Your Most Memorable Theme Park Visits

[Matt 236]

With none of us likely to visit a park in current situations, I decided to create a new thread to Try and keep things upbeat. 
 

What are everyone’s most memorable theme park visits? Where did you go to and what made that place or trip so special? Be as specific as you like, make a list. Was it the circumstances or the atmosphere that made it so?

 

I’ll make a start.

 

5/ Blackpool Pleasure Beach September 2014

I had just gone through a Bumpy time of family related health issues, so this trip couldn’t have come at a better time. Blackpool was TPM’s most ambitious meet-up to date and the park proved to be my first major non-Merlin Park at the time. 
 

many of my Blackpool trips have had somewhat special circumstances, but none more than this one which really pushed the boat out for me on both a progressive and social level. 

 

4/ Cedar Point- August 2018

For years it had been a goal of mine to get out to the states and this was the trip to do just that. Cedar Point is easily my favourite amusement park, from it’s selection of modern and traditional attractions, not to mention beautiful location. But one of the things that made this trip stand out was  seeing how remarkably different American culture is. Long roads going for miles, vast landscapes and flags on pretty much every street.

 

3/  Chessington -April 2013

The trip that started it all, and one of the most important of all time. This was the first trip with the TPM community. The one which would pave the road for future meets and trips to come. Getting to meet so many different enthusiasts was simply amazing and further helped build my already strong interests in theme parks and other attractions.  

 

2/ Phantasialand- September 2016

Any visit to Phantasialand is memorable full stop, especially this visit. Given the circumstances of my personal life then, I wouldn’t be forgetting this trip anytime soon. I was simply blown away  by this  place and everything it had to offer (excluding Temple and that Wakoblando). Taron was definitely something to remember too,

 

1/ Disneyland Paris- April 2015

I don’t think any trip ever has (or ever will) reach the Crazy excitement levels seen here. At that point of time I was crazily obsessed about visiting Disneyland Paris. So much, I even made a several part series known as Disney and the Creek.

 

April 2015 was when the dream finally came true, thanks to Peaj (and a handful of TPMers). Everything from the trip was truly memorable, from the ‘chest belting’ singalongs during the journey to that last Earl of Sandwich before leaving. Not only were the parks truly magical, but everything during the whole visit was so memorable. I’ll never forget that.

 

[Martin Doyle]

Has to be my first trip to Cedar Point in 2018

 

The park was on my bucket list for well over ten years and did NOT disappoint. Years of the place being hyped up and it lived right up to it. Then there's the small matter of Steel Vengeance simply blowing every other coaster I've been on clean out of the water. 

 

First time to Florida was also highly memorable!!

[Mark9]

5) Thorpe Park TPM meet 2013. There was something just so special about this trip. Whether it was the fact it was snowing, freezing cold, the most awesome people on a trip or just everything put together I don't know but it was just brilliant. To Peaj and Dara riding Tidal Wave and being drenched for the rest of the day or sitting in Calypso BBQ with hot chocolates and coffees. 

 

4) Disneyland Paris Fandaze 2018. The end of the 25th anniversary celebration really but this was a trip where many rare characters made an appearance as well as meeting the (at the time) CEO of Disneyland Paris, Catherine Powell. It was a long day but a fantastic one.

 

 

3) Europa Park 2006. I met my future husband on this trip so it has many, many special memories for me. Travelling through Rust to the Lidl from the Tipi village. Getting drunk in a field and several of us falling into a lake. Getting on Silver Star for the first time. Travelling the diamond mine and avoiding the bears, seeing the metal dragon. Such a great trip.

 

 

2) Walt Disney World 2011. When building up to Florida, it was Universal and Seaworld that I wanted and craved. But once the trip was over it was the Disney parks that captured my heart. This was the trip where my boyfriend and I were chosen to be in the Jammin' Jungle Parade which was utterly wonderful. I'll need forget this amazing trip.

 

 

1) Chessington 1998. I wasn't an enthusiast of any kind, I was just really obsessed with them. I used to draw pictures of the Vampire with its classic bat trains all the time. This was a trip long time coming and I remember sitting outside the Bubbleworks, eating my McDonalds and looking up and watching this beautiful train swoop through Transylvania. It caught my attention and has shaped my theme park life really. To this day I love the Arrow suspended rides but Chessington is where it all started.

[yeah]

Phantasialand this year.

 

I lost my phone on the plane on the way home, so I didn't post the trip report I was halfway through writing. But oh my god. I have never been that excited for a theme park trip and it certainly delivered.

 

It was my first trip abroad to a theme park since Florida in 2011, before I had much interest in theme parks. Almost everything about the trip was perfect and I have so many good memories. It started on the Tuesday, where we spent an hour in the lovely Cologne, looking for the Cathedral for half an hour with no luck (not sure how we missed a 515ft Cathedral but ok), only to look and Google Maps and find out that if we'd turned right instead of left out of the train station we'd have been right in front of it. I'm still not sure how we managed to navigate ourselves to Germany and back at all tbh. The Uber trip on the way there was fun, the driver was so incredible friendly, calling the drive "the drive to happiness" and insisting on driving us to our hotel that he thought was outside of the park when we insisted that the entrance was just fine. The rest of the day was like Christmas Eve, walking into the Hotel and being taken aback by the incredible theming before we'd even entered the park. I remember walking to the entrance with butterflies in my stomach, walking up that weird bridge with loads of Rookburgh newspapers on the floor, and looking around at the place I'd been wanting to go to for years. The hotel room was lovely, and massive, and the view was just incredible. If you really, really looked you could see one tiny segment of Taron track, and some rock.

 

The next morning was probably the most excited I've ever been in my life. Standing behind those big wooden gates and hearing Taron. I remember sitting on the ride, being amazed at how comfortable the train was, and then being asked to get off as it had broken down. Oh. It came back up quickly however, and we got front row on the first train of the day. The anticipation before that first launch was something else, and then the ride... I don't think I even have to say that it was my new favourite coaster. Chiapas was obviously amazing, although I remember not being able to fully appreciate it the first time round because I was too shocked at how wet my feet were, Black Mamba took a while to warm up but eventually it was good, and the theming was (obviously) just... wow.

 

I don't want this post to be too long, so I won't describe the entire trip here, but some of my fondest memories from the whole trip came at the end of the first day. Me and my friend took a trip back into the Ling Bao gardens, to plan out the last few hours of our time because we'd discovered the shows that we didn't know about before. We wanted to see the Chiapas projection show, the Magic Rose Fireworks show, but also had planned for night rides on Taron and Black Mamba. We'd missed the first showing of the Chiapas show, and it was going to be very, very tight if we wanted to squeeze in Taron and the two shows. We decided to risk it for a night ride on Taron, with a 20 minute queue and around 20 minutes until the show began. I'm so glad we did, it was incredible, and we made it to the Chiapas show. I'm not really ashamed to say I had to fight back tears during that show, I'd been wanting to go there for years, and thinking about the fact I actually made it, watching the beautiful show and also thinking about how we didn't have that much time there got a bit too much. I held it together though and in the end we made it to the Magic Rose which was very confusing and didn't quite have as many fireworks as we were expecting, but the fireworks it did have were good.

 

Even after leaving Phantasialand, and losing my phone on the way, I still had one more great experience with them. On the end of the second day I bought a Taron shirt (obviously), but stressed and in a rush to get to the airport I didn't check the size and got one that was way, way too small. We messaged Phantasialand about this to see if there was anything they could do, and they sent us a new one with a really nice letter.

 

 

Sorry this was so long, but I haven't really posted about this trip yet and I loved every minute of it. It obviously turned out to be my last theme park trip of this year so far, possibly the last for some time more, and I can still feel everything I felt then from my chest tightening before Taron's launch, to the hunger on the first night because we couldn't find anything we wanted to eat. Maybe I'll try a full trip report at some point. Bit glad I didn't buy an Annual Pass like I was planning too, though.