My 2012 has been one I am never going to forget!
I started the year on 184 creds and have finished it on 298! Quite a good year, it could have been more if it wasn't for my damn immune system!
January and February were very quiet months, nothing other than work took place then!
March is when it all began. So first of all it was down to Thorpe for Swarm's opening! Seeing as I couldn't make the actual Live on the Saturday, I had to try and get down there on the Thursday and I am so bloody glad I did! Even though I was back in work that very same night at 6pm!
Well worth it and certainly started the season off well! Just seeing a load of goons running flat out to Swarm first thing that morning was something else! And still one of the gooniest things I've ever done!
There was a Alton trip as well at the end of March to renew the AP!
April was also another quiet month concentrating on work.
Start of May it was a trip over to France for Asterix and Disneyland. Having planned it about 3 weeks previously, I was very relieved to find it as easy as it was to get from Charles de Gaulle to Asterix to meet up with the others who had gone over the day before.
A brilliant trip! Oz was fantastic, Zeus good but overrated and a great park.
Disney was equally as good being a bit of a Disney fan girl! Getting to see all the park this time around and going on far more rides than I did when I went in 2010 was great!
Being in the park for something like 12 hours was awesome as was seeing Disney Dreams which was spectacular.
Didn't want to return to normality after this trip. But when I did, the Flu appeared like nothing I had ever had before! Bleugh! Off work for a week with that!
Next was the biggest trip and easily the biggest highlight of the whole year. USA!
That whole trip from start to finish was just fantastic. 10 days of what can only be described as amazing.
Lake Compounce was a good little park apart from having one of the most over-rated coasters I've ever known; Boulder Dash. Also had my 200th in the form of Zoomerang; a half decent Boomerang. We tried to get to Quassy only to find it had shut hours earlier than advertised due to rain.
SF New England home to the amazing Bizarro (<3) was my first experience of a SF parks and it wasn't the best! Home to some of the rudest operators ever!
Bizarro can have lots and lots of <3 because it was awesome! Including the ride in the pitch black, in pissing rain which was amazing! (The shivering after, not so much..)
New York next and despite the car headache and the Coney Spite it was actually a really good day and one I really enjoyed! Lots of sightseeing and being tourists!
SF Great Adventure was significantly better than NE. Such a shame that El Toro spited, but Ka was brilliant and Nitro was a massive surprise! The biggest of the trip in fact!
The face wobble on Ka was something weird and the height was just epic! I want more! I liked GAdv it seemed like it was loved and taken care of unlike the others we visited!
Just a shame I was starting to feel like **** by now!
Knoebels was hindered by the feeling like ****! But what I remember of it was Phoenix was great and the airtime was epic! The rest of it I can't really remember! The tour of Flying Turns was great too, only again hindered by wanting to sit down all the time!
Rushing over to Dorney to grab all the creds and wondering if we would have enough time. I was impressed by Possessed, Talon and Hydra! Gutted I missed the Intamin First Gen tower and then proceeded to feel like death!
Going to the hospital was a lowlight by a long shot, but it had to be done! It was particularly scary having my first blood test done in a foreign country!
Just glad I made a speedy recovery after that! Thanks again guys who were over there at the time, still means a lot <3
Feeling 90% better another SF park, this time America and being there on the opening day of Apocalypse. The park I felt wasn't that awful! Apocalypse was good, the Batwing surprised me as did Jokers Jinx. The rest of it was mediocre to ok.
Tried to race back to Great Adventure for Toro, but gave up after seeing it was a 3 hour drive not 2. So to Washington and some more sightseeing which again was epic!
The park I had been so looking forward to was Hershey and lying in that hospital bed on the Wednesday night, it was the only thing on my mind! Skyrush! Skyrush! Skyrush!
The great ERT sessions in the morning, followed by an epic day at the park which is amazing! The weather was on our side, the creds were good and then there's Skyrush!
The 10:30 to 11pm ERT session on Skyrush was just OMG! Constantly going around and around on the front being flung from the train. The adrenaline rush after was insane!
I hope they don't do too many modifications to her over the closed season, she's just too good!
The losing of the sunglasses was unfortunate, but oh well!
Kings Dominion was for me a good park! The Intimidator ERT was a little too much after the Skyrush one the night before so only 2 rides were had! But the ride later on that day was significantly better and it got in my top 10!
Flight of Fear, Backlot, Dominator and Volcano being surprisingly good coasters and the rest just good! Fab day at the park if a little too warm!
Busch was the final park
but a brilliant one to end with! Verbolten was a bit of a let down - I still believe it tried to do too much, would've liked to have rode it again, but that wasn't going to happen! Griffon and Alpengiest being amazing and the really wet Log Flume were super! Lets not forget those rapids of OMG SO WET!
Flying home was a sad time as that was one heck of an amazing trip!
I went to Alton at the start of July with Will and handed my notice in to work 2 days later! Went to Thorpe the day before I started my new job in July and got ridiculously sunburnt so resembled a beetroot on my first day at work and being in absolute agony! Then the guys at work taking the piss out of me!
August started with nice weather and heading down to Yarmouth to grab the creds! They were mediocre to say the best, but it was a good day and bang in the middle of the Olympics and travelling through London was epic!
Then it was a day trip to Legoland Billund which holds a gem of a coaster of Polar X-Plorer and the park being significantly better than the Windsor one! The free entry thanks to the German AP I got in 2011 was also nice!
That was a really good day with great company! When's the next random day trip??!!!
August ended with Marc and Mark's wedding and having never been to Southend, decided I should nab the Adventure Island creds! It rained too much, Rage was pretty good though!
Now concentrating on my job in September, I went to Alton at the start of the month and then to Holland at the end! I don't think I will forget the trip to Holland in a hurry!
Walibi was turd apart from Goliath and the Speed of Sound soundtrack! Everything else was crap!
Toverland being brilliant again but still finding Troy really overrated! D'Wervelwind was a fun little coaster!
Started to feel ill, so didn't ride anything else! Felt like **** all night so when we went to Efteling, didn't ride much and was just glad to get home!
Then to be off work for 3 weeks with an infection in my stomach! Thanks Holland!
Feeling much better by the end of October, it was GF time! First time in 3 years I've done both parks and it was great to do it again! Swarm looked incredible at night and rode brilliantly! Chessie was good in terms of company and being with CF, but the park is utterly terrible ATM!
And finally, it was PA! A cracking way to end an amazing season! Shambhala was seriously amazing and the sex noises certainly show that!
Khan I still find overrated, but it was running significantly better than when I went in 2011! Was nice to get a blast of Winter Sun and wearing a t-shirt whilst singing Christmas songs! Epic!
Brilliant couple of days with perfect company and a fantastic way to end what I think has been an incredible season for a lot of people!
Thanks CF! Bring on 2013!!