Divv3k

I never made it to Flamingoland until 2006. I'm so gutted that I never got to ride The Bullet. It just looks insane! Hopefully one day someone will get it back up and running, although I hear the running and upkeep costs got prohibitive. Still, we can hope! Until then I'll enjoy the video! Thanks!

This is why TPR trips are better than anything else like it in the world!!!

Who Says by John Mayer.

^ Don't talk pish Steve!!! There's only one type of ride that REALLY makes you nervous! Words cannot describe how scared Scottish Steve actually gets on ghost trains! Everyone should go on a TPR trip just to ride one with Steve for the sheer hilarity!

Cool stuff! I always love these reports where I see lots of familiar faces! That's shocking Jason. I can't believe anyone would do such a thing!

Wow, I can't believe how much it's grown in the last year! You guys have done a fantastic job of maintaining an updating the whole thing! I've got a random question that's been on my mind for a while (yes, I spend way too much time thinking about things like the park index!): Do you intend on incorporating signs of park entrance signs into the index at any point? I think getting photos of all the ride signs has been a great addition to the index, the park entrance sign seems to me like a natural extension of that. I'm sure it's probably been thought about before and I'm not quite sure where in the index such a photo would fit but I think it would be a great thing to incorporate at some point. Anyway, I really should go through the rest of my photos and upload those flat rides that aren't in the index yet. Thanks again Larry and the rest of the team for all the hard work!

BAR PHOTOS! People just want to see the photos this time, so here you go... And that'll do it for this trip report. Thanks for a great weekend guys! Hope you enjoyed this, thanks for reading! We had a great night at Reflex! Everyone made it up on time the next morning too! THIS is how you play the piano! Mike can blow too! Is Lou copying a Southern Steve move by dancing with belt in hand? Mike demonstrates his piano playing skills. Oompa, oompa, oom, pa, pa. Mike is the Music Man, he comes from down your way. The Time Warp maybe? Many, many beers later. Dave blows. Yes he does. Does it get more 80s than this? Brad would have fit right in 20 years ago. Yes, the Fudgin' Fudger BITES! OMG, is he biting?! Everyone, attack Dave! Check out Lou's shiny headpiece! This is about as "normal" as it got all weekend. iPhone's disagree! Which one to believe? How will we know what song this is?! Can anyone tell what song this is? He hails from Campington, Campshire. FIXED! Divv is here! Poor Lou's belt broke, but never fear... Sir Campsalot shows us how he got his name. They're not the only ones living on that prayer. Fudges live on a prayer. Steve's party is being well and truly banged. Parties are being banged all over the place now. Yes, we drank beer. Some more than others. Do you want to be one of Mike's Just For Men friends? Let him know if you do! I spy a Fudge party being banged. Quick, let's ruin Lou's photo! This big Transformabot dude welcomes you back to the 80s! (Or welcomes you for the first time if you're Scottish Steve!) Then we hit up this joint! We took a minute to check out Birmingham's version of El Toro... Wagamama is yet again Brit Crew approved! Don't miss out on eating at one if you ever get the chance! Time for an ice lolly suck off! DONE! Orgiastic. You'd think for someone who lives in a pub Mike would be able to pour himself a better beer! Luckily Brad got his food first so he could make a start on the rest of us. Chop sticks aren't really his forté. Fudge 1 recommends the salmon something or other. Jeez Steve, that beer is bigger than your head! Wagamama! Where else?! Mike wants to EAT at EAT, but he was outvoted. Where would we go instead? I'll take a quick second to recommend City Inn Hotels where we stayed this weekend. Lou and I have stayed at a few now and can't speak highly enough about them! Now onto dinner... If you're ever in Kidderminster don't miss out on this place! The Fudgecliffe Arms caters to all your Tuck needs! Quick, whilst Dave's back is turned! Because there's a good chance that you might see this fella or his brother pulling your pints! Our first bar is this quaint little place that we like to call the Fudgecliffe Arms! Why do we call it that?

The next day we went to West Midlands Safari Park. I have to say I was quite impressed with this place. Despite me not being hugely into animals in general I was really impressed by all the safari stuff. The rides section whilst not huge is very well kept. The buildings are well themed for the most part and the staff were great (except one ride op on the frisbee who almost ruined our day, but I'll get to him later). This is a great place to visit for half a day and if you love animals you could easily do a whole day here. It's definitely a lot more than just the credit run that I expected it to be! That was our day at West Midlands Safari Park. A surprisingly cool place that's well worth a visit! Now, does anyone have any interest in seeing any of these people getting drunk in an 80s bar? No? Lou says "Hi" to Erik 99 times! Note to all West Coast trip people: Whenever you see a fudge sign you MUST take a photo of Dave next to it. He LOVES it. Thanks. Turns out they can jump too! After the dolphin show in Finland I was quite excited to see what the Sea Lions of the West Midlands could accomplish. Lou insisted that I actually participate in a group photo for a change. We finished off our trip by checking out the Sea Lion Show. Okay, okay, Mike you were a GREAT ride op. In fact the best ride op of all time. I am not being sarcastic AT ALL. Finally the nazi ride op scores cool points by hosing the Brit Crew! Swingy, swing, swing, swing, swing, swing. I think he's saying "Wickie, wickie welcome to Blackfly!" The Brit Crew can no longer breathe. SQUISH! The nazi ride op lays down the law. At least he does a wee dancey dance for the riders. Here he is. Can't you tell that he just LOVES his job?! Blackfly is the park's frisbee. Sadly this ride was home to the worst ride op any of us have ever encountered. Next year this wood will be infested with sharks! Look Dave, it's SHARK ISLAND! It was pretty good! It offered some nice views too. I think this was my first drop tower that used a chain lift. Though I probably have ridden one before and just never realised it. The park's drop tower is called Venom. Bet you're shocked, right? And here's the corresponding random flat ride photo. Random flat ride sign. Campest dodgems ever. Now, the most intense and fastest dodgems you'll ever drive! Everyone enjoys their extra spinny ride. Despite being over ten years old this was one of the better spinning mice I've done. Someone get me an ice lolly. Now! Yes, that car IS spinning on the lift hill! One ride was enough for me! Anyone hungry for a Reverchon Spinning Mouse? Still, they managed to get one scare out of Steve! Dr Umboto's Catacombs weren't quite as cataclysmic as you might expect. Nothing like a good old Wacky Worm to mark a moment like this! This is a MILESTONE WACKY WORM! Photoshop a 400 sign for Divv and a 200 for Steve here! Woo, Wacky Worm! Not just any Wacky Worm though. To feed the HUNGRY HUNGRY HIPPOS! Brad and Steve have their lettuce at the ready. Why? How the hell did we end up back in Flamingo Land? Eekum Bokum! Look, more zeeeebras! Dave and Brad got near drowned. It was very amusing. Yeah, it's one of those portable Fabbri rapids. Quite good! WMSP has a rapids ride. Believe it or not it's called Wild River Rafting! Apparently the rhino train cost a lot of money. I think it's good that the park have tried to do a little more than just plonk it down on a piece of grass. Rhino POV! Erik, we love rollerskaters! Make more! Best rollerskater train ever! Hey Larry, a ride sign! Turtle power! Dave likes goats. I LIKE FISH. Phew, we survived the safari. Just. Let's see what the rest of the park has to offer. Sound advice! And we never saw Lou's jewelery again. Say hi to the G-Raf! Trunky, trunk, trunk, trunk, trunk, trunk. Stop encouraging them to stick their heads through the window, Lou! Hey look, zeeeeeeeeebras!!! FEED ME!!! Now I'm scared. Damn it! At least Lou's happy! Oh God, please don't come over to our car! Hey Mr Rhino, please keep your horns away from me. Driving us through the wilderness is none other than teacher extraordinaire Sir Campsalot! I'd say we are! I really hope we're on the safari right now. Leading you through the safari day will be Jungle skipper B-rad McG. Need to make an enquiry? Then Wet Midland Safari & Leisure Park is the place for you! Brad's on the light snack diet today.

In Development! Robb, that looks amazing! This will prove to be a fantastic tool! Always love seeing the Park Index getting love! [/Park Index Whore]

Last weekend a small portion of the Brit Crew visited Drayton Manor and West Midlands Safari Park (with a night out drinking in Birmingham thrown in for fun!). UPDATES: DRAYTON MANOR (BELOW) WEST MIDLANDS SAFARI PARK REFLEX: THE 80s BAR! This was my first visit to Drayton Manor since 2005. I have to say that I think the park has improved a lot since then, well part of it at least! Thomas Land looks fantastic, far better than the one I visited at Six Flags New England in 2007. If you were a Thomas fan as a kid (and I was a huge one!) then Drayton's new area will be a great nostalgia trip for you! The rest of the park was looking nice and lines weren't long, which is quite good going for a sunny Saturday in July. Still some of the rides could do with a bit of a rehab. Hopefully with the income from Thomas Land the rest of the park can be brought up to par. Anyways, here's some photos... We had a good day at Drayton Manor, it's amazing the difference a good kiddie area and a bit of sun can make to a park! West Midlands Safari Park will be up soon! Here's the group next to Henry. Sadly no one has built a wall in front of them yet so we can still see them. Dave didn't fare too much better against THE BORG. Brad didn't realise it was his junk that would be assimilated by this machine. Another Stacker for Steve and yet another EPIC fail. Dave says "Hi Erik!" (That's Erik Penders, the Vekoma employee aka Erik_73. Apologies to Electerik, Erik Johnson and any other Erik's who may be reading this TR, Dave is NOT saying hi to you) Dave, it's not a lamp post. She WON'T satisfy you! Though they weren't operating when we went to ride. I was SO disappointed by this. Another addition since my last visit was the Drunken Barrels. Steve clearly did well. It's the Wickie, Wickie Wild West Shoot Out! I think Lou quite likes it. Dave and Steve prepare to taste their junk. For me it's the best Intamin drop ride there is. At last - the best ride in Drayton Manor! Why do these glasses always look normal sized on Dave? Sadly for Lou the new 3D movie is NOT Panda-fudging-Vision. I pity the fool who misses this STAR STUDDED preshow! Drayton's new for 2009 attraction is this 4D Cinema. Hot, and not so hot. Oh no, the tumour's getting worse! Brad believes he can fly. OMG, that Indian has a Lou tumour AND a Scottish Steve tumour! The Mountain Buffalo Coaster was our next stop. It's always good to break into a little dancey dance in the middle of a park. Success!!! Dave tries his best to win me a Toad. Rodents for dinner, anyone? This is stealth dragon, you will not hear him or any other thing in his lair. (Because the sound system wasn't working). Dragon Manor, like Drayton Manor, except with Dragons! Get it? Steve didn't. Here's a shot right out the Shawn Goode school of photography. Hi Shawn! "When God made the arse, he didn't say, 'Hey, it's just your basic hinge, let's knock off early.' He said, 'Behold ye angels, I have created the arse. Throughout the ages to come, men and women shall grab hold of these, and shout my name! " Damn, I packed my jousting stick for nothing. Look, we found Southern Steve and Rob! Sadly almost all the animatronics in this ride weren't working. It needs a rehab badly. Now for the best ride in the world: Pirates of the European!!! The Thomas Town employees were great and danced away the whole journey. Southern Steve would have loved them. Oh God, Lou's gonna kill us all! Time to ride the star of the show. I love looking at model railways. Whilst this wasn't quite finished yet it looked quite cool. What's with the new characters? Harvey? He sucks. I'm all about the original Thomas Crew. Yay, more Thomas!!! Inside is a cool little model railway. Brad is still in Drayton Manor Zoo trying to work out this puzzler. Hey Scandi people, we found the retarded brother of Pena Puu! (and I should probably point out that it's not Lou) This was the HIGHLIGHT of Lou's day. Lou LOVED the cow meet and greet! Lou thought it'd be funny to point out that the seven year old who drew this picture added a leg too many. Teacher Dave explains to us all how an owl works: "The batteries go in here". This is the closest Scottish Steve's hand has ever been to a boob. It says Scottish and we're both Scottish! See the connection? There was a lot of beating going on in this cage. Is everyone ready to Beat the Monkey? "Don't even sound same!" Hmm, what's going on here? Now, Drayton Manor Zoo. Home to the Green Faced Tiger! I'm not quite sure if Dave is pretending to be a puppet or is just a bit special, so special. See? Brad has assumed the optimal riding position. The ride swings right over the lamp post. That's why Dave loves it so much. You must flick your legs out sidey ways on Maelstrom or you don't get the best ride experience at all. It's a shark and a number 3. If only there was an attack in here somewhere, then it would be the best ride sign ever. Dave and Brad, not so lucky. Divv and Lou = Dry. This is another one of those "you might get moist like chocolate sponge cake, if you're really, really lucky" type rapids. Splash Canyon is Drayton's rapids ride. Because you love them so much here's one more geeky coaster photo for all of you... "Make sure your feet aren't touching the floor, Steve. It's a better ride experience." LOL! Brad's giving Steve advice on the "best" way to ride. It's Europe's only stand-up coaster. Probably a good thing really. The other big coaster at Drayton Manor is THE (don't forget the 'THE') SHOCKWAVE! How about Lou catching an apple coming seemingly from nowhere halfway round the ride! Huh?! What surprises await the Brit Crew on this ride? It's a shame Drayton didn't end up with something more like Formule X. The best part of the queue; the electrode thingys that made lightning unsurprisingly no longer function. The colour's the only thing that's changed. It's still pretty pointless I'm afraid. Okay enough Thomas, for now. Here's a slightly-pinker-than-last-time-I-was-here G Force. Does anyone remember the time when Percy was hit by a falling crate of treacle? This is James. Does anyone remember the time he had a leak in his brake pipe and bootlaces and newspaper had to be used to hold it together? I'm super excited to be riding another Gerstlauer. They make good kiddie coasters too! Lou is SUPER excited to be getting a new kiddie credit! Beware the rebels of the railway! Every wise engine knows that you cannot trust trucks. Yay, a new credit for us! Lou finds that there's no better way to fit in at Thomas Land than by sucking up some chocolate milk. Thomas Land was added here last year and by all accounts has done wonders for the park's attendance. Steve's delighted about today's ride closures! We're at Drayton Manor and it's sunny. This is a new experience for me! A Double Decker for Dave!!! Another road trip means MORE SNACK TIME!!!

^ All will become clear when I post my Scandi TR! Larry, I'm happy to help out the park index in any way I can! I'll be sure to get a few more additions this coming weekend! But now... BAR PHOTOS!!! This has been a drunken Brit Crew night out, brought to you by Divv. Hope you enjoyed! Even on the bus home the Brit Crew have to take up the proper back of the bus seating configuration. Well, not anymore. Yes Steve, you have a tie. Lou loves her Windex! Poor Mike's getting squished. Clench Mike, clench!!! No wonder Scottish Steve is scared by this! Freakiest wall ever!!! Yay, Divv shot! By Divv! (Featuring Lou) Mike and Steve are looking a wee bit pished now. Please don't spit beer on me Steve! This is EXACTLY why I want an iPhone, so I can take photos like this. iPhone geeks! (Yes, I'm just jealous!) This is a Divv shot. By Lou. Featuring Divv. See, we have beer! Yes, we're at the bar! The battery might die at any minute so Lou makes sure we have the most important photos - reflection shots! Out in Manchester and Mike gives another shout out to our missing friends! Better keep an eye on that exchange rate Andrew! OMG, what the hell happened to Matt Damon?! This any better? We sent this photo to Andrew on Saturday night. He complained that there wasn't enough beer.

Let's go back in time! Earlier in the day we quickly whored our way around Lightwater Valley as a few in the group needed the credits. I was interested to ride The Ultimate for the first time in three years, hoping that maybe my bad experience the last time was just a one off. Sadly, I was wrong, it's still a load of crap! Oh well! Here's some photos... Lucky for me I already had this credit so I could just point and laugh! Well that was your whistle-stop tour of Lightwater Valley. Now, who wants bar photos? Nothing like a Wacky Worm to make you feel sad and pathetic! One more stop before we hit the road! This time Brad says "Hi Erik!" Sadly we didn't have time to check out Magic Marc's Horrific Magic Shows. =( Whorey, whore, whore, whore, whore, whore! It's The Ladybird! Hi Larry! What are these guys waiting for? The park added a new rapids ride this year, but it was broken down when passed and we didn't stay long. Hopefully it will still be here next time we come! You might have to duck to get in but the Rat Ride is the best in the park! Scottish Steve says "Hi Andrew!" The second half of the ride is like bad, rough sex! Brad wishes he had big boobs. The first section is pretty slow and tame. Brad and TPDave don't quite know what to expect. Lift hill enthusiasts, get out your tissues! Mike and Steve are a bit apprehensive. So, is The Ultimate better than I remember? Now, the real reason anyone comes to Lightwater Valley! Scottish Steve LOVED the Spinning Mouse! Mike thinks it can be operated MUCH better! Excited? I didn't think so! First stop, spinning hell! Anyone know how we get into the park? No? Ducklings, ducklings for Lou! At Lightwater valley you can get a snacky, snack, snack, snack, snack, snack IN THE MOUTH!!! Scottish Steve made it to Lightwater Valley by accident. He was aiming for Alton Towers. Doritos, Doritos for Divv!!! Snacky, snack, snack, snack, snack, snack! Mike's gonna give all his friends a snack!

Thanks for the comments and kind words! Some replies... Yeah, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt since the ride had only been open a week. If it's like that next time I don't think I'll be quite so gracious! Well spotted Jon! I feel a bit less guilty now! Banjo-Tooie ftw. What a wacky ride that looked like. O_o The fact that someone got that reference has made doing this TR completely worthwhile!!! Well the camera had no batteries for the night out in Manc TPLies! Lou worked some magic and got a bit of life out of the batteries - there ARE bar photos! Maybe I should post them after the Lightwater update?

This past weekend TPR's Brit Crew hit up Flamingo Land for the afternoon! Obviously the main reason for the visit was Mumbo Jumbo but we had a few in our group who had never been to the park before so it was all new for those guys! We hit up Lightwater Valley too - see those photos HERE More importantly, we went out DRINKING! Mumbo Jumbo is a strange ride, or more accurately Flamingo Land are handling it a bit weird. Basically, they would only run the ride with one train of people at a time and wouldn't even load another train til the one on the course was back in the station. This got a bit better in the afternoon when they started loading more trains but they still wouldn't allow more than one train on the course. This of course lead to very long lines and despite the park not being that busy we still had to wait almost two hours to get on. Hopefully after the ride ops get a bit more used to the ride many trains can be operated at once. And while they're at it hopefully they can tone down the trims a bit because right now the ride itself is a little on the tame side. All that said, if you're a fan of hang time then you'll love Mumbo Jumbo because the S&S El Loco has it in spades! Plus it is now the steepest coaster drop in the world which the park is making a deal out of. The rest of the park is looking great, it's really being kept up well! Here's some photos from our day... A fun day out with the Brit Crew and two credits in the bag for me, all in all a good day! Thanks for reading!!! The Brit Crew celebrate another fun park day! Thanks guys for a great day! (Thanks to Russ and Stacey too who made a special guest appearance, though I don't have any photos of them for some reason. Sorry!) Such a TPWhore. We can TPSee you! The last credit of the day was the (relocated from American Adventure) Mine Train. Scottish Steve says "Hi Erik!" Brake!!! Watch out for that... The Wild Mouse has been painted since I was last here. It looks very nice! Exclusive never before seen photo of Mike's thumbs! They took a spin on DRAGON! And now for the whores amongst us... Velocity is a good fun ride! Flamingo Land is two for two with good Vekomas so far! Steve, unfortunately got lost on his way and is still roaming the streets on this bike somewhere in Malton. This is an exclusive never before seen Booster Bike Divv Shot. Lou "assumes the position". Unlike Elissa, Lou likes her hot dogs with skin. It's probably the best ride in the park. Whilst I didn't think the ride was as super smooth as it was in '06 it's still very good compared to the other SLCs I've done. Steve prepares for the shock of riding a good SLC! I was interested to see how Kumali had held up since it was pretty smooth when I last rode in 2006. Worth a two hour wait? No, but hopefully after a bit of tweaking the wait won't be that long. If you bring enough Glowbos onto the ride it will turn you into a washing machine. Fact. Turny, turn, turn, turn, turn, turn. The drops are definitely the best bit about Mumbo Jumbo! Hopefully the trims will get relaxed a little in the future so the ride moves a little quicker. If you like hanging upside down then you'll probably really like this! The ride has a few cool moments. ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE DEGREES!!! TPR members are ready to ride! "Eekum Bokum" says the masked dude! Beware of his mighty shaman zap-stick! This is where pretty much every visitor in the park spent a good chunk of their day. Yay, we're here! And yup, it's theme park AND a zoo! HEY EVERYONE, IT'S SNACK TIME!!! There's only one way to start a road trip to a park!!!

Yeah, the Intamin drop towers really are the best ones out there. We may joke about our junk getting messed up by them but really they are second to none. Especially the one one at Grona Lund which offered one of the most kickass views I've ever had on a drop tower!

The guy ignored me. I think he was having too much fun scaring Steve who was in the car in front! Great TR so far Chuck! I'll start mine once you finish yours! (Give or take a few days or weeks!)

Not content with abusing goodness knows how many lampposts in 2008 Dave was able to find a few new credits in Scandinavia... Anyway, it wasn't all about the lampposts. Here's a nice group shot to end with. Wait... Where's Dave? No Swedish lampposts were safe! Dave couldn't care less about Balder. For him Liseberg was all about Lamppost Bridge! Mike had so much fun with this one that he actually broke it! Not to be outdone, Mike was occasionally caught in the act! Dave went to great lengths to seek out the pub which had lampposts indoors! This is like a strip bar for him! Most people come to Djurs Sommerland for Piraten but for Dave it's all about the "super hot wooden lampposts".

TPR member Scottish Steve (aka cobra_roll06) used to be amazing at Stackers! On a TPR member get together in Blackpool last year he took one on... And won an XBOX 360! It was all down hill from there though as he FAILED to win this one a few hours later! Lets hope we get to see him fail lots more times in Scandi next week!

Woo, a Mark TR at long last! This was great - do more in the future!!!

#1 - Zipper Dipper #100 - Dragon at Beach Bend #200 - Road Runner Railway at SFGAdv #250 - Dog Fart Coaster at BonBon-Land #300 - Kopermijn at Drievliet The real reason I'm posting in this thread is because I just came across this picture again... Thanks Big Mike and AJ for the photo!

My first TPR trip was in the States. It was one of the best things I ever did! With regards to the cost, you'll probably find that once you add the trip cost to the traveling to start point costs that the US trip isn't that much more expensive than the UK one. Of course you should do the trip and parks that appeal to you most but you shouldn't dismiss the overseas trips right away just because of where they are! You'll find that after you do one trip that the people who are doing future trips influence where you go a lot too. I'm still not 100% sure of which trip or trips I'm doing in 2010 though I'll probably have a good idea after I do Scandi.

There’s Sandcastle across the road from Pleasure Beach too, but as you say Dave there aren’t many waterparks in the UK. That said, I’m pretty sure the TPR group were able to visit Cariba Creek on the 2006 UK trip. But really if someone is looking for waterparks from a 2010 TPR trip then Mid-America would probably be the one to do! There will be quite a few on that trip!

I'm in the camp of those who go for crappy coasters as milestones! #100 - Dragon Wagon at Beech Bend #200 - Road Runner Railway at SFGAdv #300 - Wild Mouse at Drieviet I did make an exception to this rule for #250 and made it truly landmark by riding Dog Fart Coaster at BonBon-Land!!! I agree that you shouldn't try and base your day around it and just try and get on the rides in the order that makes most sense!

That's the thing though, the track style appears on the plans submitted to the council for planning permission. Planning laws in the UK are very strict and any deviation from what appears on the plans would cause huge delays. With that in mind I think it's a good bet that the track for this new ride will appear exactly as it does on the plans. I'd say the likelihood of this being a B&M is very, very low.

^ It's a newer style Vekoma track to support trains that are four abreast.