Ed Posted June 29, 2006 Posted June 29, 2006 Well to start off with, it's a very family orientated park after they took out The Missle (Vekoma Boomerang) and the Log Flume last year, although some of the rides are quite deadly... The park also has a mediocre zoo, the animals are hauled up in tiny enclusures with concrete floors. Call PETA! My day started at 8am... I went out to the Ritz last night got back about 2.30am and fell asleep about 3am so there's 5 hours sleep for me! Anyway I got to Nottingham where Mark & André were waiting to pick me up. And Boosh, we're off. I can't exactly remember the order of things, so here's a few photos! André enjoying some time with a Digger, I opted out of this, as I discovered last year they get insanely boring after 20 seconds of messing around... Hi Derek! This is the extent of the themeing in "Digger Depot" Their SkyCoaster wasn't open, only at Weekends it seems because the children haven't broken up from school yet. I did get on it last year and it's well worth the £5. They had Chipmunks! So this park is part Elissa friendly Cute ^.^ Pine Cone of DOOM. Oh and a Duck! Strutting it's stuff This Turkey is just wrong.. Cockatoos. Cock.... Haha. This Bear has a huge hole in it's Belly! Someone call PETA. Or not as they suck. Crazy Frog? Here? Noooooooo! All together now.... You got a water gun and had to fire it through holes to make your red lights go up. Somehow I don't think the Helter Skelter is open today.... They brought back the river rapids this year, and they're really good! They have a waterfall/droppy thing so you're bound to get wet! This Horny HotDog is all like, yeh cover me in Ketchup baby! The park is actually set in some nice countryside! Viewage over to where the "Space Port" and The Missile used to be This Cactus is all threatening... Or atleast trying to be when it's made out of plastic The sexy André pulls off a model pose, kudos to me for the photography! Hurray for Circular Loops! Quite strong G's through them. We walked around the lake at the end of the day The Peacock escaped it's cage and heads for freedom! We went back to see the Chipmunks! Converse rule! So overal I actually had a very fun day at a childrens park. Saying that they have the deadliest Powered Mine Train which throws you about the car and causes general pain. They also had a new kiddie coaster this year, (+1 Credit! Ahhh i'm beginning to be like Tom) I didn't take that many photos tbo. I'm not a photo person, I prefer to get on the rides but at this park it didn't exactly matter. Rides I didn't photo: -Pirate Ship -Octopuss Ride -Wagon Wheel -4D Cinema (Which had the worst plot-line ever) -Buffalo Coaster (Powered) -Mine Train of DOOM (Powered) Hope you enjoyed the tour of the Uk's only American Themed park! Ed.
Ed Posted June 29, 2006 Author Posted June 29, 2006 Yes it is a Soquet. Interesting that this used to be the Soopa Loopa at Lightwater Valley! Haha I stole a credit off the UK trip.
robbalvey Posted June 29, 2006 Posted June 29, 2006 Wow, so what is left at this park? I know The Missile is sitting in Pleasurewood Hills parking lot, the Log Flume was dismantled a couple of years ago right (that was actually a decent one too!). Do they still have the Round up of Aneurysm death? Do they still have one car of the looper turned backwards? Kind of seems like the park is on it's last legs. --Robb
Ed Posted June 29, 2006 Author Posted June 29, 2006 They have a good selection of childrens rides left. There were about 300 people there today, 6 cars in the carpark and I spotted 3 coaches from local schools. There isn't a Round-Up there anymore. The park can't compete with Alton for thrills so they're going for the children option. Which infact doesn't make it a bad park. You'd definately have a good time there, but it's not worth a whole day, we only spent 4 and half hours there. The Twin Looper does have the backwards seats facing forward ones in the last car. It's an extremely odd ride, so much better than X:\WTF backwards haha. There are rides which adults will enjoy aswell like the Skycoaster. The park has invested quite alot this year in new rides. It's definately not on the way down in my opinion. It's just from an enthusiasts point of view, it's only good for whoring.
Crazy Coaster Posted June 29, 2006 Posted June 29, 2006 Okay well I’ve decided to write a trip report and the likes. Yay for me. I might ramble on but ill try and keep it entertaining-ish We reached the park at about 12’o’clock-ish after getting hopelessly lost in Nottingham after following Marks (Mushroom) sat nav around the place. It’s the demanding kind that orders you to do stuff “Turn left now.” I personally thing that a please now and again wouldn’t go amiss. Or maybe a “Turn left now, if you wish.” That’s much more polite and friendly. But getting back onto subject.. we arrived in the carpark to find 2 coaches and about 5 to 6 cars. In total. The park was literally deserted. I felt quite sorry for the park. We reached the park entrance “plaza” thing.. there were two attendants, both old men. One of them was in the ticket booth and the other one was sitting on a chair sleeping. Lol. They were very friendly though, as was most other staff in the park.. so thumbs up for that count (except for the very MEAN LADY on the mine train. She shouted at me and was mean and I didn’t like her.) First ride of the day was Twin Looper. Once you’ve gotten over the fact that it has double loops =O it gets boring.. because the rest of the ride is just right turns. But its cool because the attendant couldn’t be bothered to unharness us as there was nobody around so she just let us go round a couple more times before we got bored. This ride has Siamese loops. Deformed but we still love them The rest of the layout is just right turns. I think the designer was having an off day. Maybe. After that we went on this weird digger ride called the Digger Depot. An old attendant (I swear this park is where old people in the area retire to?!) led us our very own stationary JCB diggers and let us scoop gravel. That was entertaining for a short while, but after the initial “YAY I moved gravel” wore off I got bored and attempted to get the scoop arm to throw the gravel at Ed. It didn’t work tho. *hangs head in shame* After that we went on the buffalo coaster which was pretty standard. But it did have an amusing figure on it (you can see it in this picture http://www.rcdb.com/ig809.htm?picture=1 it’s the fat man in the middle of the train. Hah.) We then went on some small insignificant rides until we reached the mine train… which is still just as fast, rough and intense as before. Yays. Its younger cousin Mine train 2 (well, I cant remember its actual name.. it was orange tho.. if that’s any help?) was also quite rough too. Unfortunately it was still missing something.. otherwise known as its long time chum the log flume =( All that was left of that ride was its station and the lonely shell of its theming. Lonely theming =( After that we went on some more insignificant rides until we reached the rapids. Last time I came this ride sucked. But they did well in its revamp.. because this ride seriously kicked ass! It kept proper owning its boats: BOOSH. PWND! MWAHAHAHA After that we just sorta walked around some more and got bored… all in all a top day out I shall leave you with a few more pictures of the fun: I like to think this shot is artistic This is the skycoaster. It was closed. Boo to you skycoaster. Boo indeed! Twin looper we see you! But still Boo to skycoaster. The missile should be here =( I like this picture just because its got a skull and crossbones on. Yarr. This is one of the most disturbing things ive ever seen. Hot Dog says “ohh yeaahh this ketchup sure feels good! I want you to stick me in your mouth.. ahhhh” :shock: Group shot wooop! Group shot 2. whoop again. Heres a picture of twin looper to round it all off. That was actually about the busiest the train was all day. lol. I hope you enjoyed my trip report
Guest Posted June 29, 2006 Posted June 29, 2006 Its so sad to see this park like this when it used to be absolutely rammed full of families and teenagers when I used to visit regularly. If I remember rightly, its one of the few UK parks that doesn't have really strict limits on the structural height of the rides as well, so its a real waste of potential. Then again with Alton Towers in the same catchment area, its no surprise that they couldn't compete investment-wise. Ah well, at least they kept the wildest powered coaster I've ever ridden...no matter how many times I expected that sharp dip before the station, it always caught me out.
ParkTrips Posted June 29, 2006 Posted June 29, 2006 I always wondered this - how do the Soquet (??) loops compare to Schwarzkopf loops? - Joe
Juggler Posted June 29, 2006 Posted June 29, 2006 This place has one of the best chunks of prime woodie real estate in the country but they seem to have forgotten the "Speculate to accumalate" rule. People ignore the place becuase there's nothing worth going there for so the park say no point in doing anything as no one comes. Catch 22! I've always thought that the lovely chunk of land up behind where the Missile was would be perfect for a terrain hugging woodie. When you consider the last woodie to be built in this country was Megafobia (Look what that did for Oakwood) it would be the perfect ride for American Adventure. Alton keep saying that they want to build one (I've always felt that the woodie at Alton was a ploy to make sure they put in what they really wanted to do from the start. Air, Oblivion etc.) but as yet it's never appeared. So imagine what a world class Terrain Woodie would do for AA? They'd have something that no other park in the area has, it'd be unique and immediately become a major selling point for the park. Enthusiasts start flocking to the place bringing in all their money and the park suddenly starts to increase turnover. It'll never happen but we can dream. Can't we?
Ed Posted June 29, 2006 Author Posted June 29, 2006 Well i've only been on Magnum Force and Bullet for Schwarzkopt loops. This Soquet ride is definately not as powerful as they were. The second loop is quite a bit smaller than the first and it powers through them. The ride is quite funny in the fact you can sit back and not touch the restraints for the entire ride. Apart from the odd headbanging which comes from the stupid helix which doesn't turn evenly... http://www.rcdb.com/ig808.htm?picture=4 That is the only position All the restraints lock in.
Mushroom Posted June 30, 2006 Posted June 30, 2006 Well I took a few photos from this trip! Oh and video, because I am so cool! Some photos: Here is the car park from the main gate: random pics of André and Ed: Mini Mine rush! Load of my photos will eventually go onto coaster force for the park guide! oh Ed & CrazyCoaster back row of Twin Looper
martinb Posted June 30, 2006 Posted June 30, 2006 So were the seats facing backwards on the Twin Looper actually open? They've never been open when I've been. And why did they get rid of their Log Flume?
Ed Posted June 30, 2006 Author Posted June 30, 2006 Well the park wanted a more family friendly park, mainly aimed at little children. And the Log Flume had a Huge drop. So I suppose they got rid of it. Why they still have the Mine Train of Death that leaves bruises is beyond me.
307 Posted June 30, 2006 Posted June 30, 2006 Hey what's wrong with PETA? Someone has to stick up for animals. And way to steal our joke, pal! Good pictures, nonetheless. Looks as though this was once a nice park, now forced to become the suck.
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