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Still have a pair of DR Pepper pants from this event. These were the days.

Thank you everyone who’s responded! Some really interesting points. I agree with the point raised a couple of times here that visiting Thorpe specifically + half term was only ever going to exasperate it, and it’s true that it is Thorpe where I get the feeling of being “too old” the most. It’s not so much an issue elsewhere, especially abroad weirdly. Josh, that is utterly terrifying that a 15 year old joining the forum today would be younger than Stealth 😳 I too remember being on forums and at the park around that age watching the construction of Stealth. It doesn’t feel that long ago does it! I’ll be honest I still see Saw as “pretty new” 😂 👨🏼‍🦳 I REMEMBER WHEN IT WAS ALL FIELDS 😂 To be honest I agree with you all - I too don’t think you can be too old to visit and enjoy theme parks, and I have no plans to stop! This forum alone is evidence that there’s a keen following among a slightly older audience. Just interested to hear if others ever felt the same occasionally.

I'd be curious if this is a general feeling you have, or a feeling which is highlighted when you're specifically at Thorpe? I know sometimes I feel old whenever I visit Thorpe, sometimes too old. Another thing that makes me feel old is that I joined theme park forums when I was 15. If a 15 year old was to join the forums today, there's a good chance they would have been born after Stealth opened. I remember watching it being built, as well as The Flying Fish and Model World prior pretty vividly. Jeez. I know you say when you visit a park these days, there's a couple of moments where you feel like the odd one out. But that feeling was expanded at Fright Nights (during half term too I think?). It certainly makes sense that the feeling would be highlighted more in that case. It could also be one of those psychology things. Are you feeling like the odd one out because you think you are, and so are looking for evidence to support that? And so, in turn, you notice all the younger groups, and don't see many people who look a similar age to yourself / are older? For anyone reading who doesn't quite get what I mean: you don't see many yellow cars on the road these days, do you? But now that thought is in your head, you will be more acutely aware of yellow cars and notice them a lot more, and realise that - whilst they're not common - there's certainly a fair few about! Maybe during your Towers visit have in the back of your mind to exclusively look for groups of adults in their later 20s/early 30s...maybe you'll be surprised with how many you see? To stop with the psycho-analysing and answer the more direct question: no, you can't be too old for theme parks. I think there's certain social norms which can be at play (for example, going to a children's park alone can seem suspect in some people's minds...but that's completely different). Theme parks (and moreso rides) are a unique blend of escapism, thrill, story telling and holiday all in one, along with other options - such as the idea of 'collecting' ridden coasters/visiting/number of rides - if you so choose. Few hobbies offer such a blend, along with additional versatility and flexibility. I don't think you can be too old for any of the things theme parks offer. It's just whether you feel like the combination it offers is what you want, or if you want a narrower focus. One thing I've noticed over the years of being on forums is some people who were (and still are!) really interested in theme parks have similar other hobbies too. A couple of examples... -Live theatre and similar (escapism and story telling) -Skydiving / mountain biking / more "extreme" sports (thrill) -Travelling (self explanatory) Maybe that's another reason why there's seemingly less people who visit parks? As people get older, they get easier access to / realise other hobbies which share similar traits to visiting theme parks, and focus their attention there a bit more? That diversification then means they spend less time at parks, and then the concentration/percentage of younger people visiting parks decreases. Another thing which I note as well, is that specific park enthusiasm is much more concentrated with younger people. Unsurprisingly, there's very few 15 year olds which are interested in theme parks more broadly: their focus is on one or two parks, and usually their local park. But after say 15 years of continual visits, that local park won't have the same appeal or interest, and are likely more interested to parks more broadly. Again meaning they spend less time visiting their local park, and instead visiting a broader range of parks (again meaning that the average age of certain park visitors feels very young, and the late 20 / early 30 somethings all feel very old whenever they visit). I feel like I've waffled an awful lot and not said much. But in short: -You're not too old for theme parks (and if you are, I only have a maximum of 3 years left before I am...) -Thorpe Park is probably the park in the UK which would highlight this feeling the most -I think people's interests in theme parks spreads in one way or another as they get older, which can mean there's a skewed view as to how old park visitors are

As Matt said, we are never too old, but our feelings for things change. I am more than twice your age and love rides and roller coasters but I have often commented on how different people are, both emotionally and physically. Our appreciation and need for things change. Some would never consider using the rides, me? I have never been interested in basketball. If we were all the same, there would be one heck of a queue for the ride we love. The demographics of society affects the type of people attending parks, I.e. The majority of youngsters are not in the type of employment from which there would be difficulty in having time off. Again for me in the past I worked shifts, so that helped. Don't let your age control whether you ride or not, let your feelings decide that, and whatever you choose, enjoy it.

Agreed on most of your review. Phantasialand has moments of class mixed with areas of complete rubbish. For every Taron there's three rides begging to be destroyed. I can't say the same for Europa Park where every ride has a purpose and is looked after to the highest degree. Yes even snow bench the ride. I value capacity highly and I could rip my hair out waiting for either of the Winja brothers.

In my defence I'm not just a wimp! 😃 Goudrix has been retracked since I visited and supposedly is immeasurably better than it was before. Imagine your second ride magnified. I'm not going to forgive that contraption its sins. Sad to hear you didn't like Zeus, I thought it was incredible. Hopefully it's just you having bad taste and not that they've let it deteriorate!

Very interesting read up as always Whilst Kings Island to me is not a park to travel all the way to America for on its own, it is most certainly worth a visit when combined with days at Cedar Point. I actually enjoyed the atmosphere at the park when I visited but certainly not an atmosphere on the level of Cedar Point. Mystic Timbers to me was by far the star of the show at this park. Whilst front row on it isn’t really that great, the back row felt utterly frantic and the ride at night is sentastional and as such made it my number 1 wooden coaster (even ahead of Wodan and Balder) I do think Diamondback is probably one of my least favourite B&M Hypers but I was quite lucky to have had some solid rides on it airtime wise. I do agree that that trim is utterly stupid though. Banshee...where do I even start!!?? Can somebody please tell B&M that NOBODY LIKES THOSE DAMN VESTS!! Honestly was it not for those vests, it could have been up there with Raptor and Montu as one of my favourite inverts. Thanks to those vests it’s possibly my least favourite and that includes Nemesis Inferno!! I do think the park desperately needs a true WORLD CLASS/ELITE level stand out coaster to go with the current line up. Hopefully the 2020 Giga coaster will give them that.

I absolutely agree with you that the way Cedar Point takes care of its heritage rides is to be respected and admired. It’s something that often goes under the radar with this magnificent park given the focus on all the newer coasters they have.

Will hopefully be doing Kings Island’s ‘’Fastrack equivalent’’ when I’m hopefully out there again in a few weeks. I’ll let you all know what it’s like. From current experience, Port Aventura is the only park I’ve gone full out on ‘’Fastrack equivalent’’ only because of their diabolical batching ratios and that their clientele can’t seem to grasp the basic concept of queuing.

Brean always strikes me as an odd place! Have a great time at Thorpe and Chessington next week!

No problem; it was a great trip from my end, so I’m glad you’ve enjoyed my reports! The flight mostly went fine; we were delayed in leaving by about 30 minutes due to a thunderstorm, but we got back to London Heathrow at about 10:25am this morning problem-free.

Another interesting and well worded report. If you are looking for a Sunday event to get away from the crowds, I would recommend the Orlando Science Center.

Wow, they had recently refurbished it too, that is a shame.

Great two days update, thanks for sharing.

Most of the above is agreeable. I absolutely adored my numerous rides on Iron Gwazi last October and the ride definitely packed a punch. It definitely isn’t a Steve beater, but is somewhat level pegging with Zadra in many respects. Although that ride may still have it by a fingernail. It might be number three on my RMCs and Florida coasters, but it sure is a stunning ride. And no doubt a hundred times better than its previous carnation.

Likewise there, and we had a rule if one wanted the loo, we all went, which meant there was no searching for each other, nor the aggravation of trying to rejoin others already in queues by persuading people that you should be allowed through.

Great write up Matt. My kids have been brought up to "eat in the queue, don't lose ride time" and I am pleased that my grandson is being educated the same way.

The trouble with long cred runs that involve a tonne of driving is if you don't share it you can get super affected by it. Especially when most of the drives in between American parks are stupidly long. Doing 2 full weeks of it in Germany wasn't fun come the end of it. I liked Hershey, definitely good to see love for Lightning Racer.

Thanks for this sweet review! Hershey is definitely a park on my bucket list and interesting to note the pros & cons here. No bags in the queue seems to be a recurring theme in American parks it seems.

I find the Nemesis commentary quite funny actually. I don't know many rollercoasters that have reached nearly their 30th year that don't have a couple of rougher moments. It's almost like Nemesis is held to this god like standard and if there is ever a slight rattle has to be commented on. Wicker Man always surprises me. In my head its a middle of the road woodie but after getting off, I love it every time. GCI woodies are pretty special. Just a small piece of advice on your reviews, I've read quite a few of your trip reports and for each ride you repeat the line 'we decided to give it a go'. Try changing that description because as I'm reading through, its all I've noticed and it becomes repetitive.

Loving these! Glad you're having a good time! Looks like you've had some great weather for it

I’ve always heard interesting things about this place. In terms of photography and the like, they seem to be the strictest. Karnan looks great though.

Great reports, Karnan looks great, shame about its reliability. Where you off to in the states? Il be out there end of May to Cedar Point and Kings Island.

Awesome report mate!

I remember my Face It Alone experiences very fondly. They we’re intense, hands on and completely different on each run through. Managed to do Cabin In The Woods, Studio 13 and Saw in 2014, Big Top in 2015 and Saw again in 2016. I think my first run through on Saw was my favourite, because of the variety of actors and encounters in there. My 2016 one was probably my least favourite because it seemed rather toned down. I definitely preferred the setup in the first couple of years, where you could choose your maze and then drink champagne before enduring such a crazy experience. Would love to see it return one day, though this seems unlikely.

A naughty double post... Here's the extended post I mentioned chatting about Face it Alone: Looks like my write up from my Original Face it Alone is on my old-old laptop, and I dread to think how long that will take me to find and boot up. But still, you've inspired me to re-write it up...keep watching this space!

Now this is a proper trip down memory lane - thanks for sharing! I really enjoyed Face it Alone. It was a cracking experience that really differentiated Thorpe from other scare events in the UK for a short period of time. It was unique, worthwhile and a joy for the niche market it targeted. And most importantly, in my eyes, it was something which let Thorpe justify Fright Nights as a premium Halloween event, which had something for everyone. It certainly changed over its 4 years of being offered (and some of those changes were for the worst). It's a shame that it stopped, though it would be great to one day see Thorpe try something a bit more extreme again. There's clearly demand for these more extreme experiences, and they can certainly fit it into their line ups imo. I never did Cabin though for Face it Alone. It's great to hear what exactly happened during your run! My runs were: 2013: Saw Alive 2014: Studio 13 2015: Big Top 2016: Big Top All were very different and interesting in their own way. I don't think I ever posted my experiences / reviews at the time (because of how they were asking people not to, to keep the element of surprise). But I did write them up...I'll have to try and track down where I saved them and post them! If not, I can recall parts of my runs, so will share them a bit later. I also think I did an extended post about Face it Alone a couple of years back on here, discussing some more of the ins and outs of the experience and why it changed and left the line up. And again, if I can't find it, I can remember some details, so will add some more. Watch this space!

Only ever attended one of these events (maybe the last?) and found it to be a fun and entertaining event. Looking forward to see the park push out more events outside of Fright Nights.

Honestly I don't think you can be too old - its something you and possibly your kids can enjoy together. I have thought "am I too old" when visiting some parks before - mainly Thorpe and Alton, not because of the the thrill of the rides themselves, or the other guests that are in the parks, but just their general presentation. As we all know, there are many discussions and criticisms of the overall look and feel of the UK parks. Sometimes I wonder if I just wasn't as picky in my teen years as I am now. But every time I (now rarely, maybe once a year) visit our "top" UK theme parks, I'm just constantly annoyed by how dirty, old and unmaintained some of our parks have become. But then I visit parks abroad, the Europa's, Disney, Universal, etc. and then realise, not its not me - the parks in the UK just aren't up to the standard of ones abroad and that really puts me off visiting them. Being older, I am able to travel to these foreign parks as much as I wish - and I for one would rather spend my money on a park I enjoy and don't constantly think to myself "this place looks cheap and tacky". Nostalgia sometimes skews our vision of what a park once was - but I dont think in this case that is true, the UK parks just aren't what they used to be - in my eyes anyway. I was looking at some old pictures of Legoland on ThemeParkGuide the other day, what a beautiful park that used to be! So can you be too old - no - but you definitely appreciate different elements of a themepark which may, as is in my case, alter which ones you decide to visit.

I think I accidentally clicked the wrong answer on the poll (I’m blaming my age 🤣 - the irony). Honestly I don’t think you can ever be too old for theme parks - if it is something you enjoy, go for it! I turned 40 last year (should probably change my forum name as I’ve been here 10 years and I’m no longer 30) and I don’t feel my age in general day to day life. That said I totally understand particularly Thorpe Park - because it is mainly teenagers that visit I can often feel a bit out of place but then I certainly don’t act my age so it doesn’t bother me - I usually visit the parks with my 17 year old niece and it’s not as noticeable as when I’m with my friend who is my age and her son because we are both in our 40s (don’t know if that made any sense - it’s been a long day!). I don’t think anyone at parks would be looking at you and thinking you are out of place unless they are extremely judgmental. I visited Thorpe a couple of times by myself when my ex worked at the park - first time I felt so uncomfortable at first and then after a while I thought sod it - people are out enjoying their day and won’t be scrutinising other guests or even noticing. Ive been an enthusiast for 21+ years but didn’t start visiting the Merlin parks regularly (more than my annual visit) until 2013. I did have a Tussauds pass in 2002 but that only covered off peak days for Thorpe and Chessington. So I was 32/33 when I became a regular visitor. Yeah I do feel old at times - but if I still enjoy parks when I’m 70 I’ll still be visiting. I totally understand being a bit self conscious but I honestly think these things are often more of a big deal in your head than in reality and the way we might feel is not a clear indication of what is real. Not sure if I’m making sense - it’s been a long day and I’m zonked. Also apologies for possibly typing an essay 🙈

Furius baco screams 2020 to me. Nice monkey, lots of alcohol. Then an absolute car crash and the only redeeming feature being a wine shop at the exit.

Phantasialand on the whole is generally a great park and one of my favourites. A lot of their rides such as Taron & Chiapas I consider masterpieces in their own ways. There is definitely room to improve the offering further and a lot of it comes down to the entrance setup and older attractions. I think China might be getting redeveloped next but the entrance setup is definitely a challenging one as Josh’s points mention. As for food, I consider it arguably the best park for food, from quick service to sit down restaurants. I do recommend Rutmoore’s Tavern if you return or the ice cream place near Chiapas if you fancy a snack.

Entering Phantasialand is a weird one as there's actually 3 'main' entrances. Entrance 1: Berlin. This is the most "main" one in design, but practically anyone who drives won't use it, since there's basically no parking for day guests. You enter with the carousel directly in front, and then look down Berlin street towards Wellenflug. It's small and tight but pretty cool. Entrance 2: Mystery. Probably the most used one since the car park is accessed by using the road under the park next to the main entrance. Entrance 3: China. The car park for this is found by driving past the main entrance, turning left at the roundabout (going past Hotel Matamba) and following the road along. Neither Mystery nor China entrance is great, in the sense that you just go straight into the park. It's a very harsh contrast (like a lot of Phantasialand's transitions between areas). They're practical, certainly not memorable. Crucially, the park do know these areas all problems. They want to expand the land they own so more people can use the Berlin entrance, and so they can make it a bit grander, but they have experienced issues getting permission to expand. They don't own the land of one of their car parks (I think Mystery, but could be China). It's owned by a local who effectively leases it to the park and refuses to sell. A couple of years ago he tried building his own train through the car park... So it makes it hard to do work there. And even then, there's limited space to expand their car parks, meaning any work done to improve entrances outside the current perimeter costs valuable car parking spaces. They do have plans and do want to improve, but their hands are very much stuck at the moment. On top of that, each hotel has a dedicated entrance into the park (though Matamba's only happened this year). None of them are particularly great either. I agree about Maus being on the long side. It is certainly an arm workout! It's probably a toss up between China and Crazy Bats/Hollywood Tour for what sees the chopping block next. Given the investment in Crazy Bats and current rumours, it's more likely going to be the China area that goes first.

I hated the batching system on Hyperion, so sad to learn it's been adopted on Zadra too. Just confusion and faff for no real reason in my opinion. A shame you don't particularly rate Energylandia as a park. Whilst it's true parts of it have a fun fair feel to it, I think a good chunk of it is a decent park with enough fun rides and okay levels of theming to be considered on par with plenty of other parks out there. And they're forever improving too, which is great to see.

Sounds an amazing ride and I hope one day to ride this (maybe next year).

Shame neither park seemed great, the redeeming features look interesting.

Can't quite believe that you wrote this Matt but I'm glad you did and thoroughly enjoyed the humour/sad realities throughout.

Agreed with Inferno being the best. It runs really good these days, love how intense but smooth it is.

Definitely agree with some attractions there. Cabin and Festinos definitely had some unique elements included there.

Interesting heading your thoughts on this park. I actually found my visit there in May very enjoyable as it seemed clean, pretty and houses one pretty entrance. It’s not my favourite park and definitely no Cedar Point beater, but still has things going for it. I honestly found Banshee disappointing, the layout didn’t feel like it did much despite it’s length and the vests cement this for me. The classic arrow coasters there are great, especially Bat. I actually adored the Beast. The whole prospect of going into the unknown is simply immense and probably one of the best coasters to do at night. I didn’t notice the trims. Mystic Timbers was very good I thought!

Glad you enjoyed the park. It really is a special place for all the reasons all of you have said that have visited. Just like Mark9 says it's great how we all enjoy different coasters for different reasons, and it is the variety that makes it such an awesome place. If funds allowed I'd be back there every year. For me (though minority for people here) I'm a Magnum hater, found it, rough and uncomfortable. My favourite three are Steel Vengeance, Millennium Force and TTD. The water on the exit path to the rapids caught me out! I tried to dodge it then slipped soaking my otherwise (through luck) dry shoes! It's there to clean people's feet from the dirt as oddly they allow the removal of shoes for this rapids. There's lots of shoe storage near the queue line entrance.

Cedar point is probably my second favourite park I have visited to date. Aside from it’s impressive array of coasters (arguably the best overall collection in the world), the park just has that lively ye charming feel, atmosphere and a perfect balance between old and new attractions. Not surprised Magnum is your all time favourite coaster. I like the attraction and whilst I wouldn’t say it’s my top coaster, for it’s age it runs perfectly.

A great read! Am very much looking forward to getting to these parks in the future starting with Toverland in a few weeks.

I like Cedar Point and can say it is one of my favourite parks and arguably the best place for coasters in the world. Would say most of the above is agreeable, Steel Vengeance is fab, Maverick great, I love Millennium Force, Rougarou surprisingly good and Magnum is better than Big One. I like Raptor and didn’t find it too tough on both times I’ve visited, but probably still prefer Nemy. I like Gate Keeper. I think Valravn might be the biggest letdown in terms of major rides there, I just find it seriously lacks something and never seems to get going. Oblivion has the best drop of the three dive machines I have done. Its tricky to say what the park’s next coaster will be and where it’s going? They demolished the old staff dorms but they have Monster trucks there and their old flume/dinosaur area is now Forbidden Frontier. Cedar Creek going is speculation I keep hearing, but then again the ride has much history too, so it’s tricky.

it's most useful at CP I find, when I was at Canadas Wonderland, the top tier only had Leviathan and Behemoth but they had shorter queues then the next tier down rides anyway so it made it a bit of a waste. The only reason it really works at CP is because the higher fastpass is on the lower capacity rides. Even though CP run rides well, Maverick and TTD can't shovel through people like Raptor, Rougarou and Gatekeeper can. Agreed about Port Aventura if only because I genuinely hate Spanish theme parks and I'd rather be the one doing the queuejumping then being incredibly miserable in their standby lines.

We were at Cedar Point for 3.5 days and didn’t use any fast pass whilst out and managed to get on most things at least twice. Three days is sufficient when visiting the park without it. We stayed at CP’s Express hotel which gave us three days to visit included in our stay.

Glad you enjoyed Phantasialand, it’s certainly a park with impressive rides and some of the richest theming out there. Taron, definitely an impressive coaster with lush surroundings and great pacing. I do see what you mean about the terrible cattle pen queue section though and hope they won’t need this in the future. Chiapas is probably my favourite water ride for the disco room alone and Black Mamba is certainly a solid B&M invert. Shame River Quest is still having so many reliability issues because it’s such a crazy yet amazing rapids ride. Talocan is just as much a show as a ride. Temple is by far the weakest attraction there (alongwith Wakobato) as it takes up so much space yet offers so little really apart from 10 minutes of a slow meandering coaster and three lift hills. It is expected they will remove it (along with the Hollywood ride) for redevelopment in the coming years due to insufficient expansion space. I think Geister Riksha though is going next, because the China area is strongly rumoured to be the next area to be rethemed/redeveloped. Fly looks great though and will hopefully be another worthwhile addition to an excellent park.

Tover definitely sounds a lovely park and hopefully somewhere which is up and coming. Avalon looks a stunning investment and fingers crossed will be successful enough for future additions of a similar or better quality. Out of interest, how easy is it to access from Efteling and Phantasialand?

Excellent and well detailed blog there. Thoroughly enjoyed our trip.

Interesting thoughts on Liseberg. Its definitely a very pretty place which is often tidy and well kept, especially within it’s City location. I generally prefer Helix to Icon, mainly due to it’s layout and pacing, but will say there are some things I prefer on Icon, like it’s second launch. Balder is definitely a fun ride, however it’s lack of styling drags it down a little. Lisebergbanen sure is a crowd eater, I think Loki is my favourite flat ride. Shame to hear operations didn't seem to be that good. Last time I went they seemed pretty efficient, although maybe that has changed since things like the Helix seatbelts which is a shame if that’s the case. I cannot comment on Valkyria yet, but hope to return for it next year. It is definitely true of it being one of the easiest parks to get to though. It’s just one bus ride from Gothenburg Landvetter and boom! You are literally outside the park entrance!