"East Anglia Extravaganza" | GYPB & PWH | Trip Reports

[Nic]

Hmmm, as I only had a 2gb card in my camera, I cranked down the quality of the video to fit it all on. Yeah, that was a silly thing to do. It looks like it was filmed at the turn of the century. Oh well, I'll give it a go anyway. Going to take me forever to wade through the 58 clips.

 

[caffeine_demon]

Re:

I did have strange dreams about flying sheep last night!

you should see a Doctor about that....

 

[furie]

Going to take me forever to wade through the 58 clips.

Amateur!!! I've got 96 for Pleasurewood Hills and 110 for Great Yarmouth. Must try harder Nic

 

[nadroJ]

Live was fun as they always are =].

Highlights include casual copyright infringement on everything, Joanna Lumley Ghost Train, being awesome at Go-Karts, ambushing peep in the laser bollocks thing, See Anal Xander, ship or ****, CBR, sheep on the roulette wheel, Ian asking if he could purchase one of the shop's 'awful keyrings please', Sue being a Burden in Beijing, someone asking where Scarlet was at the end of the day only for Joey to point and go 'up there', revealing Scarlet dropping on the Jolly Roger, finding out what the mysterious posts were for at Pleasurewood Hills, airtime on the waterslide, watching MM_F having his first go driving a dodgem <3

Probably loads more **** but I can't remember, perhaps when photos/videos happen I'll recall some stuff =]

 

[Dubaidave]

Re: "East Anglia Extravaganza" | GYPB & PWH | Trip Reports

Well I don't know where to star. I will do a proper trip report soon but just wanted to say a huge thanks to everyone for making me feel welcome and organising a great weekend.

There were so many highlights. Particularly the strangest mini golf course I have ever seen. A couple of dubious credits. Some amazing, well I loved them, dark rides. Very friendly ride ops at pwh. The guy who only slightly laughed at me when I asked to ride the cbr dark ride twice on my own.

Everyone made me feel very welcome and I will defiantly try to attend and in the future. Particularly if you organise one in dubai!

 

[EnigmaHyena]

someone asking where Scarlet was at the end of the day only for Joey to point and go 'up there', revealing Scarlet dropping on the Jolly Roger,

That someone was me! I guess I really didn't need to ask where she was considering ther was a Fabbri Megadrop around.

The weekend involved Ian having sexual dreams about televisions (in our hotel room me and Joey both heard Ian say in a rather sensual, aroused tone "That's a big TV..." in his sleep), Ian's totally unsubtle fart that ripped through time and space in his sleep, being BRUTAL with Ciaran aka Minor_furie and Jordan, "SLAYERRRR!!!", Joey repeatedly groping/molesting me in the Travelodge, rubbish dark rides, aforementioned rubbish dark rides being made better by DRAGONS!!!, new edgy Deathcore band 'As The Prostitute Goat's Eyes Glaze Over' complete with unreadable logo that looks like twigs, disintegrating clementines, me becoming addicted to Wipeout whilst Scarlet got hooked on Jolly Roger, "porn ponies", Ian imitating Man V. Food and being victorious, Snake In The Ass being better than Th13teen (and numb-bum inducing) and of course the occasional faff. So another good CF-Live!

The only downside was the WORLD'S MOST DISAPPOINTING AFTERBURNER™. I guess I should add that Enigma is a really pants coaster and I'm embarrassed to share the same screen name/alias as it.

Was nice seeing everyone again as usual, especially great meeting Colossus Power Of 10 and his missus and being able to engage in geeky in-depth conversations about Man V. Food. Overall a fun weekend with perfect company :]

 

[furie]

someone asking where Scarlet was at the end of the day only for Joey to point and go 'up there', revealing Scarlet dropping on the Jolly Roger,

That someone was me! I guess I really didn't need to ask where she was considering ther was a Fabbri Megadrop around.

I was taking photos for the CF guide and looking through them last night they all (from all day) seem to contain Scarlet :lol:

 

[Scarlet]

someone asking where Scarlet was at the end of the day only for Joey to point and go 'up there', revealing Scarlet dropping on the Jolly Roger,

That someone was me! I guess I really didn't need to ask where she was considering ther was a Fabbri Megadrop around.

I was taking photos for the CF guide and looking through them last night they all (from all day) seem to contain Scarlet :lol:

Great Phil...

As long as they don't all contain speech bubbles of old, I'm sure they're fine ;o

 

[caffeine_demon]

ooooh - seems everyone's forgotten about the low throughput cable car, made even lower because they only load every other car!!

oh - and after the minigolf, I did the ghost train on britannia pier - which wasn't half bad - if a bit short, I then went back to the PB to check out the 4d robin hood - and I was the only one in there!!

and I then did the model village - which was quite cheesy, but worth 30 minutes!

The hotel boasted that charles dickens stayed there when writing david copperfield - and I don't think they've changed the furniture since :lol: Nice Breakfast though!

 

[Scarlet]

I might as well do a report now that I'm here.

I had a wonderful time as always, and really looked forward to visiting Pleasurewood again since last time there was Norfolk n' Wipeout - to quote Martyn I think.

I drove with Joey, Fraser and Rachel which is always a continuous comical affair. We decided to stay in the Acle Travelodge, yet another ode to 2007's trip, and just do the Sunday due to Great Yarmouth conjuring up burdenous memories and accomodation costing a lot more when including a Friday night.

Here are many of the amusements I can recall at this moment:

Forcing myself to drive with just a map and realising it's actually fine and liberating.
The endless A140 providing village education and countryside life appreciation. Places such as DISS, Creeting St. Mary, Copdock Washbrook, BUNGAY, Margaretting (I do hope all Margarets know how to engage in Margaretting), Blofield, Strumpshaw, and many others aiding in this learning curve.

Intending to not do Great Yarmouth and subsequently doing it due to its obscene closing time of 9pm.

Riding Roller Coaster again and remembering "What a **** hole, oh I mean, what a lovely place" hahaha.

Round faces </3

The demise of T'internet, a popular café serving world wide cable connections.

Having Spoons on the Saturday night, being Ian's designated driver buddy.

Jordan's PEAS! THE PEAS!! Uggghh

The blockage of the toilet route DRAMA by Joey. Joey being HOISTED from the ground whilst in chair by a rotund local with a desperate urge for urination yet an inexplicable resistance to change.

Burdenous facebook alterations <3

Realising Colossus Power of 10 is an ADULT and with partner - lovely to meet you both <3

Now Pleasurewood's offerings of amusement:

Nic's foul mood in the morning <3

The frankly STUPID removal of a Fabbri Megadrop years prior only to DRAG it back out due to a ready-to-wear Mach Tower clone not happening as planned.

The wonderfully scripted staff: "is that ok for you like that?" uttered delightfully at every restraint check. Genuinely though the staff were lovely.

The RIDICULOUS afterburner taking heed from Donna Summers' Macarthur Park and losing the climax just as it started to do something good. WORSE THAN VORTEX!

Missing out on the odorous Laser.

Missing out on the go karts due to delicacy.

Putting my hand in an ants nest <////3 and having antxiety for the rest of the day.

BURDENOUS LOADING ON ENIGMA with its stupid 1 train, separate load and offload platforms, and CRAPACITY!

Wipeout being fab <3

Bringing a taste of Det to the east coast and screaming its theme tune during Jolly Rogers' ascent, suspense and descent. Nic reriding Jolly Roger with me <3 Joey riding it at all!! The amount of people that didn't ride it </3 I spy at the top.

Ambushing the wrong "awful therefore fab dark ride" and attracting unsolicited general attention in the area.

Mishearing Ian say "steak in the arse" down the phone and not being able to work out what the hell it even meant due to images of wooden spears plunging into colons. Realising it was merely Snake in the arse.

LUNCH, TESCO practically in the vicinity. Tesco Pleasurewood Hills we hope it's called.

Baking my survival for the weekend and bringing homemade sourdough bread, spelt ginger muffins, carob brownies and butter hahaha. Vowing to bring a toaster for the Travelodge next time.

Fraser buying AWFUL finger foods, Joey throwing them out the car window. Buying ridiculous things for lunch like gold top milk and dried cranberries. In any way simply avoiding all theme park food. Declension of the verb "to Stromboli"

My suggestion for Fraser's formal compromise wedding attire of a beautiful suit with the arse cut out - to fit his 'alternate nature
Les yeux morts froids

JULIAN! Talking to Julian more than his offspring <3 Wife of Julian being present? Such a fab family <3 Influenced ice cream hunger! The Ross stereotype.

Snake in the grass' lift hill being like a foil salmon parcel baking at 350

PISTACHIOS. Nic's urge for them and not using Joey's stomach properly as the shell disposal. Merely throwing them at him instead. Everyone else declining pistachios due to the increased effort required for consumption.

The amount of ice creams everyone had?!?!

The cringey Sean Alexander and his claim to fame being a one-line verbal review by Piers Morgan. Being far too close to the stage for such cheesy dancing, facial expressions and forced enthusiasm.

The wet seethrough shirt being far too small for him.

Kai, or Ty? Or Kye? The child called up on stage refusing all flirtatious contact with the girls on stage <3 Shaking his head when asked "is this ok".

The STENCH in that building. If the laser was anything like that I'm so glad I avoided it. HURG.

My personal Jolly Roger-a-thon. The final ride waving to a group I was pretty sure were CF and them seeing me and it being fab etc and goony and nerdy of me but hey I didn't burden anyone with it so I don't feel bad about it <3

Was great to see the regulars again and although I didn't speak much with CPO10, his partner or Dubai Dave, you seem like lovely people.

At the end of the day we hung around for a while in the car park chatting to the Furie family which was fab. Fraser has a fab immature friend in Ciaran <3 Odd family dynamics <3

VW shared love between Phil and I.

We stayed behind further in the car park grass to pose with Jolly Roger in the background like absolute idiots, I'm sure the Furies were watching us. Also on the way to the photo spot I unearthed a softened clementine from my bag and hurled it in dismay at terra firma, expecting it to bounce amusingly like the pathetic fruit it was. However due to aforementioned over-ripe softening, it exploded on contact and upon inspection of the scene all but the carcass appeared to have burned up on re-entry. The inside was literally non-existent and amused us for several minutes - all of which I'm also sure was witnessed by the Furies.

Phil then drove off and we left soon after, actually being ushered out of the gates by staff and having them close the gates on us.

That's all I can recall for daytime things right now.

Travelodge amusements included:

Playing homemaker with my Brita Filter, homemade baked goods and breakfast items.

Nourishing Fraser with buttered muffins. Fraser appreciating bread. Fraser vastly improving the bleak outlook of WHITE FLOUR PITTAS with butter <3

Fraser molestation dans l'travelodge, dans l'automobile and possibly dans l'sleep?

The PISS FRAGRANCE used in the bathroom. They clean it then douse it with a piss smell!

The AYCLE, AH-CLE, AY-CLAY, ACLé, A-CELL, DEBACLE! Having to get confirmation from staff on the correct pronunciation, but still wishing for the ever classy Aclé.

Endless CREATURES in and around the travelodge. Using bananas, towels, clementines, shoes, boxes and anything else to hand to erradicate them.

Lack of mood suicide board in our room, onto which Fraser and I normally launch ourselves in despair. Ian's room having one.

Nandos Sunday night <3 Familiarising ourselves with Norwich and its terrifying multi-storey car parks. A lift more wobbly and unnerving than a drop tower, and playing Flamingoland's "Kentucky Derby" theme tune at wholly inappropriate places. Once also down the phone to Ian and John whilst driving and being overtaken by someone else due to humour-induced acceleration hindrance.

I have to end now because I can't structure many more sentences, I'm disconnecting points from chronology and I'm tired.

As usual the weekend was fabulous and although only really present for 60% of it I still had a great time. Company was fabulous, humour was endless, food was plentiful and the usual Fraser-Joey-Rachel part John and Ian proved to shape the whole trip and make it a joy.

Thanks everyone involved with organising and I hope to see many of you later in the year



Here are Jolly Roger sad and lonely videos for anyone interested from the day who didn't ride and want to see the view, or anyone else in need of a good tut at my megadrop affection.

View of the Schwarzkopf burden and car park.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD4AMNgSqu8&feature=youtu.be

View towards Wipeout.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yaqa29anH8&feature=youtu.be

 

[Ian]

^ Fab report <3

Here's what I was up to whilst Vadge was shouting at everybody outside Pleasurewood Hills.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DveaWeRzCuk[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs_V5TzAPaU[/youtube]

The problem with mounted POVs is they tend to make the coaster look slow and smooth - Wipeout is neither!

 

[furie]

I liked Wipeout. I like Boomerangs generally. I still only wanted to go on it once though :lol:

Nic was only shouting because we'd all got together in threesomes before she arrived (late) and was left to sort herself out while we all smugly stood around satisfied.

Scarlet - your post is why you should come to more events. Well that and your presence at the park too We saw you all laughing and giggling, but had no idea why - it was just "to be expected of you"

I promise to write a proper post, I've got some photos and everything, but also a huge backlog of work (both real, family and CF).

 

[EnigmaHyena]

I guess I should post some general photos of the Sunday. I took over 70 but I'm only picking certain ones for here. The rest can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 422&type=1

A shot of the awesome Wipeout. At this point Ian was being Ian Bell from CoasterForce and filming his 3D POV on the coaster. The rest of the group proceeded to faff.

After doing the carousel, the group had originally intended to start off with a game of Laser Quest, but we caught a ride on the park's Boomerang, Wipeout.

Most of CF did this...

...But me, Scarlet, Joey, Rachel and Sharon (not pictured!) decided against this since it involved BO. It also meant I could get my fix of reriding Wipeout and take goony snapshots:

Shortly after we moved on to Fireball, an Afterburner. It was absolutely rubbish.

Things did get better though, since DRAGON!!!!

Some people braved the wetness of Timber Falls...

...Whilst Ciaran donned his best cowboy disguise.

Clearly Ciaran was fooling no-one going by Joey's expression.

The CF Grand Prix was about to start! Except it wasn't ready yet...twice. Commence quirky "Look at me I'm a professional photographer because it's at an angle" shot.

All this photo needs is to be Instagrammed then I'll make millions. Look at how edgy it is.

Ciaran got stalked by a creepy Dino. It made loud noises at him, followed by The Flintstones song.

We did Enigma next. Nic and Ciaran personally blamed me for it being a tad turd.

Scarlet was on Jolly Roger here somewhere...as was the theme for most the day, ha! Addict!

John made me VERY happy because his shirt had a dragon on it c:

I didn't take any more photos at the park, but we later (after Tesco!) did all the crappy dark rides and Snake In The Grass. I shall leave you with an image of Scarlet's Travelodge room featuring the TV that Ian was probably having saucy dreams about.

 

[furie]

Before I start on a proper trip report, I have to apologise for a lack of photos, but I was videoing, so it's forgiveable. I was also doing the "goon thing" and taking ride photos for the park guides.

I can quickly knock up a GYPB report now though for your delectation.

The night before had been a nightmare. We'd been kept awake all night by noisy, inconsiderate swines. Jordan claims it wasn't her, but she was in B&B adjoining ours and I reckon that the cries of "MORE MORE -I'M YOUR BEARD! YOUR BEEEEEEEEAAAARD!" could only have been her and Sam

There were also lots of people swearing all night about the broken cash point outside the Barclays on the other side of the B&B. It was eating cards, and the next morning it had scrawled in drunken writing "You're out of order mate, don't you start with that on me! I'll have you know that, well, what was I saying? Oh yeah, even though you ate my card, I luv you man, I really do..." (paraphrased).

Anyway, we headed to the Pleasure Beach area and started by having an alien implant fitted to Minor_Furie.

This allowed him to ride one of these strange, extra-terrestrial contraptions...

Then after a cup of tea in the wonder "Sara's Tea Rooms", it was time to head 20 yards to the meet-up... late.

There was a general faff happening around a food/coffee outlet and we said hello and stuff and I met our Live virgins, Dubai Dave (Goodbye Dave Madame_Furie thought, Bazpa the Second to everyone else ), Colossus^10 and Mrs Colossus^10

Oddly and unusually, we were waiting for Mysterious_Sue - she'd gone to find a cash point. That's an easy task, there were at least six between the Pleasure Beach and the borked one a mile away. Ian collected money anyway to get the bands, but she managed to just turn up as we were heading into the place-that-wristbands-are-bought. She'd lost her card in the borked Barclays machine... How do you pass six perfectly fine cash points and then use the only broken one in East Anglia that required a trip on a Diplodocus to get to? Only Sue.

Oh, sorry, in the land of reality we all got wristbands and headed straight for the creds. The Big Apple. I already got this at Alton (and I already have Big Apple coasters), so I just stood and watched and laughed. Dubai Dave at least was quickly in the spirit of things...

Oh yeah, and the family Jools turned up too. Really pleasant surprise as the family_furie was discussing on the way down how nice it is to see them and such a shame we don't see them very often any more and how is JayJay doing now and did Katie ever pass her driving test and isn't she at uni too now and what was the dad's name I can never remember it's Jools oh yeah and had the mum ever shown up no I don't think so.

So superb to see them all

Stuff happened... Roller Coaster, which was shockingly good for a side friction coaster. I've got a massive soft spot for this ride, I really do. I adore the massive panelling work and the sheer scale of it - it's actually almost glorious.

We then had to do the Nails of Fairytale land (or whatever it was called) before Maxi-Minor_Furie exploded in desperation. I think some people did the drop tower thing then and the heavens opened. It was a proper heavy rain and I laughed at everyone on the ride getting soaked, and then realised I was outside in the rain filming them and getting just as wet. When they got off, we all sheltered in a kiddy ride area thing and I did the group photo (see previous page).

Ghost Train next while it rained (oooh, spooky. I did love the "we're not worthy" bat) and then the 3D Fun House. What an odd thing. The 3D was just paint and the fun house was just lots of moving floors all a round a huge open and empty floor in the middle. Loads of fun though.

Dodgems.

Then flat rides. The Orbiter first which I enjoyed, but it made me feel too queasy for the Twister, so I sent Maxi-Minor_Furie on with Sue (I love the irony of burdening her ).

It took ages to fill up and therefore start, and all the while you could see Sue trying to be enthusiastic and friendly as MMF talked at her in a fit of over-excitement and adrenaline.

He also crushed her on the ride!

More things... Erm... The Mulan ride that gave Skyrush thighs (shut up Gavin ) and, erm, I dunno?

Lunch? Some people went on Lord Morton's train service:

We had a cream tea. NOM!

Joyland and the coasters of why (plus the fishy dark ride with extra mullet when Nic went on it).

And wet people on a wet Spook Express:

Tubs I liked and I consider them more of a cred than the Snails which were too wet for me to notice if they were any good or not. They did seem to have airtime though?

The tubs tried to eat Minor_Furie:

And oddly, nobody did this...

The rain had inflated Nic's head, so her mask wouldn't fit any more:

And crazy golf thing to round off the day. It's hard to describe the crazy golf, but it was fab. Inside an old theatre it was like something from Scooby Doo. Brilliant stuff and the best crazy golf I've ever done. We held up Colossus^10 and Mrs Colossus^10 and laughed at them being competitive and MC^10 beating C^10 quite easily (she even started with a hole in one). Still, I'm sure he could make up for it at PWH in the Grand Prix

Best photo I have of the crazy crazy golf

And that was it. We all said goodbye and we buggered off to a posh hotel somewhere. I'll do a separate "Family_Furie extraneous trip report" soon

Sorry, bit light on the antics and injokes and everything, but the day was a bit of a blinding rush to me and I think I missed a lot of it :lol:

 

[Ian]

Seeing as there are some lovely reports coming in about GYPB and PWH, I'll cover the Hemsby part of the Live.

Hemsby is a few miles north of Great Yarmouth. Here's a Google satellite image of the "park".

The cred is where the red arrow is pointing. The blue circle is where I parked the car. The yellow cross is the awful (therefore amazing) tat shop.

I shared the arduous car journey to the arse end of nowhere (read: East Anglia) with peep, who has roots in Great Yarmouth (which explains a few things ). I think we were both secretly thrilled about getting a new cred, especially as it was only a caterpillar coaster. We were excitedly scanning the road approaching the seafront for anything resembling a cred. We found it and parked up somewhere near the blue circle on the image above, right next to the steps into the park. Hemsby reminded me of Rhyl, but more desperate, with less cred, better accents and a higher tolerance towards booze.

The gates at the top of the steps were closed. I was confident that it would open, peep showed a little apprehension that it wouldn't. Little did he know that I called the park a few days before to conform opening, cost and if adults could ride. I didn't tell him this, I made him sweat.

When I spoke to the woman who answered the phone at Hemsby, she was lovely. I explained that we were visiting purely to ride the coaster. She asked all about CF and I explained. It was a pointless conversation tbh, but it's another park contact She had a really sexy voice, too. I'd place her about mid-50's, given up smoking for about four years and on her second husband in a sexless marriage.

The gates opened, I stayed by the car, smoked a tab and pondered about paying for parking. I watched an elderly couple sitting on a nearby bench and was quite touched by their closeness. Peep wandered up the steps to the park to take a few photos.

Peep returned and we both walked up the steps into the park. It wasn't really a park, more of a fairground in a semi-permanent status. I walked across the stony ground and surveyed the cred. It was pathetic. An oval shape with a caterpillar themed train and a big apple on the second bend. No elevation, no theme...just a cred. Beggars can't be choosers,as my "amazingly chavvy" mum would say.

Nobody else had turned up so I started to panic a bit. Would everybody be waiting at HYPB tutting and rolling their eyes? Oh well, **** it. I told everybody this is where it would begin, so I'm going to stay here until I've got the cred.

To kill time, peep and I walked on to the main road to see of we could spot any other CFers. We couldn't. I needed to get an awful fridge magnet so we explored the tat shop opposite the park.

It was awful - mugs with "witty" slogans, gollywogs, dream catchers, Elvis/Beatles/One Directions crap, printed mirrors, fudge and animal ornaments.

After one lap of the shop, we walked back outside and waited by the entrance for some CFers to turn up. After a few minutes, I got a phone call from Vadge. Vadge and Mysterious Sue were walking towards us, hurrah! After a few pleasant hellos and a reluctant hug from Vagde, we ventured back inside the tat shop. I thought it would be Vagde's sort of thing. It was. She wanted the noisy mirror thing, I could see it in her eyes. Her reflected eyes.

The four of us walked back to the park at 10:28 where I spotted somebody resembling an CF avatar. We made eye contact, smiled at each other and (thankfully), it was dubai_dave. A handshake and small talk later, I realised Dave was a die hard enthusiast and willing to ride anything! I think Sue remarked on Dave's Family Guy t-shirt and told him that he "can stay".

We stood by the Caterpillar coaster wondering what to do. Somebody had to ask about tokens and I guess that person had to be me. Thankfully, The Family Jools turned up at this point (much to my surprise, I knew they were coming, but not to Hemsby!) so I was able to spend a bit more time preparing myself to look like a twat.

After pleasantries and working out how much it would cost to ride, it was time to ask the burly looking bloke in the token booth if we could ride. I asked the bloke, he grunted a few words, we each put £1 worth of coins through the cut-out semi-circle at the bottom of the transparent safety perspex and he told us to wait by the coaster.

We unashamedly jumped straight on the coaster, taking up a whole seat each. There was no way we'd fit two per seat...and there was no need to. Several minutes later, a jovial youth appeared and exclaimed, "are you guys serious?" We enthusiastically said "yes!" and he called a colleague over.

We all rode (except for The Queen Jools) for several laps. Far to many laps. The coaster didn't do anything. I couldn't sense any elevation or anything thrilling. The Caterpillar at Hemsby is simply an oval circuit. It's probably the smallest coaster I've ever been on (maybe even smaller than Dvergbanen at TusenFryd) but I can't find any stats on it. It's a Go Gator without the power cable. Ah well, +1 and it was an experience.

After riding, I reiterated the meet up plans at GYPB to everybody and we headed off to the Live-Proper.

 

[caffeine_demon]

the 3D Fun House. What an odd thing. The 3D was just paint and the fun house was just lots of moving floors all a round a huge open and empty floor in the middle. Loads of fun though.

Until they had the "great" idea of turning the lights off, there were those distorting mirrors around the wall at the bottom, hence the empty floor! (I know last time I went around, I could see the mirrors were still there! didn't look this time though). there also used to be slightly rude oldy woldy posters around
like

and

 

[furie]

Pleasure Wood Hills time then is it?

We started by organising ourselves into threesomes. Then Nic turned up and didn't have any partners. Thekingin64 and his dad (sorry, don't know your name ) teased her with their presence and then said they weren't doing the 3-4-2 offer.

So Dubai_Dave found a £5 off for checking in on Facebook deal, which meant it was £13.50 rather than £12 - but Nic still wasn't happy paying more.

Fortunately, Scarlet and co. turned up and we only needed one more to make Nic a happy bunny, Mike did us the honour! Hurrah, we're all in threes and heading off to pay when... Family Jools arrive in a foursome. NOOOOOOOOOO!

Anyway, Julian was happy with a £13.50 entrance and everyone else in the family got in for a very bargainous £12.

We got the bands, counted and got our "tickets" for the laser game and go-carts. We then returned after working out we'd miscounted. Then returned again when we realised we'd missed Family Jools. Then returned again when we realised that C^10 and MC^10 had been AWOL during the counting. I think they were a little sick of coming back for more and more :lol:

Faff happened!

Wipeout Happened!

The laser game happened (ooops, what a dreadful photo :lol: )

We split into four teams. Two teams in first against each other that consisted of "the grown ups" There was a lot of laughter from the maze and every one came out buzzing I think?

It was excellent hearing the scores and seeing the difference between them. Was it 2,500 for one team and -2,500 for the other? I can't remember who won from that match, but I know Mushroom was chuffed with his 1,200 or so points. Ian less than chuffed with his -1,346,212 or whatever

Then it was our turn...

I seemed to have been put in charge of the "last to get picked in games" team. The just turned 7 year old (who wasn't actually tall enough to play, kudos to the ops for realising he was with a known group and would be safe), the spacker teenager (Minor_Furie), the awkward, yet dark horse Mike (I knew he played cricket and would actually be good at something physical, even if he doesn't seem "the type"), the "girl" (sorry Katie :lol and the old fart.

I've played a lot of these types of games, but none ever have come close to "Laser Maze" in Northwich, which was superb. I despise Quazar, but it's the over the top serious Quazar players I really hate. It's meant to be fun and they always take it too seriously.

I really enjoyed this. The maze was dark and complex, the system worked well and it was just fantastic fun. I almost killed REBEL though. I was crouched behind a wall and she peeped over and shot at me. I ran to my left through what I thought was a gap. It was a gap, but only about a foot big in the middle of a wall. I went head first into the rest of the wall with a massive "thlunk" noise. REBEL really did nearly die choking laughing at me :lol: I still have a bruise on my forehead

Everyone seemed to be really enjoying it, but I was constantly getting shot, and whenever I saw anyone in my team, they'd just died. Still, it's about playing the game and not the winning.

OH YEAH IN YOUR FACE!!! Scores came out and our team had 6,000 or so against the others on -6,000 or so.

The fantabulous Katie won overall with about 1,600 points or something. I think all of our team topped the top score of the earlier winners, with even Maxi-Minor_Furie beating Mushroom with around 1,400 points. It also meant that Ian wasn't the worst player

To the go-carts next, only they were closed due to moisture on the track... So... Faff happened - only faff with rides as we kept going to and from the track to see if it had opened.

The Dark Ride of pants was pants, and NO, it wasn't made better by a dragon:

Even MMF said it was rubbish and he adores dark rides.

The Log Flume was exceptionally wet (I'm in Enigma Shadow's photo above), but here you can see how much water gets into the boat:

Mario on the train bemused us:

I loved the naming of the toilets though, and it's a highlight bit of theming for me

Enigma chore thing occurred...

The Grand Prix finally happened with MC^10 stonkingly taking the victory. Jordan raced brilliantly to catch up and pass Sam who had also had a superb race. It was tough to pick between Sam and Nic as Nic had won her race - but she'd just crashed and then after Ian had let her past, led a procession of her, Mushy and Ian. As Sam had fought through to a good lead (that Jordan snaffled up) we decided he deserved it slightly more.

I have a lot of footage of the CFGP, but it's not very interesting (it was actually really exciting to watch though). I might upload the heats uncut though if people badger me.

I only got to play in the two seater karts, but the track was really good fun and the karts in good condition. Really enjoyed it

Lunch then and we (for some reason) sat on concrete near to picnic tables :roll:

And off to...

Snake in the Grass. MMF got bored waiting for CF and whored the coaster with another single rider friend he apprehended in the queue. The pair of them must have gone on it 5 or 6 times before CF arrived for "The Cred".

The goon-meister at work!

Snake on a train, goons on a snake!

Conveniently placed post here

Dodgems next which MMF loved. First time he's been tall enough to drive on his own. He was so stressed to start with, bless - but then once he got the seatbelt on and got started, he loved it. We went on with CF to the magic show and left him to it :lol:

Porn Ponies:

Which was brilliant to see everyone joining in on and having a go. There really is NO shame on CF :lol:

I took a lot of goon pictures, including this one... Who IS that?

Willy lift boats and screaming Jordan (I knew it was her keeping us awake in Gt. Yarmouth ):

I have the video of screaming Jordan

Erm. vintage cars, crap pirate ship, crap boat ride, crap enterprise thing (that MMF whored once again):

Tat shop and goodbyes.

I've not covered some of the superb conversations, the dreadful (yet brilliant) magic show, details of the dark rides etc, etc, etc. I'll let others do those.

I really liked Pleasurewood Hills. It was "fun". I'm not going to rush halfway across the country to return, but if I lived "locally", it's a park I'd love to frequent with the family in tow. As an "adult", it's a once every five years visit park, but it's a superb little family venue and it offers a hell of a lot for a park its size in terms of shows, etc.

 

[Martyn B]

So, was the Sea Lion show given the boot? Its probably the best thing in the park....

 

[furie]

So, was the Sea Lion show given the boot? Its probably the best thing in the park....

Madame_Furie and Maxi-Minor_Furie went to see both that and the parrot show and they both said they were excellent. We just didn't have time as a group. The laser game took up about 45 minutes and the constant back and forth to the go-karts and then the actually Grand-Prix probably ate up two hours. Add in lunch and we just couldn't justify it over the rides (I know it seems silly to miss a good show for "Porn Ponies" and "Vintage Cars", but we're ride enthusiasts after all ).

 

[furie]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoTN6b0hbQQ[/youtube]