On Thursday I took my first ever trip to Flamingo Land with my family. I got quite a few pictures, but only of certain rides, and with it being my first trip to a park visited by many on here, I think this should be interesting to quite a few people. I think my ratings are maybe a bit high due to having been very recently and not riding new coasters (Th13teen being an exception) or being to a new park for about 8 months. Anyway onto the report.
We left the Holiday Inn that we had stayed in the night before at about 9:15 and got there at about 9:45 where we went and bought our tickets and to the first stop, Mumbo Jumbo!
Nothing was running at all yet, but I and my dad got in the queue and it was soon up and running, with lots of water on the car for some reason which was getting those in the queue slightly wet. How they only have one car going the track at one time makes the queue move quite slowly, but it was good to be able to watch it as it is a really cool coaster to watch in my opinion.
After about 20 minutes I think it was we were on the front row. For me this was a cracking coaster, really fun and I enjoyed every second. It was really smooth which I wasn’t really expecting and the restraints were really comfortable. The drop is great, and the outside banked corner is crazy. I loved when you are hung upside down for a few seconds as well as I was coming out of my seat, plus the last barrel roll thing is awesome.
The only thing that spoils it slightly is the many break runs which doesn’t even mean faster operation anyway. Overall though, great ride, 7.5/10.
You can just about see me on that pic, front right with arms up.
Next up was Kumali, my 80th coaster, of which I didn’t know what to expect. We got in the queue and we were on in about 15 mins, welcomed by the African voice thingy, again with 1 train operation.
We got on back row and it was better than I expected it to be. There was a little bit of head banging which is normal on an SLC obviously, but it was faster and higher than I thought it was and the zero-g especially was awesome.
Cool how it has its own little section, plus I got an ORP which was awesome as it was smaller than any other ORP I have ever seen haha. The coaster was a little short though, but overall, I liked it, 7.5/10.
I'm on there, back left.
The next stop was Velocity and after about a 15 minute queue with 1 train operation we were on. Sat in the middle somewhere and it was way more forceful than I expected! Although it was a bit uncomfortable as the ride-op really squashed me, there was quite a bit of airtime over the hills and the turns were fairly forceful. Got an ORP on this as well. Really enjoyed it, 8/10.
Next thing we went on the train as my sister wanted to go on it which was pretty cool going around the park. Got some pictures of part of the zoo, I didn’t take them though.
Dinner was next and I had pie and chips from the fish and chips take away thing. Was quite nice really for this kind of park. Good value as well.
I think next I got on Navigator which was my first Disk-o and it was great.
Got quite a bit of speed and the bottom and the spinning was fun. Would like to ride one with the added hill now, 7/10.
After went on Wild Mouse as it had just opened after being broken down. Only something like a 5 minute queue got on me in the front and my dad in the back. As I was in the seat on my own I was flying all over the place around the turns and the drops were quite fun. Standard model though, but still quite a fun little coaster, 6.5/10.
Next we hopped straight on the Cycle Monorail, which was definitely something different! Quite a cool little ride.
Corkscrew was the next thing to do which was walk on. Tried to get as far forward as possible as I remember that being the smoothest on Corkscrew at Towers. I like how they’ve tried to make it smoother by putting the padding on the restraints and then they’ve stuck the seatbelts on. Was mostly rough though, the corkscrews were the only good part really. Worth one ride mind, 5/10.
Not really sure what we did next but I think we went to see the Sea Lion Show which was really popular. We got there about 20 minutes before it started and there were already people there and a huge queue formed up to the start. The show was pretty cool with 3 sea lions on show doing little tricks and other fun stuff.
We had a stroll around the zoo after that which was good, it was quite confusing as there was a dead end at one point and we didn’t realise where you were meant to go. It makes you realised how big the park is though as when you pull up on the car park, you think you can see everything, but when you walk around the zoo you see how big it is.
After I think I went on Flip Flop, only had to wait one ride then I was on.
Now this was I think the biggest surprise of the day, went higher than I expected and was fantastic. After riding Maelstrom at Drayton I thought this one was even better than that, and Maelstrom is one of my favourite flats. I came out of my seat at the top of the cycle it was a really good ride, love the water interaction as well, 8/10.
Me and my dad grabbed another ride on Velocity, this time on the back which was even more forceful that before. Then I wanted another go on Kumali so hopped on the back row after about a 10 minute queue and again I thought it has great speed and was pretty good.
It was nearly time to go now and my sister wanted to go on Splash Battle, even though it had cooled down now, being pretty hot for most of the day. So we went on and her gun didn’t work so she wasn’t happy, but ah well, I got wet. So then she wanted to go on again to get a gun which worked, but while we were in the queue the ride-op was told by another ride-op that it was time to shut so we turned around and said sorry we’re closed.
I thought this was quite bad really just suddenly stopping it like that, he should have at least let the 8, I think it was, people in the queue go on. As we walked out the queue I was amazed to see everything had closed exactly on 5. I guess I’ve been spoilt with Alton. Yet everything at the front of the park was still going.
So my overall thoughts, I found it a great park with a few good coasters and a couple of awesome flats. I really like it as a whole and think that the zoo adds to the park quite a lot and it is not that busy so you can get on everything. The operations could be a little bit quicker and the staff could be a little bit friendlier but I guess that will improve as the park develops. It could also do with a couple more in the middle rides, there isn’t many which are in between too kiddie or quite intense.
Ride count:
Mumbo Jumbo x1
Kumali x2
Velocity x2
Train x1
Wild Mouse x1
Cycle Monorail x1
Navigator x1
Corkscrew x1
Flip Flop x1
Splash Battle x1
Overall great day, missed a couple of kiddie coasters but couldn’t be bothered to ride them on my own, I’m no credit whore haha. I’ll ride them some other time when with mates or something.
We left the Holiday Inn that we had stayed in the night before at about 9:15 and got there at about 9:45 where we went and bought our tickets and to the first stop, Mumbo Jumbo!
Nothing was running at all yet, but I and my dad got in the queue and it was soon up and running, with lots of water on the car for some reason which was getting those in the queue slightly wet. How they only have one car going the track at one time makes the queue move quite slowly, but it was good to be able to watch it as it is a really cool coaster to watch in my opinion.
After about 20 minutes I think it was we were on the front row. For me this was a cracking coaster, really fun and I enjoyed every second. It was really smooth which I wasn’t really expecting and the restraints were really comfortable. The drop is great, and the outside banked corner is crazy. I loved when you are hung upside down for a few seconds as well as I was coming out of my seat, plus the last barrel roll thing is awesome.
The only thing that spoils it slightly is the many break runs which doesn’t even mean faster operation anyway. Overall though, great ride, 7.5/10.
You can just about see me on that pic, front right with arms up.
Next up was Kumali, my 80th coaster, of which I didn’t know what to expect. We got in the queue and we were on in about 15 mins, welcomed by the African voice thingy, again with 1 train operation.
We got on back row and it was better than I expected it to be. There was a little bit of head banging which is normal on an SLC obviously, but it was faster and higher than I thought it was and the zero-g especially was awesome.
Cool how it has its own little section, plus I got an ORP which was awesome as it was smaller than any other ORP I have ever seen haha. The coaster was a little short though, but overall, I liked it, 7.5/10.
I'm on there, back left.
The next stop was Velocity and after about a 15 minute queue with 1 train operation we were on. Sat in the middle somewhere and it was way more forceful than I expected! Although it was a bit uncomfortable as the ride-op really squashed me, there was quite a bit of airtime over the hills and the turns were fairly forceful. Got an ORP on this as well. Really enjoyed it, 8/10.
Next thing we went on the train as my sister wanted to go on it which was pretty cool going around the park. Got some pictures of part of the zoo, I didn’t take them though.
Dinner was next and I had pie and chips from the fish and chips take away thing. Was quite nice really for this kind of park. Good value as well.
I think next I got on Navigator which was my first Disk-o and it was great.
Got quite a bit of speed and the bottom and the spinning was fun. Would like to ride one with the added hill now, 7/10.
After went on Wild Mouse as it had just opened after being broken down. Only something like a 5 minute queue got on me in the front and my dad in the back. As I was in the seat on my own I was flying all over the place around the turns and the drops were quite fun. Standard model though, but still quite a fun little coaster, 6.5/10.
Next we hopped straight on the Cycle Monorail, which was definitely something different! Quite a cool little ride.
Corkscrew was the next thing to do which was walk on. Tried to get as far forward as possible as I remember that being the smoothest on Corkscrew at Towers. I like how they’ve tried to make it smoother by putting the padding on the restraints and then they’ve stuck the seatbelts on. Was mostly rough though, the corkscrews were the only good part really. Worth one ride mind, 5/10.
Not really sure what we did next but I think we went to see the Sea Lion Show which was really popular. We got there about 20 minutes before it started and there were already people there and a huge queue formed up to the start. The show was pretty cool with 3 sea lions on show doing little tricks and other fun stuff.
We had a stroll around the zoo after that which was good, it was quite confusing as there was a dead end at one point and we didn’t realise where you were meant to go. It makes you realised how big the park is though as when you pull up on the car park, you think you can see everything, but when you walk around the zoo you see how big it is.
After I think I went on Flip Flop, only had to wait one ride then I was on.
Now this was I think the biggest surprise of the day, went higher than I expected and was fantastic. After riding Maelstrom at Drayton I thought this one was even better than that, and Maelstrom is one of my favourite flats. I came out of my seat at the top of the cycle it was a really good ride, love the water interaction as well, 8/10.
Me and my dad grabbed another ride on Velocity, this time on the back which was even more forceful that before. Then I wanted another go on Kumali so hopped on the back row after about a 10 minute queue and again I thought it has great speed and was pretty good.
It was nearly time to go now and my sister wanted to go on Splash Battle, even though it had cooled down now, being pretty hot for most of the day. So we went on and her gun didn’t work so she wasn’t happy, but ah well, I got wet. So then she wanted to go on again to get a gun which worked, but while we were in the queue the ride-op was told by another ride-op that it was time to shut so we turned around and said sorry we’re closed.
I thought this was quite bad really just suddenly stopping it like that, he should have at least let the 8, I think it was, people in the queue go on. As we walked out the queue I was amazed to see everything had closed exactly on 5. I guess I’ve been spoilt with Alton. Yet everything at the front of the park was still going.
So my overall thoughts, I found it a great park with a few good coasters and a couple of awesome flats. I really like it as a whole and think that the zoo adds to the park quite a lot and it is not that busy so you can get on everything. The operations could be a little bit quicker and the staff could be a little bit friendlier but I guess that will improve as the park develops. It could also do with a couple more in the middle rides, there isn’t many which are in between too kiddie or quite intense.
Ride count:
Mumbo Jumbo x1
Kumali x2
Velocity x2
Train x1
Wild Mouse x1
Cycle Monorail x1
Navigator x1
Corkscrew x1
Flip Flop x1
Splash Battle x1
Overall great day, missed a couple of kiddie coasters but couldn’t be bothered to ride them on my own, I’m no credit whore haha. I’ll ride them some other time when with mates or something.
