ThomVD
Giga Poster
So I finally made it to the UK to do most of the major parks 
This trip report will be full of unpopular opinions and while there were only a few coasters that I truly loved, the UK has plenty of interesting stuff to offer. Accompanying me on this trip is CFer CookieCoasters (James).
The schedule for the week was:
Day 1: The creds near Birmingham (Cannon Hill and St Nicholas Park)
Day 2: Drayton Manor
Day 3: Alton Towers
Day 4: Alton Towers
Day 5: Blackpool Pleasure Beach
Day 6: Thorpe Park
Day 7: Chessington
Day 8: +3 at Wicksteed Park
Day 1
I won't go in depth for this day, as it was just a small cred run after I arrived in England. We started out with the cred at St Nicholas Park, which is basically just an SBF Visa twin helix coaster. I didn't even bother taking a photo. It was called Runaway Train. Couldn't start off a trip any better.
Next cred was the spinning coaster at Cannon Hill. Both of these opened last year so I might actually have a cred that some UK CFers don't have Spinning Coaster was ever so slightly more exciting than Runaway Train. We then made our way home to prepare for the real start of the trip the next day.
Day 2
It might only be Drayton Manor, but I was just so excited to finally go to a proper UK park. It was one of the two days that could potentially be busy, since we visited on a sunday and then Alton Towers on a bank holiday monday. In the end, it might have actually been the busiest day of the trip, but it wasn't too bad. I'll cover all rides that we rode and give my opinion on it;
Troublesome Trucks
We did this one first because it could get a bit of a queue and G-Force was to open a bit later due to technical issues. Thomas Land is quite popular, which isn't surprising since it's a lovely place for kids. I'm not familiar with the show, but it seemed quite nice. The coaster itself is decent for what it is. It's a slight step up from the smallest of kiddie coasters but not quite a family coaster yet. The twisty bit towards the end was actually fun.
G-Force
G-Force opened by the time we were done with Troublesome Trucks. I was dreading it a lot because I hate hangtime and I've heard it's quite rough. We rode the back seat and in the end it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. My favourite part was probably the pre-lift drop which caught me off guard. The lifthill wasn't as bad as I thought and the drop out of the lift and the airtime hill were fun. After that hill the restraints tightened quite a lot though which spoiled most of the remaining fun. It's certainly not a great coaster, but I found it decent enough. We re-rode it later, again in the back, and my opinion still stands.
Shockwave
My first stand-up coaster. I've always thought that standing up on coasters must be so uncomfortable and put so much pressure on your knees. After the longest queue of the day (about 20-30 mins) we got on the second row. It was fun! It might not be the longest layout and I'm still puzzled why it needs to have such long straight sections at several places inbetween the elements. But I had a good time on it. It was running rather smooth and I don't think I suffered from headbanging at all. The zero-G roll is the clear stand-out element. Probably the best ride at Drayton Manor. We later re-rode it in the front row and it was even smoother there.
Buffalo Mountain Coaster
After a small queue we rode this Zamperla Powered coaster. It's rather strange. I like the bit where it goes over the water and it was odd how close the track got to a parallel part of the track, but other than that it's unremarkable. It seems forgotten on the edge of the park.
Accelerator
Aka Ben-10. This is my second Vekoma family boomerang. It literally has no reason why it should be better than Raik at Phantasialand. It's not as well themed, smaller, slower, shorter. And yet it IS better than Raik. I'm not sure if it has to do with expectations or that the layout is simply better, but while I was mostly underwhelmed with Raik, I found this one a lot of fun. It's still short, but some of the turns were decently forceful in the back seat. A very solid family coaster.
Apocalypse
Having done all the creds, we moved on to the other rides the park had to offer, starting with the most notable one. I've heard good things about this drop tower. Good news was that both sides pretty much had a walk-on. Sadly, the stand-up floorless side was closed. We rode the sit-down side first and I found the drop quite forceful for an Intamin giant drop. The stand-up floored side was more interesting though. I've never done anything like it and it made me a bit nervous which I usually don't get anymore. It didn't help that it started tilting before going up, meaning you're facing downwards the entire climb until the end of the drop. It's a great drop tower, especially for its size. Fritt Fall at Gröna Lund is definitely still the best drop tower I've done, easily.
Maelstrom
I almost always like these frisbee style rides and this was no exception. Aside from that it had nothing about it that stood out though. I've done better and I've done worse. Thankfully the queue was short.
Air Race
We had to wait a couple of cycles before we got on. This air race started off great with plenty of fast spins that made me like this ride type so much. But then the horror started towards the end. We constantly got a slower spin, leaving us hanging into our restraints for long durations of time. I think that during the last "roll" we were hanging upside down for a good 10-15 seconds. Urgh!
Splash Canyon
Unfortunately, Stormforce-10 was closed for maintenance during our visit, so we had to settle for the other water ride in the park. After our first ride on Shockwave, this probably had the longest queue. Funny thing was, when we got on our boat, we happened to share it with a Dutch family. Meaning James was the only non-Dutch person on the boat It was a good rapids, probably the best one of this trip. The first half wasn't too remarkable but then the tunnel and final splash were quite wet. Nice interaction with Shockwave too, which roared above us just when we passed it.
The Haunting
We ended our day with the park's madhouse. It had a long queue earlier but towards the end of the day we could get on the next cycle. They put a lot of effort into the theming and effects. Loved the "jump scare" in the first corridor with the skeleton on the roof and the second room was quite well done. The actual madhouse was decent as well but obviously completely overshadowed by the one we rode the day after. I would still rank it above the Belgian ones and the one at Phantasialand.
The Park Overall
I thought Drayton Manor as a park was a bit meh. It didn't really have much atmosphere and even if you look at it like a smaller family park, it doesn't make you go "aww", which I did get with parks like Nigloland and Familypark in Austria. It's really just a collection of rides and paths inbetween. The ride selection is nothing too special, but it has a couple of interesting ones. Shockwave, Apocalypse, Accelerator and The Haunting are probably the most notable ones. I wouldn't rush back until they get a new substantial cred, but I still had a great day.
Next up is Alton Towers <3
This trip report will be full of unpopular opinions and while there were only a few coasters that I truly loved, the UK has plenty of interesting stuff to offer. Accompanying me on this trip is CFer CookieCoasters (James).The schedule for the week was:
Day 1: The creds near Birmingham (Cannon Hill and St Nicholas Park)
Day 2: Drayton Manor
Day 3: Alton Towers
Day 4: Alton Towers
Day 5: Blackpool Pleasure Beach
Day 6: Thorpe Park
Day 7: Chessington
Day 8: +3 at Wicksteed Park
Day 1
I won't go in depth for this day, as it was just a small cred run after I arrived in England. We started out with the cred at St Nicholas Park, which is basically just an SBF Visa twin helix coaster. I didn't even bother taking a photo. It was called Runaway Train. Couldn't start off a trip any better.
Next cred was the spinning coaster at Cannon Hill. Both of these opened last year so I might actually have a cred that some UK CFers don't have
Spinning Coaster was ever so slightly more exciting than Runaway Train. We then made our way home to prepare for the real start of the trip the next day.
Day 2
It might only be Drayton Manor, but I was just so excited to finally go to a proper UK park. It was one of the two days that could potentially be busy, since we visited on a sunday and then Alton Towers on a bank holiday monday. In the end, it might have actually been the busiest day of the trip, but it wasn't too bad. I'll cover all rides that we rode and give my opinion on it;
Troublesome Trucks
We did this one first because it could get a bit of a queue and G-Force was to open a bit later due to technical issues. Thomas Land is quite popular, which isn't surprising since it's a lovely place for kids. I'm not familiar with the show, but it seemed quite nice. The coaster itself is decent for what it is. It's a slight step up from the smallest of kiddie coasters but not quite a family coaster yet. The twisty bit towards the end was actually fun.
G-Force
G-Force opened by the time we were done with Troublesome Trucks. I was dreading it a lot because I hate hangtime and I've heard it's quite rough. We rode the back seat and in the end it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. My favourite part was probably the pre-lift drop which caught me off guard. The lifthill wasn't as bad as I thought and the drop out of the lift and the airtime hill were fun. After that hill the restraints tightened quite a lot though which spoiled most of the remaining fun. It's certainly not a great coaster, but I found it decent enough. We re-rode it later, again in the back, and my opinion still stands.
Shockwave
My first stand-up coaster. I've always thought that standing up on coasters must be so uncomfortable and put so much pressure on your knees. After the longest queue of the day (about 20-30 mins) we got on the second row. It was fun! It might not be the longest layout and I'm still puzzled why it needs to have such long straight sections at several places inbetween the elements. But I had a good time on it. It was running rather smooth and I don't think I suffered from headbanging at all. The zero-G roll is the clear stand-out element. Probably the best ride at Drayton Manor. We later re-rode it in the front row and it was even smoother there.
Buffalo Mountain Coaster
After a small queue we rode this Zamperla Powered coaster. It's rather strange. I like the bit where it goes over the water and it was odd how close the track got to a parallel part of the track, but other than that it's unremarkable. It seems forgotten on the edge of the park.
Accelerator
Aka Ben-10. This is my second Vekoma family boomerang. It literally has no reason why it should be better than Raik at Phantasialand. It's not as well themed, smaller, slower, shorter. And yet it IS better than Raik. I'm not sure if it has to do with expectations or that the layout is simply better, but while I was mostly underwhelmed with Raik, I found this one a lot of fun. It's still short, but some of the turns were decently forceful in the back seat. A very solid family coaster.
Apocalypse
Having done all the creds, we moved on to the other rides the park had to offer, starting with the most notable one. I've heard good things about this drop tower. Good news was that both sides pretty much had a walk-on. Sadly, the stand-up floorless side was closed. We rode the sit-down side first and I found the drop quite forceful for an Intamin giant drop. The stand-up floored side was more interesting though. I've never done anything like it and it made me a bit nervous which I usually don't get anymore. It didn't help that it started tilting before going up, meaning you're facing downwards the entire climb until the end of the drop. It's a great drop tower, especially for its size. Fritt Fall at Gröna Lund is definitely still the best drop tower I've done, easily.
Maelstrom
I almost always like these frisbee style rides and this was no exception. Aside from that it had nothing about it that stood out though. I've done better and I've done worse. Thankfully the queue was short.
Air Race
We had to wait a couple of cycles before we got on. This air race started off great with plenty of fast spins that made me like this ride type so much. But then the horror started towards the end. We constantly got a slower spin, leaving us hanging into our restraints for long durations of time. I think that during the last "roll" we were hanging upside down for a good 10-15 seconds. Urgh!
Splash Canyon
Unfortunately, Stormforce-10 was closed for maintenance during our visit, so we had to settle for the other water ride in the park. After our first ride on Shockwave, this probably had the longest queue. Funny thing was, when we got on our boat, we happened to share it with a Dutch family. Meaning James was the only non-Dutch person on the boat
It was a good rapids, probably the best one of this trip. The first half wasn't too remarkable but then the tunnel and final splash were quite wet. Nice interaction with Shockwave too, which roared above us just when we passed it.
The Haunting
We ended our day with the park's madhouse. It had a long queue earlier but towards the end of the day we could get on the next cycle. They put a lot of effort into the theming and effects. Loved the "jump scare" in the first corridor with the skeleton on the roof and the second room was quite well done. The actual madhouse was decent as well but obviously completely overshadowed by the one we rode the day after. I would still rank it above the Belgian ones and the one at Phantasialand.
The Park Overall
I thought Drayton Manor as a park was a bit meh. It didn't really have much atmosphere and even if you look at it like a smaller family park, it doesn't make you go "aww", which I did get with parks like Nigloland and Familypark in Austria. It's really just a collection of rides and paths inbetween. The ride selection is nothing too special, but it has a couple of interesting ones. Shockwave, Apocalypse, Accelerator and The Haunting are probably the most notable ones. I wouldn't rush back until they get a new substantial cred, but I still had a great day.
Next up is Alton Towers <3
