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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
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
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
Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Blackpool Pleasure Beach 30th April 2025

30th April 2025: Blackpool Pleasure Beach Hi guys. I haven’t been the most active on here lately, but I’ve been back on this evening, and I realise that I forgot to upload my trip report from a park visit I did a month ago. So hello again TPM, and apologies for the inactivity!   30th April was an exciting day; my first park visit of 2025 had arrived! And the park in question that started off my year this year was Blackpool Pleasure Beach, “the world’s most ride intensive amusement
Disney California adventure- California Extremin

California Extremin- Part 5 Disney’s California Adventure & conclusion

Welcome to the fifth and final addition to my California trip report. You’ve heard of car park coasters, now get ready for car park theme parks! Ok, this place doesn’t look like a car park. At least not anymore! Opening in 2001 on the former original car park of Disney, the neighbouring Disneyland was a magical, immersive and well themed destination. This place had none of them and was seen as a disaster and embarrassment. Flash forward two decades, and through various updates and expan
California Extremin- Disneyland Part 1

California Extremin- Part 4- Disneyland- the original

Hello, here is the fourth and final report from my recent California trip so no better place to end than in Disneyland. Not Paris, but the one that started it all, which Walt built and set foot in.  Opening in 1955, the park and resort marks for one of the first and oldest theme parks (not amusement parks) around, which perfectly boasts and balances traditional character, but also modernity as well. Unlike its French and Floridian counterparts, this one (at least in landmass) is much sm
Knotts Berry Scary Farm

California Extremin- Part 3, Knotts Berry (Scary) Farm

Welcome back, if the other parts didn’t  bore you. Here’s my report for Knotts Berry Farm. But first, here’s a photo of the Hollywood sign. Seeing this in the flesh was just exciting.  Out of the California parks I visited, Knotts has got to be the most divisive one I’ve done so far. A somewhat underwhelming park in the day, plagued by disappointing operations, some rundown areas and other bits. That said, the beef meal at the BBQ place was superb.   Owned by Cedar Fair
Matt 236

Matt 236 in Knotts Berry Scary Farm

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California Extremin Part 2 Universal Hollywood

California Extremin, Part 2- Universal Studios Hollywood 

Hello and welcome to part 2 of my California 2024 trip reports. This entry takes us Universal Studios Hollywood, the original universal park which has now been open for over 50 years, predating every other park considerably. Even the Orlando resort. As oldest Universal park, at first glance this park is significantly smaller than its other parks with considerably fewer attractions, especially compared to the Orlando resort. However this park makes up for much of that shortfall. 
California Extreming

California Extremin, Part 1- Six Flags Magic Mountain 

Hey all, I initially thought that I would be handing in my blogging quill  following my Florida trip 2 years ago. However I guess my passion and interest for parks and traveling has perhaps resurrected this.   Until last month, I had never set foot in a Six Flags park (shock horror). However that finally changed, following a significant trip to California. After some sightseeing shenanigans in San Francisco, it was time to experience my first major park. Six Flags Magic Mountain.
Matt 236

Matt 236 in California Extreming

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Plopsaland + Parc Asterix Oct 24

Day 2 - Parc Asterix

Day 2 - Parc Asterix   Next up was Parc Asterix. A big bucket list park for me, and it didn’t disappoint.   It was quite pricey at €62 for entry and €20 for parking.   The park had their halloween event on which I didn’t look into at all before visiting, as I was mainly going for the coasters. Park hours were open 9 - 6 and then re-open 7-1am on selected nights. On nights they don’t open late its 10 - 7. I opted to just go during the day as I was making this trip as
Plopsaland + Parc Asterix Oct 24

Day 1 - Plopsaland

Last week I decided to do a couple of European parks for the first time, Plopsaland and Parc Asterix. Ride To Happiness has been high on my bucket list for a long time and I've always wanted to do Asterix, especially since Toutatis opened.   I looked at a few different options, originally I was going to do Walibi Holland and Efteling too but doing this solo meant it would’ve been quite expensive, and I didn’t know how comfortable I was going to be driving in Europe on my own. Another o
Europa Park

Europa Park September 2024

It's not secret that Europa Park is by far my easily favourite theme park in the world. Every metric is ticked with over 50 rides across the resort including 8 dark rides, 14 rollercoasters, dozens of family friendly rides and amazing restaurants and shows. It also ticks many of my personal metrics in how a theme park should run; capacity and efficiency should be the name of the game when you're attracting a high number of guests a year but the beauty of Europa is how effortless it all feels. So
Mark9

Mark9 in Europa Park

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PortAventura

Matt N’s Excursion to España 9th-12th September 2024 (PortAventura Overall Review and Trip Summary)

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
Matt N

Matt N in PortAventura

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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
Matt N

Matt N in PortAventura

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PortAventura

Matt N’s Excursion to España 9th-12th September 2024 (11th September 2024: PortAventura Park Day 2 and Ferrari Land)

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
Matt N

Matt N in PortAventura

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PortAventura

Matt N’s Excursion to España 9th-12th September 2024 (10th September 2024: PortAventura Park Day 1)

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
Matt N

Matt N in PortAventura

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PortAventura

Matt N’s Excursion to España 9th-12th September 2024 (9th September 2024: Travel)

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
Matt N

Matt N in PortAventura

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Drayton Manor

Drayton Manor 5th September 2024

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
Matt N

Matt N in Drayton Manor

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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
Matt N

Matt N in Thorpe Park

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Matt N’s Expedition to East Anglia 11th-13th August 2024

Matt N’s Expedition to East Anglia 11th-13th August 2024 (12th August 2024: Pleasurewood Hills)

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
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
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
Matt N

Matt N in Alton Towers

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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
Matt N

Matt N in Data Analysis

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