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,
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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:
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
5th September 2024: Drayton Manor
Hi guys. Today was an exciting day; the day of my solo trip to Drayton Manor! With my last visit being in 2022, I was returning to the park to check out Gold Rush, the final new-for-2024 UK coaster for me to ride, as well as The Wave following the sit-down conversion, and to take in the various other delights of Drayton Manor!
Today started early, with me making the 5 minute drive to my local train station at a bit before 7am to take a 7:24am tr
