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17th September 2023: Chessington Hi guys. Today was the second of my two London theme park visits this week, and a rather interesting one for me; it was my first visit to Chessington in almost a whole decade! To put things into some perspective, I was a fresh primary school leaver last time I went to Chessington in July 2014, so an awful lot has changed since then; I couldn’t wait to get inside and see some of the new things that hadn’t been built last time I was at the park, most notably Mandrill Mayhem and the World of Jumanji! I was able to visit the park today due to my mum and nan taking a trip to the nearby Hampton Court Palace, so the three of us left Gloucestershire at about 7:30am. The journey is supposed to take around 2h 15m from where I am, but it ended up taking a touch over 3 hours, in large part due to a bad bout of traffic on the M25 where it took about 30 minutes to drive a mile up our exit. As such, I arrived in the park at around 10:40am after my mum and nan dropped me off: Now before I get into my park day, I should mention that I did use the Virtual Queue system for Mandrill Mayhem, as I would like to share my experience and offer a corresponding piece of advice. Despite there being a Single Rider Queue for Mandrill Mayhem, the consensus was very divided with regard to whether those using it still needed to book a timeslot in the Virtual Queue or not, so I booked a timeslot just in case. When the Virtual Queue opened at 9:45am, I was still in the car on the way to Chessington, so I got in early despite not being at the park and booked a slot for around 10:45am while I was still in the car. I had a 30 minute window within which to redeem the slot, so as I figured that I would probably be able to make it to the ride entrance by 11:15am unless something went drastically wrong, I booked the slot and wasn’t too worried about making it in time. However, when I got to the park at around 10:40am or so, the app informed me that my timeslot had been moved forward by around 20 minutes, so I only had 10 minutes to make it to the ride and redeem it. This certainly made the panic set in, and I had to hotfoot it over to the ride at a fair pace! So if I were to give you one piece of advice, I would say; do not do what I did unless you are pretty sure that you can make it to the park a good bit before your entry window begins, as your slot may move forward and you may get caught out if not! With that being said, I did make it in time, and I was ultimately told by the entrance host that I did not need a Virtual Queue timeslot to use the Single Rider Queue. As such, I made my way straight into the Single Rider Queue to start my day on… Mandrill Mayhem Mandrill Mayhem was the main draw I had come to Chessington to experience, so as I did not need a Virtual Queue timeslot, I hopped straight into the Single Rider Queue to give it a go. As is often the case with Single Rider Queues, this was very fruitful, as there was only one person in front of me and I was batched into the ride and ready to go within minutes! I was very interested to experience Mandrill Mayhem, as the ride seemed like easily one of the most unique B&M coasters out there, and I’d always felt that it seemed like a very eclectic combination of ride types. I think Sarah from Coaster Studios put it quite well when she described it as being “like B&M picked a load of different ride types out of a hat”! But how was the ride? Did this unique blend of coaster types work well? Well if I’m being completely honest, I’m sorry to say that I didn’t overly rate the ride. I was seated in the front row outer left seat, and I have to say that I was definitely a bit disappointed with my first go on it after hearing some fairly positive reviews. It starts off quite well, with the initial swing launch sequence being fairly fun and providing some good speed and a surprisingly potent launch in terms of punch. The initial turn to the left provided some mild airtime, which was good fun, although the Junior Scorpion Tail wasn’t really up to much in the front. After the initial moments, though, I wasn’t greatly enamoured by it. My first critique is that if I’m being honest, the layout kind of feels a bit… bland, for lack of a better term. The inversion is OK, but perhaps taken a little bit too slowly for my personal taste, as someone who doesn’t massively love slow, hangy inversions. The various turns felt less dynamic and fast-paced than they looked off-ride and didn’t provide as much fun as I’d hoped, and the execution of them with the huge winged trains felt a little bit awkward (which I’ll touch upon in my second critique). I also wasn’t a fan of the main helix at all; the sideways hang was very awkward and uncomfortable for me. My second main critique of the ride is that for a brand new coaster, it is definitely not the smoothest. My first ride packed a fair old rattle, and in some of the more “dynamic” parts of the layout, such as the backwards dive out of the station and the s-bend before the big helix, the train seemed to almost shudder up and down in a very awkward fashion. The rattle was definitely noticeable and did detract from the ride for me, and I did step off with a little bit of a headache. Overall, then, Mandrill isn’t a terrible coaster by any means, but it wasn’t one I overly rated either. Based on the first ride, I was somewhat disappointed by it, and it definitely wasn’t one of my favourites. I apologise if I come across overly harsh or nitpicky, but that’s how I genuinely felt: After my first ride on Mandrill Mayhem, I looked at the app and considered my options. Nearby Dragon’s Fury was advertising a 100 minute queue, so that was swiftly vetoed, but another major coaster was on a much shorter wait… Vampire Vampire was on an advertised 5 minute queue, so I decided to head over and have a ride on it. When I arrived in the area, the queue looked a fair bit longer than 5 minutes, but as Rattlesnake was closed, Dragon’s Fury was on 100 minutes and I’d just ridden Mandrill Mayhem, I figured that I might as well give the queue a chance anyway. The queue initially moved faster from people leaving it than from the actual ride throughput, which did not bode well, and it ultimately took 60 minutes. The queue likely wasn’t helped by what may be the slowest operations I’ve ever seen in a Merlin park. The throughput average I clocked was somewhere in the ballpark of 400pph, with dispatch intervals clocking in at over 4 minutes in some of the longest cases. When I got to the station, I figured that this was likely due to the fact that the ride was seemingly lacking staff; there was only one operator on our side of the queue, who was handling both batching and restraint checking simultaneously, with another handling the seats on the left and what appeared to be the RAP queue. The staff were checking restraints at a fairly rapid pace and trying their best, but I do feel that the ride could have done with more staff on this occasion. But enough about the operations; how was the ride? Well, I hadn’t remembered particularly liking Vampire on my last visit to Chessington in 2014, but I was seated in row 5, and I have to say that it was a fair amount better than I’d remembered; some of the twists and turns through the trees were great fun, and the ride has some really surprising moments of intensity and thrill for a family coaster! My critiques from 2014 do still stand to a degree, though; the ride does have somewhat odd pacing, with a few moments where it’s quite slow, and while it was notably less rough than I’d previously remembered, it is showing its age a tad, with a couple of moments of slight headbanging and a couple of bits where the train kind of shunts forward awkwardly. Overall, though, Vampire was definitely a more fun coaster than I’d remembered from my last visit; I certainly found my lap on there pleasurable: After my ride on Vampire, another coaster was on a shorter queue than earlier, so I headed over to… Dragon’s Fury Dragon’s Fury was on a 40 minute advertised queue time, but the queue was only stretching back to the queue line shop and looked relatively innocuous, so I decided to give it a go. The queue ultimately took around 40-45 minutes, so broadly similar to what was advertised; it’s always great when that happens! So, how was the ride? Well, I’d remembered Dragon’s Fury being my favourite coaster at Chessington on my last visit, but I hadn’t remembered an awful lot beyond that, so I was interested to get back on. It wasn’t as enjoyable as I’d remembered, though; it probably isn’t helped by spinning coasters not being my favourite ride style in general these days, but the ride also seemed to have quite a few pretty rough and uncomfortable bits where it really threw you around, similar to Spinball Whizzer at Alton Towers (albeit perhaps not quite as uncomfortable as Spinball). I do have to say that it has a strong layout, though, with some surprising intensity and even the odd surprising pop of airtime, and I definitely prefer it to Spinball. Overall, Dragon’s Fury wasn’t my favourite; even though I do concede that its layout is strong, I’m not the biggest fan of spinning coasters these days, and the ride also had a fair few uncomfortably rough moments for me: After my ride on Dragon’s Fury, I headed for another ride on Mandrill Mayhem using the Single Rider Queue. I was seated in the row 3 inner right seat this time, and while the Junior Scorpion Tail did feel a little more potent this time and was good fun, my opinion was broadly unchanged from my first ride: After my reride on Mandrill Mayhem, the heavens opened, so I quickly made a beeline for an indoor attraction to ride while the rain came down… Tomb Blaster Tomb Blaster was on an advertised 30 minute queue, so I decided to have a ride on it. I initially feared the worst, as the queue was coming down the stairs near to the entrance, but the extension queue going around the whole plaza was thankfully shut off, so the queue took about the advertised 30 minutes; when a queue is exactly as advertised, I can’t really complain! But how was the ride? Well, I’d been on Tomb Blaster before, as it was one of only a select few rides I could ride with a plastercast on my visit in 2013, but I hadn’t really remembered an awful lot about it. And to be honest, I thought it was pretty good! I liked the storyline with the ancient priest, and there were some neat animatronics and surprisingly grand-scale physical set pieces! The interactivity also worked quite well, and I overall felt that the ride was definitely superior to something like Duel in its last year. On a side note; if anyone is interested to know my score, I got 2,850! Overall, then, I rather enjoyed Tomb Blaster; it was definitely a fun way to stay dry: After my ride on Tomb Blaster, I headed to another attraction nearby… Croc Drop Croc Drop was on an advertised 15 minute queue, so I decided to take a ride on it. This queue ended up being even less than advertised for me; as a single rider, I was ushered forward by the operator when a seat was going spare, so my queue only took 5-10 minutes. It’s great when that happens; it’s one of the definite bonuses of visiting parks alone! So, how was the ride? Well, I’m a fan of a good drop tower, and I thought that Croc Drop was good fun! It’s certainly on the far gentler end of the spectrum, but that’s to be expected from a family drop tower, and similarly to Magma at Paultons Park, the ride had some surprisingly fun moments of airtime! Overall, then, I found Croc Drop an enjoyable ride; I definitely had a fun time on there: After my ride on Croc Drop, I sat down and ate my lunch for a bit before heading over to Mandrill Mayhem for a third ride using the Single Rider Queue. I was seated in the row 5 outer right seat this time, and even though the Junior Scorpion Tail was at its most potent yet and very fun in this ride, my overall thoughts remained pretty much unchanged from my first ride: After that, Vampire was showing as a 30 minute queue, so I headed over intending to reride. However, it was approaching 3pm, and my mum rang me not very long after I joined to say that she would be in the drop off zone in 15 minutes. As the advertised queue time swiftly jumped up to 60 minutes and the queue didn’t appear to be moving anywhere very quickly, I ultimately bailed and left the queue: After I bailed on Vampire due to the increasing queue length, my mum and nan were approaching, so I decided to call it a day there and exit the park: So, that just about wraps up my day at Chessington! I had a nice day; I was glad to get on Mandrill Mayhem, and I was just generally glad to get back to the park after 9 years! I do maintain that it’s not one of my favourite UK parks, though; I’d probably say it’s the weakest of the Merlin four for me, as while it’s got some fun rides and some nice theming, there aren’t any rides there that I absolutely love, even for the family demographic, and the park does also appear to suffer from some notable capacity issues that can make queues quite long. For large parts of the day, Vampire and Dragon’s Fury both had queues of comfortably over an hour even though the park did not appear to be crazily busy, and I’d probably say that it has some of the weakest operations I’ve seen relative to the crowds it gets. Nonetheless, I had a fun day, and I certainly enjoyed my time at Chessington; I’m very glad I came back! Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed this report! I’m not sure when my next report will be or where it will be from, as this was almost definitely my final theme park visit of 2023. I’ve had a phenomenal season, and this was a nice way to end it!

9th September 2023: Brean Theme Park Hi guys. Today was an exciting day; I went for my first ever visit to Brean Theme Park, near Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset! Now I know that that might not sound too exciting to many of you, but I was glad to finally tick it off seeing as it’s actually my closest semi-major theme park! Oddly given that I’ve lived in the South West of England my whole life and amassed a coaster count of over 100, I had never been to Brean Theme Park (or any theme park in my local South West region, for that matter) before today. I’d walked past the outside of it during a camping trip to Brean when I was no older than about 8, but I’d never been inside and seen what delights it had to offer. With that in mind, I was excited to tick off my closest non-kiddie +3 and finally see what my closest theme park is like! I was originally planning to do this as a solo trip via train and bus, but my mum decided she didn’t like the idea of me going to Brean alone and kindly offered to drive me there, and my nan decided that she fancied joining us. The 3 of us set off from Gloucestershire at a bit before 10am, and with the drive taking just over an hour, we arrived in Brean in very good time for the 11am opening time: After parking up, we headed into the park and got Fun Cards. As I was riding the coasters, I put 14 credits on mine, and my mum and nan put credits on theirs to play a game of Congo Adventure Golf while I rode the coasters. After paying, I split off from my mum and nan and headed into the main theme park itself: Upon entering the park, I was initially unsure whether any of the coasters were even open, as they looked very empty and showed little sign of being operational. However, I did find one coaster that was open upon closer inspection, so I headed over to it… Astro Storm Astro Storm was open and had a very short-looking queue consisting of around 6 people, so I decided to take a ride on it. This queue ended up taking around 10-15 minutes all in, which I wasn’t too displeased with, in all honesty. Interestingly, though, I noticed that the operators were very casually walking across the track and between the unload and load stations in a way that you definitely wouldn’t see at a park like Alton Towers, and it’s also the first coaster where I’ve ever had the operator push me out of the station! That’s not a criticism, but just something interesting I noticed. But enough about that; how was the ride? Well, I was interested to ride it given that it was a former resident of Blackpool Pleasure Beach, and I have to say that it wasn’t too bad at all for a ride at a park of this calibre! Sure, it’s not going to blow any minds on the world stage, and I’d argue that the claim that it’s “Europe’s best indoor coaster” is a bit debatable, but the ride was quite good fun for what it is, with some fun twists and turns! I was also quite pleasantly surprised by the theming; there were some nice effects, although there were quite a few air cannons that did make me jump! Overall, Astro Storm was a perfectly fine enclosed coaster with some surprising theming: After getting off Astro Storm, I headed over to the next coaster… Bulldog Coaster Bulldog Coaster was open and on a very short queue consisting of only 2 other people, so I decided to have a go on it. The wait was very short, only taking the time that it took for the train to negotiate the remainder of the circuit and unload the riders in it; I can’t complain about that! So, how was the ride? Well, it was the second Pinfari coaster I’ve ridden, and the first looping Pinfari Zyklon I’ve ridden, and similar to the first Pinfari coaster I rode, Creepy Crawler at Oakwood, I wasn’t a huge fan. The restraint was very uncomfortable, and although the signature loop was admittedly quite forceful, the layout was pretty rough in numerous places, with a fair amount of bracing required. It’s admittedly an impressive headliner for a park like Brean, but I’m afraid to say that I wasn’t a fan: After getting off Bulldog Coaster, I made my way to the final credit I needed… Magic Mouse Magic Mouse was open and had a relatively short-looking queue consisting of around 10-15 people, so I decided to take a ride on it. This queue, similarly to that of Astro Storm, took around 10-15 minutes, which I can’t really complain about. I did notice that they were only loading one group per car regardless of the group size, though, and it was similar on Astro Storm; I rode in a car on my own on both rides, even though I could quite easily have been batched in alongside other groups that came before me in both cases. It wasn’t really a problem today, but it was just something I noticed. That’s besides the point, though; how was the ride? Well, Magic Mouse was my 7th Reverchon spinning wild mouse coaster, so I’m quite well versed in how these coasters ride by this point, and I’m not a fan of them at all, as I’m not a fan of the wild mouse ride style in general. This was one of the smoother ones I’ve done, though, and with me being in a car on my own, it span a lot; I was a little bit light-headed getting off! Overall, Magic Mouse was pretty much par-for-the-course for these Reverchon spinning coasters; I don’t really rate them at all, I’m afraid: After getting off Magic Mouse, it was around 12pm, so as my Fun Card credits had run out and I’d ridden all 3 of the coasters I wanted to ride, I met back up with my mum and nan, who’d finished their game of Congo Adventure Golf. They both tied with each other, but said that they’d very much enjoyed their game! After meeting back up, we exited the park: Before heading back home, we took a stroll along a very foggy Brean Beach. This must easily be the foggiest I’ve ever seen a beach; you couldn’t even see the sea!: After our brief beachside stroll, we headed back to the car and headed home, stopping in Sedgemoor services for a spot of lunch on the way back. So, that concludes our day (or, more accurately, morning) at Brean Theme Park in Somerset! I know this probably hasn’t been the most exciting report, and I apologise for that, but I was very glad to finally visit my closest theme park and grab the +3 that it had to offer, and if nothing else, it made for a fun morning on a hot day like today! None of the coasters are anything particularly earth-shattering in the grand scheme of things, but I didn’t go in expecting top 10/20 candidates or anything, and for a park of the calibre that it is, I think Brean is a perfectly fine place. Now I’ve been, it’s not somewhere I’d rush back to, but I’m glad that I finally went and ticked off my closest theme park, and I had a nice morning there. Thanks for reading! Despite this probably not being the most interesting report, I hope you still enjoyed it! It won’t be long at all until you next see a trip report from me, as I’m headed to two theme parks next week; I’ll be taking my annual visit to Thorpe Park on Friday 15th September, swiftly followed by my first visit to Chessington in nearly a decade on Sunday 17th September!

Hi guys. Today was, interestingly, my first visit to Thorpe Park of the season; by my usual standards, September is quite late in the season for me to be visiting Thorpe for the first time! Today was also the return of my solo theme park tripping; as with last September, my parents’ love of professional golf was greatly useful, as they were going to watch the championship at Wentworth and offered to drop me at Thorpe for the day. We left early and made very good time; entry was very prompt, and I was in well before opening: Once the park opened, I headed to my first ride… Nemesis Inferno Nemesis Inferno was on a walk-on queue, so I decided to start my day there. As promised by the queue times board, it was deserted and I waltzed straight onto the second train of the day; always a bonus! So how was the ride? Well, I was seated on the outer seat of the back row, and I’ve got to say that it was absolutely brilliant! It was glass smooth, had just the right amount of force, had great pacing, and was an overall awesome coaster; having ridden the original Nemesis at Alton Towers a month ago, I perhaps controversially prefer its Thorpe Park sibling, and by a fair bit. I should also add that the operations were awesome on this run, with no stacking whatsoever! All in all, Inferno was fantastic, and a brilliant way to start the day: After Nemesis Inferno, I decided to try another ride nearby… Detonator Detonator was on an advertised walk-on queue, so I decided to take a ride. The ride was very quiet as promised; I only waited one cycle! But how was the ride? Well, it was absolutely fantastic! Even though I’m not generally a huge lover of flat rides, a glaring exception to that is drop towers; I can’t get enough of a good drop tower, and Detonator stacks up very well against others in the genre for me! In spite of it not being the tallest drop tower in the world, that drop is phenomenally punchy! One interesting thing that was also happening today was that the ride host appeared to be overriding the regular ride soundtrack and doing their own spiel, holding us up there for quite some time; it almost reminded me of HangOver at HPWW! Overall, though, Detonator was very good; I thoroughly enjoyed it: After Detonator, I went to do another coaster… Stealth Stealth was on an advertised 20 minute queue, so I decided to take a ride. It took slightly longer than this in reality, taking more like 30 minutes. So, how was the ride? Well I’ve got to say that it was absolutely fantastic! I was seated in row 5, and the launch hit just as well as it ever does, the airtime was brilliant, and the ride also seemed a fair amount smoother than it was last year; it seemed really quite jolty at times last year, but it wasn’t overly rough at all today, which made it a fair amount more enjoyable for me! Overall, Stealth was awesome today, and has definitely shot up a fair bit for me: After Stealth, I headed down towards Old Town to go on another coaster… Saw The Ride Saw was on an advertised 30 minute queue, so I decided to head over there and have a go on it. The advertised queue time absolutely skyrocketed before too long; it had hit 60 minutes by the time I reached the ride, and it quickly hit 120 minutes shortly after I joined the queue. However, I had a secret weapon up my sleeves… the newly added single rider queue! As anyone who’s read my recent Alton Towers trip reports will know, the single rider queue on The Smiler has been a very useful asset to me in terms of reducing queue time, so I was intrigued to see what it would do on Saw, particularly with a 120 minute queue time. It wasn’t quite as much of a remarkable silver bullet as Smiler’s, as I waited 40 minutes, but in fairness, I did only queue for 1/3 of the advertised main queue time, which I can’t really complain about! But how was the ride? Well, Saw isn’t really a favourite of mine, and today wasn’t too much of an exception, but in all fairness, my front outer seat ride was not exactly the worst ride I’ve ever had on Saw by any stretch. The first drop jolt got me pretty badly, and the ending was pretty rough, but the ride wasn’t too terrible other than those two sections. One thing I must commend about Saw that I’ve never really noticed before is that the ride actually has quite a bit of airtime; I can think of at least 3 pretty strong pops on there, and that drop off the MCBR gives off considerable shades of Silver Star! In reality, it is probably one of the strongest coasters for airtime in the UK, in my opinion; it’s a shame it’s so rough in places, as I think I’d really like it if it were smoother: After Saw, I decided to break up the coastering with a flat ride… Rush Rush was on an advertised queue time of 40 minutes, so I decided to have a ride on there. This ended up being pretty accurate; always a bonus! So, how was the ride? Well, I may have talked above about drop towers being an exception to me not generally being a huge flat ride fan, but Screamin’ Swings are another notable exception; I really enjoy Rush, and today’s ride was no exception! I really like the gorgeous pops of floaty airtime at the top of each peak, there’s a great sense of speed in each trough, and it’s also nice and thrilling without being overly intense, which always gets me on side! Overall, Rush was great fun; it’s always a ride I thoroughly enjoy, and today was no exception! Perhaps controversially, I'd take it over either of the gyroswings I've ridden any day of the week, and it's not even close for me: After Rush, I had a reride on Nemesis Inferno, as it had a mere 40 minute queue. I was seated in row 2 this time, and it was every bit as good as earlier; Inferno is just an incredibly solid ride, in my opinion, and really good fun! It’s definitely one that has considerably grown on me over the years: After Inferno, I sat down to eat my packed lunch on a bench near to Derren Brown’s Ghost Train, timing the throughput of Detonator as I ate (I had a very good vantage point!). After that, I took a bit of a walk to my next ride… The Swarm The Swarm was on an advertised 40 minute queue time, so I decided to have a go on it. This queue ultimately ended up taking a bit longer, taking close to an hour in the end. But how was the ride? Well, I was seated in row 5, and I’m sad to say that while enjoyable, it was probably one of the weakest rides I’ve had on Swarm. I like Swarm, don't get me wrong, but I don't really love it any more like I used to, and I think today's ride reinforced that. It is a slightly frustrating one for me these days; there are still many elements of it that I absolutely adore, but there are a few niggles that do take away from it a fair bit for me these days. The first is its smoothness; this wasn't too much of an issue today, as the ride was fairly smooth on my inner seat ride, but it's definitely not the glossy smooth ride it once was, and I've had outer seat rides that were really quite bumpy. The second is the fact that I always grey out for several seconds on the helix over the water when I never used to; I know that some people like this, so I'm probably being overly picky, but I don't personally find it an overly pleasant sensation, and it does take away from my enjoyment of the ride somewhat for me. The third, and to be honest probably the main one, is the vest restraints. I used to really like them when I was young, but I'm afraid to say I'm not particularly fond of them at all anymore, and they do detract from the ride a fair amount for me. I'm not personally a fan of how rigid they are and how much they tighten during the ride; they seemed to particularly detract today, even taking some of the sting out of that awesome final inversion. It's a real shame, as Swarm was my first real Thorpe Park love; it spent a 2 year stint as my number 1 coaster of all time (yes, had I joined the forums prior to riding Mako at SeaWorld Orlando in 2016, Swarm would have been the coaster I'd have gushed about endlessly!), and it's also my most ridden coaster of all time outside of Alton Towers (some of those Towers classics are in another league of ridership numbers, really...). And there are still many elements I really love about it; the sense of speed, particularly on that first drop, is absolutely phenomenal, and that last heartline roll over the station is just absolutely sublime! Overall, while my ride on Swarm was still enjoyable, I'm afraid to say that it fell a bit flat compared to some of my phenomenal experiences on it in the past. I know I probably come across very picky here, so I apologise for being overly harsh, but I cannot lie about my own thoughts: After my ride on Swarm, I headed for a reride on Stealth at an advertised 50 minute queue, which ended up being closer to 70 in reality. I was once again seated in row 5, and it was just as fantastic as it had been earlier; Stealth really was riding excellently today, and I've really fallen back in love with it! I really need to get back on the front row at some point... my one experience of the front row, in 2020, sticks out in my mind as being my most enjoyable ride on Stealth by a fair margin: After my ride on Stealth, I headed down to Lost City to ride... Colossus Colossus was on an advertised 50 minute queue, so I decided to give it a go. Now anyone who has read my posts for a while will know that I do not hold much love for Colossus, but by this point it was one of the shorter advertised queues on park, and I also hadn't done it yet today, so I thought it might be worth giving it a spin. This turned out to be a slightly poor choice... because the queue ultimately took 110 minutes, meaning that I waited nearly 2 hours for Colossus and ultimately frittered away any opportunities to ride anything else today (I joined the queue at about 4:15pm, and by the time I exited the ride at about 6:05pm, I had to dash back to my parents in the drop off zone). Ah well; it can't be helped, and I'm sure that the ride staff were certainly trying their darnedest to shift the near 2 hour queue! But how was Colossus? Well, I'm afraid to say that I didn't enjoy the ride at all; I was seated in row 10, and it was incredibly rough and uncomfortable; I got very sore ears and a properly good headache out of the experience. I also find the cars/restraints extremely uncomfortable, and I'm not a fan of the consecutive series of slow heartline rolls. On the plus side, I think the layout of the first half is quite strong, and I did get a very, very slight tickle of airtime on the ride's airtime hill, which I've never had before! Overall, though, I do not find Colossus enjoyable at all; it's definitely one of my all time least favourite coasters. I apologise if that comes across harsh, as I know some of my reasons for disliking it are very picky, but I feel like honesty is the best policy when it comes to my opinions on these things: After Colossus, it was just gone 6pm and my parents were waiting in the drop off zone, so my day ended there: I had to rush out pretty abruptly, as I was informed that my parents only had 9 minutes left in the drop off zone... after I reached the car park, we all headed home. So, that sums up my day at Thorpe Park! I had a really good day; I was very pleased with my ride count of 9, and it was great to get back on some of my favourites! Inferno was awesome, Stealth was great, Detonator was fantastic, Rush was really fun, Swarm was good... there were loads of really good rides today! Thorpe is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, and today was no exception; I had a great day! Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed my report from Thorpe Park! That's probably going to be my final trip report of the 2022 season (I don't see myself going anywhere else this year), so... trip reports wise, I guess I'll see you in 2023!