Your Planned Trips and Reports

The third park we visited was Wicksteed Park in Kettering. It's a very unique park and a great laid back place to visit. It has a large lake and a wonderful lakeside railway that has had over ten million passengers, since it opened back in 1921.After paying a car park fee, you don't have to pay for anything more, unless you want to. For the rides, you can purchase tokens or wrist bands.It was quite busy when we arrived.The queue for the tokens and wristbands was very long.Wicksteed is home to Europe's first double Pirate Ship.We met up with my mum and dad The kids loved the bumper cars.Ben on the jets.Tea Cup fun with Lydia.We all had fun on the Astro Slide.A rather unco…

Tomorrow I head off to California for two and a bit weeks Although I'm gutted to be missing the meet on Thursday I can hardly complain As I go I will try and update you on any parks and rides I get to, the holiday is basically a West Coast tour and so along with places like the Grand canyon I should also make it to Sea World, Vegas, Universal and Disney All going well first update will be after Seaworld on Thursday!!!!!

Oakwood is a park that I really enjoy, but always feel frustrated at in some way or another. This year it had much improved operations and staff wise, but some of the same problems were still there (although this didn't ruin our enjoyment too much). Megafobia was running brilliantly this year, and due to their After Dark event we got some rides on it in the dark! It was running well all day, but in the dark with rain at the end of the day (it runs faster at the end of the day) it was flying round the track! The staff running Megafobia were brilliant. It was only running one train, but dispatch times were very fast and the staff were really friendly, talking through t…

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…

I am planning to to legoland mid week. What is best for ride order and any tips I have not been since 2013?

As part of a music tour, I was finally able to visit this theme park everyone raved about. Annoyingly, we only got about 5 hours at the park and it was very busy. But we were able to get on many rides at the park so I will talk about the rides in the order I rode them roughly. Taron: The queue was about 70-80 minutes long, but when I saw the amount of people there it was actually quite impressive that they could deal with that many people. The queue was constantly moving which was much appreciated. With regards to the actual ride itself, it was pretty good, but not as good as I expected. The beginning launch followed by the over-bank followed by the airti…

*First of all, apologises for splitting one post into three, but due to the large number of photos, it was a necessity. Anyway..*So, Thorpe Park has been closed for over a month now, and the end of the year is now in sight. With Thorpe keeping our attentions focused on The Swarm and 2012, I'm choosing to look back over what has been a pretty interesting season, with many ups and downs. So, sit down and hold tight, as this is going to be one heck of a ride!For those of you that have missed, or ignored , my TRs, you won't know about the epicly large amount of photos I've taken this year. Every trip, I've been armed with my trusty camera, taking photos pretty much anythi…

Hi everyone! Me and Peaj are planning a trip to Gardaland from the 8th September to the 12th. Neither of us have been before and so we were wondering if anyone has any advice as to what to do and how to make the best use of our time We are planning on spending a day and a half in Gardaland, a day at the Caneva water park and a day at Movieland. We should also have time to explore the local area and so if anyone knows where to go/ what else is there that would be great too We're planning on staying at a hotel 2-3 miles from Gardaland but any recommendations would be useful. Many thanks!

Hi guys. The 2022 season is just beginning, with BPB starting to reopen its gates, so I thought I’d breathe some life back into TPM’s trip report section (which hasn’t been updated for over a year by the looks of things) and make a 2022 Trip Plans thread! So, what parks are we all planning to do this year, now that COVID’s effect on the theme park industry is seemingly beginning to ease? Personally, I have a variety of plans for 2022. Much of this isn’t set in stone, as it’s only February, but here are my tentative 2022 trip plans, split into categories of their status: Locked In Plans Europa Park (26th-30th April 2022, on park 27th-29th April 2022) -…

Hi everyoneJust wondering who would like to have a mini meet on the 31st October as the atmosphere is better and it would be fun? Just wondering as I need people to go with

So, as part of my Monday - Friday Easter trip to South-west Wales, I made a trip to Oakwood Theme Park last Tuesday. I was looking forward to visiting Oakwood, having heard good reviews about the place before. The park is *literally* in the middle of nowhere, you'll be driving through a bumpy single lane road and start to see the park in the distance, with Drenched dominating the skyline of Oakwood. Admission prices were very reasonable, at £21.00 for an adult ticket on the gate although we did use Tesco clubcard vouchers... Very good value in my opinion when you consider the other prices for parks in the UK. Park open hours were 10am - 5pm. Here's something though... O…

Foreword:I don't normally do Trip Reports but this one is a little special because the chances are that this maze will never be repeated again. Still, I am going to keep this short and sweet unless interest arises for extra detail, eg a written walkthrough. Tom Spindler - 13th Seance's creator - has become renowned in the scare attraction industry for making horror mazes that are incredibly detailed and going beyond what most mainstream attractions will do to be scary. While waiting outside on the aptly named Crucifix lane, our group of 5 TPM members had no clue what to expect.Memorable Scenes:Both the detail and the single actor wrapped in sewn up cloths, sitting at the …

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…

...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.

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…

Just wondering if anyone off TPM will be attending the evening?For those of you that don't know, it's a rescheduled event from the original Th13teen preview weekend. The evening includes:-Presentation and talk with the great John Wardley-Behind the scenes tour of Th13teen (Hopefully Rita/Hex aswell )-Free exclusive merchandise-Free evening buffet meal

Right, so quite a few years ago I made posts for a trip that seemed in the clouds. However hopefully now, I am more in a position of a trip finally happening.I'm planning an Orlando trip for 2018. Would September be a good time to visit? Hoping for a 15 day trip out there, and knocking the first and last day for packing, travel and jet lag I'm hoping for the following:2 days at Magic Kingdom 1 day at each other park (total 3)3 days at Universal 2 days Busch Gardens1 day Sea World2 relax days, one for Volcsno Bay and something else and another for Disney Springs and one of the water parks.What's anyone's thoughts on this and is there anything else I should do/plan amongst …

Sarah, Ian, Ricky, Mr Fish, Stretchy, KingNemesis, Liam and my self popped upto Towers yesterday for a febuary half term mini meet and thought id post abit of a trip report. Me, Ian Sarah and Ricky headed up the night before and stayed in a scary looking travelodge in Burton, after overshooting the travelodge and Homer trying to take us to a gravel pit, we eventually made it to the room, we moved it around abit so we could charge phones from bed and what not! Headed to Derby early the next morning to get Liam and then straight to towers (via McDonalds of course) eventually got there around 11ish after tomtom trying to take us up some dirt tracks and all sorts of weird p…

Thorpe Park Mania has been invited to the opening of Wallace & Gromit's, 'One Man One Dog' by Club PBE. The event is taking place on April 27th 2013 and has a variety of different events taking place including ERT on several different attractions. If you wish to attend the event, please let Scott Bickerton know via the Club PBE event page located here(After clicking on the link you will be shown with a 'page not found' error, please click in the link and press enter, this should work!): http://www.facebook.com/events/125010257677319/ The event has a cost of: £36 for Season Pass Holders £46 for non SP Holders - includes wristband for the day. The full line-up of …

Since it's announcement, Star Trek: Operation Enterprise, the brand new Mack shuttle launch coaster at Movie Park Germany has been hot on my radar and we decided to tie in some other new creds and a special event at Phantasialand at the same time. Day 1 Read Mark's recent post in the rant thread to some up how our day started, Gatwick you heartless bastards. Arrived at Amsterdam airport at about 10:30 and went to the hire car people. As you may know by now we don't get on with the hire car industry. This time we chanced our luck with Hertz, as of yet they haven't screwed us over with after rental changes but I will keep you posted. We o…

Friday 27th AugustDuring the day at work I was quite restless, the excitement for the impending trip of awesomeness was getting too much for me. Luckily work was great and the work load was small (yeah, I'll do a quality control on a film thanks). As soon as 6pm hit I was out of the door, suitcase in tow and I made my way to the annoyingly busy tube station at Oxford Circus. Underground trains + evening rush hour on a Friday = death.Eventually after what felt like forever but was a mere 10 minutes I was at Kings Cross station. I had yet to purchase my train ticket to Richard's place and the queue for the ticket office was long and just wasn't moving. I started venting my …

Beginning of a new year, which means a whole new season of theme parks is just round the corner... So, what theme parks are you thinking of visiting in 2018? What trips have you got planned, are in the middle of planning or still umming and ahhing over? Discuss away... For me... UK: -Merlin quartet as standard -First visit to Blackpool (because Icon) -First visit to Paulton's (probably) -First visits to Lightwater Valley and Flamingo Land (maybe) Europe: -Phantasialand (multiple visits, first of which is in a couple of weeks) -Denmark trip (all major parks and maybe a couple of smaller …

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…

So is anyone planning or up for a Winter wonderland meet in London this winter? Its good fun... but expensive!

Last thursday me and Mum headed to Blackpool for a day in the park on the friday, but more importantly for me to Walk the Big One. Thursday night was to see the lights from ground level, and finally got on the Big Wheel on Central Pier. Friday in the park, headed straight to the Big One for the first ride of the day. One train on, and the last 2 cars were sandbagged all day, leading to the biggest queue of the day. Everything else was walk on, and on Big Dipper several times we had to wait for more people to arrive. Put it this way, it was nice to get on some woodies again, including 7 goes on the Wild Mouse, and managed to get on the last car of the day, Miffy I think.…