Matt 236

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

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

The way forward for this new attraction definitely looks the best one the park could opt for. By opening an attraction which works on the strengths character of the original, whilst utilising the advancements in technology. This seems an excellent decision IMO. It’s pretty clear the original attraction is on it’s last legs and needs a renovation now. And given development hiccups and it’s low KPI, a modernised replacement seemed imminent. The original was very dark indeed, with demons, religious figures and even a hanging corpse. That’s Spookslot!

Retro squad is a nice idea, but needs to be implemented into a more permanent and environment fitting setting. Towers just needs to fix what they’ve got now before they invest in another major ride in all honesty.

I wouldn’t say it’s Disney standards at all, but it does look very nice. A definite improvement from it’s sorry state at Thorpe. I’m glad the park has been working on presentation this year.

Glad you had a great time. Hotel Alcazar certainly looks beautiful!

I’ve always heard interesting things about this place. In terms of photography and the like, they seem to be the strictest. Karnan looks great though.

Great report. Heide has been a park I’m still been meaning to visit and can definitely see the mixed ups and downs of this place. Flug seems so varied upon opinion. Some say they prefer Swarm and others less-so.

So yesterday I went to Chessington for the first trip of the season. Opinions are mixed and maybe more on the negative side. Park was very busy, which was to be expected, however how the park somewhat coped with this is more the problem. Ride reliability was poor park-wide with next to every ride either having a major breakdown, opening late or closed all day. Witnessed a breakdown on Falls and got stuck on Gruffalo as it broke down. Amazon (Jumangi) Land couldn’t have come at a better time, given most of the park is on its last legs and it seems more of the middle aged stuff too. On the plus note, staff were friendly enough and presentation in most areas seemed better. But they really need to focus on improving ride hardware and infrastructure and it feels like the place cannot cope anymore with crowds above moderate.

Back in the day of full and proper operations, Falls could’ve easily achieved a throughout of at least 1000 PPH. Given the lack of boats we saw yesterday(half at best), it probably doesn’t get more than 500. And that’s before taking RAP and fastrack into consideration.

Should hopefully complement the lovely entrance they have there and not mess it up. House of the five senses for me is already up there amongst park entrances such as Disneyland Paris’s and Europa Park.

I mean, they might cannibalize parts that can be used in similar attractions in their portfolio. But otherwise, no! Rocky is dead and won’t be returning ever.

On Friday, visited the park for opening day. There were vibes I guess? Security process was long with many taking over an hour to get in. Some areas looked fresher, such as the new mural & (yet to open) Highstriker and others less-so. Banana looks naff without it’s theming. Amity seems to be a hive of activity with the new stage. I like that the park has more entertainment, but unsure how I feel about the location. Operations were a mixed bag. Stealth had the best, Inferno didn’t open until the afternoon. Colossus ran one train. Saw was squirting loads of water on the in-line. Still painful! Old Town is (basically) dead! Events/advertisements dominate the new white fence surrounding the former area. The toilets, BK etc. are likely now just part of the jungle. Wet Wet Wet gone (no real loss) and a new (random playground). Tried Vibes Kitchen. It’s alright, but basically Infinity with a new name and random menu IMO. The Cod goujon baguette meal was adequate. Overall a fun day, helped by the weather. As much I’m excited for Exodus, I feel most of the park is looking rundown and tired. Especially The jungle. Not to mention audio was messy.

I literally had to stop watching the video halfway through. This is just horrifying. Like how was this even possible to happen? This shouldn’t have been able to happen! Be it through ride safety, training etc. Thoughts go to the boy’s family and friends.

Calling the playground, the playground? Erm, least people will know what it is I guess? Wet Wet Wet won’t really be missed, apart from the name. I’m glad Inferno’s lift has been added, but they could’ve really done more to the queue line, which is looking rather dilapidated now? More so. It looks like they’ve added a fence to where Old Town was according to the video. I feel mixed emotions. Overall some nice improvements here, but some that do make you wonder if such approach was necessary.

I think we will see a lot more IPs associated with Sony hitting their parks in the coming years. Not Spider-Man. Jumangi’s next location is without doubt the worst kept secret for sure.

They clearly ran out of budget, when they finished the third extension to Gruffalo’s queue. That said, the rest of the park updates look excellent, especially Wild Asia.

If I wanted to spend £15 on spinning, I would go to a Weatherspoons.

Following on, I would like to express my experiences of Face It Alone, during its years of existence. 2014/ After hearing the strange and interesting stories of the event’s first year I decided to try out Face It Alone. I managed to experience it on not one, but three mazes. Before each maze, there would be a gathering at the then Calypso BBQ, where several actors and staff/management would be. The rest of us were given champagne, whilst we waited for our maze with anticipation. The usual waiver applied. Cabin In The Woods/ This was my first ever face it alone (FIA). I went in somewhere towards the middle, the actors shouted and screamed at me (ofc). They made me lick the wolf, one pushed me along the route whilst another did a piggy back. From what I remember it was a very rough, rocky and intense experience. Studio 13 My second one seemed more favourable and was at the end of the then TPM Fright Nights meet. At least one actor pulled me through the set pieces like an over aggressive acting agent, whilst others screamed in my presence. Several female actors threw makeup materials all around my face whilst laughing and squeezing. Saw Alive/ My third and final FIA of 2014, which happened by accident due to last minute changed plans. In the first room I was asked to go against the wall whilst an actor shouted at me. In the second room, two female actors screamed at me to go into the bath. Later one, there was a half-naked woman in scene four or five. Before beginning l, I was asked for my name, which was used by actors screaming it at me several times during the experience. 2015/ I managed one FIA this year, with the new concept. I preferred the old concept with champagne and maze choice, but it was ok. There was a ceremony towards the start, where we would have hoods on our heads, before actors confirmed which made it would be. This would be. The Big Top The order we all went in would be completely different, as would the length and experience, as some would get through sooner than others. There was no poncho either. Things would include being asked to crawl on the floor, crawl under a clown and escape a chainsaw. I also had a pie of shaving foam thrown in my face. This FIA basically saw a TPM takeover of the event and would also be where I first met @Martin Doyle. 2016/ Last and least. The same ceremony system commenced. Saw Alive whilst not necessarily terrible, this was my weakest run-through. The actors put my head in the toilet, taunted and got close to you as you went around the experience. And after this point, it all ended. There were some crazy and intense experiences, which I won’t forget.

And Rocky’s imminent fate has been confirmed. Good news on the EIA though.

The new name is about as strong as the O2’s roof. Fins & Infinity we’re better IMO.

I remember my Face It Alone experiences very fondly. They we’re intense, hands on and completely different on each run through. Managed to do Cabin In The Woods, Studio 13 and Saw in 2014, Big Top in 2015 and Saw again in 2016. I think my first run through on Saw was my favourite, because of the variety of actors and encounters in there. My 2016 one was probably my least favourite because it seemed rather toned down. I definitely preferred the setup in the first couple of years, where you could choose your maze and then drink champagne before enduring such a crazy experience. Would love to see it return one day, though this seems unlikely.

This is exciting! And now the park are leaning towards having the highest quantity of coasters in the world.

SBNO for the time being, but then scrapped. No, this one won’t be going to Chessington.

Congratulations on passing your PHD Dr C.