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Theme Park Chat and Stuff

Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2017 8:42 pm
by Errkal
Couldn't find a theme park thread so am making one.

Looks like the hype train is starting to roll for the new coaster at Alton Towers, proper excited to go up next year and try it out :D

twitter.com/altontowers/status/937053259822350336


Re: Theme Park Chat and Stuff

Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2017 8:55 pm
by Return_of_the_STAR
I love a theme park however my wife isnt too keen so I don't get to go places as often as I like.

Went to legoland twice this year with my 8 yr old son. Did Alton towers last year. Haven't been to Thorpe Park for years.

Hoping to get back to disneyland Paris in the next few years. Waiting for all the refurbs and upgrades to be finished first though.

Re: Theme Park Chat and Stuff

Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2017 10:05 pm
by Benzin
Blackpool's will be better...

Re: Theme Park Chat and Stuff

Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2017 10:10 pm
by Frank
I still haven’t forgiven Blackpool for getting rid of the turtles.

Didn’t realise that they’d actually totally moved the Space Invader 2 coaster so the building’s just empty, too.

Re: Theme Park Chat and Stuff

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 10:01 am
by Death's Head
I don't like theme parks anymore. They are ridiculously over priced and in return for paying a premium, most of the time is spent queing. It is also utter BS that you need to pay just to go in. When you take your kids but you don't want to go on the rides, you pay more for adult entry but get practically zero in return.

Re: Theme Park Chat and Stuff

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 10:39 am
by Return_of_the_STAR
Death's Head wrote:I don't like theme parks anymore. They are ridiculously over priced and in return for paying a premium, most of the time is spent queing. It is also utter BS that you need to pay just to go in. When you take your kids but you don't want to go on the rides, you pay more for adult entry but get practically zero in return.


I do agree with this. Park tickets are horrendous now. We collect the sun tickets for legoland every year and go on a weekday and just take my son out of school. The park is very quiet. Been on a few weekends and there’s just no point. You manage about 4 rides it’s awful.

I also make sure I collect the 2 for 1 vouchers that are available earlier in the year just in case we go later on somewhere.

Re: Theme Park Chat and Stuff

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 10:44 am
by Pell
Can't wait for SW8 at Alton Towers. I'm a big fan of wooden coasters - El Toro at Six Flags NJ is one of my favourites. If the Wicker Man theme comes to pass I might lose my mind.

The wife and I love theme parks - our honeymoon in 2010 was in Florida - but it's been about three years since I've been to Alton Towers as Thorpe Park is closer to us now.

Been waiting for the new SW to go back, so reckon we'll book one of those forest cabins for next year and spend a couple of days there.

Re: Theme Park Chat and Stuff

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 12:38 pm
by Cumberdanes
Frank wrote:I still haven’t forgiven Blackpool for getting rid of the turtles.

Didn’t realise that they’d actually totally moved the Space Invader 2 coaster so the building’s just empty, too.


I’m pretty sure it’s a pizza restaurant now, along with an outdoor stage for the Nickelodeon mascots.

Re: Theme Park Chat and Stuff

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 12:42 pm
by Errkal
Return_of_the_STAR wrote:
Death's Head wrote:I don't like theme parks anymore. They are ridiculously over priced and in return for paying a premium, most of the time is spent queing. It is also utter BS that you need to pay just to go in. When you take your kids but you don't want to go on the rides, you pay more for adult entry but get practically zero in return.


I do agree with this. Park tickets are horrendous now. We collect the sun tickets for legoland every year and go on a weekday and just take my son out of school. The park is very quiet. Been on a few weekends and there’s just no point. You manage about 4 rides it’s awful.

I also make sure I collect the 2 for 1 vouchers that are available earlier in the year just in case we go later on somewhere.


We get Merlin oasses each year and will be fine for the little one when she is big enough, they work out great value if you go along and as you get free parking and discount in food etc it takes the edge of that too.

Ended up doing 13 trips in all this year to the parks. Queues aren't so bad if you are smart about how you do rides, we pretty much get everything in at least one every time we go so works out well you just have to watch what the queues are doing and know where best to go which is hard I guess if you don't go allot and get a feel for how people generally act in a park.

Re: Theme Park Chat and Stuff

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 12:45 pm
by Errkal
Pell wrote:Can't wait for SW8 at Alton Towers. I'm a big fan of wooden coasters - El Toro at Six Flags NJ is one of my favourites. If the Wicker Man theme comes to pass I might lose my mind.

The wife and I love theme parks - our honeymoon in 2010 was in Florida - but it's been about three years since I've been to Alton Towers as Thorpe Park is closer to us now.

Been waiting for the new SW to go back, so reckon we'll book one of those forest cabins for next year and spend a couple of days there.


Yeah it's gonna be epic, going to go up for 2 days next year with some friends, I would recommend a town called Leek just north of the park it has a premier Inn we have used but there are some really nice pubs (the Belgian place is outstanding).

Re: Theme Park Chat and Stuff

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 12:50 pm
by Cumberdanes
I’m kinda getting bored of UK parks now. I’ve been to just about all of them bar Chessington and there’s been nothing new for years. I suppose there’s Icon and Wicker Man on the horizon but I feel overall I need to start looking further afield for my theme park thrills. I like the look of Flug der Dämonen at Heide Park so maybe that would be a good place to start.

Re: Theme Park Chat and Stuff

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 2:11 pm
by Benzin
Tonnes of great value European parks around, Efteling, Europa Park and Phantasialand are 3 of the best in the world, all easy to get to (apart from Europa) and excellent value with their hotels...

Efteling is especially good for kids cos fairy tales, could spend at least 2 hours in their fairytale forest of forever...

Re: Theme Park Chat and Stuff

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 2:19 pm
by Lagamorph
IAmTheSantaMan wrote:I’m kinda getting bored of UK parks now. I’ve been to just about all of them bar Chessington and here’s been nothing new for years. I suppose there’s Icon and Wicker Man on the horizon but I feel overall I need to start looking further afield for my theme park thrills. I like the look of Flug der Dämonen at Heide Park so maybe that would be a good place to start.

Chessington is gooseberry fool for anyone over the age of 10.

Re: Theme Park Chat and Stuff

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 2:28 pm
by Errkal
Lastpostamorph wrote:
IAmTheSantaMan wrote:I’m kinda getting bored of UK parks now. I’ve been to just about all of them bar Chessington and here’s been nothing new for years. I suppose there’s Icon and Wicker Man on the horizon but I feel overall I need to start looking further afield for my theme park thrills. I like the look of Flug der Dämonen at Heide Park so maybe that would be a good place to start.

Chessington is gooseberry fool for anyone over the age of 10.

The dragon is good all be it broken a lot, Vampire is fun in a simple charm kind of way it isn't as thrilling as the others but as a fun simple day out it's pretty good.

Re: Theme Park Chat and Stuff

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 2:33 pm
by Drumstick
I used to go to Thorpe Park and Alton Towers once a year without fail, didn't go this year though. Probably won't be going for a few years now.

Never go without some kind of BOGOF.

Re: RE: Re: Theme Park Chat and Stuff

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 4:11 pm
by Death's Head
Christmas CrackErrkal wrote:
Return_of_the_STAR wrote:
Death's Head wrote:I don't like theme parks anymore. They are ridiculously over priced and in return for paying a premium, most of the time is spent queing. It is also utter BS that you need to pay just to go in. When you take your kids but you don't want to go on the rides, you pay more for adult entry but get practically zero in return.


I do agree with this. Park tickets are horrendous now. We collect the sun tickets for legoland every year and go on a weekday and just take my son out of school. The park is very quiet. Been on a few weekends and there’s just no point. You manage about 4 rides it’s awful.

I also make sure I collect the 2 for 1 vouchers that are available earlier in the year just in case we go later on somewhere.


We get Merlin oasses each year and will be fine for the little one when she is big enough, they work out great value if you go along and as you get free parking and discount in food etc it takes the edge of that too.

Ended up doing 13 trips in all this year to the parks. Queues aren't so bad if you are smart about how you do rides, we pretty much get everything in at least one every time we go so works out well you just have to watch what the queues are doing and know where best to go which is hard I guess if you don't go allot and get a feel for how people generally act in a park.
If you have young kids, Gulliver's is pretty good. When I used to take mine it was about £10.

Re: RE: Re: Theme Park Chat and Stuff

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 4:17 pm
by Errkal
Death's Head wrote:
Christmas CrackErrkal wrote:
Return_of_the_STAR wrote:
Death's Head wrote:I don't like theme parks anymore. They are ridiculously over priced and in return for paying a premium, most of the time is spent queing. It is also utter BS that you need to pay just to go in. When you take your kids but you don't want to go on the rides, you pay more for adult entry but get practically zero in return.


I do agree with this. Park tickets are horrendous now. We collect the sun tickets for legoland every year and go on a weekday and just take my son out of school. The park is very quiet. Been on a few weekends and there’s just no point. You manage about 4 rides it’s awful.

I also make sure I collect the 2 for 1 vouchers that are available earlier in the year just in case we go later on somewhere.


We get Merlin oasses each year and will be fine for the little one when she is big enough, they work out great value if you go along and as you get free parking and discount in food etc it takes the edge of that too.

Ended up doing 13 trips in all this year to the parks. Queues aren't so bad if you are smart about how you do rides, we pretty much get everything in at least one every time we go so works out well you just have to watch what the queues are doing and know where best to go which is hard I guess if you don't go allot and get a feel for how people generally act in a park.
If you have young kids, Gulliver's is pretty good. When I used to take mine it was about £10.


I'll have a look into it, we have been to asking bug to chessington and Legoland this year, 3 or 4 times each, wasn't expecting it to be great for her but there was loads we could do and she has had a great time each time.

Re: RE: Re: Theme Park Chat and Stuff

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 4:18 pm
by Return_of_the_STAR
Death's Head wrote:
Christmas CrackErrkal wrote:
Return_of_the_STAR wrote:
Death's Head wrote:I don't like theme parks anymore. They are ridiculously over priced and in return for paying a premium, most of the time is spent queing. It is also utter BS that you need to pay just to go in. When you take your kids but you don't want to go on the rides, you pay more for adult entry but get practically zero in return.


I do agree with this. Park tickets are horrendous now. We collect the sun tickets for legoland every year and go on a weekday and just take my son out of school. The park is very quiet. Been on a few weekends and there’s just no point. You manage about 4 rides it’s awful.

I also make sure I collect the 2 for 1 vouchers that are available earlier in the year just in case we go later on somewhere.


We get Merlin oasses each year and will be fine for the little one when she is big enough, they work out great value if you go along and as you get free parking and discount in food etc it takes the edge of that too.

Ended up doing 13 trips in all this year to the parks. Queues aren't so bad if you are smart about how you do rides, we pretty much get everything in at least one every time we go so works out well you just have to watch what the queues are doing and know where best to go which is hard I guess if you don't go allot and get a feel for how people generally act in a park.
If you have young kids, Gulliver's is pretty good. When I used to take mine it was about £10.


Yeah Gullivers is good for younger kids.

I consider the merlin passes every year. They are worth it if you are likely to visit two or more parks in 12 months.

Re: RE: Re: Theme Park Chat and Stuff

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 4:21 pm
by Errkal
Return_of_the_STAR wrote:
Death's Head wrote:
Christmas CrackErrkal wrote:
Return_of_the_STAR wrote:
Death's Head wrote:I don't like theme parks anymore. They are ridiculously over priced and in return for paying a premium, most of the time is spent queing. It is also utter BS that you need to pay just to go in. When you take your kids but you don't want to go on the rides, you pay more for adult entry but get practically zero in return.


I do agree with this. Park tickets are horrendous now. We collect the sun tickets for legoland every year and go on a weekday and just take my son out of school. The park is very quiet. Been on a few weekends and there’s just no point. You manage about 4 rides it’s awful.

I also make sure I collect the 2 for 1 vouchers that are available earlier in the year just in case we go later on somewhere.


We get Merlin oasses each year and will be fine for the little one when she is big enough, they work out great value if you go along and as you get free parking and discount in food etc it takes the edge of that too.

Ended up doing 13 trips in all this year to the parks. Queues aren't so bad if you are smart about how you do rides, we pretty much get everything in at least one every time we go so works out well you just have to watch what the queues are doing and know where best to go which is hard I guess if you don't go allot and get a feel for how people generally act in a park.
If you have young kids, Gulliver's is pretty good. When I used to take mine it was about £10.


Yeah Gullivers is good for younger kids.

I consider the merlin passes every year. They are worth it if you are likely to visit two or more parks in 12 months.


Not just the parks you get all sealifes the eye London dungeons etc. I think this wpyear we used them enough that we bought entries we would have paid 4 times as much.

Re: Theme Park Chat and Stuff

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 6:41 pm
by Tafdolphin
This is a great account to follow for theme park ridethrough vids