Jump to content

Mitchada04

Moderator
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1762

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by Mitchada04

  1. Mitchada04
    After reading a few posts about posting trip reports as blogs I have decided all of my 2013 Thorpe trips will be in this blog thread. Each one will have the date of visit in the title making it nice and easy for those of you who want to view certain ones etc.
    It was a beautiful Saturday morning when we set of for Thorpe. We were spited by intermittent rain throughout the morning but it ended out being a lovely day. For a Saturday with nice weather the queues weren't too bad with the longest we queued being 30 minutes for Swarm backwards. It was a thrill packed day from 10-6:30 and a great way to end the life on my MAP (as I'm unlikely to use it again before it runs out due to exams). I love the way the park is being run this year with operations on top notch that I saw yesterday. Everything was running full capacity (except Stealth) and the only 'breakdowns' I witnessed were twice on X due to 'essential cleaning.' Even on 1 car though Stealth was running brilliantly and the staff were very efficient as the second car was obviously broken as they did bring it out but it went straight back in after 1 test run. But the main reason for visiting was to use the brand new queue line signs which I have to say are great and only have a few downsides which I'll get to later.

    We started and ended the day on Stealth which reminded me where I was. Without this I would have been lost. When the time is shown it says (I think) 'Stealth launching in T-minus ## minutes.'

    We then went to feel the heat on Inferno (don't know why this picture is so small)

    Followed by riding on a wave of sound and light on X (not sure there are enough X's in this picture)
    This was followed by Colossus and Saw both with these lovely scrolling signs. Colossus' is related to the power of 10 and Saw's is about making your choice of life or death in ## minutes.

    At this time the sun had come out so we went on our wild, wet adventure on Loggers Leap

    Then Thorpe Mega Store. I wasn't going to queue 50 minutes for a soakin'

    With lunch settled it was time for the flat rides. Simple signs work well.

    Quantum doesn't get enough attention but I'm sure with its brand new sign it will receive all the attention.

    And then all of a sudden it was the end of the day and rides were close d
    The new signs are great and seem to update more often (or have the chance to if the time changes). The only 2 negatives are the fact that closed can't fit properly on the flat ride signs and Nemesis Inferno is referred to as Nemesis on the big boards because it wouldn't fit otherwise. May seem a bit picky but it will just add to the 'never knew Thorpe had the same ride as Alton' discussion. To make up for this though Swarm forwards and backwards times are on the large boards.
  2. Mitchada04
    Like a seasonal special of a magazine, welcome to my bumper edition of all thing Halloween!
    So this year, it started late September (we'll be doing it in August soon don't you worry, watch you backs Mickey's not so scary thing)

    As per most seasons, it began with the press night at Thorpe

    This is a fab way to try out the new rubbish

    Before these metal fences get full of people

    The two new Walking Dead mazes; Nightmare was lovely to look at, but far too open, far too short and had no ending. Very naff. Sanctum was even worse, like stupidly short.
    Saw Alive is the same, Platform was much better with an actual middle section now. And Big Top is now a very well rounded, complete maze. Roamers this year were awful, bring back the good old roaming style of 2011. Theming was alright in places, places you don't expect. Like by Flying Fish

    Preview night of Tulleys!

    Felt very stale this year. Is it the first time we've not had something fully new? The tag onto Hellements just makes the thing bearable, Chop Shop is still a boredom machine of repetition. Colony and Cellar are still fab though and hayride a good laugh. But I feel they're pushing to have more mazes and losing quality? There'll be NINE next year. Europa has 5. Thorpe have 5. Most events are 5/6. Mad




    The following weekend was back at Thorpe for the meet. Here's a nice photo of Swarm, cloud and Stealth.

    And the Amity effect

    Friday 13th. Would be rude not to go to an event. This started our trip to the midlands for 4 different Halloween events, starting at The Howl!

    I have no photos from inside cos I was preoccupied! However, this event is much smaller than its sister, Tulleys. 5 mazes but all very close together and this really worked in my eyes. They had a few roamers but all the actors going to and from break would like run at people on route too. The clown maze was alright, hotel de basquerville had great sets, but the scares were very front heavy so being at the back did nothing for us. House of Hounds had such a build up, not an amazing middle but the best use of a puppet I've seen. It physically pushed you over in the claustrophobia tunnel. Then there was Squealers Yard and Shed. Squealers is one of the most intense mazes with being physical I've done. We went through as a 3, and the actors were crazy. And it just kept going! Shed was kinda like Cellar in that it had inhabitants and was conga, very well themed as well with some good jumps. Overall a fab little event. I think this is only its third year?

    The next morning

    Hi Mr Scarecrow, do you like all the bunting?

    Scarefest, not to be confused with the later to be visited Screamfest 30 minutes down the road

    Obligatory Nemesis photo

    Expensive lunch

    And bam. Maze building.
    So the 3 in here.
    Terror of the Towers- It's a solid maze, I said this last year and I stick by it. It works. If this was at Thorpe you wouldn't complain, it's only cos Towers make you pay for it and it's next to much more intense mazes. There's nothing wrong with it.
    Altonville- We had an awful run through. No being dragged away, hardly any grabbing, caught up with like 2 other groups. I've heard this a lot about this one though this year. Real shame. It has an ending now though
    Sub Species- Pre-show is still fun, the door scene good fun even if it's cut back slightly now. Seems hit or miss, me and Phill had good runs but Jack didn't. In general this year the actors seem less aggressive but Sub is still fun as it's an actual maze, a game. 2 endings as well now so I got a nice shiny new one, yay!

    Then there's this one. Eh. It looks nice, if the SW8 queue gets some of these set pieces I'll be happy. But batching in like 25 people at a time yeah. All odd. No ending really. Idk. Eh.

    Oh look, a place that knows how to do a scare zone


    Simple yet fun!

    Have a nice Smiler photo

    And off we went to Screamfest!

    5 mazes. As per starting with the clown one. Decent enough, really like this entrance feature though

    Little DJ in a box with lights. He seemed like a cool guy

    Strategic photo to have crap next to it? Maybe. It is pretty naff. Bland walls, nothing happening. Worst new thing

    There was a fire 'show'. Roaming people with fire at other events were better but hey ho.

    Soul Seekers had a great start, got lost in the middle then no end. Love Hurts is brill. Such a cool concept going into the sewers, completing weird tasks by a crazy scientist to perfect matching up singles


    And then the other new maze. Starts with a little tractor ride around a hill, then you arrive at the party to "enjoy" the local corn maize. But, a lunatic has also just escaped jail with his banditos. And it all goes mad. Actor runs through the corn, 4 things that feel finale worthy but it isn't over. So much fun, kept going, glad it was left till last! And that's Screamfest, some good concepts and mazes, then some awful ones.

    Back at Towers the next day we decided to go family friendly with a flash mob from the awesome ancestors


    And House of Monsters! They really need to advertise this more, it's so much fun and worth every single penny of the £5. Cheesy as a slab of cheddar but a great laugh and interesting little maze ending

    A fun photo of Smiler

    Another flash mob

    And off we went to Twinlakes for Xtreme Scream Park

    With roaming actors who know how to pose perfectly. Ta mate

    6 mazes, 2 rides and a load of roaming actors. We were all very much looking forward to this one especially after the stuff we'd heard. Stilton Hall Hotel was insane. 2 floors, a full hotel tour, and some crazy even kinky actors

    Hoodoo Voodoo. The best hooded maze I've done. Was like a funhouse with changing floors, wall texture, actors etc and had a decent post hood section with huge voodoo dolls, and an odd finale

    Just a roamer, but better than the previous nights 'show'

    The Village was long. But a good long. 4 different building, one being a creepy school with a cool blackboard effect. Only thing that let it down for us was the finale or kinda lack off. Something we'd noticed a lot this year in general from events

    First half of Pie Factory we saw no actors, just loads of actor runs and potential. Then we caught up with a chain of people and actors. Shame as this maze had massive potential but ending up in a huge group ruined the second half

    The night ended in jail. There was some really cool effects in here, and again a decent length, plus the façade is just great with the guntower going out onto the lawn of the events like arena. There wasj ust no ending! And that concludes our weekend away!

    As storm *MET office being stupid so want to name everything that has a bit of wind or rain or storm storm name here* I headed down to Dreamland for the first time

    It's a cute little park with some great vintage rides

    The famous "Lets piss off the local flats with a loud coaster" Magic Mouse (no joke, this thing pretty much rests alongside their balconies, even waved at someone who wasn't as impressed)

    And a wacky worm. Technically a bee actually. With 4 or 5 laps. Can't remember but it was too many

    To kill some time we went to a shell grotto. Yup. It is what it says on the door


    Enough of that nonsense, Screamland time! 6 mazes and a photo opportuning shipping container


    The maze in the mirror maze is a joke its so short. But has a cool show start. Brotherhood is a new maze, hooded but different and quite a cool hooded concept. Considering the number of hooded mazes I've done this year, we didn't hate it. Carnival of Freaks, great start with Alfonso, weird ending where they trap you in a room that looks like the start. Crank Jack killed our knees, you are crawling for so long! The ending is cool though, we got so lost we ended in an actor spot and got screamed at (in character). Prop store was annoying, had some really nice old Screamland stuff but with a pulsing strobe so you can't properly see it. And then a very expected photo finale. Final cut and Dead n Breakfast is a cool concept going from one maze straight into another. The smells were authentic like popcorn, and a few cool effects but not as good as I'd been told they were in previous years
    And then to end the Halloween season like a pro, 2 years running.

    Howl'o'ween. Curse of lost tomb is worse, they don't do half the interactive stuff anymore. Roaming actors were a major plus this year, Tomb Blasters queue had like 5 in. Creepy Caves is great. They can't run a timed ticket system at all, we waiting nearly 80 minutes in the queue but the maze was good. Good story, cool concepts and effects. After the first scene I had no idea where we were in relation to the caves.
     
    So overall, a fab spooky season! Hopefully next year will be just as eventful
     
     
     
  3. Mitchada04
    I have intention of writing a bumper Halloween blog post with all the scare events I'm visiting. But to do this I should really catch up. So from a good 3 months ago, here is Efteling and their 13 hour day celebrating summer nights or something.

    We were staying in the very nice Loonscheland Hotel. Our room was suitable for up to 5 people, not sure how comfy that would have been but for the 3 of us it was fine. Very nice bathroom, comfy beds. All good. We had a view of the service yard. Fresh breakfast each morning was great though with breads etc.


    Climbing frames and goats made it even more fun!

    1st July. First day of the festival and Symbolica opening. We used our ERT to wait for it to open

    Pardoes (?) happy to get a ride about him

    And the hoards arrive! We made the first batch of guests (should I brag about this?) and it's a very nice attraction. Fun for everyone.

    Enough of this. Let's start the party! Commencing at 6pm, there was a parade

    Which was basically of all the entertainment that'd be on offer that night

    So each land had an offering and a timetable of different events. There was so much going on it was fab


    And a marching band. Think there was one near the front too

    So Ravelijn land had sword fighting

    And other stuff. Was like a mini Warwick castle

    We then went and got some food from this pop up stand area, was nice. And then these guys got involved, with an amazing repertoire of music they were much entertainment. As can be seen, Josh has a video  

    Carnival had a random sing-a-long session.

    The area by the rapids had these dancers and Flamenco

    The Swiss (?) area by Bob had this guy, Steinbok. He was very popular, a comedic singing act. Had like a cult following it seemed.

    Was a very nice atmosphere though

    The best in my eyes were the street performers in Arabian Nights land.

    This guy not giving ice cream (it was free if you could grab it from him)

    Some magic act. And I think I might have been roped into buying an authentic rug?

    Flying Dutchman had one of those not moving people who then does move.

    And then it started to get dark!

    Steinbok still holding a crowd!

    And then the beautiful fountains. They had 3 shows on that night, Aquanara as normal, symphony 1 and symphony 2 which were different music configurations from the attractions around the park! We ended up seeing both symphony's and had an amazing night. Possibly one of the best theme park events I've attended. All included in your ticket price



    It must have now been 11:20 but the park were in no rush to kick us out. So much so they had all the acts from throughout the park at the exit area saying bye to everyone, taking photos etc

    The entrance is annoyingly large and doesn't fit in my photo.
     
    Next time, Liseberg and the city of Gothenburg!
  4. Mitchada04

    Movie Park Germany

    By Mitchada04,

    Welcome to Movie Park! A place I had very little expectation or care for and honestly had it not been for the Mack, we wouldn't have gone. This meant we had a fab day

    We started with Star Trek as there were loads of school kids arriving. We thought it was by the entrance. The coaster is, the attraction plaza and queue is not.
     
    The ride itself is very average, decent for the park but not a great product example. The music was cool though and the transfer table. And if you like Star Trek the preshows etc were probably fab!

    Does look nice around the entrance plaza though. And we got a reride as they messed up the pre show batching so the station was empty.

    Near the entrance is their immersive tunnel though. The queue line was fab, the ride very average. But yeah the queue line is stunning.

    Pretty queue

    Also by the entrance is Bermuda Triangle, the parks wtf boat splash dark ride thing. We were all so confused but happy. We really wanted a reride but got spited due to weird closing times of rides  
    The less you know about this ride the better so I'm leaving it at that

    The parks nice main street style street

    Woop top spin.

    Yeah this was awful. Like terrible. Platform 15 bad. Nicely themed I guess? It's a struggle to say anything positive. Especially for a 5 euro upcharge!

    Now we enter the "left" side of the park. Complete with; A rundown style pier

    A not awful SLC but literally smelt like dung.

    A woodie that is neither good or bad. It isn't like fun, and it also isn't torture. It doesn't feel like any type of woodie basically.

    And a rotating standing tilting uncomfy drop tower. Yeah. So we'll leave this area now

    There was this simulator with John Cleese! That was kinda quirky but very rough
     
    So we went to Nickland which features a rapids in its own area. The rapids area starts at the rides entrance and ends at the rides exit. Good job guys

    It is however very well themed and had some decent rapid sections

    Nickland was atrocious. Filled with standard rides with minimal theming

    We also got spited by (not this one) a Jimmy Neutron 'themed' suspended vekoma flyer family thing.

    You can get wet by Dora though so there you go lads  
     
    But we'll end on a few highs!

    The parks stunt show was fab. One of my faves out there



    was a very good show. I was very happy!
     
    And then the true gem of the park

    This ride is so simple as a coaster. It is just a Gerstlauer bobsled but the whole experience is fab. It's punchy, well themed, good effects and some great music. Again, the less said about it the better but yeah and the queue moved really well!

    you can have a photo of the car  
     
    And to end our day we went into the shop

    MUG.
     
    Next time we go to Efteling for the Symbolica opening weekend and their summer festival thing! And then maybe, just maybe we make it Liseberg before I get too busy again  
     
  5. Mitchada04
    In this final instalment of my Florida adventure we look at 3 parks in the dark, SeaWorld, Universal Studios and Island's of Adventure.

    So let's begin!

    With SeaWorld's beautiful tree!

    Because it's Christmas!

    So even the lake was full of trees!

    There was an ice rink

    Red SkyTower

    A Christmas train set

    Decorations

    Mythical beasts

    Penguins

    Another tree

    And fountains!
    So SeaWorld is beautiful at night especially with Kraken and Manta!

    And welcome to Universal Studios!

    Where the minions were lit up!

    A concert under Rockit

    Lit up Optimus

    Their Christmas tree

    Water screens

    With minions, lasers and fireworks!

    Bye bye Studios

    Here we come Islands!

    Where the Discovery Centre lit up the lake

    Suess was bright as ever

    With one fish

    And a cat

    Down in Hogsmeade Dragons were challenging

    And the lake was glowing!

    One of the best area entrances got better!

    With night time adventures

    And the Discovery Centre up close

    A Lagoon of Toon!

    Home to Dudley

    Popeye

    And partying dogs

    But watch out

    (terrible image) Doctor Doom is about!

    But so is Spidey! We're safe again

    Watch out

    It's not going to work

    The Hulk.
    And that concludes my Florida adventure. I hope you've enjoyed reading all my entries
×
×
  • Create New...