slappy mcguire
Mega Poster
Took my family to Lightwater Valley in April, and was left with mixed feelings, which is a shame because I was really desperate to enjoy it as it was the first time my youngest son has ever been on a rollercoaster and the first time the eldest has ever been on The Rat.
It was meant to be drizzly followed by sunny but in the end stayed foggy most of the day, but happily it didn't affect the shenanigans much. It was actually surprisingly busy though, which was good to see. The bogs are still festering stenchpits though, just to start things off on the wrong foot.
In the park, it was nice to see the food outlets having evidently been spruced up a little, although with The Conservatory closed and Pub in the Wood still selling virtually bugger all, it's still too hard to get a decent meal - even if you are prepared to pay through the nose for it - and that set against a background of the rumblings of the future of the park being potentially at risk without the holiday village; as daft as it sounds, can't help but think that on food at least, they're still missing a trick.
Opening plaza still looks as cluttered as ever, god knows why so much is shoehorned into that one small area, with so much of the park sparse; surely to goodness, even a couple of the rides might be better served being relocated somewhere between The Wave and The Caterpillar.
Falls of Terror does indeed look better with the new signage and got the day off to a decent start. The area yon side of the Enterprise, sorry, Black Widows Web, is now indeed better laid out and the littlest had his first go on a rollercoaster, and as a first one, I'm chuffed it was The Ladybird. But by god, like a lot of the rides it is in desperate need of just a lick of paint.
New rapids ride was comparatively quiet, and still desperately short of themeing to hide its travelling fair origins, but albeit short, proved a decent enough ride. The review on Coaster Kingdom, in it's travelling guise, gets it pretty much spot on. Sadly though, it packed in mid-morning with a huge cylinder being removed looking rather terminal, and it didn't run again for the rest of the day.
Queue for The Rat was longer than normal, but gladly somewhat restored to it's former self and not looking anywhere near as run down as it has recently, with some of the themeing and darkness having appeared to have received some TLC. First time I've enjoyed it in years, and again, the eldest loved his maiden voyage.
Ultimate seemed to run without problems all day, and none of the trains seemed laiden with sand-drums, for a change. Sadly the same couldn't be said for The Twister, which broke down all day, one poor set of buggers were stuck up at the top for best part of an hour. Similarly Hornets Nest was swatted as usual, I've yet to see it even running myself. Eagles Claw had no such problems though.
First time I'd been on Lightwater Wheel; no water feature running, reasonable enough, but still seems a slightly odd location for it. To me, it would have just simply have fitted better if it and Trauma Tower were in opposite locations, but in the scheme of things, I suppose LWV are happy with any planning consent they receive these days. Fort William area still a disgrace - surely even a park or the dodgems would be a better fit for the once proud area.
Ultimately, that was just it. It wasn't a bad day, just not a great one - and sadly that's becoming the norm for the once proud place - just as a footnote to what I was saying about the food, even in these tight financial times you generally go to theme parks with the intent of paying money, and why the park is so intent on selling so little merchandise is beyond me - a mug, booklet or video on the history of the park, even some ruddy artsy shots of some of the rides would be nice - but no. High School Musical pens.
As ever, it just seems that the park is somewhat stuck in the malaise that grabbed hold of American Adventure - and that scares the living bejesus out of me. Shame.
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There are times however when things just work out. I have 2 kids, and a themepark hating wife, so in getting the visit to Drayton of the ground, I had to pre-emptively move heaven and earth.
I'm glad I did tho...
Despite losing 20 mins getting lost in Fazeley, we got to the park for about 11am. Watching Shockwave thunder across the front of the park was an awesome sight; even 15 years on, it's still a very unique 'coaster.
Getting into the park was less of a chore than my recent visits to Alton, and to LWV, even though it was may day. On entering the park, it became immediately obvious just how shrewd a bit of business Thomas Land is. Busy isn't the word - despite the fact that most of the rides are nothing more than heavily themed off the shelf attractions, such as the rocking bullstrode - which AT has as a pirate themed ride, and FL have as a tug (so many double entoundres, so little time), but the very fact that the kids were able to imagine they were in Sodor, guaranteed its status as an absolute hit.
Troublesome trucks was fabulously themed, and made it all the more evident how much that adds to the feel of a ride - Lightwater Valley take note...
The park itself is cluttered, but oddly, not in a bad way - despite for example the 4D cinema, Apocalypse, and pirate Adventure all being in spitting distance of each other, heavy themeing on each ride ensured you didn't notice to the degree you should. Maelstrom, splash canyon, and Stormforce 10 all being good examples of this. Photos don't do the place justice - there is really something about the feel of it.
Food wise, we visited the magnificently themed Rainforest Pizzeria, which was darkened, and had anamatronic Rhino's and such going about thir business, as the diners ate.
As far as rides were concerned, I'll let you in on a secret. I love Rollercoasters, but have accepted I will have to have a few lean years where the day isn't really about what I want to do, in order to get the kids hooked on themeparks, whereby the meek, as they say, will inherit the earth. That said, the more junior rides, even the likes of the 4D cinema, and the ageing Buffalo (both, queues aside) were far better than they had any right to be, whilst the couple of biggie's I sneaked onto - Apocalypse (in a word, stunning, and best tried stand-up) and G-force (intense, but far better than it's detractors would have you believe) were both well worth a visit.
Never been to Drayton? Shame on you. It's not the most intense day you'll ever have, but it is certainly one of the most unique. If you have kids, Thomas land is an absolute must.
It was meant to be drizzly followed by sunny but in the end stayed foggy most of the day, but happily it didn't affect the shenanigans much. It was actually surprisingly busy though, which was good to see. The bogs are still festering stenchpits though, just to start things off on the wrong foot.
In the park, it was nice to see the food outlets having evidently been spruced up a little, although with The Conservatory closed and Pub in the Wood still selling virtually bugger all, it's still too hard to get a decent meal - even if you are prepared to pay through the nose for it - and that set against a background of the rumblings of the future of the park being potentially at risk without the holiday village; as daft as it sounds, can't help but think that on food at least, they're still missing a trick.
Opening plaza still looks as cluttered as ever, god knows why so much is shoehorned into that one small area, with so much of the park sparse; surely to goodness, even a couple of the rides might be better served being relocated somewhere between The Wave and The Caterpillar.
Falls of Terror does indeed look better with the new signage and got the day off to a decent start. The area yon side of the Enterprise, sorry, Black Widows Web, is now indeed better laid out and the littlest had his first go on a rollercoaster, and as a first one, I'm chuffed it was The Ladybird. But by god, like a lot of the rides it is in desperate need of just a lick of paint.
New rapids ride was comparatively quiet, and still desperately short of themeing to hide its travelling fair origins, but albeit short, proved a decent enough ride. The review on Coaster Kingdom, in it's travelling guise, gets it pretty much spot on. Sadly though, it packed in mid-morning with a huge cylinder being removed looking rather terminal, and it didn't run again for the rest of the day.
Queue for The Rat was longer than normal, but gladly somewhat restored to it's former self and not looking anywhere near as run down as it has recently, with some of the themeing and darkness having appeared to have received some TLC. First time I've enjoyed it in years, and again, the eldest loved his maiden voyage.
Ultimate seemed to run without problems all day, and none of the trains seemed laiden with sand-drums, for a change. Sadly the same couldn't be said for The Twister, which broke down all day, one poor set of buggers were stuck up at the top for best part of an hour. Similarly Hornets Nest was swatted as usual, I've yet to see it even running myself. Eagles Claw had no such problems though.
First time I'd been on Lightwater Wheel; no water feature running, reasonable enough, but still seems a slightly odd location for it. To me, it would have just simply have fitted better if it and Trauma Tower were in opposite locations, but in the scheme of things, I suppose LWV are happy with any planning consent they receive these days. Fort William area still a disgrace - surely even a park or the dodgems would be a better fit for the once proud area.
Ultimately, that was just it. It wasn't a bad day, just not a great one - and sadly that's becoming the norm for the once proud place - just as a footnote to what I was saying about the food, even in these tight financial times you generally go to theme parks with the intent of paying money, and why the park is so intent on selling so little merchandise is beyond me - a mug, booklet or video on the history of the park, even some ruddy artsy shots of some of the rides would be nice - but no. High School Musical pens.
As ever, it just seems that the park is somewhat stuck in the malaise that grabbed hold of American Adventure - and that scares the living bejesus out of me. Shame.
===============================================
There are times however when things just work out. I have 2 kids, and a themepark hating wife, so in getting the visit to Drayton of the ground, I had to pre-emptively move heaven and earth.
I'm glad I did tho...
Despite losing 20 mins getting lost in Fazeley, we got to the park for about 11am. Watching Shockwave thunder across the front of the park was an awesome sight; even 15 years on, it's still a very unique 'coaster.
Getting into the park was less of a chore than my recent visits to Alton, and to LWV, even though it was may day. On entering the park, it became immediately obvious just how shrewd a bit of business Thomas Land is. Busy isn't the word - despite the fact that most of the rides are nothing more than heavily themed off the shelf attractions, such as the rocking bullstrode - which AT has as a pirate themed ride, and FL have as a tug (so many double entoundres, so little time), but the very fact that the kids were able to imagine they were in Sodor, guaranteed its status as an absolute hit.
Troublesome trucks was fabulously themed, and made it all the more evident how much that adds to the feel of a ride - Lightwater Valley take note...
The park itself is cluttered, but oddly, not in a bad way - despite for example the 4D cinema, Apocalypse, and pirate Adventure all being in spitting distance of each other, heavy themeing on each ride ensured you didn't notice to the degree you should. Maelstrom, splash canyon, and Stormforce 10 all being good examples of this. Photos don't do the place justice - there is really something about the feel of it.
Food wise, we visited the magnificently themed Rainforest Pizzeria, which was darkened, and had anamatronic Rhino's and such going about thir business, as the diners ate.
As far as rides were concerned, I'll let you in on a secret. I love Rollercoasters, but have accepted I will have to have a few lean years where the day isn't really about what I want to do, in order to get the kids hooked on themeparks, whereby the meek, as they say, will inherit the earth. That said, the more junior rides, even the likes of the 4D cinema, and the ageing Buffalo (both, queues aside) were far better than they had any right to be, whilst the couple of biggie's I sneaked onto - Apocalypse (in a word, stunning, and best tried stand-up) and G-force (intense, but far better than it's detractors would have you believe) were both well worth a visit.
Never been to Drayton? Shame on you. It's not the most intense day you'll ever have, but it is certainly one of the most unique. If you have kids, Thomas land is an absolute must.