In 2012, Thorpe Park is a maelstrom. It is a giant, it is a behemoth it is, put it simply a hit.
Seated within its small grounds lies coaster after coaster and some of the most well known flat rides around. Top scans, Afterburners, giant swings, drop towers, sky swats. It even has some pretty nifty water rides in Loggers Leap and Tidal Wave. The Swarm surely secures Thorpe Park at the very top of the theme park tree.
And yet, a part of me always harkens back to the days where Colossus and Neme
Hello all, here is my picture story of what happened on the lovely day in London - It was a briliant day and here it is in pictures
Part 1 of 5
At the beginning of the day, the group has these wonderful glasses on ready for the London Eye Experience (Talk about first impressions)
As the experience with the seagulls has finished Mark9 looks like he has some serious doubts coming onto the London eye!
Dan9 thought it would be a good idea to scare Turtle.
Because of this Mer thought sh
After a major delay to this wonderful world of the Legoland adventurers trip to Windsor from work/social/ and more meet reasons. Part 1 of 5 of the Official Legoland report is finally here Thank you all for your patience.
So before the day begins for us to enter the world of Legoland we needed to visit Princess Cornflakes in his pink Tower
After he approved us Darkadder312 needed a trip to the crazy Legoland Hotel Toilets
But before the adventure could properly begin we were stopped
Hello all you TPM Explorers as we take you down into the magical Chessington where many stories and memories were formed for Part 1 of 5 of the official trip report. It was a fantastic day and it was so lovely to see all the new faces and I have to say probably one of the nicest crowds we have had so far this year.
Thank you for your patience whilst I've been slaving away at the office, so without further ado, it's what a few of you have all been waiting for - The Official Chessington Trip Re
Right I've finished my project at work so FINALLY I can give you PART 1 of 5 of the trip report. Kudos To Phill to keep it going whilst I have been busy!
There was too much choice regarding photos this time around to narrow it down to 50, which made it very difficult to choose the best one's for the TPM Adventurers story! So I hope we got a few of the best. Sorry for those I may not have included but I have tried my best.
So let us begin - what will we find out in the first part of the open m
Righty Ho - It's finally time for me to get on with Part 1 of 5 of the Swarm ERT Photo Event Report. Sorry on the delay - will post one everyday until Saturday which will conclude with the official group photo for this meet
So on our 3rd adventure of the year - what situations will we find our TPM members in this time?
On arrival to the park Sidders became so overjoyed he bounced around like a kid
The morning crew of Sidders, Husky, MattoMoo, Mer, Han30 & Mr. Fish say hello before th
TPM Maniacs - Good Day finally at long last the first part of the official Stealth Ice Cream Photoshoot has arrived! It was a nice warm summers day with lots of faces to be included who partook in the day. But enough with the 'once upon a time' malarkey! You want pictures so here they are...
It was 7AM in the morning and no these mad individuals haven't got the opening time wrong - They are models, for that Stealth photo shoot...
So sing it with me - 'As there is No Business Like SNOW Bus
The time has come Part 1 of 5 of the Photo Story Trip report is about to be released. What will become of the TPMers this time round and who will win the bowling? All will be revealed over the next 5 days...
After our initial introductions, it was most appropiate to get some of us in a cheesy mosaic 'hello' photo...
So now that's done it's time to get ready to go onto the ice - From left to right: Dan9, Husky, Tommy, Iannem & Smidget
Very Cautious first steps out onto the ice - Quit
There is no doubt that in terms of theming, attendance and atmosphere, Disney rules the roost in every corner of the world. From the magnificence of Cars Land, the beauty of Expedition Everest and the sheer escapism of Tokyo Disney Sea, it's clear that Disney is the king.
But do you know what. Travel into Europe and we hold our very own treasure, one that has riches all of its own. From the throughput behemoth that is Europa Park, to the park with two of the best steel rollercoasters in the wor
It's been a long 14 years since my first trip to Phantasialand and despite my love affair with the park when I visited in 2006, It hadn't been a park on my radar to revisit. All it took though was a read of Benin's August trip report, some willing volunteers with the cash and just like that, it was off to Germany. For those that have never been, getting to the park is as easy as pie and incredibly cheap. I heartedly recommend it, despite having to fly on Easyjet at 7:05 in the morning as the tra
Some rides hit you right in the gut with their immediacy in impressing you. Over the years I've done countless rides and things like The Hollywood Hotel Tower of Terror or Katun will give that immediate buzz from the get go. From ride to ride, you come away with the immense feeling of doing something at the top of the tree. Some rides take a little longer; it's why I never judge a ride solely on the first go.
On this list are things like Rush, Thirteen and one that is rapidly becoming one of m
Once upon a time a couple of months ago, TPM ventured to the outer whelms of the Northern Hemisphere to an alien species where people's speak a different accent in a land named Alton Towers. There was much excitement and amazement that these Maniacs were for the first time ever having an official overnight stay. So what adventures and situations will we see unfold in the upcoming 5 part adventure? It's 10th episode you know
On Arrival TPM came across this huge mansion - where it was decided
It's been a long time coming, but then you have been getting a lot of trips recently However FINALLY the Trip report Part 1 of 5 for the Nemesis Inferno ERT event has come to hit a web page near you! On our 7th Adventure of the year - I wonder what new stories will come about and old stories that make a slight return......
THORPE PARK know we hold events so they have so kindly made a sign for us for a meeting point
To Start this event off J.S217 would like to say Hi
We start off this
It has been a long time coming but the storyboard is complete, the drunken captures have been taken and Episode 8 of the Maniacs Adventures is about to hit your screen So brace yourselves for Part 1 of 5 of the Official Trip Report of the Ministry of Sound @ Thorpe Park - 90's Style! (As a personal note there has been some great trip reports from you guys on this event).
Today Colossus is on 1 train operation, so for the under 18's it was a must do first ride .
How many people can you spot
Double, Double, Toil and Trouble, the next trip report has come, which will make your blood bubble. But what tales will unfold as some of you grow stubble, well come on sit down before you get a nubble
Camera, Set, Action! For the TPM Crew: Pumpkin Man, Peaj, TNJonny, StevenVig, James & Co, Ryan, Mr. Fish, Han30, J.S217 & ScaryCoasterBoy
Plus this will be the last Official Meet before this gem gets taken into the movie land of the Angry Birds
The Queue Line's await and du
To break up the flow of Benin Germany trip reports ( ), I've written a little something about my trip to Liseberg. Anyone who follows me on twitter or Facebook, probably knows what's coming. Alas, this will be a more detailed account of my trip.
So I'm just going to start with, great park. It features a good selection of flat rides, a well paced fun rapids ride and a very peculiar log flume. There's not many parks which have four very re-rideable roller coasters and Liseberg arguably has thre
Thorpe Park's fiery B&M inverted Coaster débuted at the park in 2003, setting alight Thorpe Park's reputation as a haven for thrill-seekers around the country, alerting anyone who'd listen that Alton Towers had a new rival in the world of boundary-bulging thrill ride technologies. First came the record-breaking Colossus, but the year after saw a far darker, more ominous figure emerge out of the tropical undergrowth of Calypso Quay... Of course, with the ten year mark creeping it's way into v
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
In 2012, I was assigned to write a feature for Colossus's tenth birthday. The article itself was my best work if I don't say so myself. It was my intention that I would be able to do a similar piece when it came to 2003's blisteringly hot but underwhelmingly* tepid Nemesis Inferno in 2013. But this did not happen. No matter what I wrote, constructed or thought about, inspiration abandoned me and I just couldn't put together a piece that would do Inferno justice. And the problem comes down to one
Big Thunder is the quintessential family roller coaster. Mildly fast, full of variety and not too many large drops to scare kids. The general consensus is that Paris's version is the best of the four. While I can only compare to Florida, I'd go as far as agreeing with aspects of that opinion. The only real part where Paris falls down is its queue line. There seems to be various ways that the ride is run and none of them seem that great. On the first day for example, fastpass was available but th
Having been given a breakfast slot for 9:45, we decided to skip a bit of continental and headed into the park around 9:00 instead. Seeing a main street so empty is an experience you'll rarely get so we took the opportunity to get some photos and get some coffee from one of the various outlets along Main Street.
I'll never get tired of the Castle/Main Street view.
LOOK AT THE THEME!
We also approve of buying food and getting tickets for free coffee later in the day.
One thing I really not
Qui a besoin du monde, quand tout ce que vous avez besoin est une terre
When choosing the trips for 2013 there was two that were outright yes's and two that came about quite by chance. Disneyland Paris was not an all and all winner, in fact Chris and I were putting off Disney until our California trip next May. However with Disney extending their 20th Anniversary celebrations and with Chris feeling a little Disney craving, we decided to go for Paris even with no Ratatouille. After a speedy 2 an
It was time for the Stars in their cars parade. Not great to be honest. Part of the problem here is that it's just generic cars and aren't that exciting to look at. It also blocks off the entrance/exit to the park so want to leave, nope you get stuck. Want to get on Tower whilst its quiet, no you have to wait for the Parade to pass. Not the greatest planning.
Not long Remy, Not long...
With the parade over and the two shows not starting for a while, we headed back to Toy Story playland and
Day started with a 15 minute queue for breakfast. This was slightly chaotic with hundreds of people going for breakfast at the same time, a lot of people coming an hour early and not being turned away. Wouldn't happen at Towers
From there it was on to Studios Park, our first stop Crush's Coaster. We didn't arrive dead on ten so when we got to Crush, the queue was already displayed at 60 minutes. We decided to bite the bullet and just go for it. This was the only ride where we saw a queue line
With the rain coming down it seemed like everyone rushed to the nearest food place. As we were at the back of Fantasyland we were stuck with Toads Hall, a tinyish place which could't cope with the amount of people coming in. People were arguing and fighting over tables and staff couldn't control who was next in wait for a table. We were lucky, a lovely French couple noticed I'd been waiting the longest and offered me the table, even telling off others who tried to take it from me. We had fish an
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