TPJames

It's been a long while since I've done a proper blog post, but I've dusted off my keyboard to do one I'd been thinking about for a while..
 
Over the past couple of years, there's some rides I've done which are a ton of fun, but don't really seem to get the attention they deserve. Mostly for reasons that they're rides in parks that aren't high up people's lists, or there's better rides at those parks. So I figured I'd just throw a little list out there.
 
This isn't going to be a list of "under-hyped" rides; I'm not necessarily saying any of these are top-tier rides which everyone should ride. But these are just solid rides which deserve a bit of limelight cast of them...
 
5. Gaz Express, Parc Bagatelle 
Situated about an hour from Calais, Bagatelle's ease to get to doesn't compensate for the fact the park is quite meh. However, Gaz Express is a shining beacon of light.
 
Manufactured by French company Soquet in 1987, Gaz Express is a really fun family-thrill coaster which is situated largely over water. It's not particularly high or fast, but features a couple of nice pops of airtime, some nice helices, whilst also diving in and out of buildings. And you get to go round twice too! To top it off, there's loads of water features around the ride, as well as a really cool fire effect, making it a really nice-looking ride for spectators too!
 



 
4. Discovery Club, Avonturenpark Hellendoorn
It's no secret that I look shooting dark rides, and this one is really quirky. Sitting in outward-facing circular cars, the idea is that you're basically exploring a house with loads of spooky stuff that could come alive. It's a classic storyline which works, and with a fun soundtrack and sound effects, good theming and the unpredictable, and sometimes wild, spinning of the cars, it makes for a great experience.
 
Hellendoorn itself is a decent park, a little under-rated in my opinion, but this 21 year old Mack dark ride is probably the crowning jewel of the park!


 
3. Kyöpelinvuoren Hotelli, Linnanmäki
This ghost train has no right to be as good as it frankly. For a city park like Linnanmäki which doesn't really *do* theming, it stands out really well. And inside, it's just immaculately themed and styled - it's creepy from the word go.
 
The ride itself is pretty fantastic. Good length, no dead spots, lots of turns and plenty of surprises and special effects. It just hits the nail on the head at every point. I believe it was refreshed a few years back, which, along with the likes of Taiga, shows that when the park sets itself a target, they hit it perfectly.

 
2. Popcorn Revenge, Walibi Belgium
I've talked about Popcorn Revenge a lot on here, so another paragraph or two won't hurt.
 
Popcorn Revenge is genuinely bloody brilliant. Early I said this list wasn't necessarily going to be about top-tier rides. Popcorn Revenge is perhaps the exception here. For those who don't know, this is a trackless, screen-based shooting dark ride, which takes around a movie theatre where pieces of popcorn have come alive and have taken over the film. You have to shot the popcorn with different flavoured sauce guns to take back control. The ride is non-linear and where you go depends on what car you get in. 
 
The scenes on the screens are brilliant. The real theming is great as well. This all just comes together for an absolutely brilliant ride experience.
 
I truly hope I'm not over-stating this and setting anyone who eventually rides it up for a disappointing, but this is genuinely one of my favourite rides and it's a damn shame it's not talked about more frankly.


 
1. K2, Karls Erlebnis-Dorf Elstal
This is also something I've talked about a bit before in the past. 
 
Karls is, primarily, a strawberry farm business. However, they have branched out over the years to have permanent farmer markets, which have also integrated 'amusement park' style sections. The one in Elstal, just outside Berlin, is the most developed, and by far the crowning jewel is K2.
 
K2 is an abc tube coaster, which also has wooden cars. The ride is themed to potato farming, and features an underground dark ride section where you see potatoes being grown, amongst other surprises. The ride then goes up 80ft high - which feels a lot higher when you only have a seatbelt as your restraint in a wooden cart! - before going round twists, turns and mini airtime hills. The ride is killed a bit by a MCBR, but is still great fun, and a real surprise. 
 
The quality of the theming is amazing too, and wouldn't look out of place at the likes of Phantasialand (indeed, the queue is of a similar style and standard to Maus au Chocolat). Just in general, this ride ticks every single box and it's an absolute joy and treasure to experience. If you ever head to Berlin and want a quick theme park-like fix, this really is the place to go (certainly much better than the nearby 'proper' parks!).


 

Somewhere in the rural Hamptonshire countryside, lies a mysterious theme park. But this isn't any ordinary theme park, which is home to dinosaurs, Cobras, wonderful beasts and a famous animated pig (to name a few).

This is a park that is certainly on the up, investing in attractions that improve the park whilst retaining and complimenting it's character and values. It's a place so renowned for its greatness, legend has it adventurers have travelled to the depths of boots to witness it's golden gates.

WELCOME, TO PAULTONS PARK
 

Home to the weird and wonderful, like this raining tree.

For 2016, the park have invested at great lengths to bring us this wonderful prehistoric land through dedication of 8 million coins. It's well spent if you ask me.




One the main new discoveries of this new lost area is one of two coasters, Flight Of The Pteranosaur. A veto a family suspended coaster which dominates the centre of the world. The rock work theming is superb and of high quality.




And what a great family coaster this is. The coaster is great fun and interacts with the area superbly alongside a good proportion of theming. The end helix is also superb. As far as I'm aware the layout may be clone of another (maybe Grona's) but that doesn't take anything away from the ride which certainly looks to be a hit for the park.
 
It's the perfect fun thrilling coaster for the family.

 
Theming, with working animatronics.

The second new coaster is the Veloceraptor. Another Vejoma, but this time a boomerang style coaster like Ben10.

This is another superfluous coaster for the park and another fun ride. Whilst it doesn't beat Pteranosaur for me, I do prefer it to Ben 10 as this gives more a kick I think. 

But the area is more than just coasters though (listen Merlin). They also have one of these crazy fun spinning rides like the Crazy Taxis at Europa Park. This ones called Boulder Dash.

This small Triceratops coaster, which I didn't get chance to ride (  ). Fact, this ride isn't actually brand new and was rethemed into the new area. It used be known as the Flying Frog I believe.

They also have a Safari track ride too which is neat.




Some very good theming here too. It's great to see park put so much effort into something just like this whilst a number of others (not naming) are either ripping theirs out or leaving them to rot. Best car style attraction in the uk by far.

Theres also an interactive Dino show too, which is good to see the park not just focus on the ride side either. Plus there's some roaming dinosaur animatronics in the area too.

They even have an area shop which is themed to a good level also. They've also added a new food place and smaller flat ride to the area too. Certainly making one of the best themed areas in the uk.

Also in the park, resides my second home. Critter Creek.

The theming quality they have here has been done very well, especially for a park like Paultons.




And here is the Cat-O-pillar, which again has been rethemed into the new area. The theming again is fantastic, weird and wacky. The coaster was alright but not my favourite.


The area is also home to a random aquarium type place. For a park like this, it's a nice little walk through. 

The park is also home to Cobra, arguably their signature ride. 


The queue line was a little shabby (spilt mess in the queue and a few areas of chipped pant), but that can be forgiven for the moment. 


There is even a shed tunnel, and that isn't the best part.
 
Cobra is a really fun coaster and possibly my favourite ride at the park (either this or Pteranosaur). Two things to note about this ride are that it is a Gerstlauer, and an enjoyable one at that and that its 10 years old and was working fine. No lifeless structure here.

Speaking on lifelss, this ride was shut (at least when we went passed it) which was a shame as it looked fun.

They however have a Disko called The Edge (not Kobra) as Paultons know how to spell. This one is also run on a better setting too as you really get a good cycle. My only criticism are you were required to wear leg seat belts and mine was very tight. (Which ruined the experience in a way) and the ride doesn't feature much in terms of theming, but I'm sure that will be sorted one day.

The park also have a 4D cinema which features a fairly quirky but nicely themed facade outside (not cheap looking). The movie itself was alright, nothing amazing but was nice for a sit down and seemed entertaining enough for the guests. Its no Angry Birds but is good for what it is especially being the only undercover attraction so far.

The park even have a loverly grand carousel.

Featuring some loverly shrubbery too.

But the one thing park are famous for is Peppa Pig World, the investment (alongside Cobra) which have really helped the park develop in the last few years.
 
Sadly I didn't anymore photos here because my phone's camera reached capacity but all I can say is, it's a loverly themed area for the park's clientele and the park got the right balance with everything there too.
 
We only managed one ride in the area, that was Windy Castle. From the outside it looks like a little innocent spinning observation ride thing, think again! Peaj, Steve, Alex and I all shared one capsule and when you have no spin limits on a ride that also rotates upwards on a 4-5 minute cycle you're in for one hell of a white knuckle ride.
 
it was honestly crazy and ridiculous how crazily fast we were all going here and whilst it was hilarious to start with, I'm certain my thrill limit has been reached as it felt very painful and comftable towards the end of the ride and pretty nauseated for the tail end of the day too. Think this has put me off tea cups for the time being.

As much as things post 2006 have clearly marked the up for the park (moreso post 2010), there's still a fair few number of areas in the park that look bland and in need of an update.
 
one of these is the park's log ride which is pretty much an off the shelf Reberchon. Considering this ride isn't even 20 years old does show how superior their new stuff is now.

I could probably say the same for the Go Karts. I didn't try these either as I think there was an up charge.
 
that being said, there isn't a massive amount of upselling at the park. Considering I didn't see any HB leisure stalls or any posters trying to persuade me to buy a pass. Although the park exit is deliberately through a massive toy shop, that is more a tactical decision (and a cunning one at that).


But Paultons isn't just home to a decent selection of family rides. There's also a very reasonable amount of gardens and green spaces which help enhance a day here.




Which made for a really enjoyable day out that was enjoyed by all.

Unfortunately though Peaj was eaten by a giant hedge snake and hasn't been seen since. 
 
Paultons is definitely a loverly park and worth a visit. its a place that puts effort and dedication into everything they do. Whether that be building a giant new themed area, staff friendliness or keeping the place tidy (we saw someone pick up litter minutes after it was dropped). With the possible exception of Cobra's queue, everywhere was beautifully well kept with no signs of wear and tear anywhere and a good atmosphere throughout.
 
The future for the park is bright and seeing the massive improvements they've made in the last few years (each one better than the last). All they need to do is build a proper flume and add a dark ride and they will then have a perfect full lineup. Whilst the park have little to nothing in terms of merchandise, I think they have it right by housing a massive toy shop at the exit which will no doubt be blissful joy for many of the kids (and a nightmare for many of their parents). 
 
Chessington step aside. This is what a family park should be. Jump in the boot and let's go!

Causing a bit of a gap to the long speculated trip reports of certain members visiting several new major parks [surprisingly not Benin in this case], you may be wondering what the Creek will be able to provide to contend with this. If you were hoping for reports of new visited parks and the like, you may leave feeling rather disappointed [there are big plans in the works for the near'ish future though], however what I will offer instead will be in the shape and form of unique and different theme park activity.

Having been a big fan/enthusiast of parks and coasters for a long time, there is something I had always wanted to do at a park for a long time in my life; that was walking up to the top of roller coaster lift hill. Following the foreseeable cancellation of my Towers lift hill walk [due to the unfortunate accident of a certain ride], I instantly booked myself a coaster climb on one the coasters at Thorpe [whether it's a good idea to this the day after a heavy night clubbing and drinking is another story however]

Judging from the [poorly quality] picture above you can tell right away which ride I went for; Colossus
After having experienced my chosen ride at the end of the day before closing, I waited patiently outside the ride's exit [as instructed by the details on the email I'd received when I booked it], where I was soon approached by a member of Thorpe's stuff and when clarifying my name, I knew my experience was about to begin.

Being directed in to the Swarm's control booth with others taking the walk [a dad and his son], we were given an informative talk about the ride's generally statistics from basic things such as opening in 2012, being built by Bolliger & Mabillard and costing 20 million to more complex and interesting facts.
When it comes to dispatching the ride, the operator in the control booth must press both green buttons with his hands in-addion to the platform staff pressing the other four buttons. If one of these buttons isn't pressed the ride will not dispatch. Interestingly, there are four positions staff can be allocated to on this ride, control operator, baggage room, front and back of station, where are total number of seven staff are required on two trains operation and six on one train operation.
The ride's console is a lot smaller and advanced from the park's older consoles [inferno's apparently strikes similarities but is noticeably bigger]. Not only can individual rows of restraints be released individually [no need for the recheck all bars here] but the computer system can also calculate how many trains have been running on the system and give a general count of throughput. Speaking on throughputs, one train operation on Swarm allows for about 600 people per hour [pph] whilst two trains allows up to 1200 PPH.
As you can witness from the photo [and the giveaway on the booth] the ride was on just one train at the end of the day, however this was to ensure final checks on the ride's others train which would be checked up through the evening/night and then run on the circuit the next day whilst the existing train would then receive it's inspection. Interestingly whilst the work shop is located on the right to the station building, there is a giant cold fridge in there too [ I forget why though].
Other interesting things the console allows [pictured above] is to open/close gates, stop and start the ride and also stop and start on the lift hill too. The ride was naturally locked down when we were there which only the engineering crew would be able to open to stop any possibility of the ride operating whilst we were there. One of the other proceedures of loading aside from the buttons and thumbs up is all seats must be closed and locked for dispatched regardelss of them being with or without riders.

The second part of the console, this allows the operator to speak to through the tannoy systems, and press automated announcments such as weather closing and reopening. There's naturally a phone too for the operator to contact platform staff.

like all ride's alike, the ride uses CCTV throughout the surrounding area which is to used to ensure the ride is working correctly and that no one has trespassed in the surrounding area [which would result in an e-stop].

Before doing the actual part of the lift walk, everyone was instructed to put on safety harness vests, which involved putting the main part on your chest whilst adjusting and tightening the giant clip and then getting your legs through the holes then adjusting them. This was finalised by the ball hold which would connect to the coaster wire itself.

Then it was time for the walk itself to begin. This gaint bit of machinery operates the lift hill of the ride.
The harness I was wearing was connected to the chainwire at the side, which involved in the positioning of the clip. Every so often, you would need to push the clip through a check point area so to ensure maximum safety. If you folded the clip in, then it would stick you to position. The design of this safety figure has been designed to prevent slip backs, so if you accidentally trip up on the way up or down, the clip safely locks you in place preventing any major accidents from happening.

One of things talked about was the actual meaning of the ride's project name LC12. I naturally put it down as Lez Cougan, however the actual meaning of the acronym was infact Lost Cause. Mentions of other project names such as Project Odyssey [Colossus] and Project Dylan [saw] were also mentioned briefly there too.
And many steps later, we finally reached the top. It was a very nice day so I was able to get some pretty good views of the park and surrounding area whilst I was up there [including Heathrow].


Who Thought Thorpe was so beautiful


I learn't many interesting new facts on my climb which was great to hear whilst taking in the stunning views below. These included,
1/ Stealth & Rita were originally supposed to be one big coaster however due to some difficulties in planning it, this was split in half. So Thorpe got one half [the better half IMO] whilst Towers got Rita.
2/ The reason why Nemesis Inferno was themed like a volcano was because of the fire that took place on the site the ride replaced [Tropical Travels].
3/ If Thorpe were to build something massive on the empty island next to Swarm, they would need to remove something equivalent in size [my tour guide described the park's landscape as being like a Lilo.

I naturally had to ask/enquire about WC16 [Thorpe's new dark ride] during the climb. However unsurprisingly he wasn't able to provide much information except that it would be the first kind of ride to ever exist in the world and that it would be a top class ride. Even facts down to when it would open [spring or summer] could not be provided.
He did mention there would be more interesting in vestments on the way within the park and that Thorpe's target was now all age groups.


When it came to Fright Nights, he said that this years one would be bigger and better, however couldn't confirm completely if there would be any new attractions or face it alone returned [but hinted the former was likely].

On the operational front, the ride cannot operate below 5 degrees or in winds over 35 MPH, there's a wind tracking device at the top of the hill which is sort of in the form of a micro wind turbine.


The main Thorpe hotel is expected to open around 2018/2019. It was mentioned how a spruce up of the entrance would be liked [depecting a very RCT style appearance] and hinted that a redesign in the future would probably happen however the dome would remain for the foreseeable long term due to it's complex structure and helpful functions within the park.


One of the most eager questions I asked I did manage to get an answer for though was the future of the now closed Chief Rangers Caroulsel? When dismantled the ride was stored temporarily in the staff car park for a while, however unfortunately the ride will never be able to return to the park.
This is because it's going to a different park. Which though wasn't said however apparently it isn't close to any major European parks and the country of location is unknown [so tracking of the ride will likely be extremely difficult]. I am happy to confirm though that many prominent items from the old ride have been salvaged including the old ride centrepieces which are apparently now located in the education centre. The other horses on the ride are believed to have been kept to use on the ride's new home.


I asked on what the forseeable future for Mr Monkey might be and he reckons the ride is here to stay as a tribute and lone survivor of the Ranger area that once dominated the park.

When it came to potential rides going, the answer was generally that Thorpe like to keep their rides and that Samurai was closed so that they could give it out the attention it needed to work again as it was still a popular ride at the park.






When it came to Colossus's 'potential' repaint he was unsure on whether it would get fully done and did agree that ride presentations are an important aspect of rides. He did however hint towards the possible return of the railway in the future and the re-theme of Rumba though.

Proof this is real



A pic of me and my guide



I'm a long way up!

After this unique,interesting and insightful experience, I gradually made it down from this giant coaster back to the ground where I thanked my host before grabbing my belongings and making my way.
The Big Question
Was The Walk Worth £50?
Just about,
in this experience, not only do you get to go up and down your coaster of choice, but you are presented with stunning and amazing views of the surrounding area not just in the park but on for many miles throughout the landscape. You also learn a lot of new facts and information on different things in the park from the operational and management side to how the park works as a whole. Seeing the control cabin of one of my favourite coasters was another interesting sight and I enjoyed my time doing this experience where all the VIP team were extremely friendly and helpful and this was no rush or pushing ahead on the experience at any time.
I will probably do another lift walk here at somepoint in the future [not sure when though] on Colossus to see how it compares and look how different the ride works from an operational view, B&M were described as the creme de la creme of coasters when I was there. If you're in to different theme park experiences and wish to experience a lift hill walk, I would definitely recommend experiencing one on The Swarm!

So, as some on here might be aware, myself, scarycoasterboy (Adam), J.S217 (Jack) and Peaj did a bit of a European road trip at the end of last month / beginning of this month. 8 days, 7 parks, 3 countries - it was a big'un. Parks we visited were...
Plopsaland de Panne (27th June)
Bellewaerde (28th)
Walibi Belgium (29th)
Phantasialand (30th)
Toverland (1st July)
Efteling (1st-3rd)
Bobbejaanland (4th)
As we were visiting Belgium, Germany and Holland, we squished the three countries together to get the working title of 'BelGerAnd' for the name of the trip. Unfortunately, that terrible attempt just sort of stuck (much like Stealth's project name ey?). So that explains that.
(PS: Any feedback on the style of this would be great. I do plan on writing up reports from all the parks, so would be nice to do it in a way that people would want to read it!)
Anyway, enough set up, let's get down to TR-ing...
An early start beckoned us - leaving to get the 5:15 ferry from Dover. Naturally, this meant we arrived at Plopsaland - a realtively short drive from Calais - ridiculously before the 10am opening...

The entrance area looks very nice.
We wandered around the local area to pass the time, and about a 5 minute walk away, we found a Belgian War Memorial. It was somewhat surprising to realise that a theme park was so close to a place like. We had a wander around and it really hits home...

With our respects paid, we ventured off to the world of Plopsa. First up was the coaster I was most looking forward to off the day, Anubis.
It's the first launched Gerstlauer I've done, and indeed the first rolling launch I've done. I was looking forward to it, after hearing many good reviews. After a near walk-on through the nicely themed queue, we were on. Simply put, the ride is fab - the launch is great fun, and then the ride that follows mixes pops of airtime, inversions and bits of force nicely together. I found going up the initial hill quite intense too. The ride flows really well and it's very smooth too. It's a little on the short side and lacks any substantial outdoor theming, but at the same time, it doesn't leave you feeling short changed. All in all, a great ride that is really enjoyable.

A somewhat understated entrance.


Couple of ride shots.
We then moved over to Rollerskater, one of the park's family coasters. This immediately caught my eye for one reason - the random theming. From a giant washing machine, bird in a cage to a turtle on a plate, the ride seemed a bit wacky. The coaster itself is fun, but the random bits of theming just make it a right laugh.

Lift hill

The infamous washing machine

Station building
We then ticked off another cred, by doing their powered coaster, De Draak. It's got an extravagantly themed queue line, but it also has a long layout that interacts nicely with the surroundings. Picks up some decent speed and it's nice that it goes round twice too.

De Station.
With temperatures soaring, we decided to cool down on De Boomstammetjes, the park's log flume. It was okay, had a nice double drop finale, but didn't get you wet enough really. By now we had realised something a bit odd - the park itself felt very very busy, but the queues themselves didn't really reflect that. Not sure if that's the norm for Plopsaland given their target market or not, but we weren't really going to complain, as it gave a nice atmosphere to the park, but meant we could try out all that the park had to offer.
With this in mind, we did a few of the filler rides, including Waterfietsen; some pedal swan boats. Was a very nice tour round the lake, though have to admit my legs were aching after a while! Two filler rides that we didn't get done during this little period, however, were their Teacups, which is still being given its awesome-looking retheme, and Rox-Flyer, their Star Flyer. Ah well.

Two rides of spite.
With some flat rides done and lunch out of the way, we moved over to Supersplash, the 'water coaster' which anyone would have a hard time calling a 'coaster'. It was probably our longest queue for the day, at about 20-25 minutes - quite nice that it was indoors too! Following an interesting lift sequence, the ride does a drop underneath a bridge, before coming back up and then giving a nice-looking splash and then meandering back to the station. The lift sequence is nice, but lacking anything substantial really. The drop I found a bit rough in all honesty, but the splash was nice - not wet of course, but was refreshing. I'm a bit unsure on it as an attraction - it takes ideas from a couple of different rides, but doesn't really do anything with them. A bit of a shame.


A shame I didn't get a shot with a boat in really.
We then planned to tick off the two remaining creds on park - Vleermius, the random suspended coaster, and Viktor's Race, the park's kiddie coaster. Unfortunately, it became apparent that Vleermius would spite us - it was closed with no obvious work being done to it. Shame, as it's something I did want to try out, but I'm sure I'll get to try something like it in the future. Viktor's Race, however, was open. Nothing really to say about it, merely one done for the coaster count.

Neither ride was very photo-worthy for me, it would seem.
More wondering round the park was done afterwards, and getting in some rerides along the way. We were planning on heading over the to Wickieland to try out the Disk-o and splash battle over their, but noticed the Disk-o was closed due to it stalling, so we decided to leave that area till later. Instead, we worked our way over to the indoor area Maya Land, near the front of the park.
It's a great area for kids with some fabulous looking rides. The one that caught my attention the most though was De Waterlelies, a Zamperla Demolition Derby. After not getting on the one at Drayton for the past two years, this simply had to be done. Certainly a fun little ride, though it does sort of feel like it drags on a bit towards the end. We also did the slide in Maya Land before leaving to explore the rest of the park once again.

Spinning waterlilies <3
After a couple more rides on Anubis, we then headed over to Het Bos van Plop, an indoor boat ride. I really enjoyed it to be honest, the theming was lovely, the music was catchy and it was just a nice way to relax. Such a simple ride executed so well. We then did the train ride around the park before heading over to Wickieland again...

The Disk-o was still closed, but the car had been bought back to the station-area at least. Instead, we decided to the splash battle - Wickie The Battle. It was very nicely themed, a good length and got you to a good level of wet. Great water ride all in all!

With park close nearing, we dashed over to Supersplash for one more ride (majority vote over-ruled me unfortunately!). We then stayed in the park for a bit longer, looking around the entrance and such, before hitting the road. An hour-or-so drive later, we arrived at our French hotel, and after realising the hotel owners were out for the night and eventually being given our keys by other guests, we were finally in. A quick McDonald's and some French TV bought an end to our first - and fortunately longest - day!
Final Thoughts: I really enjoyed Plopsaland. It's a fab little park, with some nice little gems and great theming. The addition of a woodie next year is definitely music to my ears - one more family thrill coaster would complete the park's line up I think. It's certainly a park I want to go back to soon, and the proximity to me is a bonus!

WARNING: High Liam content.
Well, what an amazing day this was! It was a joy to see everyone again and to meet some new faces
(Btw, I got the xmas smilies by googling them, started typing this during xmas, was gonna remove them since but meh, it's a Christmas meet )
After being greeted with hugs and smiles at Waterloo station, it was off to The Eye (and that wonderful 4D experience). It was a clear day so we got some great views, could even see Stealth! Liam was such a tourist (actually, he was for the whole day) and came out with a great response to The Shard: "It doesn't look real! It looks like it's been painted on!"
Seflie time!

Next up was The Dungeons, which were a great laugh as usual, and with it being Liam's first time, we were provided with much entertainment in the form of his vocalizations. Such as: jumping on the boat ride; screaming in the plague doctors scene when the leeches crawl under your bum, and just general camp reactions. The highlight was, of course, when he got picked in the torture device scene Just...perfect! Shame we couldn't take any photos! Although...
Our ORP from Drop Dead with Luke (and some random lady) was quite something...

Luke's face!
We skipped SeaLife and headed straight to Nandos, about an hour before our booking We managed to lose Peaj on the underground, whilst gaining Mark9 and Dan9...but were eventually reuinited in Nandos. Secret Santa was fun as always (but did we actually finish it?!), I think Liam was most impressed with his sexy fireman calendar
At this point, I had intended on going around and handing all my Christmas cards out...not really sure what happened! So instead, I just went to people individually throughout the rest of the day and gave them their cards. But because of this, there were some people who I didn't get round to giving their cards to, so major apologies!
BUT I did bring loads of candy canes And I tried to make sure everyone got one lol!
After this cheeky dessert of candy canes, it was off to Madame Tussauds for most of us while the rest headed to the pub. A few bits (and groping of!) from Tussauds:

Santa Banter!
(In full HD 60fps, as are all my videos)


http://youtu.be/FWs9qD1OAro

I also added some silly/amusing annotations And it appears that our meet organiser was clearly still in shock after becoming seperated from us on the underground, and couldn't even catch a giant box
A few stills from that footage:


W're royal, ya know

Erm, I still have no words...

Aww I do love this photo!

Soon, it was time for The Spirit of London!
Here's some stills from my on-ride footage ...Because the detail in this ride is just brilliant.
Luke popped his head round to tell us something important...

(Watch the video that I have included further down to find out what, I didn't upload them for nothing )
Rebuilding London and St Paul's



#Lad

Hmm, this reminds me of a particular coaster...

Only just realised when watching the footage back that this helter skelter is also Big Ben!

Where did everyone go?!

Plot twist: they were taken by the creepy fireman!

I think it's partly the fact that his right eye just stares straight ahead which makes him creepy (ish).
I thoroughy enjoyed the ride as always, as did Liam!

Why not see (and hear!) for yourself?
http://youtu.be/boytOANK8_E


I was a bit sheepish about being too obvious filming it, hence why the view seems quite low down at points. But it's the things that are said/the reactions (again, mainly from Liam) that are the highlights of the video, really! "WHO'S THAT?!" "Oh my god we're going down...OOOH!" "We're going oop...WE'RE GOING OOP!"
Winter Wonderland
Well, once we'd eventually got inside and shuffled painfully to the Carousel Bar, we could enjoy ourselves (as much as humanely possible). Myself and some others did Wild Maus XXL, which was even more insane, hardly seemed to trim! There's a particular corner which is ridiculously fast - you can actually see people being thrown to the side when watching!
Then while some others did Barrel of Laughs, we did XXL. It was definitely worth it! Far more than just a giant Freakout or better version of Vortex It was fast, pretty intense, had both great force and great airtime, and when I thought we'd reached full height, it still went higher! Pretty sure I shouted "What the f**k?!" a few times!

Winter Wonderland off-ride footage
http://youtu.be/E3htSa9TRvU


At 14-15 seconds in, watch the corner just above the blue sign - that's the corner I just mentioned, you'll see how fast the car flies through! You also get to hear the wonderful operator on XXL, who kept repeating the same things over and over again. OH and watch (and listen) out for my little edit at the end
It was eventually time to say goodbye It really was lovely to see people again, especially people like Liam who I haven't seen in a long time and live bloomin' miles away! Actually had to hold back from crying when hugging goodbye
Although, it was nice to go to the pub after with some peeps and just chill, was a nice way to finish such a good day!
Here is the album with all my photos in for any who want to see the rest of them: Christmas London Trip 2014
Oh and any photos with people in are set to private (the above link is a guest pass, so only those who I share the link to can see the private photos)
So thank you to everyone for making it such a great meet, and of course to Peaj! Last year's meet unfortunately ended up on a very sad day for me and my family, so I don't have great memories from it. And for various reasons, 2014, up until around late October/November, was a pretty awful year for me personally. BUT (cue happy/triumphant music), since November-time I've finally been on the mend, and for the first time in a very long time (a few years perhaps!) I feel back to my old self - if not, better than that! Something must have shone through as I was often the one the actors spoke to at The Dungeons Seriously though, I feel so alive and more chatty, and I was eager to see how I'd be at a meet (especially with so many people), and I'm very pleased to say that I felt amazing!
So here's to 2015 Happy new year! x

So yeah, my family booked a trip to Marwell Wildlife (zoo) for my birthday. Here goes...
It was in the middle of nowhere, but there was really bad traffic for the last mile or so (reminds me of a certain Staffordshire theme park), but we made it in.

And here we have the main attraction: The man with a pushchair!

Thier Penguin enclosure is a great deal bigger than Chessie's.

'Just smile and wave boys, smile and wave.'

This animal looks like my dog.

It's a pink chicken.

The world's fastest animal did not move at all during our visit. Typical.

Oh look, they seem to have stolen some theming from Zufari....

...And the Smiler, too.

This cow is the best cow in the world. It's ginger.

You could go and see the giraffes at feeding time. How sweet!

Unfortunately all we saw of the world's rarest big cat, the Amur leopard, was this little fluffy sleeping blob.

This zebra was actually in the middle of doing the moonwalk when I took this photo. This is also one of two subspecies of zebra at the zoo.

Meerkats can always look cute.

It's not just the meerkats that like sunbathing....

See? The Amur tiger does too. (These tigers are WAY bigger than the Sumatran tiger at Chessington, but less rare)

Grey Chicken.

This red panda was so high up the tree that I couldn't see him much.

Wow, they have thier own mini Towers!

Along with their own Island Like No Other...

Complete with chavs Macaques!

More stolen theming, now from Wild Asia.

Ginger Lemur is Ginger.

Lemur hug!

Wow, they even have rollercoasters here!

*dies of happiness* Snow leopards are the best.
And I shall end this blog with a picture of some rare Obese Unicorns.

https://translate.google.com/?hl=en&tab=TT (may be useful. Also any apologies to fluent German speakers, Google translate still doesn't do that well but it copies nicely back into Translate)
Willkommen in der letzten Reisebericht des Jahres. Hierfür haben wir nach Deutschland in London reiste.

Sieht aus wie Hyde Park.

Englisch Wolken. (Nicht jetzt lila und blauen Stuhl, zurück zu Erlebnisinsel)

Auch das Zeichen ist in Englisch. Es ist Winterwunder dumm!

Ach, mein Lieblingshotel. Alpen. Der Barkeeper ist genial!

Nur in Deutschland

große Schaukel Sache. XXL.

Es ist grün und rot, wie Weihnachten

Nachtzeit kommt in Deutschland schneller.

Lieben Sie die Wolken in diesem

Hübsche Lichter. Oh und es heißt Sprungschanze

Fliegen Sie über Deutschland

Fliegen in der Luft

Was ist das?

Leitungen Turm 2

Fantastische

Und hier drüben ...

WILDE MAUS XXL

schauen, es ist die große Schaukel wieder. XXL

hallo dort

Luft. Sogar klingt besser in Deutsch

ich werde verlassen auf einem Thriller. Auf Wiedersehen
Wir sehen uns in 2015!

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!!!!!!!!

Here we are, the park home to Ultimate things like Raptor Attack, Angry Birds and some random stuff.

Here we see the Ultimate wheel that they have. It's so good that even on busy days they only load half the carriages.

Much like the annoying Drayton, LWV opens its gates at 10 but the main rides at 10:30. However, you can't even go down towards them from 10 so this happens. And with Ultimate things behind the man a queue of stampeding people formed!

So we went on the wheel which was opened and then RAN (for people who know me that is an ultimate thing!)

We ran, we saw, nothing Ultimate happening here. So did Raptor Attack which is Ultimate!

So we went mining.

This tunnel really is as small as it looks!

And this beam really is low! Ultimate theming here.

Raptor Attack is a generic coaster you find at fun fairs, however in the dark with a really well down internal queue and animatronic raptors throughout the ride it is pretty Ultimate!

Speaking of which...

They have a ladybird Zierer Tivoli!

And yes in the background is indeed a Reverchon spinner!

Ultimate green spin it was.

While we're talking about green...

The green Falls of Terror water slides!

With a blue sign

Like this man.

And parts of the sky! The sky is blue! Ultimate British weather!

This wall is blue too.

YAY ABAP AT LWV! YAY

All the space guys say hi

To the generic guys

Not a fan of oversized birds though. Ultimately they aren't real

Through the rings we go back to the real world

I will. If it's Ultimate that is.

Important sign there ensuring you have Ultimate fun. Oh and a meh wood sculpture.

This guy is a legend. He made a bird fly! Ultimate lad.

He approves.

Mr Ferret wasn't too sure though. His day clearly hadn't been Ultimate.

Urgh camera was facing the wrong way guys. Sorry let's get back to Ultimate things.

Like the insane Whirlwind.

And Ultimately awesome skate karts!

Weeee!

Ultimate failing going on here!

These are pretty good.

Do like their green though.

At least that way the rides are camouflaged.

See! You can't see the rides! Ultimate camouflaging skills!

Just watch out for the train.

They are living on the edge without train gates so remember to look both ways for an Ultimate day out.

Here are a few things that I find Ultimately sickening.







This is my type of thing!

Speedy tractor.

Just know it's going to be fast with a sign like that!

Camouflaged cherry picker. It's difficult to see I know but I'm Ultimate and can see it.

Real animals

This was my lunch the following day. After all, it was national hamburger day.

Not even going to ask. It's that Ultimate.

Something through the trees. Didn't look Ultimate enough though.

Few more Ultimate things.

Blur of Ultimateness.

No blur.

OOOOOO. Not bad.

Ultimate lad up there on the lift hill. Not sure what ride this was. Still wasn't Ultimate enough for us.

Yes Ultimate things

So with the Carousel done we'd been on everything bar one ride. They call it "The Ultimate." Don't know why.

It had a long queue.

Only one working train.

Boring signs.

Not running is boring.

Stupidly placed chains.

Safety features like air gates.

Lift hills everywhere which take an age to complete.

Stupid thing.

Just a shame it's so darn good! Ultimate is amazing! Relentlessly awesome! It has some gimmick too, not sure what but it doesn't need it! Best ride on park.

Well after this bad boy!

Yesterday we decided to take an important English man to a place of Lego. Mr Lego William Shakespeare. I'll hand him over to you for this report

Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind. And this hand is suspicious, but I'm not guilty.

Welcome to the very merry land of Lego. Let's not read that rubbish book though, lets read a few of my plays.

This life, which had been the tomb of his virtue and of his honour, is but a walking shadow.

Certainly a big walking shadow!

Look mum it's Darth Vader!

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? He's right next to you! It's like they've never seen the play.

OMG it's a train! Like a real train!

Though shall not ask.

Or pass.

My hair's bad in this one

How'd I get up here?

I'm full of words. You don't want to eat me.

If food be the food of food, eat on!

Oh hi there

I'm safe here... right? Don't want me dying for a second time!

His colour choice is amazing.

Do you think he's seen me? Hope not

RUN! (Look at that blur... so much speed!)

They'll never find me here.

Or here.

Definitely won't expect me here!

I settled in to my hotel room and got it ready for my new girl.

The course of true love never did run smooth. Especially not in Legoland.
Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow.

Oddly placed sign in the trees

Odd water slide effect at the entrance.

"You calling my park odd?" Yes.

The Lynx didn't want to argue

That's a Fishing Cat. Odd that it wasn't fishing.

Odd chimp (because there's one of them ) looks at Appocalypse.

This seems more humpty bumpty

Compared to this. This is just weird.

But a good weird.

How odd.

BEST ENTRANCE EVER!!!

AND QUEUE!

This is odd.

But so much fun!

Rainy Shockwave

With odd straight bits.

Designed with a ruler.

Seats were a bit bumpty.

Odd dip before the lift hill.

Poor dinosaur. Clearly wan't a good enough oddity for the main park so got stuck on the train route.


What a strange looking cloud. How odd, it rained in England.

Slowest turn from lift to drop on any water ride. Wouldn't be Drayton if it didn't have an odd feature.

Free Radio dodgems were very odd! Especially as it took them longer to check all the cars were empty than load the ride. Odd procedures.

Urgh. Not odd, not humpty bumpty, just rubbish. Will be getting my vote for best UK ride

Something normal

Phew. Oddness best IP on a ride ever! It's literally the sign, that's it!

Odd, quirky, but great fun

YAY MORE THOMAS!

Percy loved this idea!

It means we'll get duelling bubble people

Back to the oddities. The bats are just weird.

Oddly placed lights.

The odd stand up with no floor wasn't working. So quite normal really.

So let's have some more humpty bumpty goodness!

No Merlin, this isn't a colour you seem to know of. It's green.


Lot's of green!

It has a splash zone, that doesn't get you wet. Really odd.

And just in case you'd forgotten where we were. The oddity makes it good fun, the weather made it interesting, if you made it to the end of this then the word odd will probably annoy you from now on. How odd.

For the first in about 10 or 11 years, I visited a non-Merlin theme park. It's been a long time coming, and anywhere was a start. And that start was to be Drayton Manor.
After such a beautiful week, Saturday decided to take a turn for the worst, and give us rain, thunder, lightning (though with a couple of breaks of sunshine during the day!). Adam picked me up and we arrived at Drayton around 9ish. Even though we were early, we could tell it was gonna be quiet day, and thank goodness, after some of the horror stories I'd heard about the park's operations.

We arrived to some sun, though we could tell dark times were ahead.
Half 9 came and the park opened. One of the first things which confuse me about the park is opening the park at 9:30, but not the rides until 10:30. There's not really enough to do for a whole hour, other than the small zoo, which we headed to straight away.

Tigers are a'coming.

A chimpanzee looks to Apocalypse in the distance.
Rides were testing so we headed over to G Force (which apparently had been closed for a couple of days) and we were pretty much first in the queue. 10:30 came and it opened; yay. This was my first coaster with inversions that had lap bars, and I'd heard some pretty poor things about it, but kept an open mind. And yeah, I thought it was quite fun. My first ride didn't give me any problems with the restraints, and it was a fun, fast-paced ride. I did get a bit of air time as well, which is nice. It's an odd ride (especially with the "humpety bumpety" lift) and seems to do all the best bits at the beginning, giving a week end, but hey-ho, it's a fun enough ride.

My G Force face.
Next up was the big, new thing - Air Race. I wasn't quite sure how it'd ride, what with the continual spinning and moving and stuff, but it was actually really good. The rocking start is very good, and then it just keeps spinning, round and round and round. It doesn't get boring, and there's some nice moments where you're left hanging upside down for quite a while. Near the end of the ride, we started spinning in the opposite direction. Would be nice if it did it sooner, just to mix it up a little, but hey ho. On a ride later on in the day, we counted that we went upside 18 times (sorry Smiler! ).

Air Race does have a nice entrance feature though.

Air Race's queue line is a nice cattlepen - like many of Drayton's queue - and has a TV playing annoying things.
Shockwave followed. Have to say, the station and theming in the queue line is quite nice actually. The seats and restraints on this thing though is very, erm, eurgh. Yeah, I'll go with eurgh. They're not comfortable and they just don't feel right. The ride itself has two highlights - a random little dip before going onto the lift, and the zero-g roll (which is actually incredible). The rest is uncomfortable, rattly or boring. There vertical loop was bleurgh, the double corkscrew is verging on painful and then the random straight bits are unimaginative (though, at least they don't try to castrate you). Now I see why so few stand ups have been built...

Found in Shockwave's queueline - made me chuckle...
Next up was Splash Canyon, the park's rapids. It was barely 11 o'clock, but we were already soaking wet, so water rides wouldn't make much difference. Fun little ride, not that wet really, though the indoor section did take me off guard.
Another water ride followed, and this time it was in the famous Stormforce 10. I'd heard a lot of good things about this, so I was excited. Have to say, the queue - which we once again walked through - is nicely themed and works really well. Onto the ride itself. The first drop is nice, and the way it's done was unexpected by me. Then wandering through the random waterfall is cool. The second drop, the backwards one, was a shock. We were sat at the very back, which meant we got the full force of water. For a split second, I thought I was on Tidal Wave I was that wet. Brilliant water ride. Not-so brilliant for when the weather is already chucking it down. Final drop is quite nice too. So yeah, a great water ride all in all, but I'll try to avoid the back next time...
A quick spin on Malestrom (nothing really to say about this, just a nice filler really) and drying off in one of the heater things (which was so worth it given how wet we were...), it was time to venture indoors for Pirate Adventure. It's an indoor boat ride which is basically a knock off of Pirates of the Caribbean. Have to say it's alright, though it seemed like a lot of the animatronics were broke. The ending was super anti-climatic too, which was a shame. For the record, this was probably our longest queue of the day at an amazingly long 15 minutes. Goes to show how quiet it was I guess. A go on the dodgems, sponsored by Free Radio, followed, and they were pretty decent.
Food followed in the Safari Pizza & Pasta:

Very nice indoors restaurant located by the zoo. Indoors there's loads of animal animatronics which move and stuff and it was quite a nice atmosphere in there. (By the way, unlike Merlin's Pizza / Pasta, this isn't all you can eat in case you're wondering. We just had a nice pizza and wedges meal).
We headed over to Ben 10: Ultimate Mission, the world's first Vekoma Junior Boomerang. It looked surprisingly tall and quick for a junior coaster, and I have to admit, it was one coaster I was really looking forward to. Again, there was next to no queue, which was great. The majority of the queue is indoors, and is very well themed, with aliens, loads of 'high tech' stuff, noises, lights, etc., and a false corridor which tricked Adam and I. Very, very good.

Aliens.
First ride gifted us with front row. Being lifted up backwards was a nice sensation, though the stop is very harsh and judders you around a bit. Then you're dropped down and you pick up a lot of speed very quickly, meander around a bit, then up a random wiggle. You hear the laser fire and do backward to the station. It's a short ride of course, but it's great. It has a bit of everything and left both of us happy. No doubt kids love the ride as well. It's certainly Drayton's most complete ride and is fun for everyone. What's even more impressive is how it takes up so little room. Given the lack of queue, we went straight back round to do it again, which is a testament to the ride's quality.

Look at that joy.
Afterwards, we ventured to what I'll nickname 'dark ride row'. We started off with The Haunting, a Vekoma madhouse. Much like Hex, it has two pre-shows before the ride. The first pre-show is very nicely done, with some TVs giving you an introduction, and one or two nice effects used. The second pre-show isn't as good I found, going on for a bit too long, and that you couldn't always hear what was being said. The actual madhouse itself is good, with a nice ending I thought. So all in all it is a nice ride, but it also showed by just how good Hex is as well. Haunting is great in its own right, but Hex is in a different league.
Next door was Golden Nugget - Wild West Shoot Out. As the name suggests, it's a gun-based ride where you shoot things for points. Other than the name and logo, there's no reference to the Golden Nugget cereal. It's a very cheap ride clearly, and to be honest, is quite laughable. It's nice that some things happen when you hit the target though. But still, not a great ride. We ended dark ride row with Drunken Barrels, the tilting teacups. They were good fun, and the plate actually tipped, but our cup was way too stiff to spin.
It was now time for the last major ride (in my opinion), Apocalypse. Decided to go in at the deep end and do stand up first (though, unfortunately, the floorless seating wasn't available today). The seats are okay - more comfortable than Shockwave's at least! - and the tilt is a great twist; did get me a little bit. However, the drop itself is okay at best. Just doesn't really get me as much as I'd hoped. Though the suddenness of the drop is a nice touch. Sit down followed straight away, and I think I prefer that seating arrangement due to the added comfort. One thing which disappointed me with this (and a lot of Drayton in general actually) was the lack of audio, apart from the occasional siren. No atmosphere, very little tension and it just felt like the ride could have been so much more intimidating with some sort of background noise.
We decided to get some other rides done, including Flying Dutchman - yet another odd Drayton ride - and Buffalo Coaster. Buffalo is quite possibly the weirdest coaster I've done, with an odd layout, monorail-like speeds, yet the occasional okay bit. It goes on forever as well. I feels like it's time should be nearly up, and the space and surrounding area would be great for a family coaster (hi there Mack!). Oh, one laughable thing about Buffalo - on our ride, the train overshot the station, meaning the people in the front row couldn't get out, and had to have another go (I feel for the poor souls).
I would do a list of all the things which are more useful than Buffalo, but I think I'd be here for too long...

Buffalo with Apocalypse in the background. The Buffalo should look a lot more sad though.
We then went to the other side of the park to venture round Thomas Land. Looks nice, and I know that my younger self would have exploded with excitement to be there. Only ride we did round here was Troublesome Trucks Runaway Coaster. For a ride set in Thomas Land, it was actually alright, and the ending on it was a specific highlight. Great ride for the younger market.

We saw Percy whilst queueing fro Troublesome Trucks.

NEW FOR 2015. Funnily enough, when you're in the park, you don't really recognise the construction going on. When you're outside the park, by the entrance, you see the site, but have no idea what it's for.
With basically everything done, it was time for rerides aplenty. Air Race, G Force and Shockwave were all done again, as was Ben 10. After a while, a storm came over, bringing more rain, thunder and lightning, bringing most rides to a close (as an interesting fact, Apocalypse was hit by lightning this past week ). One of the few rides which remained open was Polperro Express Train; a short train ride which goes round part of the park. It gave some nice views of Shockwave, Stormforce 10, G Force and the rapids, and it was a nice break from the rain.
Some rides slowly began reopening, so we were able to get a few more rides in (including on the Golden Nugget ride since it was indoors, and just so we could laugh at it's awfulness some more). We ended up riding Ben 10 five times during the day, which I think shows how it is indeed a good ride for the park. The day ended off with a ride on G Force, and it was the only one where I had an uncomfortable experience. However, I still stand by my views that it is a fun ride; just a shame the restraints can cause it to be otherwise.
Drayton Manor is a nice park all in all, and given it's a small park, it's done well for itself. But there's a few rides which are very cheap and laughable which need sorting out, I imagine on a busy day it's a bad place to be in (queue board times to some description would be nice for example), and there's some things lacking (audio on all rides for example). I don't want to end on a negative note, as I enjoyed the place and had a fabulous day out, and if you take it for what it is, it is good. I definitely would recommend people trying it out (especially if you have a voucher of some description), there are some good rides there which make it worth going there once.
Visiting has given me the extra incentive to try out other parks as well. It's not that I haven't wanted to, but it's more that I've been a been a bit blasé about it all. However, after yesterday's experience, I now have an urge to try parks new and different (and who knows, might even crack Europe next year!)
I'll leave with perhaps the best photo of the day; our last ride on Ben 10:

At the end of June I spent a week in Salou. This of course meant that some trips to PortAventura would be happening! As well as a trip to Barcelona and the somewhat little known park of Tibidabo.
First off, Salou is a lively large town situated right on the coast of the Costa Dorada, we stayed in a hotel in Salou and couldn’t fault anything about the place. Right in the centre & 5-10 mins walk to the beach. Loved it. One thing I particularly enjoyed about the stay was on the evening of the 23rd of June, the longest day of the year celebrations took place, aka Summer Solstice aka St. John’s Eve… and a bank holiday follows the day after. Fireworks are on sale at pop up shop shipping containers in the street and they’re going off until the early hours… Fabulous atmosphere all evening!
PortAventura
We did 2 days at PortAventura, using the Plana bus (every 10 mins from Salou, €2 pp), cheap & very efficient taking you straight to PortAventura in around 10-15 minutes. A land train also operates but takes around 20-30 minutes.
The entrance area of the park is fantastic and you immediately have a view of the fountains in the lake with Baco rushing round and Shambhala & Hurakan Condor in the distance. Seeing as the park has staggered ride openings we opted to start at the back of the park at Dragon Khan. Khan opens at 10:00 with the park along with the rapids, Tutuki Splash, Furius Baco, and select other smaller attractions. If this was a UK park it wouldn’t be an acceptable way of operating. But when you consider that the park is open until 8PM, 9PM, 11PM, midnight or 2AM - 4AM, you still have ample time to get everything done more than once without express. I’ll probably mention this again later on…
Mediterrania is the area you first enter. This pic was taken from the opposite side on the bridge between Mediterrania and Far West. You enter not far from where Baco's train is in this pic. One of my favourite things was how picturesque PA is.

Queue jumping was something that we encountered at various times in our visit. The spanish seem to not care at all if someone jumps over the fence or in front of them. Anyway, except for that, I really liked the general atmosphere around the park, lots of foliage, lakes, extremely well kept garden areas and all queues are at least partially covered from sunlight. The (many) small & large shows dotted around the park also provide nice breaks from the rides for a few minutes here and there.
One of the smaller shows...

I would recommend purchasing express if you want to get *loads* done as a group. Naturally, most people head to Baco first and it had already racked up 1hr of queue when we passed it. Got to Khan and waited 2 trains and were on. Hurrah!
Dragon Khan
It's 148ft tall, yet with Shambhala overhead it really doesn't feel that way from the ground.

Dragon Khan was operating 2 trains for the entirety of the 2 days we spent at the park. The area that the ride shares with Shambhala is impressive, I’m not usually one to care much for theming but it’s all done to a high standard, the large ‘Shambhala’ area entrance signs and singular theme items as you enter the area are nice.
Khan starts off with the classic B&M pre-lift turn, followed by what seems to be a gentle climb to the top due to Shambhala’s domineering steepness from above. Once at the top of the lift, I found the first half of the ride to be taken at quite some speed even early in the morning at 10:30AM, the zero-G being the highlight of this half for me. The second half was ‘good’ but not amazing, I have read on other forums that the ride has new computer settings this year, and the MCBR now trims EVERY TRAIN to this pace, all day, every day:

(Not my video)
I very much enjoyed Dragon Khan, it isn’t anything which is personally going to go in a top 10, but it was a solid ride. It is quite a ‘generic’ / ‘american’ style layout (+1 loop), I suppose you could say. But the reason things become generic, popular, and cloned a lot is because they are good, no? Colossus still remains my favourite multi-looper, but that’s because I have much love for it’s inlines and non-stop paced ride given.
Shambhala opens at 11:00, as does the flume. All other rides (Stampida, Hurakan Condor, El Diablo, Tomahawk, etc) open at 12:00. Templo del Fuego opens at 13:00. Again, this didn’t really bother us, if you plan and make sure you hit up attractions just as they open, you should have a good amount of rides done by mid afternoon. By the time you’ve done the rides open from 10, the 11 ones are open, then the 12… and it goes on. From a logistical side I can understand why they do this.
*Hearts in eyes Emoji*

Next was a wander round 1/2 the park, taking in the early atmosphere through Mexico & Far West and up to the rapids for a ride, followed by the Flume. We took the first couple of hours easy knowing that queues would die down once everything opens at 12. (we queued 40mins for the rapids), refreshing and got quite wet, surprisingly as some people were coming off quite dry! We took a look in some shops, and for some reason the park has an obsession for selling Betty Boop merch? Lol.
The Silver River Flume at PA is built to have fantastic interaction with El Diablo, much waving occurs between boats and El Diablo. A very fun flume overall of nice length and a quickly moving queue thanks to the turntable station.
Spinning flat ride thing called Serpiente Emplumada. Like Drayton Manor Sombrero's across between a Polyp...

El Diablo, aka Tren de la Mina. It’s Lifthills and coathanger turns. It’s still an enjoyable ride and I prefer the Arrow Dynamics mine trains to the powered Mack ones. The queue on 3 trains moves fast once the express queue dies down. It’s interaction with the flume was a highlight, we had the back row and the drop out of the station provides a wonderful surprise pop of airtime, though when the pre-lift of a ride is one of the best bits it says a lot about the remainder of the layout!! Between lift 1, lift 2, and lift 3 the ride just does a lot of meandering around, until after lift 3 where you get the ‘big swooping drop’ and final dive through the smashed hut over the queue. Cool, but the many other Arrow 3-lift mine trains dotted around the world look to be better.
Not bad but a bit odd!

Shambhala. There is absolutely nothing I can criticise about this ride in B&M terms, it’s an all round crowd pleaser. My first B&M hyper coaster, it domineers over the entire park with a drop of 256ft. The ride ran 2 trains for the entire day on my first day of visiting, and had a queue of approximately 40 mins - 1hr 20 mins all day. On my second day of visiting it ran 2 trains from 11:00 til 12:00 when the 3rd train was added due to Furius Baco breaking down and Shambhala gaining a 2 hour queue. When running three trains, the single rider queue is nearly always empty. They manage it THAT well that when batching, not one seat goes unfilled. I even got a front row ride from the single rider queue one time!! In the station they have an LED screen which counts down how long they have to dispatch the train. On 3 trains they have 60 seconds from air gates opening to when it needs to be dispatched to prevent stacking. The screen then shows (what must be) the capacity number as a figure like 16:24 (was certainly not the time..!) for 1624PPH, very funky / nerdy & not bad considering it can get 1680PPH! They were running it very well on 3 trains.

Onto the ride itself, when leaving the station, if you’re on a happy train you may get some cheering and drumming of the restraints! ha ha. The lift is speedy and if Khan is also climbing it’s lift some waving / interaction below will certainly occur! At the top of the lift the train sends you down the first drop so gracefully, put your hands up and just float down… it’s amazing! In the back seat you get the best airtime over all of the hills, anticipate the hills and you’ll get the best floaty feeling. The ampersand turnaround is a unique touch and looks cool from a distance, below is the view of the park from my hotel!

Floaty drop airtime for everyone!!

The mini ‘speed hill’ after the ampersand provides some slightly stronger airtime but it’s still not gonna leave you with feeling *omg ejected*. My preference is very strong thigh-pressure ejector airtime, but the B&M style is still an enjoyable feeling. If you’re in an outside seat, reach out to your side and get a refreshing spray through the splashdown, then get prepared for more airtime! The ride just does not let up and has 'floatiness' by the bucketload even in the final hills before the MCBR. (MCBR only has 1 hill after it).
Overall, 9/10, most certainly a top 10 ride, it isn’t ‘OMG wow intense’ like I usually like, but it’s very fun and the most re-rideable coaster I have ever ridden. The train design is brilliant. Top ride!
Hurakan Condor

This was my 3rd Intamin drop tower. Apocalypse floorless was my favourite drop ever, until I rode Hurakan Condor! I rode it only 2 times due to lack of express pass and even a long single rider queue. Got standup both times (cue “yaaaass”). The height alone is quite terrifying (not too much off 300ft?) so when you get tilted forwards at around 20-30ft from the top, your heart rate races and you might just swear once or twice. Take advantage of the amazing view then put your hands out and prepare to drop… The falling feeling is fantastic and beats Apocalypse. My favourite flat ride on the park. 10/10.
Stampida. One ride. Blue side. 4 trains running, 2 each side. A CCI wooden coaster which has been rehabilitated / improved by KumbaK with 'new' trains. Take the word ‘improved’ lightly here. The trains look like park benches and they also feel like them. The lap bar is hydraulic and will tighten as you go round the circuit with every jolt that you go over, I couldn’t brace myself against it because you have to take your bag on the ride with you and I didn’t want that to go flying so had to hold onto the bag… The ride could be good… But it’s flawed with track which feels like it’s washboarding so incredibly badly and trains & layout which prevent airtime because the lap bar isn’t moulded in the best of ways. Nonetheless, fun interaction times can be had when the trains separate and duel, the same with Tomahawk which shares the Stampida structure. I need to ride it again really to get a more clarified opinion.
Tomahawk. Pretty much a kiddie wooden coaster with dinky trains. It seats one adult per row or one adult and a child. Runs 2 (old) trains and has new in 2007 KumbaK control and braking systems just like Stampida. I should imagine this is an incredibly thrilling attraction for kids as it’s actually quite violent around some corners! It’s also smoother than Stampida and has interaction with Stampida. Alright..!
Furius Baco.
Before reading this review, bear in mind that my favourite rides are Saw: The Ride, Speed (Oakwood), Mondial Capriolo, KMG Tango, Colossus, Slammer, Stealth and Rita. They are all rides which I enjoy because they are somewhat on the extreme end of the scale… In one aspect or another.
First of all, check that speed... I'd love to know just how fast it actually goes thru that inline..!
>>>>>>> https://vine.co/v/MtZq1MwKOj5 <<<<<<<
From every aspect offride, Baco looks to be an relentless, furious (ha ha ha) ride which throws the riders around it’s speedy course like it can’t get back to the brake run quick enough. And that’s exactly what it does. And I love it.

I had 4 rides in total on it, 3 on outside seats and 1 inside seat. The pre-show is weird. The theme is weird. Once at the pre-show, you do some shuffling back and forth as the catch car prepares to engage whilst the naughty monkey comes along and causes havoc. The launch feels INCREDIBLE, especially in the front row. Going at such a speed and having so much of yourself out in the open really enhances the feeling of acceleration. The launch ends with a hill down into the first pit which can deliver some intense airtime. Dropping down into the first pit, slammed around a corner at 80+mph before switching direction briefly and then switching direction again, you take a leap over the launch and a left turn to approach the inline twist. The feeling of speed is again, greater enhanced as you head for the inline twist. This is SO CLOSE to the ground you feel you could almost touch it, the feeling of speed is astounding and the way you don’t go through it as a heartline creates a rather cool twisty feeling...
Final turn out of the inline and over the lake, with the final bump onto the brake run and I was totally wowed. Incredible ride. Baco gives you the wow factor in a way that most crazy Intamin creations do… I’m told that Mack mega coasters also have fantastic inline twists so can’t wait to try one out! Back to Baco - Now, there’s no other way of putting it, the ride is ROUGH. But if you can cope with intensity on the scale of Saw, Rita, to some extent Stealth, then you may enjoy Baco.
The head banging could be reduced if they didn't have these 'elephant ear' type things on top of the restraints. Though I believe they are there after the incident with a restraint last year... Reminds me of Vekoma SLC restraints. Shame as Intamin's modern bars like on Baco are otherwise very good imo because you are pinned at the thighs.

Overall, Baco is a ride which isn’t shy of pushing the limit and provides an intense experience which doesn’t ‘play it safe’ in the comfort department in order to limit intensity. I feel like the ride could probably make it round the circuit with a launch of around ~60mph seeing as it keeps so much speed for the entire circuit, but I’m glad Intamin pushed the boundaries when they built Baco! 9/10.
One final thing. I can't not give this a mention. A bird opposite Tomahawk (yes the kiddie coaster) which sings Sex Bomb & an array of ~4-5 other songs all day long. (Not my video)

So that’s it for PortAventura… Fantastic park which has a special collection of rides all in areas which have a great feeling of character. It was my first international park and I look forward to visiting the likes of Europa Park, Liseberg and all the other amazing locations on offer to us in Europe over the coming years… Can’t wait to return to PA in the future though! I had an amazing time!
One final, signature PA pic!

Trip report coming up from Tibidabo, Barcelona soon..!

Before you read this is a very tongue in cheek report.
There is a well known phrase that often gets thrown around regarding Thorpe, "If I wanted to look at trees I'd go to a garden centre." So I decided to visit Thorpe and see what gardeny stuff it has to offer.

First of all you're greeted by this lovely lake surrounded by trees!

More of this lovely lake and the trees.

Lots of foliage...

Even more!

Some nice trees with decorative rocks.

An array of trees, I'm spoilt for choice.

Another lake and you guessed it, trees!

They even tried to make it like an experience with the dense foliage.

And more with a scaled up volcano piece that you'd put in your fish tank.

This bunch of trees looks interesting, like they're shaped around an entrance

These trees look well cared for.

TREES!

Even a baby tree!

And themed trees for that ultimate devastated look in your garden!
So maybe the "tree" statement should be more like "If I wanted to look at plants I'd go to a garden centre" because you don't really go out to buy a tree.
So plant wise...

Some nice flower boxes.

Nice selection of potted plants.

Lovely flower bed. The colours are very enticing!

More flower boxes

A nice array of plants and flowers with another decorative rock!

Simple yet very effective.

Look at them all, so pretty

There's so much it's having to fight for space!
So I think that saying about Thorpe is well and truly rubbish. I had a better day looking at the trees and plants at Thorpe than at any garden centre! The only similarity is this...

They had this very expensive ornament called "Slammer." I was going to buy one but apparently it's currently unavailable even though it's sitting right there! The labels on items always lie.
Thanks for reading

so If you are reading this then you most probably read part 1. Well now for part 2. I hope you enjoy it.
So after All the Shenanigans mentioned in part 1 it was now time for some Proper rides, as well as some other stuff.
We went to Pleasure beach with our wristbands and on one of the best sunny and very busy days of the year.
We went straight to Big one, and my is that a ride. It was the longest hill I've gone up, and I could feel my heart beating and looked to my friends, one was definitely about to either vomit or s**t himself. The time had come for us to take it. The first drop of the ride. I nearly screamed that I lost my voice. all you could hear was me swearing basically. the rest of the ride was so intense as well.
From here onwards I can't remember where we went but I do remember the rides themselves so here goes.
Avalanche was next. I actually quite love this ride and the whole concept, and it is great fun. The queue was very short on that day, and we went on twice.
After it was Revolution. One of my friends had looked forward to this, so I was very interested to why he was so excited about it. It is actually an alright ride and I particularly enjoy it going backwards. (I love backward rides e.g like X no way out(the old one) When going backwards everything feels so different and more scary and I definitely felt it in this ride.
Grand National: At last, a wooden coaster. One I've been waiting to go on for a while. (europa park hadn't opened Wodan at the time I went). I love the concept and its quite fun.
Wild mouse: Really intense for its type, not going to lie, and a great ride. One of the best rides there- not too intense, not too weak.
Ice Blast: Good ride, and one which was walk on for us. I enjoyed it though Detonator is more scary for me. It is a faster ride for me and has more to offer, with the "blast" up being my most enjoyable part of the ride.
Infusion: looks good though most the queues were here and we wanted to avoid the queues where possible. Hope to go on next time though!
Big Dipper: I found it too repetitive and boring, only after a while. at first it was good, don't get me wrong, but yeah...
I know my friends enjoy it though, but it's not my cup of tea.
Teacups: self explanatory.
Thrill o Matic: was quite boring, although if you were a fan of the Wallace and Gromit Series I could definitely see you enjoying this ride.
Vahalla: The last ride we went on, and WOW. what could I say?? Great theming, amazing effects, and the backwards drop. OMG!!!! I couldn't believe it. I felt like I was going to fall out on that one, and I knew about it and freaked. I tricked my friends to sit nearer the back if they didn't want to get wet, and Lol. I knew it before hand (Thanks to Coaster Jamie).
so in the end heres the ride count:
Big one x1
Avalanche x2
revolution x2
Grand National x1
Wild Mouse x1
Ice Blast x2
Big dipper x1
Teacups x 1
Dodgems x1
Vahalla x1
Thrill o'matic(took most the time with queuing, and not worth it unless massive fan of W&G series)
To eat: We all decided to have A simple Burger king. Chicken Royale for me and big whoopers for my friends. (I'm not a massive fan of burger king's beef Horse burgers)
Dinner: we just got some fish and chips near in Blackpool (Harry Ramsden)
Back to hotel: Hilton (to the gym and swimming pool and sauna/steam room)
The day after Pleasure beach we decided to hit the normal beach. Central Beach ,wasn't really for our liking, so we decided to go a few miles to Lytham St Annes. They have the best ice cream I have tasted. Its a calm beach with massive sand dunes. Only problem is the sea is a F****ing mile away from the main beach, otherwise its a great place and I highly recommend it.
That day we returned to Blackpool for dinner and we had it near Central pier. Really nice place, can't remember what its called but its by the Blackpool information office(tourist). They have different stuff but I recommend any type of bread by them or dough like a pizza, although if you aren't a fan there is lots to offer. You can sit inside or outside and again I would recommend highly.
Overall this was one of my best trips and those who are reading this, it is the end of the journey. Thanks!

On the 27th of July
I spent 12 - 13 hours at the "Nations Thrill Capital" I arrived at the park 9:00am since my train's getting to Stains were Early (about 40 minutes early) so I waited till 10:15 for the Brilliant Cornflakes to arrive then we entered the park. The first ride we went on was Rush because it was on the way to Colossus and Rush often gets around a 30-40 min queue in mid day. Rush is fantastic in the morning with 5 High swings we both said that it was the best cycle of Rush we have ever had. Then we headed for Colossus which to our surprise was on 2 train operation before 11:00 We had a rather smooth run On Colossus with not much Headbanging After our nice smooth run on "The Power of 10" we headed over to "Brave the Mighty Warrior" Samurai which was running brilliantly although it was taking around a Minute to Zero but the Setting was fantastic the best I have seen it run all year Followed we headed over to Loggers Leap which was closed but we saw a Engineer riding it and he said "it should be opening shortly" so we went off to the drink refill place so Cornflakes could fill his Reusable bottle right after he got his refill we headed over to Saw The Ride this was around 11:15-30 so there was a 30 minute queue which seemed much shorter because all 8 Cars were in operation so I believe we queued around 15 minutes we had quite a smooth ride which was nice. After our Smoothish run we headed for the good old Logflume which had reopened It was Loggers leap so a very enjoyable wet ride Stealth was next and Styles was batching (who we will meet later) we queued 15 minutes for it which was brilliant so we did it twice then it was time for lunch so we headed back over to Canada creek to eat at Calypso BBQ then at 1:00 we were joined by Scarycoasterboy. With all the day group here we headed over to X where we waited 30 mins because they were putting on a 3rd train then when we got on it was not the best experience On X I have had ( best one I have had was when all lasers were off the room was full of fog and only Strobe lights where used) Time to Brave it Backwards we queued around 30 mins for it sadly though my ride on it seemed very bumpy and hurt my back but The Swarm Redeemed it's self at night. Wait this is not time travel back to the present . after our go on the Swarm Cornflakes and Scarycoasterboy wanted to refill fill there Capsule< that is what it is called at the roast and relish which I think is the best place to fill up the capsule because it is a do it your self type thing It was time to Fly on the Fish where we got 4 cycles it was around 2-3 pm now so it was very hot so what did we do we stood in the Tidal wave Splash zone to cool off We wandered the park now till we ended up back at Stealth and at this time the queue was even shorter so what did we do we done it 2 times of course then at this time it was round 4:30 so we had 90 minutes till the park closed so we done a mini Detonator Marathon about 3 times in a row then we headed for Inferno which was walk on so we waited for the front then after our ride we noticed the station was empty so we headed for the back row and went round again . (Forgot to mention while we were on Detonator we noticed Rumba Rapids had reopened ) so after our 2 goes on Inferno we went on Rumba for a nice relaxing ride to close out our day we left the park at 5:45 so we would be first inline to collect our summer nights tickets which we were so now it was time for the waiting game. till Styles joined us then just after 7pm the gates opened for Summer nighters. the 3 of us ( we were still waiting for Styles) headed over to Colossus and when we got to Colossus it started to rain so it was delayed but to our delight Saw The ride had people already on it so that is where we went now joined by styles so we took our ride the first ride the car was going pain fully slow up the lift hill like it was going to break down....... but luckily we made it over the crest of the drop and it was again lovely and smooth so when the car arrived back in the station we got off , went straight back on this car was super it glided around the indoor section like it was a knife slicing warm butter. I was really looking forward to the rest of the ride then we came to the lift hill.... the car in front was not moving then we stopped so we had 40mins of being stationary in the poring rain so my jeans where absolutely soaking but the very kind ride attendants gave us complimentary Towels and ponchos to stop us from getting wet and a complimentary Hot drink. Which was ever so kind of them so we had to have our car pushed backwards off the transfer track so there was room for a ladder to get us off after a few minutes we were off and taken into the maintenance Shed which was another added Bonus because we could see all the diagrams of the wheel structures and the wheel assemblies and the cars which when under them they look huge. After our little excitement we retrieved our belongings and headed over to Colossus what a ride on Colossus so smooth and running brilliantly in the rain so we just stayed on for another go it was Time for X mainly to Warm up so we dived through Tunnels of light 3 times each ride was brilliant then it was time to Brave the Inferno after about 11 hours of it running so we stayed on the back row for all 3 cycles which was Super after our rather Intense Rides on Inferno we headed over to Stealth 3 Exhilarating times Stealth is a must do in the Dark as with Her neighbor The Swarm Oh yes The Swarm was next after entering the Station for The Swarm we noticed it was half full so we ended up doing it an astounding 6 times over and over once which was the front and another time was backwards the Reason the Swarm is so fantastic at night was because the Fire effects go off at every 3 Cycles which gives the billboard a fantastic look after our 6 Times on the Swarm it was time to head back home It was a fantastic day and night and with the rain the lovely people at thorpe park were saying if you keep hold of your ticket you will be able to visit Summer nights again for free which I did :D
3rd of August
After chatting with Han30 who was going to Summer nights with Mr Fish I asked if I could come along to since I had my free ticket so I was picked up by Mr fish from my house and before hitting the park we headed for The Harvester to have a meal before I just had seasoned fries and the refillable pepsi the fries were lovely and filling then we headed to Thorpe after arriving at around 6:00 we went inline to collect our summer nights tickets in which I just handed over last weeks ticket and they replaced it so there was no faf then we met up with Marc but while Me Fish and Han were in the line Marc waited because he was meeting his friend. so the gates opened just after 7pm so we headed for Saw we waited for 15 mins and it turned out it had broken down while we where in the queue we Said hi to Peaj,Michelle and Jay then we headed for Inferno which seemed to be the only ride working so we got in the station and it was a lot more busy than last week but was terribly busy so we got on the Back row got back in the station and stayed on again( It did not really have that pop it usually does but that changed later on in the night ) which was brilliant then we got off because we saw Saw was back in operation so we headed over . We got straight on the front of row one then it was rather smooth and enjoyable it had so much airtime on the camel back and indoor drop so we got off and went back on and while waiting for our second go we met up with Phill Pritchard ,Dan9 ,Mark9 Marc, Marc's Friend and TobyNBZ then after Our two times on Saw we headed for Colossus in which we waited a few minutes for a rather enjoyable run on Colossus then we headed over to X which was walk on so we had a take over ( this time with just lasers which was brilliant) Thanks Marc then after X we then did Storm Surge. Which was quite fun because the ride Attendants had Water guns and was getting riders drenched before even getting on board.
When we were on we had the lovely 1 Hour lift hill massage before having quite a decent run on Storm surge with quite a lot of spinning which was good but then we waited for another hour to get back to the platform and during our waiting we Saw Peaj again with Jay and Michelle and finally when we got back to the platform we headed over to Stealth (Stealth in the Dark is brilliant ) then a few of us had the crazy idea of doing Tidal wave after and those Crazy people were Me Marc Mark9 and Dan9 the first time round it was not that bad but Phill and Toby were waiting by the water cannons and got us soaked then the ride attendant said that our bars could not go up so we had to go round again this time I got drenched from Head to Toe. "After them Fixing the bars" we got off and met up with the rest of the group then Han and Fish went Off to the Swarm while me and the Others Headed for Inferno. This time it was running fantastic 3 times in a row we did it each time it was brilliant then I headed over to meet Han and Fish at the Swarm in which I got to ride it with Han then after our ride on the Swarm we had 25mins left till 10:30,
so Me Han and Fish ran to Saw and had 4 brilliant rides on it lots of airtime and just very smooth then after our final ride we all went to Bar 360 to have a little bit of Social time and Some drinks with every one
Over my two trips to Summer Nights Were Super I really hope it becomes a Yearly tradition and A huge Thank you to MR Fish for giving me a lift there and back it was fantastic and it was lovely seeing every one Thank you for reading
I promise that is it.
Jack Stevens
I hope it is easy to read my grammar is rather appalling

So here is my first Post on my first ever blog. If you are here by mistake have a look around(when I actually have posts) otherwise you are free to leave.
A bit about me:
I live near Thorpe, and currently a standard merlin annual pass holder(soon to expire). I am 15 years of age, and love anything coaster related, to the records and heights to just the pure fun of riding them. I have many other hobbies which include, music, and theatre. I do a bit of dance, where most notable people met doing so are Louis Smith, Wayne sleep, and The groups Flawless, and Alleviate. I hope to talk more about coasters in my next post in the mean time, I hope you enjoy this post!

Well hello there and thanks for stopping by! Clicked the wrong page? Run - now! This is gonna be waffly so you have been warned (if you are still reading). Go grab a coffee or beverage of your choice and get yerself comfy.....
So.....after precisely zero hours sleep, the night before (not helped by the fact that Mr Fish was snoring LOUDLY in my lounge) I necked a fair few coffees, got ready and headed off - at 5am! We picked up Ethan, Ricky and James & Co then headed towards Thorpe Park, not before almost crashing into a van - first near death experience of the day. I questions whether Mr Fish actually has a driving license or just needs an eye test.
Arriving at the park slightly after 7am it felt a tad surreal - we filled out the consent forms then some of us went to the toilet (not a great idea to go on Stealth if you need the loo). Peaj did the introductions and it was great to see both new and old faces - I have no idea how Peaj remembers peoples names - I would get confused (mind you, it doesn't take much to confuse me)
While waiting to go into the park it was a nice opportunity to mingle and catch up with people as it had been a full 4 weeks since the last meet!
Finally we got into the park and headed towards the Stealth area - this is when my anxiety started to really kick in. I had actually taken one less anti-anxiety med than I usually would as I am cutting down but needed to take another one once I saw the Stealth trains testing.
Stealth is not a ride I am a huge fan of - it is the only coaster at Thorpe Park where I get really scared before hand - the launch and my fear of heights and I end up like a screaming lunatic (although I scream at most things). I have only been on it 4 times prior to this meet up. After my first ever go on Stealth this year I was so terrified that I bought the ORP because I vowed NEVER to go on it again - however, I did go on another 3 times - twice being very close to tears and the other time, sat next to a complete stranger as I decided to skip lunch and go on it - methinks I perforated the poor guys eardrums - oohps!
Ok.....am waffling.....bear with.....
After the ice cream stuff (which wasn't ice cream) was set up (and a Mr Whippy van arrived) everything was ready for us to go. One of the staff members pointed to myself and a few others and asked us to sit in the front 2 rows - OH NO - My WORST nightmare. Why did I go and buy a turquoise t-shirt?! My anxiety ramped up a few notches at that point but we headed towards the ride whilst I tried to not have a heart attack/panic attack.
I didn't realise just how many times we would need to ride Stealth and by the end of it, my fear of the ride had completely dissolved - it took a while though. I think I screamed several times before the train had even moved. I was really pleased that I managed to go in the front row about 4 times. I also did the back row and middle bits - I had a massive headache after a few rides so I took a headache tablet/cigarette break. I dread to think of how many times I swore during the ride times as I managed around 16 goes (ish). I am such a lady (not). I honestly don't know how some people did ALL the rides on it - you must be insane! It felt like I had done a workout afterwards - those restraints are pretty heavy to lift up - I reckon I toned up my bingo wings a bit after that!
Some people had to dash off and others went and did their own thang after the photo shoot but I stuck with the main group.....because that is how I roll.....innit
The park didn't seem *too* busy which was nice - I am awful at queuing and get restless legs and cigarette cravings (nasty habit). However, being with TPMers definitely helps with queuing and it was nice to speak to a couple of people I haven't previously had chance to chat to.
We didn't get chance to do Rumba, Detonator or Slammer as they were all down (not that I would ever do Slammer anyway and I am 50/50 about Detty). We were hoping for a relaxing ride on Rumba after the headache inducing multiple Stealth rides but it wasn't to be so instead we went to Inferno where I sat on the back row alongside Mr Fish, James & co and JoshC and gave myself another headache.
My ride count for the day was pretty good -
Stealth x 16(ish)
X - x4
Flying Fish x 1
Colossus x 1
Inferno x 1
Saw x 2
Loggers x 2
Rocky Express x 1
Storm Turd x 1
Samurai x 1
At lunchtime I went for a wander, hoping to get a sneaky go on The Swarm but the damn thing had a 60min queue so I met up with some of the others in the sunken gardens after grabbing a large cappucino. I got lost trying to find the sunken gardens - I didn't even know they were still there and I *almost* ended up queuing for Stealth
At this point in the day, on previous meets I would usually take more anti-anxiety meds (along with my anti-sickness tablets) but I felt pretty chilled and relaxed so it was a bit of an achievement for me.
Queuing for Colossus was funny - Ryan had me laughing with his randomness, plus Ricky being Ricky. Jack and I got on before the others as we were a bit too keen - have only ridden Colossus 5 times and I do like it - except for those inline twists - which make me feel a tad dizzy/sick.
First 2 goes on X were ravey fun - SO much better than X:/NWO which I couldn't ride due to the damn thing going backwards and me almost barfin on my one and only go on it. The second 2 rides (at the end of the day) - was in the dark which I didn't enjoy as much. I don't like the dark (I'm a wuss) plus I like to see where I am going so I'm pretty sure I screamed a bit
Storm turd was actually SPINNING! Only ridden this eyesore once and it was nice to have a sit down but I thought it was a bit pointless (and looked SO much better when it was at Cypress Gardens). But we went on, and after a 2 hour trip up the lift hill, off we went - and I screamed (v embarrasing) - the boat was spinning like crazy which made my head go a bit funny - it is still naff, still needs a damn good clean and was also making funny noises
First go on Saw was pretty smooth - second one, not so much and my head took a bit of bashing and I gave myself ANOTHER headache. I do like Saw (my second fave coaster at Thorpe after Swarm) but for me, after the indoor section and lift hill/drop the best bits are over and the head banging begins
A lot of us went on Rocky Express and I was in pain - during most of the ride I was sat sideways clinging on and trying to readjust myself - note to self: next time sit next to someone!
Samurai - why oh why did I do it? Done it once before, vowed to never do it again.....did it again and screamed a fair bit whilst possibly swearing. I don't like things that spin and it got to the point where I closed my eyes, opened them and I was upside down. I felt pretty rough as the ride was coming to a close and had to lean my head against the restraint because I felt like I was going to pass out. Still.....I would do it again!
We braved it tunnel-less twice on Loggers Leap - first time I was sat behind Phill Pritchard whilst sporting one of my "han-hats" aka an Asda carrier bag - works a treat at keeping hair dry - not great if you are fashion conscious but those who have seen the way I dress will know I do not follow fashion and generally look a mess. We got drenched and I was glad that I didn't sit at my usual place at the very front as Phill took most of the drenching!
Our second ride on Loggers was.....scary.....seriously. My second (sort of but not really) near death experience of the day (after Mr Fish's near collision with a van in the morning). All was going swimmingly until we realised that the boat in front was a bit too close - so going up the first lift hill it stopped (and I screamed), then it started again. Good stuff, sorted.....but no - going up the second lift hill the boats were too close together and as RideWhisperer said "guys there are 4 boats on the lift hill - this isn't good" I panicked a bit. I had visions of the lift hill collapsing, or our boat going backwards, or being evacuated (not that I over-react or anything!). Luckily the lift hill started and stopped so that there was a gap for the final drop. Felt a bit sorry for the people who had been queuing for Loggers as they shut it down and as we exited the boat I told the ride assistant that Ethan broke the ride
Swarm.....my favourite ride at Thorpe , had a bit of a queue but nothing major until it had technical difficulties and after that had to be sorted out (someone puked methinks). We ended up sitting down in the queueline where I attempted a bit of meditation which is difficult with an ambulance screeching etc etc, so we decided to play I spy which I was absolutely crud at, but hey, it passed the time and we were soon into the station. I sat front right next to James&co - most of my rides on the Swarm have been on the left so doing right and front row was really good - definitely my fave seat although James nicked the outer seat!
We all met up at the end of the day in the Dome but Monsieur Fish had forgotten to get a parking ticket so we dashed off to get one and then met everyone outside and headed towards Frankie & Bennys.....a great end to a great day
I didn't get the chance to say goodbye to everyone or even speak to everyone that was there on the day (there were a lot of us) but I had an amazing time, loads of laughs and my anxiety was a lot milder than it usually is - my anxiety levels change depending on who I am with etc so a big thank you to those who spoke to me, made me laugh and just for being lovely people.
And of course a big thankyou to TPM and Marc for getting the opportunity to ride Stealth 2000million times, to Peaj for being a brilliant meet organiser as always, and to Thorpe Park for letting us in and riding Stealth loads, and as a non MAP holder for the free entry. Mucho appreciano!
Waffle over.....!!!