Matt N

24th April 2026: Alton Towers I had my second day of the trip today, with a visit to Alton Towers! While it was the less exciting day of the trip in terms of new things and I was last at the park only 4 weeks ago, it has some of my favourite rides in the country, entry is free with my Merlin pass, and I always love a day there, so I frankly thought; why not? Once again, I started my day early, getting up at 6am, getting down to breakfast for 6:30am, and leaving for the railway station at just after 7am for a 7:51 train to Uttoxeter from Nottingham. This was delayed by 15 minutes or so due to a broken CrossCountry train near Beeston, but even still, I got to Uttoxeter railway station before 9am. I then took an Uber to the park, where I had a driver who initially moaned about being pulled in all the way from Leicester, but was very friendly and chatty. My Uber got me there for around 9:25, meaning that I got to the park in plenty of time: After getting into the park, I repeated my usual tactic with Alton Towers and headed for less well-trodden turf… Rita As per usual, I headed over to Dark Forest as this is where the crowds don’t tend to head in the morning. This played into my hands wonderfully once again, as I was the very first person in line for Rita; I can never moan about that! So, how was it? Well, I was of course sat at the very front of the train, and it was awesome, with a brilliant sense of speed, a punchy launch and some great airtime! I do always like a ride on Rita, and it was a good way to start the day: After getting off Rita, Thirteen wasn’t yet open, so I initially headed for a reride. I walked on the ride again, and was initially batched into row 3, but the ride unfortunately broke down, so after a few minutes, I bailed and headed out of Dark Forest. As the ride was still shut when I later re-entered the area, this proved to be a prudent choice! After leaving Dark Forest, I headed for a ride on a favourite of mine that wasn’t open last month… Oblivion Oblivion was on an advertised 5 minute queue, so as I hadn’t ridden it in March, I decided to take a ride on there. The queue looked a short length, but because I’m petty and fancied shaving even more time off my wait, I still decided to gamble with single rider. This proved to be somewhat prudent, as I pretty much walked straight onto the ride! But how was it? Well, the ride was excellent; I always love a go on Oblivion, and today was no exception! The airtime was awesome, and the speed in the tunnel was on point! As an added bonus, I also noticed that the ride unexpectedly has drop audio back for the first time in decades; evidently, Alton Towers is now less concerned about noise than it used to be! Overall, then, I loved getting back on Oblivion; it’s definitely one of my favourites on park, as it packs a punch despite its short length: After getting off Oblivion, I headed over to the other coaster in the area… The Smiler The Smiler was on an advertised 35 minute queue time, but as I was on my own, I decided to give my secret weapon of single rider a go once again. This was a good choice, as single rider only took 10 minutes; it’s always great when you get a win with single rider! So, how was the ride? Well, Smiler’s never an absolute favourite of mine, and it was running with an ever so slight case of square wheels today in row 3, with a definite rattle and some moments of roughness, so it was probably a ride I felt content only doing once. With that said, some of the inversions are fun, and the airtime hills are always a highlight on there! All in all, then, Smiler had some good bits, but was overall not a favourite of mine today: After The Smiler, I headed back over to Dark Forest to ride the other, now open, coaster in the area… Thirteen Thirteen was on an advertised 5 minute queue time, but as with Oblivion earlier, there was a small queue and I was feeling petty, so I decided to use single rider once again. And once again, I pretty much walked straight into row 2, which I can never complain about! So, how was the ride? Well, I always enjoy a ride on Thirteen, and today was no exception! While the outdoor section isn’t quite as good up front, it’s still great fun, and that drop track and backwards section never gel to deliver! All in all, then, my ride on Thirteen was great fun; I certainly enjoyed it: After my first Thirteen ride, the queue was still a near walk-on, so I decided to head straight back round for another go! I was in row 2 once again, and it was fun once again! After getting off my second Thirteen ride, I decided to change things up a tad… Hex Hex was on an advertised 5 minute queue, so as I hadn’t yet done it in 2026, I decided to take a ride on there. The queue was roughly as advertised, which I can never complain about; Hex is quite a reliable short queue! While queueing for and experiencing Hex, some guests I spoke to and overheard today did make it dawn on me that Hex might be lost on a not insignificant portion of Alton Towers’ visitor base. For example, a group of teenage girls asked me if it was a roller coaster or thrill ride, and when I attempted to describe Hex (admittedly I perhaps might not have described it very well), they said it sounded “boring” and left the line. I also overheard someone saying “I skipped Rita for this?” and most amusingly of all, I heard someone say upon us entering the cinema room “Ooh, they’re showing a movie! I do hope it’s Shrek!”… I imagine they were disappointed! But how was Hex? Well, I do like Hex, and the pre-shows and effects were all running well! Today’s ride also reaffirmed to me that I really enjoy some of the new(ish) changes in there; I love how the drama and impact is heightened! I’ll admit to being increasingly unsure whether the Madhouse ride system itself agrees with me, but Hex is definitely my favourite example of the genre for the clever use of a real setting and the pure drama of it. All in all, then, I enjoyed Hex, and I’m glad I took a ride on there: After Hex, I headed out of the Towers complex and towards another coaster that I’m always keen to ride! Wicker Man Wicker Man was on an advertised 25 minute queue, so I decided to have a go on there. The queue was marginally understated, taking around 20 minutes, and the operations were great on here, with 3 trains in action and a seemingly slick service! But how was the ride itself? Well, I was sat in row 5, and as per usual, Wicker Man was phenomenal! Perhaps controversially, it’s been my favourite coaster on park for years, and that’s just for how much fun it is! The ride flies through the layout, has some great bits of airtime and overall just absolutely creases me every time on the brake run! All in all, then, I loved getting back on Wicker Man; I always look forward to a ride on there: After getting off Wicker Man, the queue was shorter than when I joined, so I went for not one, but two consecutive rerides! One was in row 7 and one was in row 10, and while the row 10 ride was the best one, both were sublime! When the queue was getting shorter each time to the point where I had a clear run to the baggage hold at one stage, who would I be to pass that up? After my 3 rides on Wicker Man, I headed over to Forbidden Valley to do a favourite I hadn’t done yet… Nemesis Reborn Nemesis was on an advertised 5 minute queue, so I decided to have a ride on there. If anything, 5 minutes was overstated, as I walked straight into the airgates for a row 7 ride; I can never moan when that happens! So, how was Nemesis? Well, it was fantastic; I always love a ride on Nemesis, and the ride was on point today! I always find the layout really exciting on there, with that initial sequence in particular being an awesome way to start the ride, and I also think it’s wonderfully paced! I admit I maybe noticed the much-discussed rattle a tad more today than I have, but I still think it’s not a detractor from the ride and is enormously over-discussed. If you want a properly rattly invert, go to Skegness, if you ask me! All in all, then, I thoroughly enjoyed my ride on Nemesis: After getting off Nemesis, the queue remained walk-on, so I went straight back round for another lap! I was batched onto the front row this time, which is always a winner; the sense of speed is heightened wonderfully in the front! I then sat down and had my lunch (a Co-op meal deal once again, as I’m tight!). After that, I pondered a ride on Galactica, but decided I couldn’t be bothered with it on an advertised 25 minute queue when Nemesis was walk-on, so I went for a 3rd ride on Nemesis instead. My row 2 ride was once again superb! After my 3rd ride on Nemesis, I headed for another dark ride… The Curse at Alton Manor Curse was on an advertised 5 minute wait, so as I was heading back towards the centre of Alton Towers, I decided to give it a go. The queue time board was true to its word, with only a few people in front of me; it’s always good when that happens! So, how was the ride? Well, I do enjoy a ride on Curse, and today’s ride was nice! The Trommel tunnel was disappointingly broken, but other than that, most things were working quite well! Despite not being a horror fan, I think Curse is just the right level of scare and horror for me to enjoy, so I liked my ride on there: After Curse, I headed for another reride on Wicker Man, on an advertised 15 minute queue that actually took more like 10 and was again an almost straight run through to the baggage hold. I was seated in row 4 this time, and the ride was once again phenomenally good fun: After Wicker Man, I headed to a coaster I hadn’t yet done… Spinball Whizzer Spinball was on an advertised 15 minute queue, but I decided to use the single rider queue on here once again. This proved fruitful, as I was on in less than 5 minutes; I frequently find single rider a winning formula for getting on rides quickly! So, how was it? Well, the ride had a good level of spinning without being too intense, but was a bit rougher than my ride last month. Spinball isn’t an absolute favourite of mine, but I sometimes wonder if I’ve maybe been too harsh on it at times: After my ride on Spinball, I headed to X-Sector to reride Oblivion on a short queue. I had not one, not two, not three, not four, but five consecutive rerides on Oblivion. The queue got so short that I eventually stopped bothering with single rider, and all 5 rides were absolutely brilliant, with awesome airtime and speed: After my 5 rides on Oblivion, I headed for one final reride on Wicker Man, on another short queue. I scored the holy grail of row 12 for this final ride, which I think I’ve only ever had once before, and it was sublime; this was a brilliant way to end the day: After that, I headed out of the park for the day to wait for an Uber back to Uttoxeter station: Now from a travel standpoint, this is where things get hairy. I was firstly shocked to discover that an Uber between Alton Towers and Uttoxeter railway station at park closing time cost over £50 (yes, 50 English pounds!), and then I also felt implored to tip slightly more generously because the driver moaned about how Uber only gave him £27 of the fee I was charged and I felt bad. After that, I returned to Uttoxeter railway station to take the train home, but the train was unfortunately delayed indefinitely shortly after I arrived, meaning that I was unable to make my other connections and had to come up with a new plan. I decided to catch another Uber to Derby railway station, initially out of blind hope that I might still be able to make my original connections, but this ultimately proved a costly mistake (although this Uber was actually only £25 despite the longer distance than the one I’d just taken), as I still missed my connections and was no better off in terms of arrival time home. Live and learn, I guess! My train journey home took me to Derby as well as Cheltenham Spa for a nice flashback to my undergraduate uni days before I arrived back in my local station at 9:15pm: So, that wraps up my day at Alton Towers! I had an excellent day; in case you lost track, I did 21 rides in total, which is my first ever time doing over 20 at Towers in 17 years of visiting! Despite the favourable weather, the park was quite quiet, and I was able to strike fairly short queues on most attractions, which I can never moan about! I do always love a trip to Alton Towers, and today was no exception; nostalgia aside, I do think it has some of the UK’s best rides and is just generally a great park, as much as people love to moan about it! That’s not just the end of my day at Alton Towers, but also the end of the trip. It’s been a brilliant trip; I was really glad to finally get to Skegness and tick off Fantasy Island, but I also had a brilliant day at Towers too! Thanks for reading; I hope you’ve enjoyed this report! I’m not sure where my next trip will be, but I’m sure it won’t be far away, so keep your eyes peeled!

Prelude After a successful solo trip to Adventure Island and Thorpe Park the other week, I decided to make the most of my time off work before starting my new job and go on another trip away. And given that I only had one real semi-major park left to visit in the UK, I thought; what better park to do than that? So as a result, I strategised quite a spur-of-the-moment trip to the Midlands, consisting of both a first time visit to Fantasy Island in Lincolnshire after talking about going for a couple of years and a Merlin pass visit to Alton Towers (I know I was only last in Alton Towers 4 weeks ago, but the entry is free, I want to make use of my Merlin pass, it’s close to my choice of halfway point and I like Towers. Sue me!). In order to break up the ridiculously long rail journey to Skegness from my location (5+ hours), I decided to stay in Nottingham for 2 nights and travel up yesterday. I don’t have a huge amount to say about yesterday, but as a first-time visitor to Nottingham (and aside from a stop in Trowell services along the M1, the East Midlands full stop!), I did amble quite steadily to my hotel and try and take in my surroundings, and I did see these cool Robin Hood statues by the castle: I also came within touching distance of David off the recent series of Celebrity Traitors in Nottingham station on my way up, which I’m putting down as my most noteworthy celebrity sighting! Other than that, I can’t think of much else to mention. Nottingham is a lot like any other town centre in Britain, with some nice old buildings, but my hotel is in the student district near Nottingham Trent University and that has seen me be immersed in amongst some… interesting crowds at times. Anyway, let’s get onto the meat of the first park day… 23rd April 2026: Fantasy Island My Fantasy Island day started early. I got up at 6am, rope dropped breakfast in the hotel at 6:30am (I’m not sure that expression works quite as well outside of a theme park context…) and made my way to the station at just after 7am in time for a 7:41 train to Skegness. This train took a bit over 2 hours and was very prompt, although I have to say that the line between Grantham and Skegness has some of the bounciest sections of railway line I’ve ever ridden… after getting off the train, I got onto a very opportunely timed bus to Ingoldmells, passing key sights of the area like Botton’s Pleasure Beach (unfortunately closed, or else I might have considered grabbing the creds!) and Butlin’s. This got me to the park with plenty of time to spare: Upon reaching Fantasy Island, it wasn’t even 10:30am and the rides opened at 11am, so I had some time to kill. Seeing as I wasn’t entirely sure where I was going either, I decided to have a wander around and take a few pictures: Now this is where I was getting my first feel for Fantasy Island as a park, and at this point, I feel I should insert in some stray observations. Firstly, I have to say that it’s possibly one of the strangest parks I’ve ever visited. It’s a park of quite distinct halves, more so than perhaps any other I’ve been to; the indoor section is surprisingly heavily themed and atmospheric, whereas the outdoor section has a very permanent funfair-type atmosphere with little to no theming or atmosphere building. Possibly the oddest thing I noticed was the 7-day market; the park has a huge market at its heart with a very eclectic variety of stalls, to say the least. I didn’t browse the market too heavily (or at all, for that matter), but I saw clothes, homeware, garden apparel, towels, weaponry, off-brand merchandise for different brands, and even places where you seemingly could get body modifications including botox (?!). It almost reminded me of going to America for the first time and seeing that you could buy firearms in the same aisle as a roast chicken in Walmart; the range of items is very wide, very odd, and not what I would immediately associate with a theme park. It’s not really my cup of tea, but if you want to ride roller coasters and shop for a wide variety of oddities in the same day, Fantasy Island is the place for you! Anyhow, let me get to the rides. The rides were running in rotation today (hence my not immediately intuitive order of doing them), so I decided to start my day with the key coaster draw that was open for the first 2.5 hours of the day… Millennium Millennium was the thrill coaster open for the first period of the day, so I decided to start there. I was the first person in the queue, so resultantly, I was in the front row of the first train of the day at 11am. It’s great when that happens! So, how was it? Well, I’d always heard of Millennium being referred to as “the smoothest old Vekoma around”, and it was indeed very smooth… but on my first ride, I wasn’t immediately wowed as it seemed like there were large swathes that just… didn’t do a whole lot. Some of the inversions were fun, but on my first ride, there wasn’t a whole lot of kick and it just seemed to trundle around a lot. However, this first ride was also very cold, which was definitely a distractor when I wasn’t yet into the swing of riding for the day, and I didn’t quite have a full feel for the ride yet, so I decided not to make a snap judgement call there. All in all, my initial ride on Millennium was good fun, but not something that immediately wowed me. There is more to come from Millennium later in the day, however: After Millennium, I decided to stay in the pyramid and go for a dark ride… Harrington Flint’s Island Adventures Harrington Flint was nearby, open and walk-on, so I decided to take a ride on there. I was aware that Harrington Flint is a fairly unique dark ride, being the UK’s only use of trackless technology, and also a relatively recent addition, so I was intrigued to see what it was like. So, how was it? Well, I have to say that it was quite a fun little ride! It’s predominantly screen-based, but the screen quality is quite good, and there are some nice bits of physical theming too. I also got 61,000, which as someone who’s rubbish at interactive dark rides, I’m not going to complain about! All in all, then, I enjoyed Harrington Flint; I thought it was a surprisingly well-done ride for a park of this calibre, and I definitely thought it had nice theming and was good fun: After Harrington Flint, I headed back outside to try a flat ride I was wanting to get on… Volcano Volcano was open and walk-on, so I decided to have a ride on there. While I have ridden S&S shot towers plenty of times before, I always enjoy a tower ride, so I was keen to get on Volcano at least once today. As I just mentioned, I walked straight onto the ride, and as I was the only person approaching, I got a completely solo ride, which is always interesting! But how was the ride? Well, I always like a tower ride, and this was quite a good one; the upwards launch was punchy, and there was a very nice pop of air at the top! As S&S shot towers go, I’d say Volcano is one of the better ones I’ve done; I’d certainly take it comfortably over my last memory of Ice Blast (pre-revamp) at Blackpool, for example. I do think my preference overall errs towards a regular drop tower like Detonator over a shot tower, but the shot towers are still great fun and I still thoroughly enjoyed Volcano; at this point of the day, it was perhaps my favourite attraction: After Volcano, I headed for another coaster… Rhombus Express Rhombus Express was once again walk-on (you’re going to get bored of me saying this…), so I decided to take a ride on there. I waltzed straight onto the back row; if Runaway Mine Train at Alton is anything to go by, back is always my seat of choice on a powered coaster! So, how was the ride? Well, I find family powered coasters can be a bit hit and miss, with some like Runaway Mine Train at Alton Towers falling into “surprisingly fun underdog” territory and others like Jormungandr at Drayton Manor being much of a muchness. To my delight, Rhombus Express falls into the former category; this thing absolutely flies! Powered coasters never have overly intense layouts, but this one is taken at some speed and has some great helixes that pack surprising punch; there’s one towards the end in particular that has some really surprising kick! All in all, then, I thought Rhombus Express was an excellent powered coaster that took me by surprise; it falls squarely into that Runaway Mine Train bracket of packing surprising thrills for a family coaster, and as the traditional powered coasters go, it’s right up there with RMT and Europa Park’s previous Alpenexpress as one of the best for me: After Rhombus Express, I headed over to the other side of the park to get another new coaster in… Apple Coaster As many of you will know, I don’t typically do kiddie coasters (although I’m honestly starting to question whether I can say that anymore…), but as Apple Coaster was walk-on and had no one in the vicinity, I decided to give this particular kiddie cred a try. In this particular case, I was actually the only one on the train, so I was batched right at the front on the caterpillar’s face! In terms of the ride itself, there’s not really an awful lot to say; it’s a big apple, and these coasters are what they are: After Apple Coaster, I headed for another ride on Millennium. I was seated in row 4 this time, and for some reason, it definitely clicked much more than the first time! The ride overall seemed more potent and thrilling, and I felt like even some of the gentler sections were more fun and had slightly more purpose. While the layout is quite odd and does have its dead spots, I quite like how the ride almost feels a bit like an adventure around the park; it’s quite good fun to ride! It’s maybe more than the sum of its parts in this sense, and towards the end of the layout, the ride does try to inject a little more spice into the scenic sections: After my reride on Millennium, I had a reride on Volcano, which was my longest queue of the day at the heady heights of 10-15 minutes (only 2 cycles, though). Once again, the ride was great fun, with a punchy launch and some great airtime at the top: After my reride on Volcano, I headed for a reride on Rhombus Express. I only waited one cycle, I sat on the back once again, and the ride was once again a surprisingly good powered coaster; I do have a soft spot for a powered coaster that has a surprising kick: After my reride on Rhombus Express, I sat down in the pyramid and had lunch. I was frugal on this occasion and had purchased a Co-op meal deal in Nottingham station, but I did get the added bonus of seeing a surprisingly elaborate-looking projection mapping show, complete with lighting, voiceover and fake snow, while I was sat in the pyramid. This was a nice touch and fun to watch, but perfectly sums up my point from earlier about the park being one of two halves, I feel; you almost wouldn’t think the pyramid and the outdoor area were in the same park. After lunch, I went for not one, but two back-to-back rerides on Millennium. One was in row 3 and one was in the back, and once again, these were good fun; the ride definitely grew on me after my initial ride in the morning: I then went for another reride on Rhombus Express. The host had changed and I was made to sit in row 2 this time, but I still only waited one cycle and the ride was still really good fun; even in the front, it packed a punch: After my reride on Rhombus Express, I went for one final reride on Millennium. I walked onto row 3, and the ride was once again really good fun; despite my cold demeanour towards it in the morning, it had definitely risen in my estimations with additional rides to fall solidly into “good little ride, that” territory by the time it shut for the day. It’s not quite overall top quartile or UK top 10 material for me, but it’s a good, fun ride for sure and probably my favourite coaster across any of the 4 East Coast parks I’ve been to (Fantasy Island, Adventure Island, Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach and Pleasurewood Hills): After my final reride on Millennium, the next ride rotation was about to open (the open rides, aside from a select few that stayed open all day, changed at 1:30pm), so I decided to pre-emptively get into the queue for my other main draw to Fantasy Island… Odyssey It was approaching 1:30pm, so I decided to head over to Odyssey and pre-emptively wait for it to open. The changeover maybe wasn’t completely seamless, so the ride ended up opening at more like 1:45pm after some minutes of waiting for the staff to arrive and pre-testing. Even still, I was one of the first on the first train of the day, so I walked straight into row 2; I can never quibble with that, even if I might have liked the front for my first go! So, how did I find Odyssey? Well, despite it being an SLC, Odyssey seems to get a fair amount of praise, so with Kumali also being pretty enjoyable and proving to me that SLCs are not a complete lost cause as a ride type if they aren’t the standard layout, I entered Odyssey with some cautious optimism. As much as I Ioathe Infusion, I do love a big, fast coaster, so I thought; surely Odyssey’s sheer height and speed will make it a fairly decent ride, even if not top end material? Alas, these hopes were dashed upon hitting the bottom of the first drop, where I quickly realised that a big, fast SLC is sadly still an SLC. The rush down towards the ground is pretty impressive, but as soon as you pull any kind of force, the train just bashes you around horribly; it bounced up and down aggressively to such an extent that it made my stomach hurt while also relentlessly bashing your head between the restraints. The first couple of elements are undeniably impressive in scale, but are so rough that they’re difficult to enjoy, and after that, it just seems to devolve into doing very little aside from being utterly brutal and beating you up high above the ground. I dearly wanted Odyssey to be an underdog like Kumali, but for me, I’m afraid the ride just wasn’t enjoyable at all, I definitely found it overhyped, and I’d go as far as to say that after my first ride, I perhaps controversially rated it right down there with Infusion (I’m genuinely not sure whether I actually preferred it to my last go on Infusion, in fact) and was stunned that a coaster of such scale could be so awful to ride. I felt I should give it another go later to be fair, however: After my first ride on Odyssey, I headed to go and grab my final credit of the day… Snow Drift Snow Drift had just opened and was the last coaster I needed and was able to ride at Fantasy Island (being well over 1.6m tall, I didn’t even attempt Jellikins), so I headed to take a ride on it. I only waited one car or so for my ride; I can never complain about that! So, how was it? Well, I discovered that despite this apparently being a Mellors-built coaster, it is basically a clone of the Reverchon spinning wild mice that I know and hate, and resultantly, it just wasn’t a ride experience I enjoyed. I just don’t like the strong laterals on these wild mouse coasters, and while this one wasn’t an outstandingly bad example of the ride type, none of them are coasters I rate simply due to the intrinsic nature of them not being something I overly enjoy: After Snow Drift, I went for a reride on Odyssey, hoping for it to redeem itself and for us to have a repeat of the Millennium saga from earlier in the day. Alas, I was in row 2 again, and such hopes were quickly dashed; it was just as awful as it was the first time: Feeling slightly delicate after a rough ride on Odyssey, I then decided to go into the pyramid to find something else to do. I resultantly went on a bit of a journey of discovery doing a few random attractions, starting with… Toucan Tours I had no idea what Toucan Tours was, but the entrance made it sound intriguing, so I decided to give it a go. I waited around 5 minutes for this, with 1 or 2 cars of people in front of me, so it was another short wait that I couldn’t complain about. So, how was it? And what was it, for that matter? Well, it turned out that Toucan Tours was a sweet little monorail attraction that started with some nice panoramic views of the pyramid area before going into a few dark ride scenes. The dark ride scenes were relatively static, for the most part, but I found the whole thing quite endearing! It was a very nice little attraction, with some nice physical theming and set pieces, and I would say it was a real hidden gem: After getting off Toucan Tours, I continued my journey of discovery in the pyramid with a ride on… Seaquarium Seaquarium was nearby and I’d seen the entrance while on Toucan Tours, so as it was also an attraction I’d had recommended to me, I decided to take a ride on there. Again, it was walk-on, which is a bonus, and again, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect; I had an inkling it was a dark ride, but other than that, I wasn’t really sure. So, how was it? Well, like Toucan Tours above, I have to say that I found Seaquarium to be an absolute hidden gem of an attraction; what a lovely little dark ride! There was lots of moving scenery, there was lots to look at, and all in all, I just found the whole thing very sweet! It was certainly an enjoyable dark ride, and I’m very glad I stumbled across it: After getting off Seaquarium, I decided to have a go on the attraction whose entrance was next to it… The Guardian The Guardian’s entrance was next door to Seaquarium, so in the spirit of continuing my journey of discovery in the pyramid, I decided to have a go on there. I remember it being built, but I’ll admit I had very little idea of what was actually in here once again. To add to the anticipation, I spent a few minutes wondering if it was actually open, as I stood alone on some stairs in front of a random door for a good few minutes… it felt very weird being the only one stood in front of this door while looking over children doing the Macarena on the stage below (incidentally, this gave me flashbacks to our hotel in PortAventura, where the Macarena was the subject of the children’s entertainment and we could quietly overhear it every night while having a drink)! The 1.4m height restriction and enclosed nature certainly sent my mind racing, and I initially had inklings in my head of a Top Scan, for some reason (?), but then I did remember something about a robotic arm, so was not too surprised when the ride turned out to be a robotic arm. What I didn’t expect, however, was the inclusion of a curved screen telling a story, thus making the composite ride experience something akin to a pound shop flying theatre. And you know what, it actually works surprisingly well! When combining the robotic arm movements with the story on screen, it did make for a nice little themed experience! I also didn’t find the robotic arm movements too intense; I sometimes found that Forbidden Journey at Universal, which uses similar robotic arm technology, made me a little bit motion sick, but this didn’t seem as bad, bizarrely. All in all, then, I thought The Guardian was a very simple, but effective themed attraction, and yet again, I’d say it falls very nicely into the bracket of “hidden gem”: After getting off The Guardian, I went back outside and perhaps against my better judgement, I decided to give Odyssey one final chance. I was seated on the front this time, so I wondered if it might be better, but while the sense of speed was heightened somewhat, the ride was sadly every bit as bad as before if not worse. With my stomach really hurting and my ears throbbing after a particularly hard whack during that last ride (that my right ear still feels slightly bruised from now), I decided at that point that I’d given Odyssey enough chances and was unlikely to ever rate it. With it being the park’s arguable crown jewel and such a big, fast ride, I really, really wanted to like it, but I sadly just didn’t at all. I’m sorry to say it, but when I think of the actual ride experience, I don’t think I’ve ever ridden a coaster that huge with so few redeeming qualities. As much as the size is impressive and it’s undeniably unique, the ride experience is no better than regular old Infusion for me, which means it’s really not something I rate at all: After my reride on Odyssey, I headed over to Rhombus Express for another reride. I was sat in row 14 this time, and it was once again a really good, fun powered coaster; it flies around the layout and really does pack a punch in places: After my Rhombus Express reride, I decided to head for a flat ride… Star Flyer It dawned on me that as ubiquitous as they are, I’d never actually ridden a Star Flyer before, so as Fantasy Island had one that was walk-on, I decided to give it a go. So, how was my first experience of a Star Flyer? Well, it was certainly an interesting ride experience! As much as I’m not generally a huge lover of flats, the spinning wasn’t too intense on this, and it was quite exhilarating flying high above the ground and having the wind rush into your face: After Star Flyer, I had a final reride on Rhombus Express. I was sat in the back once again, and it was once again really good fun: After that Rhombus Express reride, I closed out my day with a final new flat ride… Techno Jump Techno Jump was walk-on, so as it was a style of flat ride I’d never done before, I decided to take a ride on there. During the era of the Retrosquad at Alton Towers, people used to rave about Mixtape, so I was intrigued to see how one of these Smashing Jumps rode. But how was it? Well, I initially thought it was quite good fun; the jumping produced some fun weightless g-forces, and the spinning wasn’t too intense! However, they ran it for a very long cycle that seemed to get progressively more intense, and I’ll admit this perhaps made it surpass my (relatively low) flat ride tolerance. Had it been a shorter cycle, I would have thought it an enjoyable ride, but the length of cycle made it a little bit much for me in this case. On a side note, a guest remark I heard on this ride really did exemplify the odd hybrid environment that Fantasy Island has cultivated. I overheard someone ask the ride operator “do you need an ID to get a tattoo in that shop over there?”, and it made me think that Fantasy Island must be one of very few places around where you can get a tattoo and ride a roller coaster in the same trip… I find it all quite peculiar, personally, but each to their own: After getting off Techno Jump, ride close was fast approaching, so content with my day, I decided to aim for an earlier train to Nottingham and catch an Uber out of Ingoldmells to get back to Skegness and catch the train to Nottingham: So, that brings a close to my first day at Fantasy Island in Lincolnshire! I had a really good day; I got on 23 rides in total, which is not to be sniffed at in the space of under 5 hours, and I was glad to get the +5, get on Millennium and Odyssey for the first time, and see my final semi-major UK park! It does feel pretty good to have completed the semi-major UK parks and seen everything that’s a major draw coasters-wise; now that my most notable unridden UK coaster has gone drastically down in magnitude to some Pinfari somewhere, I can live with that! As for Fantasy Island itself; as I inferred further up, I found it an odd park. As I’ve reiterated multiple times, it’s a park of two such distinct halves that they almost don’t feel like the same park. The pyramid area is absolutely lovely, with nice theming, some real hidden gem dark rides and a general high-quality atmosphere, while the outdoor area, with a few exceptions, mostly feels like a permanent funfair with all the atmosphere of an out-of-town industrial estate. And the market is really quite an odd extra dimension… I’ve never been anywhere quite like Fantasy Island! Attractions-wise, there’s actually a surprising amount to like; as much as Odyssey was a big disappointment for me, Millennium was really good fun, Volcano was good, Rhombus Rocket was surprisingly good, the dark rides in the pyramid were good… there’s definitely a fair amount there! Considering the distance I live from it, I’m not sure I’d specifically make the effort to return unless they built something major that warranted it, but I’d go back if I was in the area for other purposes. I’m definitely glad I went, though, and I had a good day overall! Thanks for reading; I hope you’ve enjoyed this report! Keep your eyes peeled for a trip report from Alton Towers tomorrow!

I’ve literally never waited for it, and last Monday was the first time I’ve ever waited even one cycle for it, yet it was doing 5 laps…

Apologies for bumping an older thread, but after a recent ride, I was wondering; has Flying Fish always run 5 laps? On my ride last Monday, the train went around 5 times, which I swear it didn’t before… I could have sworn it only did the regular 2 laps before! Is this a new thing for 2026, or was this a one-off? Or am I just misremembering previous rides (I don’t go on it very often)? The queue was, if anything, longer than usual, so I’d be surprised if it was a bonus due to a quiet day!

If anyone’s interested, I have a few throughput timings and insights from my Thorpe visit last Monday: Colossus (Theoretical: 1,300pph on 2 trains) - 786pph (2 trains, average of 4, 13th April 2026) Hyperia (Theoretical: 1,050pph on 2 trains) - 770pph (2 trains, average of 4, 13th April 2026), 763pph (2 trains, average of 10, 13th April 2026) Nemesis Inferno (Theoretical: 1,150pph on 2 trains) - 1,023pph (2 trains, average of 6, 13th April 2026) Saw: The Ride (Theoretical: 1,000pph on 8 cars) - 854pph (unknown number of cars, average of 8, 13th April 2026) Stealth (Theoretical: 1,000pph on 2 trains) - 827pph (2 trains, average of 9, 13th April 2026), 860pph (2 trains, average of 6, 13th April 2026) The Swarm (Theoretical: 1,100pph on 2 trains) - 946pph (2 trains, average of 10, 13th April 2026), 1,022pph (2 trains, average of 5, 13th April 2026) Overall, then, I would have said ops were pretty good, but perhaps not as high-end as I have seen in a couple of cases. Colossus was doing pretty well in my brief snapshot by that ride’s standards, and Saw was smashing it! Inferno and Hyperia were also doing well. Some others were still good, but perhaps not as high as I have seen. For example, Stealth, consistently attaining slightly below 90s between dispatches, seemed somewhat slower than on my last visit back in September, where the staff were pumping out trains at a rate of knots and attaining nearly 1,000pph. Swarm also seemed slightly less consistent. That is me being persnickety, though; operations were generally good, and ride availability was also strong throughout the day! One thing I did notice is that Inferno was batching at the station entrance, which I found a bit odd… I wonder why they’ve changed this for 2026?

13th April 2026: Thorpe Park Today, I had my second and final day of the trip, with my first visit of the season to Thorpe Park! New though it may not be, I always love a Thorpe visit, and I couldn’t wait to get back on Hyperia, Stealth and some of my other favourite coasters in the country for my first time in 2026! As always with a hotel stay, I ended up peaking quite early, so I caught an Uber to Thorpe from Staines that got me there at a lovely early 9:10am, meaning that I got through the turnstiles by 9:15am and was well placed to get to my first ride promptly at opening time: After the gates were opened, I made a beeline for my first ride… Colossus Large crowds were sprinting towards Hyperia, but while I did go in that general direction, I went against the crowd and started my day with a ride on Colossus, as I have historically found to be a good tactical bet at Thorpe. Even with Hyperia now in the picture, this still worked very well, with me getting onto the first train of the day quite effortlessly! So, how was the ride? Well, it was OK; the first half was great, with great speed and force through the elements, and while there were some mild moments of roughness, it was by no means terrible. However, I’ll admit Colossus isn’t an absolute favourite of mine for a variety of reasons. As is well documented at this point, the trains are absolutely dreadful, with horribly tight restraints and very little legroom, but even excluding the trains, I’m not a fan of that ending with all the rolls in a row. One would be fun, but I think four at once is too many consecutively. All in all, though, Colossus was still a good start to the day, and I was certainly gratified to be off my first ride before 10:10am: After Colossus, I headed over to another coaster… Saw: The Ride Saw was on an advertised 10 minute queue, so I could well have ridden it in the main queue and gotten on quickly, but being on my own and seeing that there were a fair number of people, I still decided to gamble on a further reduced wait and try the single rider queue. This proved to be fruitful, as I was on within 5 minutes and was batched into the front row of a car as soon as I got into the building; I can never moan about that, particularly when it had me getting off my second ride of the day comfortably before 10:30am! So, how was Saw? Well, I was interested to ride it after going on Rage yesterday to see how it compared, and having ridden the two a day apart, I have to say that perhaps controversially, I definitely preferred Saw! I often find the front rougher than the back on Saw, so I feared it might be bad, but other than the notable jolt between the first drop and the Immelmann, which is always a bad moment, the rest of it rode fairly well; even the post-MCBR section, while a bit rough, wasn’t too bad! In terms of how I’d compare Saw and Rage, Rage doesn’t have a bad jolt like the drop on Saw, but I don’t think the two are that different in terms of smoothness otherwise, and Saw is my definite winner in terms of layout; it’s just a lot more substantial, and I much prefer Saw’s fast pacing and surprising jolts of airtime to Rage’s focus on hangtime and tight inversions and helixes. I’d also probably say I prefer Saw to Smiler as well, with it possibly vying with Speed for the title of my favourite Gerstlauer thrill coaster based on today’s ride. Saw’s not an absolute favourite of mine, as I do still find it a bit too uncomfortable for me to fully rate it, but it was running well, all things considered, and I still enjoyed the ride overall; I do think it’s grown on me somewhat over the years: After Saw, I decided to scope out the situation at a favourite of mine… Hyperia Hyperia was on an advertised 55 minute queue time, but upon exploring the situation further, I noticed that the single rider queue looked short, so I decided to take a chance. My hunch was proven correct, as I was batched onto the ride within just 10-15 minutes; I’m calling that a considerable win for single rider, as that beat the main queue considerably and is by far the quickest I’ve ever gotten on Hyperia! Perhaps a triple hit of Colossus/Saw/single rider Hyperia might be a good starting strategy to settle on at Thorpe from now on? Anyway, how was the ride? Well, I absolutely love Hyperia, and the row 9 ride I had was absolutely sublime! There’s so much to love about Hyperia, from my end; as someone who loves a good hyper coaster, the ride appeals to my tastes enormously! There are negative g-forces all over the place; that first drop is absolutely obscene, with sustained ejector all the way down, but pretty much every other element on the ride also provides wonderful negatives too! The ride also packs a phenomenal sense of speed, and as well as that, it’s wonderfully smooth and comfortable, making it a very moreish coaster that always has me looking forward to coming back to it! There’s a lot more I could say about Hyperia, but in short, I’ll just say that it’s by far my favourite coaster in Thorpe Park, comfortably my favourite coaster in the UK and sits comfortably within my top 10, most probably in my top 5. It’s enhanced this park so much coaster-wise: After Hyperia, I headed over to the other side of the park to do another coaster I hadn’t yet done… Nemesis Inferno Nemesis Inferno was on an advertised 10 minute queue time, so I decided to take a ride on there. The queue ended up being longer than advertised, taking 25 minutes all in, but this still wasn’t particularly long by any stretch and this was already my 4th coaster by a little after 11am, so I wasn’t too miffed at this. But how was the ride? Well, I think Inferno is always a decent coaster; while it’s not Nemesis, I always find it an enjoyable invert in its own right, and today was no exception! I was sat in row 5, and the ride was smooth, fast and forceful, with some nice punchy inversions and a surprisingly punchy helix at the end; what’s not to like? All in all, then, I thoroughly enjoyed my ride on Nemesis Inferno; I always enjoy getting back on there: After Inferno, I headed for yet another nearby coaster… Stealth Stealth was on an advertised 35 minute queue, so as I hadn’t yet ridden Stealth and I always love a ride on it, I decided to give it a go. The 35 minute advertised queue turned out to be closer to 25 in actuality; I can never complain about an overstated queue! So, how was the ride? Well, I was sat in row 9, and the ride was absolutely fantastic; I always love Stealth, and today was no exception! That launch is so wonderfully punchy, and I also love the top hat airtime and general sense of speed of the thing! I will say that the trains aren’t the most comfortable (if the ride had lap bars like Red Force, we’d be onto a winner!), but this is a minor niggle rather than a deal breaker, and it doesn’t stop me from loving every second of the ride and putting Stealth firmly in my top 20 and probably above Red Force; despite Red Force’s additional height and speed, the raw power of that hydraulic launch wins out every time for me! All in all, then, I absolutely love Stealth; it’s an absolute belter of a ride, and I definitely think a hydraulic launch is something to be celebrated with these getting ever rarer: After Stealth, I went for a slightly early Burger King lunch to try and beat the lunchtime rush (I’m not entirely sure whether this strategy worked…), but after that, I went to tick off the final coaster I hadn’t yet done… The Swarm The Swarm was on an advertised 35 minute queue time, so as I hadn’t yet ridden it today, I fancied a ride on there. As with Stealth, the 35 minute advertised time was an overstatement and I waited only 25 minutes; I can never moan about that! So, how was it? Well, I was seated in row 5, and it was absolutely fantastic; I’ve always had a soft spot for Swarm, and today was no exception! In terms of specific things I love about the ride, it has some absolutely brilliant elements; the first drop is absolutely brilliant, boasting an awesome sense of speed as you rush towards the ground, I also like the floaty zero-g roll afterwards, and that final roll is a particular highlight, taken at just the right speed to offer some lovely out-of-your-seat hangtime without being uncomfortable! I also love the sense of speed that the winged trains provide, and the ride is also lovely and smooth! All in all, then, I loved my ride on Swarm; it’s not hard for me to see why this was once my #1 coaster, and perhaps controversially, I still have it sat in my top 20: After I got off Swarm, there was an announcement that all outdoor rides were closing due to lightning in the vicinity, so in order to keep on riding, I initially decided to face some fears of mine and finally give The Walking Dead a go, having not ridden it since the retheme. I tried the single rider queue, but as it practically hadn’t moved after about 10 minutes and the lightning closure was short-lived, I decided after seeing Detonator running that I could maintain my Walking Dead virginity for a little longer, particularly as I was hesitant that I’d actually like Walking Dead: After leaving the single rider queue for Walking Dead, I headed for my first flat ride of the day… Detonator Detonator was on an advertised 5 minute queue time, so as I always love a good drop tower and Detonator is a very good one indeed, I decided to take a ride on there. The queue was marginally longer than advertised, taking more like 10 minutes, but I can’t complain as this was still a very short queue. So, how was the ride? Well as I said above, I am a fan of a good drop tower, and Detonator is probably one of my favourites! Despite its somewhat diminutive size by drop tower standards, Detonator has a deceivingly punchy drop; it launches you down with such force, and you absolutely fly out of your seat with some awesome sustained airtime! These Fabbri towers are all brilliant; Jolly Roger and Venom were absolutely fantastic as well, from memory, and I am stunned that Fabbri never sold more drop towers! All in all, then, I absolutely loved my ride on Detonator; though short, it always hits the spot for me, and I’d increasingly put it on my “must ride” list when visiting Thorpe: After getting off Detonator, I went for another ride on Stealth, on an advertised 20 minute queue that took around 30. I was seated in row 2, and it was once again fantastic; with the tiered seating, I got a small taste of that front row speed! It was also quite a wet ride, as it rained a fair bit while I was in the queue: After getting off Stealth, I went for another flat ride… Rush Rush was on an advertised 10 minute queue time, so I decided to have a go on there. As an added bonus, the 10 minute advertised queue was if anything overstated; I was on the ride within around 5 minutes, which I can never complain about! So, how was the ride? Well, despite me not generally being a massive fan of flat rides as I mentioned yesterday, the S&S Screamin’ Swing is another ride type I can make an exception for; I do enjoy Rush! With it not being a ride that spins, I don’t find it overly nauseating, and I really enjoy the nice pops of floater airtime at each peak and the speed in each trough! Unfortunately, Rush does run quite a weak cycle; I noticed only one or two full height swings today before the ride started to peter out. Nonetheless, I did enjoy my ride, and it was nice to get back on there as I haven’t done it since 2024, to my memory: After getting off Rush, I headed for a reride on Hyperia using the single rider queue. The ride was on an advertised 85 minute queue time at this point, and single rider was not quite as fruitful here, with me waiting 65 minutes (still a net benefit, but not nearly as much as earlier). One thing that made this ride interesting is that I was sat next to a chatty, but nervous woman who wanted me to make small talk with her going up the lift hill to make her less nervous, so I chatted to her about various things as we climbed. She seemed to enjoy the ride despite her nerves, and we agreed on the brake run that it’s often the anticipation that’s the worst part if you’re scared of coasters… if you’re reading this, Gemma from Eastbourne, it was nice to meet you! As for the ride itself, I was sat in row 2 this time. It was my first time ever riding Hyperia in the front half of the train, and while I was sceptical about whether some of my favourite bits would hit as hard in the front, I have to say that overall, the ride was possibly even better than in the back half of the train! My favourite bit of the ride, the first drop, still more than holds its own in the front, as does the Immelmann, but the other elements after that seemed even more powerful in the front half of the train, with the stall and the two outerbanks seemingly packing more powerful and sustained negative g’s in the front. Contrary to my original suspicions, I am wondering if Hyperia might be a front row coaster, as much as I’ve always loved the back for the full power of that obscene first drop: After getting off Hyperia, the weather looked as though it might be turning again, so in the spirit of “the anticipation is the worst part” that my Hyperia companion and I had discussed, I decided to grow a pair and try facing some fears of my own that I backed out of to ride Detonator earlier… The Walking Dead: The Ride Walking Dead was on an advertised 20 minute queue time, so as it was one of the shortest queues in the park at this point and the weather looked as though it was taking a turn for the worse, I decided to give it a ride, albeit in the main queue after seeing the static nature of single rider earlier. The 20 minute queue time was slightly overstated, if anything, and I was batched into the pre-show within about 15 minutes. So, how was it? Well, I should probably preface my review by saying that I’m not very good with horror and have always avoided the blatant horror attractions, particularly those with actors, for this reason. I thought Walking Dead might be a milder way to introduce myself to this style of attraction to confirm whether I actually like it. With my fears in mind, I was definitely quite anxious to ride Walking Dead, and prior to today, I hadn’t actually ridden the coaster since my first ever visit to Thorpe Park back in 2014, when it was still known as X! Thankfully, there were no actors in Walking Dead today… but I’ll admit I still absolutely hated it and am quite sure that I definitely don’t like the blatant horror attractions; I don’t think you’ll find me doing scare mazes any time soon. I’ll grant them that it’s well done, but I just found the whole thing far too dark, far too loud and far too in-your-face for my liking even without actors, and I frankly couldn’t wait to get out of there. If I’m to put my emotions and fears aside and talk more objectively, the coaster itself is actually not a bad family coaster at all. The track and train is good fun, has some fun twists and turns and maintains fairly good speed, and it’s not a bad length either. The theming is also admittedly well executed even if not to my taste, with it being a far more elaborate and cohesive themed experience than I remember X being. However, experiencing this today confirmed to me what I always suspected; that even putting aside my own dislike of horror attractions, the Walking Dead retheme is possibly one of the most stupid decisions, if not the most stupid decision, Merlin has ever made, in my humble opinion. The coaster hardware lends itself nicely to being a whole family attraction for a park that lacks whole family attractions, and indeed it was one as X, but the in-your-face 13+ horror theming is completely incongruous with the hardware and puts off people who might be quite attracted to this type of ride. Some people moan about rides like Thirteen and Wicker Man having dark themes incongruous with their hardware, but Walking Dead is a coaster where I’d argue that the mismatch is far, far more blatant, with the theming being much scarier and more in-your-face and the ride hardware being much tamer. Overall, then, I’m glad I gave Walking Dead a try and it was interesting to do something a bit different, but I’m sorry to say I didn’t like it at all and don’t think I’ll be doing any other scare mazes or horror attractions of this nature any time soon; I think a ride like The Curse at Alton Manor is about the upper limit of horror level I can cope with and enjoy: After Walking Dead, I decided to head over to do the final coaster I needed to get the clean sweep of operating coasters at Thorpe today… Flying Fish Flying Fish was on an advertised 10 minute queue time, so I decided to take a ride on there. With me having done Walking Dead today, riding Flying Fish was important to me as it actually made today the first time in all my years visiting Thorpe Park that I’ve ever ridden all operating coasters at the park in one day, which is made even more impressive to me by the fact that there were only 7 coasters when I first started visiting and there are now 8. For a litany of reasons, there’s always been at least one coaster at Thorpe I’ve missed in every other day I’ve ever had there, but today bucked that trend, which I was pleased with! So, how was Flying Fish? Well, I was on within 10 minutes and I was seated in row 4, and it was fun enough, but I did find myself remembering why I don’t do it very often in a park filled with awesome rides like Thorpe. It picks up some mild speed in places, and is fun enough for younger visitors, but is definitely the weakest coaster in the park from a track and train standpoint and is actually surprisingly jolty for a coaster of the size. It was certainly a fun enough ride, though, and one thing I did notice was that they gave us a very lengthy cycle; has it always done 5 laps? I swear it hasn’t done 5 laps when I’ve ridden it before, but I could be misremembering. In a humorous side note, I noticed that Flying Fish is one of only two rides at Thorpe that my phone’s camera app gives its own geomarker to, with the other being Stealth; whenever I take a picture of Swarm walking up to it, my phone marks the location as “Flying Fish”, with the ride apparently deserving its own geomarker separate from the rest of Thorpe Park: After getting off Flying Fish, I went for a reride on Swarm, on an advertised 35 minute queue that only took 20. I was seated in row 6 this time, and the ride was once again absolutely fantastic, and possibly even better than earlier: After Swarm, I went for one final reride on Stealth, on an advertised 25 minute queue that only took 15. I was seated on the back, and it was a fantastic way to end the day; the launch was punchy as ever, and that back row top hat airtime was absolutely wonderful: After getting off Stealth, ride close was upon us, so I headed out of Thorpe Park to get home after a great day. I took a train out of Staines and changed in Reading, arriving back in Bristol Parkway just after 8pm: So that wraps up my day at Thorpe Park! I had a brilliant day; I did 14 rides in total, 12 of which were coaster rides. I’m going to say that that isn’t too shabby given that the park wasn’t exactly quiet! I was satisfied to get on all coasters at the park today, as I mentioned earlier, and that actually means that I’ve satisfyingly had a clean sweep of coasters this trip! In terms of specific highlights; Hyperia, my favourite coaster in the UK, was as sublime as always, and I loved getting on the front half of the train for the first time in particular, but the other rides like Stealth, Swarm, Inferno and Detonator were also great, and I just generally liked getting back to Thorpe for my first 2026 visit (with me holding a Merlin pass this year, I’ll almost certainly be back at least once more this season)! I always love a day at Thorpe, and with Hyperia now in the roster, I think it’s a really, really strong park for coasters and thrill rides. I’d say it’s a fierce contender for best coaster lineup in the UK, with Alton being its only real competition in this sense; for me personally, 4 of Thorpe’s coasters make my top 25%, which is pretty favourable on a nationwide and worldwide scale! That doesn’t just wrap up my day at Thorpe, though; that also wraps up this trip. And all in all, I’ve really enjoyed it! It was nice to get to Southend for the first time, and the +5 from Adventure Island was certainly a satisfying stop on my road to 150, but I also loved today’s day at Thorpe and getting back on some of my favourite coasters in the country too! This trip has made me mull over the idea of finally ticking off Skegness while I’m still off work to truly complete the semi-major UK parks, possibly using Nottingham as a central base and also tying it in with a midweek Merlin pass visit to Towers… watch this space! Thanks for reading; I hope you’ve enjoyed this report (and yesterday’s too)! I’m not certain of when my next park visit is going to be; it could be a trip to Skegness as I discussed above, but if not, I’d imagine it might be a trip to Paultons to see Valgard… we’ll have to wait and see!

12th April 2026: Adventure Island With me having worked for the last 6 months and now being out of work for a period, I thought it might be nice to do a park trip. And seeing as I had such a dry year last year in terms of new creds, I thought I’d redo my Solo South East Jaunt from June 2024, but instead combine a Merlin visit on my pass with a new park and do a double bill of Adventure Island and Thorpe Park! I always love a Thorpe visit, but I was also excited to try something new in the UK, with Southend being a place I’ve never been before (as well as Essex more widely, aside from Stansted Airport)! Now, I should say that one of my reasons for delaying doing Southend was that from my neck of the woods, the public transport journey involves crossing London, which I was nervous about for a litany of reasons. However, it went absolutely fine, and I actually found some of the London transport quite cool! I set off from my home in Gloucestershire at around 7:30am this morning, with my parents dropping me off in Bristol Parkway at just after 8am in time for an 8:30am train towards London Paddington to start my journey: After getting off the train in Paddington, this is where things began to get interesting. I next took an Elizabeth Line service between London Paddington and London Liverpool Street. This took around 10 minutes, and for all my nerves, I have to say it was absolutely fine and very easy! It was busy, and I would advise holding onto something as the train is very fast, but it was fine in terms of practicality! This was also my first time in London since the opening of the Elizabeth Line, and as someone who has at least a passing interest in all things rail, I found it really cool to see and ride on; it’s all so slick and modern: The final leg of my journey was a C2C train between London Liverpool Street and a Southend Central. It was pretty prompt, taking just over an hour, meaning that I got to Southend at just before 12pm and into Adventure Island just after following a walk that took just under 10 minutes: Upon entering Adventure Island and collecting my pre-ordered wristband, I decided to start my day on the most noteworthy coaster on offer… Rage Rage was near to where I entered and arguably the biggest draw of Adventure Island, so I decided to give it a go. With it being the final day of the Easter holidays, I wondered if the park would be busy, but these thoughts were quickly quashed upon seeing the near walk-on queue for Rage; I got pretty much straight on there, so I can’t really complain! One stray observation I’d like to make, which proved to be a recurring theme throughout the day, is that the staff were incredibly enthusiastic, possibly more so than any other theme park staff I’ve ever encountered! They were dancing, they were encouraging us to show our enthusiasm for the coming ride, they got us to play games… I’m a bit of an introvert, so I’m not sure it’s my thing (apologies if I sound a bit of a killjoy here…), but I can’t fault the enthusiasm! But enough about that; how was the ride? Well, I rarely love Gerstlauer Euro-Fighters, and Rage wasn’t really an exception to that, but it was enjoyable enough and is certainly an impressive headliner for a park of this size. I always enjoy the beyond vertical drop on these, and like the others, Rage offers a nice bit of airtime here! The loop and initial turn were also decent, with some good forces, and to its credit, I would probably say that Rage is the smoothest of the Euro-Fighters I’ve ridden. However, it definitely has a more basic layout than the other Gerstlauer thrill coasters I’ve done, and I don’t massively care for it once it starts going into the slow hangtime sections. I enjoyed the ride, though, and it was a good way to start the day: After Rage, I headed to the next coaster I needed to ride… Green Scream Green Scream was nearby and appeared to be a near walk-on, so I went to give it a ride. Knowing very little about this coaster aside from that it was a Zierer Tivoli and holds (once held?) the peculiar world record of having the most naked riders on a roller coaster, I was interested to see what it was like. I just missed the cycle that had just gone, so I waited around 5 minutes for my go. So, how was the ride? Well, I do have a small soft spot for a Zierer Tivoli, and this was a nice one! Compared to some of the others, it’s quite a sizeable and substantial ride, which definitely gives it a few additional brownie points compared to your Treetopses and your Cat-O-Pillars! I was sat in row 4, and some of those helixes picked up a fair amount of speed, with the ride having a good length to it too! Once again, the host on here was also brimming with enthusiasm, and I did think the announcements and music were a nice touch! All in all, then, I thought Green Scream was a fun Tivoli; there’s something I find inherently quite charming about these Tivoli coasters, and it was nice to see a slightly more substantial one: After Green Scream, I decided to change things up a tad while I was in this side of the park (I didn’t realise Adventure Island was dual-sided, with each side being separated by an arcade), and go for a flat ride that I’d been advised not to miss… Time Machine Time Machine had a nominal queue, so I got in line for the next cycle. I’m not normally a great lover of flat rides, but I know that Time Machine is a unique ride (built by the park in-house, if I remember rightly?), so I decided to give it a go for that reason alone. The cycle ended quickly, so I waited hardly any time at all for my ride; you can never complain when that happens! So, how was it? Well, I’ll be diplomatic and say that it’s certainly… different. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it on my first go; it certainly pulls a lot of g-forces and is quite an intense ride. I wasn’t sure on how it did some sustained upside down action at the beginning, and I did feel a bit dizzy getting off, but even as someone who doesn’t go mad for flat rides, I didn’t think it was a terrible one (I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it after the first go, but it didn’t merit the instant negative reaction that some flats have) and will laud it for being quite a different ride to anything else I’ve ridden: https://I.ibb.co/vRhz7wx/IMG-1713.jpg After getting off Time Machine, I decided to go for something a tad less intense… Spooksville Spooksville was nearby, so after the intensity of Time Machine, I decided to give this dark ride a go to pace myself a little. I have to say that the queue for this is quite nice; I thought queueing indoors made a nice change for a dark ride in a park like this! The queue initially looked a fair amount longer than any of the others I’d seen so far, but due to the length of the train, this ended up only being a one cycle wait and I was on within 5 minutes, which is never bad. So, how was it? Well, I have to say that I thought this was actually a very nice little ride! It’s not the most jumpscare-y ghost train out there, but as someone who’s not a big horror buff, that suited me quite nicely! The ride also had a fair amount of pop-out scenery, there were also some fun little details peppered throughout the scenes, and the ride overall had quite a nice ambience to it! For a park of this calibre, I overall thought Spooksville was a nice ride; I certainly enjoyed it, anyway: https://I.ibb.co/mrrqpNww/IMG-1714.jpg https://I.ibb.co/XfMdnzwQ/IMG-1715.jpg After getting off Spooksville, I decided to try another flat ride… Sky Drop I actually wasn’t sure if Sky Drop was open, as there were no guests in the area at all, but the very friendly host confirmed that it was open and beckoned me on board, so I thought I’d take a spin on there. Contrary to what I said above about not being a big flat ride fan, I do love a drop tower, and I remember Great Yarmouth’s version of this ride type being good fun, so I was keen to try this one! Due to the aforementioned lack of crowds at the ride, I rode alone with no one else in the area, which was interesting… and this is perhaps where the “pumping up” the hosts do here pre-ride feels a little awkward. When the host was doing it and saying to me “Come on, you can do better than that!” when I didn’t respond with what he deemed appropriate enthusiasm, I did feel that this sort of exercise maybe works better when there are more people on the ride, or the riders are younger than me. It’s no criticism of the host at all, as he was very friendly and personable and I can sense that this might be a policy from above seeing as everyone does it, but I’ll admit it’s not really my personal cup of tea, even if it makes me sound miserable. As for the ride itself, it was fun enough, but I thought it lacked a bit of kick compared to my memory of the model in Great Yarmouth, with not even the slightest bit of airtime to speak of. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the ride and I would like to commend the host on his friendliness even if the “pumping up” perhaps isn’t to my personal taste: https://I.ibb.co/N665BXLS/IMG-1716.jpg After I got off Sky Drop, I decided to go for another ride on Rage while I was in the vicinity. I only had a one-car wait, and while the ride was once again fun and I do enjoy that beyond-vertical drop, it seemed a bit rougher this time and I had a tight restraint that did… squash me down below a little uncomfortably as these Gersts sometimes can: https://I.ibb.co/r28q0skS/IMG-1717.jpg https://I.ibb.co/qLf2XLGx/IMG-1718.jpg After my re-ride on Rage, I headed over to the other side of the park to nab another coaster credit… Barnstormer Barnstormer had a very nominal queue time, so I decided to take a ride on there. After a short wait of less than 5 minutes, I was seated on row 3 of the next cycle; I can never complain about that! So, how was the ride? Well, it was good fun; as I said about Green Scream, I do have a soft spot for a Zierer Tivoli, as family coasters go! This one is definitely weaker than Green Scream for me, but even still, the downward helix packs some nice speed and I would perhaps take it over some of the more regular Tivoli layouts I’ve done. It’s nothing spectacular, don’t get me wrong, but Barnstormer put a smile on my face overall: https://I.ibb.co/6c8kTF6Y/IMG-1719.jpg https://I.ibb.co/ym4ZL4Fm/IMG-1720.jpg After Barnstormer, I decided to give the other coaster next to it a ride… Mighty Mini Mega Similarly to Barnstormer, Mighty Mini Mega was on a nominal wait, so I got in line and was quickly batched onto the next cycle. With this being a theme of the day so far, I certainly couldn’t complain about the efficiency of my visit to Adventure Island; I should add that I had only been in the park for around an hour at this point and this was about to be my 8th ride! So, how was the ride? Well, with Mighty Mini Mega being a Pinfari, a manufacturer where I have not had particularly great experiences with their hardware, I did not have high expectations… but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised! By Pinfari standards, I’m going to say that Mighty Mini Mega was not half bad; it’s definitely my favourite Pinfari (a very, very low bar to clear, admittedly) and probably my 2nd favourite coaster in the park behind Rage, which surprised me! From where I’m standing, the ride was smooth, had comfortable trains (a pleasant surprise given that my prior experiences with Pinfari have had trains where I’ve either had to sit sideways or fold myself into a very cramped OTSR), and actually had some fairly good speed to it! I liked some of the drops and undulations, and the ride maintained fairly good speed and force through the layout for a family coaster of its size! Overall, then, I thought Mighty Mini Mega was a pleasant surprise, and certainly a solid family coaster; I enjoyed it, anyway: https://I.ibb.co/PvM3z2kQ/IMG-1721.jpg https://I.ibb.co/SD5stWY5/IMG-1722.jpg After Mighty Mini Mega, I headed for the park’s second drop tower… Vertigo Vertigo had a walk-on queue, so as a self-professed drop tower fan, I fancied a ride on it. When a drop tower is on a walk-on queue, I can never turn it down! So, how was the ride? Well, even though it’s not the most intense drop tower by any stretch, I thought Vertigo was really good fun by the standards of these family drop towers! Unlike Sky Drop earlier, the ride provided some genuine tickles of airtime which are always appreciated, and it was also a fairly long cycle too! All in all, then, I definitely enjoyed Vertigo, and would probably say it was one of my better rides of the day: https://I.ibb.co/23ZrFyvZ/IMG-1724.jpg https://I.ibb.co/cSBWYqKk/IMG-1723.jpg After Vertigo, I headed up some stairs to grab the final credit of the day… Kiddi Koasta These days, I frequently don’t ride kiddie coasters, but I already felt as though most of the rides I’d been on had had me surrounded by children, so as the queue for Kiddi Koasta also appeared nominal, I figured I might as well take a ride and get the clean sweep of coasters at Adventure Island. I was on the next cycle after I joined the queue, I was joined by another solo rider and interestingly, this was perhaps the only ride where the host did no “pumping up” whatsoever, which surprised me given that it was the one ride where I might have anticipated it given the target audience. So with all this in mind, this was possibly the least embarrassing kiddie coaster I’ve ever ridden, which was great as someone who worries about this! Anyhow, how was the ride itself? Well, it was what it was, really. It’s a good enough coaster for kids, with some moments of mild speed, but it’s not going to make any top coaster lists for adults. The main thing that stuck out to me about the ride was that the lift hill rivals Wicker Man’s for the title of “joltiest lift hill entry” and the brake at the end was really quite sharp! All in all, then, Kiddi Koasta was a perfectly adequate kiddie coaster, with my main takeaway being that I was glad to get the clean sweep of credits at Adventure Island: https://I.ibb.co/fzHzbbry/IMG-1726.jpg https://I.ibb.co/zk3JbK1/IMG-1725.jpg After I got off Kiddi Koasta, I decided to give another flat ride a go… Axis Axis was on a one-cycle wait, so I decided to take a ride on there. It did feel like the operations on here were quite slow, as it seemed to take a while for anything to happen once I was seated, but as there was only one staff member running the whole ride and the queue was short, I don’t think I should complain too much. So, how was the ride? Well, these gyroswings have been growing on me somewhat in recent times, even if they still aren’t an absolute favourite of mine, but this one was completely ruined by the 360 degree function for me, I’m afraid. The initial swings were good fun, and the ride gains some good speed in the troughs, but I just don’t like the extended upside down hangtime at all, unfortunately. So all in all, then, I came off Axis feeling a little worse for wear and having not overly enjoyed the experience, I’m sorry to say: https://I.ibb.co/tpQGGsR9/IMG-1727.jpg https://I.ibb.co/zWhgsqcJ/IMG-1728.jpg After getting off Axis, I decided to start doing some rerides. I initially went for a walk-on reride on Barnstormer; I was sat in row 7, and the ride was perhaps better than it was the first time around. It was still good fun: https://I.ibb.co/23ZXbX5N/IMG-1729.jpg https://I.ibb.co/V0m2wTcj/IMG-1730.jpg I then went for a reride on Mighty Mini Mega on a one-cycle wait. I was seated in row 9, and the ride was once again good fun; I was still pleasantly surprised that Pinfari could build something that fun: https://I.ibb.co/yFdFm47V/IMG-1731.jpg After that, I went for a walk-on reride on Vertigo. Once again, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride: https://I.ibb.co/yBNVSZfh/IMG-1732.jpg After getting off Vertigo, I decided to go for a sit down, having done 14 rides in under 2 hours. I grabbed a King Kone (a Mr Whippy with a flake… what a nostalgic throwback to my childhood seaside holidays!) and a Pepsi Max, and decided to just sit on a bench and take things in for a bit. Once I’d finished my ice cream, I went for a reride on Green Scream. The park was busier by this point, and while I only waited one cycle, the operations were quite slow, which meant that the wait was 15-20 minutes overall. I do think they could maybe do with more than one staff member on the platform on busier days than this one… nonetheless, the ride was once again good fun in row 2: https://I.ibb.co/xtHH3TTG/IMG-1734.jpg https://I.ibb.co/MD15ptDZ/IMG-1735.jpg After my ride on Green Scream, I, perhaps against my better judgement, headed for a reride on Time Machine, as I wanted to better suss out my opinion on this unique ride. And while it is undeniably unique, I’ve concluded that it is just a bit too intense for my tastes, I’m afraid. It makes me feel quite dizzy, it isn’t something I could reride lots in quick succession, and I think it’s stymied by the fact that I’m simply not a great lover of flat rides, for the most part. Interestingly, my second ride on here took over 20 minutes all in all, as they had to get a mechanic to manually release our restraints: https://I.ibb.co/SDQphyLm/IMG-1738.jpg After getting off Time Machine, I headed for one final reride on Rage. By this point, the park had taken a car off Rage and left it running only the 1 car (it had been running 2 earlier), which meant that I waited 15 minutes (still by no means a long queue, but longer than it had been earlier). It was a good way to end my time at Adventure Island, although as with the second ride, it was a little rougher than it had been earlier in the day: https://I.ibb.co/rKc76kyT/IMG-1740.jpg After getting off Rage, I decided to end my time at Adventure Island there. While I had only spent 3.5 hours in the park and it was only around 3:30pm, I was content with what I’d done and didn’t want to get to Staines ridiculously late, so decided to leave for the train station: https://I.ibb.co/r2FNb0mF/IMG-1742.jpg To get back to Staines for my overnight accommodation ahead of a Thorpe day tomorrow, I took a slightly different route. I took a C2C train from Southend Central to Stratford, took the Jubilee Line on the Underground down to London Waterloo from Stratford (this was possibly faster than the Elizabeth Line train earlier… I forgot to hold on and nearly fell on top of the poor woman stood next to me when the train pulled away!), and took a South Western Railway train from London Waterloo to Hounslow (SWR have jazzed up their trains since I last rode one, I have to say!), taking an Uber from Hounslow to my hotel in Staines due to the trains only running to Hounslow. I must admit, I’m proud of myself for having successfully negotiated the London transport alone, and it was cool to see the tube and the Elizabeth Line for sure: https://I.ibb.co/1G0Dpt6r/IMG-1743.jpg https://I.ibb.co/jZ9cLSfF/IMG-1744.jpg https://I.ibb.co/dJpg3Yg6/IMG-1745.jpg https://I.ibb.co/hr6N73S/IMG-1746.jpg So, that brings an end to my first ever visit to Adventure Island! I had a really good day; I certainly can’t complain about 17 rides in 3.5 hours, and I enjoyed seeing the park for the first time! As for my thoughts on the park itself; I enjoyed my time there and I’m glad I went, but it’s not somewhere I can see myself rushing back to in the absence of major investment considering the distance I live away from it. It’s more of a “couple of hours” kind of park than a “full day” kind of park. With that said, I did enjoy my time there, and for comparison, I would probably say that the park felt as though it had more substance than either of the two parks I visited in Norfolk/Suffolk in 2024. It definitely is more of a funfair-type park than a “proper” theme park, but it has some decent rides; for the scale of the park, Rage is an impressive headliner, and I also think the two Zierers and Mighty Mini Mega are not bad supporting acts either. Spooksville is a nice dark ride, I enjoyed Vertigo, Time Machine is certainly unique even if it wasn’t my cup of tea… there is a fair bit here! One thing I will say is that the staff are universally very friendly and clearly very much like working here, which is nice to see! The “pumping up” prior to rides isn’t to my personal taste, but that is a me thing rather than a them thing and based on my accompanying riders during the day being predominantly children, I can sense I’m not the target demographic! Thanks for reading; I hope you’ve enjoyed this report! Tomorrow, I’ll be spending a day at Thorpe Park, so keep your eyes peeled for that report tomorrow evening! I can’t wait to get back on Hyperia and my other Thorpe favourites for the first time in 2026!

28th March 2026: Alton Towers Day 2 We (well, I for most of the day) had a second day on park today! Although the plan wasn’t to stay until dark today, I was still looking forward to another day on park getting some more rides in! Now before I get into the meat of today, I should preface that today was also the opening day of Bluey in CBeebies Land, which I hadn’t realised prior to booking. If you’re expecting a review, I’m afraid you will be disappointed; each to their own, but as Alton Towers is a non-trivial journey from the South for me and I only go a couple of times a season at most, I have better things to do with my time there than wait in an obscene queue for a kiddie coaster. I’ve previously ridden worse in terms of size than Bluey, but on short to walk-on queues. I’m not ruling out ever riding it, but Bluey stayed between 90 and 150 minutes all day from what I saw, so I did not partake in a ride on this particular occasion! Now I’ve got that out of the way, let me start the day. My mum fancied a quiet morning, so on her suggestion, I actually tried something I’ve never done to get to Alton before… I caught an Uber from the hotel in Uttoxeter! I was sceptical of how well this would work given the well documented rural nature of Alton Towers’ immediate surroundings, but it actually worked very well; the driver turned up within a few minutes, and I was at the park before 9am! This is definitely a way forward for if I ever go to the park with my parents again, I feel, and it has made me think that doing Towers alone without driving may be more achievable than I’d thought, particularly if I was willing to make a few sacrifices in terms of day length. Despite getting to the resort at 8:56, there was already a pretty considerable queue waiting to get into the plaza, and when I saw that this was the state of the plaza at 9:02, I had a feeling we were in for a busy day: After a bit of a countdown for the aforementioned Bluey opening, the turnstiles were opened at 9:30 or so, and I went against the grain and headed to Dark Forest for my first ride… Rita I have always favoured Dark Forest as a morning starting point at Alton Towers, and on this particular occasion, I felt very vindicated in this, as while hordes of people were heading to CBeebies and a fair few were heading towards the likes of Wicker Man and Smiler, I was one of only 3 people within my line of vision heading into Dark Forest, and when walking speed was taken into account, I was only the 2nd person in line for Rita prior to opening! I had hoped that this would put me in good stead to be on the front row of the first train of the day, and while Fastrack or Ride Access Pass unfortunately took front row on the first train, I got front row on the second, so I can’t moan too much! So, how was this morning ride on Rita? Well, I thought it was absolutely cracking! These Intamin hydraulic launch coasters really shine on the front row, in my opinion, and this morning’s ride on Rita was no exception, with the ride packing a sensational sense of speed throughout! For all its flaws and the flack it receives, I do really like Rita; it was certainly a good way to start the day: After I got off, nothing else within a reasonable walking distance was open and Rita was only on an advertised 15 minute queue, so I went for another ride! The queue took more like 35 minutes, but my row 8 reride was good fun just as the previous one had been; while the back lacks the sense of speed of the front, and I would definitely favour the front on Rita if I were choosing, I thought some of the airtime felt a bit more potent further back on the train! After my reride on Rita, I decided to join the pre-queue for the other coaster in the area… Thirteen It was nearing 11am, so as reliability was still patchy elsewhere due to weather, I decided to wait a few minutes for the opening of Thirteen while I was in Dark Forest. The ride opened on a queue that was advertised at 60 minutes by the time I reached the entrance, but I decided to use my secret weapon… the single rider queue! This worked in my favour, as I managed to get batched into row 7 within 20 minutes; I can never complain about that! Operations were also awesome on here, with 3 trains running and dispatch intervals of less than a minute at points! So, how was the ride? Well, as it was yesterday, the ride was great fun, with smooth tracking and some good pops of airtime during the outdoor section and an indoor section that’s always a laugh! I was sat next to a woman on my ride today who’d never ridden before, and when she asked me “is there a loop on this one?” and then uttered “thank god for that” when I said no, I did have to stifle a chuckle when I thought of the impending surprises that were to come… she then proceeded to scream her head off throughout the ride and the indoor section and asked me in a horrified voice “is it over?” when we hit the final brake run! I always love riding Thirteen next to people who’ve never ridden it before… that indoor section is still surprising plenty of people 16 years on: [img]https://I.ibb.co/r2mQJ04k/IMG-1688.jpg[/img] After I got off Thirteen, a lot of things either weren’t open or had extremely long queues. I initially scoped out the advertised 95 minute queue for my on-park favourite Wicker Man, but it looked at least as long as advertised if not longer, so I changed course and ambled steadily over to Forbidden Valley, riding a near-guaranteed short queue on the way there… The Curse at Alton Manor Curse was on an advertised 10 minute queue time, so I decided to take a ride on there. The queue for this was coming out of the house and almost into the extended queue, which is probably the longest I’ve waited for it; I think it might be the first time I’ve ever seen the full pre-show while waiting! However, the queue moved quickly and took 10 minutes, as advertised. So, how was the ride? Well, I do really like Curse; I think it’s a big improvement on Duel, and it has grown on me as time has gone on. It’s very atmospheric and has lots of really nice scenery and effects, and it’s also very cohesive in a way that Duel never was! It was also a very good run on here today effects-wise, with practically everything of note working! Overall, then, Curse was a nice way to break up the coastering; if nothing else, the short queue and some time indoors were appreciated on a day where the feels like temperature was billed at -4°C: [img]https://I.ibb.co/5g591cmS/IMG-1691.jpg[/img] [img]https://I.ibb.co/wr7CkzZc/IMG-1689.jpg[/img] [img]https://I.ibb.co/ccX0Gbry/IMG-1690.jpg[/img] After Curse, I ambled over to Forbidden Valley to ride another coaster… Nemesis Reborn Nemesis was on an advertised 80 minute queue, but as it never seems to get an overly long queue, I had my suspicions it may not be 80 minutes. And even if it was, I figured that of all the long queues on park, Nemesis was probably the least arduous to be in, with it being an interesting queue line with lots to look at and also a fast-moving queue too, so I decided to take a ride on there. My suspicion of 80 minutes being overstated was correct, but perhaps not quite as correct as I’d hoped, with the queue still taking 65 minutes. However, it moved quickly due to relatively good operations, so it could have been worse! So, how was the ride? Well, it was excellent; while not quite as good as the night ride yesterday, that layout always packs a punch! I always find Nemesis a really exciting coaster in terms of pacing, with the first few elements being brilliantly structured, but the ride also regaining pace quite nicely with that final inversion at the end! Today’s ride maybe had a slightly more noticeable vibration than yesterday’s, but even still, I maintain having now had a double-figure number of rides on the retracked version that the much-discussed rattle is an entirely benign sensation and does not affect my enjoyment at all. It’s more of an odd noise than anything that actually impedes enjoyment for me! All in all, then, I loved my ride on Nemesis; it’s an absolutely fantastic coaster that’s definitely among my top 3 on park, and I also think that the revamp gave it a brilliant new lease of life: [img]https://I.ibb.co/7tx5hwhP/IMG-1694.jpg[/img] [img]https://I.ibb.co/yF52Nz7z/IMG-1693.jpg[/img] [img]https://I.ibb.co/zHnwVvy0/IMG-1692.jpg[/img] After I got off Nemesis, I met up with my mum, who entered the park while I was in the queue. We headed down to Wicker Man, which was reopening from some downtime when we got there. I originally joined the advertised 70 minute queue for a final ride, but after 45 minutes had passed, the ride went down for a weather delay. As I knew my mum was keen to get home, I hadn’t even reached the queue line shop after 45 minutes (the queue was moving oddly slowly despite the ride dispatching quicker than yesterday, if anything), and it was frankly cold as anything and starting to hail, I decided to bail out of the queue at that point and meet back up with my mum: [img]https://I.ibb.co/YF1bbzSy/IMG-1695.jpg[/img] [img]https://I.ibb.co/6R3rywwT/IMG-1696.jpg[/img] [img]https://I.ibb.co/7tcKdNyK/IMG-1697.jpg[/img] As it was past 2pm at that point and my mum was keen to get home, we slowly made our way out of the park. I did catch a brief glimpse of Bluey as I walked out, and while I didn’t partake in a ride, it looks nicely done and bigger than I expected! So, that wraps up the second Alton Towers day of the trip! I must admit that this maybe wasn’t my best ever day at Alton, but they can’t change the weather and I also acknowledge that attending on the opening day of a new roller coaster, whether intentional or not, may not be the best idea. And besides, there was plenty of fun had today; the two Dark Forest coasters were good, as were Nemesis and Curse! I would have liked that ride on Wicker Man at the end to seal the deal, but I did ride it twice yesterday, so it’s not exactly devastating that I wasn’t able to ride today. I always like a trip up to Alton regardless, and this has been a good and roundly successful trip! I don’t think 13 rides across 2 (or maybe more like 1.5) days is a bad effort myself; I was pleased to get on all operating coasters of interest at least once across the weekend, and some rerides were had too, which is never a bad thing! Not to mention, I managed to get those all-important night rides on Nemesis and Wicker Man, which were awesome! Thanks for reading; I hope you’ve enjoyed this report! My next report will be on 12th April, when I head to Adventure Island in Southend for my first ever visit. I’ll be interested to see a new UK park and get on the likes of Rage for the first time!

27th March 2026: Alton Towers Day 1 After what has felt like a pretty long closed season (for me, anyway), March is upon us! And with me having purchased an Essential Merlin Pass back in November, what better way for me to start the season than with a trip to Alton Towers? With Alton After Dark being on for the first 3 weeks of the season and me now having the flexibility to come on a weekday, me and my mum decided to give the event another whirl following our less-than-stellar first go at it in 2024. And besides, I couldn’t wait to get back on some of my Alton favourites for the season, such as Wicker Man, Nemesis and others! With us staying in the park late, we left our home in Gloucestershire at around 10am, getting to Alton at around 1pm after a… somewhat hairy journey, to say the least! We got stuck in traffic around Gloucester and Birmingham, but it seemed like every man and their dog was parked in the road during the non-motorway portions, and as always seems to happen when we let the satnav direct us to Alton, it directed us a slightly different way to last time, and hilarity ensued when we got directed up a seemingly never ending ascent followed by a seemingly never ending descent… anyway, we got to the park at 1pm, and as it was already a few hours into the day, I went ahead of my mum and was able to enter relatively promptly by 1:15 or so: [img]https://I.ibb.co/dsSMyTWG/IMG-1653.jpg[/img] [img]https://I.ibb.co/VczWm43f/IMG-1654.jpg[/img] When I got into the park, I decided to head to a slightly different choice to usual for my first coaster ride of 2026… Spinball Whizzer Spinball Whizzer was on an advertised 45 minute queue time when I approached, and I decided to give it a whirl. It’s not something I ride terribly often, but as I was nearby waiting for my mum to enter and had caught wind that the ride was doing wet weather loading and only loading 3 to a car, I decided to try my secret weapon… the single rider queue! This proved to be a fruitful choice, as the single rider queue moved very quickly and I was on within 10 minutes; it’s great when that happens, particularly when the park is as busy as it was today! So, how was it? Well, I’m not normally Spinball’s greatest fan, but I have to say that it was pretty enjoyable today! It span well without being too excessive, wasn’t too rough either, and was overall an enjoyable way to start the season! I don’t know if it was just that it was my first coaster ride since September, but I definitely ‎enjoyed Spinball more than usual today and would consider moving it up in my estimations; it definitely put a smile on my face: [img]https://I.ibb.co/bM4Qsvsv/IMG-1655.jpg[/img] [img]https://I.ibb.co/4n53Z0zH/IMG-1656.jpg[/img] After getting off Spinball, my mum joined me and we headed over to Dark Forest to ride our first big coaster… Rita Rita was on an advertised 45 minute queue time, so we decided to have a go on there. I hadn’t ridden Rita since 2024, with it being closed on my last visit, so I was interested to get back on there for sure. We actually had a bit of a curveball thrown our way queueing for Rita, as the ride broke down when we were close to the front of the queue for about 30 minutes, meaning that we waited about 85-90 minutes in total. I do think they could maybe extend the tannoy system to better cover the bits of the queue going underneath the launch, as we could hardly hear the announcements being made. But how was the ride after all that waiting? Well, we were seated in row 2, and it was a very good ride! For all my sins, I actually really like Rita; as much as the layout is not the most interesting or dynamic, it has a cracking launch, there are one or two surprisingly good bits of airtime in there, and it was also riding pretty smoothly today! With us being seated in row 2, it also meant that we got a small taste of that front row sense of speed due to the staggered seating design, which was a bonus! Overall, then, Rita was great, and we both enjoyed it despite the lengthened wait time: [img]https://I.ibb.co/JjgVD3Q2/IMG-1658.jpg[/img] [img]https://I.ibb.co/GySY5G3/IMG-1657.jpg[/img] After getting off Rita, we headed to the other coaster in the area… Thirteen With Thirteen being the other coaster in the area and on an advertised 30 minute wait, we decided to take a spin on there. We pondered doing single rider on Thirteen after our lengthened Rita wait, but as the main queue on Thirteen was only advertised at a relatively short wait, we decided to ride together. This proved to be a prudent decision, as we in fact only waited 25 and single rider looked pretty long! But how was it? Well, similarly to Rita, I actually really enjoy Thirteen despite the flack it often gets. Today, we were seated on the very back, which is my favourite seat on there, and as much as the outdoor section isn’t greatly intense, the first drop was great and there were one or two other fun bits of airtime. And me and my mum both find that indoor section a laugh; I know very well that Thirteen is one of my mum’s favourite rides for that precise reason! I wouldn’t rate it quite as highly as her, but it’s definitely grown on me over the years and I’d probably plump for it being my 4th favourite Alton coaster behind Wicker, Oblivion and Nemesis. It’s great fun: [img]https://I.ibb.co/Y7PNhqtW/IMG-1659.jpg[/img] After Thirteen, I headed into X-Sector to ride my next coaster… The Smiler The Smiler was on an advertised 60 minute queue time, but as my mum didn’t fancy riding it, I used my usual secret weapon of single rider once again. The single rider queue on here hasn’t seemed quite as fruitful as it used to be ever since they restructured it to hold you at the bottom of the stairs before baggage, with it spilling to the entrance of the station building today, but even still, I got on in only 30 minutes compared to the advertised 60, so I can’t really complain! So, how was it? Well, Smiler isn’t an absolute favourite of mine, but I was sat in row 2, and I have to say that to its credit, it wasn’t riding too badly. It was a bit rough, but not too terrible, there were some good forces on there, and the OTSRs didn’t seem quite as uncomfortable as they can be. I do find it’s not a layout that I like quite as much as some, as I find the repetitive-feeling motions in places not the most interesting and a little bit nauseating, but I’ll admit it’s creative, has some good forces and wasn’t riding badly at all today: [img]https://I.ibb.co/3ym65126/IMG-1661.jpg[/img] [img]https://I.ibb.co/WXdd0sm/IMG-1662.jpg[/img] [img]https://I.ibb.co/r29Z4n3X/IMG-1663.jpg[/img] After The Smiler, I met back up with my mum and we headed to ride a coaster that we were both likely to enjoy more… Wicker Man Wicker Man was on an advertised 40 minute queue time, so we decided to take a ride on there. The ride only appeared to be running 2 trains, but was dispatching pretty quickly considering this, and the queue time board was broadly accurate, with the queue taking around 40-45 minutes all in. You can’t complain about that, really! However, I should say that as much as the content of the pre-show on there is good, I always find the whole experience of Wicker Man between the merge point and the station more frustrating than it needs to be, simply because it’s utter disorganised carnage. That pre-show needs either scrapping or completely reorganising, in my view; perhaps controversially, I quite liked how it ran during COVID, and my mum seems to agree! Anyway, how was the ride? Well, we were seated in row 7, and it was phenomenal! I absolutely love Wicker Man, and this ride was no exception; despite the somewhat middling seat placement, the ride had a great sense of pace throughout, had some fun pops of airtime, and was just generally a great laugh! While not the most head-meltingly intense, Wicker Man is my favourite coaster at Alton simply because of how fun it is. It consistently reduces me to fits of laughter every time, and it’s the sort of coaster that I would quite happily sit on all day and likely still enjoy just as much at the end of the day as I did at the start; it’s got more than enough thrills to be compelling and exciting, but strikes the right level of intensity to not be overbearing. All in all, then, I loved getting back on Wicker Man; it’s my favourite on park and one of my favourites in the UK, and it’s not an Alton visit without a ride on it, in my view: [img]https://I.ibb.co/r29Z4n3X/IMG-1663.jpg[/img] After Wicker Man, we headed over to Forbidden Valley to ride a coaster that we’d not yet ridden, strategically picking a ride that we weren’t so focused on riding at night… Galactica Galactica was on an advertised 35 minute queue time, so as we hadn’t yet ridden it, we decided to take a spin on there. The queue was shorter than advertised, taking around 25 minutes, but I have to say that operations were pretty slow on here and the queue felt longer than it was, with the ride only running 1 station and attaining a throughput somewhere in the realms of 600pph. As we only waited 25 minutes, I can’t complain too much, but psychologically, it felt slower to us and it didn’t leave the best taste, if I’m being picky. Anyway, that’s enough complaining about ops; how was the ride? Well, neither of us were massive fans of this, unfortunately. After today’s ride, I’ve come to the conclusion that Galactica is definitely my least favourite of Alton’s operating major thrill coasters, because while smooth, I just find the riding position of those B&M flying coasters incredibly uncomfortable, and that makes it difficult for me to overly enjoy it. I don’t like having my full weight resting on the restraints like that, and I also am not a massive fan of some of those extended periods on your back either (while the pretzel loop on Manta is worse, Galactica’s first turn is not the most comfortable). My mum came off it feeling a bit wiped out, unfortunately, so then didn’t ride the next ride as a result. All in all, then, Galactica is, perhaps controversially, not one I’m overly a fan of, particularly after today’s ride; I used to like it, but I’ve just gone right off it over the years, unfortunately: [img]https://I.ibb.co/1fXkt28L/IMG-1669.jpg[/img] [img]https://I.ibb.co/d00k68Xd/IMG-1668.jpg[/img] [img]https://I.ibb.co/5Wzjp6zv/IMG-1670.jpg[/img] After Galactica, I headed for a ride I had planned to do at night, as it was getting dusky and the queue was relatively short… Nemesis Reborn Nemesis was on an advertised 5 minute queue, and while the queue looked longer than 5 minutes, it didn’t look excessively long by any means and I was keen to get on it late, so I joined the queue. The queue took around 25 minutes overall, and in contrast to my experience on Galactica, I have to say that operations on here were absolutely smashing it; my average of 10 hit nearly 1,200pph even with 1 or 2 anomalously slow dispatches in the mix, and they were attaining dispatch intervals as fast as 90s or below at times, with little to no stacking during the entire period I was in the area! The night lighting on here also looks awesome; I love the red lighting, and the search lights going around the area are an awesome touch! So, how was the ride itself? Well, it was solidly a dusk ride bordering on a night ride by the time I got on, and my row 2 ride was absolutely fantastic; it was probably one of my best ever rides on Nemesis! It’s an absolutely superb coaster in the day, but it was running so fast with such brilliant forces and was also incredibly smooth (I once again find myself finding all this rattle talk hugely overblown, personally)! Nemesis has such a brilliant layout design, with sequences such as the first drop-corkscrew-helix-zero-g roll quartet being so inspired and exciting, and I’m increasingly convinced that it’s my favourite B&M invert and looping B&M period. The traditional looping B&Ms, while almost consistently solid to decent, don’t excite me quite like they once did, but Nemesis definitely stands out from the pack, in my view. All in all, then, I absolutely loved my ride on Nemesis; it’s a brilliant coaster in the day, but it’s an even more cracking night (or dusk in this case) ride: [img]https://I.ibb.co/JwvwXVsq/IMG-1672.jpg[/img] [img]https://I.ibb.co/XZCN2Sfn/IMG-1673.jpg[/img] [img]https://I.ibb.co/cK730W68/IMG-1676.jpg[/img] After Nemesis, I met back up with my mum, who was feeling a little better having recovered from Galactica, so we decided to head over to our universal favourite in the park, Wicker Man, for one final night ride on an advertised 45 minute queue time. Despite starting from a later point in the queue, the queue was much slower this time round and we ended up waiting 60 minutes. The ride was, if anything, dispatching more quickly than earlier (they were quick to the extent that I wondered if they’d added a 3rd train… remarkably, they hadn’t!), so I’m unsure of the cause of this. Anyway, we were sat in row 5, and the ride was absolutely phenomenal; given we’d only ridden a few hours prior, the ride felt like it had sped up phenomenally, and the speed, laterals and airtime were top-notch, even more so than usual! Once again, we were both reduced to absolute fits of laughter on the brake run, and that definitely ranks up there as one of my best Wicker Man experiences despite it only being a row 5 ride! Wicker Man is a night ride I’d highly recommend if you ever attend a late opening at Alton, and today’s night ride was a superb way to end the day: [img]https://I.ibb.co/Xf1CNyyC/IMG-1678.jpg[/img] [img]https://I.ibb.co/YFf31xQT/IMG-1680.jpg[/img] After we got off Wicker Man, the park had closed for the day, so we headed out and back to the car after a really good day: [img]https://I.ibb.co/BVwH3YT3/IMG-1683.jpg[/img] Before I wrap up, I should mention a really pleasant encounter that me and my mum had in the Premier Inn in Uttoxeter. We were sat in the bar chatting about our day over a drink, and a friendly Welsh enthusiast who had been to Alton on a solo trip of his own overheard us at one point, chimed in his thoughts, and we ended up having a lovely long coaster chat for what was probably almost an hour (we got turfed out of the bar by the staff at 10:45…)! I have to say that this was a lovely surprise encounter, and if the enthusiast in question is reading this, I’d just like to say that I thoroughly enjoyed our chat and you definitely added a nice pleasant surprise to my day! So, that brings me to the end of our first day at Alton Towers! I had some trepidation going into this trip, both after my last experience at Alton After Dark in 2024 and recent reports from others’ visits in 2026, but I have to say that I had a really good day! I got on 8 rides, with one ride on every operating coaster (bar Octonauts for hopefully obvious reasons) and a reride on Wicker Man, which I’m not displeased with at all given that the park wasn’t quiet and the fact we were in the park for around 7 hours rather than the full 10 hour day! Yes, there are things I could pick at (operations were slightly inconsistent, and it’s not ideal that a number of attractions including Oblivion were closed), but I overall had a really enjoyable day, so I don’t feel I can complain too much. I always love an Alton trip, and while I’ve had heavier riding days at Alton, I think 8 rides is a pretty good effort and today did not disappoint for me! Thanks for reading; I hope you’ve enjoyed this report! We’re going to be back on park tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled for that report! Although I should say that if you’re expecting a Bluey review from the opening day, you will almost certainly be disappointed, as I plan to avoid the likely carnage and give CBeebies Land a very wide berth… P.S. I’ve tried a new way of embedding images from imgBB, but I’m unsure if it works; could somebody please confirm whether my images show properly?

Stealth does seem to have had its fair share of issues this season, so I wonder if the one train service might be related to this in some way? It’s definitely not ideal, though, particularly as we head towards Fright Nights. During the peak FN season, everything should really be firing on all cylinders operationally!

I have some throughput timings from my trip to Thorpe Park yesterday that I’d like to report! I managed to grab the following timings in the park yesterday: Colossus (Theoretical: 1,300pph on 2 trains): 717pph (unknown number of trains, average of 3, 20th September 2025) Hyperia (Theoretical: 1,050pph on 2 trains): 833pph (2 trains, average of 10, 20th September 2025) Nemesis Inferno (Theoretical: 1,150pph on 2 trains): 977pph (2 trains, average of 5, 20th September 2025), 1,024pph (2 trains, average of 4, 20th September 2025) Saw: The Ride (Theoretical: 1,000pph on 8 cars/2 stations): 742pph (unknown number of trains/2 stations, average of 10 singular cars, 20th September 2025), 788pph (unknown number of trains/2 stations, average of 4 dual dispatches, 20th September 2025) Stealth (Theoretical: 1,000pph on 2 trains): 975pph (2 trains, average of 10, 20th September 2025) The Swarm (Theoretical: 1,100pph on 2 trains): 1,046pph (2 trains, average of 9, 20th September 2025) In terms of some specific insights: Stealth had possibly the best operations I’ve ever seen on there; these operations were phenomenal! The staff were sprinting down the platform, and they were very frequently outpacing the 40s dispatch timer on the platform, something which I’d largely thought redundant in previous years! 70-75 second dispatch intervals were being hit very consistently, and the slowest I saw was about 80s, which is incredible! The Swarm was also operated very well given that it seems to have been a tad inconsistent as of late. When I was in the area, the ride was consistently achieving minimal to no stacking, the staff were efficient, and I saw some dispatch intervals as quick as 90s or below. Great job! Hyperia was operating well, and seems to have improved compared to its opening year, with 80-90 second dispatch intervals being attained pretty consistently where closer to 100-120 seconds seemed par for the course in 2024. From what I could see, the ride was consistently not stacking and was very often dispatching before the train in front hit the brake run; at its quickest, I saw them dispatch when the train in front was negotiating the final outerbank after the splashdown. I do think the slow brake run on here makes throughputs slower than they could be when the ride isn’t stacking; if the brake run was faster, I think it would shave at least 10 seconds off the dispatch interval! Nemesis Inferno seemed to be operating well, with minimal to no stacking being quite frequent. I noticed the staff were trying to hurry people along on here. Overall, then, I thought operations were broadly very good at Thorpe yesterday! Stealth was phenomenally operated, I also thought The Swarm was particularly well operated, and overall, most things seemed to be doing well! I’ve given up hope of Colossus ever attaining a particularly decent throughput at this point, but even that didn’t appear too slow by Colossus standards.

This must have been a very, very recent change, because it certainly wasn’t the case yesterday!

My visit to Thorpe Park yesterday made me oddly reflective about my rankings. Why a visit to a park I’ve been to many times made me feel this way, I’m not too sure, but my rides yesterday, particularly Hyperia, definitely made me think about things and definitely made me reconsider some of my ranking positions! As of today, my new look top 10, with some justifying remarks, is as follows (movements underlined): Jurassic World VelociCoaster - Universal’s Islands of Adventure: I have, for some time, been hesitant to put VelociCoaster on the top of my list. However, having thought about it, I think it’s the ride that really most deserves to be my #1, simply because a ride has never hit me quite like VelociCoaster, with my second ride being a particular standout. I was reduced to fits of laughter and awe after it like no other ride I’ve ever been on, and thinking it through, it is probably the most objectively flawless coaster I’ve ridden and there’s not really anything I would change about it. There is so much that this ride does well; it packs a great sense of speed throughout, with the second section in particular feeling ridiculously fast, there are many sublime moments of ejector airtime that really whip you out of the seat, there are some truly brilliant inversions, and overall, it's just a truly stunning, spectacular coaster, in my view! In terms of some specific highlights; it's hard to pick from the wonderful array of sensations on offer. But if I had to choose a few, the second launch is absolutely obscene, packing a euphoric thrill like few other rides I've ever experienced, the top hat is sublime, packing some breathtaking sustained ejector airtime on the back in particular, and the mosasaurus roll is an absolutely mind-blowing inversion that throws you out of the seat with some sublime sustained negative g-forces and ensures that you fly into the final brakes blown away! Overall, VelociCoaster is a truly stunning coaster, in my opinion; its blend of stunning airtime, impactful elements, fun, comfort and rerideability certainly make it a worthy #1! 10/10 Shambhala - PortAventura Park: As someone who has always loved a B&M Hyper, and held Mako as my #1 for many years, I had very high expectations for Shambhala, and it did not disappoint; it’s an absolutely sublime coaster! As with Mako, the sustained airtime is glorious; the first drop is wonderful, and every single hill had brilliant sustained air! But there were a few little things that pushed it the distance above Mako for me. Unlike Mako, Shambhala keeps the thrills going right to the end, with every hill delivering, and as a result, I think it flows a bit better. The enhanced height and speed also really added to the ride compared to Mako and Silver Star for me, and another aspect I loved on Shambhala was the speed hill, which seemed much more notable in my mind than the similar element on Mako. Overall, though, Shambhala was just wonderful, and I loved every single one of the 7 rides I had on it while in Spain! Mako - SeaWorld Orlando: It may not be top dog anymore, but Mako has held a special place in my heart ever since I first rode it back in 2016, and my 2023 revisit to SeaWorld (where I had 5 rides on it) reinforced my love for it! The sustained airtime is absolutely biblical (particularly in moments like the first drop, first airtime hill and speed hill), the sense of speed is wonderful, it's blissfully smooth, and overall, it's just such a fun, thrilling and rerideable coaster that I could (and indeed tried my darnedest to) sit on all day! I truly love this ride, and on my 2023 revisit to SeaWorld, it didn't disappoint! 10/10 Hyperia - Thorpe Park: Yes, it’s not the longest coaster in the world. Yes, it’s a little rough around the edges presentation-wise, with that splashdown and lake looking ever ugly. But my word, all of that gets put aside when I think about just how spectacular the ride experience of Hyperia is! I loved it last year, but I loved it even more this year! I love a good hyper coaster with height and speed, and I also love rides with lots of sustained negative g-forces, so Hyperia ticks all my boxes, really! For a ride that’s not that long, it packs a huge amount of highlights; that first drop is absolutely unhinged, with phenomenal sustained ejector, the drop out of the junior Immelmann also packs phenomenal sustained ejector, the outerbank packs wild sustained weightlessness, and the zero-g stall is also very potent with huge amounts of sustained weightlessness! Heck, even the final outerbank and hill deliver decent weightlessness; few rides show quite so much dedication to the art of throwing you out of your seat for extended periods of time, and every inch of Hyperia delivers, with the speed throughout also being phenomenal and the weightlessness being both impactful and sustained! Further to that, the ride is also so smooth and comfortable, with those Mack trains making it a delight to sit on and ensuring that the ride is never uncomfortable or too much. Overall, then, I absolutely adore Hyperia and think it’s sublime; it’s grown on me every time I’ve ridden it, it leaves me in fits of laughter at the end every time, and it has been a phenomenal addition to both Thorpe Park and the UK more widely! 10/10 Silver Star - Europa Park: I had quite low expectations for this coaster given that it's not overly well liked, but I have to say that I was blown away; I absolutely adored this coaster! It has wonderful sustained airtime, it's smooth and comfortable, it has an awesome sense of speed, the ending is absolutely brilliant, packing some phenomenal ejector airtime (particularly the MCBR exit), and overall, this is a stunning coaster that I absolutely loved! I do rank this below Mako and Shambhala due to my feeling that its airtime, while stunning, never has quite the same impact as some of Mako or Shambhala’s strongest moments, in my view, with the first drop in particular definitely being weaker than Mako or Shambhala’s. While smooth in its own right, it also isn't quite as blissfully smooth as Mako or Shambhala, and further to this, I felt it to be slightly less consistent, as I did have 1 or 2 slightly weaker rides on it during my trip to Europa. Nonetheless, Silver Star is a stunning coaster with phenomenal sustained airtime, and I love how it is incredibly rerideable and keeps the thrills going right to the end with that awesome post-MCBR section! 10/10 Iron Gwazi - Busch Gardens Tampa: This ride is phenomenal! In terms of some key strengths, it’s absolutely relentless in pacing and has some of the strongest ejector airtime I’ve ever experienced, and some of the big hitters in the layout like the first drop, outerbanked turn, death roll and wave turn are truly sensational elements that are right up there with the best, in my opinion! The first drop in particular is insane; whipping you far out of the seat with ejector airtime for a surprisingly sustained period of time never gets old! There are also some absolutely top-drawer moments of ejector airtime elsewhere in the layout, and the ride is smooth and rerideable! In retrospect, I think I was overly harsh on Iron Gwazi at the time I rode it, fixating on its very tiniest imperfections to try and quantify the slight disappointment of it not quite living up to my wildly high expectations on the very first go. This is going to sound odd, but Iron Gwazi is a coaster where the more I sit back and think about it, the more I actually love it. Thinking back, it grew on me considerably the second and third times I did it once the weight of expectation was off its shoulders, and it is genuinely a top tier ride that is more than deserving of a top 10 placement for me! I do wonder if it would go up a few spots with a future reride. 10/10 Wodan Timbur Coaster - Europa Park: Wodan strikes the perfect balance between pure demented insanity and amazing fun factor and rerideability, in my view! It’s an absolutely relentless coaster, with phenomenal pacing right to the end, and it has quite a few really surprising pops of ejector airtime, including an excellent first drop, but it’s also a really smooth and comfortable wooden coaster, and it just manages to be a ridiculous amount of fun! Overall, Wodan is such a fast, airtime-filled and fun coaster that I absolutely loved on my visit to Europa Park! 10/10 Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure - Universal’s Islands of Adventure: Dismiss this as a “family” coaster all you want, but I think such quick dismissal would be a huge mistake, because this ride is phenomenal, in my view! Of the rides in my top 10, I’ll admit that this one probably has the least tangible reason to be there. However, the key reason why Hagrid’s ranks so highly for me is that purely and simply, it is a phenomenally, impeccably fun roller coaster! In terms of some specifics, the low-to-the-ground turns were a lot more thrilling than I expected and the launches were surprisingly punchy and great fun, but unlike many coasters, my love of Hagrid’s is for a much broader reason than any specific features of the ride layout. It is just so, so fun, and the ride will always leave you laughing hysterically and smiling on the final brake run, and that for me is really important. Riding Hagrid’s taught me a crucial lesson about my taste in coasters; it taught me that a coaster does not necessarily need greatness in the form of tangible elements for me to love it, and that fundamentally, all a coaster needs to be is fun. Hagrid’s is not the most intense ride by any means, but if you want pure fun, I’d struggle to recommend many better coasters than this one! 10/10 Icon - Blackpool Pleasure Beach: Going back to Icon after 6 years, I did wonder whether I’d still love it as much as I did in 2019… but if anything, I only loved it more! Icon is not a massively intense ride, but I just find it a huge amount of fun! There’s a great amount of airtime to be had on the ride, for a start; the top hat at the beginning really shines, but the other great moments like the twisty sequence down into the second launch and the junior Immelmann also stand out, amongst others! There’s also some lovely hangtime, with both the first roll and the junior Immelmann providing just the right amount of floatiness without feeling sickly! The twisty layout also keeps the ride feeling interesting, in my view; I ride Icon feeling like I’m twisting and floating all over the place, and I find it so much fun! It’s also so smooth and rerideable with comfortable restraints, and overall, I just find it an immensely enjoyable coaster that definitely remains deserving of a top 10 spot despite me having previously demoted it out of the top 10! 10/10 Ice Breaker - SeaWorld Orlando: I went into Ice Breaker with low expectations in 2023, but I have to say that these were hugely exceeded; Ice Breaker is ace, in my view! For such a small ride, it packs surprising ejector airtime in numerous places; the swing launch is great fun and has airtime in spades, the top hat is brilliant, the junior scorpion tail has some absolutely lovely floaty airtime, and the main layout is punctuated with other fun ejector pops! As well as this, the ride is really smooth, keeps a good pace throughout, and is generally a really fun and rerideable coaster! 10/10 Ice Breaker was more of a beneficiary of Wicker Man going down slightly than something I actively chose to move up. I’ve also made a few changes to my wider top 30, and it is now as follows (changes in italics): Jurassic World VelociCoaster - Universal’s Islands of Adventure (10/10) Shambhala - PortAventura Park (10/10) Mako - SeaWorld Orlando (10/10) Hyperia - Thorpe Park (10/10) Silver Star - Europa Park (10/10) Iron Gwazi - Busch Gardens Tampa (10/10) Wodan Timbur Coaster - Europa Park (10/10) Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure - Universal’s Islands of Adventure (10/10) Icon - Blackpool Pleasure Beach (10/10) Ice Breaker - SeaWorld Orlando (10/10) Wicker Man - Alton Towers (10/10) (While I will always love Wicker Man, and it still reduces me to fits of laughter every time, I think the weight of some genuinely top-tier rides above it now makes it hard to justify putting Wicker Man much higher than this. I also realised on my most recent visit to Alton Towers that it suffers a little from what I call “magic seat syndrome” in that a ride on the back 3 or 4 rows is quite markedly better than a ride elsewhere on the train. I like a ride to be reasonably consistent and deliver something reasonably close to its best experience in any seat at any time, so this “magic seat syndrome” does lose Wicker Man a few points for me, as much as I love it.) Oblivion - Alton Towers (9/10) (As much as I’ve said for years that I preferred SheiKra to Oblivion, my most recent Alton Towers visit made me realise that Oblivion is absolutely my preference out of the two; while Oblivion is short, the speed in that tunnel is insane!) Stealth - Thorpe Park (9/10) (Short though Stealth is, my recent visit reminded me just how much I can’t get enough of that hydraulic launch! The top hat airtime is also brilliant!) SheiKra - Busch Gardens Tampa (9/10) Nemesis Reborn - Alton Towers (9/10) (Some of my recent rides on Nemesis have made me feel that it deserves to be my highest ranked B&M invert ahead of Montu. The sense of speed is awesome, and the layout design is truly inspired, with that first drop-corkscrew-helix-zero-g roll sequence being absolutely legendary! The front row ride in particular is also absolutely wonderful!) Montu - Busch Gardens Tampa (9/10) The Swarm - Thorpe Park (9/10) (My ride on Swarm yesterday was absolutely excellent; it packed great speed, it had some wonderfully floaty inversions, it had good forces, it was smooth, and the restraints were also a lot less bothersome than they have been on some previous rides. I was certainly reminded why The Swarm spent a 2-year stint as my #1 coaster prior to me riding Mako in 2016!) Red Force - Ferrari Land (9/10) Revenge of the Mummy - Universal Studios Florida (9/10) Mine Blower - Fun Spot Kissimmee (9/10) Megafobia - Oakwood Theme Park (9/10) Blue Fire - Europa Park (9/10) Kumba - Busch Gardens Tampa (8/10) Kraken - SeaWorld Orlando (8/10) Nemesis Inferno - Thorpe Park (8/10) (As much as Nemesis Inferno is a really decent coaster in its own right, with very little not to like about it, it didn’t seem to be hitting quite as much for me on my recent Thorpe visit, and I do think it lacks a certain… special spark that makes the original Nemesis so good compared to other looping B&Ms) Rock’n’Rollercoaster - Disney’s Hollywood Studios (8/10) Cheetah Hunt - Busch Gardens Tampa (8/10) Sik - Flamingo Land (8/10) Thirteen - Alton Towers (8/10) (My most recent visit to Alton Towers made me realise that I enjoy Thirteen more than I often think I do, and that it deserves to be a few spots higher than I previously had it!) Gold Rush - Drayton Manor (8/10) (Gold Rush was such a pleasant surprise when I rode it in 2024, and I’d have it pegged at a similar level to Thirteen, so I decided to move it up a touch as well!) Gringotts and Uncharted were reshuffled out of the top 30. In general, I am a firm believer that intensity is not the sole arbiter of ride quality, and I rate coasters based on how fun, thrilling and rerideable they are, and how much I enjoy them. Interestingly, I make this the first time since at least 2014 that I have not had a B&M as my #1 coaster! Although knowing how indecisive I am, I’m sure I’ll want to reshuffle the list again at some point…

Thanks @planenut! I actually completed my Master’s over the summer just gone (I started in September 2024 and handed in my final dissertation just over 2 weeks ago), and have recently joined the wild world of full-time employment!

They were using empty trains following the strong wind closure. Some of those empty tests were agonising in terms of how slow they were; the ride looked close to stalling in that outerbank! When the ride was initially testing before reopening prior to the strong winds, though, they were using water dummies. They were unscrewed, and water was spilling everywhere!