Your Planned Trips and Reports

Hi there I visited Chessington for the first time last weekend. Though you might be interested in a first time visitors view. I live in the north of England, and bought Merlin annual passes for the family for the first time this year. We decided to visit the southern parks at Chessington, Legoland and Thorpe Park over the Easter long weekend, staying in a travelodge locally. Well, what a massive disppointment it was. From what I can tell the rides must be falling to pieces, given how little they actually seem to work. Four rides were planned to be closed for the whole day (Black Buccanneer, Griffins Galleon, Rameses Revenge and Rattlesnake) - although there was no n…

Hello everyone! So today I had a spur of the moment trip to Drayton Manor and had a great time. I used to come here quite a lot as a kid but haven't visited since the day before G Force opened in 2005 (first ever spite! ) so it was interesting to see both how the park has changed and what it's like visiting as an adult. I didn't take any pictures so I'll give a rundown and my views of everything I went on Scorecard: G Force x4 Shockwave x4 Apocalypse x3 Maelstrom x6 Ben 10 x2 Pandemonium x1 Air Race x1 Having been to AT last weekend for the John Lewis event I decided to give the opening day a miss and head to Drayton instead. This decision definitely paid …

After a slow start to the 2016 season, March arrived and it was time for another week in Blackpool! Once again we had a fantastic time at the park making good use of our season passes, overall we managed 8 days which is great. The weather was rotten at times - I wasn't fussed by this in itself, but I will get to it in more detail further down the trip report. Blackpool Pleasure Beach still houses my favourite rides in the form of Valhalla, The Big One, Wild Mouse, Grand National and the Big Dipper alongside brilliant selection of coasters, dark rides and flats. The wooden coasters were all on good form most days, offering plenty of airtime and bumpiness! I w…

Anyone up for visiting on the opening weekend 7th/8th May?

PARK OPEN: 11am - 6pm RIDES CLOSED: None! Adventure Island is a park I have had on my "must visit" list for several years, so despite having planned a weekend trip to Blackpool, we decided to scrap the visit to BPB after the poor events from the first two weekends in favour of trying a new park. Overall, I was very impressed with Adventure Island. It's a smallish, colourful seaside park which is split into two sections (with the middle of the park being "Adventure Inside" - an inside section with a few rides and other things). Whilst the rides aren't by any means the best on offer in the UK, they are great for a small seaside park and the sel…

Hey there guys, Myself and a few of the team members from The Chessington Archives are planning a visit to Alton Towers at the beginning of the 2016 season in the hope of being some of the first (If not the first) people to be on The Smiler after it reopens in the new year! The proposed date is on the Saturday the 19th March 2016 (We'll be staying in the hotel the night before). Is anybody else planning on attending this year? If so would people be interested in having a little rendezvous the night before and joining us in the park the following day? Let us know! Ben The Chessington Archives

PARK OPEN: 10am - 10pm RIDES CLOSED: Avatar Airbender, Crazy Daisy (for the stage). Firstly, it was fantastic to see BPB so busy, I don't think I have ever seen it so busy in 11 years of visiting and the atmosphere was fantastic. As for the Halloween event, it was good but I came away feeling like BPB could do so much more! When you see parks that have only just re-opened (Dreamland) or much smaller than BPB (Pleasurewood Hills) putting on two or three full scale scare mazes, BPB's effort at a horror maze really does feel a bit sad. I actually felt that the Chinese Puzzle Horror Maze was better last year as there were actors and more props, this year…

PREVIEW TIME: 6pm - 10pm RIDES OPEN: The Swarm, Stealth, Nemesis Inferno, Colossus, Saw: The Ride The event started at 6pm with a speech from "The Ringleader" before we were let in at about 6:15pm. It was a great evening with a good atmosphere, and queues were fairly short apart from on the new maze - The Big Top. We headed to My Bloody Valentine first which proved to be a good move, as I read reports afterwards that The Big Top didn't open until 7pm, and Cabin in the Woods was also delayed in opening. From there we did the mazes (apart from Blair Witch as it had a very long queue), doing some again which were near walk-on and some night rides before getting in …

Wow, what an amazing weekend! Friday evening saw us arrive in Blackpool and take a late night walk around the promenade and on the pier, Blackpool was heaving yet BPB closed at 5pm which was sad to see, especially considering that the pier was doing a huge trade. Saturday was spent in the park and we had a fantastic day - it started off quiet but the crowds picked up and the park was quite busy in the end, but not crammed full. Most rides were on their current-day maximum capacity but rides like the Ghost Train and Grand Prix were still holding ridiculous queues due to the awful way they are operated these days. Sunday was spent in the park again, and it was …

Simple thread really - what theme parks are you thinking of visiting in 2015? What trips have you got planned, are in the middle of planning or still umming and ahhing over? --- For me, this year should be very exciting. -Merlin-wise, I'll of course be making the most of Thorpe still, fitting in as many trips as possible. I'll also aim to go up to Towers a couple of times too. Legoland and Chessington are unlikely though; Legoland just doesn't have enough to entice me unless I know enough people already planning on going, and well, Chessington just upsets me these days... -UK-wise, I hope to return to Drayton to see the Thomas Land extension and to go…

Initially I was against writing a trip report on Disney World. I've done two previously and sparked the odd debate on the quality of Disney and Universal. Nonetheless, with a month now passed, I think I can be objective on the trip enough to do a write-up. So here goes. Since my last trip in 2012 a lot has changed. Not only has WDW seen a lot removed ( and a few things added), I've also been to many other parks including four trips to Paris and a trip to California. I think it's fair to say that Chris and I were both a tad concerned that the amazing memories we'd gathered of our previous visits would be dashed. Suffice to say, thankfully that wasn't the case. So first…

So John Davis' Funpark came to my home town, so I went down this evening from 5pm - 9pm. Thought I'd post a little report as I had a great time. There was a Wave Swinger advertised but that wasn't there for some reason Ridecount: 2 x 'Bumper Car' Dodgem - John Davis. 1 x Twist - John Davis. 2 x 'X Flight' Freakout - John Davis. 2 x 'Supreme' Waltzer - Paul Nichols. 4 x 'Turbo' Meteorite - Jimmy Aldridge. 2 x 'Demon Chaser' Ghost Train - Jimmy Aldridge. 5 x 'Rock Rage' Inversion - Graham Sedgwick. 6 x Rotor - Graham Sedgwick. 3 x Superspin - Graham Sedgwick. 1 x 'Jungle Fever' Fun House - Alan Heal. TOTAL: 28 - For £8, that's amazing value. Ro…

Dreamland Margate has been a place that I have always been interested in for years and when I found out it would be reopening this year I knew I had to plan a visit, after all it's the nearest park to me with a woodie (with the others either being in the north, East Anglia or Wales). This is why I have decided to hold an unofficial trip/meet up there this summer to check what has been perhaps the most exciting 2015 development in the UK. This is not a meet by all means as there's no specific plans/arrangements apart from having a great time and exploring the park and possibly surrounding areas. The trip is currently scheduled for Saturday 11th July 2015, which loosely m…

A few of us are heading down to Legoland this Saturday, Fish, Matt Creek and a few others, anyone's free to join us if they like

...fresh off the back of the TPM Alton Drayton weekender, and as I can't make MOS or Oakwood I was wondering if anyone fancied a weekender or day meetup anytime between late July and mid September. If anyone's interested could discuss parks and dates here.

PARK OPEN: 10am - 5pm RIDES CLOSED: None! BREAKDOWNS: Megafobia opened at 11am as it was having a few issues in the morning, but apart from that I don't think there were any. After the poor days we had at Oakwood last year (http://forum.maniahub.com/topic/10719-oakwood-theme-park-wednesday-30th-july-monday-4th-august-2014/) we vowed never to return, however it was decided that we were going to give them one last chance - after all, it was one of my first ever theme parks and it houses Megafobia! We had a fantastic day at Oakwood, everything was open and the park was quiet meaning that queues were minimal and the ride count was great! …

Hey guys, new here, I had a trip down to Adventure Island yesterday and I wanted to post a little Trip Report Park Open: 11am Park Close: 10pm Rides Closed: None I got to the park at about 12pm and left at 10pm (closing time on this day), first thing I noticed the park was really busy (of course it would be) but the rides queues were really short, shorter than expected. I hadn't been down here in about 4 years so it was nice to see the park still having short queues. First ride of the day was Rage, it was running 2 trains (3rd was having its wheels replaced but later was put on and had people loaded on it within about 2 test runs) Great operations I mu…

PARK OPEN: 10am - 5pm RIDES CLOSED ALL DAY: The Tide Traveller, Laser Labyrinth (Enigma opened in the afternoon due to a technical issue). Overall, we really enjoyed Pleasurewood Hills. It helped that the park wasn't very busy, meaning that re-rides were plentiful. It's a nice place overall, the countryside setting gives the park a similar feel to Oakwood, however it's not on a massive hill which we were thankful for when walking around! Atmosphere is the biggest improvement needed IMO, as there is no music played beyond the main entrance (apart from themed music on a few attractions). I think that the music playlist at the entrance should be p…

PARK OPEN: 11am - 8pm RIDES CLOSED: None! Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach is a good amusement park, it takes advantage of walking trade with ride tokens as well as wristbands, and the 8pm close was good. It's worth noting that it poured down with rain from 1pm - 5pm which cleared out the park, but despite it being absolutely dead in the afternoon, they still stayed open until 8pm rather than closing early - BPB take note! Obviously the park isn't full of high quality theme park attractions, but it's an amusement park and doesn't pretend to be anything else. The atmosphere is fantastic with music playing on several of the attractions and the park b…

Hey all, I am proposing a Disney Trip for next year as the legend that is Matt Creek has always wanted to go! This will be around late June/ early July time I was thinking before the park gets to busy with school holidays but also will be past exam season! As some of you are aware I go to the world of Disneyland Paris a fair bit (maybe a bit too much but hey) and I thought this particular trip will be good to go with my friends from this community! Currently I will be driving and whoever decides to go I will arrange with you the finer details and usually on my Disney trips I ensure that I find a cheap but comfortable way to enjoy my weekend! Also another thing me an…

A last minute decision was made to visit Blackpool Pleasure Beach over the weekend, and needless to say I was very excited in the week leading up to it! We had a fantastic weekend, with two days on park, which was very good operationally considering that it was only the second weekend of it being open and in February. BPB was on a full ride lineup, with the exception of Spongebob's Splash Bash both days and Teacups on the Sunday, so I really can't moan at that! The park feels much fresher, with various things having been refurbished such as the Flying Machines and the removal of the Monorail station, both of which make it look much nicer, and the view from the…

Hello everyone, going from mainly lurking on the forums to posting something serious. Trying to be brave this coming year and adventure out to the USA from England for the first time since 1995 when my parents took me to Disney World! In the past couple of years and I have gotten into playing pinball (hopefully some of you are familiar - think silver ball and flippers). There is a big pinball competition called 'Pinburgh' held each year in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and this year it happens to be at a time of year when I can actually make it (July 2015). I'm a teacher so have five weeks summer holiday from half way through July to the end of August. Therefore, as I'll b…

Hello all! As you know I am a huge fan of the adventure island theme park after visiting in october so as such I am planning to have my birthday party there(my birthday is in jan 2015 so I will have the party in the feb 2015 half term when the park opens!) if it is allowed for an 18 year old to have one of the birthday parties I will be having one of them and for 10 people it comes to £220! If not it will just be a day on the park! If you are intrested then let me know!

Very unusually for me I have the period between Christmas and new year off this year. My theme park trips have been a little bit lacking this year so I was thinking of making a last minute rectification of that after noticing that Europa opens for a 'Winter Season' throughout December. As it will be my first time I don't want to go and visit half a park, and unless I'm being dense the info is a little bit lacking on their website. So has anyone been to Europa at Christmas before? Is it a full park opening (weather permitting, obvs), or is it just some rides and attractions? Do they run the shows and things like that? How busy does it get? They show a fairly full d…

Hey everyone! I am organising a social type thing for the end of the season at Thorpe. The planned date for this to be on is on Sunday 9th November. If you are interested with coming with me, Cameron, Malcolm and (possibly) Coasterdude, then please post below and I will PM you all the details for the day, such as meeting points and travel stuff. Will be great to hopefully have a few of TPM members at this end of season trip to Thorpe! Regards Jason