Mega-Lite Posted May 7, 2018 Report Share Posted May 7, 2018 Is there a better way to spend a glorious bank holiday Sunday than going on a roadtrip and mopping up creds? Wait don't answer that... Yesterday me and my credit hunting buddy (freshly returned) went on an over 600 mile round trip to knock off the parks in the South West. Our day began with an over 5 hour drive to Flambards, which is the most southerly park in the UK. Nothing memorable to report about the drive, other than that we found a statue of a wicker man dropping to his knees at the entrance to an obscure services, he must of heard the news that Wicker Man is running slow at the moment, I hope he feels better soon. After what felt like days after we set off we finally arrived at Flambards. The reason for coming here was to ride Hornet, the park's Zierer Hornet coaster. Now while it's not going to blow anyone's mind Hornet is a good little coaster and it was nice to finally ride something that's not a wacky worm on these UK based cred runs. Now maybe it's because of the quality of the park's that followed Flambards but the park did leave me feeling a little let down. Firstly it was the most expensive park of this run at £20. Now I know what you're thinking, "you only went there for the cred and I'm sure the place offers a good value day out for those who spend the whole day there", well... £25 will get you into Blackpool Pleasure Beach, my favourite UK park and a place I leave every time feeling I need more of. Also it's £49 for unlimited Thorpe Park for a year and £55 for unlimited Alton Towers, with that in mind, paying £20 for Flambards does seem a bit steep to say the least. Coupled with the rather steep entrance price is the fact Flambards has very little to offer. You have Hornet, a log flume, a couple of thrill flats and a small children's area. That amounts to less on offer than the amusement park area of West Midland Safari Park, which of course includes a zoo and safari and isn't much more money. So while Hornet was fun and the staff were alright, the above 2 reasons left me feeling quite dry in regards to the park. Even if the place was 10 minutes down the road I very much doubt I'd ever visit again. After Flambards we made our way North to Camel Creek. After paying £15 each (much more like it) to the very welcoming bloke running the ticket office we made our way straight to Camel Creek's credit, Morgawr. Morgawr was manufactured by a company I've never heard of and it looks like a pile of scrap metal but in actuality delivers a pretty funky ride experience. Some of the low level bits are quite punchy and it's just so weird and unique that I might actually admit I had fun on it. After Morgawr (so fun to type), we experienced Cornwall's only 5D Simulator Experience and it was beautiful. A very friendly member of staff gave us an in depth safety rundown before we were lead to one of 5 four seater simulator pods placed infront of a cinema screen, how strange. The movie itself was equally surreal which just made the whole thing fantastic. Camel Creek is a lovely little place and I'm sure with right crowd and intentions you could easily spend a day there. Aswell as the rides the park has slides, animals and obstacle courses, plus the park has such a nice setting you could easily just walk around looking at the scenery (unlike Flambards which was mostly concrete). Big Sheep was the next park on our tour, a park I've been excited to do for a while now. There must be something in the water in the part of Devon Big Sheep is located, because much like Milky way (which is 10 minutes away), the staff here were so friendly that it blew my mind. Rampage is Big Sheep's major attraction, a large custom Zierer that years ago used to operate in a mall, which goes to explain the wacky layout and odd support set up. I couldn't picture a more perfect coaster for this wacky little park and it certainly delivers a unique ride, not to mention a playful kick out of the first drop in the back row, I really enjoyed it. Big Sheep among offering a few other rides including classic swan boats, also gives you the opportunity to watch literal sheep races, I am not kidding! You really couldn't go wrong going on a trip to Big Sheep and Milky Way, they both offer a brilliant wacky atmosphere and outstanding customer service. Sadly we had to leave Big Sheep far too soon in order to have time to make it to Funder Park in Dawlish. Now it's this leg of the journey where the almost expected happened... About 5 miles from the park the sat nav routed me up easily the most messed up road I've experienced to date. Literally just enough room to fit a car through, little to no passing points, intense hills and people walking towards me, nightmare. Let's be kind and say Dawlish Warren (where the park is located) attracts a strange bunch. Obese women in bikinis carrying boomboxes, the sunburnt masses, shirtless Spanish men making hilarious noises, shifty men wearing jumpers in 30 degrees and f bombs dropping like it's going out of fashion. I'll be honest I was not expecting to be presented with this but I've seen worse. After purchasing our tokens, which was no easy task, we rounded off our succesful trip with a couple of laps of the coaster formally known as Wacky Warm, sadly I forgot to take a picture so you'll just have to use your imaginations. Parks for the day done, we had Pizza Hut then set off for the three and half hour drive home, yes my spine felt like I just had 20 laps of Grand National when I got there. Thanks for reading. 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Benin Posted May 8, 2018 Report Share Posted May 8, 2018 Flambards has a (surprisingly) massive indoor section of a slice of Victorian life, which is probably why the cost is £20... I think it's relatively easy to miss anyway, but it's very missable when just creds are on the table... Big Sheep is truly worth spending more time at... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted May 8, 2018 Report Share Posted May 8, 2018 Did you go on Thunderbolt? Great flat ride! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted May 8, 2018 Report Share Posted May 8, 2018 Interesting report. Big Sheep sounds a lovely little park and the others don’t sound half bad either. I believe Flambards are the new owners of Lightwater, so hopefully they can turn around that place somewhat. Rampage used to operate at the now defunct Metroland until 2008, where it was known as the New Roller Coaster. It’s interesting to see how they’ve worked out the landscaping for what was once a completely indoors coaster. Mega-Lite 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega-Lite Posted May 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2018 On 5/8/2018 at 9:31 AM, Benin said: Flambards has a (surprisingly) massive indoor section of a slice of Victorian life Yawn. On 5/8/2018 at 12:59 PM, Coaster said: Did you go on Thunderbolt? Great flat ride! I think I can honestly say that, that sort of flat isn't for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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