Leaderboard

Mardi Gras started today, and of course TPM were there! We have a write up here: https://thorpeparkmania.co.uk/news/19-05-2022/Mardi+Gras+Arrives+at+Thorpe+Park I also want to share my own thoughts, and not just a fansite write up review... In short, this is a fun event, and it's clear that a lot has gone into this. It's clear that there's been a solid vision from management that they wanted to deliver. It's clear that the actors involved in the entertainment have put in a lot of effort. It's clear that the park wanted to offer a solid F&B range. It's clear everyone involved has put time and effort into it. It's clear that money has been spent on it too. All of this sounds like a given for a theme park event, yes. But ask yourself, how many times has it felt in the past that these things haven't been clear for a Thorpe event or thing? Now you realise why it's so good to stress these things. I'll start off with my main positive: the food. I'm a bit of a foodie. The one thing which disappointed me the most with the Oktoberfest events at Thorpe is the food and drink options being, frankly, poor. You could get the cheapest bratwursts going, in a dry bun for an extortionate price. You could get some lebkuchen, again for a heck of a lot, and a choice of one or two authentic German beers. But it all felt very meh with effort. Mardi Gras feels different. They've got a lot of choices there which feel a bit more authentic, and they're at a reasonable theme park cost (ie not cheap for what it is necessarily, but in line with the rest of the park pretty much). Next, the entertainment. I'll start off with the negative: the actors seem to have instructions when interacting with people to be a bit over the top, cringey and cater to younger audiences, or people who are more outgoing. That's fine if that's what they're going for, but not for me. It made me cringe and crease, and is something I would run a mile from usually. But then again, people enjoyed it; not everything has to cater to me. Now the good stuff. The parade they have is fun; a little basic, but it draws attention to the event. I worry how it will cope on busy days since it goes through some of the busiest pathways on park, but what can you do. The main show, the Crowning of the Krewes, is great fun - the right side of cheesey, whilst also not being cringey. It's exactly the sort of thing the park has missed for so long (and much better than what the park were doing with the Thrillmakers imo). There's also some external entertainment (ie not Thorpe actors), in the guise of drum and jazz bands. They're nice and break things up too. I really hope it's a success for the park, because it ticks a lot of the boxes. There's still things they can improve and grow on, and I do wonder how it will cope on busier (or wetter) days. But as things stands, it does feel like Thorpe are onto a winner!

Life, the last number of years have been something of a disappointment to many for a number reasons. Mostly Covid. Now having, an outstanding flight voucher following many cancelled trips, an idea came to me. A solo holiday/adventure. After much debate, I decided to return to Copenhagen. Whilst not the cheapest, it’s a city I had liked previously and also felt reasonably safe from what I remembered. The flight from Gatwick was a little bumpy. From the hideously long security queues, boots having no meal deals and what might have been the roughest landing I have experienced to date. Mr fish special. After working my way around the clean efficient M2&M3 (not near Thorpe), the adventure had properly. Urban house was my base for the trip, a rather trendy yet conveniently located hotel literally in the city centre. Very close to Tivoli. Attraction Parks: There are two amusement parks around Copenhagen. Bakken & Tivoli gardens. With both being danish amusement parks and somewhat close, you’d think there would be many similarities. Think again! Bakken/ The oldest amusement park out there. Bakken is a short train journey away via the central station. The park is literally located in the middle of a large park/woods and is surprisingly concealed. You wouldn’t know it was there if you were looking for it! Despite the pretty woods setting, the park isn’t picturesque or interesting in any sort of way. If anything it’s a little characterless, dull and maybe underwhelming. There are a number of rides and attractions in this place, including five roller coasters. One of those was the Rutshebanen (sp), the park’s wooden roller coaster. As past reviews highlight, the ride had a modification to remove the brakeman with new trains. The ride was honestly ok, not great but just ok. The automated braking definitely had an impact on the pacing, being familiar to a go kart race maybe. The tunnel on the other hand was highly interesting with it’s position. Tornado, perhaps one of the park’s bigger draws is an intamin spinning coaster. It literally launches you up the lift hill into what can be described as a crazy bumpy spinning sensation. It is not in anyway a smooth or comfortable experience, but a rough one indeed. The park’s other coasters include Mine Train Ulven. A decent mine train coaster featuring a fun layout. There is also an acceptable wild mouse and ladybird coaster too. So, what else is there besides coasters? Well, they have two random dark rides, a dodgy ghost train and a random Safari shooter ride, was the least terrible of the two. Several flat rides incorporate the place, including a fun polyp ride, those “crazy” spinning rides and one of those axis rides everywhere is getting now. Although it was quite fun. They also have a small yet powerful S&S shot tower, which packs a punch. Also in the queue line it seems, given it tore my jacket! Does this look familiar? They also had a largely enjoyable fun house, featuring an array of effects and a broken piano. Shame it was broken. There was also a flume ride, although I didn’t go on this. So, I managed to complete and wrap up my visit here in less than 90 minutes, including re-rides on 3/5 coasters. On what must be one of my shortest stays at any park. So why didn’t I stay to long? To be honest, Bakken is potentially one of the most bland and generic parks I have been to, nothing comes across as striking. It just doesn’t feel photogenic in any particular way. The place just feels like a large permanent fun fair. And not in a good way. There was just no charm or atmosphere at all. Despite its plus points, it is no doubt towards the bottom-end of parks I’ve visited so far. And you know it’s not a great place, when a part of you is even happy to leave too. Visit for the creds, visit for Tornado. Maybe visit if you want to see new parks and like funfairs. Otherwise, you aren’t missing out on too much here. Stay tuned for my Tivoli review soon.

I honestly don’t think there’s a definite answer here. As others have mentioned it all depends on preference. If your someone who loves awesome thrilling roller coasters and white knuckle attractions, Cedar point will win. If you adore themed areas, random attractions/dark rides, Europa will win. I honestly adore both places, but I guess Europa has it for me, but only just.

If you like roller coasters Cedar Point is better. If you like theme parks Europa Park is better. Taking the Golden Ticket Awards as serious is silly.

It certainly is dependent on the access and length of the ride. A tiring day at Universal, Rip Ride Rocket using the single rider queue, therefore those stairs, and with permission, a staff gate, got me to 77 rides. Stealth is my favourite but though the team tried to count, they lost it and I know that days count won't be beaten. I consider myself lucky if I get a bonus ride. The ride will shut down if the sensors detect weight on the train between offload and load. I did like Slammer, but a one off and for me, not re-rideable.

Great blog, what I like most about Europa is that there is no fastrack or priority lanes which really helps move the queueline in my opinion. On the other hand you could argue that it's not as disability friendly as Merlin's parks. What I dislike most about Europa is the lack of free drinking water / water fountains. One thing Merlin offers in abundance at all it's parks (I know it's also law in the UK). That said the detail of theming, great ride selection and great operations makes Europa a resort leagues above Merlin and arguably better value than Disney and Universal. When you buy a Europa admission, you get equal access to all the attractions.

Nice to see a fully fledged event, by the looks of it anyway. It’s got a bit of everything, isn’t just based around food (Oktoberfest) or Music (Parkvibes). It feels like a transformation of the whole park, something which is an advantage over towers. Curious to see how well received the parade is, I’m not sure on what level to expect it. All I’m saying is that Thorpe’s demographic is likely to turn a blind eye to it. That isn’t to say, that I wouldn’t want it. I’m really excited to see it along with all the other performances. I’m just aware, the main demographic turn a blind eye to the Thrillmakers.

I went on Tuesday - second visit of the season. It was pretty busy in comparison to over the Easter weekend (guessing due to only premium and platinum passholders being the only annual passholders able to attend those dates). The Thrill Makers are…..interesting - I’m not bashing them because they seem popular for younger visitors - one of them came over to us and was really engaging which was nice but we wanted to move on before the show started so used the excuse that I needed a cigarette - I was quite shocked when the girl said “oh it’s fine don’t worry you can smoke here, it’s not enforced” - literally smack bang in the middle of what was a quite busy area and where kids were around. She even pointed to someone else smoking to prove her point. I know Thorpe aren’t as strict as other parks but I wouldn’t sit and smoke where there are kids about because it’s disgusting and I’m sure many parents wouldn’t want their kids inhaling second hand smoke. One fairly big gripe I have is with the Colossus team - painfully slow. Both this visit and last they weren’t even opening the air gates until the station was clear from previous riders which is insane - the queue yesterday was at 90 minutes at this point and my friend timed how long it took from the train coming in and the air gates opening and it was over 2 mins. If this is to do with safety issues then fair enough but it’s not happening on the other coasters? Very bizarre and it also results in being sat on the brake run for what seems like a bloody eternity which is uncomfortable. The new toilets are actually the best thing this year 😂. Staff on the whole are very friendly aswell