Matt N’s Solo South East Jaunt Mk2 12th/13th April 2026 (Adventure Island/Thorpe Park) - (12th April 2026: Adventure Island)

12th April 2026: Adventure Island

With me having worked for the last 6 months and now being out of work for a period, I thought it might be nice to do a park trip. And seeing as I had such a dry year last year in terms of new creds, I thought I’d redo my Solo South East Jaunt from June 2024, but instead combine a Merlin visit on my pass with a new park and do a double bill of Adventure Island and Thorpe Park! I always love a Thorpe visit, but I was also excited to try something new in the UK, with Southend being a place I’ve never been before (as well as Essex more widely, aside from Stansted Airport)!

Now, I should say that one of my reasons for delaying doing Southend was that from my neck of the woods, the public transport journey involves crossing London, which I was nervous about for a litany of reasons. However, it went absolutely fine, and I actually found some of the London transport quite cool!

I set off from my home in Gloucestershire at around 7:30am this morning, with my parents dropping me off in Bristol Parkway at just after 8am in time for an 8:30am train towards London Paddington to start my journey:

After getting off the train in Paddington, this is where things began to get interesting. I next took an Elizabeth Line service between London Paddington and London Liverpool Street. This took around 10 minutes, and for all my nerves, I have to say it was absolutely fine and very easy! It was busy, and I would advise holding onto something as the train is very fast, but it was fine in terms of practicality! This was also my first time in London since the opening of the Elizabeth Line, and as someone who has at least a passing interest in all things rail, I found it really cool to see and ride on; it’s all so slick and modern:

The final leg of my journey was a C2C train between London Liverpool Street and a Southend Central. It was pretty prompt, taking just over an hour, meaning that I got to Southend at just before 12pm and into Adventure Island just after following a walk that took just under 10 minutes:

Upon entering Adventure Island and collecting my pre-ordered wristband, I decided to start my day on the most noteworthy coaster on offer…

Rage

Rage was near to where I entered and arguably the biggest draw of Adventure Island, so I decided to give it a go. With it being the final day of the Easter holidays, I wondered if the park would be busy, but these thoughts were quickly quashed upon seeing the near walk-on queue for Rage; I got pretty much straight on there, so I can’t really complain! One stray observation I’d like to make, which proved to be a recurring theme throughout the day, is that the staff were incredibly enthusiastic, possibly more so than any other theme park staff I’ve ever encountered! They were dancing, they were encouraging us to show our enthusiasm for the coming ride, they got us to play games… I’m a bit of an introvert, so I’m not sure it’s my thing (apologies if I sound a bit of a killjoy here…), but I can’t fault the enthusiasm! But enough about that; how was the ride? Well, I rarely love Gerstlauer Euro-Fighters, and Rage wasn’t really an exception to that, but it was enjoyable enough and is certainly an impressive headliner for a park of this size. I always enjoy the beyond vertical drop on these, and like the others, Rage offers a nice bit of airtime here! The loop and initial turn were also decent, with some good forces, and to its credit, I would probably say that Rage is the smoothest of the Euro-Fighters I’ve ridden. However, it definitely has a more basic layout than the other Gerstlauer thrill coasters I’ve done, and I don’t massively care for it once it starts going into the slow hangtime sections. I enjoyed the ride, though, and it was a good way to start the day:

After Rage, I headed to the next coaster I needed to ride…

Green Scream

Green Scream was nearby and appeared to be a near walk-on, so I went to give it a ride. Knowing very little about this coaster aside from that it was a Zierer Tivoli and holds (once held?) the peculiar world record of having the most naked riders on a roller coaster, I was interested to see what it was like. I just missed the cycle that had just gone, so I waited around 5 minutes for my go. So, how was the ride? Well, I do have a small soft spot for a Zierer Tivoli, and this was a nice one! Compared to some of the others, it’s quite a sizeable and substantial ride, which definitely gives it a few additional brownie points compared to your Treetopses and your Cat-O-Pillars! I was sat in row 4, and some of those helixes picked up a fair amount of speed, with the ride having a good length to it too! Once again, the host on here was also brimming with enthusiasm, and I did think the announcements and music were a nice touch! All in all, then, I thought Green Scream was a fun Tivoli; there’s something I find inherently quite charming about these Tivoli coasters, and it was nice to see a slightly more substantial one:

After Green Scream, I decided to change things up a tad while I was in this side of the park (I didn’t realise Adventure Island was dual-sided, with each side being separated by an arcade), and go for a flat ride that I’d been advised not to miss…

Time Machine

Time Machine had a nominal queue, so I got in line for the next cycle. I’m not normally a great lover of flat rides, but I know that Time Machine is a unique ride (built by the park in-house, if I remember rightly?), so I decided to give it a go for that reason alone. The cycle ended quickly, so I waited hardly any time at all for my ride; you can never complain when that happens! So, how was it? Well, I’ll be diplomatic and say that it’s certainly… different. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it on my first go; it certainly pulls a lot of g-forces and is quite an intense ride. I wasn’t sure on how it did some sustained upside down action at the beginning, and I did feel a bit dizzy getting off, but even as someone who doesn’t go mad for flat rides, I didn’t think it was a terrible one (I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it after the first go, but it didn’t merit the instant negative reaction that some flats have) and will laud it for being quite a different ride to anything else I’ve ridden:

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After getting off Time Machine, I decided to go for something a tad less intense…

Spooksville

Spooksville was nearby, so after the intensity of Time Machine, I decided to give this dark ride a go to pace myself a little. I have to say that the queue for this is quite nice; I thought queueing indoors made a nice change for a dark ride in a park like this! The queue initially looked a fair amount longer than any of the others I’d seen so far, but due to the length of the train, this ended up only being a one cycle wait and I was on within 5 minutes, which is never bad. So, how was it? Well, I have to say that I thought this was actually a very nice little ride! It’s not the most jumpscare-y ghost train out there, but as someone who’s not a big horror buff, that suited me quite nicely! The ride also had a fair amount of pop-out scenery, there were also some fun little details peppered throughout the scenes, and the ride overall had quite a nice ambience to it! For a park of this calibre, I overall thought Spooksville was a nice ride; I certainly enjoyed it, anyway:

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After getting off Spooksville, I decided to try another flat ride…

Sky Drop

I actually wasn’t sure if Sky Drop was open, as there were no guests in the area at all, but the very friendly host confirmed that it was open and beckoned me on board, so I thought I’d take a spin on there. Contrary to what I said above about not being a big flat ride fan, I do love a drop tower, and I remember Great Yarmouth’s version of this ride type being good fun, so I was keen to try this one! Due to the aforementioned lack of crowds at the ride, I rode alone with no one else in the area, which was interesting… and this is perhaps where the “pumping up” the hosts do here pre-ride feels a little awkward. When the host was doing it and saying to me “Come on, you can do better than that!” when I didn’t respond with what he deemed appropriate enthusiasm, I did feel that this sort of exercise maybe works better when there are more people on the ride, or the riders are younger than me. It’s no criticism of the host at all, as he was very friendly and personable and I can sense that this might be a policy from above seeing as everyone does it, but I’ll admit it’s not really my personal cup of tea, even if it makes me sound miserable. As for the ride itself, it was fun enough, but I thought it lacked a bit of kick compared to my memory of the model in Great Yarmouth, with not even the slightest bit of airtime to speak of. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the ride and I would like to commend the host on his friendliness even if the “pumping up” perhaps isn’t to my personal taste:

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After I got off Sky Drop, I decided to go for another ride on Rage while I was in the vicinity. I only had a one-car wait, and while the ride was once again fun and I do enjoy that beyond-vertical drop, it seemed a bit rougher this time and I had a tight restraint that did… squash me down below a little uncomfortably as these Gersts sometimes can:

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After my re-ride on Rage, I headed over to the other side of the park to nab another coaster credit…

Barnstormer

Barnstormer had a very nominal queue time, so I decided to take a ride on there. After a short wait of less than 5 minutes, I was seated on row 3 of the next cycle; I can never complain about that! So, how was the ride? Well, it was good fun; as I said about Green Scream, I do have a soft spot for a Zierer Tivoli, as family coasters go! This one is definitely weaker than Green Scream for me, but even still, the downward helix packs some nice speed and I would perhaps take it over some of the more regular Tivoli layouts I’ve done. It’s nothing spectacular, don’t get me wrong, but Barnstormer put a smile on my face overall:

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After Barnstormer, I decided to give the other coaster next to it a ride…

Mighty Mini Mega

Similarly to Barnstormer, Mighty Mini Mega was on a nominal wait, so I got in line and was quickly batched onto the next cycle. With this being a theme of the day so far, I certainly couldn’t complain about the efficiency of my visit to Adventure Island; I should add that I had only been in the park for around an hour at this point and this was about to be my 8th ride! So, how was the ride? Well, with Mighty Mini Mega being a Pinfari, a manufacturer where I have not had particularly great experiences with their hardware, I did not have high expectations… but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised! By Pinfari standards, I’m going to say that Mighty Mini Mega was not half bad; it’s definitely my favourite Pinfari (a very, very low bar to clear, admittedly) and probably my 2nd favourite coaster in the park behind Rage, which surprised me! From where I’m standing, the ride was smooth, had comfortable trains (a pleasant surprise given that my prior experiences with Pinfari have had trains where I’ve either had to sit sideways or fold myself into a very cramped OTSR), and actually had some fairly good speed to it! I liked some of the drops and undulations, and the ride maintained fairly good speed and force through the layout for a family coaster of its size! Overall, then, I thought Mighty Mini Mega was a pleasant surprise, and certainly a solid family coaster; I enjoyed it, anyway:

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After Mighty Mini Mega, I headed for the park’s second drop tower…

Vertigo

Vertigo had a walk-on queue, so as a self-professed drop tower fan, I fancied a ride on it. When a drop tower is on a walk-on queue, I can never turn it down! So, how was the ride? Well, even though it’s not the most intense drop tower by any stretch, I thought Vertigo was really good fun by the standards of these family drop towers! Unlike Sky Drop earlier, the ride provided some genuine tickles of airtime which are always appreciated, and it was also a fairly long cycle too! All in all, then, I definitely enjoyed Vertigo, and would probably say it was one of my better rides of the day:

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After Vertigo, I headed up some stairs to grab the final credit of the day…

Kiddi Koasta

These days, I frequently don’t ride kiddie coasters, but I already felt as though most of the rides I’d been on had had me surrounded by children, so as the queue for Kiddi Koasta also appeared nominal, I figured I might as well take a ride and get the clean sweep of coasters at Adventure Island. I was on the next cycle after I joined the queue, I was joined by another solo rider and interestingly, this was perhaps the only ride where the host did no “pumping up” whatsoever, which surprised me given that it was the one ride where I might have anticipated it given the target audience. So with all this in mind, this was possibly the least embarrassing kiddie coaster I’ve ever ridden, which was great as someone who worries about this! Anyhow, how was the ride itself? Well, it was what it was, really. It’s a good enough coaster for kids, with some moments of mild speed, but it’s not going to make any top coaster lists for adults. The main thing that stuck out to me about the ride was that the lift hill rivals Wicker Man’s for the title of “joltiest lift hill entry” and the brake at the end was really quite sharp! All in all, then, Kiddi Koasta was a perfectly adequate kiddie coaster, with my main takeaway being that I was glad to get the clean sweep of credits at Adventure Island:

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After I got off Kiddi Koasta, I decided to give another flat ride a go…

Axis

Axis was on a one-cycle wait, so I decided to take a ride on there. It did feel like the operations on here were quite slow, as it seemed to take a while for anything to happen once I was seated, but as there was only one staff member running the whole ride and the queue was short, I don’t think I should complain too much. So, how was the ride? Well, these gyroswings have been growing on me somewhat in recent times, even if they still aren’t an absolute favourite of mine, but this one was completely ruined by the 360 degree function for me, I’m afraid. The initial swings were good fun, and the ride gains some good speed in the troughs, but I just don’t like the extended upside down hangtime at all, unfortunately. So all in all, then, I came off Axis feeling a little worse for wear and having not overly enjoyed the experience, I’m sorry to say:

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After getting off Axis, I decided to start doing some rerides. I initially went for a walk-on reride on Barnstormer; I was sat in row 7, and the ride was perhaps better than it was the first time around. It was still good fun:

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I then went for a reride on Mighty Mini Mega on a one-cycle wait. I was seated in row 9, and the ride was once again good fun; I was still pleasantly surprised that Pinfari could build something that fun:

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After that, I went for a walk-on reride on Vertigo. Once again, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride:

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After getting off Vertigo, I decided to go for a sit down, having done 14 rides in under 2 hours. I grabbed a King Kone (a Mr Whippy with a flake… what a nostalgic throwback to my childhood seaside holidays!) and a Pepsi Max, and decided to just sit on a bench and take things in for a bit.

Once I’d finished my ice cream, I went for a reride on Green Scream. The park was busier by this point, and while I only waited one cycle, the operations were quite slow, which meant that the wait was 15-20 minutes overall. I do think they could maybe do with more than one staff member on the platform on busier days than this one… nonetheless, the ride was once again good fun in row 2:

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After my ride on Green Scream, I, perhaps against my better judgement, headed for a reride on Time Machine, as I wanted to better suss out my opinion on this unique ride. And while it is undeniably unique, I’ve concluded that it is just a bit too intense for my tastes, I’m afraid. It makes me feel quite dizzy, it isn’t something I could reride lots in quick succession, and I think it’s stymied by the fact that I’m simply not a great lover of flat rides, for the most part. Interestingly, my second ride on here took over 20 minutes all in all, as they had to get a mechanic to manually release our restraints:

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After getting off Time Machine, I headed for one final reride on Rage. By this point, the park had taken a car off Rage and left it running only the 1 car (it had been running 2 earlier), which meant that I waited 15 minutes (still by no means a long queue, but longer than it had been earlier). It was a good way to end my time at Adventure Island, although as with the second ride, it was a little rougher than it had been earlier in the day:

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After getting off Rage, I decided to end my time at Adventure Island there. While I had only spent 3.5 hours in the park and it was only around 3:30pm, I was content with what I’d done and didn’t want to get to Staines ridiculously late, so decided to leave for the train station:

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To get back to Staines for my overnight accommodation ahead of a Thorpe day tomorrow, I took a slightly different route. I took a C2C train from Southend Central to Stratford, took the Jubilee Line on the Underground down to London Waterloo from Stratford (this was possibly faster than the Elizabeth Line train earlier… I forgot to hold on and nearly fell on top of the poor woman stood next to me when the train pulled away!), and took a South Western Railway train from London Waterloo to Hounslow (SWR have jazzed up their trains since I last rode one, I have to say!), taking an Uber from Hounslow to my hotel in Staines due to the trains only running to Hounslow. I must admit, I’m proud of myself for having successfully negotiated the London transport alone, and it was cool to see the tube and the Elizabeth Line for sure:

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So, that brings an end to my first ever visit to Adventure Island! I had a really good day; I certainly can’t complain about 17 rides in 3.5 hours, and I enjoyed seeing the park for the first time!

As for my thoughts on the park itself; I enjoyed my time there and I’m glad I went, but it’s not somewhere I can see myself rushing back to in the absence of major investment considering the distance I live away from it. It’s more of a “couple of hours” kind of park than a “full day” kind of park. With that said, I did enjoy my time there, and for comparison, I would probably say that the park felt as though it had more substance than either of the two parks I visited in Norfolk/Suffolk in 2024. It definitely is more of a funfair-type park than a “proper” theme park, but it has some decent rides; for the scale of the park, Rage is an impressive headliner, and I also think the two Zierers and Mighty Mini Mega are not bad supporting acts either. Spooksville is a nice dark ride, I enjoyed Vertigo, Time Machine is certainly unique even if it wasn’t my cup of tea… there is a fair bit here!

One thing I will say is that the staff are universally very friendly and clearly very much like working here, which is nice to see! The “pumping up” prior to rides isn’t to my personal taste, but that is a me thing rather than a them thing and based on my accompanying riders during the day being predominantly children, I can sense I’m not the target demographic!

Thanks for reading; I hope you’ve enjoyed this report! Tomorrow, I’ll be spending a day at Thorpe Park, so keep your eyes peeled for that report tomorrow evening! I can’t wait to get back on Hyperia and my other Thorpe favourites for the first time in 2026!