Shockwave

Great photos Robb. Looked like a really good event, and a great effort on revamping X. If only X at Thorpe Park could have some really cool effects!

Nice photos Scott! Beech Bend has a really nice atmosphere. All the staff are really friendly and they take a lot of pride in what they do. Sure, most of the rides aren't that special, but when the people working there are that nice it really doesn't matter. And they have an awesome caster in Kentucky Rumbler.

The KLF featuring Tammy Wynette - Justified And Ancient (Stand By The JAMs)

Does anyone remember Thunderbirds? Well this is my fave TV ad at the moment, featuring Brains.

Great photos Chuck! Dominator was great at Geauga Lake so it'll be a treat when it opens for the ride's new locals.

Thanks for the video and photos Robb! The flash video was great, because I can now watch it in work! I think credit needs to be given where credit is due here, and given that the company is still in a lot of debt, to prolong and revamp a ride that could so easily been sent the way of Psyclone was a brave and bold move. I'm sure I'll end up riding this before long, so I'm looking forward to finally trying ut out!

Great photos and captions! Seems like Six Flags America is only just tolerable at the best of times. It always came across as one of the parks in the chain that was only worth the visit for two reasons. One because if you already hold a season pass, you don't have to pay to get in, and two because if it just happened to be your home park, at least the season pass won't set you back loads, so you can go upto somewhere like Great Adventure without paying there. I've done the Superman hypercoaster at Darien Lake, so I imagine there's not difference apart from the mirroring. Kings Dominion looks quite alright, seems to have some pretty good rides there (as well as some pretty bad ones) from the sound of things. And yes, the symmetry of the generic Eiffel Tower shot appears has now been ruined by the new logo. But for me it's still a solid second place behind the trash cans at the front of Volcano's queue! Apart from that, it does look like quite a fun ride.

Looks like all you lucky folks had a great time out there during the filmshoot! It looks like a fantastic effort from everyone involved in making it happen. And the ride looks like a lot of fun. It doesn't seem like a ridiculous quest for the most intense wooden coaster like the Gravity Groups other rides I've done, the park appear to have got pretty much what they wanted. Can't wait to try it myself!

^That's exactly I'm really trying to make it over there next year. Blackpool just has an atmosphere that other parks simply don't have, and it sounds like Knoebels has a similar sort of vibe going on. Great report once again Scott!

Matt, I don't mind the yellow either. It looks nicer on Ferraris than almost all other cars. Nice photos so far Scott! I didn't spend too long in the Studios when I was there a couple of years ago, and even in the few hours I spent there with R&E, it was enough to get almost all the park done, including lunch!

It's been two years now since this thing was built and I can't believe it's still having the problems it is! This has got to be the most unreliable ride ever made.

Nice report Matt! The theming does look much better than the usual Six Flags efforts under the old management, and the new direction the chain seems to be heading in can only be for the better.

That was a great day! I keep forgetting how much fun Blackpool Pleasure Beach is and it's only an hour from my house!

Here's some awesome reporting from the Sun about a new coaster at Alton Towers: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1140717.ece

Great report so far! Chessington are really doing their best to ruin the Transylvania area. First Bubbleworks gets the corporate treatment (ok it's not bad, but I LOVED the old Bubbleworks), now Maccy D's is gone, I just hope they don't go any further than this!

OK, a few pages back, someone did a calculation to show just how much the UK is paying for fuel, and now that fuel is averaging at about £1.10 per litre, I'm gonna do the maths. £1.10 multiplied by 3.78541178 = £4.16 per US gallon At the current exchange rate which is $1.97 to £1, that $8.20 per US gallon. Since your gallons are smaller than ours (16fl oz to 20 fl oz), here's how much it is for an imperial measure. £1.10 multiplied by 4.546 = £5.00 per gallon. So that's $9.85 per gallon.

OK, we're at Sunday now, which means that we were going to Milky Way and Crealy Adventure Park. Milky Way is a really cool little place, it has a lot of quirky stuff that kept us very much entertained for a few hours. Big slides, golf driving nets, archery, shooting, dodgems, a maze, and alien abduction. And that last one is not a misprint. You really do go aboard a mother ship and squeezed into a probe (don't panic, it's just a powered Batflyer, and you don't come off walking like a cowboy). You even have to crawl through a tube to ride it. The outdoor coasters weren't open today, as one was stalled halfway round and the other wasn't built yet, but that really didn't make any difference. And Piers also confronted with one of his worst fears. Briefly... Piers was thirsty. So it was time to leave. If you answered "The ball smashed the glass blowing stall" you were wrong! Thank God. What happened next? Answers on a postcard. Run while you can! Time to see who I'll injure next. Lucky for Dave, I can't hit that far. Charlton Heston would have approved. Target practive is actively encouraged. By the way, if anyone does make a joke about said member, they might just kick your ass. You've been warned. Now sports. Yep, not getting any better. Well that's an unfortunate sign in respect to one particular TPR member. Possesion of an offensive weapon. That's me off to Owlcatraz for 30 days then. We were too responsible to sit on it. Clearly we must be getting old. And here's his stuff. It's all hosted by this farmer. Some bovine history on the local breed. See how cows get their kicks. There's a section dedicated to farming. We left the stalled coaster for an educational credit. The alien needs more protein in his diet. Still broken. Murdering the trees carries a life sentence at Owlcatraz. The train runs right around the edge of it. Time for the half grown maze! Piers was glad to leave the prison tour and get back to something more his style. Watchoo lookin' at? After yard time, it was meal time. And Piers hides. One inmate gets yard time. Piers wasn't impressed. The Kestrel got the Hannibal Lecter cell for eating the last keeper. This one robbed a bank. Behind bars. Put away for grieveless bodily harm. This one wanted to make a nest in Piers hair. Welcome to Owlcatraz. Time for Piers to face destiny. Bottoms up. And here's another massive vertical slide! I'm the fuzzy blur at the top. Yellow one - not built. Time for the coaster sitrep: Blue one - stuck. Clone Zone was by far the coolest ride of the weekend! Token map photo. It's space Piers. But not as we know it!

Nice to see things are still on the wagon. But there's still a long way to go before things are even close to clearing the debt. I still think the season pass is way undervalued. But I guess it's only a matter of time before the management address that. I'd expect to see something similar to Cedar Fair, where the multi park offering is about double what a single park season pass would cost.

More Flambards, Lizard Point, and Land's End! There we go, that was a brief tour of Lands End. There's other attractions to do there, but we were off to have a few drinks. So it was time to go. They made a funny. And because it sells poop in a bag, it's also Robb-approved. It sells local ale, so it's also Derek-approved. We checked out the Dan-approved gift shop before going. Since I was spending my money on alcohol for that night, this pic will have to do. And here it is! The famous sign. Tokyo was put on today thanks to some Japanese tourists. The winds and the lack of land claimed two more victims. But there is a giant TARDIS just before the land ends. The foreign translation will tell you the same. No more land! Like I say, there's no more land! It just stops! Wind. Exhibit B. It was very windy. And here we are at Lands End. Where the land just sort of stops. This is where the old lifeboat launch used to be at the bottom of the cliffs. Cliffs have feeling too y'know. Long way down! Lizard Point stretches a few miles further south than Land's End, making it the most southerly mainland point in England. Land's End is sitll the most westerly mainland point in England, so we'll go there later. NOT LANDS END. It was time to leave. But first I was hungry for scrambled eggs. Sadly this is the closest I'll ever get to flying aboard this incredible machine. There's also an aviation section, with a section of the Concorde prototype. So here's a map of where the RAF bombed in Nazi Germany. The next exhibit was about wartime Britain. But I wasn't allowed to take photos inside this one. Good old modern medicine. And monkeys could drink in bars. Horses got tired quickly back then. Nearly as old as Jeff. So this shows what Victorian Britain looked like. And now a few shots of the three indoor "experiences". NOT A POSTBOX.

That's some seriously bright paint on Goliath! I've seen a few recent Fiesta Texas trip reports and the park looks like a nice place to visit.

Wow, I almost forgot that I had started this trip report! After an eventful first day and a good nights sleep, it was time to go and check out the most southerly park in England. Flambards is described as an "experience" by its advertising, largely down to its two main exhibitions of Victorian Britain and Britain in the Blitz. There's also a aviation exhibit, indoor educational centre and function facilities. Oh, and some amusment rides catering for all ages. The park is good for a couple of hours, but after that there's not too much to keep you there. So we left to explore the most southerly and westerly points of England. Whilst I post the rest of the Flambards/Lands End photos, I'll leave you with a random kaleidoscope to keep you wondering. And then this happened. So I stole a digger instead. Damn. I was hoping to ride on the back of the space buggy! Piers says no to counterfeit Jenga! So he dealt with it. Piers doesn't like imitation stuff. Well, cheap knock-off Jenga anyway. After the big slide drama, it was time for some party sized Jenga! This however was very real. Unfortunately this was the best picture we got due to the shape of the building. It's a vertical slide that's about twice as big as a regular one. As a result, I was terrified the first time I dropped off the edge! But once you fall, it's amazing. And this isn't real either. Sorry Chris, it's not a real one. Maybe this is the Cedar Fair area after all. They don't even have a real Dancing Stage machine! Tacky is the word you'll be looking for right now. We went back out to see what else there was outdoors. I think this is a few trashcans short of a Cedar Fair exhibit. The spinning tunnel was really disorientating. And very green and blurry! I'm still waiting on the cheque from Disney. What follows is the very idea that inspired the shadow of the Yeti halfway round Expedition Everest. In one of the many indoor parts of Flambards. And this is as good as my Myspace mirror photo taking skills get. Hey SharkTums! I didn't know you were moonlighting at Flambards! Because we didn't fancy the idea of getting soaked in chilly weather, we did the Rockin' Tug instead. But in the flurries of rain and snow, and with the really cold weather, no one was riding. No family park is complete without a log flume. There was this spinning thing, but we declined. Which meant one of us had to pedal. Apart from the coaster, there's also some pedal copters. Trains look very insecty too. It was quite fun. Lots of twisting drops and tight turns. This is as far south as coasters go in Britain. Where else? So, where do we start? It's the best day of the week!

I miss that ride!!! Flamingoland taking it out made me very sad. But at least it'll now have another chance to thrill once again. Now all we have to do is guess which Mexican park is buying it.

I much prefer coasters with substance to those which just draw on a gimmick. So Maverick's great combo of airtime, inversions and fast dives were a treat. Dragster certainly isn't an everyday ride, because everyday it'll break down. Wind, rain, malfunctions, you name it, and it will happen. Make no mistake, it's a real adrenaline rush, but after waiting through 2 stoppages and 2 hours in an awful queue just to ride the first time, it does sulley the whole experience.

The Troublesome Trucks dark ride they had at at Fuji-Q was really good. Drayton's version could really with something like that as there's only the train and coaster ride that can swallow up a lot of people at once, and pretty much all the stuff apart from the play area is outdoors at the mercy of the elements.

And now... Just in case you forgot where this was. Drayton Manor was typical Drayton Manor, but Thomas Town was really good fun. Thanks for reading! ...and whatever musical features a pair of kids shades with the tag still on them. Sally practised a couple of musicals indoors. Singin' In The Rain... Soon it was time to go. Sam made a leave at gunpoint after we asked him to ride floorless Apocalypse again. He's more maroon that I remember as a kid! Bertie Bus also has his own ride. It's one of those messed up figure-8 things. Even Devious Diesel has his own ride. You can actually drive these cars into the gift shop and back out! There's also a new vintage car ride. The boat's name escapes me. The park's former rockin' tug also got a makeover for the new land. The ride doesn't go up very high, but it's enough to thrill little kids and big kids. Don't ask why, but Cranky reminds me of Dan after getting a bit wet. Another later friend was Cranky, immortalised in a kids bungee tower. And here's Toby, who helped Thomas get to grips with a jobsworth Policeman. But now for some of the very first characters. As presented by Sally! This is Henry, famous for not coming out of a tunnel when he didn't want his coat to get wet. Jeremy was one of the later additions to Thomas and Friends. There's also Jeremy's Jets where you can fly in a circle as well. Air travel is very much encouraged at Thomas Land. Harold the Helicopter makes an appearance. Whilst Sally and I bought photos, Sam bought some stickers with his name on them. Aww! The pose was there to be struck. It even thinks its Expedition GeForce towards the end! The ride is pretty fun, and you get a couple of laps. And here are those mischievous trucks themselves! The queueline passes through the main station for the Thomas train ride. No more Super Dragon, Troublesome Trucks is here to stay! Oh yeah, they got a new family coaster! The Fat Controller was also on hand to make sure everything was running smoothly. His eyes stopped rolling when Sally came by the turntable! In these times of fevered environmental awareness, this Thomas isn't steam powered. And there he is! In quite an impressive station I might add. The main attraction here is the train ride. This being Drayton Manor, only one train was running. Time to become 7 years old!