Divv3k Posted September 10, 2006 Share Posted September 10, 2006 Yesterday Tom and I hit up the northernmost park in the UK - Codona's in Aberdeen. This is a place I've wanted to visit for a while. Being one of only three parks in Scotland Tom and I was eager to complete the collection. Poor Tom, he got up at the crack of dawn to drive from Manchester to Glasgow to pick me up only to get stuck in a horrendous traffic jam for about two hours after he'd got into Scotland. Traffic jams were to be a bit of a theme to the day as we ended up in quite a few as the day went on. So after about three and a half hours of travelling for me and well over seven hours of driving for Tom we finally got to Aberdeen. We parked in a pay and display which was about a ten minute walk from the park only to find to our horror that the park actually had a free car park. Shall be noted for next time, if there ever is one, which is probably unlikely unless a new coaster goes in. The park itself was alright. Extremely small, but the park uses the space well cramming in quite a lot of rides into a tiny space. Codona’s is also home to one of those rarities that is the "rooftop coaster", yeah you Californians can brag about your parking lot coasters but how many on rooftops do you have? The rooftop coaster - Looping Star, a Pinfari ZL42 - I suppose you could call it the park's star attraction was pretty much standard Pinfari faire. Wasn't too rough until after the loop when it seemed only too happy to remind me that rollercoasters in Scotland aren't generally supposed to be smooth. Safe to say that no re-ride was necessary. Next up was the Sad and pathetic credit aka Big Apple. More standard Pinfari kiddie faire with an added bump on the lift hill. Final credit of the day was yet another Pinfari, a Mini Mega, first time on one of these and I have to say it was actually pretty good. It even had a bit of airtime. Nothing major but still there's not many Pinfaris that offer that. Definitely the best coaster in the park and one of the best in Scotland. I know that's not saying much but it really was quite good fun, well apart from the what we soon realised is the Codona’s standard "bump" on the lift hill. I don't know what it was but it was like the train was going over a rock or something on the same spot as it went up the lift hill. In the same place every time. With the credits out the way, we checked out some of the other rides. Typical fairground stuff for the most part. An excellent giant slide (offering airtime and elbow bruises), an uneventful chair-o-plane (well it was called Shockwave meaning I had to get a photo of Tom with it) and a ghost train that was pretty standard fairground stuff too (except for Tom struggling to get his seatbelt on). We finished on the big wheel to get some photos of the place. They had one of those portable Log Flumes too but we gave it a miss not wanting to get wet. As I said, the place was pretty small and I doubt I'll be rushing back any time soon, but it was a fun day and I'm glad I did it. As Tom noted the place was actually fairly modern looking. It was pretty clean too. A damn site better than the craptacular M&Ds. After we finished with the park we wandered up to the main street in Aberdeen and grabbed a McDonalds. By this point Tom was pretty wiped out from the early rise and all the driving and was probably quite daunted from the pending drive home but he did well despite the glaring sun making its best effort to blind us. Oh and on the way we noticed a sign for a place called "Battledykes"! Sadly I was too slow at getting my camera out in time to get a picture but I bet those dykes sure have a lot of fun. We also saw what must be the world's loneliest McDonalds it's just sitting at the side of a road with nothing but fields around it (well there was a factory of some sort in the distance, bit it just looked so lonely). All in all a fun if not long (longer for Tom) day. Onto some photos. We finish this trip report with a picture of the Worlds lonliest McDonalds. Seriously it was just out there in the middle of nowhere. Thanks for reading! Just as we were leaving I noticed this. The Crazy Train is sponsred by food! Maybe it's a legal thing thet every park in the UK must have at least one food sponsored ride? This is the park's quote of attractions. Not many but I still had fun. I was intrigued by the red and white thing in the middle. Is that supposed to be theming? Certain death awaits these poor individuals. Here's the rooftop coaster. Looping Star. Here's the Log Flume that we didn't ride. Themed with an elephant holding a log. You could get a good view of the whole park from up here. here's the good Pinfari, airtime and all. We finished up on the Grampian Eye. Grr, I'm angry Ghost Train car! GIMME SOME CANDY!!! Where it took Tom about a half hour to work out how to use a seat belt. Next up was the Haunted Hosue ghost train thing. Tom's too small to ride himself? This guy didn't seem too happy to be in Aberdeen. "Riding this many Pinfaris gives me a headache this big!" With the coasters conquered we moved onto the slides! There's Tom flying down! Tom braces himself for the worst. But it actually ended up being FUN! Looks like it could be evil. Next up - CRAZY TRAIN!!! Tom's looking pretty sad and pathetic. Time for a sad and pathetic credit. Tom seems excited about this! Makes sense. Fear for your life now! Hmm, raised height restriction. I wonder what type of coaster this is? Ooh, rooftop coaster! Here we are at Codona's, free car park and all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shavethewhales Posted September 10, 2006 Share Posted September 10, 2006 wow, I went to that park 2-3 years ago back when I lived in Northern England, looks like it hasn't changed much. The ferris wheel wasn't there when I went though. Nice TR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shockwave Posted September 10, 2006 Share Posted September 10, 2006 That was an insane day. There were plenty of good laughs, but I doubt I'll be rushing back either, because I'm now very sick and my car needs a new clutch! Getting there makes everything else look very easy indeed, I didn't realise quite how far it was away until I actually got back and looked myself in the mirror. It was a long way to go for only a few small credits, but Aberdeen is a very nice city with a pretty unique architechture. But I'd definetly advise on getting a hotel to split the drive up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted September 10, 2006 Author Share Posted September 10, 2006 ^ Yeah I'm pretty ill today too! Haven't been able to speak - probably a good thing for everyone else! You'll be glad its in the past now because thats the most daunting drive ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollermonkey Posted September 12, 2006 Share Posted September 12, 2006 The red and white thing in the middle of the coaster is usually a water tank. It provides enough weight that the train going around the track doesn't move the ride. (Even though it is technically aportable coaster, the idea is to only move it while it isn't running.) Thanks for the TR! I think a lot of us will never get to that park! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECZenith Posted September 12, 2006 Share Posted September 12, 2006 I had never even heard of this park, pretty interesting having an amusement park on a rooftop! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgwfreak Posted September 12, 2006 Share Posted September 12, 2006 Pinfari death machine on the roof! So how long of a drive was that? 4 or 5 hours? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shockwave Posted September 12, 2006 Share Posted September 12, 2006 It was 7 hours each way for me! I picked up Divv halfway along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigstevet07 Posted September 12, 2006 Share Posted September 12, 2006 One question, what the heck is Ramboland, and why is it the most expensive thing at the park? Is Stallone actually there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shockwave Posted September 12, 2006 Share Posted September 12, 2006 One question, what the heck is Ramboland, and why is it the most expensive thing at the park? Is Stallone actually there? No, but I'm not surprised it he gets royalties for having the name used. Stranger things have happened! It's a kiddies play area with rubber balls and walls, etc. A Theme Park Review friendly zone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgwfreak Posted September 13, 2006 Share Posted September 13, 2006 It was 7 hours each way for me! I picked up Divv halfway along. Yikes! 10 hours roundtrip was bad enough for me, I can't imagine 14. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts