Matt 236

Creek’s Orlando Adventure- Park Ranking Orlando! A prime tourist destination and a paradise for lovers of theme parks. After nearly 5 years of waiting, I was finally able to experience this wonderful place. In what is without doubt my favourite park trip to date. Having experienced numerous attractions out there, rather than write full on reports which might be longer than the upcoming Avatar sequel, I’ll just condense it into a rating list. Where I’ll focus on the main aspects. Right let’s begin. 13/ (Un) Fun Spot Orlando Probably the most depressing and underwhelming park experience I’ve experienced to date. Lack of atmosphere with next to no crowds, tonnes of rides closed with staff who are clearly bored. The GCI & inverting afterburner ride were fun, but everything else was largely forgettable. We were done in just over an hour and happy to leave. 12/ Fun Spot Kissimmee Definitely the better of the two fun spots. This one had crowds,atmosphere along with more rides running. The sky swing is better here, but it’s all about the sky coaster, which is the tallest you’ll find out there. It was honestly the craziest thing I have ridden in my life, but awesome too. Sadly their wooden coaster Mine Blaster has aged like curdled milk and is remarkably rough, very concerning for a 5 year old ride. They should rename it Spineblower by this point! Almost as bad as the Pizza Hut in Kissimmee. 11/ Typhoon Lagoon What this place may lack in slides, it makes up for in vibes. The wave pool is nothing short of incredible, alongside a soundtrack comparable to WWTP radio in some ways. The lazy river is highly enjoyable and decent in length and the slides generally good all round. 10/ Volcano Bay Right, the first water park and major attraction. Volcano bay with it’s theming, setting and interactive features should be something of a stellar attraction. That’s before considering the vast selection of slides, the drop ones at the top of the volcano are great. Now there’s one slight problem deterring this places rating, the mismatch of the Tapu tapu system. On paper, this should be a blissful development helping one to have an easier and enjoyable day at the place. Unfortunately in reality, it’s something of a mess, unreliable system with errors and loop holes making what should be a more chilled attraction more stressful. Want to ride the water coaster? Get there first thing or you may miss on your lifetime trip! Edit/ My second visit was generally better, but I still lay by the fact that Tapu needs improvement. The water coaster was actually underwhelming if I’m honest but still fun. 9/Aquatica Ok, I see the visible confusion seeing this as my favourite Florida water park. But I can explain. Typhoon Lagoon has the quality and Volcano Bay has quantity, whereas there’s something of a compromise here. Highly enjoyable slides, including the iconic dolphin ones, a decent wave pool and several fun lazy river courses and overall good vibes. The place is also much more relaxed than say Volcano Bay, so can rightfully say it’s eligible for a rest day. And now we get onto the main parks. 8/ Magic Kingdom Magic Kingdom, the busiest and (arguably) most iconic theme park in the world. Disney’s flagship attraction; Supposedly. If you enjoy fast thrilling rides and experiences, this place isn’t really for you and the likes of Universal, Sea world and Busch Gardens would definitely be much more appealing. But anyways, the park certainly has a vast selection of attractions crammed into it’s ‘first floor’ park space. The classic attractions are pleasant enough for what they are, but Paris ones are arguably better. Big Thunder Mountain lacks those extra ‘frilly’ sections, POTC is more condensed and It’s A Small World lacks the grand facade amongst being plonked opposite the ridiculously popular Peter Pan’s Flight. Haunted Mansion was great though. Now for it’s flaws, this park still has its upsides. There’s much more to do than the Paris park and the staff are definitely friendlier. Splash Mountain was highly enjoyable even-though they are clearly running it into the ground. I didn’t get chance to do Jungle Cruise unfortunately. The one concerning thing though here was the surprising amount of wear and tear, especially for a Disney park. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen far more rundown areas, but when there numerous broken effects, chipped/worn queue lines/buildings and places around it doesn’t go down well. Buzz Lightyear was an absolute mess with it’s broken animatronics and ceiling that looked like it needed decorating. Chapek needs to go! Spited by this one, May well need to go back after all. Part 2 coming real soon.

I miss Orlando already. Top 10 Theme Park Restaurants: 1/ Mythos-Islands Of Adventure 2/ Via Napoli-Epcot 3/ Yak & Yeti-AnimalKingdom 4/ Rutmoores Tavern- Phantasialand 5/ Polle’s Kitchen- Efteling 6/ Lombards- Universal Studios 7/ Toothsome’s Emporium, Universal Orlando 8/ Silver Lake Saloon, Europa 9/ Lisebergbanen Restaurant, Liseberg 10/ Mel’s Diner, Paultons Orlando blog coming up.

Massive shake up time for my top 10’s Coasters: 1/ Steel Vengeance 2/ Veloci-coaster (IOA) 3/ Zadra 4/ Mako 5/ Iron Gwazi 6/ Taron 7/ Oziris 8/ Hyperion 9/ Nemesis 10/ Wodan Dark Rides: 1/ Tower Of Terror (WDW HS) 2/ Rise Of The Resistance (WDW HS) 3/ Forbidden Journey 4/ Symbolica 5/ Amazing Adventures Of Spiderman 6/ Pirates Of The Caribbean (DLRP) 7/ Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway 8/ Avatar Flight Of Passage 9/ Fata Morgana (Efteling) 10/ Dinosaur Water Rides: 1/ Chiapas 2/ Popeye IOA 3/ Splash Mountain 4/ JP River Adventure 5/ River Quest 6/ De Vlieglande Hollander 7/ Fjord Rafting 8/ Tidal Wave 9/ Kali River Rapids 10/ Journey To Atlantis Parks: 1/ Europa Park 2/ Universal Orlando 3/ Cedar Point 4/ Animal Kingdom 5/ Phantasialand 6/ Energylandia 7/ Hollywood Studios 8/ Epcot 9/ Efteling 10/ Alton Towers

Right, so went to Fright Nights 22 last weekend. Here’s my thoughts. Survival Games/ Something of an original idea, especially with the “game show” type element. One of the better mazes this year, especially with the cage thing at the start and multiple routes inside. Creek Freek/ Still my favourite, the actors were on form when we went and the props and setting help too. Going to miss this maze. Trailers/ I enjoyed it, but it just seems to be missing something now, especially since the newness has worn off. Wasn’t awful but just not my favourite now. Deaths Door/ An interesting and unique concept, given the actors go in/out of doors, but could maybe be implemented better in the future. If it returns. Meakin Meadow/ Enjoyable, but the second route just feels like it’s been bolted on for the sake of it. It feels like you miss more of the action that way. Amity high/ Fun, lively, musical. Makes a nice break from the mazes indeed. I didn’t get chance to do the terminal or legacy. If they return next year maybe I’ll give them a go. I do enjoy Fright Nights, but as always the usual criticisms arise, better lighting, music balance (why isn’t it as good now) and other bits and bobs. I really think they should revert back to 10pm closings, at least for some days because 9 doesn’t feel like there’s enough time to take in the action or do night rides.

Just leaving this here.

WWH’s future where the fire never happened? Difficult to say really. Seens unlikely they would’ve fully ripped it out, but a gun ride system like Duel & Tomb Blaster happening would’ve been highly plausible at the time. They would’ve probably rethemed or replaced it again by now. Maybe a Sony IP? If it wasn’t ripped out, then Inferno wouldn’t have happened (least in its existing guise) due to building location. No DBGT either? Yeah I can take that.

Enterprises’s official demise was imminent. It hasn’t been running reliably for almost a decade, let alone this season. Where it hasn’t rotated fully for a long time. Enterprises seem to be a dying breed these days with only some left in existence. Towers do seriously need to broaden their selection of support attractions, as this leaves Blade is the last family/thrill ride left, which too is on its last legs.

This is not something I have heard about, nor have I heard been rumoured before. Let alone confirmed. Aside from Vampire, only four other suspended coasters remain. All of which are in the USA. Having ridden two of them, at no point did they appear to look or resemble the original Vampire trains thematically , apart from being the same car design. I cannot comment for the other two, although Ninja at SF Magic Mountain did use the former trains of XLR8. The former long demolished suspended coaster from SF Astroworld. Also Vortex at Canada’s Wonderland is largely similar to Bat anyway in many respects. To the best of my knowledge, all the original Vampire Arrow trains were scrapped, unless they were donated or preserved by anyone. Again, largely unlikely. I just can’t see why an American chain park would randomly invest tonnes of money to ship some old coaster trains across the Atlantic to marginally improve supplies. The ride would’ve only had 3 trains anyway and who’s to say one of them didn’t become a spare parts doner, which is possible.

Going? Going to reopen next year it seems. I’m sure Chessington now what they are doing. Maybe the development plan or whatever is will drop more ‘possible’ hints at the future. Nothing is set in stone, unless it was built by universal rocks.

After some work shuffling, I am now able to make this. Just need to sort out my pass/entry now.

I’m a maybe for now. Just have to sort out work and then renew my pass or membership.

2022, we’ve seen many hellos and goodbyes this year especially the latter. Carters Steam Fair, as we know it is another which will end in 2022. Although it won’t disappear completely, the current owners (The Carter family) intend to sell the collection to a permanent site. Making this year their final tour. I was thankful to get a chance to visit them in Croxley Green (near Watford), where they have stopped for a number of years. The last time I visited may be as far back as 2012. Where life and numerous commissions or setbacks likely prevented future visits, so a return was massively overdue. In that time, there have been some changes. The ride selection has been refined somewhat, no dive bomber? They have also reverted to a token system over real cash, which has its ups and downs. Thankfully, the warm friendly atmosphere and interaction from the staff remains very much the same. Something you probably won’t get at your usual fun fair. A number of rides are available (albeit maybe not the biggest white knuckle ones). The Octopus offers quite the swirling sensation and is enjoyable both on and off-ride. The Skid offers a thrilling sensation, especially if you time it correctly with the car pedals. It’s a mixture between a whip and a Walter mostly. They have a charming carousel A surprisingly thrilling Chair-O-plane, packs at a lunch. The crazy Steam Yachts (which I didn’t ride I’m afraid) There is also a classic set of dodgems, filled with the retro charm and character you will find throughout the fair. Other attractions include swing boats, jets, a classic arcade and numerous children's rides. They have something for most. Tokens are £3 a piece, which gives you access to one ride, which are all the same price. I recommend buying in advance online, as you can get free rides included depending on how many tokens you buy. This concludes my tour of Carters. They are in Croxley for an extra weekend and will then tour numerous places until their final stop in Reading around mid October. You can find their dates here/. Insert. Visit if you can, before they gallop away into the sunset!

I’m sorry. But if we are going on the tangent of rides like Tomb Blaster and Duel, being restored to their original states of operation, then I see no reason of Runaway Train being exempt. However any man and his dog could easily say this would never happen Burrito Bob is a lie. However the same principal lies around every myth snd rumour, regarding the future of any ride. The mysterious disappearance of the ride on the website is an interesting one. However until we get an official announcement or see the ‘demolition’ vehicles, the closure can neither be confirmed or denied. I believe we are getting some sort of development plan regarding Chessington any time now, so we shall all have to see what’s happening and whether any of this might affect Scorpion Express. As we know it!

Scorpion Express closing forever? Nah. Bob from the Burrito place told me it’s being restored to Runaway Mine Train, although there ain’t be any rock work. It’s ok, we will know one day!

Definitely the right choice for the park, especially as they’ve needed a medium thrill family coaster for some time and this fills the gap nicely. Not to mention a decent replacement to the obsolete Raft Racers in pretty much every area. Let’s hope this gets approved.

I don’t see next year being a good season for the park (but not necessarily terrible). With Nemesis being out for the entire season, that is already a substantial amount of throughput already out of the window. Whilst the park still have six other large scale coasters, the problem isn’t the main attractions but the ones that support it. We don’t know when the (likely) re-themed Duel will reopen and if isn’t towards the start of the season, that’s another large blow. Add that up the ongoing issues with Hex and Enterprise and that’s no fewer than four rides out of action. If the Retro Squad rides return, it will help a little, but not massively as there still isn’t enough filler besides the main rides, especially if one experiences a prolonged breakdown.

Yes. I also liked that song by David Bowie as well.

Think I’m going to have to go with Skylion. I mean yes, ok it is basically “Lego Avatar Flight Of Passage”, which I haven’t ridden (yet) at time of writing, but I personally love it. The attraction is thrilling, immersive and really puts you into a whole different world. I’m so glad they went for this setting than the Lego Movie one. The facade looks great and reminds me a little of Vogel Rock at Efteling and the queue line ain’t too shabby either. Honourable mention goes to Gruffalo River Adventure, which is fun and a decent rethrme of Professor Drunk’s Bubbleworks. Monster Party is another one to shout at too. Some Merlin dark rides are definitely better then others. The likes of DBGT are generally poorly executed. I’m yet to ride the ones at Garda and Heide.

It’s a shame to see it go, but this is probably much needed and the ride has been in a horrid state for the last few years now. Even the modest updates of 2018 time were not enough. Let’s see how this develops.

Two years after my piano version,I finally got the chance to play the original Vampire theme on a real pipe organ. I only had one take, so excuse the mistakes.

Jumanji! Because everybody knew it was going to be an ‘IP’ based land with the listed attractions. Let’s see what it’s like many months from now.

Mixed bag today, on my second visit of the 22 season. Despite the very warm weather, ride reliably seemed reasonable, with just Colossus experiencing any proper down time. It reopened after a while. Samurai was on form and my ride on Saw was probably the smoothest of recent years. Carnival seems a fun event, although execution seems a bit hit and miss in places. Breakout at Bozos was surprisingly fun and better than expected. The themed announcements are a nice touch, although the rear of the event feels largely overlooked. Operations could’ve been better. Rush on one swing, Tidal Wave 2 with stacking and Inferno & Swarm we’re stacking a little too. Colossus had the worst operations by far, so many broken seats with dispatches where having one train wouldn’t have been much slower. Music and audio was shockingly bleak in many areas of the park such as Amity, Jungle and Lost City. This definitely weakened the atmosphere. Closed F&B units along with ‘thinned’ stock levels in shops was also noticed, a sign of the times maybe? My pizza pasta was one of the weakest I’ve had so far. What’s more, leaving the park is still absolute nightmare. It took my at least 15 minutes to leave when only 8-12 cars were infront of me. The ANPR setup needs to seriously improve because no one is able to leave without pressing the help button. May do a Fright Nights if there’s time, but we shall see.

This was such a fun meet! Besides the car park faff, a highly enjoyable day and great to see everyone again after so long.

If parks like Tivoli Gardens can replace their old powered coasters with ‘flashy’ new versions which are superior, then Chessington definitely can too. However they choose not too, so Scorpion will go when it’s literally an operational write off. Which maybe it already is. Even in the DIC years, Flying Fish got a new train.

It is definitely a park with much charm and potential. The way they have developed in the last 10+ years is simply incredible. Building new rides and areas that perhaps would not look out of place at a European theme park. They also seem to be one of the few uk parks to keep their values and deliver top quality customer service for their consumer. No surprises they come towards the top of attractions on Tripadvisor.