Mega-Lite

pluk has nailed it completely honestly, saying that I only visit Blackpool if I can stay in Big Blue and leave the car chilling there under CCTV watch. Icon's entrance structure looks awesome!

About time someone put this clown in his place, nice work Alton Towers!

It might look crap at the moment but as has been mentioned all the pumps are working and it's hauling ass at the moment, my last ride on it was the most intense I've ever seen it!

The beast returns! I very much look forward to riding it next weekend.

That's not an unpopular opinion, that's the truth! Yes it is, yay for more Stampida love! Detonator is probably the best drop tower in the World, the only thing that I've yet to ride that may top it is Ikaros. Benin's is worse, I wouldn't worry.

Much better, thanks Baron!

Believe it or not with the stories of people getting 5 rides done in a day and the park saying that's the norm, the capacity is set far higher than it technically needs to be (evacs and such) for reasons of keeping the park from being massively unpleasant and overcrowded. So opening new areas and attractions for people to flock to is the only way to increase it really and be it the council or the park's lack of trying not much has really changed over the years at Legoland. As for the prebooking system, I absolutely agree and surely those who who'd get annoyed by having to pay a small fee to prebook for busier days would rather that than be turned away on the door? You're asking for disappointment visiting at all these days.

I guess I'll have to give it another go on the next pass holder thing then, I hope the comedy has not been lost!

Well that's yet another massive insult to Slammer's glorious legacy...

Yawn. I think I can honestly say that, that sort of flat isn't for me.

Is there a better way to spend a glorious bank holiday Sunday than going on a roadtrip and mopping up creds? Wait don't answer that... Yesterday me and my credit hunting buddy (freshly returned) went on an over 600 mile round trip to knock off the parks in the South West. Our day began with an over 5 hour drive to Flambards, which is the most southerly park in the UK. Nothing memorable to report about the drive, other than that we found a statue of a wicker man dropping to his knees at the entrance to an obscure services, he must of heard the news that Wicker Man is running slow at the moment, I hope he feels better soon. After what felt like days after we set off we finally arrived at Flambards. The reason for coming here was to ride Hornet, the park's Zierer Hornet coaster. Now while it's not going to blow anyone's mind Hornet is a good little coaster and it was nice to finally ride something that's not a wacky worm on these UK based cred runs. Now maybe it's because of the quality of the park's that followed Flambards but the park did leave me feeling a little let down. Firstly it was the most expensive park of this run at £20. Now I know what you're thinking, "you only went there for the cred and I'm sure the place offers a good value day out for those who spend the whole day there", well... £25 will get you into Blackpool Pleasure Beach, my favourite UK park and a place I leave every time feeling I need more of. Also it's £49 for unlimited Thorpe Park for a year and £55 for unlimited Alton Towers, with that in mind, paying £20 for Flambards does seem a bit steep to say the least. Coupled with the rather steep entrance price is the fact Flambards has very little to offer. You have Hornet, a log flume, a couple of thrill flats and a small children's area. That amounts to less on offer than the amusement park area of West Midland Safari Park, which of course includes a zoo and safari and isn't much more money. So while Hornet was fun and the staff were alright, the above 2 reasons left me feeling quite dry in regards to the park. Even if the place was 10 minutes down the road I very much doubt I'd ever visit again. After Flambards we made our way North to Camel Creek. After paying £15 each (much more like it) to the very welcoming bloke running the ticket office we made our way straight to Camel Creek's credit, Morgawr. Morgawr was manufactured by a company I've never heard of and it looks like a pile of scrap metal but in actuality delivers a pretty funky ride experience. Some of the low level bits are quite punchy and it's just so weird and unique that I might actually admit I had fun on it. After Morgawr (so fun to type), we experienced Cornwall's only 5D Simulator Experience and it was beautiful. A very friendly member of staff gave us an in depth safety rundown before we were lead to one of 5 four seater simulator pods placed infront of a cinema screen, how strange. The movie itself was equally surreal which just made the whole thing fantastic. Camel Creek is a lovely little place and I'm sure with right crowd and intentions you could easily spend a day there. Aswell as the rides the park has slides, animals and obstacle courses, plus the park has such a nice setting you could easily just walk around looking at the scenery (unlike Flambards which was mostly concrete). Big Sheep was the next park on our tour, a park I've been excited to do for a while now. There must be something in the water in the part of Devon Big Sheep is located, because much like Milky way (which is 10 minutes away), the staff here were so friendly that it blew my mind. Rampage is Big Sheep's major attraction, a large custom Zierer that years ago used to operate in a mall, which goes to explain the wacky layout and odd support set up. I couldn't picture a more perfect coaster for this wacky little park and it certainly delivers a unique ride, not to mention a playful kick out of the first drop in the back row, I really enjoyed it. Big Sheep among offering a few other rides including classic swan boats, also gives you the opportunity to watch literal sheep races, I am not kidding! You really couldn't go wrong going on a trip to Big Sheep and Milky Way, they both offer a brilliant wacky atmosphere and outstanding customer service. Sadly we had to leave Big Sheep far too soon in order to have time to make it to Funder Park in Dawlish. Now it's this leg of the journey where the almost expected happened... About 5 miles from the park the sat nav routed me up easily the most messed up road I've experienced to date. Literally just enough room to fit a car through, little to no passing points, intense hills and people walking towards me, nightmare. Let's be kind and say Dawlish Warren (where the park is located) attracts a strange bunch. Obese women in bikinis carrying boomboxes, the sunburnt masses, shirtless Spanish men making hilarious noises, shifty men wearing jumpers in 30 degrees and f bombs dropping like it's going out of fashion. I'll be honest I was not expecting to be presented with this but I've seen worse. After purchasing our tokens, which was no easy task, we rounded off our succesful trip with a couple of laps of the coaster formally known as Wacky Warm, sadly I forgot to take a picture so you'll just have to use your imaginations. Parks for the day done, we had Pizza Hut then set off for the three and half hour drive home, yes my spine felt like I just had 20 laps of Grand National when I got there. Thanks for reading.

It did, it came 29th... Then take part in the next one? You're well travelled, you've got a good chance of making a difference.

Meh, too much motocoaster in that picture for my liking...

Thanks man, you've probably spited us now! That shop looks lovely, let's be real though, with Amanda in charge if it didn't look great heads would roll. What I am impressed with though is all the various products available for Icon, to echo Baron, they must have seen the wide product range Merlin offer and thought "if people will buy all that crap, let's offer it", very exciting and I've already decided I want an Icon shirt! I'm trying my best to not look at Icon updates these days because it makes me far too excited but I will confess this new batch has given me faith that the surrounding areas should look nice when it's finished, plus that station exterior now looks very passable and modern.

Or rather the 366 people who took part in the poll, it wasn't TPR exclusive... Lack of ridership stopped T Express being top 10 which is incredibly disappointing, but at least Helix beat Taron and Shambhala. #TeamHelix

I'm already lawyered up, please expect a court summons in the post... Sorry you had a bad time though. (Imagine there's a sad face here, the emoji tab seems to have descended into madness)

I can see where you're coming from Baron but I think I'll have to disagree on this one... Firstly, it really does sound like Wicker Man was riding poorly that day, which echoes a friend of mine who did media day, then went back a couple weeks ago and was disappointed. From my 2 laps just after opening, it was flying round the track with a real sense of purpose, hitting you with surprise airtime and awesome laterals. It was the perfect family coaster, not too intense (no launches, no inversions, no massive drops) but certainly not designed for the younger members of the family only, like you have implied. Wicker Man (when I rode it) provided a coaster experience every member of the family could enjoy, the weak hearted parents and younger kids coming off thinking they just really accomplished something great and the teens coming off laughing because it was so much fun. As for the theme being too scary/not suitable... In my eyes at least (the eyes of a big wimp for reference), it's actually quite a smart idea. It's quite a subtle form of scary, you have to understand the concept behind the Wicker Man and what it's going to be used for (burning you alive as a sacrifice) and I doubt the younger children that you're worried about will understand that. As for the pre show, whilst I can see how it might frighten the easily frightened, it's certainly no worse than Duel (a family ride), Hex (a family ride) or 13's Tesla coil (a family ride). Both times I got to see the preshow, no one cried, no one asked to leave, whereas I've seen countless kids run back down the stairs screaming because of 13's Tesla. A smart theme to a perfect family coaster, in my opinion. As for this test seat (or lack thereof), after watching the walk of shame a few times over 2 rides, they most certainly need it and it was a weird decision to not just buy one to start with.

They do indeed, but let's be honest which park doesn't have a dinosaur attraction these days? Paultons struck gold and now there are animatronic dinosaurs everywhere!

No.

Baron, they were heavy handed on Helix and Balder all the way back in 2016, doesn't seem to be a new thing and never affected the fun anyway. I'll happily watch the throughput suffer if the ride experience remains the same. I'm glad to read that it hasn't been affected but I'll reserve judgement till I've been reunited with the beast. With how weird Sweden has been with parks in the past (see Kolmarden), I wouldn't be shocked to hear it's a new H&S ruling...

The Great: The tigers look gorgeous, the tiger face on the drop looks better than the original statues (yes I'm being bold) and the station looks well done both inside and out (at least in video form). The Meh: I'm not feeling the Jurassic Park style unthemed massive fences, a shame they couldn't have done something prettier with them, it kind of takes away from the new bits they have given effort to. The Awful: Poorly touching up or not even touching some of the old left over rotting Dragon Falls stuff just looks awful. Speaking of awful, that tunnel, Christ... As others have said, it's strange that some parts are so well done and other parts are crap, I'll just assume with it being Merlin that the budgets got slashed.

A tweet from Theme Park Worldwide shows that Helix now features seatbelts. Sadly not seatbelts that attach to the restraint like DC Rivals, but rather a completely separate seatbelt you strap on before lowering the main lapbar, much like Intamin prefabs and hypers. Or in more simple terms, f**ks sake... https://twitter.com/ThemeParkWW/status/990254960867794946

After my impressive trip to WMSP, I decided I'd hit up Stourport before heading home, to ride the cred at Treasure Island. Not long after entering the town of Stourport however, my progress was dramatically slowed by the realisation I'd just joined the rear of a Scout's march through the town. For a good 5 minutes or so I followed at 4 mph, while the locals watching the parade gave me death stares and the Scouts at the back of the pack kept turning round with fear in their eyes. While all this awfulness was occurring I was frantically pissing about with the sat nav in hope it could reroute me, it couldn't though, that's a surprise. Thankfully they all turned down a side road in the end and I was free to give it the beans. They say first impressions of a place go a long way, I don't know if I believe in that, but I do know my first impression of Treasure Island was hilarious. Turning off the main road, you enter a car park next to a body of disgusting water. The car park was full of broken glass (I do want new tyres, but not this way), sick, discarded and disgusting food and many youths. Dodging all of that crap, I slithered over to the parking machine and was insulted to discover it was 2 hours minimum, bastards. Then I leapt out of the way of a rude boy doing 90 in the car park as I walked back to stick the ticket on the car and then carefully made my way into the "park". Can someone please explain to me why this place has carpeted pathways? I walked to the cred and couldn't find the number of tokens listed anywhere around it. On my second lap of the coaster, assuming I'd just missed it, I looked around and noticed I was being glared at by not only 10000 old people but also many rude boys, time to change this plan up. I walked to the nearest ticket booth and asked the girl to just give me enough tokens for the cred please. She had her shoes off, feet on the desk, she sighed in disgust, then mumbled something about not being open... Right f**k this I thought and powered over to another ticket booth, this time getting lucky. The lad operating the cred was fine, he needs to escape this place immediately however. As for the coaster itself, it had more airtime than Shambhala. Back row of a fully weighed down train and I was almost murdered by the damn thing! Getting out of the car park was even harder than getting in. Idiot old people totally not giving a s**t walking infront of me as I pulled away and then 10 chavs in a Peugeot almost reversing into me as I drove off, then blaming me for it, this place doesn't want me to leave. If you're in the area with kids, do yourself a favour and just take them to the new Tesco for the afternoon. Thanks for reading.

The modern breed of up and coming enthusiasts are just the worst thing ever, it's taken me literally 20 years of doing this to make me the entitled, condescending, know it all bastard I am today, it takes them 1 trip to the Merlin big 3...

I wonder if opening Walking Dead exclusively for pass holders is to make amends for the attraction not being available during the most recent pass holder evening? It's just a shame they won't appreciate it and will still find something to moan about...