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Matt N’s Musings

A blog by Matt N in General

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Entries in this blog

Alton Towers

Alton Towers 26th/27th July 2025 (26th July 2025: Day 1)

26th July 2025: Alton Towers Day 1 Hi guys. Today was an exciting day; it was the first day of my annual Alton Towers visit for 2025! After a rather light season so far, comprised mainly of my MSc course aside from two visits to Blackpool and Paultons Park, I was looking forward to returning to some more familiar turf and getting on some of my favourite rides in the UK, as well as checking out the new for 2025 addition: Toxicator! As an added bonus, I also have two days on park and an overn
Alton Towers

Alton Towers 27th/28th March 2026 (27th March 2026: Alton Towers Day 1)

27th March 2026: Alton Towers Day 1 After what has felt like a pretty long closed season (for me, anyway), March is upon us! And with me having purchased an Essential Merlin Pass back in November, what better way for me to start the season than with a trip to Alton Towers? With Alton After Dark being on for the first 3 weeks of the season and me now having the flexibility to come on a weekday, me and my mum decided to give the event another whirl following our less-than-stellar first go at it in
Alton Towers

Alton Towers 27th/28th March 2026 (28th March 2026: Alton Towers Day 2)

28th March 2026: Alton Towers Day 2 We (well, I for most of the day) had a second day on park today! Although the plan wasn’t to stay until dark today, I was still looking forward to another day on park getting some more rides in! Now before I get into the meat of today, I should preface that today was also the opening day of Bluey in CBeebies Land, which I hadn’t realised prior to booking. If you’re expecting a review, I’m afraid you will be disappointed; each to their own, but as Alton Towers
Europa Park

Matt N’s Europa Park Initiation 26th-30th April 2022 (27th April 2022: Europa Park Day 1)

27th April 2022 (Europa Park Day 1) Today, our first day in the park finally arrived! It’s a day I had dreamed about for ages, and quite literally dreamed about within the last few months… although unlike in my dreams, no vloggers stopping me from boarding rides or university staff with cricket bats were here to ruin it for me (if you don’t know what I mean, check out the theme park dreams thread)! And it was a very exciting day for sure… let me get straight to the good stuff!   W
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
Data Analysis

A quantitative analysis of North America's major coaster selections (Part 1: Most consistently strong coaster selection)

Disclaimer: This post is extremely long, and if you don't like data analysis and geeky maths talk, I'd suggest you run for the hills and don't look back, because this post has quite a bit of it! Hi guys. Some of you might remember that I recently did a multi-part data analysis investigation on Europe's major coaster selections; the topic is here if you don't know what I'm on about:  In that thread, I asked numerous different questions about Europe's major coaster selections. So I thou
Data Analysis

A quantitative analysis of North America's major coaster selections (Part 2: Strongest top ends)

Right then; it's about time I did part 2 of my North American investigation! And in part 2, I'll be working out... what coaster selections in North America have the strongest top end?   Yes, I'll be focusing solely upon the parks' most highly rated coasters in this question! As I got a few comments about the slightly weird results in part 1, I'm thinking that this question should hopefully correct that and produce results more akin to what you might typically expect, as I'm focusing on
Drayton Manor

Drayton Manor 9th June 2022

Hi guys. Today was a rather exciting day; my first visit to Drayton Manor in 4 years, and my first ever solo train trip to a theme park! I was keen to do this after noticing that my university train route (Lydney-Cheltenham Spa) had trains running directly to Drayton Manor’s nearest station, and I’m so glad I did it! It was one heck of a day, so let me kick off right from the beginning!   Today started quite early, with a 7:24am train from Lydney, my local train station, to Wilnecote,
Alton Towers

Alton Towers 19th/20th June 2022 (19th June 2022: Alton Towers Day 1)

19th June 2022 (Alton Towers Day 1) Hi guys. After having started 2022 with some slightly more unusual (compared to what I usually visit, anyway) parks, I today returned to slightly more familiar turf; Alton Towers, my most visited theme park of all time! My mum found a very good deal on an Alton Towers Hotel stay, with 1 night in a standard room with park tickets only costing £107pp, so we thought it would be an absolute no brainer to go and spend 2 days at Alton Towers! Interestingly, my
Alton Towers

Alton Towers 7th/8th August 2022 (8th August 2022: Alton Towers Day 2)

8th August 2022: Alton Towers Day 2 We had our second day at the park today! Staying in the hotel naturally gave us an advantage, and I had a particular advantage this morning as I headed in alone at about 9:15, therefore I had plenty of time to get to my first ride of the day. That hotel entrance remained a phenomenal secret weapon as it had been the previous day: If you’ve read many of my Alton Towers trip reports before, you’ll know that a common strategy of mine when greeted
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
Alton Towers

Alton Towers 25th/26th March 2023 (25th March 2023: Alton Towers Day 1)

25th March 2023: Alton Towers Day 1 Hi guys. Today was an exciting day; it was my first visit to Alton Towers of the season! But this visit was particularly exciting for a different reason… my parents and I brought my grandad along with us for what was not just his first ever visit to Alton Towers, but his first ever visit to a theme park full stop! Yes, he’d never set foot into a theme park or ridden a roller coaster prior to this morning, but after seeing Oblivion on the TV, he expressed
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 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 (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 (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 (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 (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 (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 (Trip Summary)

Trip Summary All right, then! Now I’m back in the UK after a 7.5 hour flight from Orlando to London Heathrow, I think it’s about time I posted the trip summary I promised at the end of the last report!   To cut to the chase; this was an absolutely fantastic trip! I loved getting back to Universal, SeaWorld and Busch Gardens after 7 years, and I loved getting on some of the brilliant new rides that have been installed since my last trip! As well as that, Volcano Bay was also a real
Data Analysis

"Which European country is best for roller coasters?": A statistical analysis of European countries' coaster selections

Disclaimer: This is a very long post with a fair amount of statistical talk. I'll try my best to simplify some of it a bit and explain a few things, but if you don't like statistics, this post may not be for you! Hi guys. Over the course of my many years being a Brit following the UK enthusiast scene, I've noticed that that there is a common feeling among British enthusiasts of the country being a poor relation to other countries in Europe in terms of roller coasters and theme parks. Many B
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
Chessington

Chessington 17th September 2023

17th September 2023: Chessington Hi guys. Today was the second of my two London theme park visits this week, and a rather interesting one for me; it was my first visit to Chessington in almost a whole decade! To put things into some perspective, I was a fresh primary school leaver last time I went to Chessington in July 2014, so an awful lot has changed since then; I couldn’t wait to get inside and see some of the new things that hadn’t been built last time I was at the park, most notably M
Alton Towers

Alton Towers 23rd/24th March 2024 (23rd March 2024: Alton Towers Day 1)

23rd March 2024: Alton Towers Day 1 Hi guys. Today was an exciting day; the start of my personal UK theme park season with a trip to Alton Towers! We were keen to come to the park this weekend for the Alton After Dark event and a first ride on Nemesis Reborn, and after thoroughly enjoying his first visit to the park last year, my grandad joined me and my parents for a return to the park. He was incredibly excited for his first ever ride on Nemesis after it was closed on his first visit!
Alton Towers

Alton Towers 23rd/24th March 2024 (24th March 2024: Alton Towers Day 2)

24th March 2024: Alton Towers Day 2 We had our second day in the park today! After a weaker first day, we went to Alton Towers today hoping to get on slightly more, including some of the stuff we didn’t do yesterday.   As we’d stayed in a local hotel the night before, we left there at around 9:30am and got to Alton Towers before 10am, meaning that we arrived in the park itself at around 10:10am: Upon arrival in the park, we noticed that a certain ride we’d bailed

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