Mitchada04

This is the final instalment in a 4-part series about my travels around Asia earlier this year, and some of the decidedly different Parks I encountered whilst I was there:
 
SuốI Tiên, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Đầm Sen, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Siam Park City, Bangkok, Thailand Dream World, Bangkok, Thailand  
Of all the Theme Parks I visited during my Asia Adventure, the one most traditionally "themed" was undoubtedly Thailand's Dream World.
 
Part 4: Dream World
 

 
Not to be confused with the famous Park of the same name in Queensland, Australia, Thailand's Dream World is billed by much tourist paraphernalia as being the country's version of Disney World, Orlando. But whilst you can certainly see how the Park has been influenced by its American counterpart, the end result is a little different.
 
As with Siam Park City, getting to Dream World is only really possible via car, especially given that the Park actually sits outside the city of Bangkok itself, in the Pathum Thani province. Getting there involves inevitably sitting in a henious Bangkok traffic jam, although my hour-long trip from my hotel (27 miles) clearly pales into significance compared to other horror stories: "...two or three weeks ago, travelling from Pathum Thani to central Bangkok, it took four and a half hours...".
 

 
From the start it was clear that Dream World was the most developed of all the Asian Parks I had visited - the drive to the Park involves crossing a pink Dream-World-branded bridge with castles / turrets / flags aplenty on the way in. And it was also packed - clearly a popular choice for a day out for both locals and tourists alike (unlike the other Parks I visited, there was a noticeable tourist contingent in Dream World's customer base).
 
The entrance to the Park is pretty impressive, with a colourful castle and bold signage standing amongst pretty and well maintained foliage. So far, so good!
 

 
Surprisingly, given the clear increase in quality on offer, Dream World was not the most expensive Asian Theme Park I'd visited, at just 800 Baht (£15.58) for a "tourist" ticket, including all the rides and entry to the Snow Town (more on that later!).
 
For comparison, Siam Park City had come in at 900 Baht (£17.25), although this also included entry to the waterpark as well. As with Siam Park City, the Park operates a two-tier entry policy, with locals paying significantly reduced rates vs. tourists...
 
Entering the Park is a surreal but fun experience, with some of the most randomly placed themeing I've seen for a while.
 

 
And the cutesy-Asian theme continued as you walk down the very pretty promenade to the large lake at the centre of the Park. I'm not sure whether this is supposed to be a cat / mouse / Pikachu?
 

 
Once at the lake, a variety of mascots were there for photo opportunities including the Park's main mascot, a rotund red animal of some description, sporting a Dream World hat.
 

 
Note the seriously impressive horticultural effort put into the Park, which far surpassed any of the other Asian Parks I had visited.
 

 
Mr. Bean is reportedly one of the UK's biggest foreign entertainment exports, having been sold to nearly 200 TV territories worldwide, so it really should have been no surprise to find him at Dream World, complete with comedy wet umbrella. Reminded me at little of the Les Parapluies de Cherbourg umbrella effect in Walt Disney Studios at DLRP...!
 

 
So the Park had made a very favourable impression on me so far, but what of the rides?
 
Well, as with Siam Park City, Dream World had a pretty solid roster of original Western-made attractions, rather than anything cheaper / less reliable / less comfortable...! And the headline attraction was a rather rare Vekoma Swinging Turns ride by the name of Sky Coaster.
 
Originally opened at World Expo Park in Queensland, Australia in 1988, and moved to Dream World in 1994, the ride is only one of three Vekoma Swinging Turns attractions ever made. I had ridden one of the other two at Bobbejaanland, Belgium, and the third is located in Mitsui Greenland, Japan. As with Dream Catcher at Bobbejaanland, this version of the ride had been retro-fitted with new Vekoma floorless swinging trains, rather than the original enclosed version - much like Vekoma did for Arrow's Vampire trains at Chessington.
 
It also sported a fab dragon / Loch Ness Monster(?) topiary...
 

 
As with Bobbejaanland's version, the ride was good fun, although more on the side of "pleasant" rather than "thrilling". Only towards the end of the ride and in the tighter helices did the train pick up enough speed to deliver any pops of real excitement.
 
The experience was very smooth though and was a clear hit with the crowds - the ride had the longest queues I saw all day, at points reaching an hour! The ride also had an on-ride photography booth situated at the exit - the first I'd seen on my Asian travels.
 

 
Alas the station wasn't particularly well themed, unless the theme was supposed to be "tin shed"...
 

 
Next up, more Vekoma goodness in the form of Space Mountain. Now if ever the Park were inviting comparisons to Disney, they certainly were here...!
 
Space Mountain was - as with Sky Coaster - relocated from World Expo Park in 1994, and uses Vekoma's MK-900 guage track, much like the overly-long Temple of the Night Hawk at Phantasialand and the shorter/sweeter Vogel Rok at Efteling.
 

 
The ride was very well presented though, with solid space-based themeing throughout. And it, like Sky Coaster, was very popular with the crowds.
 
As such, the queue was especially uncomfortable to wait in, given the large volume of people, fairly slow operations, and the fact it was still baking hot. Have I mentioned in this series of Trip Reports that Thailand in April is really quite hot?! It really is.
 
Hallelujah for the queueline fans / misters!
 

 
How many dark rides do you know where the track layout is stuck up on the wall by the entrance? No surprises about what was in store for us on Space Mountain then...
 

 
Overall I liked Space Mountain - a good length family ride with some exciting turns and drops, largely because the entire ride is in pitch darkness, so riders have no idea what's coming. Alas some trademark Vekoma-roughness was present, but overall it was a lot of fun.
 

 
Looking in the direction of the supporting attractions in the Park, visitors find a good set of Western-made flats and flumes, all presented in a very colourful way.
 
Hurricane, the Park's Huss Top Spin for example, has to sport the most vibrant paint job that I've ever seen...!
 

 
New for 2014 was Tornado, which stood resplendent in orange and yellow, and came sponsored by a famous Asian Green Tea company. I've not ridden many Technical Park (Italy) flat rides before, but this provided some impressive ejector airtime at the top of each swing. Strong Gs as well, which when combined with the heat, made me quite light headed indeed.
 
The ride also had an on-ride photo offer - although the photos were taken manually, by a Park employee with a DSLR...!
 

 
Dream World also boasts a Shoot the Chutes flume made by Hopkins, called Super Splash. This version was shorter (16m) than Tidal Wave at Thorpe (26m), although the splash just as drenching. But who's complaining in this weather?!
 

 
Also welcome in the Bangkok heat: Snow Town. The attraction is very popular with the locals (Snow! In a tropical city!), and as such carries an extra charge on top of the usual entrance ticket. Happily, it is included as part of the tourist ticket, so I gave it a go.
 

 
Temperatures inside Snow Town are around -5°C, a good 40°C difference between the temperatures outside Snow Town - so the Park gave out free puffa jackets and wellington boots to all those entering, in much the same way that Đầm Sen did for their Ice Palace attraction, Bằng Băng.
 

 
Snow Town was a surreal experience, with one half of the building a heavily themed snow dome...
 

 
...and the other an icy speed slide! This was a lot of fun, but felt pretty precarious - lean too far backwards/forwards/sideways on the inflatable sleds and you'll topple out onto the hard, bumpy ice underneath. Thankfully I kept it together, but the runway at the bottom wasn't long enough, so I ended up careering headlong into the side of the building.
 
I suspect the Park are aware of the potential for accidents here, choosing to station a good 4-5 employees at the bottom of the run to catch / comfort those who overshoot / have fallen out of their sled...
 

 
If Snow Town wasn't a surreal enough experience, it's worth showing some of the other oddities in Dream World, which make the Park somewhat unique.
 
For example, navigating the Park was more entertaining than usual, thanks to this guy.
 

 
And the Park's toilets were often decked out with a statue of some sort, in this case of a grown man in a bath wearing a nappy...
 

 
...and in this case of a constipated baby on a potty.
 

 
And this guy seems to just have that sinking feeling...!
 

 
Anyway - back to the rides. And the last coaster of the day was Speedy Mouse, a Cavazza Diego kiddie model opened in 2006, in replacement of the Park's previous ride, Speedy Mouse! The original was a standard Big Apple ride, which ran from 2003 - 2005, but thankfully the replacement was not a like-for-like swap, but a new ride / layout altogether.
 
The second Speedy Mouse, as seen below, was bought from a Family Entertainment Centre in Bangkok.
 

 
The ride was surprisingly good, with a good whip-around during the first drop, and a tight helix towards the end - its bark was definitely weaker than its bite!
 
Vastly superior to the previous Big Apple incarnation, I have no doubt.
 

 
Other supporting rides at the Park included the Vikings pirate ship (background) and Bump Boat (foreground) - both pretty self explanatory.
 

 
Disney-parallels abound once again with the Haunted Mansion walkthrough attraction, which featured multiple levels and all kinds of zombies / mummies / deceased people popping up / out at you.
 

 
The Park also had a Cable Car transportation system, which seemed to require a lot of manual effort to move the cars around when in the stations...
 

 
Alien was a similar ride in many ways to Alien Encounter: Extra Terrorestrial at, erm, Disney World (now replaced by Stitch). Clearly a newer ride at the Park, after a video-based pre-show, riders sit and watch an anamatronic alien sequence, which then turns more sinister as the attraction is plunged into complete darkness, and the "aliens" wreak havoc with riders seats etc.
 
Pretty well done to be honest (if not a complete rip off of the Mouse), but not really my cup of tea.
 

 
There was also a 4D Adventure attraction, but given that my knowledge of Thai is poor at best, I gave the screening a miss.
 

 
And finally, one of the most weird and wonderful attractions at Dream World is Giant House, which is a short walk through a - you guessed it - Giant's House. Think of Honey I Shrunk the Audience, but "real"!
 

 
This was really nicely done, with a bedroom, lounge and kitchen area for guests to walk through and investigate. Quite bizarre!
 

 
And one final parting shot of Dream World: this was the entrance to the Fantasy Land area, where a lot of the kiddie rides were located. Great to see so much attention has gone into the presentation of this Park, with areas like this almost approaching the standards of major Western Parks.
 

 
Dream World, then, is a great day out, and I can recommend it to anyone holidaying in Bangkok. What it lacks in thrill rides and coasters (see Siam Park City for those), it more than makes up for in presentation and theme. And it's pretty big too - there are many rides and attractions not shown in this Trip Report, including Grand Canyon rapids, Hollywood Stunt Show, and kids Water Fun play area.
 
The Park's investment in appearance and focus on the family market is clearly paying off, as Dream World had the largest crowds of all of the Parks I visited on my Asia Adventure. The Disney model, it seems, is not a bad one to follow. And with one or two more "headline" attractions, I think the place would be a real winner.
 
~
 
That's the end of my Asia Adventure Trip Reports - I hope you enjoyed the tours! Comments? Please post below!

Me and Toofpikk thought we'd head down to Paramount Park last Friday. It STILL isn't ready, clearly didn't get ultimate planning fastrack, only standard. So we went on a random adventure through a £2 tunnel to some place. We had no idea where though.

They had delicious milkshakes but that didn't help.

This place was obsessed with pink and yellow.

Like this Fireball thing.

Look at the pink and yellow!

We just couldn't think what theme park was obsessed with pink and yellow.

They had an Elvis. Must be America

And a BIG wheel. But that doesn't mean anything, loads of places have these.

See. Pink and yellow.

Back here again. Not sure where this was but we found it 9 times.

Ohhhh. We were at Rage Southend On Sea. No that's not right.

WHY IS THIS PLACE SO BADLY ADVERTISED

All day we were confused. No idea where we were.

Thorpe Park have dodgems. Maybe I was at Thorpe Park.

No Thorpe Park doesn't have the only Archelon in the UK! But I don''t know which park does

Railway. Useful that.

Vortex. It would be so easy to brand this ride with the park it's at!

This is a Gerstlauer. It says so on the seats.

Why would I take a selfie with a bunny when I can't even check in on Facebook as I've no idea where I am!

It's okay though, we found our answer.

We were at a 5 star loo all day I feel so privileged!

Bye bye 5 star loo! Was a great day out.

Welcome to the theatre. Please take your seats, the show is about to begin!


This will definitely be the Big One.

Orchestra ready!

Water effects ready!

It's time to...

Immerse your senses in the biggest spectacular of all time!

The 4D experience with a Blackpool Tower Post Show!

It's a small world from up here. Only the most realistic effects are used within this show.

Quick the bad guys have arrived! (sorry I didn't have time to finish this set off)

Vikings are bad guys with a hatred for pirates.

A fight scene so early on you ask? The ending won't be that good so it's okay.

Take to your horses

And ride away like brave cowards.

Watch out for the flying dog though!

NOT SHAUN

Dora has finished exploring though and finally saves the day!

And all is calm in Lancashire Town Play once more.

Too quiet for Wallace and Gromit...

Streak away!

And no, this isn't a family friendly play.

Because we have the biggest big one

Impossible speed effects being used

But don't worry, we have lights

Waltzer

Pleasure!

Sorry about the lack of intervals. The show loses speed if it takes a break.

Like it's just trying to fill time

The interval would be boring anyway. Would definitely try and kill you.
Time for the sparkling dazzling all glitzing finale!

Tadah.

Here comes the staff bus to take all the alcoholics who wrote this beautiful production home.

BYE!

Come back next year or we'll come get you...

Some people went to Thorpe. Some to Towers to watch some fireworks. Some to Blackpool to ride some things at a time rowdy youths should be in bed but are instead in Blackpool riding things (interpret that how you wish).
Last year my season ended at the last night of FN (we'll ignore Florida as that never closes) and it has been that way for many seasons. This year I decided to do something different, Kempton Park Fireworks!

A lot of other people did too.

Just a sea of heads.

But it had a different atmosphere to a theme park. Funfairs always do. It was lively, fun, just pure enjoyment!

As we weren't scared of standing on the wet mud we got a lovely clear view!

See.

Flash

Boom

Fizzle

Just look at them.







TADAH! There were more but I was enjoying it too much to take loads of pictures. The display was good with the theme being superheroes so many superhero themes were played. It all worked well, only thing was the finale where no one actually knew it had finished as it just ended abruptly but the music still played. Other than that a great display!
But... that wasn't all. Obviously there was a fun fair in place and many rides which I hate had to be done.

Although I love these.

I'm talking about the Ferris Wheel.

OMG A DUCK. Oh and a KMG but meh.

This was running really meh for normal people which was great for me as I hate Twisters

Saving my Funhouse money for Alpen thanks.

Extreme (Funfair people probably know the technical name, tristar maybe?)


Much better than Vortex.

Extreme again. It's like Time Machine but less quirky.


Where'd all the people go?

Oh Body Count must have taken them (again don't know the technical name, it's kinda like Dragons Claw)

Fun.
Now as the season draws to a close I leave you with the most amazing thing ever. Didn't ride it it was so awesome.

FOGT!!!!!!!!

Some people went to Thorpe. Some to Towers to watch some fireworks. Some to Blackpool to ride some things at a time rowdy youths should be in bed but are instead in Blackpool riding things (interpret that how you wish).
Last year my season ended at the last night of FN (we'll ignore Florida as that never closes) and it has been that way for many seasons. This year I decided to do something different, Kempton Park Fireworks!

A lot of other people did too.

Just a sea of heads.

But it had a different atmosphere to a theme park. Funfairs always do. It was lively, fun, just pure enjoyment!

As we weren't scared of standing on the wet mud we got a lovely clear view!

See.

Flash

Boom

Fizzle

Just look at them.







TADAH! There were more but I was enjoying it too much to take loads of pictures. The display was good with the theme being superheroes so many superhero themes were played. It all worked well, only thing was the finale where no one actually knew it had finished as it just ended abruptly but the music still played. Other than that a great display!
But... that wasn't all. Obviously there was a fun fair in place and many rides which I hate had to be done.

Although I love these.

I'm talking about the Ferris Wheel.

OMG A DUCK. Oh and a KMG but meh.

This was running really meh for normal people which was great for me as I hate Twisters

Saving my Funhouse money for Alpen thanks.

Extreme (Funfair people probably know the technical name, tristar maybe?)


Much better than Vortex.

Extreme again. It's like Time Machine but less quirky.


Where'd all the people go?

Oh Body Count must have taken them (again don't know the technical name, it's kinda like Dragons Claw)

Fun.
Now as the season draws to a close I leave you with the most amazing thing ever. Didn't ride it it was so awesome.

FOGT!!!!!!!!

Some people went to Thorpe. Some to Towers to watch some fireworks. Some to Blackpool to ride some things at a time rowdy youths should be in bed but are instead in Blackpool riding things (interpret that how you wish).
Last year my season ended at the last night of FN (we'll ignore Florida as that never closes) and it has been that way for many seasons. This year I decided to do something different, Kempton Park Fireworks!

A lot of other people did too.

Just a sea of heads.

But it had a different atmosphere to a theme park. Funfairs always do. It was lively, fun, just pure enjoyment!

As we weren't scared of standing on the wet mud we got a lovely clear view!

See.

Flash

Boom

Fizzle

Just look at them.







TADAH! There were more but I was enjoying it too much to take loads of pictures. The display was good with the theme being superheroes so many superhero themes were played. It all worked well, only thing was the finale where no one actually knew it had finished as it just ended abruptly but the music still played. Other than that a great display!
But... that wasn't all. Obviously there was a fun fair in place and many rides which I hate had to be done.

Although I love these.

I'm talking about the Ferris Wheel.

OMG A DUCK. Oh and a KMG but meh.

This was running really meh for normal people which was great for me as I hate Twisters

Saving my Funhouse money for Alpen thanks.

Extreme (Funfair people probably know the technical name, tristar maybe?)


Much better than Vortex.

Extreme again. It's like Time Machine but less quirky.


Where'd all the people go?

Oh Body Count must have taken them (again don't know the technical name, it's kinda like Dragons Claw)

Fun.
Now as the season draws to a close I leave you with the most amazing thing ever. Didn't ride it it was so awesome.

FOGT!!!!!!!!

Some people went to Thorpe. Some to Towers to watch some fireworks. Some to Blackpool to ride some things at a time rowdy youths should be in bed but are instead in Blackpool riding things (interpret that how you wish).
Last year my season ended at the last night of FN (we'll ignore Florida as that never closes) and it has been that way for many seasons. This year I decided to do something different, Kempton Park Fireworks!

A lot of other people did too.

Just a sea of heads.

But it had a different atmosphere to a theme park. Funfairs always do. It was lively, fun, just pure enjoyment!

As we weren't scared of standing on the wet mud we got a lovely clear view!

See.

Flash

Boom

Fizzle

Just look at them.







TADAH! There were more but I was enjoying it too much to take loads of pictures. The display was good with the theme being superheroes so many superhero themes were played. It all worked well, only thing was the finale where no one actually knew it had finished as it just ended abruptly but the music still played. Other than that a great display!
But... that wasn't all. Obviously there was a fun fair in place and many rides which I hate had to be done.

Although I love these.

I'm talking about the Ferris Wheel.

OMG A DUCK. Oh and a KMG but meh.

This was running really meh for normal people which was great for me as I hate Twisters

Saving my Funhouse money for Alpen thanks.

Extreme (Funfair people probably know the technical name, tristar maybe?)


Much better than Vortex.

Extreme again. It's like Time Machine but less quirky.


Where'd all the people go?

Oh Body Count must have taken them (again don't know the technical name, it's kinda like Dragons Claw)

Fun.
Now as the season draws to a close I leave you with the most amazing thing ever. Didn't ride it it was so awesome.

FOGT!!!!!!!!

Some people went to Thorpe. Some to Towers to watch some fireworks. Some to Blackpool to ride some things at a time rowdy youths should be in bed but are instead in Blackpool riding things (interpret that how you wish).
Last year my season ended at the last night of FN (we'll ignore Florida as that never closes) and it has been that way for many seasons. This year I decided to do something different, Kempton Park Fireworks!

A lot of other people did too.

Just a sea of heads.

But it had a different atmosphere to a theme park. Funfairs always do. It was lively, fun, just pure enjoyment!

As we weren't scared of standing on the wet mud we got a lovely clear view!

See.

Flash

Boom

Fizzle

Just look at them.







TADAH! There were more but I was enjoying it too much to take loads of pictures. The display was good with the theme being superheroes so many superhero themes were played. It all worked well, only thing was the finale where no one actually knew it had finished as it just ended abruptly but the music still played. Other than that a great display!
But... that wasn't all. Obviously there was a fun fair in place and many rides which I hate had to be done.

Although I love these.

I'm talking about the Ferris Wheel.

OMG A DUCK. Oh and a KMG but meh.

This was running really meh for normal people which was great for me as I hate Twisters

Saving my Funhouse money for Alpen thanks.

Extreme (Funfair people probably know the technical name, tristar maybe?)


Much better than Vortex.

Extreme again. It's like Time Machine but less quirky.


Where'd all the people go?

Oh Body Count must have taken them (again don't know the technical name, it's kinda like Dragons Claw)

Fun.
Now as the season draws to a close I leave you with the most amazing thing ever. Didn't ride it it was so awesome.

FOGT!!!!!!!!

Hi and welcome to Part 4, the final instalment of Creaky Northern Adventure. After a pleasurable day at the pleasure beach, a night of exploring two of Blackpool's [best] piers and a not so bright Coral Island, the trip was set to continue on the 2nd day which would conclude the trip. The big question, where would be heading to next?

With so much to do at Blackpool, you'd struggle so much to find any exciting attractions and ones that stand out from the others, after all it's not there's any other tall landmarks on the seafront.




Of course, there's one thing there we should visit. The Blackpool Tower AKA Merpool Tower, because of the fact it's located in Blackpool and owned by Merlin, it even holds two typical traits two by having not the longest of opening hours and includes it's own bed of scaffolding.

However before we go up to the eye of the tower, I think it's time to go and explore a pretty common Merlin chain attraction that seems to be getting around a lot of places these days. This place is, The Burger Kitchen
Of course it wasn't [although FYI there actually is a Burger Kitchen on the 2nd floor of the tower] as we explored Blackpool's take on the Dungeons. So, What did I think? I thought they were actually very good actually, a lot of the scenes have the same high quality, gross, immersive experience the ones in London have [and in some ways a little better too]. The drop tower was certainly better at this one and despite getting more of a ride at the London one, it certainly feels a lot more coherent here as it feels like you're actually going up to be executed and then dropped when you're sentenced.
A very decent attraction, not to be helped by the wonderful Natalie on tickets . The only flaws in the whole attraction for me was the bit with the Saxons/Vikings felt a bit meh due to it mostly being a cinema screen with things going and bits moving [though it's good they added that bit of history though], the stairs going down in the forest which detracted things a little, I'm sure not much could've been done in the building, but still not forest in the world has stairs [a slope would be a better option IMO] and the arcade at the entrance which just detracts a little [there's video arcades everywhere].

A tasty Fish & Chips for lunch and admiring of the sea front and it was time to experience the Blackpool Circus. Unfortunately cameras/photos were not allowed [another typical Merlin trait] and anyone was caught with one, they would stop the show and get a staff member to take it off you and give it back at the end .
The circus was great fun, filled with humour, excitement and amusement throughout. I did particularly enjoy Mooky the clown with his funny jokes and interactions, especially at the end when they got members of the audience involved to act out a simple silent movie/play which was such fun to watch [WHY WHY WHYYYYY Delilah].
The rest was good too. With BMX cyclists, strong man, motorbike ball racers, synchronised swimmers/acrobats, beautiful gorgeous showgirls and even a working fountain [Merlin aren't good with working fountains], it made an amazing show to experience that definitely reflected and summed up the life, soul and atmosphere that Blackpool provides. I can definitely see why they call it Vegas of the north now.

Once we fountained out of the fairly big top [but it's actually on the lowest level of the tower], it was time to have a look at the Blackpool Ballroom, which despite not being the cup of tea for most of group was certainly a grand gem located there, with it's grand old fashioned decor, sea side/old time atmosphere and the grand Wurlitzer with it's distinctive rich tone playing out throughout the dance floor. Tpm's Mer and Peaj even took a dance on the floor of this famous ballroom.

Waltzing away from the ballroom now and it was time to complete the tower's attractions with a flight to the top of the tower itself. Built in 1894 [100 years before Nemesis was awakened back down at Towers], the tower was born. Standing at a staggering 518ft [480 accessible to the public], the tower can be seen for miles. It's design was also inspired from the Eiffel tower in Paris too [near Euro Disney].

The tower offers some simply breathtaking views from above giving sights for many miles of the surrounding area which is so beautiful to see. I'll let you see for yourself rather than bore you with more talking.




You can even see the big One.








You get some beautiful views, until the [Merlin] safety net obstructs [for safety of course] and getting good pics is then a lot harder to achieve.












The viewing platform



It's a bit like a prison. A pretty prison in the sky.





And that was it! Blackpool tower offers some truly remarkable views of the whole surrounding area. I may have wandered back to the Merlin circle, but it was well worth it for this jewel and new credit, not to mention I've now got myself another new resin and souvenir from my fantastic trip here. Legoland Discovery Centre & Warick Castle are now the only unique Merlin attractions I'm yet to do in UK aside from the countless Dungeons and Sealifes [JoshC].
Blackpool also has a sea life and Madame Tussauds I hear you say? Unfortunately we didn't manage to try these attractions as not everyone in our party had a MAP at the time and also it was time call Blackpool time as it was getting late and as most had school, uni or work the next day none of us wanted to be too late! These weren't the big losses at the end of the day as the Sealife is probably similar to the one in London and much of the Madame Tussaud's material are items no longer needed from the London attraction.
Once walking back to our cars, we said our farewells and it was time to say goodbye to Blackpool and hello to the long journey home with hours of motorway, traffic, seating with only company, ride themes and a cheeky mcdonlads on the way to keep me going.
I had a fantastic trip in Blackpool and thoroughly enjoyed it. The Pleasure Beach was brilliant, The tower was Brilliant, The Cirucs was brilliant and the Dungeons, Ballroom, Piers and the rest were also very good, not to mention the great company I had up here that weekend too, with some great laughs, TPM Twister, Late Dominoes pizza etc. If amusement parks, Video arcades, sea sides, exciting nightlife and impressive shows,illuminations and random midway attractions are your thing, Blackpool is the place for you!
It would be very easy to spend a week or even a fortnight out here as there's so much to do. Two days at the Pleasure Beach, One day at the waterpark and Piers, two at the Tower and surrounding midways along with another two chilling, visiting the arcades and more of the night life and culture and you're easily already got plenty to do with a week's visit here, plus there's plenty of hotels and BNB's near or along the seafront.
One day I hope to return here again for another visit and re-experience the great things I did on the last trip and some ones I didn't do last time, including the missed out ride creeds at the Pleasure Beach [River Caves, Flying Machines, Nickland etc.] among others. The only problem with Blackpool is it's such a b**** to get to as it takes 4-5 hours each way to get as it's so far away, not to mention the horrendous traffic on the road and you need to really stop a couple of times on the way to get food rest your legs and use the facilities once in a while, but apart from that, it's good.
Big Thanks goes to Peaj, Scary Coasterboy, Mr Fish and many others for making this trip possible and helping arrangements towards the fantastic weekend it became. Hopefully I'll be reporting on another major park someday outside the Uk Merlin circle again, although if it's a while then it could well take the Mickey .

Here it is, my blog on my trip to Florida! It will be split up into 5 entries, 1 on each of the parks: SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, LEGOLAND Florida, Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios.
Because it is always such a relaxed park and was the start and end to our holiday, first up is SeaWorld!

It's just a lovely place to walk into and as the holidays were approaching, everywhere was all Christmassy! What more could you want?
Of course, a B&M flyer with a water splash right in front of you as you turn the corner.

What's its name I hear you ask...

And up they go!
The ride is amazing, such force on the pretzel loop and a great flying experience with some decent interaction with the waterfall entrance feature. Definitely stands proud on SeaWorld's skyline! What also makes this ride great is that if you hate rides, there is a lovely aquarium next door which shares the tank you walk past in the ride queue and has some of its own species such as an octopus.


Moving on we find ourselves at yet more stingrays, so we must be at Stingray Lagoon!

This pool allows you to stroke (if that's what you'd call it) stingrays! They do like to splash around though which is always good fun!
On our way to Trek with some Turtles, these fellas swam by.

Blue Horizons (dolphin show) is a great mix of music, colour and dolphins.


Woah dude!

Look a turtle!

2 turtles!
Turtle Trek is a lovely new attraction. Whilst I wasn't a massive fan of having to queue to see the underwater viewing, 5 minutes isn't bad and the 3D 360 degree movie was a great story! And the music in that area is so calming and relaxing.
Time for some sunbathing.

Who doesn't love alligators?

Journey To Atlantis was next and I have to say, this is the ride that needs refurbing next! The dark ride bit is seriously outdated in its effects, makes little sense and is wasted potential. It just shows how old it is especially with the dark rides being made by Uni. Other than that, a good fun water ride with a coastery final drop.

The Kraken awaited us!

Fortunately it was wide awake so we didn't have to disturb it.

Poor Kraken never gets any sleep with these sea lions and gulls around!

Pirate Island! Clyde and Seamore save the day in what has to be my favourite show at SeaWorld. The humour is great and the audience interaction is amazing. A tip for everyone, get to this show 20 minutes early, it is so worth being there that early!

Next up we travelled to a different place entirely, Antarctica!

Where they also celebrate Christmas.


This icy world transports you to the freezing cold penguin environment.



The enclosure is superb! The ride good fun (mild is very mild wild is basically mild) but nonetheless a decent ride and a big improvement on the old penguin area.

Continuing on we ascended this 300ft SkyTower.

Previously you've had to pay for this but now it is free for everyone and offers some great views of the park and surrounding area. You can clearly see the Epcot ball, Tower of Terror, Space Mountain and Doctor Dooms Freefall.




Jaws I mean Shark Encounter followed and hopefully this will be the next enclosure to get a refurb once the Shamu one is complete.



We then had a go on the flamingo boats.

Saw some actual flamingos and went on the quest for Shamu!

As Shamu's area was being improved I hereby name this squirrel who was on the construction fence Shamu (We could have watched the show but always missed it and weren't overly fussed.

The Polar Express will help us move along swiftly...
To the end of our Sea World adventure, but don't fear, the adventure will continue at Busch Gardens very soon!

Our penultimate instalment takes us to what has become my favourite theme park...

Welcome to Universal Studios Florida!


What will this chapter of our adventure have in store I wonder?

The Cat in the Hat shall enlighten us!

Let's start back...

To the Future

Now home to Jebediah

Lard Lad

And Clumsy Wigum!

Watch out for Kang and Kudos though! They'll put you in a spin

And make you a bit Tipsy

Or Sirly.

DuffMan doesn't care though

As long as you buy Duff!

And then treat yourself to a Krusty Burger thanks too

Krusty himself!

Moving on we have

Men In Black!

Which really isn't a disaster (even though some peoples scores were!)

Something tells me the Amity retheme has gone a bit overboard...

Christmas Tree was Rocking out over the Christmas period!

Really it's a massive grey shed.

Hiding a red train.

Time for a musical interlude

Not enough?

Have some Blues Brothers as well!

Warning Civilians, your help is needed!

E7 Error!

E7!!

Optimus Prime needs your help (or just wants whatever he is pointing at, probably a dink)

We were called away from the music to try and stop a doll?

This I can understand, but really, a doll?!

Of course not, this was the Horror Makeup Show!

What's this?

Hop?

Ohhh, the film about a bunny!

Garfield didn't want candy so instead

This was actually due to Macy's parade. The All Star Parade didn't happen while we were there so every half hour one of the 4 floats/routines would come out and do a performance followed by a meet and greet. The 4 acts were Hop, Despicable Me, Dora, and SpongeBob! On our first day it was a huge surprise but a great one at that!

Shrek 4D

And to conclude let's talk about in my opinion an overly underrated ride (or highly criticised for flaws that have been resolved/improved)

Hollywood

Rip

Ride

Rockit!


This element is great, really pushes you out of your seat and a great high speed change in direction!
It's a fun ride which has massively improved since I rode it in 2009!
Opinions are free and everyone is entitled to their own but these are mine.

And this Twister of events brings us to the end.
A little write up on two things before I finish.
Transformers: Using the same technology as Spiderman this is a brilliant dark ride and is much more screen based than Spidey (that's why I prefer Spiderman over it) but it certainly feels much more involved at times with the riders being a key role to the story.
Despicable Me: The ride basis is exactly the same as Jimmy Neutron but just a much more complete experience with more pre shows and guest interaction. And MINIONS! Enough said.
So thanks again for reading and we hope to see you one more time!

Day 13 – Return of the Macks Part 1
A bright and early morning led us down to a nice breakfast before the 8:30 ERT on Blue Fire.






Afterwards we decided to hang around and wait for Arthur to open, however when we did get to the entrance it was having issues and was playing the closed game. As a result we went back to Austria and did Alpenexpress and the Wildwasserbahn for the Cave of fantastic smells before a quick whirl on the Chairswings







Heading back and Arthur was open, so we joined the main queue which spends most of the time outside the building at the moment (although there were many unused cattle pens within). It’s quite an interesting ride to watch from the outside, especially when it stacks and a train just randomly stops on the final helix. The queue moved quickly inside to the locker area, which is a weird system, as you get batched into small groups into a coloured area, scan your park ticket and get given a locker before moving on to the station.
The seats are comfy as per the norm and quickly we’ve off into the world of the Minimoys, through a cool enough transition but not hidden from view so you see it constantly prior to riding. The scenes are quite well done (although the second major scene didn’t work at all on our first ride), and have plenty to look at, loosely following the story of the first two films. Paradise Alley is clearly the best scene in the dark ride portion, before the Winjas inspired fly around the area (made better by the Inverted nature of the ride) and one last random scene before a quick flight back outside and into the farewell scene.
From a coaster point of view, Arthur isn’t the best, but as a dark ride it’s pretty much the best one they have there. Which is of course not saying much, as Europa’s dark rides are pretty much the epitome of cheap rip-offs, especially Piraten in Batavia. But still, it’s a very enjoyable ride and the kids seemed to really love it, and that’s who it’s aimed that really, not us weird English people who didn’t like the film (because the English version is dire, the uncut European one has an actual storyline).










We then did the other two rides in the area, Mul Mul Carousel, a mini Dumbo type ride and Poppy Tower, a kids drop tower that looks like it should have two of them rather than one. Perhaps the delays affected this as well? There are also a few slides and other things for kids to do around the area. We then used Arthur’s single rider queue which is quite effective, and doesn’t mean you have to leave your bag in a locker either. The second scene also worked that time, which was at least something, usually a broken scene would be broken all day over here.










Up next we got some Crepes, and joined the Silver Star queue, which summed up Europa in a nutshell. All the extensions open, even outside, the queue is stretching up towards EuroSat, the total waiting time? 50 minutes. Considering the park did a 12 hour day that day as well, it’s an unbelievable testament to how Europa very often do things right.
As for Silver Star, it’s still a decent enough coaster, after riding Shambhala it didn’t reach those heady heights, but I still think the s-bend finale is a brilliant finish to the ride.



A quick hop on the EP Express to Spain led us to some shows. Firstly the Flamenco Show, which was actually really good, especially when the man and his balls on a string brought up a volunteer from the audience and proceeded to terrify her. Viva Ventura was next, which was relatively entertaining again, but I don’t think it was as good as the show I saw two years ago. Felt a bit more serious rather than the tongue-in-cheek shows of before.


We caught some lunch and watched the parade go by before heading off to our next ride, Crazy Taxi, purely because we were walking past it and there wasn’t a queue. I do like the Demolition Derby rides though; just find them a good laugh.
We continued onto EuroSat, which had a 30 minute queue but randomly stopped running for a short time. Not sure why, but the queue was still it’s fast paced self when running. The ride was also relentless and fast-paced, another ride I really enjoy, especially the lift hill rave times it provides. We then did Universe of Energy, because again I like it’s cheesy and crap dark ride existence, and it also didn’t have a queue.










A dark ride which DID have a queue however was Abenteur Atlantis. Yep, the park was so busy that even this, a ride that has never seen a queue in many people’s visits had a queue coming out the door. This was a complete travesty really, as why should I be expected to wait 8 minutes for this? I also like Abenteur, one of the better interactive dark rides even if a lot of it is just 2D cut-outs, it suits the childish theme it has around it.



Pegasus was next, the two train operation making the queue move really quickly, shame that idiotic families couldn’t do the same thing and have the entire group queue in one row. Idiots. EuroMir then happened for more lift hill raving times and that randomly intense helix from nowhere. We hopped on the train all around the park for an extended sit-down before popping into the rather fab Historama, so many filler rides so little time at Europa, and Historama is just fab because it’s the park saying how amazing they are, but with the evidence to back up such a claim.








The final cheesy dark ride of the day was Piraten in Batavia, which had some new effects in a water curtain after the drop into the show building. It’s so crap, especially after experiencing Fata Morgana, but it also has this charm because it is so crap. Very weird indeed. We hopped onto the Island Monorail for a stop off at the Kaffee Hus because cake was required, before briefly watching the Dive Show. Then we beat the crowds onto Atlantica Supersplash, where the most interesting thing was that we saw them take the 5th boat off into storage because there was no need for 5 on the circuit anymore.






It was slowly coming towards the end of the day so another spin on Blue Fire was required, before the last ride of the day was Wodan, which again was running spectacularly. Why can’t a UK park just build one of these already?



And that was it, 12.5 hours spent at Europa Park, and what a day it was too. Well worth the tiredness at the end of it all, because the park just hits all the right notes. It was strange to see it so busy and packed out yet queues only topped over an hour on 3 of the coasters, Arthur, Blue Fire and Wodan, so it just goes to show what happens when your park considers throughputs and providing several other things to do for guests over the day.
And we still had another day at the park to go.

Day 14 – Return of the Macks Part 2
Day 2 at Europa was planned to be a very easy day, with lots of chilling about after the long day beforehand and also that we had to head off early to catch the flight back home from Basel. So after another breakfast and checking out we headed off for another dose of ERT.
We once again started on Blue Fire, with some added front row times to wake us up a bit, before waiting for Wodan for open and getting front row on that as well. There doesn’t seem to be that much difference between the relentlessness of it first and last thing either, which is good.





A quick spin on EuroMir followed as it had no queue before we decided to do some attractions we’d never done before, starting with Silverstone, the random car ride which wasn’t suited to those with long legs. Before the Queens Diamonds laser maze, which had a disappointingly low amount of lasers for a ‘maze’.



We wandered over to Arthur which hadn’t opened by this point, so we quickly popped into Die Quipse Show, which was some random cinema style show featuring baby versions of the Europa mascots. Was very strange since it shares the same building as the Brothers Grimm attraction. By the time we had exited Arthur eventually opened so we single ridered it twice.





It was the time for the Ice Show which had some fab pre-show antics before some random ice-skating stuff that always happens in these shows. Then a man with some parrots came out and flew them around which was quite cool. Up next we did the Castle Balthasar 4D Show, which is clearly one of the best (and most original) 4D shows around.


Silver Star was next before we sat down for another show, Euromaus in Brazil, which had lots of dancing and even had a guest appearance from Rustis (the Europa Park mascot band). A quick break for lunch and it was then time for Arthur 4D, which had an annoyingly large amount of leg tickler action and French people. URGH.



Eurosat was then ridden before a bit of Abenteur Atlantis, followed by the infamous Bench the Ride. We then headed over to the Grimm Fairy Tales Show which I do enjoy as it’s an excellent attraction for the target audience and is generally a little hidden gem I feel.





The day was running short it was time to single rider the main 3 coasters again, so Arthur, Blue Fire and a final run on Wodan finished off the day. The Blue Fire single rider queue didn’t go particularly well, as the batcher was really crap. So crap in fact that the other platformers insisted that a switcharound take place so the guy could be put on the exit where no harm could be done. Good work guys.










And then that was it. We bid farewell to Europa and Germany as a whole as we headed to Basel to fly home. What a ridiculous trip this had been as well, with lots of driving each day, a park every day and very little time in between to rest, fortunately the parks weren’t always busy and the ones that were we had QBot/Express Passes for, and that really was only 3 of the parks that were truly busy and would have been hellish if not for the queue jumping.
The stand-out park of the trip was Phantasialand, as I had forgotten how fantastic a park it actually is; filled to the brim with stuff to do and some of the best area theming in Europe, with some fantastic rides to boot. Some mentions have to go to Van Helsing’s Factory and Force 1 for being surprisingly good rides as well.
Thanks for reading!

Welcome to the theatre. Please take your seats, the show is about to begin!


This will definitely be the Big One.

Orchestra ready!

Water effects ready!

It's time to...

Immerse your senses in the biggest spectacular of all time!

The 4D experience with a Blackpool Tower Post Show!

It's a small world from up here. Only the most realistic effects are used within this show.

Quick the bad guys have arrived! (sorry I didn't have time to finish this set off)

Vikings are bad guys with a hatred for pirates.

A fight scene so early on you ask? The ending won't be that good so it's okay.

Take to your horses

And ride away like brave cowards.

Watch out for the flying dog though!

NOT SHAUN

Dora has finished exploring though and finally saves the day!

And all is calm in Lancashire Town Play once more.

Too quiet for Wallace and Gromit...

Streak away!

And no, this isn't a family friendly play.

Because we have the biggest big one

Impossible speed effects being used

But don't worry, we have lights

Waltzer

Pleasure!

Sorry about the lack of intervals. The show loses speed if it takes a break.

Like it's just trying to fill time

The interval would be boring anyway. Would definitely try and kill you.
Time for the sparkling dazzling all glitzing finale!

Tadah.

Here comes the staff bus to take all the alcoholics who wrote this beautiful production home.

BYE!

Come back next year or we'll come get you...

Welcome to the theatre. Please take your seats, the show is about to begin!


This will definitely be the Big One.

Orchestra ready!

Water effects ready!

It's time to...

Immerse your senses in the biggest spectacular of all time!

The 4D experience with a Blackpool Tower Post Show!

It's a small world from up here. Only the most realistic effects are used within this show.

Quick the bad guys have arrived! (sorry I didn't have time to finish this set off)

Vikings are bad guys with a hatred for pirates.

A fight scene so early on you ask? The ending won't be that good so it's okay.

Take to your horses

And ride away like brave cowards.

Watch out for the flying dog though!

NOT SHAUN

Dora has finished exploring though and finally saves the day!

And all is calm in Lancashire Town Play once more.

Too quiet for Wallace and Gromit...

Streak away!

And no, this isn't a family friendly play.

Because we have the biggest big one

Impossible speed effects being used

But don't worry, we have lights

Waltzer

Pleasure!

Sorry about the lack of intervals. The show loses speed if it takes a break.

Like it's just trying to fill time

The interval would be boring anyway. Would definitely try and kill you.
Time for the sparkling dazzling all glitzing finale!

Tadah.

Here comes the staff bus to take all the alcoholics who wrote this beautiful production home.

BYE!

Come back next year or we'll come get you...

Welcome to the theatre. Please take your seats, the show is about to begin!


This will definitely be the Big One.

Orchestra ready!

Water effects ready!

It's time to...

Immerse your senses in the biggest spectacular of all time!

The 4D experience with a Blackpool Tower Post Show!

It's a small world from up here. Only the most realistic effects are used within this show.

Quick the bad guys have arrived! (sorry I didn't have time to finish this set off)

Vikings are bad guys with a hatred for pirates.

A fight scene so early on you ask? The ending won't be that good so it's okay.

Take to your horses

And ride away like brave cowards.

Watch out for the flying dog though!

NOT SHAUN

Dora has finished exploring though and finally saves the day!

And all is calm in Lancashire Town Play once more.

Too quiet for Wallace and Gromit...

Streak away!

And no, this isn't a family friendly play.

Because we have the biggest big one

Impossible speed effects being used

But don't worry, we have lights

Waltzer

Pleasure!

Sorry about the lack of intervals. The show loses speed if it takes a break.

Like it's just trying to fill time

The interval would be boring anyway. Would definitely try and kill you.
Time for the sparkling dazzling all glitzing finale!

Tadah.

Here comes the staff bus to take all the alcoholics who wrote this beautiful production home.

BYE!

Come back next year or we'll come get you...

Welcome to the theatre. Please take your seats, the show is about to begin!


This will definitely be the Big One.

Orchestra ready!

Water effects ready!

It's time to...

Immerse your senses in the biggest spectacular of all time!

The 4D experience with a Blackpool Tower Post Show!

It's a small world from up here. Only the most realistic effects are used within this show.

Quick the bad guys have arrived! (sorry I didn't have time to finish this set off)

Vikings are bad guys with a hatred for pirates.

A fight scene so early on you ask? The ending won't be that good so it's okay.

Take to your horses

And ride away like brave cowards.

Watch out for the flying dog though!

NOT SHAUN

Dora has finished exploring though and finally saves the day!

And all is calm in Lancashire Town Play once more.

Too quiet for Wallace and Gromit...

Streak away!

And no, this isn't a family friendly play.

Because we have the biggest big one

Impossible speed effects being used

But don't worry, we have lights

Waltzer

Pleasure!

Sorry about the lack of intervals. The show loses speed if it takes a break.

Like it's just trying to fill time

The interval would be boring anyway. Would definitely try and kill you.
Time for the sparkling dazzling all glitzing finale!

Tadah.

Here comes the staff bus to take all the alcoholics who wrote this beautiful production home.

BYE!

Come back next year or we'll come get you...

Welcome to the theatre. Please take your seats, the show is about to begin!


This will definitely be the Big One.

Orchestra ready!

Water effects ready!

It's time to...

Immerse your senses in the biggest spectacular of all time!

The 4D experience with a Blackpool Tower Post Show!

It's a small world from up here. Only the most realistic effects are used within this show.

Quick the bad guys have arrived! (sorry I didn't have time to finish this set off)

Vikings are bad guys with a hatred for pirates.

A fight scene so early on you ask? The ending won't be that good so it's okay.

Take to your horses

And ride away like brave cowards.

Watch out for the flying dog though!

NOT SHAUN

Dora has finished exploring though and finally saves the day!

And all is calm in Lancashire Town Play once more.

Too quiet for Wallace and Gromit...

Streak away!

And no, this isn't a family friendly play.

Because we have the biggest big one

Impossible speed effects being used

But don't worry, we have lights

Waltzer

Pleasure!

Sorry about the lack of intervals. The show loses speed if it takes a break.

Like it's just trying to fill time

The interval would be boring anyway. Would definitely try and kill you.
Time for the sparkling dazzling all glitzing finale!

Tadah.

Here comes the staff bus to take all the alcoholics who wrote this beautiful production home.

BYE!

Come back next year or we'll come get you...

Welcome to the theatre. Please take your seats, the show is about to begin!


This will definitely be the Big One.

Orchestra ready!

Water effects ready!

It's time to...

Immerse your senses in the biggest spectacular of all time!

The 4D experience with a Blackpool Tower Post Show!

It's a small world from up here. Only the most realistic effects are used within this show.

Quick the bad guys have arrived! (sorry I didn't have time to finish this set off)

Vikings are bad guys with a hatred for pirates.

A fight scene so early on you ask? The ending won't be that good so it's okay.

Take to your horses

And ride away like brave cowards.

Watch out for the flying dog though!

NOT SHAUN

Dora has finished exploring though and finally saves the day!

And all is calm in Lancashire Town Play once more.

Too quiet for Wallace and Gromit...

Streak away!

And no, this isn't a family friendly play.

Because we have the biggest big one

Impossible speed effects being used

But don't worry, we have lights

Waltzer

Pleasure!

Sorry about the lack of intervals. The show loses speed if it takes a break.

Like it's just trying to fill time

The interval would be boring anyway. Would definitely try and kill you.
Time for the sparkling dazzling all glitzing finale!

Tadah.

Here comes the staff bus to take all the alcoholics who wrote this beautiful production home.

BYE!

Come back next year or we'll come get you...

The second day at Phantasialand started similarly to the first, parking in the China car park and straight off to Black Mamba. A front row ride was in order since it was unlikely another chance would raise its head, front rows are very useful wake-up calls.



Over to Wuze Town, and as Fear was having the morning off, Winjas Force was ridden, followed by another go on Tittle Tattle Tree. We then rode lots of the new Wuze Town stuff that has been added over the years, starting with the Monorail, Wurmling Express, which could do with a bit of a touch-up already with its rather dilapidated owls. Wakabato, the pointless not so Splash Battle was next, with dodgy guns, broken targets and unreachable boats meant that the point of them was missed. A quick run around the Hedge Maze led us back to Wuze Town by which point Winjas Fear had opened so we rode that. Tittle Tattle Tree followed again and we managed to sit in a side we hadn’t done before, hooray!










We walked past a Balloon Show on our way to Chiapas. Still fab and welcomed in the nicer weather we had that day.


It was show time, starting with the Eis Show, which was the typical Ice-Skating show until they decided to SET THE ICE ON FIRE! Love Germany and their obsession over it.
JUMP was next, and it was basically Stomp but with MORE Trampolining, it was ok but not really a theme park show in my opinion.



We then headed off to Mystery Castle, only to be bitterly disappointed by the cut down ride cycle, as it launched straight to the top with no faffy bit prior to it. Upset by this, Tikal was ridden again to fulfil the drop tower fix.




Back in Mexico, it would feel wrong if we didn’t ride Talocan and Chiapas again, especially since Chiapas has the wonderfully useful single rider queue.


We were back in the plaza to watch the street shows again (mainly as one of the three they run wasn’t on the day before) and have some snack time, which presented itself via wonderful Kinder Ice Cream. Extremely tasty and nom. The shows were all once again very good and all enjoyable. After the third show we went on Maus au Chocolat again.



Rode Black Mamba once more before a quick run on the Carousel for a sit-down and rest before we discussed what our last ride on the park should be. It was agreed that Winjas Fear would win the coveted role before we would watch Drakkarium and marvel at the dove that tried to kill itself during the finale by trying to fly into the nearby building.









Two days at Phantasialand is certainly enough if you time your trip just right. It wasn’t actually that busy over the two days, even the Saturday wasn’t horrendously bad, although we did have some show based times as well as getting all the Dragon character photos. As I said before, fantastic park and well worth staying for beyond the coasters.

Me and Toofpikk thought we'd head down to Paramount Park last Friday. It STILL isn't ready, clearly didn't get ultimate planning fastrack, only standard. So we went on a random adventure through a £2 tunnel to some place. We had no idea where though.

They had delicious milkshakes but that didn't help.

This place was obsessed with pink and yellow.

Like this Fireball thing.

Look at the pink and yellow!

We just couldn't think what theme park was obsessed with pink and yellow.

They had an Elvis. Must be America

And a BIG wheel. But that doesn't mean anything, loads of places have these.

See. Pink and yellow.

Back here again. Not sure where this was but we found it 9 times.

Ohhhh. We were at Rage Southend On Sea. No that's not right.

WHY IS THIS PLACE SO BADLY ADVERTISED

All day we were confused. No idea where we were.

Thorpe Park have dodgems. Maybe I was at Thorpe Park.

No Thorpe Park doesn't have the only Archelon in the UK! But I don''t know which park does

Railway. Useful that.

Vortex. It would be so easy to brand this ride with the park it's at!

This is a Gerstlauer. It says so on the seats.

Why would I take a selfie with a bunny when I can't even check in on Facebook as I've no idea where I am!

It's okay though, we found our answer.

We were at a 5 star loo all day I feel so privileged!

Bye bye 5 star loo! Was a great day out.

Me and Toofpikk thought we'd head down to Paramount Park last Friday. It STILL isn't ready, clearly didn't get ultimate planning fastrack, only standard. So we went on a random adventure through a £2 tunnel to some place. We had no idea where though.

They had delicious milkshakes but that didn't help.

This place was obsessed with pink and yellow.

Like this Fireball thing.

Look at the pink and yellow!

We just couldn't think what theme park was obsessed with pink and yellow.

They had an Elvis. Must be America

And a BIG wheel. But that doesn't mean anything, loads of places have these.

See. Pink and yellow.

Back here again. Not sure where this was but we found it 9 times.

Ohhhh. We were at Rage Southend On Sea. No that's not right.

WHY IS THIS PLACE SO BADLY ADVERTISED

All day we were confused. No idea where we were.

Thorpe Park have dodgems. Maybe I was at Thorpe Park.

No Thorpe Park doesn't have the only Archelon in the UK! But I don''t know which park does

Railway. Useful that.

Vortex. It would be so easy to brand this ride with the park it's at!

This is a Gerstlauer. It says so on the seats.

Why would I take a selfie with a bunny when I can't even check in on Facebook as I've no idea where I am!

It's okay though, we found our answer.

We were at a 5 star loo all day I feel so privileged!

Bye bye 5 star loo! Was a great day out.

Me and Toofpikk thought we'd head down to Paramount Park last Friday. It STILL isn't ready, clearly didn't get ultimate planning fastrack, only standard. So we went on a random adventure through a £2 tunnel to some place. We had no idea where though.

They had delicious milkshakes but that didn't help.

This place was obsessed with pink and yellow.

Like this Fireball thing.

Look at the pink and yellow!

We just couldn't think what theme park was obsessed with pink and yellow.

They had an Elvis. Must be America

And a BIG wheel. But that doesn't mean anything, loads of places have these.

See. Pink and yellow.

Back here again. Not sure where this was but we found it 9 times.

Ohhhh. We were at Rage Southend On Sea. No that's not right.

WHY IS THIS PLACE SO BADLY ADVERTISED

All day we were confused. No idea where we were.

Thorpe Park have dodgems. Maybe I was at Thorpe Park.

No Thorpe Park doesn't have the only Archelon in the UK! But I don''t know which park does

Railway. Useful that.

Vortex. It would be so easy to brand this ride with the park it's at!

This is a Gerstlauer. It says so on the seats.

Why would I take a selfie with a bunny when I can't even check in on Facebook as I've no idea where I am!

It's okay though, we found our answer.

We were at a 5 star loo all day I feel so privileged!

Bye bye 5 star loo! Was a great day out.

Me and Toofpikk thought we'd head down to Paramount Park last Friday. It STILL isn't ready, clearly didn't get ultimate planning fastrack, only standard. So we went on a random adventure through a £2 tunnel to some place. We had no idea where though.

They had delicious milkshakes but that didn't help.

This place was obsessed with pink and yellow.

Like this Fireball thing.

Look at the pink and yellow!

We just couldn't think what theme park was obsessed with pink and yellow.

They had an Elvis. Must be America

And a BIG wheel. But that doesn't mean anything, loads of places have these.

See. Pink and yellow.

Back here again. Not sure where this was but we found it 9 times.

Ohhhh. We were at Rage Southend On Sea. No that's not right.

WHY IS THIS PLACE SO BADLY ADVERTISED

All day we were confused. No idea where we were.

Thorpe Park have dodgems. Maybe I was at Thorpe Park.

No Thorpe Park doesn't have the only Archelon in the UK! But I don''t know which park does

Railway. Useful that.

Vortex. It would be so easy to brand this ride with the park it's at!

This is a Gerstlauer. It says so on the seats.

Why would I take a selfie with a bunny when I can't even check in on Facebook as I've no idea where I am!

It's okay though, we found our answer.

We were at a 5 star loo all day I feel so privileged!

Bye bye 5 star loo! Was a great day out.

Me and Toofpikk thought we'd head down to Paramount Park last Friday. It STILL isn't ready, clearly didn't get ultimate planning fastrack, only standard. So we went on a random adventure through a £2 tunnel to some place. We had no idea where though.

They had delicious milkshakes but that didn't help.

This place was obsessed with pink and yellow.

Like this Fireball thing.

Look at the pink and yellow!

We just couldn't think what theme park was obsessed with pink and yellow.

They had an Elvis. Must be America

And a BIG wheel. But that doesn't mean anything, loads of places have these.

See. Pink and yellow.

Back here again. Not sure where this was but we found it 9 times.

Ohhhh. We were at Rage Southend On Sea. No that's not right.

WHY IS THIS PLACE SO BADLY ADVERTISED

All day we were confused. No idea where we were.

Thorpe Park have dodgems. Maybe I was at Thorpe Park.

No Thorpe Park doesn't have the only Archelon in the UK! But I don''t know which park does

Railway. Useful that.

Vortex. It would be so easy to brand this ride with the park it's at!

This is a Gerstlauer. It says so on the seats.

Why would I take a selfie with a bunny when I can't even check in on Facebook as I've no idea where I am!

It's okay though, we found our answer.

We were at a 5 star loo all day I feel so privileged!

Bye bye 5 star loo! Was a great day out.

Me and Toofpikk thought we'd head down to Paramount Park last Friday. It STILL isn't ready, clearly didn't get ultimate planning fastrack, only standard. So we went on a random adventure through a £2 tunnel to some place. We had no idea where though.

They had delicious milkshakes but that didn't help.

This place was obsessed with pink and yellow.

Like this Fireball thing.

Look at the pink and yellow!

We just couldn't think what theme park was obsessed with pink and yellow.

They had an Elvis. Must be America

And a BIG wheel. But that doesn't mean anything, loads of places have these.

See. Pink and yellow.

Back here again. Not sure where this was but we found it 9 times.

Ohhhh. We were at Rage Southend On Sea. No that's not right.

WHY IS THIS PLACE SO BADLY ADVERTISED

All day we were confused. No idea where we were.

Thorpe Park have dodgems. Maybe I was at Thorpe Park.

No Thorpe Park doesn't have the only Archelon in the UK! But I don''t know which park does

Railway. Useful that.

Vortex. It would be so easy to brand this ride with the park it's at!

This is a Gerstlauer. It says so on the seats.

Why would I take a selfie with a bunny when I can't even check in on Facebook as I've no idea where I am!

It's okay though, we found our answer.

We were at a 5 star loo all day I feel so privileged!

Bye bye 5 star loo! Was a great day out.