All the blogs from the Merlin operated parks
Alton Towers – Legoland Windsor – Thorpe Park – Chessington World of Adventures – Heide Park – Gardaland
Thorpe Park – Fright Nights
As per previous years, we visited Thorpe Park for their excellent Fright Nights event. This year there wasn’t any new mazes but we had a new scare zone called Purgatory Town to try. We were intending to do all the mazes as we did with Alton Towers, but their packages had sold out days before… Continue reading Thorpe Park – Fright Nights
Alton Towers – Scarefest 2025
I don’t think I’m alone in thinking that this year’s Scarefest could have been one of the worst we’ve ever had. All the signs pointed towards it, a lack of enthusiasm from the park all year, entertainment cuts and such, but I’m pleased to say that this year’s event is excellent! It does have it’s… Continue reading Alton Towers – Scarefest 2025
What the bloody hell was that?!
I feel like that title pretty much sums up Alton Towers opening day. For it’s first day of full operations as well as the opening of Toxicator, the park has been severely lacking. Let’s just go through our visit starting with Friday night and our arrival at the hotel. The first issue was getting a… Continue reading What the bloody hell was that?!
The Loops & lapbars 2025 Season Plans
The past few years we’ve had some incredible trips around the UK and abroad. From visiting Plopsaland De Panne for the first time, to driving all the way to Dortmund in one day for Movie Park Germany, being there on the grand reopening of Nemesis, or flying out to Emerald Park for the first time.… Continue reading The Loops & lapbars 2025 Season Plans
The Merlin post
Let’s talk about Merlin. are they as bad as all that or are they making the right decisions?
Continue reading The Merlin post
My thoughts on Alton Towers 2024 Season
Here are my honest thoughts on Alton Towers throughout the 2024 season…
Continue reading My thoughts on Alton Towers 2024 Season
Nemesis Reborn – Review
In 2022, Alton Towers closed Nemesis and launched an exceptional marketing campaign, building anticipation for its reopening in 2024. The park’s attention to detail in revamping the Forbidden Valley area with new features and effects has been praised. Despite some minor issues with the ride, the improvements are evident, solidifying Alton Towers’ status as a…
Continue reading Nemesis Reborn – Review
The Loops & Lapbars 2024 Season!
So I feel the blog took a massive back seat last year thanks to YouTube and I hope to get back to writing about our exploits more regularly this year! So what better way to start than by having a brief run through of the season ahead. Starting off, there’s the new additions to the… Continue reading The Loops & Lapbars 2024 Season!
Euro Road Trip 2023
This is going to be a very quick blog just to outline our first ever European Road Trip! As I’m writing this I’m sat in Tracy’s front room eager to get on the road, but can’t as I’ll be far too early for our Euro Tunnel connection to Calais tomorrow! This will be our first… Continue reading Euro Road Trip 2023
Alton Towers – Festival of Thrills – The Smiler Takeover 2023
This is Alton Tower’s first event this year and the second time we’ve had the Festival of Thrills. In this blog, I’ll compare it to last years event, see what worked and what didn’t and give my verdict. As it’s The Smilers 10th anniversary this year, Alton Towers have branded this years Festival of Thrills… Continue reading Alton Towers – Festival of Thrills – The Smiler Takeover 2023
The Curse at Alton Manor – A Review
I’d like to preface this review with two things, firstly I really liked Duel and never rode the original Haunted House. Secondly, I’ve only ridden The Curse at Alton Manor twice, so I might not have seen everything the attraction has to offer. With that being said, The Curse at Alton Manor is a great… Continue reading The Curse at Alton Manor – A Review
Alton Towers – The Your Experience Guide Secret Weapon Saturday Enthusiast Event
Such a long title for a blog, and a long day too! This was our first ever theme park enthusiast event and was hosted at Alton Towers and put together by the fine fellows at Your Experience Guide(YEG) (Formally Pleasure Beach Experience). The day started off early at 8am where we all congregated around the… Continue reading Alton Towers – The Your Experience Guide Secret Weapon Saturday Enthusiast Event
The Retro Squad. Weighing in my opinions!
Recently I’ve been seeing more and more people voicing their opinions and concerns over the Retro Squad at Alton Towers, and I thought I’d put my thoughts out there too. To be completely blunt, I think they’re good and certainly do their intended job of helping with capacity. Don’t get me wrong, it would definitely… Continue reading The Retro Squad. Weighing in my opinions!
Wicker Man and the UK Woodies
There are plenty of rides in the UK offering new and exciting ways to thrill you. The smiler can send you upside down 14 times, Stealth can launch you to 80mph in 1.8 seconds and Odyssey can take you to heights no inverted coaster in the UK gets close to. However sometimes you have to… Continue reading Wicker Man and the UK Woodies
2023 Season plans!
This is quite an exciting blog to write as we’ve somewhat finalised our plans for the coming year This year, as I put down in my 2023 resolutions blog, we were hoping to get across to Europe and thanks to our latest bookings, we now shall be! I’ll go into a little detail later but… Continue reading 2023 Season plans!
Thorpe Park – What I’d do if I were in charge
During the course of the 2022 season, we visited Thorpe Park a lot. Coupled with 2021s visits, I believe it makes it our second most visited park after Alton Towers. So, much like the Alton Towers blog, I think it would be fun to break down Thorpe park as though I were in charge! The… Continue reading Thorpe Park – What I’d do if I were in charge
Flight of the Sky Lion – A review
Flight of the Sky Lion is a flying theatre that opened at Legoland in 2021 as part of their Mythica expansion. The idea behind the ride is that you board the ride vehicle and are then taken away on a journey by a magical Sky Lion called Maximus into his dimension. The world is inhabited… Continue reading Flight of the Sky Lion – A review
A Thrill seeker’s guide to Alton Towers
Alton Towers is set well into the Staffordshire countryside amongst the ruins of the famous Alton Towers stately home. In this guide, I aim to give my own tips and suggestions of how to get the most out of a day at Alton Towers, from arriving at the park, to food options and advice! Arriving… Continue reading A Thrill seeker’s guide to Alton Towers
2022 Season review
Though we haven’t had quite as many brand new attractions to ride this year, we’ve visited more parks and done more events than last year. As with last year, I thought it would be fun to look back at the 2022 season, rank the events and new attractions we rode this year and reflect on… Continue reading 2022 Season review
Alton Towers – Fireworks!
Our final visit for the 2022 season was, of course, to the Alton Towers Fireworks Spectacular! I was very excited for this display as I’d read that it was a celebration of the big 7 coasters and though they did a similar thing last year, I really enjoyed it! The show starts off, a little… Continue reading Alton Towers – Fireworks!
Legoland – Fireworks!
For our final weekend of the season we decided on a trip to Legoland and Alton Towers to see both of their fireworks displays. I’ll go into Alton Towers’ display in a following blog but for now, here’s my thoughts on Legoland. The park wasn’t that busy throughout the day, only really getting busier closer… Continue reading Legoland – Fireworks!
Halloween Holiday 2022 summary
Now that all the individual blogs have been written, I’d like to summarise our holiday and get any last bits out that I may have forgotten! Though each park did a great job of their own respective Halloween events, the standout one for me was Fantasy Island’s Fear Island event. This is followed closely by… Continue reading Halloween Holiday 2022 summary
Alton Towers – Scarefest 2022 15th Anniversary
Our next visit was to Alton Towers, stopping on site in one of their Star Gazing Pods for 2 days and nights. We wanted two days to make sure we get the most out of Scarefest as well as ride the great selection of rides! I’ll do a separate little review of the Star Gazing… Continue reading Alton Towers – Scarefest 2022 15th Anniversary
A farewell to Nemesis…
Remember remember the 5th of November, our last ride of Nemesis 1.0. The ride is set to close on the 6/11/22 for a retrack, encompassing everything between the top of the lift hill right up to the final brake run. I’m a relatively recent first time rider of Nemesis, riding it first in June of… Continue reading A farewell to Nemesis…
Legoland – Brick or Treat Presents Monster Party!
Our fourth stop for this adventure was Legoland to revisit them for their Brick or Treat event. This year presenting the Monster Party! Our visit intially felt very rushed. We’d gotten to the park early enough so we were queuing to get in but by the time we were in and on the hill train,… Continue reading Legoland – Brick or Treat Presents Monster Party!
Thorpe Park – Fright Nights 2022
Fright Nights is another event that we’ve done before, as we did Fright Nights 20 last year. We really enjoyed last year’s offering so we’re expecting good things from this year! Changes from last year were a lot more noticeable than there were with Chessington. Firstly, Platform 15 has gone now, replaced with Survival Games… Continue reading Thorpe Park – Fright Nights 2022
Chessington World of Adventures – Howl’o’ween 2022
Howl’o’ween 2022 will be the first time we’ve been back to a Halloween event for a second year so we can compare it to last year, as well as to other events we’ve been to. Not a lot of big changes have occurred since last year, the same shows in the same locations, but of… Continue reading Chessington World of Adventures – Howl’o’ween 2022
Halloween Holiday!
This year, we thought it would be a good idea to have a week away visiting various parks for their Halloween events. We were impressed with Alton Towers Scarefest in 2020 and last year’s Fright Nights at Thorpe Park, so it makes sense to have a tour of the big parks! The parks we’ve decided… Continue reading Halloween Holiday!
Alton Towers Oktoberfest 2022!
Last year we visited Alton Towers for their Oktoberfest event and thoroughly enjoyed it (you can read about it here), so it was a certainty that we’d visit this year! I’ll go into the actual event elements as I run through how our day went, but first we visited Oblivion! Oblivion We usually head into… Continue reading Alton Towers Oktoberfest 2022!
Alton Towers – The future of the Towers!
There’s quite a bit of buzz happening at the moment surrounding Alton Towers. Firstly there’s the closure of Duel, which officially happened on the 6th of September and I’ll go into later. Then there’s a consultation being held on the 19th of September with regards to a new attraction going in beside the Alton Towers… Continue reading Alton Towers – The future of the Towers!
Thorpe Shark Cabins
Recently we stopped at Thorpe Park in their on site accommodation as mentioned in my Carnival blog post. Here’s my thoughts on the Thorpe Shark Cabins! The cabins themselves are quite small, some might say cosy and comprise a double bed, 2 bunk beds, a wet room and a little storage for your belongings. The… Continue reading Thorpe Shark Cabins
Thorpe Park Carnival
For a little weekend getaway we decided on a visit to Thorpe Park, and that we’d stay on site in the Thorpe Shark Cabins. I’ll have a full dedicated blog talking about our experience with them but needless to say it’s the weakest offering of the Merlin Parks on site accommodation. That’s not to say… Continue reading Thorpe Park Carnival
Thorpe Park Mardi Gras!
Mardi Gras is something of a new thing in the UK. In writing this blog I’ve found out that the UK equivalent is Pancake Day which I can’t see Merlin Entertainments hosting in their parks, so Mardi Gras it is! This is our first visit to Thorpe Park this year (of many to come) and… Continue reading Thorpe Park Mardi Gras!
Let’s talk Vekoma Madhouses
As mentioned in a previous blog, I’d like to break down the various Vekoma Madhouse attractions that the UK has, compare and contrast their ride mechanics and themes and finally rank them. It won’t be that hard though as there are only 3 currently in the UK. Firstly I haven’t ridden Impossible at Blackpool Pleasure… Continue reading Let’s talk Vekoma Madhouses
Alton Towers Festival of Thrills!
New for 2022 is Festival of Thrills, where Alton Towers pays homage to their big 7 roller coasters by inviting acts to perform on stages around the resort. Stages were setup in X-Sector, Dark Forest, Mutiny Bay and Forbidden Valley, and hosted a varied range of talent, from 80s rock, to acoustic folk music. The… Continue reading Alton Towers Festival of Thrills!
Alton Towers – What I’d do if I were in charge
Here’s a big park to tackle with this blog series. Alton Towers. For me, the park doesn’t really do many things wrong, it has some of the UKs premier attractions such as Nemesis and The Smiler. It’s also been a testing ground for many worlds first attractions such as Air, Oblivion and Th13teen and I’ve… Continue reading Alton Towers – What I’d do if I were in charge
Alton Towers March 2022 – With Others!
Alton Towers’ first day of the season. March 19th 2022. The first time since I started this blog that I’ve had the pleasure of visiting a theme park with more than just Tracy! For this very special visit, I was joined by longtime friends Tami, of The Tami Journal and Pedro, who I went to… Continue reading Alton Towers March 2022 – With Others!
2022 season
This year, there isn’t as much to be excited about as there was last year in terms of new rides, but there are still plenty of new attractions coming to look forward to! Valhalla and Enso at Blackpool Pleasure Beach are probably the best that we have this year, with Valhalla being regularly rated as… Continue reading 2022 season
Nemesis: Inferno or The Original?
This is a pretty big discussion within the theme park community. Which is better, the original Nemesis, or its newer younger sibling, Nemesis Inferno? In this blog I’ll weigh up the pros and cons of both rides, and see which one I think is better overall! To start with, anyone who’s seen my other blog… Continue reading Nemesis: Inferno or The Original?
Legoland – What I’d do if I were in charge
Following on from my recent post about Flamingo Land, I thought it would be fun to tackle one of the UKs bigger parks this time around, Legoland Windsor! My first ever visit was only last year and I remember being underwhelmed with the overall experience. A subsequent second visit for Brick or Treat vastly improved… Continue reading Legoland – What I’d do if I were in charge
2021 Season Review
What a season this has been! Starting all the way back in April at Drayton Manor, and finishing at Alton Towers for their incredible fireworks! I thought for this blog I’d do a mock awards ceremony, giving me chance to talk about highlights of specific parks, rides and attractions, and to voice a few opinions… Continue reading 2021 Season Review
Fireworks Spectacular – Alton Towers
Our final visit for the 2021 season was Alton Towers for their Firework Spectacular event. Our intention was to ride as many rides as we could before the fireworks closed most of them at 5pm, then head to the lawns for a good spot. Our day started like most at Towers, getting onto Wicker man… Continue reading Fireworks Spectacular – Alton Towers
Brick or Treat – Legoland
A bit late, but here’s my blog on Brick or Treat at Legoland Windsor! This was only our second visit to Legoland, as we’d visited earlier in the year and initially we weren’t that impressed overall. However after another visit, my opinion of Legoland has vastly changed for the better, and I feel I was… Continue reading Brick or Treat – Legoland
Vampire – The review
Vampire is an Arrow Dynamics steel suspended rollercoaster opened in April of 1990 at Chessington World of Adventures. The design allows the cars to freely swing below the track and originally had enclosed cars, but was later modified to accept new Vekoma floorless trains in 2001. The ride has a gothic style theme and used… Continue reading Vampire – The review
Howl’o’ween – Chessington World of Adventures
Our third day of Halloween park visits was to Chessington World of Adventures to see what their Howl’o’ween event had to offer! Park entry was a smooth affair this time, no lengthy queues as we’d arrived early so we had plenty of time to do all the things we wanted to do and headed straight… Continue reading Howl’o’ween – Chessington World of Adventures
Fright Nights – Thorpe Park
Having tried Scarefest for the first time at Alton Towers in 2020, we made an effort to see what Thorpe Park, Chessington and Legolands events were like, starting with Thorpe Park. We once again stopped at the Ramada at Cobham services for four nights, meaning we could initially do two days at Thorpe Park, two… Continue reading Fright Nights – Thorpe Park
Eurofighter showdown – Saw: The Ride, Speed: No Limits & Rage
Similarly to my blog comparing The Smiler to Stealth, I’d like to breakdown 3 very similar yet ultimately different rides. 3 Gerstlauer Eurofighters here in the UK, Speed: No Limits, Saw: The Ride and Rage. The facts All 3 rollercoasters feature similar elements, all have beyond vertical drops, all have vertical chain driven lifts, over… Continue reading Eurofighter showdown – Saw: The Ride, Speed: No Limits & Rage
The fate of Galactica….?
When Galactica opened in 2002 it opened as Air, the world’s first Bolliger and Mabillard flying rollercoaster and Alton Towers’ secret weapon number 5. It features 2 inversions, a top speed of 47mph (75km/h), climbs to 66ft (20m) and is 2760ft (840m) long. It seems to have been a well loved rollercoaster in its early… Continue reading The fate of Galactica….?
Splash Landings Hotel & Waterpark- Review
Splash Landings As mentioned in my Oktoberfest Review, we stopped for two nights at the Splash Landings hotel. The check in process was excellent! You can either do it the conventional way by talking to a receptionist, or by using a touchscreen machine. It was easy to use and it spits out both your room… Continue reading Splash Landings Hotel & Waterpark- Review
Alton Towers – Oktoberfest 2021
Last year, Alton Towers launched a new event, Oktoberfest. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to get to it, but heard great things afterwards so this year, we made sure to go and visit and see what the event was all about. We made a small break of it by stopping in the Splash Landings hotel for… Continue reading Alton Towers – Oktoberfest 2021
Attraction soundtracks
One of the things I rarely ever hear anyone talk about are attraction soundtracks. The music that plays in the queue line, station building or themed area. Something that adds ambiance to an area, or builds up excitement for the ride you face! I don’t know why this is as there are some excellent scores… Continue reading Attraction soundtracks
Chessington World of Adventures – Wilderfest – August 2021
Our visit to Chessington for Wilderfest was a pretty quick decision. I’d thought about it, Tracy mentioned it, and within minutes we’d booked the hotel at Cobham services (again) and prebooked our passholder tickets. We hadn’t planned in for another Chessington until Howl’o’ween later this year but they announced Wilderfest, seemingly out of nowhere so… Continue reading Chessington World of Adventures – Wilderfest – August 2021
Battle of the two top tier thrill machines – The Smiler and Stealth
I’d really like to get to the bottom of which is the best, in my opinion, out these two excellent roller coasters. I’d like to break them down into component parts and decide overall which one will finally take the top spot for me, as it’s so close between them! Theme Let’s get the big… Continue reading Battle of the two top tier thrill machines – The Smiler and Stealth
Holiday 2021 in Summary
As I stated in my previous blog, I’d like to summarise our trip away and add any advice to others planning on the same sort of trip. The Parks Over the course of the holiday we visited 8 very different parks around the country with our standout favorite of the trip being Paultons Park, with… Continue reading Holiday 2021 in Summary
Chessington World of Adventures & Margate – Stop 8
Following on from Thorpe Park, we stopped in The Ramada at Cobham services on the M25. This hotel was very cheap, and my exceptions were low because of this but I was pleasantly surprised at how good the hotel actually is. We paid £29 for the night, and it easily kept up with the Holiday… Continue reading Chessington World of Adventures & Margate – Stop 8
Cobham & Thorpe Park – Stop 7
After our final night in Southampton Holiday inn, we once again packed the car up and left for our next stop, Thorpe Park! We’ve visited Thorpe Park twice before and both times we’ve enjoyed it but felt that it wasn’t as good as it should have been, so this time we gave ourselves plenty of… Continue reading Cobham & Thorpe Park – Stop 7
Stafford & Alton Towers – Stop 2
After leaving Blackpool, we headed on to Days Inn at Stafford M6 southbound services. The rooms were standard rooms, twin beds, desk and the like, with an excellent shower but a lack of air conditioning. We had a very good nights stay here. The following morning we were up, fed and on the road again… Continue reading Stafford & Alton Towers – Stop 2
2021 Summer holiday
Over the summer Tracy and I did an epic 1600 ish mile trip around some of the UKs best theme parks. Over the course of two weeks, we visited: Blackpool Pleasure Beach Alton Towers Oakwood Paultons Park Thorpe Park Chessington World of Adventures Dreamland Adventure Island Fantasy Island As well as the above, we also… Continue reading 2021 Summer holiday
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