Colossus
Giga Poster
So its 1.30am on Monday 29th August 2011 and iam lying in my bed thinking to myself, if i dont get to sleep in 5 minutes iam not going to bloody bother, fortunately the next thing i remember is my girlfriends voice "time to get up." I look at my clock 6am, godsake, oh well lets do this.
So we set off from Kings Lynn about 6:15 and the roads are amazing, no cars anywhere, the A1 was a breeze. We knew the park opened at 10 and rides half an hour after that. We where making good time so decided to stop at Wetherby service station, this turned out to be quite amusing as the place was loaded with people that had just left Leeds festival, most of wich where still drunk and covered in **** lol.
Anyway, so we arrived at Lightwater Valley at about 9:40 and entered a queue of cars waiting for the parking to open, so i got out to have a cigarette and noticed that the cars behind had spilt out of the queueing area and where queueing in the main road, this must be irratating for locals?
So we enter the park and the main building that houses the pay kiosks, what a nice building it is too apart from the barn style roof which was a bit tacky. We got our tickets £21.45 each with no deal, lovely jubbly, we enter the park about 10:10am the sun is shinning and its my first trip here so i bust out the park map to see where everything is. We go to the path where the main rides are and can see an employee standing in the way with a sign, i knew full well what that sign read so we decided a quick go on the dodgems was required. so we get there and this a slight queue as the whole park is not open yet, but it was ok as we were on in about 5 minutes, and they where as good as you can really get with dodgems, you got a good 5 minutes or so on them, not like Chessington where you get about 30 seconds.
So its half 10 and straight to The Ultimate, as we`re walking there i notice the beautiful exterior of the station building, so we`re in the queue and first thing i see as a train pulls into the station is that the rear half of the train is closed and filled with weights. but no matter we we`re on within about 10 minutes. The first drop was good, but as we entered the 2nd lift hill i knew the 2nd part as soposed to be better, little did i know what was in store as we dropped for the 2nd time, the intensity was unrelenting, it took me completly by surprise, an amazing terrain ride.
So where next? Raptor attack, we queued in the pen for about 5minutes before being let into the imposing hole, the themeing of this ride i thought was great for what the ride was, apart from some of the news aticles being turn apart. The ride itself was really good, not being able to watch videos or anything i really didnt know what to expect, but it exceeded my expectations and i would say it would now be my favorite UK dark ride since the closure of The Black hole, Its worth noting also that the ride operator for Raptor Attack was quality, enthusiastic and jovial, something we did not see at any other point of the day.
So after reaching the surface after raptor attack we decided we needed to expierance The Ultimate again. We queued for about 15 minutes as they had now removed the wieghts from the trains and where running both to full capacity, the highlight of this ride was re-entering the station as the train broke down on the rear station brake run, the grumpy ride host explained to us the situation but as the train is so long i couldnt hear what she was saying, so we sat there for a couple of minutes whilst the people in the queue speculated wether the other train was going to plough into the back of us? obviously not as it would have been stopped on another brake run, but i thought id let them have their fun.
So its about 11:40 and we decide to have a cigarette outside the Ultimate, this didnt go so well as we we`re promptly chased away by wasps hovering around the bin. So we decide to head over to twister only to find that the queue is horrendus, i question wether is worth queueing ages for something i can just walk onto at Fantasy Island, so i decide its credit time and we go to the Ladybird, the queue was about 10 minutes and at this point theres Wasps everywhere irratating the crap out of everybody. I know theres wasps at most parks in the summer hovering around the bins, but this was rediculous.
So we get 12 oclock and its time for some lunch, so we head over to Skeleton cove and the Hungry Harbour, basically i giant tent with food outlets inside, i didnt fancy anything other then Pizza wich i wernt prepard to pay £10 for, so tried the Conservatory instead, looked really nice on the outside but the interior was basically like a school cafeteria and the burger and chips i chose was probably the worst food i have ever had at a park, the chips wernt cooked and the burger was covered in small onions which i couldnt get rid of, not that i expect a gourmet burger or anything but still.
So after lunch i gave in and tried again for Twister as i wanted the credit and i quite like the one at Fantasy Island, yet again the queue was horrendus we we`re there for 45 minutes, part reason for this was very slow throughput, they had 5 cars running with 4 in the station most of the time, ride wernt bad though about what i expected.
Its half 1 at this point and we went back to Raptor attack, queued about 60 minutes only real highlight of this was viewing the Ultimate which had broken down on the lift hill that was sorted after about 5mins.
Back to the Ultimate then, queued 45 minutes ride hosts where still grumpy, this ride hurt like hell, we came off in extreme pain after being thrown about for the third time and our knees being bashed up against restraints. Its about half 3 now and iam sitting on the green with hurt knees and a headache developing wondering what to ride next as we decided to only ride 1 more ride before leaving, decided againts Whirlwind and Eagles Claw as my girlfriend has a bad shoulder and didnt want to risk more damage with the restraints, so i said bugger it lets just finish our knees off and fully develop our headaches and have 1 last Ultimate ride, this choose to be a fruitfull decision as we got on the front row, i thought this might be less rough, but no it was just as rough, but even more fun.
4pm and its started to rain and i feel like i have been knee-capped, so its time to head to the shop and get my customary pen and head to the car for the long trip home.
The Ultimate - 8/10
Rode 4 times, brilliant ride great intensity, certaintly couldnt have gone for a fifth though unless i wanted to spend the night in a local hospital.
Raptor Attack - 7/10
Rode 2 times, really enjoyable considering its only a schwarzkopf Wildcat, the Themeing and the whole entering a mine shaft really adds to the experiance.
Twister - 6/10
Rode once, I like these Reverchon spinners so this about what i expected.
Catapiller - 3/10
Rode once, about what i expected.
Overall - 6/10
Value for money - 8/10
£21 pound entry is great considering i had no vouchers. It would have been £16 if i had booked online, shop items were cheap, only the food let it down.
Cleanliness of park - 9/10
Really clean considering theres lots of grass, didnt notice any litter, everything was clean and tidy.
Staff - 3/10
Apart from Raptor attack the staff we encounted on every other attraction where grumpy as hell, the people working in the shop and burger kiosk where un organized and genrally un helpfull.
Facilities - 6/10
Not bad plenty of shops toilets, though the mens toilets where quite small and cramped.
Queue times - 7/10
10 being best, queues we good considering it was still school holidays and bank holiday, we had 2 long queues everything else was around half our or less.
Overall day - 7/10
A good day overall good family park, about what i expected really apart from the level of grumpy staff and a bad burger i enjoyed my first trip to Lightwater Valley, i will surely go again (perhaps with knee pads) but not any time soon, Lightwater Valley for me might end up being a once every 2 year park.
PS, sorry for the lack of photos, iam having a few issues with that at the moment.
So we set off from Kings Lynn about 6:15 and the roads are amazing, no cars anywhere, the A1 was a breeze. We knew the park opened at 10 and rides half an hour after that. We where making good time so decided to stop at Wetherby service station, this turned out to be quite amusing as the place was loaded with people that had just left Leeds festival, most of wich where still drunk and covered in **** lol.
Anyway, so we arrived at Lightwater Valley at about 9:40 and entered a queue of cars waiting for the parking to open, so i got out to have a cigarette and noticed that the cars behind had spilt out of the queueing area and where queueing in the main road, this must be irratating for locals?
So we enter the park and the main building that houses the pay kiosks, what a nice building it is too apart from the barn style roof which was a bit tacky. We got our tickets £21.45 each with no deal, lovely jubbly, we enter the park about 10:10am the sun is shinning and its my first trip here so i bust out the park map to see where everything is. We go to the path where the main rides are and can see an employee standing in the way with a sign, i knew full well what that sign read so we decided a quick go on the dodgems was required. so we get there and this a slight queue as the whole park is not open yet, but it was ok as we were on in about 5 minutes, and they where as good as you can really get with dodgems, you got a good 5 minutes or so on them, not like Chessington where you get about 30 seconds.
So its half 10 and straight to The Ultimate, as we`re walking there i notice the beautiful exterior of the station building, so we`re in the queue and first thing i see as a train pulls into the station is that the rear half of the train is closed and filled with weights. but no matter we we`re on within about 10 minutes. The first drop was good, but as we entered the 2nd lift hill i knew the 2nd part as soposed to be better, little did i know what was in store as we dropped for the 2nd time, the intensity was unrelenting, it took me completly by surprise, an amazing terrain ride.
So where next? Raptor attack, we queued in the pen for about 5minutes before being let into the imposing hole, the themeing of this ride i thought was great for what the ride was, apart from some of the news aticles being turn apart. The ride itself was really good, not being able to watch videos or anything i really didnt know what to expect, but it exceeded my expectations and i would say it would now be my favorite UK dark ride since the closure of The Black hole, Its worth noting also that the ride operator for Raptor Attack was quality, enthusiastic and jovial, something we did not see at any other point of the day.
So after reaching the surface after raptor attack we decided we needed to expierance The Ultimate again. We queued for about 15 minutes as they had now removed the wieghts from the trains and where running both to full capacity, the highlight of this ride was re-entering the station as the train broke down on the rear station brake run, the grumpy ride host explained to us the situation but as the train is so long i couldnt hear what she was saying, so we sat there for a couple of minutes whilst the people in the queue speculated wether the other train was going to plough into the back of us? obviously not as it would have been stopped on another brake run, but i thought id let them have their fun.
So its about 11:40 and we decide to have a cigarette outside the Ultimate, this didnt go so well as we we`re promptly chased away by wasps hovering around the bin. So we decide to head over to twister only to find that the queue is horrendus, i question wether is worth queueing ages for something i can just walk onto at Fantasy Island, so i decide its credit time and we go to the Ladybird, the queue was about 10 minutes and at this point theres Wasps everywhere irratating the crap out of everybody. I know theres wasps at most parks in the summer hovering around the bins, but this was rediculous.
So we get 12 oclock and its time for some lunch, so we head over to Skeleton cove and the Hungry Harbour, basically i giant tent with food outlets inside, i didnt fancy anything other then Pizza wich i wernt prepard to pay £10 for, so tried the Conservatory instead, looked really nice on the outside but the interior was basically like a school cafeteria and the burger and chips i chose was probably the worst food i have ever had at a park, the chips wernt cooked and the burger was covered in small onions which i couldnt get rid of, not that i expect a gourmet burger or anything but still.
So after lunch i gave in and tried again for Twister as i wanted the credit and i quite like the one at Fantasy Island, yet again the queue was horrendus we we`re there for 45 minutes, part reason for this was very slow throughput, they had 5 cars running with 4 in the station most of the time, ride wernt bad though about what i expected.
Its half 1 at this point and we went back to Raptor attack, queued about 60 minutes only real highlight of this was viewing the Ultimate which had broken down on the lift hill that was sorted after about 5mins.
Back to the Ultimate then, queued 45 minutes ride hosts where still grumpy, this ride hurt like hell, we came off in extreme pain after being thrown about for the third time and our knees being bashed up against restraints. Its about half 3 now and iam sitting on the green with hurt knees and a headache developing wondering what to ride next as we decided to only ride 1 more ride before leaving, decided againts Whirlwind and Eagles Claw as my girlfriend has a bad shoulder and didnt want to risk more damage with the restraints, so i said bugger it lets just finish our knees off and fully develop our headaches and have 1 last Ultimate ride, this choose to be a fruitfull decision as we got on the front row, i thought this might be less rough, but no it was just as rough, but even more fun.
4pm and its started to rain and i feel like i have been knee-capped, so its time to head to the shop and get my customary pen and head to the car for the long trip home.
The Ultimate - 8/10
Rode 4 times, brilliant ride great intensity, certaintly couldnt have gone for a fifth though unless i wanted to spend the night in a local hospital.
Raptor Attack - 7/10
Rode 2 times, really enjoyable considering its only a schwarzkopf Wildcat, the Themeing and the whole entering a mine shaft really adds to the experiance.
Twister - 6/10
Rode once, I like these Reverchon spinners so this about what i expected.
Catapiller - 3/10
Rode once, about what i expected.
Overall - 6/10
Value for money - 8/10
£21 pound entry is great considering i had no vouchers. It would have been £16 if i had booked online, shop items were cheap, only the food let it down.
Cleanliness of park - 9/10
Really clean considering theres lots of grass, didnt notice any litter, everything was clean and tidy.
Staff - 3/10
Apart from Raptor attack the staff we encounted on every other attraction where grumpy as hell, the people working in the shop and burger kiosk where un organized and genrally un helpfull.
Facilities - 6/10
Not bad plenty of shops toilets, though the mens toilets where quite small and cramped.
Queue times - 7/10
10 being best, queues we good considering it was still school holidays and bank holiday, we had 2 long queues everything else was around half our or less.
Overall day - 7/10
A good day overall good family park, about what i expected really apart from the level of grumpy staff and a bad burger i enjoyed my first trip to Lightwater Valley, i will surely go again (perhaps with knee pads) but not any time soon, Lightwater Valley for me might end up being a once every 2 year park.
PS, sorry for the lack of photos, iam having a few issues with that at the moment.
