With my dad atten

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