United Kredding - Part 48: The Honourable Final (2023)
- Thread starter Rob Coasters
- Start date
-
- Tags
- paultons park
Rob Coasters
Hyper Poster
Part 45: Pavilion Fun Park & Clacton Pier
We'd snagged an uber cheap caravan in Clacton for five days in Point Clear as a surprise, so on day four of the trip we took a ride on an open top bus to Clacton-on-Sea for just one add to the count.
So at Pavilion Fun Park...
#201 Shark Coaster. Wacky worm number twenty-six.
I did their Pirate Ship too.
And so began our walk down to the pier, where after setting a record on Piano Keys (plus a couple rounds of Dance Dance Revolution 4) it was time for Dodgems...
...and after crashing round on those, time to find out what replaced the old aquarium which was Jurassic Pier 4D Encounter.
It's a quirky and very very short walkthrough (as in you're there for one minute before people seem ready to go) that leads up to an admittedly quite fun 4D cinema. Definitely prefer the aquarium over this, this felt very one-and-done unlike fish world.
Go Karts was next, they're great fun but I've been spoiled far too much by the bullet karts back in Dawlish Warren.
I fancied a token lap of Looping Star, and after a quite long time of rounding up enough people to send it in the windy conditions (8 people required) I managed to snag the front row...
...big mistake. The whole ride is utterly ruined by perhaps the most aggressive sideways jolt I've ever experienced, which was at the top of the apex after the loop which I fondly remember talking about when we were here last time. That alone plus some other trackwork imperfections caused me to drop this ride down considerably, below Stella's Revenge which is what this ride replaced. The rest of this coaster is... barely serviceable, but brought down so far by one horrible bit.
Coming into the brake run, op asks how it was. I was open about the jolt, he agreed with me and said that the whole ride was awful. Says he prefers Olympia Looping. I agree.
I undo my seatbelt and get out. How did I ever write three paragraphs about unbuckling my restraint last time?
Didn't want to end it on that note. Can the Twister save the day?
Yes.
The twister operated perhaps one of the fastest sizzler cycles I've ever experienced, as I fought the forces from slamming into and flattening my parents. I failed miserably but in a hilarious way.
It slowed down.
Suddenly it went back up to 11, which ended up with us all in hysterics.
I called the day there, opting to have a rest while my parents did a round of the pier's indoor golf course as the combined rides & pedal bikes had worn me out like hell. And when that was done, we headed home in a taxi as only one bus to Point Clear ran past 6pm and we had a wait of over an hour and a half.
The whole place was oddly completely deserted at barely 6pm, it was strange.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 45.5: Walton Pier
Our final day had a breakfast waiter have a long conversation with us as we were lost on what to do to end out our holiday. She recommended Walton Pier to us, and with nothing else to do in the rain, that's what we did.
Walton Pier is an odd little thing, an arcade stretching out for what looked like miles with a couple fairground flats plonked at the end of the indoor bit as a nice surprise. I set another record on Piano Keys before heading towards the end.
To my surprise, I clocked a Virtual Reality robotic arm thing called Hurricane, and after getting confirmation that it was operational, we hopped on.
We'd started our voyage, with the arm movement reflecting what our headsets displayed, and exactly 75% through our first inversion, we abruptly stopped sideways. The WiFi of the machine had cut out due to the rain and our ride was halted.
The operator told us to find something else to do while the engineers addressed the situation, which is what we were going to do anyway, so we headed towards the end of the pier.
And then we were done with that, so back on Hurricane we went.
We went up into the starting position.
The VR failed.
We came back down.
Operator checks what's going on. Wifi playing up because it's wet outside.
We went up into the starting position.
The VR failed.
We came back down.
Operator checks what's going on. Headsets had faulted.
We went up into the starting position...
...
...and it worked perfectly.
This robot arm ride was actually great fun with its shaking about and its smooth flips, seems like a great addition for other family entertainment centres. Would quite like to see a couple more pop up. My parents loved it too.
After that was done, we ended out the day on the Dodgems
before returning home.
We'd snagged an uber cheap caravan in Clacton for five days in Point Clear as a surprise, so on day four of the trip we took a ride on an open top bus to Clacton-on-Sea for just one add to the count.
So at Pavilion Fun Park...
#201 Shark Coaster. Wacky worm number twenty-six.
I did their Pirate Ship too.
And so began our walk down to the pier, where after setting a record on Piano Keys (plus a couple rounds of Dance Dance Revolution 4) it was time for Dodgems...
...and after crashing round on those, time to find out what replaced the old aquarium which was Jurassic Pier 4D Encounter.
It's a quirky and very very short walkthrough (as in you're there for one minute before people seem ready to go) that leads up to an admittedly quite fun 4D cinema. Definitely prefer the aquarium over this, this felt very one-and-done unlike fish world.
Go Karts was next, they're great fun but I've been spoiled far too much by the bullet karts back in Dawlish Warren.
I fancied a token lap of Looping Star, and after a quite long time of rounding up enough people to send it in the windy conditions (8 people required) I managed to snag the front row...
...big mistake. The whole ride is utterly ruined by perhaps the most aggressive sideways jolt I've ever experienced, which was at the top of the apex after the loop which I fondly remember talking about when we were here last time. That alone plus some other trackwork imperfections caused me to drop this ride down considerably, below Stella's Revenge which is what this ride replaced. The rest of this coaster is... barely serviceable, but brought down so far by one horrible bit.
Coming into the brake run, op asks how it was. I was open about the jolt, he agreed with me and said that the whole ride was awful. Says he prefers Olympia Looping. I agree.
I undo my seatbelt and get out. How did I ever write three paragraphs about unbuckling my restraint last time?
Didn't want to end it on that note. Can the Twister save the day?
Yes.
The twister operated perhaps one of the fastest sizzler cycles I've ever experienced, as I fought the forces from slamming into and flattening my parents. I failed miserably but in a hilarious way.
It slowed down.
Suddenly it went back up to 11, which ended up with us all in hysterics.
I called the day there, opting to have a rest while my parents did a round of the pier's indoor golf course as the combined rides & pedal bikes had worn me out like hell. And when that was done, we headed home in a taxi as only one bus to Point Clear ran past 6pm and we had a wait of over an hour and a half.
The whole place was oddly completely deserted at barely 6pm, it was strange.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 45.5: Walton Pier
Our final day had a breakfast waiter have a long conversation with us as we were lost on what to do to end out our holiday. She recommended Walton Pier to us, and with nothing else to do in the rain, that's what we did.
Walton Pier is an odd little thing, an arcade stretching out for what looked like miles with a couple fairground flats plonked at the end of the indoor bit as a nice surprise. I set another record on Piano Keys before heading towards the end.
To my surprise, I clocked a Virtual Reality robotic arm thing called Hurricane, and after getting confirmation that it was operational, we hopped on.
We'd started our voyage, with the arm movement reflecting what our headsets displayed, and exactly 75% through our first inversion, we abruptly stopped sideways. The WiFi of the machine had cut out due to the rain and our ride was halted.
The operator told us to find something else to do while the engineers addressed the situation, which is what we were going to do anyway, so we headed towards the end of the pier.
And then we were done with that, so back on Hurricane we went.
We went up into the starting position.
The VR failed.
We came back down.
Operator checks what's going on. Wifi playing up because it's wet outside.
We went up into the starting position.
The VR failed.
We came back down.
Operator checks what's going on. Headsets had faulted.
We went up into the starting position...
...
...and it worked perfectly.
This robot arm ride was actually great fun with its shaking about and its smooth flips, seems like a great addition for other family entertainment centres. Would quite like to see a couple more pop up. My parents loved it too.
After that was done, we ended out the day on the Dodgems
before returning home.
Rob Coasters
Hyper Poster
Part 46: Chessington World of Adventures
Righty then. Been putting this off for a while due to the Mandrill Mayhem reservation system but here we go.
Last time, I took the Underground train down to Waterloo for a journey down to Chessington South... but this time I tried a different route. I hopped on a Thameslink service from my home town, then changed at Wimbledon for my train.
I had concerns about the Mandrill Mayhem slot booking so tried getting my slot on the final leg of the train route, only to fail. My booking failed from there, through the walk to the park (which turned into a quick jog as the failure might have been due to my phone's location not being the park).
After getting to the park and entering the security queue at a point where it was within the park boundary 'enough' to connect to the onsite WiFi I tried to book my slot, yet again to no avail. I ask a staff member what's going on, who says "slots open every 15 minutes mate try again at 10.15". Sure.
I enter and make my way over to World of Jumanji as I see the area for the first time. It's… weird. Slightly unimpressed with the area's presentation with its vegetation feeling completely un-junglelike and lack of shade literally anywhere, I've trundled towards the entrance with about 50 people crowding around staff with probably the same question as me. Finally I get to one, "log out and log back into your account mate", and finally that seems to work and my timeslot is booked for in two hours' time. A faff that never would have happened if the park had a think about the embarrassing capacity capabilities of the ride they were buying.
Completely uninterested in the FEC-grade flat rides in this so-called "world class area", I trotted onwards elsewhere.
This really silly day actually started off with a token lap of Tiger Rock. Better than I remember, but I still think I prefer the original Dragon Falls.
Love a lot of Lorikeet Lagoon. Need to feed them next time though.
I decided from here that this day would consist of ticking off rides that I still haven't done yet. Starting off with Tuk Tuk Turmoil, I've been doing every Dodgems I can find after discovering that you can absolutely send a rival crash coursing sideways off course if you clip the back of their car. It's so, so fun doing this.
Jungle Bus. What did I expect?
The newly refreshed Dragons Fury lost its breath, so why not follow the sign that says 'Griffin's Galleon This Way'?
Served its purpose.
What about a round of Elmer's Flying Elephants?
Alright, I actually have something of note to say about a ride. By rapidly tapping & releasing the fly button while low down (but still a little elevated), you can almost exactly mimic the movement of a Techno Jump ride, or a similar ostrich themed stampede. Interesting.
Maybe a bit of Adventure Tree follows? I skipped boarding three times in a row because the spinny cars kept getting taken by people who were fast-tracking this literal merry-go-round (which was a one cycle wait, mind you) but eventually I found an opening and sniped it. Sorry.
I think I span it literally as fast as it could go for the whole ride, and by putting your phone in the middle and recording a video, you get some great results.
Oh look, my Mandrill Mayhem reservation is finally ready.
Coming back into the area, I showed them my QR code and entered the queue. It felt so… rushed and unready. A completely black, out of place tarmac colour codes the queues from the paths with the queue itself completely unshaded without a second of thought put into how this might be like on a hot day. In a world where record-breaking temperatures are quickly becoming the norm, this sort of shadeless arrangement is just not good enough any more.
Something that slows down operations even more is the fact that "because the train launches through the station at high speed", guests are unable to stand behind the airgates until every guest from the previous train has completed their ride and disembarked. This extra walk between our holding position and the airgates grows on precious seconds. A solution to a problem that doesn't exist, the park has a powered coaster that flies through the station where riders stand behind airgates next to the ride. Or, maybe, make the airgates taller.
I guess this ride is overdue a compliment. The launch audio says "Go, go go!" as the train launches backwards, which results in a "...not THAT way!" which is actually pretty amusing. I laughed.
The operators really do have the worst hand of cards possible with the already awful capacity doubled on with the fact that it's a wing coaster, meaning that operators have to walk into the rows of the cars to check restraints. Ugh.
Wonder why I didn't put a number when I mentioned this ride's name?
I sit awaiting my ride really wanting to enjoy it, trying to silence the loud doubts. The audio plays "Go go go!"... to absolutely nothing happening. The audio plays and the lights excitedly flicker as the train sits completely stationary as excited music blares out. Soon after, an announcement comes telling us that the ride has ceased operation and that we will be escorted off the ride shortly. We're told to go through the exit with no word on how to get back on to compensate our lost ride. That was up to us to figure out.
In fact it was as easy as just asking the people who manned the queue as they let me through the fast-track entrance when I stated my situation, and about 20 minutes later, finally, #202 Mandrill Mayhem was back open.
Doesn't end here though. Despite me seeing empty seats every so often, the operators seemed oddly insistent on filling in all of the seats for this train. I was a single rider, with a group of two sat behind me. In an event that left me completely, utterly & entirely lost for words they separated the group of two to fill the seats. They didn't move me to sit with another solo-goer, be it another fellow single rider or a third wheeler. They separated a group of two from riding with each other. This baffling decision left me a bit dumbfounded, but they and I silently accepted it.
Nothing I dislike more than missed potential, the last thing I wanted was to come off disappointed. I went in thinking "this'll be quite fun, my doubts will be wrong, too many people are calling it a fantastic ride for me to dislike it". Off we went then, to absolutely zero dispatch audio. Me sat in row six, the backwards launch was unremarkable but the backwards spike that kicked things off was… great! I really enjoyed this bit, nice surprise. Going back down and hitting the big forwards launch, I was thinking "oh this is going to be really good…!" as I hit the forwards launch far happier.
Until it wasn't.
The turn out of the second launch until the end of the spiral spike was met with a shuddery shaky mess, a B&M wing bounce that is simply all too familiar to me. The roll existed before a lot of strange & discomforting turning around before another launch into the ride's big signature element, a rattly spiral spike as the train slowed to a crawl. A strange feeling the hangtime was, but not in a good way, at least the view of trees from it as we stopped was cool but I had no feelings towards it rather than "why am I sideways?".
As we rolled backwards the bumpiness continued and as we did our final launch into the backwards roll the ride actually got decently rough as it terribly traversed the element. We came to a stop in the station, I had a headache, disappointed, the last thing I wanted to happen.
I wanted to like this ride. I really did. But this whole ride (and the area in general which feels rushed & low budget) simply failed to deliver on most fronts. The area loop is one melody, with a few minor variations to it, that's repeated hundreds of times through the day. There's a real lack of general public conveniences (such as benches and bins). There is no shade ANYWHERE. It took me a good while to find where they sold drinks in the area. The coaster isn't very good. The vegetation, while this is obviously a new area and it needs time to grow in, does not give off "jungle" at all. It feels like a garden centre in some parts. It's just not a very nice area to just "exist" in for me. The flat rides feel like they could've done with a bit more thought into the models.
I hate to be so relentlessly critical, but I struggle with World of Jumanji. They have a very long way to go with this area. The lack of shade is one of the primary reasons why I didn't return to this area to try out the flat rides at all, instead prioritising other things. It's just not pleasant. And with Chessington's final undeveloped piece of land now having something on it, I wish they went a little more all-out with it.
The thing is is that most issues are fixable. Add canopies & shade. Add benches. Add bins. Put a bit more music in. Bring the trees up a bit more, flood the whole damn area with every tree shrub and bush you could ever find.
And then there's the issues that aren't as easy to fix. The coaster has big glaring flaws. Capacity, everything outside of the backwards spike at the start of the ride. The decisions for the flat rides.
Here's the good bits. The bits that I liked, that I enjoyed, that I thought were good about the area:
The coaster LOOKS good, the statue looks good. I really like the train design with the mandrills, the inside of the station I quite enjoyed being in. The "No, not that way!" thing is a nice little touch. Track from this manufacturer just.. is attractive and pleasant to look at. Watching the coaster is cool. While the decision for the hardware is questionable, the theme of the flat rides are creative and the creative team worked well with what they had. Outside of the 'separated group of two' blip, the operators worked tremendously well with the cards they were played. Every staff member was kind and happy to help with any virtual queue woes that I had.
Unfortunately though my lows with the area far outweigh the highs, and I can't say I'm rushing to get back in line anytime soon. I admittedly did check the virtual queue later in the day in the hopes of finding a last minute bookable slot, but failed.
Dragons Fury at 120 minutes and a stomach full of hot dog, it was time for more rides. I started with the physically exhausting Barrel Bail Out, which has potential but the guns were a little difficult to aim. A few splashes in the face got me quite happy though.
Seastorm followed, a very fun music express style ride with the added touch of the backwards portion being very fun. A little on the short side, but perfectly enjoyable for what it is.
Croc Drop was ignored, as it was closed all day. The late Rameses is rolling in his grave.
So back to Fury then, whose queue dipped down to (apparently) 60 minutes. 90 minutes later I'm on, and the experience was definitely not as smooth as I'd remembered it being with a couple punches. Still a fantastic ride in there. Forgot about that airtime hill though, nice surprise.
Vampire next then, whose queue stood at a hefty (apparently) 90 minutes. 10 minutes later I'm on, and this gained the award for my favourite ride of the day. A smooth and graceful experience led me to have a bucketload of fun on the ride, and I'm glad to know that when other coasters fall short over the years, this ride continues to deliver for me.
So nice I rode it twice, before the queue skyrocketed up again out of nowhere which is where I continued onwards towards other rides.
Getting close to the day's end now, next was Trawler Trouble, the second Rockin' Tug style ride of the day.
And finished the day on Blue Barnacle, where strategic movements heavily entertained the opposite side into thinking I was getting standing ejector which put a great smile on my face.
It was then time to leave. Despite the lows of Jumanjilandia and the obvious lack of quality rides done, I very much enjoyed my day here at Chessington. Filled with funny short conversations with some of the staff too, including a full-on conversation with a stall member only cut short by others behind me. The social aspects of a theme park trip is something I need to take advantage of far more.
Time to go to Norway.
Righty then. Been putting this off for a while due to the Mandrill Mayhem reservation system but here we go.
Last time, I took the Underground train down to Waterloo for a journey down to Chessington South... but this time I tried a different route. I hopped on a Thameslink service from my home town, then changed at Wimbledon for my train.
I had concerns about the Mandrill Mayhem slot booking so tried getting my slot on the final leg of the train route, only to fail. My booking failed from there, through the walk to the park (which turned into a quick jog as the failure might have been due to my phone's location not being the park).
After getting to the park and entering the security queue at a point where it was within the park boundary 'enough' to connect to the onsite WiFi I tried to book my slot, yet again to no avail. I ask a staff member what's going on, who says "slots open every 15 minutes mate try again at 10.15". Sure.
I enter and make my way over to World of Jumanji as I see the area for the first time. It's… weird. Slightly unimpressed with the area's presentation with its vegetation feeling completely un-junglelike and lack of shade literally anywhere, I've trundled towards the entrance with about 50 people crowding around staff with probably the same question as me. Finally I get to one, "log out and log back into your account mate", and finally that seems to work and my timeslot is booked for in two hours' time. A faff that never would have happened if the park had a think about the embarrassing capacity capabilities of the ride they were buying.
Completely uninterested in the FEC-grade flat rides in this so-called "world class area", I trotted onwards elsewhere.
This really silly day actually started off with a token lap of Tiger Rock. Better than I remember, but I still think I prefer the original Dragon Falls.
Love a lot of Lorikeet Lagoon. Need to feed them next time though.
I decided from here that this day would consist of ticking off rides that I still haven't done yet. Starting off with Tuk Tuk Turmoil, I've been doing every Dodgems I can find after discovering that you can absolutely send a rival crash coursing sideways off course if you clip the back of their car. It's so, so fun doing this.
Jungle Bus. What did I expect?
The newly refreshed Dragons Fury lost its breath, so why not follow the sign that says 'Griffin's Galleon This Way'?
Served its purpose.
What about a round of Elmer's Flying Elephants?
Alright, I actually have something of note to say about a ride. By rapidly tapping & releasing the fly button while low down (but still a little elevated), you can almost exactly mimic the movement of a Techno Jump ride, or a similar ostrich themed stampede. Interesting.
Maybe a bit of Adventure Tree follows? I skipped boarding three times in a row because the spinny cars kept getting taken by people who were fast-tracking this literal merry-go-round (which was a one cycle wait, mind you) but eventually I found an opening and sniped it. Sorry.
I think I span it literally as fast as it could go for the whole ride, and by putting your phone in the middle and recording a video, you get some great results.
Oh look, my Mandrill Mayhem reservation is finally ready.
Coming back into the area, I showed them my QR code and entered the queue. It felt so… rushed and unready. A completely black, out of place tarmac colour codes the queues from the paths with the queue itself completely unshaded without a second of thought put into how this might be like on a hot day. In a world where record-breaking temperatures are quickly becoming the norm, this sort of shadeless arrangement is just not good enough any more.
Something that slows down operations even more is the fact that "because the train launches through the station at high speed", guests are unable to stand behind the airgates until every guest from the previous train has completed their ride and disembarked. This extra walk between our holding position and the airgates grows on precious seconds. A solution to a problem that doesn't exist, the park has a powered coaster that flies through the station where riders stand behind airgates next to the ride. Or, maybe, make the airgates taller.
I guess this ride is overdue a compliment. The launch audio says "Go, go go!" as the train launches backwards, which results in a "...not THAT way!" which is actually pretty amusing. I laughed.
The operators really do have the worst hand of cards possible with the already awful capacity doubled on with the fact that it's a wing coaster, meaning that operators have to walk into the rows of the cars to check restraints. Ugh.
Wonder why I didn't put a number when I mentioned this ride's name?
I sit awaiting my ride really wanting to enjoy it, trying to silence the loud doubts. The audio plays "Go go go!"... to absolutely nothing happening. The audio plays and the lights excitedly flicker as the train sits completely stationary as excited music blares out. Soon after, an announcement comes telling us that the ride has ceased operation and that we will be escorted off the ride shortly. We're told to go through the exit with no word on how to get back on to compensate our lost ride. That was up to us to figure out.
In fact it was as easy as just asking the people who manned the queue as they let me through the fast-track entrance when I stated my situation, and about 20 minutes later, finally, #202 Mandrill Mayhem was back open.
Doesn't end here though. Despite me seeing empty seats every so often, the operators seemed oddly insistent on filling in all of the seats for this train. I was a single rider, with a group of two sat behind me. In an event that left me completely, utterly & entirely lost for words they separated the group of two to fill the seats. They didn't move me to sit with another solo-goer, be it another fellow single rider or a third wheeler. They separated a group of two from riding with each other. This baffling decision left me a bit dumbfounded, but they and I silently accepted it.
Nothing I dislike more than missed potential, the last thing I wanted was to come off disappointed. I went in thinking "this'll be quite fun, my doubts will be wrong, too many people are calling it a fantastic ride for me to dislike it". Off we went then, to absolutely zero dispatch audio. Me sat in row six, the backwards launch was unremarkable but the backwards spike that kicked things off was… great! I really enjoyed this bit, nice surprise. Going back down and hitting the big forwards launch, I was thinking "oh this is going to be really good…!" as I hit the forwards launch far happier.
Until it wasn't.
The turn out of the second launch until the end of the spiral spike was met with a shuddery shaky mess, a B&M wing bounce that is simply all too familiar to me. The roll existed before a lot of strange & discomforting turning around before another launch into the ride's big signature element, a rattly spiral spike as the train slowed to a crawl. A strange feeling the hangtime was, but not in a good way, at least the view of trees from it as we stopped was cool but I had no feelings towards it rather than "why am I sideways?".
As we rolled backwards the bumpiness continued and as we did our final launch into the backwards roll the ride actually got decently rough as it terribly traversed the element. We came to a stop in the station, I had a headache, disappointed, the last thing I wanted to happen.
I wanted to like this ride. I really did. But this whole ride (and the area in general which feels rushed & low budget) simply failed to deliver on most fronts. The area loop is one melody, with a few minor variations to it, that's repeated hundreds of times through the day. There's a real lack of general public conveniences (such as benches and bins). There is no shade ANYWHERE. It took me a good while to find where they sold drinks in the area. The coaster isn't very good. The vegetation, while this is obviously a new area and it needs time to grow in, does not give off "jungle" at all. It feels like a garden centre in some parts. It's just not a very nice area to just "exist" in for me. The flat rides feel like they could've done with a bit more thought into the models.
I hate to be so relentlessly critical, but I struggle with World of Jumanji. They have a very long way to go with this area. The lack of shade is one of the primary reasons why I didn't return to this area to try out the flat rides at all, instead prioritising other things. It's just not pleasant. And with Chessington's final undeveloped piece of land now having something on it, I wish they went a little more all-out with it.
The thing is is that most issues are fixable. Add canopies & shade. Add benches. Add bins. Put a bit more music in. Bring the trees up a bit more, flood the whole damn area with every tree shrub and bush you could ever find.
And then there's the issues that aren't as easy to fix. The coaster has big glaring flaws. Capacity, everything outside of the backwards spike at the start of the ride. The decisions for the flat rides.
Here's the good bits. The bits that I liked, that I enjoyed, that I thought were good about the area:
The coaster LOOKS good, the statue looks good. I really like the train design with the mandrills, the inside of the station I quite enjoyed being in. The "No, not that way!" thing is a nice little touch. Track from this manufacturer just.. is attractive and pleasant to look at. Watching the coaster is cool. While the decision for the hardware is questionable, the theme of the flat rides are creative and the creative team worked well with what they had. Outside of the 'separated group of two' blip, the operators worked tremendously well with the cards they were played. Every staff member was kind and happy to help with any virtual queue woes that I had.
Unfortunately though my lows with the area far outweigh the highs, and I can't say I'm rushing to get back in line anytime soon. I admittedly did check the virtual queue later in the day in the hopes of finding a last minute bookable slot, but failed.
Dragons Fury at 120 minutes and a stomach full of hot dog, it was time for more rides. I started with the physically exhausting Barrel Bail Out, which has potential but the guns were a little difficult to aim. A few splashes in the face got me quite happy though.
Seastorm followed, a very fun music express style ride with the added touch of the backwards portion being very fun. A little on the short side, but perfectly enjoyable for what it is.
Croc Drop was ignored, as it was closed all day. The late Rameses is rolling in his grave.
So back to Fury then, whose queue dipped down to (apparently) 60 minutes. 90 minutes later I'm on, and the experience was definitely not as smooth as I'd remembered it being with a couple punches. Still a fantastic ride in there. Forgot about that airtime hill though, nice surprise.
Vampire next then, whose queue stood at a hefty (apparently) 90 minutes. 10 minutes later I'm on, and this gained the award for my favourite ride of the day. A smooth and graceful experience led me to have a bucketload of fun on the ride, and I'm glad to know that when other coasters fall short over the years, this ride continues to deliver for me.
So nice I rode it twice, before the queue skyrocketed up again out of nowhere which is where I continued onwards towards other rides.
Getting close to the day's end now, next was Trawler Trouble, the second Rockin' Tug style ride of the day.
And finished the day on Blue Barnacle, where strategic movements heavily entertained the opposite side into thinking I was getting standing ejector which put a great smile on my face.
It was then time to leave. Despite the lows of Jumanjilandia and the obvious lack of quality rides done, I very much enjoyed my day here at Chessington. Filled with funny short conversations with some of the staff too, including a full-on conversation with a stall member only cut short by others behind me. The social aspects of a theme park trip is something I need to take advantage of far more.
Time to go to Norway.
Rob Coasters
Hyper Poster
Part 47: Alton Towers
I'd been inclined to believe that getting to Alton Towers was impossible, or rather just far too inconvenient to ever even bother. I'd heard the train from London to the station cost five hundred quid, the bus only ran once per day and arrived after opening and before close.
Turns out that the train from London to Stafford was rather cheap, the bus arrived for bang-on opening and left half an hour before close so all seemed doable. Concerned about any delays that might ever happen, I got a train that arrived in Stafford 40 minutes before the bus rather than 10 minutes. The delays never happened, at least on the way there.
So as long as you can get on the bus, it's completely fine. But they really should run steadily throughout the whole day, like with Thorpe.
Not having visited since 2018, it would be nice to get a refresh on the rides and catch in some new ones too. So the day was started with Galactica, in the front row.
It's better than I remember, but I was quick to notice that I couldn't find a comfortable spot to put my head. Looking down wasn't amazing, and trying to look forward didn't really help either. The rolls and the lie-down section were by far my favourite parts of the ride as trying to exist on the ride put my neck & head in a little less discomfort. This factor has slightly dialed down my hype for future flying coasters I might ride in the future, but I don't deny that I could magically find a fix to this issue I took with the ride experience. I fail to remember this ever happening in 2018. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it quite a bit and even bumped it up the rankings a bit but I wish I could move it up slightly more.
The observation platform had some awkward audio playing but gave great views of the reconstruction of Nemesis.
With Nemesis being closed for renovations they quickly had to find reason for anyone to be this side of the park, so they reopened Nemesis Sub-Terra. Heard mixed reviews at best about this ride, but had no idea what was in there other than "Nemesis sub-plot" and (click to reveal spoilers) "indoor drop tower".
The preshow area introduces the story about the Nemesis egg and I forgot most of it, distracted by the discovery that my Helix t-shirt glowed in the dark. We were sent into a lift that had a very convincing vibrating floor effect that gave off the idea that we were moving downwards, but I wish I didn't catch on to these "secrets" like that as I wanted to immerse myself into the story of the ride they were trying to tell.
There was a walkway into a room with four rows of seats with a Nemesis egg in the center. Our bars lower and they start talking about it, when suddenly everything goes wrong the floor lowers and BAM we drop. It's a very short drop, but a sudden one at that, that comes as a surprise to everyone. Turns out that underground there are loads of eggs, everyone freaks out over the leg ticklers, and... I was expecting a second drop, and I'm not alone in this, but the ride goes back up and amidst all the chaos the central Nemesis egg at the top has broken apart and the monster is free! We're told to immediately evacuate the building into the lift that goes back up, when suddenly all breaks again. The lift starts shaking as the lights go out and loud shuffling happens to simulate a freefall, before the doors open back up and it just... ends.
The effects are very impressive, and I admittedly don't know how a few of them are done (though it may be simplier than I think). The ending with the lift sequence is hilarious to see everyone freaking out, but the whole experience does end quite suddenly.
Overall I really enjoyed Nemesis Sub-Terra and would happily ride it again.
We're not done with new dark rides yet, for we have The Curse at Alton Manor to do. Again, don't know much outside of "tracked horror ride about a dead girl who was treated badly in the late 1800s that's really, really good".
And it is. Merlin, after all this time, have built a highly impressive and awesome quality dark ride. The stuff at Thorpe were always fun but never really something I was dying to get on again, but I could honestly sit on this ride all day. The number of effects on this thing is simply insane, with an unmatched atmosphere that does a fantastic job at instilling pure fear into the riders. On both times I rode this the people behind/in front of us really were terrified of what was going on, whereas I just took in the opportunity to take in just how cool all of the sets were. It's all alive, it's all moving, the smells are cool, all of the effects are so imposing and the job they did with the sound was, wow. It has so much going on that I just dropped everything and went round for a second ride in an instant where it was just as good as the first.
And get this. A ride like Phantom Manor at Disneyland is one of my all time favourites, and even that started to feel a little repetitive if you rode it twice consecutively. But I got none of that with Curse. Merlin has, finally, knocked it out of the park with a dark ride and I can't wait to get back on.
Another key difference between Phantom Manor and Alton Manor is that Phantom Manor's style is "feelgood horror" with dancing skeletons and zombies playing guitar, and ghosts dancing with each other. Alton Manor's style is simple adrenaline horror designed to scare the living s##t out of you and succeeding.
If I had to say, there is one dead spot and one part I'm not too convinced by and it's the (click to reveal) rotating tunnel bit. I'm not awfully sure on what it's supposed to represent but at least it's only a short part of the ride.
I also did not notice that the indoor queue section was actually a preshow, and I needed someone to point that out for me to notice after my visit. I think it would have been good if it was communicated a bit more clearly that it should be an option to just stand here for a bit for a little more context on the storyline.
Curse at Alton Manor flies straight into my top 5 dark rides of all time, and at a very high position there too. But is it better than Phantom Manor...?
A 75 minute queue for Wicker Man followed after a not-very-good cheeseburger (tell me how you mess up a cheeseburger) and after that slog of a queue we were seated in around the middle to front part of the train. The ride was not as forceful as I once remembered it being, which surprised me quite a bit, but still good fun.
Smiler's single rider line proved to be a godsend, getting two rides in an acceptable amount of time for the crowds this park was having today. The ride is thankfully still as good as what my memory served, and it still holds the crown of being my favourite roller coaster in England.
I was debating whether to ride one of the Dark Forest coasters, but decided on Oblivion instead as I wanted to see how it stacked up to Valkyria. I still think I prefer Valkyria due to the longer layout, but Oblivion's drop remains far superior in most ways.
The final ride of the day was #217 Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure which had me thinking about why I'm here as I stood in the 50 minute queue for this ride when I could be lapping Smiler instead. But thankfully I don't have to ride this again now.
And that was it for my day at Alton Towers where the bus was due to arrive in around twenty minutes. This park isn't open for long enough with the size of it and the crowds it gets, and being spoiled by the opening times of Liseberg didn't really do this park any favours. Not having gotten everything I wanted was certainly not great, it gives me an excuse to go back and lap Curse, but part of me wishes that didn't have to be the case and that the park was simply open longer.
The train back home was an unbelievable faff due to a minor derailment with no injuries combined with a broken train parked in the station which cancelled almost all trains in and out of Stafford, but soon enough we were on our way back home.
I'd been inclined to believe that getting to Alton Towers was impossible, or rather just far too inconvenient to ever even bother. I'd heard the train from London to the station cost five hundred quid, the bus only ran once per day and arrived after opening and before close.
Turns out that the train from London to Stafford was rather cheap, the bus arrived for bang-on opening and left half an hour before close so all seemed doable. Concerned about any delays that might ever happen, I got a train that arrived in Stafford 40 minutes before the bus rather than 10 minutes. The delays never happened, at least on the way there.
So as long as you can get on the bus, it's completely fine. But they really should run steadily throughout the whole day, like with Thorpe.
Not having visited since 2018, it would be nice to get a refresh on the rides and catch in some new ones too. So the day was started with Galactica, in the front row.
It's better than I remember, but I was quick to notice that I couldn't find a comfortable spot to put my head. Looking down wasn't amazing, and trying to look forward didn't really help either. The rolls and the lie-down section were by far my favourite parts of the ride as trying to exist on the ride put my neck & head in a little less discomfort. This factor has slightly dialed down my hype for future flying coasters I might ride in the future, but I don't deny that I could magically find a fix to this issue I took with the ride experience. I fail to remember this ever happening in 2018. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it quite a bit and even bumped it up the rankings a bit but I wish I could move it up slightly more.
The observation platform had some awkward audio playing but gave great views of the reconstruction of Nemesis.
With Nemesis being closed for renovations they quickly had to find reason for anyone to be this side of the park, so they reopened Nemesis Sub-Terra. Heard mixed reviews at best about this ride, but had no idea what was in there other than "Nemesis sub-plot" and (click to reveal spoilers) "indoor drop tower".
The preshow area introduces the story about the Nemesis egg and I forgot most of it, distracted by the discovery that my Helix t-shirt glowed in the dark. We were sent into a lift that had a very convincing vibrating floor effect that gave off the idea that we were moving downwards, but I wish I didn't catch on to these "secrets" like that as I wanted to immerse myself into the story of the ride they were trying to tell.
There was a walkway into a room with four rows of seats with a Nemesis egg in the center. Our bars lower and they start talking about it, when suddenly everything goes wrong the floor lowers and BAM we drop. It's a very short drop, but a sudden one at that, that comes as a surprise to everyone. Turns out that underground there are loads of eggs, everyone freaks out over the leg ticklers, and... I was expecting a second drop, and I'm not alone in this, but the ride goes back up and amidst all the chaos the central Nemesis egg at the top has broken apart and the monster is free! We're told to immediately evacuate the building into the lift that goes back up, when suddenly all breaks again. The lift starts shaking as the lights go out and loud shuffling happens to simulate a freefall, before the doors open back up and it just... ends.
The effects are very impressive, and I admittedly don't know how a few of them are done (though it may be simplier than I think). The ending with the lift sequence is hilarious to see everyone freaking out, but the whole experience does end quite suddenly.
Overall I really enjoyed Nemesis Sub-Terra and would happily ride it again.
We're not done with new dark rides yet, for we have The Curse at Alton Manor to do. Again, don't know much outside of "tracked horror ride about a dead girl who was treated badly in the late 1800s that's really, really good".
And it is. Merlin, after all this time, have built a highly impressive and awesome quality dark ride. The stuff at Thorpe were always fun but never really something I was dying to get on again, but I could honestly sit on this ride all day. The number of effects on this thing is simply insane, with an unmatched atmosphere that does a fantastic job at instilling pure fear into the riders. On both times I rode this the people behind/in front of us really were terrified of what was going on, whereas I just took in the opportunity to take in just how cool all of the sets were. It's all alive, it's all moving, the smells are cool, all of the effects are so imposing and the job they did with the sound was, wow. It has so much going on that I just dropped everything and went round for a second ride in an instant where it was just as good as the first.
And get this. A ride like Phantom Manor at Disneyland is one of my all time favourites, and even that started to feel a little repetitive if you rode it twice consecutively. But I got none of that with Curse. Merlin has, finally, knocked it out of the park with a dark ride and I can't wait to get back on.
Another key difference between Phantom Manor and Alton Manor is that Phantom Manor's style is "feelgood horror" with dancing skeletons and zombies playing guitar, and ghosts dancing with each other. Alton Manor's style is simple adrenaline horror designed to scare the living s##t out of you and succeeding.
If I had to say, there is one dead spot and one part I'm not too convinced by and it's the (click to reveal) rotating tunnel bit. I'm not awfully sure on what it's supposed to represent but at least it's only a short part of the ride.
I also did not notice that the indoor queue section was actually a preshow, and I needed someone to point that out for me to notice after my visit. I think it would have been good if it was communicated a bit more clearly that it should be an option to just stand here for a bit for a little more context on the storyline.
Curse at Alton Manor flies straight into my top 5 dark rides of all time, and at a very high position there too. But is it better than Phantom Manor...?
A 75 minute queue for Wicker Man followed after a not-very-good cheeseburger (tell me how you mess up a cheeseburger) and after that slog of a queue we were seated in around the middle to front part of the train. The ride was not as forceful as I once remembered it being, which surprised me quite a bit, but still good fun.
Smiler's single rider line proved to be a godsend, getting two rides in an acceptable amount of time for the crowds this park was having today. The ride is thankfully still as good as what my memory served, and it still holds the crown of being my favourite roller coaster in England.
I was debating whether to ride one of the Dark Forest coasters, but decided on Oblivion instead as I wanted to see how it stacked up to Valkyria. I still think I prefer Valkyria due to the longer layout, but Oblivion's drop remains far superior in most ways.
The final ride of the day was #217 Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure which had me thinking about why I'm here as I stood in the 50 minute queue for this ride when I could be lapping Smiler instead. But thankfully I don't have to ride this again now.
And that was it for my day at Alton Towers where the bus was due to arrive in around twenty minutes. This park isn't open for long enough with the size of it and the crowds it gets, and being spoiled by the opening times of Liseberg didn't really do this park any favours. Not having gotten everything I wanted was certainly not great, it gives me an excuse to go back and lap Curse, but part of me wishes that didn't have to be the case and that the park was simply open longer.
The train back home was an unbelievable faff due to a minor derailment with no injuries combined with a broken train parked in the station which cancelled almost all trains in and out of Stafford, but soon enough we were on our way back home.
Attachments
Rob Coasters
Hyper Poster
Part 48: The Honourable Final 2023
The ending of the 2023 year is among us now, and what a roller coඞster of a year it has been. Northernmost the Norway hydraulic launch coaster, easternmost the Sweden prefabricated wooden coaster, southernmost the French son of the dragon, westernmost a wacky worm which was my 200th coaster.
Anyway, I've had a pattern with my final trips of the year in that they bring some unprecedented chaos to them. 2021 most of my trains back home were fully cancelled and I was in danger of not having a smooth route home. 2022 was a race with trying to get rides open before I had to leave. 2023 I'm visiting three parks in one day for the first ever time.
I used to think that Hyde Park Winter Wonderland was one of my favourite places ever but over time I've grown incredibly tired of it due to expense, crowds, and simply knowing better rides. I can't believe the concept of having one of the world's largest funfairs basically at my doorstep and just... not caring, but this has become the case nowadays. Four days before the end of the month-and-a-half long event, I'm making my first visit to this year's lineup when in the past by this point I would've already gone three times.
It doesn't help that the entire arrival process was a headache from the very start. You see, in 2021 Winter Wonderland introduced timed entry tickets. You need to prebook online and arrive within the two-hour timeslot that you stated. I f**king hate timed entry windows. They are the bane of my existence and I would kill the concept with hammers if my chance to do that came.
Anyway, due to oversleeping I scheduled myself to arrive at 1pm. Unfortunately, it all went wrong from the very start. My bus that comes every 15 minutes took over forty to arrive, and my train to Kings Cross after that was listed as delayed, but came quickly after my arrival. This whole time spent stressing over the timeslot until I was finally there, scheduled to get through the gates at 1.45pm. The cutoff time for my ticket was 2pm, and even though there was a f**k-off massive queue for entry I'd settled down far more as I could just guilt my way through with how bad public transport's been and how there's a huge wait to enter. No problem there then.
At 2:15pm, fifteen minutes past the entry window, my ticket was scanned and I was allowed through supremely efficiently without even so a wink from the scanner. But so much stressing over nothing. Not happy. Anyway, coasters.
#244 Wilde Maus. Really feeling the non-presence of XXL, this thing did not hit in the slightest. This is a very 'not me' thing but the lateral turns became something to endure rather than something to enjoy. I get that the ride tries to be good with not trimming that much, but maybe this is a model that I'm quickly growing tired of (this is not good news for the future).
One of the other new for 2023 rides is the world debut of Energizer, which replaced Atmosfear who's gone south. I think I prefer Atmosfear, but only because this ride takes so long to get to the good bit. When it's running full speed right at the end, it is awesome and if that lasted the whole ride it would thrash Atmosfear, but sadly its first half is a little too much 'slow' for me. I'd happily have a shorter ride cycle that has more 'fast' in it.
München Looping, oh how I used to fanboy so hard over you. Used to be my favourite roller coaster in the whole wide world back in the first half of 2022 until Megafobia threw it out, then ever since it's been dropping like a fly.
Well unfortunately I've just had one of my worst ever rides on it. The smoothness, or lack thereof, was pretty prominent even outside of a wheel seat and that combined with the accordion restraints makes for a remarkably uncomfortable experience. The loops felt more forceful than they'd ever been, but this almost worked against the ride's favour as I simply was not having fun on it. Hit the brakes wholly unsatisfied... the Olympia fanboying arc is done.
£11 for a negative review.
Anyway, with that sore disappointment out of the way, let's see if yet another reride on Airborne can do any favours. And this kind of didn't hit either. As we were doing forwards rotation I realised that I kind of missed having that 'wind in my face' feeling that backwards rotation does, and that... detracted from the ride experience a bit. Forwards has almost none of that, outside of the brief moment at the top when the gondola flips over. This feels oddly specific and I've never had this specific quibble regarding this ride before.
And with that I got food and walked out. It would have been nice to try out Superstarke Troika, the other new for 2023 ride, but felt... satisfied... with the ride haul and wanted to get going.
And get going I did, to ExCeL London for two extra additions to the count. I took the northern exit towards Marble Arch to then change at the Elizabeth line towards Custom house, but that was easier said than done. I walked down to the Marble Arch station only to find the gate closed, and that the entire station was shut down because the escalators were broken. We were told "walk ten minutes down the road to Bond street" which worked out as I could get on a direct train to the elizabeth line from there.
So this was my view for a good while as I walked down. Which felt a lot longer than ten minutes.
Got to the station. I've always had nightmares with my elizabeth line experiences with countless red signals but this run was flawless. Redemption arc? Nice.
And at Custom house I found my way to ExCeL London which was a really, really weird walk down possibly the most horizontal shopping centre I've ever been in before approaching Kingdom of Winter, thirty minutes before last entry.
#245 Reindeer Run.
#246 Alpine Runaway Train.
The rest of the flats you can find at any fair that pops up in this country so wasn't pressed on getting on them, maybe another time, so wandered out.
Backtracking through the elizabeth line to change at Paddington, for a GWR train to Reading for the final destination of the day, Reading Winter Wonderland.
#247 Santa's Sleigh Coaster. What a way to end the year, on wacky worm number twenty nine.
Then I found an old friend I haven't come across in years, New York New York which is the actual end to the year. Ironically pretty much the same ride as lovely Superstarke Troika, I guess the folks at Reading really wanted me to ride a musik express today so I obliged. I loved this ride back when it was in Watford, does it still hold up?
No. It was rattling like Hellraiser at Barry, felt like a shell of its former self and definitely needed some spicing up. It did get some good speed going nearer the end of the cycle, but its smoothness, or lack thereof, was pretty prominent. Its presentation is still great, but more of a looker these days. Just like Olympia. Just like Wilde Maus. Just like Airborne on forwards rotation. Just like the first 50% of Energizer before it gets good. I guess maybe I really do need to come back for friendly man Superstarke back in London.
Been a little downbeat due to a couple of underwhelms, but well I did it, I visited three roller coaster establishments in one day. And that's a way and a half to end the year. How do I beat this next year?
Graeme
Roller Poster
Sorry I'm late, but that's the best description of the coaster and area I've seen. No one wants to be critical for the sake of it (not many, anyway), but it's frustrating when something isn't as good as it could be, especially when it comes to capacity. Personally, at Alton, Thorpe or Chessington, I think a full-circuit ride that runs at least two trains should be the bare minimum.