Matt 236

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.

Like Rob had said, the likelihood is it has been taken off the app because it may have pro-longer downtime because of the unknown incident. There are many parks with older Mack powered coasters (80’s/90’s), so if they can keep theirs going, there is no reason why Chessington can’t either. However again that depends on the damage. I think comparing an outdoor powered coaster to a fully enclosed water based dark ride is an inaccurate comparison.

Currently a maybe, but hopefully a definite once I sort out cover at work. Edit- swap complete, all good to attend this now.

At this point, they should just go and build Spooky Island from Scooby Doo. Then it would be an island like no other.

And given the latest news resulting in the eventual park closure, they will not invest. Sad times.

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

And while we’re at it, why don’t they sort out the Adventure point castle. Paint it blue, gold and white just like the Disney castle.

I think the comparisons between the two are just silly and irrelevant. Yes, the rapids did need some work going to it, it given its outside and around a concrete foundation, helps this placement no doubt. Not to mention new boats. With Pirate adventure, not only is the theming now all gone and ripped out, but the ride system would have greater wear and tear from its closure around 2014 time (8 years speaking while writing this). I mean, never say never to a new dark ride or attraction taking this former spot, but we will be incredibly lucky to see the ride system restored, let alone the theme.

Almost forgot about this place. It’s pretty clear CF are giving this place the mouse’s share of investment along with Michigan’s Adventure & Valley Fair. Chain parks I guess. Definitely see the thing with floor-less coasters. Daemonen was very popular with all ages when I last went.

It really has been a mixed bag of news at Drayton recently. The new additions in the Adventure and Viking areas. Adding and renovating current attractions and the rumours of new ones. Including a potential coaster. The apocalypse removal is honestly a massive blow for both the park and the UK. But perhaps also not a surprising one given the ride’s reliability issues and potential direction of the park.

Hello and welcome to part two of my solo holiday trip report. After feeling somewhat underwhelmed following my 90 minute trip to Bakken, it would now be time to revisit Tivoli Gardens. I visited here back in 2019, so it felt nice to be back. Even if on my own. The thing I love about Tivoli Gardens is their dedication and preservation to their history and character. The Rutschebanen (sp) at over 108 years old and such a phenomenal attraction! The way it ploughs through those corners, through the lovely mountain facade. And most importantly, has a brake man. My favourite scenic railway! Bakken being my least. Daemonen is not the best B&M, but it’s got its charms. Not to mention looks beautiful, especially within it’s pretty eastern setting. Since last time, they have actually opened a new powered coaster, a replacement of the old one they used to have. This one has a space theme and is apparently built higher as well. It honestly packed a punch in places amongst some interesting interaction. Probably my third favourite after Rhombus and Alpen. Other attractions include two dark rides. The Flying Trunk (a Mack omnimover) was just as delightful as I remembered and The mine one, very random. In a rather charming way. They have quite a lot of flat rides, including Fata Morgana. An iron condor type ride. Others include an alright S&S drop tower, a sky flier, a nauseating inverted carpet ride and Tic Tac. I didn’t ride Tic Tac. Villa Vendetta is a scare attraction, nestled away in the corner. It’s included in the ride package too. Whilst not the most actor heavy, it packs in quite a few surprises and features a decent set piece design. Was getting Hotel Gasten vibes here. Last but not least, they also host. Fountain show, Illuninations. This takes place on the main lake and is basically a smaller scale Aquanura (albeit with it’s own charms). The one thing I adore about Tivoli is the fact it had so much charm. It’s a place where you can just sit down somewhere by yourself and still enjoy things. Whilst I was happy to leave Bakken, departing from Tivoli felt a lot more difficult. It was just wonderful to be back here once more. Until next time adios. P.S I would strongly recommend Tivoli Gardens, regardless if you like rides or not.