Benin Posted August 5, 2011 Report Share Posted August 5, 2011 Since Nicky lives rather close to Camelot, and I’d never been and it keeps opening and closing more than a traditional British high street shop, we ventured forth onto the M61 and drove to CAMELOT! What’s this, a picture of the journey? Something must be terribly wrong here...OMG NICKY’S DRIVING AHHHHHHHHHHHH!And as if by magic, we left one hell to enter yet another... We arrived at a rather interesting (yet decent looking) entrance area...Rain was pouring down onto us, but oh wells, onto the first coaster...Dragon FlyerThis is an unique ride... Even for a powered coaster, in that the way in which is powered is by a diesel motor and generator which sits accompanied at the front row of the ride by an attendant (for fire safety)... If this doesn’t say enough about Camelot I don’t know what else could... It’s ridiculous and hilarious that this could be considered a safe approach to a ride anywhere, let alone a ‘proper’ theme park... Still, it picked up some speed and did a nice tour of the area, missing trees and the like... Good for kids, not much else for adults...5/10Now Camelot is of course a very silly place, for the entrance and valley area are relatively decently done (for what the park must have spent), and the landscape is used very well... Then you venture into the so called “Land of the Brave” and it all changes into Lightwater Valley and just plonks rides here, there and everywhere with not a thought or theme in mind... No wonder this went downhill... Oh well, more coasters to ride... Starting with...WhirlwindA travelling coaster put into a permanent park? Well it works with flat rides doesn’t it? Such could be the thought process put into Camelot’s purchase of this Mauer Sohne spinning coaster (same layout as Crush at WDS), but it works exceptionally well as a complete failure...I’ve ridden some crap and rough rides in my time, but this is quite possibly my second least fave coaster ever, possibly because all the others are of such good standard and the simple fact that this is NOT meant to be into such a crap state says it all... Let alone that the station still sits on the truck-bed it probably came in the first place...Rough, rough, rough just about covers it... AWFUL... Least it broke for a short time prompting many to leave the queue in front of us...2/10Walking past Excalibur 2 (another EVIL looking contraption which I would never ever go on ever), we headed towards Camelot’s Ultimate, Nemesis or whatever other landmark coaster you want to name... The rather imposing...KnightmareFew rides scare me or make me nervous... Top Thrill Dragster was the last one to do so because of the height factor, but Knightmare looks like a death trap... The tight helixes that make up the end of the ride look like they will maim rather than entertain, so I was rather nervous in the queue to be honest... The seating is weird, with a car seatbelt and lapbar combo (which are nicely padded) holding you in, though the seatbelt tightness can seriously hamper the rider’s enjoyment in a similar vein as Slammer’s shoulder bars, as Nicky discovered... Another short breakdown and eventually we were off with the loud honk of the horn, spiralling up the lift and before long staring down the sharp turning drop, slowly clambering over until we were twisting down into the overbanked turn, jolting along the way before returning back into the rather crazy close confined course that Anton Schwarzkopf’s creations are well known for... Tight twisting drops and heavy helixes combined before the excessively powerful stop the brakes introduced to finish...In the end, I liked it... Probably because we weren’t in the back, but tbh, it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting it to be and came off it rather bemused by the existence of this ride at Camelot... Not brilliant but if it had some TLC it could probs become very good indeed...7/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted August 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2011 After Knightmare, it was time for something a bit more gentler...Junior Dragon CoasterWe did it, it was rubbish (not so if you’re a child though), let’s move on...4/10Nearly lunchtime and since we had brought sandwiches we wondered back to the car to grab them, (as Nicky said the food was dire, proven by it having TWO Wimpys, though the chips were nice apparently), but first, one last coaster...Caterpillar CapersIt’s a Big Apple... Do you expect anything else?4/10Food grabbed, we headed to the Jousting show (as did the rest of the park), and this was probably the best thing in the park... The fact it wasn’t taken seriously was perfectly done, and was better than any of the shows I’ve seen Merlin conjure up at their parks... Perfect blend of entertainments, crowd interaction, dodgy jokes and action made it an actual must see for anyone going there... Show over, we wandered over to the random farm/zoo/animal area to waste some time before the bird show...Back to the jousting area, which was rather emptier this time round for the random bird show... Rather entertaining and worth the faff, since the park wasn’t going to provide time wasting with its rides (didn’t do anything other than coasters and shows, blergh)...And that was it, we wondered back to the exit and drove away, with me pondering whether or not the park would be worth saving or not... To be honest, if someone was willing to put in time, money and effort and not demand an instant profit back for a few years, it has potential... It’s probably only clinging on just because of its location (stone’s throw from the M6 and about an hour away from about 5 major cities), but it would take a lot of time spent on fixing the infrastructure and bringing in good quality rides (and keeping the maintenance up) so it might not even be worth it in the end...It’s dire, but the shows and Knightmare were good, not worth £22 to get in though (£26 on the day, no wonder it’s in the crappola)... Liam T, pluk, noob230 and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britcitchris Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 Great report from a dire park.....We went there for the first time last year and although we had fun, the state of the park was extremely off putting. I really hope they can obtain some investment as they have potential. Personally, I loved Dragon Coaster. Such a unique experience being on a diesel powered coaster and I loved Knightmare :)Your jousting photos are great btw :)Chris. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstroDan Posted September 6, 2011 Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 I can't believe your views on Whirlwind! Yes it's rough, but due to the f act they only allow 2 adults in the car, the spinning is outrageous! Last time I visited the park, I rode 8 times. The spinning through the immelman is absolutely wild (no other spinner I have been on spins to this degree) and if you weight correctly, the spinning on the far side before the helix is also crazy! The first drop is also quite intense.It is hideous to look at, and in terrible condition but I find it great to ride. I actually find some other MS Spinners quite boring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted September 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2011 Any MS Spinner is good with two people though...When it's battering me about, I couldn't care less how much it spins... Awful ride... I hope it burns... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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