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Adventure Island - Southend


Jamie_Hk

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  • 4 months later...

According to the Adventure Island twitter Over the Hill is getting a major retheme and being retitled ever to "Over the Hill 2 Spooksville" and will reopen this summer

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSjDPIcjkbi/

 

Interested to see what they'll change, it's a fun little ride as it is, not fond of the new name to be honest since it's not like there will be an Over the Hill 1 once this is done.

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  • 3 months later...

Did it today, was much better in its previous form.

 

All they've done is remove all the best effects and replaced them with cheap cardboard cutouts.  The projections were some of the best effects but they've all been removed now.

Also, aliens in a haunted house?  Literally makes no sense.

 

The previous version was much better with the characterisation of the undertaker, darker tone (you couldn't see the warehouse before and the whole ride was an illusion, whereas the whole theatrical side is ruined now) and the ending was much more entertaining.

 

The ride is a mess now with some of the Over The Hill (1) characters remaining but barely fitting in amongst the cheap new theming.

 

Adventureville was good though.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thats disappointing to hear, I never did the previous versions but heard good things about it! I don't think it's really supposed to be a haunted house anymore, more of a spooky romp through B-movie type themes, hence the sci fi parts. But yes it's a lot less theatrical now, sadly I think its a case of a park not wanting to maintain effects so just putting static stuff around the place instead. It's got a fun vibe and still dark enough to feel theatrical I thought, but hadn't realised it used to be a lot more animated. It's a shame a lot more dark rides are going this way.

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  • 5 months later...

 

Does anyone remember the Fantasy Dome - it was a fantasy walk-though attraction - in a Dome funnily enough! There's hardly anything about it online, anyone have any memories - or even better pictures of it!

 

Another was Blackbeards Pirate Adventure - which was another walk-through on the ship that used to be next to the pier (now the undercover area) - that was fun in its own tacky-ish way - loved it! 

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Yeah I remember the Blackbeards thing, only went through it once in its original carnation. Sadly did the later version too many times (my friends and family were weirdly obsessed with it). 

 

They've now torn the ship down and replaced it with their Adventure Inside building (but considering the state it was in, it isn't much of a loss). Sadly my presence at the park that day seems unlikely now :(

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  • 4 weeks later...

So the Adventure Island meet was my first visit to the park, so just thought I'd chuck in a couple of random thoughts:

 

-Rage is okay.  I found it a bit uncomfortable after the first inversion.

-Adventureville is hilarious.

-Spooksville is, erm, meh?

-Mighty Mini Mega is probably the best coaster there.  Never thought I'd say that about a Pinfari.

-The Whip is fab.

-The 'feelsgood' restaurant is nice.

-Their bowling game breaks too easily...

 

Very meh park.  The weather didn't help no doubt, but I like how creative they've been with their space available.  Looks like their kiddie coaster is also going to be built on top of a new building now too.  

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Shame to hear Rage has aged a bit. Given it’s compact footprint and layout it was a neat little coaster last time I experienced it. 

 

The park arguably holds the best Pinifari ever made but the Barnstormer is pretty good too.

 

Haven’t visited now for a few years (a return may be due soon). Apparently the ghost train is more watered down now which is a shame, but least the other dark ride sounds ok.

 

For what they have (space and resourcewise) they don’t do bad for a tiny park and considering they build some of their own rides (Ghost Train, Time Machine, Cow Junp) is certainly an achievement on its own.

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Rage does seem to have got noticeably less smooth in the last year or so, I wonder whether the extreme cold has anything to do with that? Hopefully it'll run a bit better in the warm months to come.

 

Glad you liked the whip Josh, I don't care if it's a kids ride, I love it! If you find an adult skid get on it!

 

As Matt said, running Time Machine so that after every cycle the riders were trapped and had to wait 5 or 10 mins for an engineer is madness. Part of me wants to think it's great that they'd go to such lengths to keep it open, but really it's pretty shoddy to not either close it and fix it properly, or keep it running with an engineer present to release everyone each time. Can't help but absolutely love the ride still, it's insane. Notice the op now gives each rider a personal briefing about not lowering your head during the ride. Never used to do that, I wonder if they've had an incident on there. If they have I'm glad they've gone for that option rather than toning it down.

 

Overall the park didn't feel quite ready. The staff were on it from the off, with the interaction and high fiving, but the rides and park itself didn't seem to have properly prepared. Seemed a little unloved, which is not like them at all.

 

Also, let it be known that Josh should not be allowed near skittles and balls.

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