Mark9

That would fit in well in the Barbican.

Italy With the exception of Gardaland, Italy is a relative unknown in the rollercoaster world. Despite the country containing two of the best rollercoasters in Europe, its relative distance from the UK and distance between parks always means Italy is a difficult nut to crack. Baring in mind, I last did a theme park road trip there in 2011 and the developments that have occurred in the last five years, there is now, no reason not to visit this fantastic country. We started in Rome, back when Rainbow Magicland was a brand new theme park. Since then Cincecittá World has opened which you can explore in Ben C's Italy blog from 2015 http://forum.maniahub.com/blogs/entry/714-roman-roaming-highlights-from-italy-part-1/ Rainbow Magicland This odd little park is a definite unknown. Despite the big promises and high expectations from when it initially opened, the park has never really set the continent alight. It has the space and some very intriguing attractions but it's never been able to grow beyond that. About an hour from Rome itself, it's one I would visit again thanks to Shock and Huntik. Shock for example is a good ride to demonstrate the almost amateur approach of the park. It begins with very odd meandering before launching you off to the sky with some great aerial movements. It's loud, it's fast, its relatively intense, its photogenic and it leaves its best trick till last. Whilst Shock is the parks signature ride, it's pretty much the only rollercoaster that genuinely impresses. The parks spinner is pretty terrible for example, a ride in a giant shed and suffers from the same problems that Winjas and Spinball suffer from; the turns counteract the spinning momentum meaning the ride never really gets going. Luckily the theming is fantastic so at least when walking past the ride, there is something to admire. The surprise stand out was without a shadow of a doubt Huntik, a next generation shoot em up with fantastic effects. We really enjoyed. I'd recommend a visit here to start a trip off with. Miribilandia I really like Miribilandia. That is off course help by Katun which is undoubtedly my favourite B&M worldwide. The height of the thing, the fantastic intensity and the traditional B&M layout combination really works here and the ride whilst feels controlled (unlike say... enthusiast favourite Nemesis), it rides so well that can be forgiven for anything. I love it. Next up, comes I-Speed a well loved Intamin launch rollercoaster. It's a good ride, solid, well paced and keeps its speed throughout. The only issue is those damn restraints which tend to cut into you on the fast corners. If it was able to get the new restraints, it would definitely fly up the rankings. I have yet to ride Divertical but I've heard 'some' good things. The final real quality ride there is Reset, a dark ride themed to.. well I'll let the pictures do the talking. Worth riding and very separate from the rest of the park. And finally, after driving across Italy, we come to Gardaland, at a time when people did generally seem to like Merlin. With Raptor, Krake and The Swarm all built in quick succession, it's amazing how Merlin haven't quite reached that lofty standard for a while. I really like Raptor, I personally think that despite it not really featuring large drops and big inversions, it has a much more original layout, more well paced then any of the others and I really love its industrial look. Since my visit Oblivion: Black Hole has opened so another reason to visit Italy for you all. In terms of when I when I went, Raptor was only really the major ride that shone. Other rides like the awful S&S attraction, so awful I've forgotten its name and the Venom twosome aren't great back up coasters frankly. Other rides really are terrible though, the Atlantis ride is tedious in the extreme. It looks pretty but no, not any good. The park does also suffer from similar Merlin issues to ours such as up-selling and very few support rides. Finally... Just a shout out to Italy as a country. It's a fantastic place and my absolute favourite theme park trip memory is sitting on a balcony in our apartment overlooking the sun setting, with a couple of beers and just enjoying everything about the country. It's lovely and definitely worth a visit over. Thanks for the reading and for Part 3, I shall be attacking the big egg that is Germany.. wish me luck.

Wii just have a difference of opinion, thats all BaronC. Our opinions just happen to be galaxies apart.

That is the Orlando version.

Wizarding World of Harry Potter with added shed. \ And don't go telling me its different at the other castle either, you won't be able to 1-Up me that way

I see your attempt at the pun and have to ask, have you played a Mario game before? Pipe down lad.

Thanks to Southparks or whatever for the image Does anyone remember when the original Zodiac made an appearance as a temporary ride bought from a local fair? Then when Tussauds decided to keep it, it was given a lavish paint job. Thats what I'd like to see here. I just miss the original Zodiac now, as unreliable as it was.

Soon (I didn't realise it had been a month since I wrote the Denmark one.)

Comes across as desperate. I'd hope for it to be at least themed to Old Town, but lets face it, Zodiac has been spinning around in Drayton Manor colours for 12 seasons now.

In five years at working at Chessington, I never once saw a measuring tape and was never asked to carry one, provided one or required to have one. Expecting a park like Drayton Manor to have them at each individual ride is unrealistic, thats what the height boards are for after all. Lets face it, the Mirror only really gives us one side of the story, the poor visitors to the evil theme park who deliberately discriminate the disabled. I'd take it all with a pinch of salt.

Drayton did the right thing and thats the end of it.

Good good! I want to see Olympia Looping a regular feature of Winter Wonderland frankly. Keep telling your friends, we need to see this ride every year.

It used to have masses of flavour of the month flat rides, as you say since 2005 its flat rides have never been the main draw of going to Towers and were never any good as support rides. I don't think Blade will go anyway and I'd be surprised if Hex doesn't re-open next year either.

You forgot to add, check if X2 is open.

Moana is so good. Best soundtrack since the Lion King (In Disney films anyway).

Although I've no idea of your financial situation, job/university responsibility etc, I do think you should definitely aim for a European park soon. As great as Blackpool is, the parks out there can really broaden your horizons. I can't imagine a world where the rides I look forward to are the ones I've done a hundred times over.

Seconded. Thirded. It's no Piraten. I prefer Magic Kingdom and Disneyland Parc to Disneyland California. I make no apologies for this. I like Scream and think its a top tier B&M. Everyone likes PortAventura. I think its awful with only Shambhala and Dragon Khan to make the place tolerable. Everything else is dilge.

What was the last European theme park you visited out of interest.

In what way? I'd like to hear your reasoning on how a 20 year old ride type would fit into a park that has a lot of flat rides.

Had a ride on this on the front row before work today... walk on. Can we swop out Colossus for this please, so good.

Flying Fish back in 1999. I queued 45 minutes.

Nothing from the UK, no point. Disneyland Paris in February and May Efteling & Phantasialand are definitely up there, along with trying to get to Walygator Parc for Monster Europa Park in May Florida in November.

Hey gorge

It's frankly outstanding that Olympia Looping has finally made it to the UK for the next two months. I'm very pleased and really looking forward to riding it

If you're going next work, definitely do the fastpass. What with it being a holiday week and thanksgiving, I'd expect the park to be extremely busy although you'd have to ask on American forums to see if this is the case. I really liked magic Mountain on my visit, if you're looking for a load of thrill rides, this is your best bet. When I went, the only ride we queued for was Full Throttle and that was only because it can only run one train. Everything else was walk on. Tatsu, Scream (guilty pleasure), Apocalypse, Riddlers Revenge, Ninja and Goliath are awesome. I'm not really a fan of Knotts frankly, it gets more visitors per year then Magic Mountain and has nowhere near as many decent rides. Silver Bullet is okay if you like your slick and forceless B&M's and Xcelerator is nowhere near as intense as Stealth. I like Disney California Adventure and would recommend it, however it will be absolutely joyless in Thanksgiving week.