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Adventure Island - Sun 21st Feb 2016 PTR


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PARK OPEN: 11am - 6pm
RIDES CLOSED: None!  :)
 
Adventure Island is a park I have had on my "must visit" list for several years, so despite having planned a weekend trip to Blackpool, we decided to scrap the visit to BPB after the poor events from the first two weekends in favour of trying a new park.
 
Overall, I was very impressed with Adventure Island.  It's a smallish, colourful seaside park which is split into two sections (with the middle of the park being "Adventure Inside" - an inside section with a few rides and other things).
Whilst the rides aren't by any means the best on offer in the UK, they are great for a small seaside park and the selection of flat rides is brilliant.
 
The best thing about Adventure Island is that they care about their customers!  The staff were absolutely fantastic - interacting with the guests, counting down before dispatching the rides and generally being really happy!  A simple thing such as encouraging staff to be happy goes a long way in making the day out good for people, and the sense of fun and wanting the customer to have a good time is something that a lot of parks are missing at the moment, so well done to AI for getting this right.
I would also like to point out how efficient they were at running the rides, and they were pushing throughputs - even with no queues at all, they were running around checking the belts and sending the rides quickly which was great to see.
 
The park as a whole looked well kept however there are a few areas which could do with a bit of paint, but it's worth remembering that it is a seaside amusement park rather than a theme park, and it was actually quite well presented on the whole.  I did find it a bit odd that three coasters are painted the same track colour though!
 
For the benefit of others who haven't visited Adventure Island, and because it was my first visit, I'll review a few of the rides.
 
Time Machine is insane - on first appearance, it looks like quite a tame flat ride, but the force it exerts on your body for a sustained period of time as well as the change in direction makes for a fantastic ride experience, and for that reason it is now my favourite flat ride!
 
Rage is a decent enough coaster which makes use of limited space very well, with some forceful moments (bottom of the first drop, corners) as well as some brilliant hang-time on the loop.  With that said, I do prefer Speed at Oakwood due to the fact that it's much more intense, and Rage lacked an airtime hill.
 
Mighty Mini Mega (weird name) is nothing spectacular but for the tiny amount of space it takes up, it's not half bad!  Also, it's built on top of an arcade which is interesting.
 
Green Scream and Barnstormer are fairly similar family coasters, but they were both good fun and efficiently operated.
 
Dragon's Claw is, in my opinion, vile.  Generally I can cope with uncomfortable rides, but the way that this turned you upside-down whilst spinning put an enormous amount of pressure on your shoulders and the blood rushed to my head.  I just wasn't a fan of it.
 
Over The Hill is a strange ghost train style dark ride with a long train rather than several small ones, and it's actually quite good!  It's not scary but it is well themed with several different effects, and the lighting used in the ride was fantastic and hid the warehouse roof really well, so very impressed overall.  The "trick" ending was a good concept, however it could be executed better IMO.  Also, two trains were running which was good!
 
RIDECOUNT:
Rage x9
Time Machine x5
Mini Mega x5
Over The Hill x4
Barnstormer x4
Tidal Wave x3 (Two on the green tunnel slide, one on the blue open slide).
Green Scream x3
Crooked House x3
American Whip x2 (This was fantastic, like the old junior whip in Beaver Creek at BPB!)
Kiddie Koasta x1
Scorpion x1
Skateboarder x1
Ramba Zamba x1 (Zamperla Disko that rode poorly, but at least it was open!  ;))
Pharaoh's Fury x1
Dragon's Claw x1
The Dragon x1
Ferris Wheel x1
Vortex x1
Archelon x1
Sky Drop x1
Fireball x1
Serpent Slide x1
Helter Skelter x1
TOTAL: 52   :D
 
Highlights:
- Nice seaside park with a good selection of flat rides and a good headline coaster.
- Best staff at any park in the UK, can't fault them at all!
- Good atmosphere even on a quiet day.
- Park looked great during the last hour when it was lit up.
- 6pm close! :D
- Fantastic ride availability, there was only one breakdown which was Time Machine for 5 minutes!
 
Lowlights:
- Queues closed 5 minutes early.
- Due to the park being quiet, we were forced to sit near the front of every coaster (bar Rage), which was a shame as I prefer most coasters in the back row.
- Extra charge for Dodgems (we didn't pay as it was a £5 upgrade on the wristband).  I just don't agree with this, whilst I can understand Go Karts being upcharge, all standard rides should be included in the wristband price IMO and I don't know of any other park that charges extra for Dodgems.
- Gutted I missed out on Devil's Creek Gold Mine (haven't visited before this year).
 
Photos!
 
Rage;
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Time Machine was lit up really well (this was taken during its lengthy 5 minute closure!)
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Exterior of Over The Hill;

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Finally, a construction update from the new dark ride replacing Devil's Creek (which I believe is opening in the summer);

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Thanks for reading. :)

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Glad you enjoyed the park! Time Machine is bonkers, like totally. Can't ride it more than twice a visit :P

OTH I believe always has two trains out, just the way it is :) the riding at the front thing is to do with stalling I think as Green Scream etc. Have quite long trains so all the weight at the back wouldn't be great so they load from the front.

Dodgems is interesting. They've always been a pay extra and it may be because they're by the sea so treat it more like a funfair as obviously you can buy tokens for just one ride (Rage is like 2 or 3 pounds). But I do get your point.

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Great report! Thanks Jamie.

I used to go to this park a lot however I haven't been for a year. I love this parks flat rides - scorpion, vortex and pharoah's fury always really surprise me with their forcefulness. (I haven't been since the arrival of time machine)

Did you go on the strange pirate themed indoor 4d cinema? That was my first childhood attraction and I'll always love it's little charm!

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Good trip report - and some nice pics!

 

When I went to AI I found the staff to be really friendly - one in particular who was busy singing and dancing away!

 

Is it a typo or did you actually go on Time Machine 5 times?!  Are you insane?  That is the most intense ride I've ever done and I was convinced one (or all) of three things would happen - 1) I would vomit 2) I would faint or 3) I would die  Only ridden in once - never again, could barely walk afterwards!

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Great report! Thanks Jamie.

I used to go to this park a lot however I haven't been for a year. I love this parks flat rides - scorpion, vortex and pharoah's fury always really surprise me with their forcefulness. (I haven't been since the arrival of time machine)

Did you go on the strange pirate themed indoor 4d cinema? That was my first childhood attraction and I'll always love it's little charm!

Must have missed that - where is it located in the park?

 

Good trip report - and some nice pics!

 

When I went to AI I found the staff to be really friendly - one in particular who was busy singing and dancing away!

 

Is it a typo or did you actually go on Time Machine 5 times?!  Are you insane?  That is the most intense ride I've ever done and I was convinced one (or all) of three things would happen - 1) I would vomit 2) I would faint or 3) I would die  Only ridden in once - never again, could barely walk afterwards!

Haha, no it's not a typo, I really enjoyed Time Machine and it didn't make me feel sick at all which is strange as Dragon's Claw did!

 

Lots of staff were dancing yesterday, it was quite funny really - but it adds so much to the enjoyment of a park if the staff are friendly and happy.

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I completely forgot the 4D cinema was a thing until reading this! I only slightly recall venturing in there once when I was very little, the whole ship and dungeon thing terrified me (obviously)

 

yeah, the dungeon/ship were there before it got converted into the ship with the 4D cinema. the dungeon/walkthrough used to terrify the hell out of me, I remember being carried through it crying and then I was terrified of models/ghost trains/themed attractions for years after until I was about 12 lmao.

 

it's sad AIGF is gone now, I had no idea that Devils Creek was going, if that site was still up I would....sad times. does anyone know what's replacing it? I know it's a dark ride but is there a theme/name for it yet? :)

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Good trip report. Nice to see you say lots of positive things, it's giving me a warm fuzzy feeling.

 

PS. I should mention that your pictures tickled me a little. They are really well balanced, but what's up with the quirky angles? All your pictures would be great because they've got a naturally full screen, but I'm like twisting my head upside down to appreciate them.

That's just a small thing though. :)

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Glad you enjoyed the park!! Although it would be fab for Rage to have an airtime hill the layout they bought is a bog standard preset one by Gerst! saying that if you keep your safety bar a little loose you do get amazing airtime on the first drop!!! also time machine 5 times?! are you made of steel or something?! with being made to sit at the front of the coasters Green Scream tends to stall a lot during testing if the weather is windy or rainy so they need all the weight at the front! great trip report! :D 

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