Day 4b – Bakken
After a morning of alcohol we returned to the car and ventured off to Bakken, the world’s oldest amusement park. Set within an old hunting ground the woodland setting is quite nice, although the layout of the car park is little to be desired.
We went in, purchased our wristbands and found a place to eat whilst we waited for Tornado to open at 2. It did, and we were ready to experience the World’s first (and only) Intamin Spinning Coaster.
Tornado is a very fast spinning
Day 4a – Carlsberg Brewery
Today was a day split between culture (or as cultured as you can get when visiting a Brewery) and coasters. As Bakken didn’t open until 2pm (closing at 11pm), during my research of things to do in Copenhagen I came across the Carlsberg Brewery Tour, and needless to say it didn’t take much convincing of people to partake in the 70DKK tour.
In order to get there however, we had to brave the local transport. As we right by the train station this was simple, and we walke
Day 3 – Bon Bon Land
A park that is relatively infamous and well known from a certain American coaster site, Bon Bon Land is essentially famous for being silly. With farting dogs, defecating seagulls and various other creatures doing random stuff; it’s a park I’ve been interested to visit to see what the hype is all about.
So we hopped into the Nissan of Narcissism and directed by Cassandra the Sat-Nav and were taken off the motorway into the middle of nowhere, a theme certainly to be followed
Day 2 - Tivoli Gardens
After an afternoon of lovely sunshine and warmth, the Sunday morning was the complete opposite, with rain pelting down as we prepared to venture into our first park of the trip. As we waited outside the park, the Gumball 500 decided to venture forth, so we had some entertainment building up to the park opening.
The park opened at 11, but the majority of rides opened at 11:30, so we hid under a building and awaited our first ride and coaster to open Daemonen. Th
A trip designed to visit one of the lesser countries in Europe known for its parks, even if it has 6 big parks, including one of the most visited in the continent, not much ever seems to come out of Denmark, so as such, this trip was created, organised and visited.
Day 1 - Arrival and Copenhagen
We arrived in the afternoon to a warm and humid Denmark, a certain surprise to the 4 of us who were travelling along, and it wasn't long until we realised the Danish way of life was completely differen
So, you may or may not know, but I went to Europa Park recently. If you get a chance to go here then by all means DO IT, such an amazing park. The whole surrounding town area is just so nice also, really feels welcoming! Here's just a few pictures from my trip there:
Milka factory
SELFIE (in random German woman's car edition)
Part of our room, we paid 150 Euros each for 2 nights here, with our own bathroom/kitchen/balcony, just a 10 minute walk to the park, absolutely amazing value!
On
Tornado at Bakken is one of the worst rollercoasters I have ever had the misfortune of riding. It is so atrociously bad that it made me wonder what 25 things are better then it. Here is what I came up with and I hope you enjoy reading.
1. Being kicked in the testicles
2. Going to the Dentist
3. Riding Furius Baco none stop for an hour
4. Crashing your car into a wall
5. Being mugged
6. Having to endure a queueline at PortAventura
7. Driving in Italy
8. Being sick after a heavy night out
I had a final destination type near death experience the other day.
Driving to work along an A road a hail storm of biblical proportions suddenly fell out of an otherwise sunny sky, accompanied by a bit of thunder. I've never seen a lightning bolt hit the ground close up before, so when one hit a wooden power cable post about 20 ft in front of me a very nearly **** myself, such a blinding light and deafening crack of thunder that I could feel in the air as much as hear. The post exploded in an
After reading a few posts about posting trip reports as blogs I have decided all of my 2013 Thorpe trips will be in this blog thread. Each one will have the date of visit in the title making it nice and easy for those of you who want to view certain ones etc.
It was a beautiful Saturday morning when we set of for Thorpe. We were spited by intermittent rain throughout the morning but it ended out being a lovely day. For a Saturday with nice weather the queues weren't too bad with the longest we
Trip report time!
After being picked up from East Croydon by Peaj, along with Jaymiee and Ben (TopsyTurvy), we set off to Chessie. But not without picking up from Han from Wimbledon station; she got the train there by herself! Well done Han!
Once arriving at the park, Peaj received a text from Mr Fish saying that “the car park is closed” – he’d gone to the wrong entrance, bless him While Peaj went to collect him, JamesC, Phill and Matt arrived! It was easy to tell that Matt was a TPM member
(Sorry about my lengthy Trip Report just as it was my first meet I thought I would do a special one for the occasion, also I apologise if it is not the best TR, it is my first one )
On Sunday the 21st April 2013 there was a lingering sense of excitement as me and my parents were driving 50 miles to the place that is called, Chessington.
As I got out of the car all I heard from the direction of the entrance was Peaj’s voice, it was like a beacon calling out.
The first thing that I did as soon
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
The talk of a '90's Anthems' MoS night at Thorpe in the summer has got me excited about some of the old music my clubbing days were made from.
I'm a bit past clubbing these days, but from my few experiences of recent times things have changed for the worse in club land. Everyone seems to take themselves too seriously, the music is either angry or made by numbers lightweight commercial rubbish, and the mixing is soulless; relying on computers to keep it too slick and taking all the energy out of
As we know, following a poor response to marketing of Swarm last year, Thorpe decided to "revisit" Swarm's image and increase the "'thrill factor' for visitors". This was despite very positive reviews for Swarm as it stood last year. So, along with the new billboard theming elements, the back two rows have been turned backwards.
Now, in a way, it's very hard to do a comparison between the two. They are, essentially, the same ride - they follow the same layout, you more or less experience th
"I love The Swarm, I really do.
When it opened in 2012 it was refreshing to see a quality coaster with excellent theming that didn’t have an unnecessary gimmick.
And then in 2013, Thorpe cocked it all up."
You can probably tell where this review is going already, but you can read the full review here;
http://coastergeek.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/the-swarm-brave-it-backwards-the-review/
Longleat Safari & Adventure Park has been one of the UKs best-loved attractions for over 60 years. It features an extensive Safari Park, is home to BBC Animal Park and CBBC Roar and also has over 15 fabulous attractions, including the new multi million pound Jungle Kingdom and Longleat House, one of the most stunning stately homes in Britain.
This half term, I used my brand spanking new longleat annual pass to see what animals were leaking around the corner!
First stop was the safari park!
Back in 1995, Thorpe Park was an extremely different place. Rather than being an island screaming out to the world about its thrills and spills, it was a quaint little family theme park, that kept itself to itself. Instead of the skyline being dominated by the likes of Stealth and Swarm, a large diving pole was the centre point, with Loggers Leap and Depth Charge being the highest rides on park at 60ft and 40ft respectively (and yet wouldn't really obstruct the skyline from outside the park too
Well the CD is still stuck in the car player, so this week what I have been mostly listening to the hum of rubber on road. I've given up and turned her off.
Once at work though, I've had an unusually office based few days. Most of the time I'm out in cars without music radios so it makes a nice change to be inside with some audio company even if it is frustrating not being out and about fighting crime. Some genius in the office had left our little DAB on the superb Absolute 80s which for someon
Since the turn of the century, we've seen Thorpe accelerate from a quaint family theme park into a park which offers one of the largest array of 'thrill rides' in Europe. During this period, there has been quiet on obvious shift in target market - from families looking for a nice day out to young adults (which arguably is the 16-34 region in this case) looking to do something for a day. Many question the viability of this strategy, mainly from an economic perspective. However, are Thorpe righ
As I've mentioned elsewhere, for me the music that comes with me always feels like it is defining the narrative of my life and will cement the memories I keep of certain times. So I thought a little blog of what that music is as I go along could be fun. Here then will be what is currently in my head, be it things I like, love or that are just inescapable whether I like it or not...
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Whilst this entry may seem technically coaster related (and, in a way, is), the core idea about the blog isn't, so I'm giving this blog a bit more love...
For my university course, one module I've had to take is Geometry and Motion, with the key element of the module being to learn about curves. Each week, we're given assignments (which count towards our final grade) which consists of multiple questions. In last week's assignment, the final question was this:
Simply put, we were asked to s
In the past two decades or so, roller coaster manufacturing has seen many technological advances. Back in the 1980s, the idea of having a roller coaster where the trains were underneath the track or having a launched roller coaster was about as technologically superior as the industry has reached. The first 'suspended' coaster, 'The Bat' at Kings Island in America, opening in 1981, only to close two years later due to being highly temperamental, whilst the first launched coaster, 'King Kobra'
Some alright songs were released in 2012. I've made a list of ten of them, including some that I think are a little bit better than I give them credit for.
AWOLNATION - 'Kill Your Heroes' (from: 'Megalithic Symphony')
AWOLNATION are an odd band. One minute they're happy enough screaming out erratic, borderline psychologically-damaged odes to pyromania and suffering as on 'Burn It Down' and 'Soul Wars' and the next they're plodding along to pop-lite melodies like 'Jump On My Shoulders', com
