Your Planned Trips and Reports

N.B. The Blog seems to dislike the majority of my pics, so have a pic-heavy topic instead! Day 1 – TusenFryd The hype for this jaunt to Sweden had built to unbelievable levels. A massive group of coaster goons, 3 Swedish parks, with Helix at the forefront of this trip, meant that the flight to Gothenburg went pretty quickly. We start our report in Norway though, as a few of us turned up for the weekend trip early for cultural times (of which there are no photos, but Gothenburg is alright), and Norwegian creds. First thing you do notice about TusenFryd is the location and surrounding area. Its hill-side forest setting gives the park overall a…

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

I am on holiday next week and, unsurprisingly, will be hitting some Parks. Anyone who wants to join me, either post in here, or contact me by telephone - the number is on Facebook.Sunday, 23rd May - Clarence Pier / Blackgang Chine / Adventure WonderlandMonday, 24th May - Brean Leisure ParkTuesday, 25th May - Flamingo LandWednesday, 26th May - Alton TowersThursday, 27th May - Paultons ParkFriday, 28th May - Lego Land (from 1200)Saturday, 29th May - ChessingtonSunday, 30th May - Thorpe Park (TPM Meetup)

Brean Leisure Park is a brilliant place located in Somerset, with an indoor and outdoor swimming pool (with waterslides), a brilliant crazy golf course (and huge proper golf course, although we didn't do this) and most importantly Fun City - home to Astro Storm (which was formerly Space Invader at Blackpool Pleasure Beach ) Fun City has two brilliant dark rides - which is great for an amusement park which in reality isn't massive (although does have quite a few quality rides). TERROR CASTLE is probably the scariest ghost train I have ever been on, and I have been on a lot. It is a constant array of loud noises, strobe lighting, scenes of horror (very gory) and fa…

Simple topic again - what's parks / attractions are you looking at visiting in 2019? I'll start it off... Definites -UK Merlin quartet -Phantasialand -Walibi Belgium -Walibi Holland Most Probablies -Linnanmäki -Paultons Maybes -Fantasy Island -Lightwater Valley -Europa Park -Hellendoorn -Slagharen -Duinrell -Drievliet Longshots / I'm hoping -Heide Park -Hansa Park -Skyline Park -Legoland Deutschland -Gardaland

Tired doesn't really cut the cheese when it comes to describing my state on Sunday 6th October at 07:00. Let me guide you quickly through the reasons why I was so tired. Firstly there was Friday, a day that started for me around 3:30am with me leaving the house at 5:45am and then this happened http://live.thorpenerd.com So after that I drifted off to sleep in a Travelodge at the end of a runway at Britains busiest airport back aching like a pitbull in a tutu. Till I woke myself up at 5am snoring. Saturday was here and I was awake, listening to Rob gently snore to himself. I lay there, trying to mentally mend my back by sending my internal repair nanobots to that area (I …

I'd heard all the reviews, seen all the pictures and eventually saw it for myself yesterday. I also want to point out there will be spoiler throughout. With sky-high expectations I was amazed to find that they still blown out of the water, the place is quite frankly unbelievable. The only problem is that it highlighted just how lacking in quality Alton/Thorpe/Chessington and other UK attractions really are. We arrived about quarter to 10, with the park having opened at 9 and headed to where else but Black Mamba. "Best Coaster in Europe" and other similar claims surround this ride, and I was glad to hear I wouldn't be disappointed. Unbelievably, for me, it topped Nemesis, …

(First off I would like to apologise in case this is in the wrong section of the forums)On July 1st, my family and I are making the trip across the pond to Orlando, Florida.The parks that we are going to are:Disney's Magic Kingdom,EPCOT,Disney's Hollywood Studios,Disney's Animal Kingdom,Typhoon Lagoon,Blizzard Beach,Disney Quest,Universal Studios,Islands Of Adventure,Sea World,Aquatica,Busch Gardens.I just wanted to know if anyone had any good tips that I could follow, or anything to do with the parks that can help. I'm new to Aquatica and never really been around Sea World all to often. Plus, there is one of us in the party of 5 that has never been before (My brother's g…

You know there are times when you just think...when the bloody hell did that happen? Well That just happened to me at Flamingoland. I have had plenty of visits over the last few years whereby I've been impressed at the park progress, but this year, (partly due to the fact that I didn't really get a chance to ride much because we were there for my son's birthday, and he had his diminutive friend, brother and cousin in tow) it struck me just how far they have come from the concrete jungle they were in the mid nineties. It struck me how Merlin-like the park was starting to become, the Children's world interactive play area set amongst meercats and lemurs out-Chessingtonin…

In what I hope I can make a seasonal thing now, here's the 2012 edition of my Review of the Thorpe Park season! First of all, a couple of little points - again, I won't be doing any for other parks, simply due to the fact I haven't visited them enough to do a 'season review' like this one. Hopefully next season will see me expand out to other parks a bit more regularly, so it is a case of watch this. Also, apologises about some of the bad photos; I've included as few shockingly bad quality photos as possible, though some do help aid what I'm talking about I think. Over the festive period, I'll be treating myself to a new camera, so hopefully 2012 will see the end of m…

As some of you may know, I was promised a trip to Six Flags Great Adventure (New York is the overall trip) depending on my GCSE results and because the results corresponded with my parents' promise, I'm offically going to this place and everything is booked. I just wanted to simply ask for any advice from anyone who's been here or anyone who knows more about it than I do so I'll put it into the following questions: Do most of the rides have front row queues? If so, do they get very long? Is the Safari Off Road Adventure worth the 40 minutes? (I don't want my entire family to be bored but at the same time, my mum and my brother aren't big on major r…

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 …

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…

Missed me? I've just returned from an almost 3 week trip to the shores of Australasia, a trip which covered Singapore, Australia, China and Hong Kong. Our story begins with me and my friend boarding a Norwegian Air plane (bursting at the seems with the unwashed masses) destined for Singapore. The decision to fly with a budget airline, long distance, was forced upon us and not something I'd recommend, it wasn't too disgusting though. Day 1 I physically cannot sleep or get at all comfortable on planes, so after a 12 hour flight of not sleeping and thinking why do I put myself through this crap, it was decided the first day was…

Hello Edit: you people are so lucky, this webpage started not responding and I thought I had lost this trip report which I wouldn't have been bothered to write out again. :DI have recently got back from Spain and have decided to post a trip report on the fantastic Terra Mitica.The whole place looks stunning and every building is themed superbly, and when you enter it really does feel like you've entered another world.I don't understand how a park struggling for attendance can be themed and maintained so well, and yet a park like Thorpe Park, over-attended, has no theming in comparison and is poorly maintained.I was there from about 4.30PM till 10 and got on quite a bit, e…

A few weeks ago I returned from a holiday to Amsterdam which of course included a trip to Efteling, one of the biggest theme parks in Europe. I'd read a bit about the park beforehand and wasn't too sure what to expect. On the one hand Baron looked like an excellent coaster and the atmosphere seemed so quaint and lovely but I was worried that the park would be too kiddie focused and as an adult there wouldn't be enough to interest me. Quick spoiler warning, I will be discussing parts of some attractions which I wouldn't have wanted spoiling myself so if you've got a trip planned please don't read this! The day started with an early wake up and by 7AM we were ou…

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…

With the money grabbing but fun Warwick Castle behind us, we drove to Alton Towers, the next morning. We had stayed in a Premier Inn at Solihull, so the drive wasn't too far.We arrived around half ten to a fairly quiet car park...We were greeted with a very long queue for the monorail, which didn't really make sense as the car park seemed a bit quiet. It turned out the Monorail had broken down.After a 10-15 minute walk, we arrived at the fantastic entrance.Once inside, Ben started planning I love this tree. The Towers. A magnificent building.Our party split up to ride different things. As I was on my own at this point, I managed two goes in a row on Thirteen via the sin…

*warning, this is long* After a brief delay at East Midlands airport, I finally arrived at Hotel Portaventura after 11.00pm at night. Tired and very hungry, we grabbed a drink at the on-site café before heading to bed. I wolfed down a quick breakfast the next day before eagerly heading out into the park. Straight away you’re greeted by the gorgeous lake, with a lovely view of the B&Ms sitting proudly on the skyline. I just knew at this point that I’d fall in love with the place. So, the first ride of the day was Furious Baco. I’d already heard how terrible this was, so wasn’t exactly disappointed by the awful ride experience (the launch is incr…

Well I know December was 3 months ago there abouts but I want to show you guys my little trip to New York. I will try to do it in 4 or five parts but that might be more seeming I did take 300 + photos in 4 days but no matter, plus for anybody going to thorpe park for the TPM meet on sunday will see my face for the first time lol. Just to say I dont look like that normally its just it was so windy and cold it seemed make my face look horrible and my hair was a mess :s So on to part 1: We finally managed to get out after a massive hailstorm. I seem to be bamboozled by the amount of TV on that one building. Started to get annoyed cos the traffic was horrendous and the g…

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 …

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 …

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…

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.…

Prater Trip Report So I recently went to Vienna and had some spare time so went to visit Prater. It's basically a permanent fairground with all rides being operated independently. This makes it quite an expensive experience and the rides aren't the best with quite a few Wild Mouses (should that be Wild Mice?!) but that said it was a good way to kill a few hours... So arriving at the park you're met with the Big Wheel, which is why most people come to Prater. The entrance plaza is quite nice. The map is pretty confusing. Unless you know the names of the ride you wont really know where to go. So I wondered down the right han…