Tag: Thorpe Park

Blog, Reviews

Thorpe Park Mardi Gras!

Loops&Lapbars

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 though we could have picked Alton Towers, we decided on Thorpe Park for their Mardi Gras event, and to get on some rides for the first time too.

We went over two days, intending to ride the rides on one of the queiter first day and put more of a focus on seeing the Mardi Gras events on the busier second day when ride queues would be longer.

Day 1

Our first day we arrived nice and early, got through security, purchased the digipass and recharged our refillable drinks then headed to Stealth. Second train of the day, pretty much a walk on and the ride delivered! I haven’t been on Stealth in about 7 months so it was great to get back to my second favourite coaster! Part of me was hoping it would be able to pull out all the stops and dethrone The Smiler as top dog, but alas, Stealth remains second!

Next we had a go on Detonator, a first time ride and another walk on. Now this ride impressed me quite a bit. Even though it’s only 115ft tall and is essentially a drop and done, it’s more than the sum of its parts. If it were simply a drop and nothing else then it probably wouldn’t have been quite as much fun, but we were at the top of the tower for a good 60 seconds waiting to drop.

The ride operator controls when you drop so you could be there any length of time. I’ve seen the ride drop immediately as it gets to the top, or be held there like we were and its just a nice fun bit of interaction for me!

After Detonator, we went to Nemesis Inferno, the parks B&M invert. Though I talked at length about how I prefer Nemesis over Nemesis Inferno, this has got to have been the single best ride I’ve had on an invert. It’s pacing was excellent, intense and very smooth too.

The ride operator was also going off the rails with singing and really pleasing the crowds and adding to the fun!

Next up was Walking Dead, besides not having any live actors today, there wasn’t much to say about it. Fun, little indoor attraction, well themed and a laugh.

After Walking Dead, we went over to Saw and queued for about 20 minutes for the best themed Eurofighter in the country.

As with Nemesis Inferno, Saw was running really well too. I’d go as far as to say it was the best ride I’ve had on Saw and and Eurofighter yet! I usually get a small amount of head banging in the transitions as it is quite a brutal ride, but not once did I get that here. I was in the back row, in the centre seat with Tracy on my left and she said she didn’t have any issues either. Very commendable!

On the inverse is Colossus however. We elected for a back row ride to see how it faired verses our previous front row at Fright Nights and it was truly awful. I’ve ridden Infusion and Hero, Grand National and Big Dipper and yet this 1 ride will stand out as the worst and most uncomfortable that I’ve ever had. I don’t know what was wrong, but we had another ride on the second day and it was bad too. Middle of the train this time though.

While writing this I’ve noticed a lot of people complaining on various social media outlets about the sheer roughness of Colossus. Maybe Merlin will retrack it and give it the attention Nemesis is getting at Alton Towers?

I’m looking forward to seeing what Flamingo land’s 10 invertion coaster is like and hopefully Colossus can be retrained to remove the over shoulder restraints to help with the head banging we had here. Such a shame as it’s its 20th anniversary and it left such a sour taste!

Once we’d finished on Colossus, we went for some dinner and to have a little break. We tried Peckish for the first time and I risked it with a Chilli dog. Needless to say I’ll certainly be having those again, not too fiery but just right!

To cool off after dinner we had a go round on Rumba Rapids and this was probably the longest we queued all day, and even then it was only about 20 minutes or so! Not much to be said really, a fun rapids ride with a good tunnel and layout, but not much more!

There’s a couple of things that could be addressed with all the UKs rapids rides. For one, you barely get wet on any of them, which is nice on the one hand but would add to it on the other. The second issue is that people don’t seem to follow the rules and because of what happened with Drayton Manor, the staff have to constantly bark orders at people to tell them to sit down and stop being a nuisance which does take you away from the ride

We then had a saunter around, taking photos and enjoying the summer air before making our way to Flying Fish for a couple of runs around. We managed a record 5 laps in one sitting as the ride op just kept it going! The most I’ve had one one of these junior coasters has been 3 on Runaway Mine train at Alton Towers so once again, another very memorable ride!

We then made our way around to The Swarm. This was another near walk on, only queuing on the bridge over to the far side seats which took no time at all. The ride was running well, plenty of thrill and the right amount of intensity on the turns!

We finished day 1 with our first ride on Tidal Wave. Due to the nature of the ride and how soaked others looked that were getting off, we saved it until last. I’ve been to Thorpe loads of times and never gotten on Tidal Wave, either the queues have been far too long, the ride hasn’t been running or its not been particularly warm for it, but today was perfect.

The ride doesn’t last all too long but its a great crowd pleaser. It has a huge splash down element and splash zone to not only soak riders but also on lookers too! There’s even a set of upcharged water cannons to further soak riders through.

Needless to say we got completely drenched on our ride and I even managed to record a decent splash with my GoPro after exiting the ride too. After that we got changed, headed out the park and to the hotel for the night.

Day 2

With day 2 being a Saturday, we decided to focus more on the Mardi Gras part of the visit and less so on the rides. We still got a few rides here and there such as Colossus (which was still rattling around) and Nemesis Inferno, but primarily we watched the shows and took in the atmosphere.

The events started around midday with ‘The Crowning of the Krewes’, a show that saw 4 party crews performing to become champions of Mardi Gras. Each act was great though some were better than others, and each had a connection to one of the rides. Stealth, Nemesis Inferno and Rumba Rapids each had an act loosely themed to them, and then there was another called Aqueous who represented water whisperers and was ‘a champion of harmony’. Not really sure what ride or attraction she was representing, if any, but she was still good!

The Crowning of the Krewes was enjoyable and after the show, each of the krewes stayed around for meet and greets and photo opportunities.

The next thing we watched was the ‘Drum Works’ community band who were very good too, though a little repetitive in my opinion! Their set lasted about 45 minutes but there was only so much they could do with drums on their own. Don’t get me wrong , it was a great showing, just a little too long for the amount of variety they offered.

While they were playing, the Mardi Gras parade rolled through which comprised of a themed vehicle carrying the Mardi Gras royals and a few members of the krewes. The parade did feel a little like it was interrupting the Drum Works band and neither stopped while the other was coming through so it did feel a little mixed up.

One of the biggest things that Mardi Gras has highlighted to me is how little room Thorpe Park has. I’ll bring it up in detail in a future blog about what I’d do if I ran Thorpe Park, but in brief, they need room for events!

The other issue was the lack of members in the parade. I could put this down to the staff shortages that the tourism sector are having, so I’ll let this one slide as it wasn’t a big issue, just something I noticed.

After we’d seen the parade and watched a few of the acts on the mini stages, we continued wandering around, had another few rides on Swarm, Rumba Rapids and Storm in a Teacup before heading to the shops and then to the hotel.

Overall I enjoyed Mardi Gras, the costumes, actors and stages were all well made and the park looked good in its colours. I don’t think it was as good as Fright Nights, but I doubt anything other than another Fright Nights/Firework event will top that! Still, it was well worth the visit and I’d like to see Alton Towers’ and Chessingtons take on the event next year!

Blog

2022 season

Loops&Lapbars

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 the best dark ride in the world on many lists, so I look forward to experiencing this for the first time!

Won’t be too long until we’re spinning through the junior immelmann!

Enso will see one of Icons trains modified so the rear two seats will spin freely. If Time Traveller and The Ride to Happiness are anything to go by, then I can’t wait to try Icon with spinning seats, Mack seem to build top tier spinning coasters. This is currently the closest we have to a Mack Extreme Spinner in the UK so hopefully it goes down well and we get a ground up thrill machine!

Next would be Farmyard Flier at Paultons Park. We’re heading down there for our first stop of the season in March but the attraction won’t be ready for when we get there which is a shame, but it does also mean another trip to Paultons and I certainly won’t complain at that prospect! I hope as much care has gone into this attraction as the others at Paultons.

Farmyard Flier from the air!

Alton Towers are introducing 3 new children’s attraction to CeeBeeBees Land, but I’m certainly not the intended demographic here!

Next up is Drayton Manor. They’ve been teasing a new Viking themed area and a retheme to Buffalo coaster. There aren’t many details on the new attraction(s), but based on the time frame, we can probably rule out a new rollercoaster for now.

Drayton Manor, with investment, will be even better!

Hopefully we’ll see a nicely themed area, with a good replacement for Pandemonium. If Adventure Cove is anything to go by, then we should be in for a real treat here!

This year should hopefully see the opening of Flamingo Land’s new rollercoaster. As yet it hasn’t had an official name released but everyone is calling it ‘Inversion’. I hope they come up with a better name personally but I am looking forward to getting on this for the first time. I’m expecting it to be great as its a near clone of Colossus at Thorpe Park, a ride I’m warming up to. The biggest difference is that it has lapbars instead of over the shoulder restraints which is definitely a plus!

The Colossus clone, ‘Inversion’, from the air!

Finally, there are a few smaller additions to the smaller parks such as Adventure Island getting a Tivoli Extreme, Barry Island getting a KMG speed 2, and Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach getting 2 new rides, Pendulum and a Rockin’ Tug. All of which I hope to get to throughout the year!

I haven’t been to a lot of the smaller parks such as Barry Island and Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach, so everything they have to offer will be new to me!

More attractions joining Rage at Adventure Island mean more to enjoy!

I’m hoping to get to many of Thorpe Parks new events such as Mardis gras and Carnival, as well as sampling their Oktoberfest to compare to Alton Towers’ version.

I’d like to see Chessington refine Wilderfest this year and to get back to Alton Towers for their Oktoberfest and newly announced Festival of Thrills!

Dragons Fury at Chessington World of Adventures.

Our bigger trip this year will be to cover a lot of the Halloween events going on, with the hopes of seeing Paultons, Legoland, Thorpe park and Alton Towers, with potential for Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Chessington if time allows!

Plenty of Halloween events lined up this year, including Brick or Treat!

I also plan to see Legolands fireworks this year, as well as Alton Towers’ display too!

Finally I hope to get back to Oakwood and ride Megafobia and Speed: No limits to death and visit a few parks in the south west.

A busy year lined up this year, visiting more new parks and seeing new events!

Blog, Reviews

Nemesis: Inferno or The Original?

Loops&Lapbars

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 pages will know that Nemesis sits at number 3 on my list of top rollercoasters so to spoil the ending, it is the original (for the moment at least!)

So why do I think Nemesis is better than the original, well lets break it down into sections, as I did with my Smiler vs. Stealth post.

Theme and Score

Both rides feature great theming. Nemesis is themed to a monster, with the track being used to hold the destructive beast back. Inferno on the other hand is themed to a volcano and the layout weaves around a jungle.

I like Nemesis’ theme and station building, but in honesty, I actually think I prefer Nemesis Inferno for its theme, station and surrounding area. It’s very pleasant and on a summers afternoon is a lovely place to be

Though Nemesis’ theme is a bit more than just a pretty space, it does look a little tired in places. The waterfall usually doesn’t run anymore and when it does, it doesn’t run red like it used to! I’ve never actually seen it running under the first drop too, but hopefully this will make a return soon!

As many of you’ll probably know now, Nemesis is due for a retrack for its 30th anniversary and in the plans, its been suggested that the theming is being spruced up, so it’ll hopefully see the waterfall return and the station building looking back at its best!

As for score, Nemesis takes this for me. Infernos tropical sounding track is pleasant to listen to and quite eerie in places, but the original Nemesis’ theme just fits much better in my opinion. You can’t talk about soundtrack and not mention the famous Nemesis roar as it hurtles around the helix and into the main pit. It is immense and one of the best features of the ride!

Ride experience

For me, Nemesis is the rougher ride of the two, but also the more intense. That’s not to say that Inferno is a gentle romp through the jungle by any means! There’s very little headbanging on Inferno but it is also the newer of the two rides being built in 2003, 9 years after the original ride.

I’ve had a few rides on the original Nemesis now that are a little unpleasant in places. 1 particular ride at Scarefest in 2020 was really quite bad and did leave me with quite a sore ear afterwards! I’ve never had a ride so bad on Inferno by contrast.

This is a difficult one to pick between. You’ve got a more intense but rougher ride on Nemesis, vs an ever so slightly less intense ride on Nemesis Inferno but with very little headbanging at all.

I think at the moment, I’d pick the original Nemesis for its overall ride experience. If its running on top form its absolutely no question that Nemesis is on top, but at its worse it can leave a sour impression!

Though as mentioned earlier, Nemesis is getting a retrack and hopefully that will alleviate any issues noted previously!

Offride Experience

Both rides are a sight to behold, its so easy to stand around and watch both coasters running their layouts! They’re very photogenic and have great opportunities for some snaps, specifically after the first corkscrew and helix on Nemesis, and the initial loop and interlocking corkscrews on Inferno.

Both queue lines weave under each attractions tracks, though Nemesis’s queue can seem overly long when the extended queue is being used, and takes you right into the woods with little to see unfortunately so it can feel a little lacking. I think Nemesis is the one I’d prefer to stand and watch, but only just! It’s queue line is lacking when compared to Inferno but the noise it makes is sublime.

So Which should take the top spot?

As mentioned earlier, I think that Nemesis is the overall better ride. Dividing these two literally divides the theme park community as so many pick one over the other. Saying Nemesis is better than Inferno though shouldn’t detract from the fact that Nemesis Inferno is in itself a truly excellent ride, a nicely themed area and a nice intense ride too!

Given how intense the ride is, how great the score is and also the roar it makes, I do think that Nemesis is the better of the two, at least currently! Every ride on Inferno makes me like it more and more and assuming it continues to impress, then I will certainly move it up the rankings this season!

Hopefully this year I’ll get a couple more night rides on each too as I’ve only done 1 on each, and Inferno was the better night ride, but I think Nemesis looks nicer at nigh!

Blog, Reviews

2021 Season Review

Loops&Lapbars

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:

  1. Alton Towers Fireworks
  2. Thorpe Park Fright Nights
  3. Alton Towers Oktoberfest
  4. Legoland – Brick or Treat
  5. Wilderfest – Chessington World of Adventures
  6. 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:

  1. Paultons Park
  2. Alton Towers
  3. Thorpe Park
  4. Blackpool Pleasure Beach
  5. Adventure Island
  6. Legoland
  7. Drayton Manor
  8. Oakwood Theme Park
  9. Fantasy Island
  10. Flamingo Land
  11. Clarence Pier
  12. 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!

Blog, Reviews

Fright Nights – Thorpe Park

Loops&Lapbars

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 at Chessington and then Alton Towers on the way back, however we changed plans after we’d visited Chessington, more on that in another blog!

We arrived at Thorpe Park for our first day on Friday, expecting a really busy day but to our surprise, it was arguably the quietest day we’d ever had there. That’s not to say it was dead by any means, there were still plenty of folk about, but queues were topping out at 40 minutes or so meaning we got on plenty of rides!

Our plan was to ride rides on the Friday and do more of the Fright Night events in the Saturday when riding would mean longer queues. This was the right way to do it when we saw the queues on Saturday morning!

Anyway back to Friday and initially we were going to head straight to Saw: The ride and get the longer queue out of the way first, but due to technical difficulties it wasn’t ready for us when we got there.

Instead I rode Samurai alone as Tracy didn’t like the look of it. I enjoyed the ride and it does looks a lot more intense than it actually is. It was pleasant, gives enough force to make it interesting, but not so much that you feel ill or don’t enjoy the experience. The music while queuing is also so calming and beautiful, and during the ride it’s more aggressive and upbeat, really well done here!

Colossus isn’t as bad as I thought!

Next we queued for Colossus, and we waited about 30 minutes or so, partially because we waited for a front row (something I didn’t know was offered). This was my second ride on this Intamin 10 inversion machine, and it exceeded what I remembered from my first ride!

I didn’t really rate it that well after my first ride on it as I felt it was a bit dull and the heartline rolls are unnecessary at the end. I still feel that the heartline rolls are unnecessary but this time we both agreed it rode well, wasn’t rough at all and was generally quite enjoyable! Even though it was Tracys first ride, she said she’d do it again, so plus points here.

Once we’d finished on Colossus, we had a go on Saw, which was now up and running. Another first ride for Tracy and we didn’t wait too long before we were in the station building taking in all the scenery. Unfortunately we ended up on the first train which meant Tracy missed the little interaction with Billy the Puppet at the start of the ride, but a second ride later on rectified this!

Saw ran well, it still has its rough parts here and there, though Tracy did say she didn’t feel any roughness or headbanging at all, so maybe that’s the height difference between us causing me issues?

Black Mirror Labyrinth

This time around we’d managed to get timed tickets for Black Mirror Labyrinth as we’d missed out on them in our earlier visit. The attraction was decent, certainly better than Ghost Train, but not something that I’d be wanting to queue much for to reride. I knew nothing of the TV series before visiting the attraction, similarly with Saw and The Walking Dead, but only Saw has made me actually want to watch the shows the rides were based on!

Next we headed off up towards Quantum and the other flat rides here. We only ended up riding Quantum but took a breather and a few photos before we went off to Swarm Island.

By the time we’d gotten to Swarm Island, the Fright Night events were starting to take place, as actors start to pop up at various places in the park. For The Swarm, there’s The Swarm: Invasion, which sees a group of tin foil hat survivors causing mayhem about the place, and a couple of Swarm infected military personal keeping things creepy.

The ride itself rode well once again, we managed a front row, which Tracy was excited for until she realised how long you end up hanging at the top of the hill! Back rows for her from now on I should think!

We then stopped for a little dinner break at Burger King over by Nemesis Inferno. One thing that would be nice to see is Merlin and their franchises in their parks acknowledging those who have refillable drinks, and offer meals without a drink so you don’t feel like you’re paying for something you don’t want, just so you can get a burger and chips cheaper as a meal than individually. Little niggle but I thought I’d mention it since we regularly have refillable soft drinks in the Merlin run parks.

A little note actually on the refillable drinks. Firstly, Tracy’s cup had managed to get a crack in the bottom and they exchanged it without any quarrel at all which pleased her as she got a Fright Nights cup as she’d wanted one. Secondly, the machines seem to stock a special drink, or choice of drinks for Fright Nights. We found this to be the case at Brick or Treat at Legoland too. I didn’t notice whether Alton Towers does this though. The option is in the bottom right of the touch screen and both had different flavoured offerings!

Our next visit was Stealth, again for a first (and probably last) ride for Tracy! I have a high opinion of Stealth, I love the ride, its trains and how it operates, however, Tracy does not. She loved the launch but the top hat was a bit too much for her!

Stealth also has actors around the ride area as part of Amity High Vs LycanThorpe: Love Bites. This was brilliant! Such a good atmosphere all the time here, and actors that not only look great, but interact with you and were chasing people around and scaring folk all the time. I could have sat here all day and just watched what was going on, but other rides beckoned!

Once we’d moved on from Stealth, we had a go on Nemesis Inferno, The Walking Dead: The Ride, Flying Fish, The Dodgems and Timber Tug Boat. The second day we only rode Storm Surge, Rush, Derren Brown’s Ghost Train and Mr Monkey’s Banana Ride.

Ghost Train is awful

I think now is a better time than ever to talk about Derren Brown’s Ghost Train. We’ve ridden it twice and had pretty much the same experience both times. The VR is clunky and weird to put on, and I’m no stranger to VR having played PS VR and Oculus games at home.

The story line itself is quite a good one, but under utilised and just feels a bit cheap in places. The ride mechanism is good, and the set pieces are well designed too. I like how it really does feel like you’re on an underground train and the VR and physical elements do work something like well together, such as windows breaking and feeling the wind rushing in.

That being said, the experience on the whole is dire in my opinion. It should be so much more than it is and I think a lot of the issues could be sorted by removing the VR elements of the ride and having the video play out on the windows of the train. It would remove the isolated feeling that VR brings, but I think it would be offset by the experience running smoother on the whole.

To me, it’s a good set piece, with a bad VR section, a walk around a cheaply built underground section, followed by another even worse VR section, and finally a surprise element, which is arguably the best bit!

Such a shame as the ride could be so much more, and in its current state, I would advise riding it once, and then leaving it a few years like we have. Go on Ghost Train at Pleasure Beach for a better experience!

Night Rides

Our first night ride was on The Swarm, and though it rode the same as it does during the day, the darkness did add a little the experience! The surrounding area also came alive at night too! Shame the fire effects haven’t worked in a long time, as night rides would be excellent if they were to work!

Next was Stealth, which a night ride offered great views of the park all lit up, and the atmosphere around the ride ramped up to 11, otherwise it felt the same as a day ride for me!

We then headed off to Nemesis Inferno, which was excellent at night! We waited for a front row and both really enjoyed it! It would have been better if it hadn’t got quite as many lights about so it was darker but it was still a great night ride!

The real star for night rides here was Saw: The ride however! As mentioned earlier, we were on the second train, were taunted by Billy the Puppet and had a great ride in the dark! Once you head off into the trees it’s very dark and a few of the drops you can barely see, especially on back row which really helped it be my favorite night ride here!

Scare Mazes and Scare Zones

As I said earlier, our second day we didn’t ride that much and instead focused on the Scare Mazes, shows and zones about the park.

Legacy – A Fire and Light Display was a great free show that goes through the 20 year history of Fright Nights, something that will mean a lot to regular Fright Nights attendees!

The Crows of Mawkin Meadow is a walkthrough attraction with live actors posting as scarecrows that really do a great job of scaring you as you walk through their attraction. This was a great little zone, and even more so considering its included in the price of admission!

Following on from Mawkin Meadow, the Crows regularly walk about the park, scaring park goers when they least expect it and they looked excellent!

The first proper Scare Maze we did this year was Platform 15: End of the Line. It started with a hefty queue but soon moved on as you were kept in a dark tunnel waiting to enter. Your photo is taken, which is an extra charge unfortunately, before you start and then you are led into the attraction itself.

The story told is that of a train that derails, its passengers perish and are lost, frozen in time. You follow the route of the Sleeper Express and find the remains of the train and its passengers. The maze features the actual train that used to run around Thorpe Park in years gone by, and you can also see parts of Logger’s Leap too!

I enjoyed Platform 15, it wasn’t too scary, more creepy in my opinion, but was pleasant, and well executed and well worth the price of entry and the time to walk through it! Shame that the photo wasn’t included in the price though.

The other Scare Maze we tried was Creek Freak Massacre. Set inside the old station building for Logger Leap, this maze shows you a family of hillbilly lumberjacks that have turned from chopping wood to chopping unsuspecting human victims! It features smoke, loud sounds and live actors wielding chainsaws who aren’t afraid to swing them towards you! It’s perfectly safe of course and they won’t hit you, nore are the blades running, but it still made me jump out of the way!

In my opinion, this one felt a lot more intense than Platform 15 and on par with last years Altonville Mines, from 2020s Scarefest at Alton Towers. Great theming and a genuinely foreboding atmosphere, and though filled with jump scares for the most part, it was a great time!

I think I preferred Platform 15 though, it felt more traditional Halloween, still scare in places, but more atmospheric and creepy!

So this was a long blog! We had two days filled with plenty of rides, scares and fun, genuinely enjoyed Fright Nights for their 20th anniversary. Though I do feel Alton Towers 2020 Scarefest was a bit better, I’d like to come back next year and see what returns, and what’s new for 2022!

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Eurofighter showdown – Saw: The Ride, Speed: No Limits & Rage

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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 shoulder restraints, 8 riders per car and all feature at least 2 inversions.

The fastest and tallest is Speed: No Limits, followed by Saw: The Ride and finally Rage is the shortest and slowest. Saw has the longest track, Rage the shortest and Speed features only 2 inversions, while the other two have 3.

Bottom of Saw’s beyond vertical drop with Samurai behind

Saw is the only one to feature any real theming. Rage does try to have a little storyline with a superhero called Captain Rageman attached to the ride, but beside a voiceover and a few static boards, that’s really it. Speed has no theme.

Speed was the first to be built, arriving in 2006, then Rage in 2007 and finally Saw in 2009. As mentioned earlier, all feature beyond vertical drops, with Rage and Speed having 97 degree drops and Saw’s being 100 degrees.

Speed navigating its heartline roll.

All have held a record for the steepest drops in some form or another, where Speed and Rage were the steepest in the world being tied with 7 others for the title. Saw never held the world record as Steel Hawg ( at Indiana Beach, Indiana) was introduced a year earlier than Saw, and beat its 100 degree drop by 1 degree. However Saw did hold the UK title for 16 weeks before Mumbo Jumbo (at Flamingo Land) took it away again. I’ll certainly have to talk about Mumbo one day!

The theming of Saw

As I mentioned before, only Saw has any theming worth talking about, and it is very heavily themed around the Saw films. It features an extensively themed ride station and building as well as a decently themed queue and of course, a soundtrack.

Saw’s well themed station

Though Speed doesn’t have a theme, I don’t feel it would benefit from one. The same for Rage. Both are fine enough rides without theming, though they could certainly do with a soundtrack to listen to!

Ride experience

All 3 ride well enough, but I feel that the weakest is Saw a that does suffer a fair bit with rough patches, where Speed feels incredibly smooth. Rage is certainly in the middle ground here, not as smooth as Speed, but certainly not as rough as Saw!

I find the trains on all 3 to be quite comfortable, the restraints are just right, and keep you in place enough to enjoy the ride. It’s certainly a different experience being on your back when ascending each rides lift hills but I didn’t feel uncomfortable in my seat on any of the rides.

All 3 would definitely benefit from lap bar restraints as opposed to the over shoulder ones we have, especially Saw, that would add even more to the ride!

Inversions aren’t everything…

Saw and Rage both feature 3 inversions, and Speed only has 2. Each has a different layout, and though each has similar inversions, all are unique in their own right.

Saw has a heartline roll, immelmann loop and a dive loop, Rage has a loop, cutback and heartline roll, and finally Speed has just a loop and heartline roll.

Interestingly, Speed is the only one of the 3 that doesn’t immediately enter into an inversion following the beyond vertical drop, instead opting for an airtime hill, that is taken at decent speed and offers great ejector airtime!

So which is best?

In my opinion, Speed is the better ride out of the 3 but Saw is the best overall experience. The scenery, story elements and ride itself, push Saw slightly ahead of Speed if you take the whole package into consideration.

Rage is the weaker of the 3 for me. It’s still a great ride and well worth a visit to Adventure Island to have a ride on, but I would honestly say that Saw and Speed are better overall.

That is actually me in the back row there!

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Attraction soundtracks

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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 to some great rides here in the UK, and saying that, there are some excellent rides that are missing musical accompaniment!

The good!

When I think of musical scores, the first one that usually comes to mind is The Big One’s theme from Pleasure Beach or Helix at Liseberg. Both of these are euphoric dancey tracks, and even though I haven’t ridden Helix, I can imagine it fits really well. I could easily see Helix’s theme used with Icon at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

Icon, with Big Dipper and Big One behind

Another score I really like is Galactica’s. It fits the ride perfectly, has a sense of wonder about it and adds to the space exploration theme Galactica has. I love this one!

Galactica. A lovely soundtrack to a lovely ride!

Nemesis also has a great theme, chilling and foreboding, it helps to add to the terror of the area and the ride itself.

Another thing I do like it how Imascore, who did the music for Galactica, Spinball Whizzer, The Smiler and Wickerman at Alton Towers included parts from In the Hall of the Mountain King, Alton’s unofficial theme. A very nice little attention to detail by some very talented musicians!

The same can be said for Thorpe Parks theme, it incorporates segments of the big 5 roller coasters, and the themed areas appear to have excerpts from the main theme too. I also like Derren Brown’s Ghost Trains score.

Tornado Springs at Paultons Park also has a great score, feeling very in keeping with the 1950s American theme they have there. Same for Storm Chaser, thats theme is great too, mixing 50s guitars and rock with the sounds of a raging storm.

Tornado springs at Paultons Park

Chessington World of Adventures has some good themes, its overall park theme is fun and inspires adventure, Croc Drop’s theme is also good, but Vampire’s theme is excellent and fits the ride and station building fantastically.

The not so good!

Personally I like, but don’t love Icon’s score. It has some excellent parts, but a lot of it I find to be quite lacking. I just doesn’t have the epicness in my opinion!

Rita is another rides whos score is just ok. I didn’t get to experience Thunder Rock radio when Rita was still part of Ug Land, but I could see that fitting really well. The score it has now, does still fit the Dark Forest and Rita’s final chance of escape theme, but it could be so much more. The fault lies in the fact that Rita doesn’t properly fit Dark Forest and didn’t fit Ug Land when it was there either.

The bad!

For me, the worst score that a ride has is Oblivion. The repetitive techno track doesn’t really fit the theme of Oblivion being a next level of fear that you have to overcome, riders disappearing into nothingness and not returning, but with a techno backing track? I really don’t like this one, but I do wonder what could be used instead?

Riders braving the drop (and score) on Oblivion

Aside Oblivion, I haven’t heard a score/theme that I really don’t like, but I’m sure there will be others out there that are good, not so bad and terrible!

I haven’t been to Europe or the USA to sample their delights, but I have heard a few scores like Taron’s and Helix as mentioned earlier, and I can’t wait to get abroad and see what hidden gems there are!

Blog, Reviews

Battle of the two top tier thrill machines – The Smiler and Stealth

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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 one out of the way, theming. Both roller coasters have a good theme, The Smiler being more industrial and about a machine that brings back your smile. Stealth on the other hand is themed to Speedway racing of the 1950’s in line with the Amity themed area it resides.

Out of the two, I think that The Smiler has better theming, its station building, indoor queue line and exit, and its Marmaliser structure all add to the experience, as well as the score by ImaScore. No one ever talks about the musical scores for rides, which is a shame! It fits in brilliantly with the overall theme of X-Sector and compliments Oblivion well.

Stealth does have a nice theme too, the trains are made to look like 1950’s Chevrolet Bel Air drag racers, and the station does resemble a drag strip starting line with starting lights and audio, but no score that I’ve ever noticed and the queue line is quite plain. The Smilers cattle pen doesn’t fair much better but you have the whole ride going on above you, so once again The Smiler takes marks here!

Ride Experience

Both rides are extremely smooth, The Smiler, for me at least, only has one iffy transition on the cobra roll, whereas Stealth doesn’t really have any points where it’s rough where it shouldn’t be. Obviously the launch on Stealth is quite fierce but it doesn’t bang you about much, if at all. The turn into the top hat, the top hat itself and dive turn back are all very smooth and enjoyable. The top hat is exhilarating, which makes me want to try Top Thrill Dragster and Kingda Ka even more!

The Smiler rides well for almost all of its layout. Inversion after inversion it rides quite smoothly and it’s a joy to ride, much like Stealth. As I mentioned earlier though, the transition from half loop into half corkscrew at the start of the cobraroll can be a bit jarring, but other than that, I’ve never noticed anything particularly unpleasant!

It’s certainly worth mentioning the two airtime hills here as both are taken at speed giving you decent ejector airtime, but the second one after the camera is a particular highlight, especially at night! You get the flash form the camera, then the airtime and drop into the bottom of another inversion is excellent!

This hill right here!

I think I’d have to give Stealth the ride experience points over The Smiler, but only just!

Pure Thrills

For me, the more thrilling of the two is Stealth. Its launch is otherworldly, blowing Icons and Ritas out of the water, and even though it is literally a launch, top hat and airtime hill, it does it well.

The Smiler is also thrilling of course, and at times is intense, but I feel Stealth take it purely from its launch alone!

Offride experience

What are both coasters like to just watch? Admire while you eat your dinner or have rest up having ridden one of them?

The Smiler is a pure joy to watch, especially if both running trains manage to get dualling and take the batwing and cobraroll together. A little tip, if both trains are dropping off their lifthills at a similar sort of time, then you’ll more than likely see both trains take the batwing and cobraroll together!

As for Stealth? It’s certainly fun to watch, and looking up at that 205ft top hat from the ground is a great feeling, with riders screaming on the way down, and the noise of the launch is also fantastic too.

For me though, The Smiler is just more fun to watch, even if I end up not riding as the queue is too long, I can still marvel at it as I walk through X-Sector.

So which should take the top spot?

Though its close as I really, really like both, I’d have to say The Smiler will edge out Stealth for that top spot on my list! Its better theming, musical score and with how much fun it is to just observe doing its thing make up for its slightly rougher ride and thrills, when compared to Stealth anyway!

That’s not to say that Stealth isn’t any good either! Its decent theming, launch and train design, aasd well as it presence in Thorpe Parks skyline make it a more than worthy second place addition to my list!

A shot of The Smiler from my drone, taken during Mardis Gras!
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Holiday 2021 in Summary

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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 Oakwood and Adventure Island coming in close behind. That’s not to say that Pleasure Beach or Alton Towers were bad at all, more so that Paultons left an excellent impression on the both of us!

Alton Towers and Chessington were a bit of a letdown due to how busy they were, but it’s not entirely fair to blame the parks here, I’d booked for Towers on a bank holiday and I didn’t know Chessington would still be within the holidays. That being said, we did Thorpe Park just before Chessington and that went a lot smoother, comparatively.

Pleasure Beach was also excellent, probably the best of the parks from this trip that we’ve already previously visited. We did give it two days though which meant neither day was rushed and we managed to get on mostly everything we wanted to (except Avalanche, which kept running into issues).

The Hotels

For the trip we stopped in 10 different hotels and guesthouses, each different to the next. Highlights for anyone aspiring to visit UK parks would be the Ramada at Cobham services, because the location is excellent for Legoland, Thorpe Park and Chessington, and the service have excellent facilities.

All the places we stopped at were good, True Lovers Knot in Blandford Forum was the only one we had anything like a negative feeling towards, and that was purely for the way the staff interacted with us. The rooms themselves were probably the most premium feeling out of all the places we stayed, it’s just the staff and lack of a warm welcome that really put us off.

Advice from our experience is just to make sure you’re not driving too far from one stop to the next. If I were to do it again, I would probably add a stop a bit closer to Oakwood as Hereford was a bit of a trek that early on in the day! Other than that, everywhere we stopped at was mostly what we expected, just make sure to read reviews before booking the cheapest places as some accounts suggested some properties were down right dangerous!

The Car + Equipment

I own a Mazda 6 Estate which offered up plenty of room to carry all our belongings and didn’t cost an arm and leg to run. We filled up twice throughout the trip, once in Bristol and the second in Southend, and it cost around £165 for fuel for the whole trip.

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Daft bit of advice to give, but spilt clothing into little bundles so you can take in only necessary things to each stop, saves you lugging about large suitcases!

It should probably go without saying that you’ll want something comfortable for the long miles, and something that has enough room for all the things you’ll need. We took enough clothes to get through the 2 weeks we were away but we did plan in stops to laundrettes if needed. We didn’t take any cooking provisions and ate on the road for this trip, but you could easily bring along a gas camping stove and cook to cut down on expensive meals out.

Another probably obvious thing to add would be to keep a bit of money spare for issues with the car as I somehow managed to pick up a puncture while we were in Southampton and ended up needing a new tyre. I’ll take that over a larger fault though! I do also have breakdown cover just incase.

The Cameras

I took with me my Nikon D5600 DSLR, 18-55mm Nikkor lense, 70-300mm Tamron Lense, DJI Mini 2 drone as well as a GoPro Hero 6 Black. I didn’t get a chance to use the GoPro as most parks don’t allow on ride recording, and I never thought to ask at Paultons, Oakwood or Adventure Island.

I have since bought a Nikon B700 superzoom camera as I lacked ability to take photos at larger ranges and long range DSLR lenses are extremely expensive!

The Rides

Standout attractions from our visit will certainly be Storm Chaser at Paultons Park, Red Arrows Skyforce and Nickelodeon Streak at Pleasure Beach, Gangsta Granny: The Ride at Alton Towers and Megaphobia and Speed: No Limits at Oakwood.

We both felt Croc Drop was a bit over hyped, it looks the part, but the ride sequence itself isn’t as good as Magmas. The Big One at Pleasure Beach really needs some work in regard to operations, they don’t seem to utilise multiple trains as well as other attractions do. The queue really kills it, as twice we’ve had really long wait times unfortunately.

Hopefully with this year’s additions, we’ll see more and more development into the UK Theme Park scene and get bigger and better, world beating attractions!

Closing Comments

We’d have liked to have done our intended trip to Europe, but I’m more than happy with how our holiday around the UK went, we’ve both ridden some great attractions, visited new parks for the first time, tried some new and tasty food and overall had a fantastic stay here in the UK!

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Cobham & Thorpe Park – Stop 7

Loops&Lapbars

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 time to take it all in.

Our first visit was to Swarm. This B&M wing coaster is well themed and rides extremely well. This was only my second time riding it and Tracy’s first, and though she was terrified initially she said she’d ride it again. It does look very intimidating with the initial dive drop and elements, but much like Galactica, it’s more of a gentle giant than it looks.

The Swarm’s dive drop

After The Swarm, we went to Flying Fish, for our first ride on this junior coaster. It’s an average ride, let down a little by the landscaping and untidy ride area, but worth a ride for the credit!

Next up was The Walking Dead: The Ride, an indoor roller coaster that was closed due to the pandemic during our last visit so we missed out on it, but we have ridden it before. I like the theming and design, and I find the roller coaster itself to be quite enjoyable, especially the second lift hill scene. I’ve not heard many good reviews of the ride, and I don’t really think it needed to have an IP attached but both of us enjoy it.

On ride photos!

After The Walking Dead, we headed to Quantum, a magic carpet style ride, near the front of the park. We queued for what felt like ages as operations were very slow, the ride operators seemed to lack training to get people on and off safely and quickly. Multiple times we saw riders loaded on and then the bars released and people moved around. We felt it wasn’t worth the queue, especially when we could have been in queue for one of the roller coasters just as long.

Following Quantum, we had a bit of a wander around, taking in the atmosphere of the park, which was quite busy. We headed over towards the Black Mirror Labyrinth, this years new attraction. We failed to realise that both this and Derren Brown’s Ghost train were timed ticketed attractions, and by the time we found out, all tickets were gone, which was a bit disappointing but not the end of the world. We rode Ghost Train in 2019 and were extremely underwhelmed by the experience.

We then queued for Stealth, the parks tallest and fastest roller coaster and a favorite of mine. The queue was slow as Stealth’s queue always is, and Tracy decided not to ride this time, but has said she’ll have a go on our next visit! As for my ride, I loved it. It was only my second time riding, and the launch is still the best the UK has to offer, and short of visiting Japan for Do-Dodonpa, I doubt it’ll get much more intense than this! The top hat offers great views of the park, as you’d expect being 205ft up, and though its a short ride, its worth the wait.

Stealth about to crest the 205ft top hat.

To cool off, we had a go on Storm in a Teacup, and then the Dodgems, and then had a ride on the Rumba Rapids before stopping for something to eat at Burger King.

By this time, it was getting later in the day so we queued up for Nemesis Inferno as our last ride of the day. Inferno is an excellent ride, and though I personally prefer the original Nemesis, Inferno is still worth the queue. Its jungle themeing and volcano are all great and when we rode, the tunnels mist effect was working which cools you off!

Once we’d finished up in the shops and collected all our photos from the Dome, we went to try and find the car. No word of a lie, this is the first time I’ve ever parked a car and lost it in the car park! We did eventually find it of course, so I sent the drone up for some aerial shots and then we drove off to Cobham services for our overnight stop at the Ramada.

Tidal Wave’s splash is easily visible!

To summarize our visit to Thorpe Park, we had a great day overall. The best visit we’ve had so far, even though Quantum was a bit of a letdown. We did also have refillable drinks courtesy of the Coca-cola freestyle system they have here which wasn’t running at its best, but we were advised when we bought our cups that they had supply issues.

Next stop Chessington World of Adventures…