Recent content by East Coast Mariner

Long term, it's probably the 1940s, '50s and '60s. Then there was the coaster renaissance with the '70s Charles Dinn and John Allen woodies like Racer and Beast. More recently, I'd agree it's something like 2006-2018 (at least from my personal point of view). The old old-style B&M/Intamin...

Valgard's shaping up nicely. I get the feeling that the western edge of it is going to be the "Norwegian Coast", and you'll be able to watch the water ride from the restaurant. I suspect it will be a Rocking Boat a little bit more than a Water Coaster at this stage, but we'll see.

Excellent, @Niles, definitely TR-worthy! I've never been there, but it seems to have a ride line-up on a par with most of our theme parks. I love those Fabbri Frisbees - I used to ride the one at Margate over and over! Don't suppose you rode Jungle Jeeps, did you? That has animal models from...

Sea, piers, coasters...

Out of interest, do you have any inkling as to why they did that? I appreciate they wanted to move most of the rides to their other parks, but that still leaves the best wooden coaster in the UK, and in good, refurbished condition too. The park didn't have a great reputation, admittedly, but...

Interesting reports, Heth, of two parks that are very much my cup of tea (at least on paper). I'd certainly agree that making more rides like Merlin's Quest seems to be the right direction for Toverland. Enjoyment is a funny thing, isn't it? You can have the "best", most-polished park, but...

Day 5 - Blackgang Chine It is no exaggeration to say that Blackgang Chine is one of my favourite places on Earth. From my first visit in 1983, as I passed the Two Smugglers at the entrance, I knew I was somewhere special. I returned in 1989 and was enchanted by the Weather Wizard. And in...

Good to hear Dreamcatcher is still going strong. It always fascinated me that we had another true swing coaster in Europe, apart from Vampire. Much better than inverted coasters, in my opinion - I live in hope that this genre will one day make a comeback. ;)

Hmm, that's interesting. I'd say the complete opposite. With those old Schwarzkopf loopers (only done the Looping Star and Silver Arrow, to be honest), the positive Gs are enough that you never even think about having a lap bar. But most coasters with a vertical loop can run slowly, even...

Thanks. I went there last week and took a picture - it looks very good indeed. It's all set to open on 6th June.

Day 4 - Robin Hill If there was one place I wanted to revisit more than any other, it was Robin Hill - somewhere else I hadn’t been to since 1983. I can remember some peacocks, and that’s it. Up until recently, the park was owned by Blackgang Chine. However, they put Robin Hill up for sale...

Similarly, I think "yes and no". Enthusiasts can get so caught up in what the "best" equipment is, it's all too easy to overlook the fact that each park is doing what's right for them. Imagine if you owned a park and you spent months choosing between rides and manufacturers. There would be...

Day 3 - Shanklin Chine Returning to Shanklin, I really wanted to see if I could ride Captain Jack’s Runaway Train. Unfortunately, it was still closed. There are also a couple of crazy golf courses here - one pirate and one dinosaur - but they were also closed. Instead, I went to see an old...

I think a lot of it also depends on whether you "fall into" the restraint or not. Lap bars are great on the positive-G filled Schwarzkopf loopers, but not so good if there's part of the ride where something needs to support your upper body, ie. coming out of an inversion slowly. Even on...

Day 2 - Ryde to Godshill After a hot and stuffy night in Newport, I needed some fresh air, so I headed to Ryde. There used to be a tiny Schiff coaster here, but today I wanted to see Appley Tower, a folly built on the promenade. The tower wasn’t open, so I passed the time by viewing some...