Smithy
Strata Poster
Although to be fair, that garish accent I'd prepared myself for didn't rear it's head once. Misconception number one.
For some reason (over-bearing nerdism resulting in now classifying rollercoasters as +1's) we decided to head to Southend for the day to do a few touristy things and then spend the evening at AI to get the 5 credits and then head back home.
After a detour through Basildon to stock up on Taco Bell;
We got into Southend at around 4.50pm and walked over to ride the cliff railway/lift thing. Which shut at 5pm. And we got there at 5.03pm. Balls. Still. It looked all fancy and nostalgiac.
As for some reason AI decides to charge £25 for wristbands, which we found vastly overpriced (for us, if you could spend the whole day it's fair) we were going to wait until after 6pm when wristbands were reduced to £12.50 (utter bargain) for the four hours until rides closed. With time to kill we paid a measly £4 for a return train ride along "the longest pleasure pier in the world". Or, according to my Nokia, we went for a swim out into the Thames estuary.
Got to the end of the pier, walked around and admired the lack of a view, rung the bell at the top of the RNLI sunspot thingy, admired a monumentally big yacht that was moored up, had an impromptu pull up session, drunk an overpriced hot chocolate then got the train back. Decided to go up in the lifts opposite AI before they shut to take a few pictures of the park.
Can also see how far out the water recedes. After getting out the lift we realsied we had to return to the car, noticed the couple who'd got into the lift after us were stuck, a foot off the floor in said lift. Lucky escape. Into the park, people working selling tickets were chatty and friendly, trying to upsell for dodgems and another ride I didn't quite listen about.
Decided to get Rage done and out the way first (my 50th coaster wooo etc...), was surprising in mostly a good way. I detest vertical lifts, actually hate them, they're uncomfortable, unnerving and I just hate them. The drop, for what looks to be a small lift, is solid, the little shuffle at the top of the loop just allows you to get a breather, and after that the speed it carries into both the tight turnaround pre-roll and that helix after are ridiculous on-ride. Better than Saw for me, easily.
Wanting to get all the coasters out the way, we went over to green scream. Ops working on there were awesome for getting the kids riding involved, loud, friendly, interactive, probably the best staff I've come across which was a huge surprise given what I've come to expect from seaside parks like Fantasy Island and Blackpool. Misconception two.
Barnstormer was a generic kiddy coaster with awesome trains. We went on mighty mini mega which was where one of my only criticisms of the park comes in. There was only one op working on this ride (and the kiddi-coasta), so she had to check the restraints herself, and then clear the train via both booths at front/back of the station to let the ride go. To save time I imagine, she was also not locking the restraints where there were empty seats which was a bit unnerving, no doubt entirely safe, but odd to me at least. kiddi-coasta has left me with a bruised back, less said the better.
Goldmine, Sk8borda, Ramba Zamba were all ok. American Whip for a 'classic' ride was fun. Archelon I didn't like at all, didn't feel safe on it nor queueing for it when some lads trainers came flying mid-ride. Also rode the flying jumbos because GIANT ELEPHANTS and got laughed at by the friendly ops.
Had high hopes for Over The Hill given I'd seen it hyped on here. Disappointing. Not scary nor jumpy, noise at the end was worst part and that was painful rather than surprising. Sky Drop was good, nice little cycle. Had a last ride on Rage on my own as it was now fully dark, ran better than before, so much more intense than it appears.
So yeah, that's Adventure Island. A surpisingly very nice little park, the sort of thing I can imagine most other seaside resorts are desperately in need of. It was clean, well patrolled by security, the staff were nothing short of brilliant, and the half price tickets really made it a bloody good value day out. My only issue would be if you're not one for re-riding rides multiple times (and I'm not), we were done in about 3 hours. Won't be rushing back but it is a very, very good little park.
For some reason (over-bearing nerdism resulting in now classifying rollercoasters as +1's) we decided to head to Southend for the day to do a few touristy things and then spend the evening at AI to get the 5 credits and then head back home.
After a detour through Basildon to stock up on Taco Bell;
We got into Southend at around 4.50pm and walked over to ride the cliff railway/lift thing. Which shut at 5pm. And we got there at 5.03pm. Balls. Still. It looked all fancy and nostalgiac.
As for some reason AI decides to charge £25 for wristbands, which we found vastly overpriced (for us, if you could spend the whole day it's fair) we were going to wait until after 6pm when wristbands were reduced to £12.50 (utter bargain) for the four hours until rides closed. With time to kill we paid a measly £4 for a return train ride along "the longest pleasure pier in the world". Or, according to my Nokia, we went for a swim out into the Thames estuary.
Got to the end of the pier, walked around and admired the lack of a view, rung the bell at the top of the RNLI sunspot thingy, admired a monumentally big yacht that was moored up, had an impromptu pull up session, drunk an overpriced hot chocolate then got the train back. Decided to go up in the lifts opposite AI before they shut to take a few pictures of the park.
Can also see how far out the water recedes. After getting out the lift we realsied we had to return to the car, noticed the couple who'd got into the lift after us were stuck, a foot off the floor in said lift. Lucky escape. Into the park, people working selling tickets were chatty and friendly, trying to upsell for dodgems and another ride I didn't quite listen about.
Decided to get Rage done and out the way first (my 50th coaster wooo etc...), was surprising in mostly a good way. I detest vertical lifts, actually hate them, they're uncomfortable, unnerving and I just hate them. The drop, for what looks to be a small lift, is solid, the little shuffle at the top of the loop just allows you to get a breather, and after that the speed it carries into both the tight turnaround pre-roll and that helix after are ridiculous on-ride. Better than Saw for me, easily.
Wanting to get all the coasters out the way, we went over to green scream. Ops working on there were awesome for getting the kids riding involved, loud, friendly, interactive, probably the best staff I've come across which was a huge surprise given what I've come to expect from seaside parks like Fantasy Island and Blackpool. Misconception two.
Barnstormer was a generic kiddy coaster with awesome trains. We went on mighty mini mega which was where one of my only criticisms of the park comes in. There was only one op working on this ride (and the kiddi-coasta), so she had to check the restraints herself, and then clear the train via both booths at front/back of the station to let the ride go. To save time I imagine, she was also not locking the restraints where there were empty seats which was a bit unnerving, no doubt entirely safe, but odd to me at least. kiddi-coasta has left me with a bruised back, less said the better.
Goldmine, Sk8borda, Ramba Zamba were all ok. American Whip for a 'classic' ride was fun. Archelon I didn't like at all, didn't feel safe on it nor queueing for it when some lads trainers came flying mid-ride. Also rode the flying jumbos because GIANT ELEPHANTS and got laughed at by the friendly ops.
Had high hopes for Over The Hill given I'd seen it hyped on here. Disappointing. Not scary nor jumpy, noise at the end was worst part and that was painful rather than surprising. Sky Drop was good, nice little cycle. Had a last ride on Rage on my own as it was now fully dark, ran better than before, so much more intense than it appears.
So yeah, that's Adventure Island. A surpisingly very nice little park, the sort of thing I can imagine most other seaside resorts are desperately in need of. It was clean, well patrolled by security, the staff were nothing short of brilliant, and the half price tickets really made it a bloody good value day out. My only issue would be if you're not one for re-riding rides multiple times (and I'm not), we were done in about 3 hours. Won't be rushing back but it is a very, very good little park.
