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On The Road To An Iconic 75th And Many Other Adventures

jj23w

Hyper Poster
So this past weekend I went to the opening weekend of Blackpool Pleasure Beach or more like the the Sunday. (No photos this time as it was too cold this whole weekend). Anyway let's get down to business.

I started my day waking up at 7:30 was originally going to go to Chessington World Of Adventures with some friends but those plans fell through last minute so I got an extra couple of hours in bed. My train was at 18:30 from London Euston so setting off from my house at 5 o clock my journey of mishaps began. Got on the train and then got off the train it was eventful and boring. Got to Preston and had an hour to kill until my train came to go to Blackpool South. Hate Preston enough said.

Now got to Blackpool South at 22:30 and set off on an adventure to find my hotel which now I look at it was funnily enough quite easy to find I stayed in the Travelodge by The Football Club it was good but just a place to stay. Got a message from a few of my friends asking if I was coming out tonight so I got ready and battled the wind and the rain to get to the Velvet Coaster. Saw some old faces and some of my best friends and some new faces which of course will be in my life for years to come and then we set off to Popworld. Popworld is a club that plays cheese music all night and has relatively cheap drinks went there and met some PBE people who are lovely and I spent an hour with the next day. Saw some people who decided drama was the way forward over the weekend but it didn't bother me and I enjoyed my night. At 4:00 am I left the Club in search of a McDonald's and my hotel to get some sleep before my second ever day at the Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

8:45 my Alarm Clock goes off and I slowly start getting ready for my hours ERT on The Grand National kindly ran by The Pleasure Beach Experience. Set off from my hotel at 9 and walked down the Seafront seeing The Big One in the background it still looks visually amazing. Now got to the Casino Building and got my wristband for the event and saw a few of my friends from Thorpe such as Jamie and his brother. And then we set off I was quite excited by the ERT for the Grand National as I know a lot of people find it incredibly rough which I honestly don't. My first ride was on the Dark Green Train and it was powering through the circuit it was honestly amazing fairly intense but not rough. Now went for another ride and met who I'm going to say is probably one of my favourite people called Sam he has a YouTube channel and I could see he's passionate about the hobby we are in. After 10 rides on the Grand National it was the end of ERT we all said our final Thank Yous and Goodbyes to Scott and Becca which did an amazing event and I can't wait for more hopefully this year.

I met up with my friends from the night before and the first ride we went on was Valhalla and this is where I have abit of a gripe. It looked amazing in some scenes the theming looked amazing but mostly all effects were broken and the ice room was a sauna with exposed scaffolding where the ice should be which was sad.

After this we went round the park to Nickleodeon Streak which is a fantastic smooth woodie with a surprising amount of airtime which I thoroughly enjoyed. We then went to Avalanche for my first ever go and surprisingly I found it Fantastic it picks up speed quite well and goes faster than expected wish I'd got another ride on it but it broke down during the day. Sky Force was meh. Big Dipper was rough as hell and I honestly hated it but the Icon headchoppers are amazing which makes a dull ride fun. I went on Revolution in the rain which is my Second favourite ride at the Plesaure Beach backwards airtime is amazing and it was Coaster 68 on my count. Also tried the Derby Racer which is actually quite scary with how fast it goes and the amount of times I nearly fell off. Now was the time to clean the park until Icon opens and that was Steeplechase Red and Green. They were very meh and very rough. Went to see how bad the dark ride queues were and decided to go to the gift shop and get some merch. Now as for ride closures The Big One was closed as well as Flying Machines And The Pleasure Beach Express and I think the Grand Prix.

Went back to my hotel for some sleep and my final day in Blackpool. Went and done the Merlin Midway Attractions. The Tower is like The Eye where it's fun but not something you can do all the time. However Madame Tussaud's was fantastic I don't like the London one as it's far too busy but this one was quiet and is quite interactive compared to Londons. The Sealife was ok I think I prefer this one even though Londons one has Penguins. The Blackpool Dungeons was really really good there were a few jump scares and it's interesting to learn about Blackpools past I then to Graffiti Golf next to the Sealife and it was prettt good very quiet and something I'd reccommend.

It was time to set off him but it was a great weekend would like to thank PBE for the ERT and hospitality. Blackpool is a town that's very on the up I don't think it was as grotty as it was last time and it's an actual fab place now and Opening weekends is now a staple thing for me.

Thanks for reading. Next Trip Alton Towers for potentially Wicker Man.
 

Will

Strata Poster
Nights out in Blackpool always the same, ended up with a broken nose last time!
Good effort doing the park on so little sleep after a night out, would be a write-off for me!!
Valhalla in February is always fab.
Nice report :)
 

Lofty

CF Legend
Just for future reference, Horror Crypt and Pasaje del Terror are two completely different entities.
 

jj23w

Hyper Poster
Nights out in Blackpool always the same, ended up with a broken nose last time!
Good effort doing the park on so little sleep after a night out, would be a write-off for me!!
Valhalla in February is always fab.
Nice report :)

Yeah this one was a certain few YouTube channels starting. I'm young so doing it is quite easy plus I didn't drink much. Ouch man. Valhalla is ok but needs some scenes fixed. Anyway onwards with the show.

Was supposed to go Alton Towers on Monday but as the weather looked extremely bad I decided against it and decided to go yesterday instead. So woke up at 3am for the start of my journey heading up to London on the night bus for the second time and I hated it. Got dropped off at Oxford Circus and then walked to Euston for my train to Stoke on Trent at 7:55 it was a fast train journey and then got a taxi to Alton Towers. Joined the queue at the Drop Off Point to get into the park it took about 15 minutes to filter through and get to the Entrance met a few friends I know and joined them for the day and headed for The Will It Open Man. The Ents actors were fab and were very good in their role and then the show began walking through the queue which is surpsingly really good and utilises the area very well got to the halfway point and it broke down. The trains constantly kept going out but no one was getting on the ride. A little while later they evacuated the queue and this was the point I had anxiety for The Will It Open Man. We had a look around at The Welcome Inn which looks great and decided to go and try another ride.

So we joined The Congo River Rapids queue. And we were at the turntable when all of a sudden we heard a Monsterous roar and noticed Wicker Man testing so we decided to run back the way we came through the queue line and down a few hills and back out the entrance to run back to The Wicker Man. We got back in the queue and watched constant trains go round and round giving me more Anxiety as to whether it'll open and the good news after half hour it opened. And we were about 20 minutes away from riding the coaster.

Now here's some Minor Spoilers. Once you get batched through you go into The Pre Pre Show where you put your bag and bits away and then you venture into The Pre Show which is frankly amazing and one of my favourite Merlin Pre Shows. The Projection Mapping is fantastic and then it's into the station which is good at first sight and themed very well. Sat in the third row of the ride and we set off on our adventure. I was expecting a tame little kids ride how wrong I was it hauls through the layout it goes so fast and has surprising amounts of airtime for a kids coaster. Honestly my favourite Family Coaster and probably my favourite coaster at the park.

After this we headed over to Duel which had some Upgrades to some of the theming it was great I loved it and honestly the theming looks great and The Sound Track sounds fab. After this we went to try Galactica we queued up for The VR and I'm going to say it's great as a concept but it isn't something I'd do again I'd rather ride it as Air. We only had an hour left and Nemesis had a massive queue because it was on 1 train so we decided to get food at The Eastern Express got a Mixed Kebab Wrap and it tasted really good. We then decided to go over to X Sector and go on Oblivion but we didn't go on Oblivion instead we went on The Smiler and woah I didn't like it when I went on it before but this was great it's surprisingly fast and was pretty smooth and I loved every second of it.

Yesterday didn't revolve around Ride Counts it revolved around getting on Was It Worth It Man? And let's just say the 5 and a half hour queue was worth it for The Wicker Man can't wait to go back in May for more rides on it. Now this takes my coaster up to 70 5 more away from Icon being my 75th still haven't decided what coasters or parks to do next but when I do I'll update this page thanks for reading.
 
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