bert425

^ while I don't blame you at all for skipping Boomerang? I always ride it when there, just for the history. that's the old "Flashback" from Six Flags Over Texas (removed to make way for more Gotham (along with the bumpercars) way back in 2012 (and for a bit there, right next to it was the old "Dungeon Drop" from Astroworld (it had been rethemed as Superman, but now gone anyways)

a Section of tilt track (as on Winja's) is not anything at all like a Tilt Coaster. you are incorrect on your list above, only because I'm talking about real, Vekoma, "Tilt Coasters" . . . not the Chinese Knockoff that they call "Broken Rail Coasters" (if I'm being pedantic) there is currently ONE Vekoma tilt coaster in existence - open and operating: Gravity Max at Discoveryland in Taiwan. there are 3 under constructions - Circuit Breaker at COTA, which has gone vertical and is moving along nicely, Iron Rattler at Six Flags Quiddiy City, and the just announced today, Siren's Curse at Cedar Point.

nice. . so we'll have two tilt coasters in North America / USA

nice pics! and too funny, I just updated my TPR UK trip report with our day at Thorpe. and yeah. . Saw & Colossus were awfully rough. but I too agree that Stealth was great. .and I thought Swarm was the best coaster in the park. (tho Hyperia a close 2nd)

Day 2 (part 2): Thorpe Park! We also went and did the "Ghost Train" - which I knew nothing about, but had been recommended by several park employees I had talked to. It's not really a "ride" but rather an experience - an interactive show, with some brilliant special effects and a set that "moves". . so it feels like you trapped on a train that's moving as crazy things happen. It was very cool and I loved it so much I bought multiple Magnets from it. . and was looking to buy a shirt for it (but they didn't have anything I really loved). for some strange reason, I don't have ANY pictures of this ride - I'm shocked myself. I know I was incredibly distracted (or as my friends call it "dickstracted") by a cute bear couple that was in the queue with us - which would explain why I have no pics of the outside of the ride. And you couldn't take pics during the experience. but still. . I'm truly surprised I don't have any pics. . LOL I think it was around this time, that (*I think) we got a message from Robb asking who wanted to ride the Tidal Wave as a group, and if so, meet by the ride. So a whole bunch of TPR folks got together, and our park guild got them to set aside a boat for TPR (plus one family who were added to the back row not realizing a completely full TPR boat was gonna be heavy and get a bigger splash) and off we went. COMPLETELY soaked. . like being dipped into a bathtub. . and I loved it. the following pics are all from either Robb or Andy, I believe: the aftermath. . posing in front of the next boat's splash. with time in the day running out, several of us headed to the last section of the park - seemed to be themed to a lost Jungle/ruins, to ride the flats over there: a giant swing, an Enterprise, a Flying Carpet, and a "claw" the swing was ok, but kind of underwhelming to me because a) the cycle was so short, and b) I've been on the tallest one at SWSA here in Texas. it was fun, but not exciting, if that makes sense. loved the theming over here tho. . .very, very green and "overgrown" looking, but with rides just popping up in the center of it. Zodiac is the Enterprise. the Flying Carpet went down while we were in queue for the Enterprise (had to wait for next cycle), so didn't get to ride that - think it was just too close to end of day for Maintenance to mess with it today . . but it framed Swarm very nicely for a picture I thought and the claw was also over here. see? I LOVE Enterprises (Robb just asked about who loves them on the TPR Facebook page) . . . this one didn't run a great cycle. . and it was really quick considering how long it took the one operator to get it loaded. . but any Enterprise is a fun Enterprise. it was so close to the end of night, that Stacey and I hit a store for shopping before heading back to the Pavilion to meet up with the group. no, I didn't buy this. . but I was VERY tempted. LOL.. if it hadn't been at the start of the trip and I was already worrying about suitcase space, prolly would have grabbed it. as we waited for the park to clear (and more importantly the Hyperia line to clear thru), we headed over to Swarm for our 1st ERT. apparently the theming is an alien invasion. . tho Thorpe park does seem to have a thing for wrecked planes (there were several of them thruout the park as theming. . LOL). but I loved this. and I was actually sorry I hadn't gone over here during the daytime, as I absolutely LOVED this B&M Flyer. my favorite ride in the park, and I think I rode every cycle of our ERT. glass smooth with an amazing diving first drop, and an inversion over/thru the station - which is themed to a bombed out Church. the inversion I mentioned, from inside the station the design of the trains is SO good. . this is the back of the row in front of us! Pic courtesy of Elissa, I believe (or possibly Robb) following pics courtesy of Elissa, Robb, or Andy: whee. . . front row! after 25 minutes or so at Swarm (and I think 9 rides), we headed as a group over to Hyperia. HAHAHAHAHA. . and I actually *did* get a pic of the front of Ghost Train as we walked past it. so good on me. . tho all closed up, doesn't look too exciting. and here is the main course. . ERT on Hyperia. after it had warmed up and was running amazing. Edit: D'oh!!! that's Kristen with her Dad (Robb) in the seats behind me in this pic! She looks so much like her Mom! So this pic must be courtesy of Elissa. I couldn't ride Hyperia over and over, as by the end of the day, it was a wee bit too intense for me (I kept having to tuck my shirt back in after riding)! . . . so I didn't do every cycle, but I did ride 2, then rest, then 2 then rest, then 2 - including last ride. so I THINK I got six rides on it at end of night during our ERT? but some in the group ride every dispatch. . . more power to em! and they look like they are having a blast! end of night pic with our park guides, and the crew. . thank you to Thorpe Park for an amazing day! Pic by Robb and then it was time to head back to the bus for the ride back to the hotel. I *believe* this stunning pic of Stealth during sunset is from Brad. and back on the bus. .everyone is happy. . . except for Robb's plushie. getting back to the hotel, several of us headed back over to WagaMama for dinner. . . not really recalling what this is, but I think Firecracker chicken & pasta? and Gyoza. . so good. and after filling up on Wagamama? back to the room to shower, and crash. we had another busy day tomorrow - checking out of Hotel and off to the next hotel. but along the way? Suprise Park! we were gonna visit LegoLand Windsor for a few hours, and ride their brand new "mini figure speedway" dueling coaster. hopefully won't take me a month for that next update!

Day 2 (part 1): Thorpe Park! First off, apologies that it's been so long since the Day1 update from Chessington. Life got in the way, and have been so dang busy! (I'm rewarding myself for doing two things I *had* to get done this weekend - completed, so came to update day 2). so, I didn't know very much about Thorpe Park. I mean, once there, I was familiar with one or two rides, but I had never really paid much attention to it, as it was in the UK and I'd probably never go there. and I prefer to be "surprised" so when going on a TPR trip, I almost never do a lot of research on the parks themselves. But I was very much aware about Hyperia, as folks had been talking about it for months, and I was keeping fingers crossed it would behave for us, as it had been having a lot of down time since it had officially opened. a fairly short bus trip later, and we were parking at Thorpe park and spotting Hyperia immediately from the entrance bridge across the lake to the park. the main entrance over the lake, is quite lovely: we were walked back to what would be our "basecamp" for the day - back at the events pavilion that's under those white tent-like building behind the water rides. that coaster there is "the Swarm" - which I recognized the name and hadn't realized was in THIS park. it was testing as we walked by, but we were there slightly before park open, so many of the rides still stood silent. better view of Swarm from our basecamp pavilion patio. . and that white coaster back there is Stealth - but that one seemed like it was down today, as folks were working on it. just before the park opened, our hosts were very kind and walked us back to Hyperia. . . we weren't getting ERT on it until after park close, but everyone was excited to be over there and near the front of the line when it opened. it's a lovely park, and walking thru, I simply had not realized this is a major thrill park. . with many "extreme" rides. just looking on RCBD, of the 8 roller coasters at this park, SIX of them are ranked "Extreme". the other is the kiddie coaster, and an indoor coaster. and the flats are pretty crazy too. . so this is really a park going for the adrenaline junkies. . . we were held in front of the queue, and when the park opened, the opened up the queue and we all headed thru the back and forths and then it tested once (or twice) and. .stopped. the line, which had already gotten a bit long was held just before entry into the actual ride queue. (which is beautiful by the way) we hung out in the line about 20 minutes, reasoning if it does open soon, it's still going to be a shorter line than any other time today. but the other coasters nearby started cycling with guests. this is Colossus. *(and you can see the full rows of queue behind us already) the park announced they weren't quite ready to open yet, and had no established time to open Hyperia. since this was a new park to many of us, most decided to call it (we were supposed to ride later anyways with ERT) and we headed to the closest coaster, Colossus. over the shoulder restraints? uh oh. . this is the 10 inversion coaster! it's pretty. . but yeah, it beat the crap out of me. . .so one and done. luckily I had aspirin with me and popped on right away. while we were on Colossus, Hyperia started testing. . but the train was full of water dummies (we know they were water dummies, because some of the lids weren't closed tightly and in some inversions the sprays of water were as impressive as fireworks. it was pretty funny. water dummies are a good sign, but also means it wasn't opening right away yet. anyways, we were over here by Samurai (the Top Scan at the lower bottom) and Saw: the Ride (on the left there) I don't quite remember, but I'm pretty sure we had fast pass at this park (only ride it wasn't good on was Hyperia). . so the line was short enough we got in it for Samurai it ran a pretty good cycle too. . .again, this seemed to be a park geared to the extreme thrillseekers. Watching Saw cycle next door while waiting for our ride. and then we headed under the bridge and past Colossus towards the custom Gerstlauer Eurofighter NOT a fan of Eurofighters, but I was loving the theming (you drop undeneath spinning sawblades). . .so we got in line. it moved fairly slow - capacity, I guess, or maybe someone that couldn't fit in the seats? but eventually we made it up to the platform. and there is some nice theming in the queue line. Stacey and I finally at the station! how was it. . . um. . pretty rough I thought. but I've been on worse Eurofighters. This one did have some headbang - I recall we sat in the front row. but others who rode it said it wasn't that bad. so maybe we just had a janky car? anyways. . 1 and done. Hyperia seemed to be cycling now. . so we headed back over to be faced with a pretty massive line. lunch was fairly soon, and we didn't want to miss that, so instead we stopped into the bathrooms over there (themed and Neon). . kewl. the closest I got to Hyperia this morning and then headed over to a section we hadn't been in yet - which was sorta on the way back to the Pavilion. ooo.. .the "Hyperia Fairies" were out and about - I didn't realize that these folks are part of the show that gets put on near the entrance (more pics of that coming up soon). . but they were happy to pose for pics. this guy was the Choreographer of the show, from what I understand. but they were all charming. Mr Monkeys Banana Ride!! what amazing theming for a swinging ship ride. . LOL yeah, baby!!! we headed back to the pavilion for a very decent lunch served to us by the park: and then our hosts surprised us by giving each of us a one time pass for Hyperia to use the quick queue line. . .so many of us - myself included - headed over to Hyperia to have a ride. here's the aforementioned show that takes place several times a day at the stage near the ride entrance. without even asking, Stacey and I got assigned to Front Row !! we took the advantage - mainly because it meant that later during ERT we wouldn't have to ride in the front, and could leave that open for those folks who love the front row. ya'll. . it's SO good. yes, it's a little short, but so what. . that extended stall is incredible. LOVED it after our ride, we headed back over to the section we had just peeked our head into on the way to lunch, and continued into it. . . our next ride was going to "Nemesis Inferno" - a B&M suspended themed in (and around) a volcano. the view from the Nemesis Inferno queue: entrance to the river rapids ride, which was closed this morning, but seemed to be cycling empty rafts, Stealth - still no life in it, but the maintenance folks who had been working on it earlier were now gone, Swarm in the background, and next to it Tidal Wave, the parks' Chute the Shoots ride - that seemed to be VERY wet. a look at the Chute the Shoots. . that drop is a bit steep! the drop tower on the right (behind Nemesis track) was not open today. Nemesis Inferno Queue. . with "active" volcano in the queue this compact B&M has some real kick. . I loved this. . and ended up being my 3rd favorite coaster in the park - behind Swarm & Hyperia. really rather intense, and it mostly stays pretty close to the ground. when we got off Nemesis Inferno, we noticed the rafts were now running with People in them. . .so several of us (minus Stacey - who didn't want to get wet) hopped in the completely empty queue for a walk on (remember, it had JUST opened, and I don't think word had gotten out yet) it was a fun little raft ride, that was more "spritz" than "soaked". . but it helped cool down what had turned into a warm day. most importantly tho? Stealth - the Intamin Launch coaster - had started testing while we were on the rafts! unlike the rafts, the whole park could see that Stealth was testing so there were quite a few folks milling around the entrance. but it had not opened yet. so after giving it a few minutes, we headed over to the other coasters we hadn't hit yet: Flying Fish - a Mack powered coaster, and took a spin on that (tho I don't seem to have taken any other pictures of it) by the time we got off our ride - and I think he sent us around 4 times, so it was a good long ride - Stealth *had* opened, and was cycling with riders. so we headed back over that way. even with the quick queue the line had gotten pretty decent, quickly. again, it's capacity, even tho this has a longer train than things like TTD or Xcellerator still. . .So worth it. . it's an amazing ride! even if it only lasts, 12 seconds or something like that. and yes! lucked out again with front row. the only other coaster we hadn't done yet (besides Swarm, which I had forgotten about, but we had some ERT on it later anyways) was the indoor coaster. . .now themed to the Walking Dead. hmmmmmmmm. . . . . most of it was long, dark, corridors - that go on for a long time - as part of the queue. The theme is that you are being "cleared" to enter Terminus. . so they are putting you thru the pens, and testing (the queue) and then put you on the train (the coaster itself) to take you there. it's a fun little indoor coaster, and we ended up riding this twice since we liked it enough - once later in the day, and that time there were lots of "live" zombies in the exit portion of the queue, chasing after you. to be continued. . .

^ note: I didn't mention Kid Flash, since it probably wont' be operating, and neither will Batgirl (the kiddie) since the DC Universe section isn't quite ready to open yet. I also didn't mention the Boomerang - which has the newer trains, and is the most ridden Boomerang in the whole Six Flags chain (due to it's location at the end of the main entrance path). . because. . .well. . it's a Boomerang. LOL I'd guess Goliath (a Batman clone) will be open for your visit tho - the parks not open on weekdays at the moment, so plenty of time for them to finish the repaint and have it up for FrightFest. if you have time, dont' miss Great White up the road at SWSA. . it's also a Batman clone, but it's a mirror, so drops the other direction.

honestly? as long as Wonder Woman (which is running AMAZING with the new trains), Poltergeist (my favorite ride in the park) , and Dr Diabolical are running? you'll have a fantastic time. Superman is a don't miss as well. . and if the lines are not nuts? don't skip Batman - it was the 1st S&S freespin at any Six Flags park, and spins more than the other park's versions. Pandemonium is a fairly unique layout (only 3 are like that in the chain), and Roadrunner is a custom mine train. so you'll have a great time anyways. .and the park will be totally decked out for Halloween.

long time no see online, Jizzman!

^ unless that's primer? going to Iron Rattler / Roadrunner colors!

They're repainting Goliath to more match the colors in that section. . I think it's gonna be Poltergeist's old colors. . the more teal blue.

that's by Poltergeist. but yes, the old go karts are back there too. I asked Jeffrey about it, but (understandably), he didn't respond.

by "power surge" you mean Gully Washer - the river raft ride, correct? I know IR was down for a chain lift issue (but thought it was minor and had been fixed already). . . but Gully Washer was done for the season, as was told by staff when there a few weeks ago that something major had broken in the pump system for the ride. glad to hear the cookies were back in the VIP lounge tho! They certainly heard the complaints, and with needing the Elite 2025 pass to get access to it, sounds like they are trying to make it a place to go to again.

statement from Skyline about the Kid Flash coaster (at SFFT & at SFOG)

back in 2019 when it was called Quimera https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_American_Triple_Loop

Bill, you probably have that flowerpot head photo uploaded twice. look at your pics carefully. . . the pics that you don't manually place in your post, just go to the end.

that quick closure does have me wondering if maybe they really didn't have a choice. how does Theme Park Insurance work? if they found something really wrong or a potential hazardous situation, could an Insurance provider say - close by end of the month, or we drop you? could it possibly be something like that? Just wondering out loud.

^ I'd say Golden Nugget and Plaza are more recognizable than Mirage was.

you really see the differences too. . it depends who your Park President is. Jeffrey Siebert held an event - Fall version of FT92 to do the big announcements, with a number from the new show, and all the bells and whistles of an "event" SFOT? put out signs at a Job Fair for hiring. . so many learned the new houses by the signs listing what they could apply for.

SFOT has 5 IP houses, including Stranger Things, and the Conjuring (the other 3 are Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Saw, & Trick R Treat. + 3 of their own houses. . so 8 total.

for National Roller Coaster Day this past weekend, my Friend Matt Hughey (VP of Park Operations at Circuit of the Americas), invited my other friends, the Quirky Coaster Couple (Nick and Kelly) to come out and take a tour of the COTA-land site. . . where they have quietly been doing a TON of work. the Quirkies were able to turn it into an event of sorts, inviting 20 or so others to come along, ride the Schwarzkopf Texas Wildcat (that's been open for a while), and take laps on the go-karts as well as have a site tour. Sadly, I was unable to attend, as I was *LITERALLY* a mile a way at the Austin airport for my flight to Vegas at the time of the event - hey, it all worked out, I had a great time, and so did they at COTA. With the Quirkies' kind permission that it was ok to share their pics? here are some updates - and I think you're gonna be a little surprised. yes, yes. . the big "news" that came out of it, is that they are still hoping for a 2025 opening, but that there HAVE been delays (mostly related to Covid, and how things work nowadays), but they will give a planned update at an event in January, if 2025 is still in the cards. BUT. . all track for all coasters is on site, and all the flats are on site. ok. .here come the pics: Palindrome is complete! (not sure when it's going to start testing, as I wasn't able to attend, so not sure if they covered that): Circuit Breaker - the 2nd Tilt Coaster in existence has gone vertical - the support for the "tilt" portion is up! and finally, here are the Quirkies (Nick and Kelly- lower right in yellow), with Matt at the COTA site (along with the lucky folks who were able to join them)!

if you see Freeze running? go to it. It will go up and down all day, and if it goes down while you're in queue? give it 20 minutes. (it likely will come back up). Same is true of Riddler (the Zamperla giant discovery - it goes down a lot because people pull on the restraints and trigger estop, and the mechanics have to come reset it . . a LOT). Freeze typically is only running one side. . so expect just to go forwards. (if the 2nd side opens, it's a pleasant surprise). I don't recall any rides requiring lockers on my last visit (in April) and most coasters/rides have cubbies. (even Runaway Mountain. . don't miss it. . it's an indoor coaster that doesn't do much, but it's a lot of fun). expect La Vibora to have a line - even with Flash Pass you'll end up waiting, that's because this Bobsled has glacial loading. it just is. if you have ANY back issues? Avoid La Vibora, and Judge Roy Scream.. .. but if you do ride the judge? go for a non-wheel seat for a tolerable ride.

oh the most amusing part of the whole experience at Chessington World Adventures - which I can't believe I forgot: we had a "safety officer" (which seemed to be a thing with all the UK parks, that when there's a group before or after park open, there must be a safety officer with them).. . who had to inform us where the best place to run to is, in case there is an animal escape. remember, it's a zoo. . . but she was so serious about it, it was extremely amusing in how odd it was. (the Lions are right behind Vampire, so this was one of the first things discussed - where to run to if there's an escape)

Day 1 (part 2): Animal Tours, the Aquarium and the World of Jumanji! after a very filling lunch (it was too much food), most everyone met up to take advantage of the animal tours the park so kindly offered us. we met up here in the "Western" section - where I assume behind the wall at the far left just off picture stood the wild mouse coaster, Rattlesnake, that is SBNO. they divided us into two groups to see different things, then we'd swap. my group went first all the way to the backstage area of the park, and over to the Giraffe housing! Clearly they are used to tours here, as they came running, expecting food beneath us (we were on an upper catwalk) there was also a new mama with her baby being kept in here, away from the heat and this guy too the Giraffes get SO close. they smelled a bit like a horse, but not unpleasant. .. what was a bit unpleasant was the slimy tongue. but still. . so worth it to feed them. an amazing experience. this made me giggle - it's like the door at the 711 where there's a height chart, so the counter person can tell the police how tall the robber was of the 3 Giraffes back here, one was the most friendly and kept coming back over, as the keepers answered questions about them and told us about the ones here at the park. after about 25 minutes, it was time to swap, so we made our way back out into the park, and over to another animal section. there was a lot of cool theming back here, and it kind of looked like a queue area? the park DOES have a Safari ride, called Zoofari, where they drive you in small trucks in groups of 25 or so, but it was not open today due to the heat. So gotta wonder if some of this area is the waiting queue for those that are going on the Safari? Eventually we came to the monkey house walk thru area, with the monkeys hopping around above and around us on the netting. most of em were just hanging out in the shade tho. and then we went over to see Reuben - who had a skunk. an un-adjusted skunk. . . yeah, the kind that can spray you with stink. he asked who wanted to hold it, and several folks, like Ryan here, were happy with the opportunity. I was a "hell no". .and stood way back. . but eventually I gave in to peer pressure and agreed to hold the skunk you can tell from my face in these pics how "thrilled" I was. but I *am* ultimately glad I did it - it was warm, and soft, like a cat. .and it fell asleep in my arms. not as quickly as I'd like, but quick enough, he took the skunk back, we all washed our hands, and we headed over to see the Raccoons. these guys were absolutely adorable, and climbed all over Reuben. it was a wonderful added bonus, and i so appreciate that the park offered us these tours as a perk. I didn't mind at all giving up "ride time" to do these, and had a great time. we ended the animal tour by the Penguins and the SeaLife Aquarium, so decided to go in and have a look. but before we got there. . . someone (I think it was Steve) called out to me to tell me the Garafalo was out doing meet and greet. I love a photo op, so quickly got in line (everyone in our group did, but sadly, we didn't think to get a TPR pic with the Garafalo) but I did pull out my baby stuffed Garafalo that I had bought from the ride store earlier, so that made for a fun pic at Chessington World Adventures, the SeaLife Aquarium is included with admission. we still had an hour or so until park close, so a few of us went to hit the rides we hadn't been on yet or wanted to ride again. myself, Stacy and Andrew headed over to "room on the broom" which turned out to be a walk thru, interactive, "house" of sorts. and we decided to head to the other side of the "zoo" area to do the trail of animals, hoping most of them would be out in the afternoon heat. passing by the Reindeer again: and the sea lions (managed to miss the show, but at least saw them playing in the water) some kind of fox a lynx Male Lion and the Female some cat related to a Cheetah.. but can't recall. yeah. . the sun made everyone SO SLEEEEEEPY. . .but most of the animals were out. trying to remember what this was.. but think it was a photo-op to compare yourself to the outline of a Gorilla? we did go back and ride a few more things.. such as a Sandstorm that was running a fantastic program (with full turning in and out during the cycle)- but for some reason, I only took a picture of the sign (LOL) and then we decided we should start to wander towards "World of Jumanji" - the newest section of the park, which we hadn't been to yet but was where we were meeting up for end of day rides on Mandrill Mayhem. our route to Jumanji took us back thru Vampire's Village, where I got a pic of the coaster . .. as noted, love the theming here. some Vampire queue theming hey Mister. . can you spare a quarter? it's so well hidden in the trees, woods.. . I'll bet this coaster is amazing during the evening hours. as it is, I thought it was the best in the park (with lots of swing out action) peeking over the fence up ahead is the big statue at the center of Mandrill Mayhem this was apparently a Dragon Playground. .that's in the center of Dragon's Fury. I would have never known this was here, and I rode the damn thing! yeah, we were spinning THAT much. and here we are, at the World of Jumanji. there are three rides here: Mandrill Mayhem - the signature B&M Wing launch / shuttle coaster Ostrich Stampede - which is basically a frog hopper crossed with Kangaroo & Mamba Strike - which is a falling star/magic carpet type ride the theming in this area is off the chain tho. Fantastic job by the park making this area so immersive. yeah it's dumb, yeah it doesn't do much but go around in a circle and bounce. . but I absolutely LOVED this. it was SO stupid, and I felt so stupid on it. . but I laughed and giggled the entire ride. so yes, fantastic. taken with permission of the ride op before putting my phone away: a look at what the ride does from the center of the area. a bit hard to tell, but it's a circular ride that just "hops" as it goes around in a circle.. pretty extreme airtime too. a look at Mandrill Mayhem doing it's thing behind me is Mamba Strike, and that's where most of us headed while waiting for the line on Mandrill Mayhem to drain as the park was about to close. we got lucky in that Brad happened to be in the area too, and noticed so many TPR folks on it, so snapped some pics of us all on it. the operator even let us ride twice, since it was the end of the day. This one too, had some pretty good forces - it swung FAST. . so fast it was surprising. more pics of Mandrill Mayhem . . if you haven't noticed (and it's hard to see) the back row of seats? face backwards hungry hungry hippos! and soon enough, it was TPRs turn to ride. OMG. .I LOVE these ride vehicles!!! Jon, Albert & April it's a Wing coaster. . so some of the shorties have trouble getting up. the park was prepared! Stacy didn't realize I was gonna snap a pic. . LOL. that's Colin behind her. I believe pic courtesy of Elissa (Ryan and myself) Chris, myself, Robb, and Doug in the back row facing away from everyone else. Pic courtesy of Elissa TPR on Mandrill Mayhem! this inversion is KILLER too.. .on the way back, the train takes it so slowly, there's a ton of hangtime. heading out of the park after a long, and very fun day, we passed the SeaLions sunning. a short drive back to the hotel, and believe it or not, some of us were hungry again. Stacy looked up a pub in walking distance, and we headed over there and had a really good meal. it was impressive how good it was from a pub/coffeeshop. LtR: David, Neal, Neal, Doug, Hawk, Andrew, Stacy, me. my firecracker Cauliflower and noodles (it was so good I remembered what I had) and my lemondrop martini. . . . cheers to an excellent start to the trip. and after this, was time to head back to the hotel and go to sleep (tho I think some followed Andrew to a pub a little ways down and watched some of the playoffs that were on the tv there). tomorrow was a park I had heard of, but didn't know much about: Thorpe Park, and I was excited!

Day 1 (part 1): FINALLY a Theme Park: Chessington World of Adventures. ready for the first "real" day of the trip, and it was a fairly early one! I believe we had breakfast at 6:30 am, with a leave the hotel at 7am sharp to get us to the first park of the trip: Chessington World of Adventures. as this was the 1st official day of the trip, it was also the first time I'd actually had a full English (as was available on the buffet, here and at every hotel we stayed at pretty much). I'm not a fan of beans, nor tomatoes, so I avoided those, but tried everything else - including the blood sausage. (it wasn't *bad*.. but I'll admit I never tried it again during the trip). made sure to fill up tho, as it was gonna be a full day ahead. we were ushered outside, and we loaded onto the Bus that would be our transport for this whole trip. how wonderful that the front of the bus showed it was a TPR Tour! Loved it a very comfortable coach for the trip - and since the trips tend to be under 50 people total, plenty of room to spread out on the bus. a fairly short ride later, and we were outside the gates of our 1st park on the trip! group photo courtesy of Robb. we were met at the gates and ushered in a bit before park open - we were going to have some rides (and Robb was going to film) on two of the parks 4 coasters (really only 3, as the Park's Mauer Wild Mouse, Ratlesnake, was not operating today. and there is also a 5th coaster, a Mack powered minetrain, but that was damaged by a fire in 2022, and the area is totally blocked off, so it's SBNO) as with many of the parks we went to in the UK, it's not only a theme park, but also a zoo. Some had more animals than others, but most of them were very similar to what we saw at Chessington World Adventures. Inside the park, and stopping for another group pic - this time taken by our hosts, as Robb is in this one although most of the animals are gathered together in one area, there are several exceptions (such as the Tigers by the rapids, the Sea Lions & Reindeer by the Pirate section, and these Otters right by the front gate) (he's back there just coming out of the house) here he is much closer - I think he was curious who these people were looking at him, when the park wasnt' open yet. thruout the park are these really nice Topiaries (tho I do think they are astroturf rather than true plants). . . it was fun just noticing them around the park. it's a lovely park, and was very indicative of many of the UK parks I'd see on this trip. This is a ride based on a very popular Children's book (I had never heard of it, so it must be specific to the UK). The Author is so popular, they actually have a 2nd ride based on another of her books elsewhere in the park (the Gruffalo). the aforementioned Reindeer and Sea Lions we headed thru the empty park towards are 1st ride. Chessington isn't really a Thrill Park - or at least I woudn't classify it that way. oh, there are some thrilling rides here, but nothing super extreme (with one exception), and lots and lots of family rides. Combine that with the SeaLife Aquarium and the Zoo? it's a nice, family park. with some EXCELLENT theming in some places. that track on the right? that's where we're headed: Vampire was built by Arrow as a suspended coaster, but a while back, the arrow "bucket" trains were swapped out for Vekoma suspended seats. the coaster still rides incredible, and the theming on it, and around it, is really quite good. some great photo ops among the theming too the station is so dang impressive. and yes, that's a full scale animatronic "playing" the Organ at the end of the station house. Hi Robb & Elissa! (and a good look at the Vekoma suspended train) after a bunch of rides on Vampire, off we went thru the park towards the other coaster we were going to ride (the park was about to open to the public). mmmmm. . . do-nuts the park's really neat Carousel, called the "Adventure Tree" in the central plaza. we cut thru the central plaza to double back over to this insane thing (and the one coaster I'd really call extreme): Dragon's Fury - a Maurer Spinning Coaster it's over in the "Land of the Dragons" area. the dragons in the queue might be "cute" . . but this sucker spins. a LOT. I actually got off it dizzy and it took a few moments for the world to stop moving. if you like spinning? you'll love this. For me it was 1 and done, but yeah, it's a very good coaster. and this wave turn while spinning? all kinds of amazing. (tho after this initial turn post 1st drop, we were spinning so much I couldn't tell you about the rest of the layout) once the park was fully open, and we were handed out food vouchers, we were turned loose in the park. post lunch, the park had a surprise for us with some animal tours if we cared to participate, but other than that we were free to explore the park for the whole day, and just meet up at park close in the Jumanji section for some post close riding of the shuttle coaster "Mandrill Mayhem" a B&M Wing shuttle. I broke off with Andrew and Stacy and we headed into the "Wild Asia" section next to the Land of Dragons. FANTASTIC theming over here, and I absolutely loved it. it was pretty quiet here tho, because to get here, one has to pass Dragon's Fury, and this early everyone went right into that short line. So we had this area mostly to ourselves - which I didn't mind, made for some great photo opportunities. this section has a big playground for the kids, and 3 rides: a Super Disc-O themed to a cobra can't pass up a good photo op. . LOL restaurant - wasn't open yet, as the park had just opened. Monkey Swinger - a wave swinger, that despite my best efforts, wasn't really able to capture the water spraying. tho if you zoom in on the below pic, you can see the water spout on the right just above the entrance sign. you know how on some wave swingers, they have the water fountains that shoot up, and make you feel like you are going to get wet, but they stop just below your feet? not on this sucker. . those fountains shoot up about 20 feet, and SOAK everyone on the ride. particularly the middle row of seats. I rode on the inside row, so only got "spritzed" not soaked. . but it was a LOT of fun. ah.. well, you can see some of the water spraying on the left here. and finally over here are the park's Bumper Cars - themed to Tuk Tuks. . . . in the background on the left, is the large, enclosed Play area for kids. LOL. .it kind of looked like an abandoned asylum, I thought. but really liked the design work. I hardly ever ride Disc-o's. . let alone a Super Disc-o. . . but with some urging from Stacy and Andrew, I joined them to ride this one. I admit, the design is what cinched it for me.. I really liked the Cobra design. we headed around the bend up ahead to hopefully ride the Tiger Rapids flume. . . only to discover it wasn't operating today I did ask about it, and was told that it was too early in the season for it to be operating.. which was a shame as it was a warm day, and it looked like a ton of fun. they did have some Tigers over here, but they were all sleeping in the long grass. . . so instead I took a pic of the Copybarra - who was helpfully just sitting near the glass in his own enclosure as we headed to another area of hte park. actually, there WAS a flume operating today - the Junior one (which I happened to catch Jon on as we walked by). the "logs" were ADORABLE - upside down Alligators. but the line for this one was pretty long, and it wasn't included in our skip the lines today (although I think you could purchase a one time skip). . but I wasn't needing to ride a flume that badly, so just settled for a pic of it as we passed by. the park's indoor dark, shooting ride. I don't remember much about it other than it reminded me very much of the Buzz Lightyear Spaceranger Spin ride. . but with Mummies. so I DID like it. Think we may have ridden it twice. this park made some news a couple of years ago when they built this WTF monstrosity - and I say that with total love, as I adore this funky thing. Croc Drop - a spinning, junior drop tower, that drops INTO A GIANT CROCODILE MOUTH! hahahaha. . it was so silly, I loved it. More Topiary time to ride the Carousel! erm. . "Chessington Adventure Tree" SO many choices. . . I, of course, chose to ride in the giant, carnivorous, plant - at least that's what I think it was (tho dirty minds might see it slightly differently). it rocked back and forth as the Carousel moved. Stacy rode a Tiger but we could have ridden Copybarras! or Rhinos That same author I mentioned earlier who wrote "Room on the Broom" also wrote "the Gruffalo" it's an indoor river dark ride . with some animatronics, and water effects - such as passing under shooting water jets - while riding in small 4 person circular boats. I didn't understand what was going on whatsoever, but during the ride the rafts got very close to each other, and the British kids in the raft behind us attempted to explain the storyline. it's a really popular kids book in the UK. Pic from Andrew while passing under some of those water jets is it Heckle or Jeckle ? this actually looked good. . but we were scouting for were to use our lunch vouchers. . .. we ended up at the BBQ "Smokehouse" place, where our voucher was considered good for the "family" meal. really. . this is what I got! (with two drinks). . and this is with me asking them for no corn and no beans (so there would have been even more food)! to be continued after lunch!