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A year in parks...

slappy mcguire

slappy mcguire

Mega Poster
Borrowing a post I put on the excellent new 'go-flamingo' site, I thought with only Drayton this Christmas to go, I'll try and give a bite size review in parks of the year, with the ups and downs associated, and would invite you all to do the same...

April:
Alton Towers
plus points: Nemesis still majestic, new sealife centre excellent, still more Theme Park than any other UK park.
minus points: More run down than I expected, dual terrible, food queues abhorrent.

7/10

May:
Lightwater Valley
plus points: Eagles claw, rapids both better than I was expecting.
minus points: Tired, uninspiring, and just a little ramshackle. Shadow of itself.

5/10

June:
Drayton Manor
plus points: Thomas land exceptional, Apocalypse breathtaking, generally just fun.
minus points: Dirty, and clearly in need of the hotel openin to take advantage of the extra crowds from Thomasland.

8/10

July:
Flamingo Land
plus points: Mumbo Jumbo brilliant, the park continues just to push ever onwards
minus points: Mumbo Queues abhorrent; why they don't cover sections from the sun, and have drinks machines in the queue-line is beyond me.

9/10

August:
Ocean Beach, South Shields
plus points: Ace little ghost train, good selection of flats.
minus points: Still a tatty seaside town.

6/10

Blackpool Pleasure Beach
plus points: For all it's failings, the likes of Valhalla make it greater than the sum of it's parts.
minus points: Dirtier than a randy old man. And smells like one.

7/10

September:
Disneyland Paris
plus points: Some theming in the main park exceptional, some of Europe's best rides.
minus points: Rides apart, the Studio park is a massive let down, and just feels cobbled together. Surprising lack of Disney characters.

8/10

And your year in parks?
 
Wait, are you rating Drayton Manor ABOVE both Alton AND Disney, and then you rate FL above all of these?

Eh?

:?
 
Flamingoland the best park in the UK, arguable, haven't been for a while, but I wouldn't say it has the quality over AT, but considering the website, it's biased...

On the other hand, DLP is still the best local one...

I may do one tomoz...
 
The best park I've been to this year is either Djurs Sommerland or Farup Sommerland. Both are awesome parks with great relaxed atmospheres. Also with rides like Piraten and Lynet they both tick the thrill boxes.
I think I like Farup slightly more though due to it's epic assault course and Trampolines that beat people up. :p
 
Ocean Beach, South Shields 6/10 :shock:

You must have really had a good day there as there is no way I'd rate it better than Lightwater and slightly worse than Blackpool. Compared to those parks it would struggle to even get a 1.
 
The best park I've been to this year is definately Europa Park - I had a great time when I went last month and will certainly be going back at some point! (for more Blue Fire :D)

I also have to give an honourary mention to Hull Fair, although it's not a theme park, it had a wonderful atmosphere and some amazing rides - Rock Rage, Top Buzz 2 etc :D
 
I thought I'd posted this here earlier, but I cannot find it with Search, so here is my 2009 in review:

(NFM = New For Me)
Surprised myself with a pretty good year.

In February, I started with a trip to FL for the first time in 15
years:
Disney's Hollywood Studios (NFM)
Epcot
Magic Kingdom
Animal Kingdom (NFM)
Old Town (NFM)
Universal Studios Florida (NFM)
Islands of Adventure (NFM)
Busch Gardens Tampa
Clebration Station (NFM)


Then in March, I went to SoCal and Vegas for the first time in about a
decade:
Boomers (NFM)
Scandia (NFM)
John's Incredible Pizza (NFM)
Legoland (NFM)
Mundo Divertido (NFM)
Sea World San Diego
Belmont Park
Knott's Berry Farm
Castle Amusement Park (NFM)
Adventure City
Pacific Pier
Universal Studios Hollywood
Peter Piper Pizza (NFM)
Las Vegas Mini Gran Prix (NFM)
Nascar Cafe (NFM)
Adventuredome
New York New York
Buffalo Bill's
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Disney's California Adventure (NFM)
Disneyland


April was quiet:
Kings Island


May brought me back to Florida, then further up the east coast:
Sea World Orlando (NFM)
Dania Beach (NFM)
USF/IOA again
Fun Spot (NFM)
Family Kingdom (NFM)
Freestyle Music Park (NFM)
Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Go Karts Plus (NFM)
Kings Dominion


June was quiet again:
Deer Forest Fun Park (NFM)
Indiana Beach


July, I only went out for one weekend:
Kokomo's (NFM)
Cedar Point
Tuscora Park (NFM)
Camden (NFM)
Beech Bend
Kentucky Kingdom
Coney Island (NFM)
Stricker's Grove (NFM)


August, I finally made it to NorCal for the first time:
6FMM
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (NFM)
California's Great America (NFM)
Gilroy Gardens (NFM)
SCBB (again)
Oakland Zoo (NFM)
Discovery Kingdom (NFM)
Pixieland (NFM)
Train Town (NFM)
Funderland (NFM)
Fun Town at Micke Grove (NFM)
John's Incredible Pizza (NFM)
Kiwanis Kiddieland (NFM)
Rotary Playland (NFM)
Blackbeard's FEC (NFM)
6FMM (again)


Then finally, on Labor Day, I hit up:
Worlds of Fun


Sprinkle a bunch of trips to the home park (6FGAm) and that's a pretty
darned good year, if I do say so myself.


Lowlights: How far Tragic Mountain has fallen, one totalled car, a
couple cracked windshields, and finding out where I'm moving next...


Highlights were: breaking through #900 twice, completeing a bunch of
states, completing all the B&M's in North America, some opening day
rides and getting to go to a whole bunch of smaller, family oriented
parks.


Oh, and the wife finally caught pregnant.
Click to expand...
 
My year:

January:

A visit to Knott's Berry Farm, also my first visit since July of 2008. I actually still had the Ghostrider credit to get, and I really liked it (at that time). Didn't get to ride Xcelerator, but it was a nice visit.

February:

A small trip down to San Diego to get my Giant Dipper credit at Belmont Park. Giant Dipper was okay, but pretty lame compared to Santa Cruz's.

March:

Got to go to SFMM for West Coast Bash with TPR which was awesome. I got 24 rides total and even got two credits that day; X2 (which was at the time my #1 coaster) and Superman The Escape's left side. I also went to my small little home park Castle Amusement Park twice and got my Screamin' Demon credit during one of the visits.

April:

Went to Knott's Berry Farm twice and Castle Amusement Park once. During one of my KBF visits I got a ROLL-BACK on Xcelerator. Awesome.

May:

Two visits to SFMM (one of which was Terminator Salvation The Ride Media Day, got to ride it before all the gp, hahahaha, and then later that day after park closing (6-10) anyone who won in a KROQ contest (which just happened to be pretty much everyone in SoCal on TPR) got 4 hours of ERT on X2, Tatsu, Deja Vu, Terminator, Riddler's, Batman, and Goliath. Anyone that was there can tell you it was COMPLETELY EMPTY and I even got 5 rides on X2, all with an empty station!), a visit to Knott's in which I marathoned Xcelerator 10 times and Supreme Scream 11 times, and a visit to Disneyland/DCA to ride a lot of first's (already whored up the place though :().

June:

My big trip to Cedar Point, Kennywood, Kings Island, Coney Island, Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, and Holiday World. Got nearly 50 credits on this trip, and most importantly, I finally "got out of California" and rode some real coasters. Also at the end of the month was TPR Termination Day which was again awesome. I think I got 10+ rides on Terminator (morning and nighttime ERT ftw) and rides on pretty much everything else too.

July:

Two visits to Disneyland/DCA which were obviously a lot of fun, and a mini trip up to Northern California to get my Tony Hawk credit at SFDK. Also went to CGA and GG for nice re-visits.

August:

Nothing

September:

John's Incredible Pizza Company to get my Incredible Coaster credit and a SFMM visit in which I pretty much had the whole park to myself.

October: Nothing

What do I still have to look forward to?

Well...going to SFMM on Sunday, and I don't have anything planned after that, but I could very well end up at SFMM and KBF again before the end of the year.

Best year evah. My count went from 70 to 126, I met up with a lot of people on TPR at the events, and I've been on "real" coasters now!
 
Well my first year of proper coastering has been great, with a trip to Florida, many trips to Alton Towers, and a few other UK parks. I think I've been to Alton Towers at least once in every month of the season, so I will just put what other ones I went to.

April:

Florida! My second time to Florida provided me with some of the best coasters I have ever ridden. Trips to Disney, Universal, Seaworld and Busch Gardens were amazing and some of the best parks I have ever been to, plus plenty of new coasters for me, more than half of my top 10 being made up of Florida coasters.

May, June, July:

Mostly busy with GCSE revision through May and June but July was full of trips to Alton Towers!

August:

Aswell as Alton Towers a few times, I got to Thorpe Park for the second time and got to ride Saw, plus Stealth, Colossus and Inferno again which were fantastic. Got to go to Pleasure Beach to ride all the coasters there which meant lots of new coasters and was really great. Also went to the Milky Way to ride the coasters and to have fun in the cool play area and stuff.

September:

More (very empty) Alton Towers.

October:

Alton Towers normal and scarefest riding in the dark which was great, plus PBB again with some riding in the dark.

November:

Next week is adrenaline week so will finish off the season with Towers.

Overall I've had a great first year of properly organising theme park trips etc and going to more theme parks and riding more coasters. My coaster count has gone from 44 to 77 which I am very pleased about!
 
Only managed to do 2 parks this year.

Did Alton Towers in June, spent 3 days in the park and stayed 2 nights in the Splashlandings Hotel. I last visited the park in 2006 and while not much has changed except a few improvements and Corkscrew getting removed it was still as good as I remembered. I think the park needed a new coaster to add to it's line-up but they are getting SW6 next year which solves that problem.

8.5/10

In August I went to Six Flags Great America while on holiday in Chicago. Nice park with a big coaster collection but I think it just needs a new signature coaster. Everything is good but nothing is great but it's still a great park.

8/10
 
Okay this was mine..

June

Cedar Point- 10/10

I rated it so high because it was a Live, and when I'm with CFers it can't get any better! It also wasn't very busy for a Saturday meaning we got on everything we wanted.

Kings Island- 10/10

Again, it was a Live, and it is a park I have wanted to go to for a really long time, so finally getting to do so was pretty nice. Diamondback cracked my top ten as well.

Holiday World- 9/10

It would have been a ten, because I love the park, and I was with some of my favourite members as well. I would have liked a few more rides on Voyage though, and it started pouring, which was whack.

Beech Bend- 7/10

Not a great park at all, but I rated the experience a seven purely for the company of Jerry, Aidan, and Marcus. Rumbler was a bit disappointing, and I was sad because it was my last park of the trip.. But it was still fun.

July

Kennywood- 10/10

I LOVED Kennywood, and I got to go with Snoo and his brother and dadday which was fun. Other amusement parks need to take examples of what Kennywood is.. Not too big, with a few good rides and flats, and somewhere where you can just enjoy your day out without feeling rushed. Phanny almost cracked my top ten, Jack Rabbit was one of the biggest surprises ever, and Exterminator was hilarious.

Waldameer- 9/10

Had good company once again, and Ravine Flyer II made it into my top three. Xscream was an awesome drop tower, and though the rest of the park was lacking, they did have some badass lemonade!

Michigans Adventure- 9.8/10

Any park with CFers deserves to be a solid ten, but this is Michigan's Adventure we're talking about.. You know, the park that wants to cause all of its guests to be blind with all the glare off the white cement. Timbers got worse over the years, which is another reason why my rating went down.

Six Flags Great America- 10/10

I had a great day when I went there.. We had our gold flashpasses, I was with Jerry, Aidan, and Snoo, we all hit milestones on that day, and in general it was a really nice park with a lot to do. It's somewhere I'd love to go back to one day in the next few seasons.

Six Flags St.Louis- 9.9/10

It lost .1 of a point for that restaurant that served Jerry and Marcus some yucky chicken. But, otherwise it was a big surprise.. I really thought the park was going to be one of the worst in the chain but it was actually good. It has a nice atmosphere, some good rides, and some weird flats. Evel Knievel almost made my top ten as well.

August

La Ronde- 6.5/10

I went with my dad and stepmom, and though I enjoy going places with them, the park was a bit hard to enjoy. It was on my birthday, and well, my first ride on Goliath was a bit disappointing, although the lines for it were a walkon at that point. But then, I lost my phone, which was SO sad. The day was actually SCORCHING hot, I didn't feel good through half of it, and the only other decent ride in the park was Vampire. One train operation made the lines absolutely horrible.. A ten minute wait + one train operation + really horrible ride operators = bad times. Cobra was also one of the worst coasters I have EVER had the misfortune of riding.

Canada's Wonderland- 6.8/10

The day might have been okay, but my mom called in the morning and said my hamsters both died, so I had a really hard time enjoying myself. Lines were sort of long, a few things surprisingly broke down, and I was by myself, which is sort of boring. I love the park, don't get me wrong, but I would have loved to have company, and no bad news to start the day off with.

October

Cedar Point- 8.5/10

I went with my little cousin and uncle, and the lines were really good. We got on everything, including rerides when we wanted.. And in general it was just a fun time besides a few breakdowns on Maverick.

So that was my year.. Yay.
 
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