What's new

Hixee tries to catch up – Misc UK 2021 (#2 - Lincolnshire Creds)

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
Obviously it would be great to be heading off round the world to all the fabulous parks and coasters, but sadly that still feels some way off. Sometime towards the end of last year I started musing around the map of UK parks and realised I’ve got a few things not ticked off here.

Much of this is proper basic stuff (using basic in every sense of the word), but I figure I’ll give my short take on it all in one thread – that seems to be all the rage these days.

Trip #1, Day 1 – Alton Towers

Somehow I never manage to find the motivation to go to Alton Towers - 2017 (!) was my last visit. I use the excuse that it’s a long way from Bristol, but then I’ll happily drive twice that distance on other trips so that’s clearly not true. I think, looking back on it, it’s that they don’t tend to excite me enough into going back. If I’m going to go on a trip for a new cred, I’d rather it be something decent (i.e. not Merlin) than a slightly half-baked woodie. Perhaps I shouldn’t judge…

Started the day with the usual park-at-the-back-and-trudge-to-the-entrance – no point getting the monorail these days. As much as there was a reasonable flow of people, credit to them they had every turnstyle open and there was little to no queue forming. It was a bit of a scrum as you hit the little constriction in the pathway above the fountains, but it soon sorted itself out.

We headed first for Th13teen and Rita – probably the two rides worst at chewing through long queues. Rita seemed to be having a funny five minutes when we got to Ug Land Dark Forest Wooden Fenced Queueline Land, so we went for Th13teen instead.

Meh, this coaster is okay but it could be so much better. Seems to me particularly stupid that they have the back half of the train filled with water dummies (allegedly to ensure it makes it round the course), then still activate the trims. Not to mention that at the moment they can only run one car per party, so the seats are regularly ~50% full, giving an overall train capacity of ~25% most laps. It’s the trims that really make this ride awful, actually. It could have been much better. Next.

Rita seemed to be operating regularly by the time we got off Th13teen, and it was still a walk on, so we got straight in line for a front-row ride. I say straight in line, we did have to walk through the approximately 19miles of twisting queue line. Guh. Anyway, as much as I think Rita is a slightly turd decision for Alton, those Intmain launches are great. Rest of the layout is okay, but man I do love a good accelerator.

OK, a picture to break up all this text.
Disclaimer: the pictures aren’t in chronological order this time – seems to work better that way for this report.

KlOXigD.jpg

The airtime over these hills is actually reasonable.

ZOS8fiq.jpg

The over-the-top queue line does at least give some decent views of the ride.

From there we wandered over to X-Sector. Smiler had a reasonably short wait (~20mins), so we went for a go on that. Another coaster that, for me, is much better in theory than in execution. It’s a fantastic coaster to watch, although sadly the queue makes that all a little more unpleasant with the cages everywhere. Got a spiteful third-row ride, but surprisingly sort of enjoyed it. Credit where it's due, it’s a pretty intense coaster with all the tight inversions. It’s such a shame the last bit of the cobra roll and two corkscrews are so awful – they end up leaving such a bad taste in your mouth after riding.

ojiOFoW.jpg

Looks better than it delivers, it would seem.

WOKBxFf.jpg

But then, it is a Gerstlauer, so…

Oblivion next – pretty much a walk on. Reduced rider numbers don’t seem to mess Oblivion up that much, I think mostly because it’s always a bit hit-or-miss with full trains anyway. There’s often an empty seat or two. Anyway, yes Oblivion is fantastic. I did the classic thing I always do at Alton, and hit the brake run thinking “yeah, this is the best coaster here” – then head down to Nemesis later in the day and remember just how good that is. I’m rambling – Oblivion is great.

5mGZkgI.jpg

This picture was from later on in the day when the ride was spiting, so sadly no train, but it does give a pretty good view of the ‘hole’ that makes Oblivion so good.

Now, at this point something strange happened. It started snowing. Yup, proper snow. Then hail, then sleet, then just rain. It was, I think it would be fair to say, disgusting.

Thankfully, everyone seemed to run for cover (of which there isn’t really a huge amount), so we waited for the worst of it to pass and I popped into CBeebies land for the Octonauts cred. Nice.

Still a bit damp when we were done there, so got the Skyride over to Forbidden Valley. Was cold, but dry. Short bit of toilet faff later, and we were in line for Nemesis.

To aid the social distancing, they had most of the extended queue open. It gives a great view of the first drop and drop into the corkscrew, and in fact is where I captured one of my all-time favourite Nemesis shots – the one found here:

KFaaPsQ.jpg

This was not from today though – I’m just quite proud of this picture.

The queue was moving steadily, ‘cos, B&M, and it didn’t take too long to get into the station. Once again, as we hit the brake run I was reminded of why this is definitely the best coaster at Alton Towers. Oblivion is great, and all, but this thing rocks. That starting sequence especially is a truly inspired piece of design. Love it!

r4wkzC1.jpg

The helix looks particularly cool through a wide angle lens!

Eu6HpA3.jpg

Just after the insanity begins.

y2yjPew.jpg

An icon of an inversion.

L5xT6rI.jpg

I always liked how the train was framed in this angle from the queue.

7AlQF9t.jpg

Also love the position of the queue and this loop – makes it such a good focal point of the ride.

gWbeAA7.jpg

The final, semi-hidden inversion, doesn’t quite pack the punch of the rest, but it’s still ace.

Not going to bother with Galactica, so from here it was time to finally get my #basic cred for the day – Wicker Man.

Queue was posted at 65mins, which isn’t awful, but ended up taking more like 2hrs. Womp. The queue itself isn’t too bad, it does give some reasonably good views of the ride (which I like), and a great view of the already-letting-itself-down boring corner. Pre-show wasn’t running, which is a shame, but I did like the aesthetic of the queue, buildings and station.

Got lucky with a back row ride, and with a short heavy rain spell only a few minutes before, we were surprised how quickly it was running. Riding with others who generally have similar views to me on coasters, I wasn’t expecting great things, but they all admitted this was possibly the best ride they’d had on it over the years.

First drop(s) are great. It starts so promising, but I will admit after the second pass through the Wicker Man it sort of dies a bit. Boring corner is a disgrace of an element, and other than a few mild pops of airtime this coaster misses out on what GCI can do so well – that bouncing and darting airtime filled sequence of elements. It’s where rides like Joris, Troy, Wodan, Heidi excel. Obviously, we all know this, but thankfully now I can say I’ve experienced it first hand. Would have liked another go, but it’s not worth it with that queue!

It does also annoy me a bit how little cohesion there is between Wicker Man, Katanga Canyon, Mutiny Bay and Gloomy Wood. Feels like they were so desperate to do the theme that they didn’t think that hard about the interaction with everything else. Stand-alone, it’s good, but it’s not well integrated into the park.

Some pictures, now.

sJcoRKv.jpg

I think the Wicker Man theming is quite fab.

3OSVkTc.jpg

I like the views the queue gives you of the ride.

Yy493nm.jpg

The little details scattered around are a nice touch.

6hJHjxy.jpg

”That shot” that it would be almost rude not to take.

From there we headed up to Woodcutters for a late lunch/early dinner. Was okay – they did a decent gluten free bun ( :( ), and the portion was alright too. Certainly filled the hole for the rest of the day, so that’s something.

We walked back towards Oblivion, but it was spiting by then (people were being evac’d off the brake run too, so didn’t look like a simple one), so we decided to wander past the shop towards Nemesis for a final ride of the day.

Thankfully we were able to leave the park via the bottom exit, so only a short walk to the car and we were heading home.

It doesn’t sound like the most action packed of days, which it wasn’t, but we’ve all done Alton more times than we can count (although not really because I have a spreadsheet – 15 times, if you wanted to know) and so there’s never a feeling of needing to rush. It was relatively relaxed, good fun, and we had a good time – it’s hard to ask for much more than that.

My thoughts on Alton having not been in four years? It’s still a bit special to me – it will probably always have that little something that no other park can have, I think mostly because it was one of my earliest outlets for my enthusiasm. That said, they’ve been making some ropey decisions recently. I hate, like, absolutely loathe, the retro squad. I hate the tackiness of it all. I think there’s an element of short-sightedness from Merlin (no surprises there) with their investments – see Wicker Man’s odd placement and theming choice (however well it is in isolation), see Sub-Terra, see the lack of quality of food in general, just… sigh.

Then again, I did enjoy my day and I do like Alton Towers. It’s probably one of the best we’ve got.

For completeness’ sake, as it would be sort of rude not to at least mention it, my take on Alton’s Covid status:
Mask policy – Loosely enforced in queues, bit more aggressively enforced in stations, probably as best as one could hope for.
Social distancing – Yeah, again not awful. They had clearly made efforts to figure out the queues (for example, the Smiler queue factored in the 2m rule between different lanes of the cattle pen also), and were limiting numbers of people in the stations, etc.
Sanitiser – Saw plenty around.
Overall – Not bad really. I think as good as one could hope for in a park. I think if I found their efforts to be insufficient, a theme park probably isn’t the place to be at all.

All in all, a decent day out. A +2 for me, for which I can’t complain I suppose.

Drayton next. That’ll be a shorter one… :p
 
Really enjoyed reading this, thanks 👍

Great photos of nemesis - really captures those ‘wicked’ elements and makes me excited to go on it once more.

I would agree with any sentiment that the Smiler is at least as good to watch as it is to ride.

The ‘Retro Squad’ seems sort of lazy but I do quite like that animation that put out in relation to it, which kindled some fondness in me.

Next time I head to Alton, I’m going to give the Dark Forest area a bit more time. I always skip it entirely. It’s just feels like it’s... ‘sort of there’ and underwhelming.
 
Trip #1, Day 2 – Drayton Manor

Drayton next. No sure what’s more shameful here really – the fact I was missing Wicker Man, or the fact I was missing the three family creds from Drayton. Went years ago (2007) and Buffalo was broken, and haven’t been back since. I mean, I suppose it’s not much of a surprise, though…

This’ll be a short one.

Day started with one of the most hilariously awful entrances to the park I’ve come across in a long time. Everyone was funnelled through one turnstile bottleneck meaning the queue was absolutely huge wrapping all the way round the back of Thomas Land outside the park. It moved reasonably well, but it was such an off-putting start to the day. Not a shred of social distancing, masks or any ****s given by staff, either.

We headed straight for Thomas Land to get the Troublesome Trucks cred before the queues got too crazy (judging by the groups we’d seen in the queues we were going to have a lot of people in line for this). It’s a decent little cred, but clearly not quite our style.

Next was over to Accelerator. Queue for this is mostly indoors, so had to wait outside in a temporary cattle pen. Thankfully the queue didn’t take too long, and it was another solid family coaster. I don’t love the backwards section, but I rarely do on any coaster to be honest.

pZwo1hR.jpg

Ben 10 Accelerator looking quite good – certainly popular with the families.

Finally, last new cred of the day was Buffalo. Man this was tragic. I reckon a train full of adults could cause it to stall, and you get two laps, which makes the whole thing a bit of an ordeal, really. Was the longest queue of the day (yes, really), and probably the crappest cred of the day too.

Mercifully, Buffalo is at least right next to something good. Apocalypse! I generally hate drop towers – they still give me the properly wobbly knees. I’ll do them, reluctantly, but I’m always secretly hoping they’ll break down. :p

They were only running one of the sit-down sides and then rider’s choice on the stand-up vs stand-up-floorless. Basically means there was a sizable queue… only 15mins or so, but felt like longer I think due to the slow progress. We did the stand-up side, and it was great. I mean, it was awful, but it was great. These drop towers do pack a punch, and this is probably one of the better ones.

RxPjpId.jpg

Sticks out a bit among the clearly more family focussed park, too!

Next up was the last cred of the day – Shockwave! Now, this coaster is literal trash, but man did we have a good time riding it. The restraints are hilariously grotesque, the lift hill is really slow, the first drop is weird, the zero-g is just… what?!, then it’s got a straightaway followed by two horrific corkscrews, topped off with a very aggressive halt at the end. Man, this coaster is a mess. That said, as rubbish as it is, we were laughing all the way round.

2EuHz9n.jpg

It also just… looks awful.

xq8s0yl.jpg

Good straight-on view of it from Maelstrom, though.

oqWNOMZ.jpg

The loop across the lake is a very “roller coaster tycoon” type aesthetic.

We slithered over Maelstrom for a quick lap, which is great. I do really enjoy these, they’re intense and give good airtime and are surprisingly big. Nice.

I’m running out of steam writing this now, so will be quick now. Had a quick wander through the zoo, which wasn’t really much worth writing about. Most of the animals were either indoors or stuff that’s not really a zoo animal – a duck doesn’t count!

Apocalypse has a spiteful queue, and we weren’t going to re-ride anything else, so we called it a day early and went for a late lunch/early dinner at a nearby pub garden before heading home. Simples.

Drayton is a funny one. I think they spent a while figuring out what direction to head in, and during that time made a bit of a mess of the place. It does, however, seem like they’ve settled in a direction (and, newsflash, I doubt it’s a park for ‘us’), so maybe they’ll actually manage to make the park halfway decent in another few years. Currently it’s a bit all over the place and still got that slightly rough Drayton feel. Doubt I’ll be going back for at least another fifteen years.

My take on Drayton’s Covid status:
Mask policy – What?
Social distancing – Pardon?
Sanitiser – Sure…?
Overall – I mean, boy. It seemed like most patrons didn’t give two ****s, and staff weren’t making much effort to enforce any of the rules. Meh.

So no love lost for Drayton, but at least a +3.

Trip #1 – Summary

New creds: 5
Total creds: 14
New parks: 0
Total parks: 2

Milestones: None!

Best Park: Alton Towers, duh.

Best Cred: Nemesis, duh. Honourable second place to Oblivion.

Probably something equally as basic next…
 
Perfect timing as I came on looking for an Alton trip report since they re-opened. I was trying to decide if it was worth a visit just for a theme park fix and the 4pm closing was putting me off slightly but it sounds like you got on the big rides with no issue and I can't imagine it'll be too busy mid-week.
 
Perfect timing as I came on looking for an Alton trip report since they re-opened. I was trying to decide if it was worth a visit just for a theme park fix and the 4pm closing was putting me off slightly but it sounds like you got on the big rides with no issue and I can't imagine it'll be too busy mid-week.
It was fine, but would have been tight with a 4pm finish.

Obviously you could sack off Octonauts which probably ate up about 20mins, and I'm sure there would be other efficiencies to be had, but we left he park around 6:30pm if memory serves and besides lunch we didn't really stop all day. Wickerman was probably the biggest bother of the day with a posted 65min but in reality 2hr queue.

It depends how much you'd want to do versus a more steady "whatever we do we do" kinda day. To my mind a 4pm closing is still bonkers.
 
Here I was, looking forward to a screenshot of a map with a line between Stoke and Tamworth in the summary.

Poor old Drayton, the one I always forget exists. That signature Hixee photography manages to make it look far more enticing than I remember. Great reports as always.
 
Your photos of Nemesis remind me how masterfully designed that coaster is. Not only is the ride fantastic with some incredible terrain features, but the interaction with the pathways and queue really show how special it is. Coasters don't seem to be designed with that interaction in mind anymore.

Your report makes me miss Alton Towers, but perhaps a revisit isn't needed anytime soon with all the complaints and Merlin BS I'm hearing about? I keep forgetting about their 4 PM closures. I visited back in 2014 and they were open till 5:30 (probably sounds like a godsend nowadays, huh?). I'm definitely due for another Euro coaster trip, perhaps within the next couple years or so?

And Drayton looks like ass!
 
Trip #2, Day 1 – Fantasy Island, Botton’s & Dunes

Fantasy Island has alluded me for quite some time. By that I mean, I’ve never really been able to drum up the motivation to make the trip. It’s a fair jaunt from Bristol, and I can probably be in Phantasialand faster from Bristol on a good day, so why would I bother? With all the travel restrictions in Europe, I figured now was the time for this. I have always wanted the iconic Odyssey cred, and so I formed a quick weekend trip around that.

I had an early start from Bristol to try and get to Fantasy Island for opening, and the whole drive was through dense dark skies, meaning I wasn’t feeling hugely optimistic about the famously temperamental Odyssey. Got to the park just before opening, got parked up and headed to the ticket booth to pick up my iCard (not going to be doing enough stuff to bother with a wristband). Mercifully, Odyssey was testing! A short queue formed and, in credit to the staff, bang on 10:30 (posted park opening time) the first guests were let on. Jackpot! I was happy knowing I was going to get the cred that I’d based this whole trip around!

kc5ynzB.jpg

Truly inspiring station building.

0KrxfJ2.jpg

See what I mean?

Channelling my inner @Matt N – so, how was the ride?

Umm… not exactly what I was expecting, put it that way. The drop and loop were, in no uncertain terms, quite epic. The drop is big, steep, floats all the way down, and is smooth. The loop was equally impressive – you’re very aware of quite how big it actually is, and there’s a surprisingly awesome zero-g hang-time type moment at the top. The cobra roll was similar, although did have a few pretty violent jolts as it was changing directions. From there is went down the pan a bit. Yeah it was tall as fast, but boy there were some harsh transitions. It also seems to weirdly lose it’s speed (more so than the other SLCs, I think) and you don’t fly into the brake run quite as quickly as I thought you would.

Short bombarding with photos – fiddling with a new lens on the camera so may have got a bit carried away.

qZpFTvs.jpg

Cresting the first drop.

sQC2A71.jpg

It’s really quite impressive, although I do understand why they didn’t keep pushing these bigger models.

0QkAmAE.jpg

Inverted coasters that play on the size of the first drop (nothing between you and the ground) hit the balance well.

dNEF4CU.jpg

The loop does feel pretty endless.

3IX331E.jpg

A decent mess of track and supports.

l5F27nu.jpg

Their faces say it all… or at least, they say something…

MGpKAGj.jpg

Taking on the final turnaround before the corkscrew.

Content with that (and with having seen Millennium, the other ‘big’ coaster running), it was time to sweep round the rest of the park picking up the other creds. Next door to Odyssey was the new-for-2021 spinner. Was pretty decent, a clone model I’ve done a few of before – the best of which being the ride @Youngster Joey, @Antinos and I had in SeaBreeze in the pouring rain. It’ll take a lot to beat that, to be honest. In fairness though, not a bad coaster and does well in Fantasy Island’s line-up.

j9rLl2e.jpg

Got a bit of a funfair vibe, but then it is a portable model too, so it’s hardly surprising.

Bit of a lack of pictures of the next stuff, but…

The wacky worm next door to the spinner was being spiteful (for some reason the station brakes would disengage so a bunch of people were just stuck in the ride in the drizzle – thankfully the train ahead of me), so I left that one for later. Instead I wandered round to Millennium, the other big coaster at the park. The entrance is a little confusing (or I was being absent minded), and I had to double back on myself a bit, and they’re using the queue for both entrance and exit, so there’s a bit of faff, but again the ride was a walk-on. The coaster is a bit naff, really. It doesn’t really do anything – it’s mostly just trundling around the rest of the park.

Rhombus Rocket (the powered cred) was next – decent enough. Had some good speed and a few decent twists, but don’t go on expecting anything genuinely good.

Only coaster left was the wacky worm, so I look a short wander round the rest of the park to snag some more shots of Odyssey. Man, this place is a bit of a dump, isn’t it? The market underneath Odyssey was a bit grotty and doesn’t make the whole area feel particularly welcoming. I tried to be understanding, noting that the weather wasn’t the best either, but I’ve seen more picturesque recycling plants.

L9sW0m1.jpg

Anyone want some knockoff perfume or Puma gear?

papDMx5.jpg

They did have this beach area in the centre of the coaster which was particularly dismal in the wet, but it’s hard to believe it’d be much better in the sunshine!

Th09uC3.jpg

For example – old Kitchen Nightmares USA episodes being aired around the park. Ew.

I’d had enough by now, plus the parking ticket was getting close to expiring, so I headed back to the wacky worm and snagged the coaster. One and done, as they say.

On the way out to the car I took the opportunity to get some slightly wider shots of the rides here:

BorrNkS.jpg

Odyssey.

oh0QES6.jpg

Millennium and Odyssey.

So, just down the road is Skegness – where I’d book a cheap and cheerful hotel for the night – and another few creds at Botton’s. I parked the car at the hotel, which was a short walk to the beach, so wandered over there and had a sandwich before heading into the park.

kWOD4Mb.jpg

Perfect day for a day at the seaside don’t you think?!

Let’s quickly blast through the creds –
Queen Bee – Hadn’t done one of these inverted wacky worms before. Have now. It was rubbish.
Runaway Train – Almost forgot about this one altogether.
Big Apple – Big Apple.
Rockin Roller – One benefit of Covid is that you get the spinning trains to yourself, which can encourage some good spinning. This was pretty decent, but definitely a bit janky around the edges.

VFmZm69.jpg

Spinner from across the beach.

puh5hCe.jpg

Park is pretty dense once you get in.

2Y42374.jpg

An overview from the Queen Bee station.

fo3MUVt.jpg

Can’t help but feel like the inverted design doesn’t really add much except steel.

So when planning this trip I’d conservatively estimated I’d need all day to do Fantasy Island and Botton’s (I was banking on good weather and therefore packed parks), but thankfully I was making great progress. In the hope that I could shorten my day on Sunday (to get a head start on the drive home), I set the SatNav for Dunes Leisure and headed off that way. Weather was also improving as that short drive went on, and a simple parking spot and pleasant stroll along the beachfront to the park got me there with no stress at all. Two simple rides here – a wacky worm and a Miner Mike. Bit the bullet on both (for the credz, of course) and bathed in the sun shame of getting these creds.

YZtJri2.jpg

The shame will get worse…

0JLYNU5.jpg

@Matt N can you imagine the shame of riding this one?!

That’s it for the creds for today, then.

Slithered back to Skegness, parked up at the hotel (again) and checked in. Chilled out for an hour or so, then decided to head out for dinner and a wander round. The sun had broken through by now, so it was all rather pleasant, to be honest.

lvrZN0x.jpg

Big windfarms just offshore – I quite like the look of them, but then I know I’m a bit biased in these sorts of things.

2LfCxbl.jpg

Sunset on the beach isn’t too bad, wherever you are.

KFZ7Od8.jpg

Caption as above.

Gv2m0Ez.jpg

Some flowers because… pretty.

So that’s it for the first day. The second day is much (much) shorter, so I’ll do that one shortly.
 
Trip #2, Day 2 – Mack’s Amusements

I forgot to mention in the previous section about Covid statuses for each park: Fantasy Island, Botton’s Pleasure Beach and Dunes Leisure (grouping as they were basically the same).
Mask policy – Posted, but not enforced or followed.
Social distancing – Forget it.
Sanitiser – Yes, lots around.
Overall – Guests didn’t care, staff didn’t care, so not much else to say really.

I headed out of the hotel early (didn’t fancy spending the £8 for the hotel breakfast, any my gluten free requirements make for not much value for money in these sorts of places anyway), and parked up at a decent viewpoint for some food before grabbing a coffee and hitting the road.

Got to Cleethorpes easily, and thanks to getting there early parked up right next to the coaster. Quickly spoke to the kid sitting next to it and he confirmed they’d be open “about 11ish usually mate”. Okay nice, easy enough to wander along in the patchy sun for half-an-hour or so.

They tested the coaster at about ten-to, and flicked their little “open” sign over bang on 11am. First train of the day, back row, plus one, sorted! The ride was hilariously rough, but in a very endearing sort of way. The beach location, plus thoroughly rusted supports, made this quite an odd little affair.

Cfn20JH.jpg

Strange little collection.

oGYSngX.jpg

It looks like the fence is holding the coaster up. I can’t guarantee it’s not, come to think of it…

fyxBMyN.jpg

I think it’s got a charm to it, you know.

Well, that was that. I’d ridden everything I hoped I would this weekend, so feeling very content and with another coffee in the flask, it was time to hit the road. Took a bit longer to come back, as it was the middle of the day and there was more traffic (and rain), but home mid-afternoon with plenty of time to update the coaster count.

Probably not really fair to comment much on Mack’s Covid status, but perhaps let’s just say “none”.

I’d like to shoutout to @Will for his help with this trip – he’d been a few weeks previous and tipped me off to a few things, as well as helped out with a few other questions by PM.

Trip #2 – Summary

New creds: 12
Total creds: 12
New parks: 4
Total parks: 4

Milestones: None!

Best Park: Pass.

Best Cred: It was obviously Odyssey, but it wasn’t amazing.

Not really sure what will be next, to be honest. 700 is only a few creds away now, so that might happen this summer all being well. Let’s see.

Thanks for reading. :)
 
What's the significance of the straight sections on Jubilee and Millennium?

I'm surprised you hadn't done Wickerman till now....I totally remember in the 2000s the whole "WheN Is ALtOn GeTtiNg a WoOdie" posts, I'd have thought every thoosie in the UK would have been all over it like a rash the year it opened.
 
What's the significance of the straight sections on Jubilee and Millennium?
I think truly just "fitting them into the park as cheaply as possible" is the correct answer here! :p

I'm surprised you hadn't done Wickerman till now....I totally remember in the 2000s the whole "WheN Is ALtOn GeTtiNg a WoOdie" posts, I'd have thought every thoosie in the UK would have been all over it like a rash the year it opened.
Being honest, I'm surprised too! Since 2018 I seem to have always found better places to go than back to Towers, but I am also a bit basic with regards to UK cred hunting, and don't really have much of a defense for that. :p
 
Glad to hear this was a successful mission :)

I've just realised I'm almost going to miss reading as many trip reports from fairly dreadful UK seaside resorts as restrictions start being lifted and I'm back to being jealous of people in Ohio and Florida! I've also rather enjoyed my flying visits to places I'd have dismissed as 'too far' under normal circumstances :)

Guessing you've seen there's another of those dreadful, shameful oval things made an appearance in North Wales?
 
Guessing you've seen there's another of those dreadful, shameful oval things made an appearance in North Wales?
I had not, but won't be making the trip regardless. :p
 
Great reports, Hixee! Where are you headed next on your UK adventures, or have you got your sights set on somewhere overseas?
 
Great reports, Hixee! Where are you headed next on your UK adventures, or have you got your sights set on somewhere overseas?
Thanks!

Short answer - I'm not sure. Longer answer - I had wanted to try and get to Paultons and then maybe sweep up the crap in Norfolk/Suffolk/Essex, but I've now seemingly managed to fill up most of my summer weekends with other plans now, so perhaps not...
 
Top