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 UK, of which there are 4 main attractions to talk about:
Nemesis Reborn at Alton Towers
Hyperia at Thorpe Park
The ‘Intamin Launch and Lift Coaster’ at Drayton Manor
Minifigure Speedway at Legoland
I’ve also listed them in order of preference where Nemsis is my most anticipated addition this year. Hyperia is certainly the more impressive looking machine but I think it’ll be too short to take the top spot from Nemesis this year. I don’t think it’ll even be the best coaster at Thorpe Park as it currently stands!
Then there’s the new coaster at Drayton Manor, the so called ‘lift and launch’ coaster. I do like the idea that this will possible have spinning trains on it and the photos coming out of the new attraction do look good, if a little lacking in height and length so far. I suppose I should also mention Shockwave’s changes too. I don’t think it should be put along side the other 4 as its just a new train, name and some theming, and I really don’t agree with the changes myself but it might be fun!
Finally there’s Minifig Speedway at Legoland. I think this one will be a bit of a sleeper hit to be fair. As it currently stands, I think it’s the one I’m looking forward to least as its competition is just more appealing, but given how Velociraptor manages to be thrilling and quite fun, as well as it being Legoland, it may very well surprise us all!
Then there’s the events we plan to visit this year too. We’ve already booked to go to Oakwood in July as part of the Your Experience Guide event. I couldn’t turn this one down as they hosted the first event we ever went to last year and it’s at Oakwood, a park I’d like to get back to and ride Megafobia and Speed to death.
Love2Explore are also working on events too, as are Attraction Source, so a few more events on the cards with these guys too!
This year, Merlin have decided to scale back their park events, which I think is a bit of a misstep myself. Yeah, sure, Festival of Thrills wasn’t the best last year, but Mardi Gras seemed to do well, same with Carnival at Thorpe Park. I hope this means that the money saved will be invested in making Oktoberfest, Scarefest/Fright Nights and the fireworks the best they can be!
Our European excursions don’t seem to be stopping this year either, with the hopes that we can get to Denmark for Legoland Billund, Lego House, Bakken and Tivoli Gardens. We also have a rough plan in to visit Bellewaerde, Bobbejaanland, Movie Park Germany, Walibi Holland, Hansa Park and Heide Park on a road trip if we can.
We’re also due to visit Efteling and Toverland this month. We’re going for Tracy’s birthday as well as taking a couple of friends along for a sort of honeymoon trip. And yes, Baron 1898 is due to be running this time around so I can’t wait for that! There’s also the fully finished Avalon area at Toverland too.
All of this pales in comparison to the park and attraction that I’m most excited for this year, Europa Park and their newest coaster, Voltron. Europa Park is a park I’ve heard so much about and it’s all good stuff. Voltron looks like they tried to cram as many elements into a coaster and it looks insane because of it!
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 step of course and something I’ve never done before but I’m looking forward to it!
After a good night sleep (hopefully) we’ll drive from Calais into Belgium for the very first park on our little trip, Plopsaland! I cannot wait to have a go on Ride to Happiness and see what my first foreign park will be like!
On Sunday we’ll be at Bobbejaanland and we’ve accidentally hit a home run here as their new attraction Terra Magna opens for its first day after an extensive retheme. There’s also Typhoon to look forward to which was the very first Euro fighter model and Fury, which is the one I’m after most from this park!
On Monday we’ll be at the majestic Efteling for 2 days, stopping on site in their Loonsche Land Hotel which is very exciting! We have seen that unfortunately Baron 1898 won’t be operating while we’re there which is quite a blow but we’ve still got a plethora of excellent attractions to look forward to, such as Python and Symbolica.
Wednesday is a day off and we’re looking at visiting Eindhoven for the day. We’re not sure exactly what’s planned, though Tracy really wants to do their IKEA!
Thursday will be Toverland, a park I don’t see talked about much but well received when it is! Fenix, Dwervel Wind and Troy stand out for me here but there’s probably even more that I haven’t seen yet!
Friday and Saturday will be at the mighty Phantasia Land with a stop in their Hotel Charles Lindbergh. There’s so much to look forward to here, Chapas, Taron, F.L.Y, and Talocan just to name a few!
Finally we’ll be stopping back at Walibi Belgium on the way back around. Kondaa, Pulsar and Psyke Underground are what I’ve picked out but as with the other parks, there will be so much more that I’ve overlooked!
The fun doesn’t stop there though as we’ll be getting back on the Euro Tunnel and heading to Legoland Windsor to stop on site and do a day in the park and a the final Wednesday we’ll be at Thorpe Park to try their Mardi Gras event this year. 2 days to cool down before the finale at Drayton Manor for an Attraction Source event which I can’t wait for either! If Your Experience Guides event is anything to go on, then this should be great too! Extended ride times on Shockwave and Maelstrom, Loki, Thor and Accelerator!
It’s going to be a long one, it’s going to fill hard rives with videos and photos and it’s going to hopefully make some bloody good memories!
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 by creatures unlike anything in ours and the best part about it all is that the animals you see are all created by real people in Lego before recreated for the on screen video.
The queue is quite long and winding and the first time we went, we waited in excess of an hour and a half for the attraction due to COVID restrictions. I’ve subsequently reridden it and it took a much more reasonable 30 minutes.
The first time I experienced Flight of the Sky Lion, I enjoyed it but I did feel that it was a bit over hyped. It was still a good time but not quite the best ride in the UK that was thrown about at the time. Upon riding it for a second time I noticed a glaring issue that breaks immersion for me and spoils the attraction a little. The top of the screen cuts off abruptly.
A little about the ride system for context. So the ride consists of 3 levels with ride arms on them but each level seems to give a similar experience.
I’ve tried both bottom and middle level and both times I’ve noticed the screen cut off at the top. Whilst doing a bit of research for this blog, it seems I’m not alone in noticing this either. It doesn’t completely ruin the attraction and make it unrideable or terrible by any stretch, but it does take away from the feeling of flight a little.
Because the screen is so vast, if you look down, you can’t see floor, only screen which is great as you feel like you’re incredibly high up, but when you look up, you see the top of the screen and then immersion is slightly lost.
Besides the issue with the screen, everything else is very excellent. The ride arms moves in time with what’s going on and is very smooth. The animation and video quality are excellent and believable too. On our second riding, we even got wind and water effects that I don’t recall getting on the first ride in 2021 which was a good addition to the whole experience.
I first had the though for this blog in August when we rode it for the second time as I felt like I had a lot to talk about. Between then and now however I’ve ridden The Guardian and that contextualised how Flight of the Sky Lion isn’t as bad as I thought. Both Flight and The Guardian do the same job. The Guardian just does it worse in every way unfortunately which makes Flight of the Sky Lion much better and makes me feel like I was being a bit too hard on the attraction and possibly having to my standards set a little too high.
Flight of the Sky Lion is a great attraction that fits into Legoland well and shows you a great world filled with weird and wonderful creatures. It has a small issue with screen cutting off but besides that, I don’t really have any other issues with the attraction now.
I hope I can get back on it this year to make my mind up fully but at the moment, you’re alright Flight of the Sky Lion, you’re alright.
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 the season passed.
The Events
Over the last year we went to the following events:
Alton Towers Opening Weekend
Alton Towers Festival of Thrills
Thorpe Park Mardi Gras
Thorpe Park Carnival
Alton Towers Octoberfest
Chessington Howl’o’ween
Thorpe Park Fright Nights
Legoland Brick or Treat
Alton Towers Scarefest
Fantasy Island Fear Island
Legoland Fireworks Spectacular
Alton Towers Fireworks Spectacular
That list is just in the order we did them, not the order I enjoyed them most. The best event we did this year, at least in my opinion was probably the Alton Towers opening weekend as we saw plenty of other enthusiasts as well as sharing it with a couple of good friends too.
It wasn’t truly an event in the same vein as the others but I included opening weekend as it’s celebrated as such and I enjoyed it!
The most surprising event and probably the second best we did was Fantasy Island’s Fear Island. For such a relatively small park to put on such a good event was staggering and though not everything was a massive hit, the scare mazes definitely were!
The most disappointing event unfortunately goes to Scarefest at Alton Towers. As highlighted in my blog, the event felt a little lacking and missing something special to mark the occasion.
All the other events and visits we had were great, though I did feel that Carnival was just Mardi Gras but with a yellow overlay, but it was still enjoyable none the less!
The Attractions
There wasn’t many new attractions to try this year but we did get around all the ones we could! We managed:
Sik at Flamingo Land
Enso at Blackpool Pleasure Beach
Harrington Flint’s Island Adventure at Fantasy Island
The Guardian at Fantasy Island
Wild River Rapids at Fantasy Island
Farm Yard Flyer at Paultons Park
Vikings at Drayton Manor
Barrel Bailout at Chessington World of Adventures
Trawler Trouble at Chessington World of Adventures
Not a very long list but still plenty to go at!
The best this year, at least in my opinion, was the long overdue Sik at Flamingo Land. Daft name but great ride! Despite it being my home park, we only managed it once and I’ve heard it’s having a few issues as the years gone on but I’ll get back to it next year to see!
The weakest of the new additions is a tie between Enso and The Guardian, a bit of a cop out, however both had issues.
The upcharge and lack of value for money on Enso is what took it away for me. Even then, once you’d paid the fee, I wasn’t blown away by the feeling of free spinning. I followed all the advice people have me such as sitting in the right hand seat and going alone but even still I didn’t get the same levels of enjoyment out of it as other seem to!
Dragons Fury, when sat facing backwards, spins more going into the first break run than Enso did through its whole layout. That ride is probably built with spinning in mind, but it is included in park entry at least.
The Guardian was a good idea that was executed badly. Bad CGI and screen quality hampered an otherwise good idea, especially when you first enter the queue line and see all the theming and effort that’s gone into this attraction.
I’m not sure if it was budget constraints or purposeful decisions that caused the issues but they are somewhat easily rectifiable and should make this attraction live up to the expectation that the queue line builds up!
As for the other new attractions this year, there was Vikings which is a good themed area with a good new ride in Loki. I wasn’t really that blown away by it though. Thor is just another Disk’o Coaster and Jormungandr is still Buffalo Coaster with a new theme. Sleipnir is decent though, especially for younger kids.
The whole area is pleasant to walk through and features a lot of wood and some Viking theming but it could do with a bit of an expansion on the theme in my opinion! It was put together very quickly, especially when compared with some of the other new additions and in the nicest possible way, it shows! Just a bit of fine tuning, a few props here and there and it’ll be spot on.
Another surprise entry was from Fantasy Island with Harrington Flint’s Island Adventure. This was much better than expected. I’m a sucker for interactive dark rides, I think every park should have one and this one stands out from Tomb Blaster, Rootin’ Tootin’ Target Trail, Sheriff’s Showdown, Laser Raiders and Dual because of its use of both screens and physical props. The cars were comfortable and the shooting was fun. It just lacks on ride photos and the physical props adding to your score!
The New Parks
This year we visited a lot of new parks, this includes:
Funland Hayling Island
Crealy
Barry Island
Southport Pleasureland
Joyland
Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach
Pleasurewood Hills
I think the biggest surprise out of all the new parks we visited, for me at least, was Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach. The ride selection was great, there were very few queues throughout the day and we had a great time.
Joyland was also a wonderful little park. Though not even a half day park, it was worth our money and time, and I’ll certainly visit here every time I’m back in Great Yarmouth in future!
Crealy was a nice and tidy park, as was Pleasurewood Hills. Both have good ride line ups but in both cases we weren’t the intended audience of the parks, so it wasn’t quite as fun for us as some of the other parks, such as Barry Island or Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach.
Finally I’d like to mention both the owners of Southport Pleasureland and Barry Island for all their help with regards to filming around their parks and on the attractions!
The New to us Attractions
In this section I’d like to highlight some of the existing attractions that we only experienced for the first time this year. We tried all sorts, ranging from our first scenic railway, a 70 year old virginia reel, weird and wonderful flat rides, all the way up to two different snail attractions!
The biggest standout of the year is most certainly Roller Coaster at Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach. This is our first scenic railway (of the 2 in the UK and 7 worldwide) and is the second fastest wooden rollercoaster in the country only behind Megafobia. Though not as thrilling as Megafobia, or as well themed as Wicker Man, its definitely the smoothest woodie we’ve ridden and was a joy from start to finish.
Other standout attractions of the year include Lightning 360 at Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach, Roller Coaster, The Rocket and Ghost Train all from Southport Pleasureland and just because of the sheer amount of spinning we got, I’ll include (what I believe to be Crow’s) Spinning Coaster from Hull Fair too.
There’s one final attraction that was notable this year too, that being Kite Flyer at Pleasurewood Hills. This was the only ride all year that made me feel genuinely ill afterwards! I’m not sure if I was having an off day, the ride cycle was too long or I moved my head too fast while the ride was spinning but it really knocked me for 6.
Summary
We’ve ridden some great attractions this year. Tried some terrible ones too. Had some ups and downs, rainy days and absolute scorchers along the way. Throughout all the visits we’ve had, we’ve always had fun. Yeah Enso was a bit pricy, Sik took far too long to open and Kite Flyer went a step too far (for me at least), but each day was still fun.
We’ve shared at least 3 visits with friends and family this year, I’ve found that one of my best friends, Pedro, is a secret adrenaline junkie and both he and Tami are welcome to join us anytime they like!
I’m not sure there is too much to be excited for in terms of the UKs new offerings next year, but as this year comes to a close, we’ve started drawing up rough plans for our visit next year, with a blog to follow once we know more.
Hopefully next year will be as fun as this year has been but only time will tell!
The Awards
Best New Attraction
Awarded to the best single attraction opened during this year.
Sik
Harrington Flint’s Island Adventure
Loki
Best Event
Awarded to the events that I felt were the best from this year.
Alton Towers Opening Weekend
Fantasy Island – Fear Island
Thorpe Park Fright Nights
Best New Park
Awarded to the park we visited for the very first time this year.
Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach
Joyland
Crealy
Best New To Us Attraction
Awarded to the attraction that we experienced for the first time this year.
Roller Coaster – Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach
Ghost Train – Southport Pleasureland
Lightning 360 – Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach
Best Rollercoaster Overall
Awarded to the top 3 rollercoasters from my ranking page.
The Smiler
Stealth
Nemesis
Best Flat Ride Overall
Awarded to the attraction that I felt was the most fun and enjoyable flat ride from the last year.
Haunted House Monster Party
Detonator: Bombs Away
Zodiac
Best Onsite Stay
There were only two to pick from, but its awarded to the park with the best onsite stay we had through the year.
Thorpe Shark Cabins
Alton Towers Star Gazing Pods
Best Customer Services
Awarded to the park who’s customer services were needed and how well they handled our issues.
Alton Towers
Pleasurewood Hills
Southport Pleasureland
Best Food
Awarded to the park that I think had the best tasting food from the year.
Chessington World of Adventures (Drop n’ Chicken Nuggets)
Alton Towers (Front Lawns Catering)
Thorpe Park (Pizza Pasta Buffet)
Most Disappointing Visit
These are my least memorable visits from the year. Non were bad, just didn’t fully hit the mark!
Alton Towers – Scarefest (Lacked Ceremony for the 15th anniversary)
Oakwood (Rained off with no rainy day return)
Legoland – Firework Spectacular (Too short!)
Worst Ride of the Year
Grand Canyon – Southport Pleasureland
Kite Flyer
Rootin’ Tootin’ Target Trail
Park of the Year
Awarded to the park that, overall, had the most enjoyable visits.
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 to the fireworks which were due to start at 6pm.
I’d decided that the best place to watch was Heartlake City, stood right next to the barriers to the side of the seating area. I’d asked around the park for ideas as to where might be best but there were many different answers and to be fair, we got an excellent show stood here.
I would have thought that being stood right at the top of the hill would have given some great views, but there was a sign up saying that that wasn’t a fireworks viewing area so we settled on Heartlake.
We stood right here!
The show itself wasn’t like Alton Towers who have stories to theirs, but more like a standard display. The fireworks were launched to a selection of popular music tracks and there was something for everyone.
There was also a large fire ball generator that would fire every so often in line with the fireworks. Everything was going great until around 11 minutes when they stopped. That was the end of the show!
I was honestly quite disappointed with this as I’ve been to local displays that lasted twice as long and cost 10% of the price Legoland charged. As passholders it was only £20 additional for the fireworks but the length left a lot to be desired!
They were good though, well timed to the music and a good variety of different types and colours. If it had been around 20 minutes, I would have enjoyed it much more though!
Besides the fireworks, we had a great day getting around all the attractions and I finally have an understanding of how the Ninjago ride works.
I was always under the impression that you use both hands to get as many shots off as possible but it seems you can do just as well and feel like you’re doing well by using one hand only. We got a ride at the very end of the day where we were the only ones on and it gave me time to play about with the system and it definitely works better with one hand.
I very briefly managed to show up on the daily leaders scoreboard as the Ice Ninja, which was promptly replaced but I still managed to see myself there, and to be honest, I didn’t even know the high score section was there until I looked properly!
Plenty of room for improvement with my score!
Laser raiders was another ride we did a lot of as I’ve found out there’s a secret on the ride that gives you a large score for finding it. I’ve no idea where it is but each subsequent reride I’ll be looking for it to say I’ve shot it!
We also managed to get on a night ride on The Dragon, an attraction I was looking forward to at night because it has a large outdoor section that I was hoping would be pitch black. Unfortunately they have installed generators to power light banks outside so it did take away from the night ride but it was definitely better than a day time ride.
Overall we had a great time at Legoland, though the fireworks were a little short for what we were expecting, the display was good and the rest of the day was excellent too!
If you are interested you can watch the recording I did here!
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, queues had started to form at some of the parks bigger attractions and it highlighted an issue with the park for me and that’s the lack of access around it.
Very briefly, with a park like Alton Towers, the gates are opened around 9:30 which allows you plenty of time to get to the first attraction to be waiting ready for it to open. Legoland isn’t like that. It opens dead on 10:00am and everyone has to use the same 2 methods of getting down into that park. Either the hill train or walking down the hill which means crowds rush to Flight of the Sky Lion right at the very back of the park so it always gets long queues. Shame that but anyway back to our day.
As mentioned our first ride was Flight of the Sky Lion, an attraction we’ve only done once before and the awfully lengthy queue somewhat ruined the overal experience we had. This time we were in a queue that kept moving and wasn’t as bad at all so I could concentrate more of the ride itself and not the queue beforehand!
Flight of the Sky Lion is a good solid attraction that has a big flaw, at least for me and that’s the screen. Couldn’t the do anything to wrap the screen around you above? I’ll be giving Sky Lion its own dedicated blog in due course but needless to say it was as I remembered, a great ride system and visuals let down by a break in immersion due to the edges of the screen!
Once we’d done on Flight of the Sky Lion, we headed back up the park to get on Ninjago, the parks ART/Triotech dark ride. I still have issues with the ride system and feel that the motion only based controls are lacking. I’ve tried multiple times to try and get the thing to control as the instructions dictate but everytime I try it the energy balls on screen don’t seem to like up with what I’m doing with the controls.
Put guns on it or something physical to interact with please! Other than the irritating controls, everything else about the attraction is excellent! From the ride vehicles, to the story, the 4D elements and the screens.
After we’d done on Ninjago we headed down to Laser Raiders for a ride on possibly the most accurate shooting ride in the UK! These guns require absolute presicion to hit the targets, unlike Tomb Blaster or Sherrif Showdown that allow a bit more flexibility. Despite this I really like how Laser Raiders works!
The targets interact with physical effects such as lights or moving parts which sets it apart from a lot of the other interactive dark rides I’ve been on. The targets are quite difficult to hit and the guns can be a bit tiring on the fingers but nonetheless this is a great ride!
From Laser Raiders we headed down to the Knights Kingdom to ride both Dragon Coasters and try out the Monster Street Halloween walk through.
I’ll talk about Dragon later so first up is Monster Street and much like last year is essentially trick or treating in Lego fashion. Unlike last year though, the stations aren’t in 3 different parts of the park and are instead all in one place, which means you can’t miss them! You’ll get pop badges, a chocolate bar and a small kit of Lego that builds into a pumpkin. Definitely no complaints from me, especially for free!
The street itself was filled with alsorts of pun named shops and stalls themed to the Lego Monsters and is very bright and pleasant and child friendly.
Once we’d done in Monster Street we headed into the Dragon for the first of two rides as there was no queue at all and our first photo didn’t go so well!
Back row is definitely where you want to be on this coaster as both lift hills give you a great amount of ejector airtime as the train crests the hills and gains speed. The initial dark ride section is great too, but it would definitely be better if there were some more Lego models in the outdoor section too!
Dragons apprentice next and though it’s a junior coaster, it features on ride photography and can be a right laugh for posing for silly photos!
Once we’d done in Knights Kingdom we headed off towards the bottom of the park to see one a bank of three joking skeleton heads that were put in place right by the hotels. There were advertised on the map as one of the many different things to do for Brick or Treat so we headed down there as it was on our way towards Lego City anyway.
Our next attraction was Lego City Deep Sea Adventure and my thoughts on this attraction remain the same in that it’s a very inovative way of doing Sealife at Legoland, but the windows are too low or the seats too high. It’s definitely better enjoyed sat on the floor!
After we’d collected our photos we moved onto the main event for this visit, Haunted House Monster Party, the parks Vekoma Madhouse!
Brick or Treat and Monster Party go hand in hand so this attraction really stands out during the event. The ride system is still as good, the cast of characters entertaining and the music is just as good as it’s ever been. Little more to say other than its arguably the best ride at the park, at least for me. Possibly Laser Raiders but that’s an argument for another day!
Once we’d done in Lego City, we headed into Miniland to look out for letters that had been added around the area that spelled out a word. Work out the word and get a pop badges from The Brick, so we wandered around, found the first two letters and I guessed it straight away but we found the remaining ones to be safe. It was Monster by the way!
Another pop badge in hand we headed up for our very first visit to the Legoland 4D cinema to watch the exclusive The Great Monster Chase 4D film.
This was possibly the most underwhelming 4D cinema I’ve ever been in! We sat on the side as all the middle benches were wet so we missed out on the water effects but even still the screen was far too dark to really take it in properly and there lights in the room were a bit too bright which didn’t help matters.
It was great to see actual fire used as an element, as well as a snow machine but otherwise the cinema itself was a bit poor when compared to other parks offerings, sorry Legoland!
After the cinema we had a slow wander around the park, dropping in on Fairy Tale Brook, Ninjago and Laser raiders for second rides before making our way to the shop and exit.
Disappointingly the park was closing at 4pm, which meant we only had 6 hours of time in the park to get everything done. We lost a bit of time at the start as Sky Lion is so far away but I wanted to get that queue out of the way first. In all we had a great time though and despite having only 6 hours, we still got on everything we wanted to and saw all that Brick or Treat had to offer.
The park did seem to be a bit quieter than it’s usually been, but we did go on a Tuesday when only parts of the country were on half term, which probably helped!
Next stop is Alton Towers for the next two days for Scarefest!
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 on are Paultons Park, Chessington, Thorpe Park, Legoland, Alton Towers and Fantasy Island. The Merlin parks are a given as we’re annual pass holders, but Paultons Park at Halloween, as well as Fantasy Island’s Fear Island event will be new to us.
That’s before we try out both parks new attractions, with Farmyard Flier at Paultons and The Guardian and Harrington Flint’s Island Adventure at Fantasy Island!
We’ll be stopping at The Annex In Totton for our first two nights, Ramada at Cobham services for the next two and finally we’re stopping on site at Alton Towers in their Stargazing Pods for the last two.
I’m not sure we’ll get around all the scare mazes on offer this year, especially with there being a few repeats, but there are a couple of other things to look forward to! The Scare Zones are returning and look to be good this year, as well as Farm Yard Flier at Paultons and the two new rides at Fantasy Island.
One of the other things I’m really looking forward to is Millennium Darkness at Fantasy Island. This will be a ride on Millennium, but blindfolded! I’m quite looking forward to this unique experience of what was my very first inverting coaster!
I’ll be writing up blogs for each of the parks and comparing it to other visits we’ve had, and tips I notice, as well as a good sprinkling of my opinion on things!
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 Beach, and its not manufactured by Vekoma so I won’t be including this attraction here!
Like so many others, the first Madhouse I rode was Hex – The Legend of the Towers at Alton Towers. I went in knowing what was going to happen and spoiled it a little for myself (a feat I wouldn’t do when trying Derren Browns Ghost Train). Even though I knew how the ride worked, I was still impressed with the attraction and the feeling it gives you.
The walkthrough and show portion of Hex is brilliant, showcasing the Earl of Shrewsbury’s story and the chained oak legend. It could do with a little modernising as it does feel the oldest out of the 3 when directly compared, but it does its job perfectly well!
Next is Haunted House Monster Party at Legoland Windsor. This rides preshow is probably the weakest of the 3 attractions as it is just a video that plays in a large room with lights and sounds. It’s still good but not quite as good as The Haunting or Hex’s preshow.
The actual Madhouse portion itself is top notch. The room and seats sync up very well giving you that weird sensation of movement without it looking like you’re moving and the whole story of this being a party trick is very silly and bombastic and fun! Definitely memorable!
Finally there’s The Haunting at Drayton Manor. This ride features a well themed show building like the other two, and similar to Hex has different rooms leading up to the Madhouse.
The Haunting has probably the best preshow section of the 3, and features 3 rooms with screens and projections, as well as jump scares and motion to boot. However it is let down incredibly by its ride section. I’ve ridden it a couple of times and noticed the walls and seats aren’t quite in sync and the effects are nice, but lacking too. On our last visit the final section of the crypt opening didn’t actually do anything which is a shame as the preshow is so good!
It’s also worth noting that The Haunting is a smaller scale attraction than the other two, and though I can’t find figures, I would guess that The Haunting has roughly half the capacity of the other two, which can both manage 70+ guests each.
I think Hex is my favourite of the 3 as it’s consistent in its approach. The preshow is excellent and so is the ride element. I like the story behind it too and it uses the Towers really well.
Next I’d put Haunted House Monster Party as its ride element is really good fun, possibly the most fun of all 3, but its preshow does let it down a bit. The show building looks great too!
Finally there’s The Haunting. The ride section really does let The Haunting down massively and if it were given an overhaul and made into a larger capacity attraction with improved effects in the crypt, it would probably take the top spot!
I don’t know whether I’d put Vekoma Madhouses or Huss Top Spin rides at the top of my non rollercoaster attractions list, but the UKs Madhouses certainly make it a difficult decision! It doesn’t really help that we have no more Top Spins left in the UK, which is a shame! Maybe Talocan will make it easier to decide?
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 this and I now rank it much higher!
Anyway, the park in its current state is good. It has some well themed areas, some excellent attractions and a good layout but I think there are a lot of improvements that could be made.
Firstly I think there is a distinct lack of representation for the Technic brand, as well as no mention whatsoever of anything to do with The Lego Movie or Bionicle. The first thing I would do is invest in a new area themed to the Technic line of products which would include a new, more thrilling rollercoaster than the park currently has.
Cobra at Paultons Park, would it work if something like this as themed to Technic?
This new ride wouldn’t be anything too intense but something like Dragons Fury, Rattlesnake, Cobra or Storm Chaser would fit in just nicely so long as the trains were Lego themed with plenty of brickwork models scattered about. If it were me, I’d be looking to Mack, Gerstlauer or Vekoma to install something, whether it be spinner from Mack, Bobsled from Gerstlauer or a suspended thrill coaster from Vekoma.
Other rides in the new area could certainly include a Zamperla Nebulaz or even a Powersplash from Mack. Things that would stand out on their own as additions to the park but also fit well into the Technic theme. This area would be focused on the more thrillseeking guests but still be tame enough for the family market that Legoland dominates.
Other changes would include doing something to Coastguard HQ as we found the ride to be very underwhelming. The boats are very slow even as a family ride, and when you’re out on the water, there isn’t all that much to see. There are some excellent models dotted about and the elephant that squirts water is one of the more memorable ones but other than that, I don’t recall all that much!
The submarine ride and Fire HQ are good, the latter especially as it not only offers a family based, team experience but also does a great job of educating the younger ones about the risks and causes of house fires. Big props here!
The fire engines all lined up ready and waiting!
As for the submarine ride, it’s a great take on the Sealife attraction that most of the Merlin parks have but I feel the windows are too far down and I ended up sitting on the floor to get as much as I could from the attraction and even then, vision was limited! Bigger windows in the subs and potentially make the submarines themselves deeper to accommodate larger windows or have them steadily drop into the tank to allow them to go deeper into the attraction. Otherwise it’s a great and unique attraction here in the UK.
One of the submarines from Deep Sea Adventure. The seats are 3/4 of the way up the windows!
My next biggest gripe with the park is the Sky Rider. That is so under utilised it’s unreal. Why doesn’t it go over and around miniland?! That seems like the perfect use for it, but instead it travels around what is arguably the most vacant part of the park with nothing much to see at all.
Add to the track, have it ride around all of miniland and maybe have an audio track play that gives small facts and figures about miniland’s areas and structures.
Finally the Viking Splash ride needs a bit of work. When both Tracy and Myself got off it we both said the same thing. It’s a proper rapids ride, that really throws water about and bounces you around which is great but the whole area lacks enough theming!
Could we add some Viking markings or runes on that back wall maybe?
The trough is basic concrete and uncoloured and there are a good few Lego models around the attraction but it needs more. It needs a cave or some special effects to bring it into its own and it could also do with building into the hill side a little better as it feels like a bit if an eyesore with how it sticks out and looms over Ninjago World. The ride is good but the execution and theming could be vastly improved!
Overview of Viking River Splash showing the lack of theming!
Other than that, Mythica is excellent. So is Pirate Shores and Knights Kingdom – though I think Knights Kingdom could do with a new ride or two. Miniland is massive but fantastic to walk around and so are the little areas designed to allow guests to just build with Lego.
I’d love to see an area designed purely for the older Lego builders such as Tracy and I who are avid Lego collectors but don’t feel as well catered for. I know it’s a family themed park but I would be nice to see a little more for the older folk!
Merchandising is good as you would expect from Lego and they even have a set based on the actual park. It could do with having a few more of the actual attractions in it but it’s still a great thing to own. T-shirts and the usual merchandise are good though could be improved with ride specific designs like Alton Towers and Pleasure Beach do, but this is a minor thing.
I’d also like to see a pick a brick wall added to the shop, with facilities in place to allow you to collect missing parts from your existing Lego sets, as well as building your own custom set by picking out all the individual parts too!
To conclude, Legoland probably doesn’t need quite as much doing to it as what Flamingo land does, but it could still use a few changes here and there and new additions to the already great line-up!
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 on others.
Best Event
To start with, I think the park with the best event this year was Alton Towers, with their Firework Spectacular. It would have been Thorpe Parks Fright Nights, but Towers just took it with how good a day we had, and how special the fireworks were.
This year we managed to visit the following events and this I how i’d rank them:
Alton Towers Fireworks
Thorpe Park Fright Nights
Alton Towers Oktoberfest
Legoland – Brick or Treat
Wilderfest – Chessington World of Adventures
Mardi Gras – Alton Towers
None of the events were bad at all, Mardis Gras is only at the bottom as we didn’t really see much of it. Wilderfest was ok, but could be improved here and there. Brick or Treat was great, Oktoberfest was excellent, and Fright Nights and the Fireworks were both really brilliant events, its just the fireworks were slightly better in my opinion!
Best new ride for 2021
There is no doubt in my mind that Storm Chaser is my number one new ride for 2021. We’ve had some great new rides this year, including Gangsta Granny: The Ride and Flight of the Sky Lion, and we’ve had some that are alright, but there are better versions currently on offer, such as Croc Drop at Chessington.
Personally, I wouldn’t say any of this years new rides are bad at all, I just think that Croc Drop could have been a bit more than a redressed Magma, and Spinning Racer at Fantasy Island is good, but will probably be gone very soon. Hopefully next year Flamingo land will get their 10 inversion rollercoaster up and running!
Best overall park
This year, I think the park I’d give this to is Paultons Park. Their ride lineup is good, the park isn’t too big or too busy and has been a joy both times we’ve visited this year. Alton Towers and Thorpe Park are close behind as both have given really great days out, Thorpe park especially.
If I had to say which is the weakest park this year, it would have to be Chessington World of Adventures. The park does need a few new rides and a few of the older rides updating a little here and there. Paultons Park has shown what it can do, hopefully Chessington will up their game to follow!
Parks we’ve visited this year are:
Paultons Park
Alton Towers
Thorpe Park
Blackpool Pleasure Beach
Adventure Island
Legoland
Drayton Manor
Oakwood Theme Park
Fantasy Island
Flamingo Land
Clarence Pier
Chessington World of Adventures
I think I’d rank them in that order too, based on the enjoyment both myself and Tracy have had during our visit(s) there.
Adventure Island and Oakwood were both pleasant surprises, especially Adventure Island as their ride operators were like none in any of the other parks! Both have good rides, and plenty to choose from!
Drayton Manor has done well this year in my eyes too, Adventure Cove has really brightened up Shockwave and the area as a whole. Same with Legoland, Mythica is a great area and the park has some great attractions, but does lack a really good thrilling coaster in my opinion!
Fantasy Island was good, and they seem to keep adding attractions and changing things to keep things fresh so hopefully we’ll see more added there soon. Same with Clarence Pier, but their problem is a lack of space!
Flamingo Land could do with some work. It’s a great day out, with some really enjoyable rides, but it looks so tired in places and lacking in budget to finish things off properly. Hopefully when their new 10 inversion coaster opens, they’ll get a surge in popularity and invest in the park more. Mumbo Jumbo, Kumali and Velocity deserve more attention than they currently get!
Best & worst existing new rollercoaster
This is the category for an existing rollercoaster that I rode for the first time this year. Running for top are Nickelodean Streak at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Megaphobia and Speed: No Limits at Oakwood, and Shockwave at Drayton Manor.
Megaphobia takes this one, but Speed: No Limits and Shockwave come close as all three are great rides in their own right. I feel that Megaphobia is the best of the UK wooden rollercoasters, offering enough roughness that you’d expect from a woodie, but not being too overbearing and uncomfortable. Grand National and Big Dipper are great examples of older, rougher woodies. They will throw you about and take no prisoners!
At the other end of the scale, we have the worst existing rollercoaster that I rode for the first time this year. It could very well have been Infusion at Pleasure Beach as that can be borderline painful. It could have been Dino Chase or any of the junior coasters, but for me, its Buffalo Coaster at Drayton Manor. It might be well loved as a classic rollercoaster by some, but for me, it was utterly dreary and didn’t really do anything!
At least the junior coasters have theming to them or offer pops of ejector on back row rides, or something! Buffalo just didn’t do anything for me!
Best & worst flat ride
For this category, all flat rides are up, be it Pandemonium at Drayton Manor, Cyclonator at Paultons Park, Magic at Fantasy Island or any of the existing flat rides we have here in the UK.
There are lots to choose from, but for me, the best flat ride I’ve ridden is Red Arrows Sky Force at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Built by one of my favourite manufacturers, Gerstlauer, this Sky Fly attraction isn’t the tallest or most thrilling attraction I’ve ridden this year, but it stands out for being interactive. Controlling the wings either side of you allows you to flip as much as you can manage, or in Tracy’s case, as little as you like.
Honourable mentions to Pandemonium, Apocalypse, Magic and Cyclonator too. All were first time rides for me this year, and I remember each one for surprising me with how well the attraction rode, or how little it made me feel ill afterwards! Magic especially. It looks like it’ll spin you a little too much but I felt it was just right, comfortable and memorable too.
Though Pandemonium can have the title as most painful ride too since its restraints dug into my shoulders quite badly during its extended upside down sections. Shame its being removed from Drayton Manor, but I’m glad I did get a ride on it before it goes!
The worst flat ride I’ve ridden this year would probably be Quantum at Thorpe Park. I don’t really get on with Magic Carpet or Miami type rides in the first place so I wasn’t that enthusiastic about Quantum. Coupled with the fact that operations are dreadful on the ride, so queues take far longer than they should, I didn’t really enjoy this one at all. Tracy did though so that’s a bonus!
Best water ride
This one is easy enough to award based on how wet we got on the ride. Stormforce 10, easily takes the top spot for me this year as no other ride we went on soaked us through like this one did!
A very close second would have to be Waterfall at Oakwood. Riding a plastic tray, you drop down a slide and have to navigate a long channel of water in the hopes of skimming across its surface to the end. Not only is it a great attraction to have a go at, but also fantastic fun to watch others having a go, whether they make it or not!
Other notable water rides this year would be Adventure Cove River Rapids at Drayton Manor, Viking River Splash and Pirate Falls: Treasure Quest at Legoland. Adventure Cove River Rapids rides well and the water effects make it one of the better rapids rides, alongside Viking River Splash which actually felt like a proper rapids ride with how turbulent it was!
None of the water rides I went on this year were bad I’d say, although River Caves at Blackpool Pleasure Beach was one of the weaker ones in my opinion, feeling quite dated and lacking something special.
Best dark ride, interactive or otherwise
For this, I’ll be including all the Vekoma madhouses, shooting rides and ghost train type attractions. I’ll be writing a separate blog comparing the many Vekoma madhouses on their own, but for now, I think the best dark ride I’ve ridden this year has to be Sheriff Showdown at Drayton Manor, with Duel at Alton Towers, Tomb Blaster at Chessington and Lego Ninjago: The Ride at Legoland following close behind.
The Haunting at Drayton manor would be up thanks to its pre shows and effects prior to the crypt scene! However it’s actual madhouse part and the lack of clarity in the queue as to whether the attraction is running dampened the whole package for me. Both Hex and Haunted house monster party have good pre shows, but better madhouses to experience so I’d rate those better.
Season 2022
Next season, we’re hoping to get across to Europe to start to experience some of the world class attractions over there, as well as visiting more of what the UK has to offer!
For the UK, I’d like to get back to Oakwood and have a go on Drenched, Tidal Wave at Thorpe Park and hopefully The Ultimate at Lightwater Valley! Rumours are circulating that Icon could be getting spinning trains which would be a very different approach to the ride, and if so, I’d like to give that a go!
As for Europe, Taron, Zadra, The Ride to Happiness, Red Force, Baron 1898, F.L.Y and Talocan are all on the bucket list if I can manage it!
Hopefully I’ll have written plenty more blog posts and gotten the hang of Youtube, my drone and my cameras a little more by then as well!
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