martinb Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 Well I must say that I had a very fun Easter Weekend, I drove upto Skegness very early Thursday morning and I've just got back a few hours ago, sun shinning everyday and lots of fun in these small parks! Well I have a Tussaurds annual pass, so I could have gone to to Alton Towers, Chessington and Thorpe Park, but I thought about a change, so it was Bottons Pleasure Beach, Fantasy Island and Pleasure Island, plus other attractions like the Seal Sanctuary, well this weekend break wasn't really just about parks, it was just about having lots of fun by the sea! And thats exactly what we did! Well on Thursday at Botton's PB, it was their annual Grand Charity day, all day wristbands only £3, all proceeds going to the chosen charity, and it was heaving, I had never seen this little park as busy as this, but we still had to get wristbands as it was all for charity, even though we queued 45 mins for the Waltzers & 30 mins for the Twister, but was great fun, such a great atmosphere fro such a tiny park, most probably Britains smallest Amusment park! I think its alos one of the cheapest parks in Britain, well an all day wristband costs £10 and this weekend the rides were open 10am-10pm, thats costing under £1 per hour to go on as many rides as you like, alright it doesn't have the best rides but it has a traditional feel to it, lots of classic rides like, the Paratrooper, Twister, Pirate Ship, Log Flume, Waltzer etc, and its improved lots over the last few years with lots of brand new attractions replacing their older ones, their even getting a brand new Fabbri Spinning coaster in May. Also this park has a couple of unique attractions, their Waltzers are the best I've ever been on, they spin madly & they have the people that spin you as well, thats a rare thing theses days(apart from travelling fairs), and their Huss Pirate Ship goes extremely high, the amount of airtime you get is unbelievable, your nearly facing the floor verticaly when its at its highest point, bare in mind you just a lap bar that doesn't come anywhere near your lap it seems pretty unsafe, but very thrilling! And this park looks awsome at night, every ride is covered in lights and looks brilliant! Now then, now Im on to Fantasy Island, well, where do I start, when we first went there on Thursday all the big rides where closed because it wasn't busy enough!?!?!?WTF!?!?!?!? Thats very bad in my books! Two big things I noticed where the Eye on the coast ferris wheel(Europes biggest "traditional" ferris wheel) didn't have any little pod thing on it, so I spoke to a rude manager who said "its going because it didn't rake in the cash", which I'm sad about because I liked this ride! The other thing I noticed was that the Jubilee Odyssey train had stalled "again" between the cobra roll and the horse shoe turn, this was on thursday, it was kind of half way up the horse shoe turn, I don't know how it was held up their(as you can see by the pics) and there were people in a crane pulling lots of chains, and after about 2 hours they were still pulling these chains and the train must have moved up about 3 inches, now on Sunday morning they were still playing with these chains and they eventually got it over the horse shoe, only for it not to make it over the sidewinder half loop thingy, and I couldnt contain my laughter, although I was slightly dissapointed as I would have liked to have gone on it! The funny thing was that the rude manager said it will be open on friday, BIG FAT LIAR! Another thing bad was Absolutely Insaine wasn't open, because they couldn't be bothered to put it together after the closed season, how freakin lazy is that, I did speak to someone and they said it will be open over the course of the weekend, was that true, of course not! This park just goes from bad to worse, and I liked this park lots, it has lots of good rides, it has major potential to be one of the best parks in Britain but its let down by everything, apart from the rides, when they decide to open them!!!! Although it probably has the best park skyline in England, with a 200ft Ferris Wheel, 200ft Space Shot, 240ft Thrill Shot, 170ft SLC & 150ft Millenium Coaster, and sometimes you can see the Beast (topscan) from a distance! On Saturday we decided to take a 30 mile drive to Pleasure Island, which claims to be one of Britains most popular tourist attractions, which is a load of bully! Although its home to some unique rides here in England, well it has the UK's only operating Boomerang, Alakazam which is this crazy flying ride, can only be described as a flying enterprise, Condor which is a classic ride that I havent been on for over 10 years, plus many other flat rides and the worlds smallest S&S Space Shot, it can't be much taller than 50ft! So in all it sounds like it could be a good park, but its not, it lacks any atmosphere and has to many rides that make me feel a bit queezy, especially Pendulous which I didn't even go on as there were too many piles of sick around it, and we had left the park by 1.30! So 3 hours in the park and the highlight was the Boomrang, this was my first and only Boomerang a few years ago but I couldnt really remember much about, but from all the things thats said about these I wasnt really looking forward to it, but I loved it, maybe it was just because of where it was, I suppose if it was at Thorpe Park I probably wouldnt like it that much, but anyway I really enjoyed it, it was a bit rough but I didnt mind, the only thing that was bad was the MASSIVE kerchunck when the train coasts up hill to the tiny chain lifthill, I prosumed that the train coasts over the chain lift thingy like any other coaster, ie Nemesis Inferno coasts onto the chain hill fast & smoothly, but I never knew that the lift hill bit lowers beneath the track untill the train is over it then it SLAMS into the bottom of the train, almost making the train jump off the track! But in general I liked this ride alot, its the only Boomerang I've ever been on and I like it! Anyway we had lots of fun, not just at the parks but all the arcades and the beach etc etc, but unfortunetly I'm at home now, but Chessington & Thorpe Park next weekend! WOO HOO! It also had a crocodile pit thingy with a tiny bridge to walk over, which not may people like to do! And that raps up this TR from me, hope you enjoyed it! This place also had lots of other animals, like this large cage full of Chipmonks!!! These big ones look so sweet but if you jump in their pool they won't be happy!Grrr They're so cute! Now we are at the Seal Sanctuary, were all the sick seals go! That really is the Tower of Terror Another little coaster that I like! The Boomerang in the background, which I like! The worlds smallest Space Shot, this can't be no taller than 50/60ft but it launchs you at the same speed as a normal sized one, so you get lots of airtime at the top Anoter crazy ride, kind of like them jumping frog rides but a lot older! Very strange type of viewing tower, it just takes up slowly and brings you down slowly all by a tiny bit of wire connected to a bucket which you stand in, I felt very insecure on this! It is just a flying Enterprise! You can not move at all in them seats, I felt very clostraphobic! The very strange Alakazam Pendulous, this ride had about 5 piles of sick around, in fact there was sick all over this park! Now its time for Pleasure Island pics, this is the classic Condor ride, which is great, shame its being replaced by a travelling Fabbri Booster! The indoor part of FI, with the very good Dragon Falls water slide, apparntly this is Europe's longest water slide! After two days of getting it over the horse shoe turn, it gets stuck again on the next hill! HAHA, its still sitting their like that, they havent even gone near it lately! Jubilee Odyessy on thursday after noon, look how much its moved! Jubilee Odyessy on thursday morning! A very cool 200ft Space shot, with tilting seats, but they weren't tilting today, or the next day and so on! Absolutely Insane wasn't open at all over Easter! Very cool skyline of a very bad park! Even more Bottons goodness at night, I love it when places light up like this! The massive Pirate Ship that goes very high, with EXTREME airtime! More Bottons goodness at night Bottons all lit up at night, looking very cool Can you guess what ride this is? Its not very hard This is where the new spinning coaster will stand, they don't have much room so they build their coasters on top of buildings, this is the 2nd coaster that is on top of a building, along with the Queen Bee The mental Waltzers that make me fell queezy just looking at them! Skeggy Pleasure Beach, very busy on charity day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nemesis-storm Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 3 things to mention * Looks like half of North England was at Bottons * Jubilee Odyssey - what a piece of cr@p , as it completed a circuit at all this year ? * OMG , the Huss Condor is going at Pleasure Island, I love those rides. Do you know if staying for the rest of this season ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinb Posted April 18, 2006 Author Share Posted April 18, 2006 ^Well the reason I said its going is on their park map, it shows the Booster where the Condor stands now, theres no sign of the Condor on the map anywhere! I am very dissapointed about this as the last time I went on one of them was at Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach about 10 years and I haven't seen one since, apart from this one and its going! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inferno Insane Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 Sound's like you had a nice bank holiday weekend break visiting all those places, minus Fantasy Island. Going by the photos most people were at Bottons due to how overprice ripoff island is I guess? (same happen when I visited last year - Fantasy Island was dead = Bottons half price wristbands after 5pm-10pm = Lively Place) - just wish Fantasy Island could think of doing wristbands then maybe it be busy. Must say the Hyper Blaster at Pleasure Island, I was laughing when I saw the height until I rode, amazing airtime better the taller ones, also shame Pendulous isn’t run to its fullest as most chavs can't brick it and make a mess. (lost count when I went at least 8 times) any sign when the Fabbri Spinning coaster is arriving? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinb Posted April 18, 2006 Author Share Posted April 18, 2006 any sign when the Fabbri Spinning coaster is arriving? End of May Bank Holiday! Same with me about the Hyper Blaster, I keep looking at it from all the park to see if it looks bigger, its just so small, I hurt my shoulders on it because the airtime was that mad I slammed into the restraints! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekRx Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 Wow, I'm kinda glad TPR decided to change the plans and NOT go to Fantasy Island as part of the tour. It would really stink to get there and still see JO just sitting there like that. Pleasure Island looks crazy with all its messed up old school flats. I never knew Huss sold another Flyaway besides the one SFNE and that mainland Europe one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted April 19, 2006 Share Posted April 19, 2006 ...it lacks any atmosphere and has to many rides that make me feel a bit queezy, especially Pendulous which I didn't even go on as there were too many piles of sick around it,.... That felt yummy to see everywhere, I bet. Yuck. Well, you certainly used your weekend well, even with some major rides down at one park, etc. Thanks for the TR - now I know what we're missing (some of) on the June UK Tour, lolol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted April 19, 2006 Share Posted April 19, 2006 LOL, this is one of the best Photo TR's I have ever seen! Thanks for posting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinb Posted April 19, 2006 Author Share Posted April 19, 2006 LOL, this is one of the best Photo TR's I have ever seen! Thank you! The only reason we went to Pleasure Island was to go on a big coaster loads of times, well Bottons doesn't have any large coasters and Fantasy Island's were either closed or £4 per go, so I'm afraid my biggest coaster was a Boomerang, but I liked it! Derek, I doubt the JO train will still be sitting their in June, it just probably won't be open! It never normally is during the week unless its August! I'd love it if FI went bust and they sold all their rides to the small parks in the UK. Everyone that hates JO would probably think different about it if it was at a "real" theme park and was open everyday, it would still be rough but its still a monster of a coaster! FI must have known JO wouldn't be popular even when they purchased it as they only purchased 1 train, even the smaller standard SLC's come with 2 trains, just imagine how long the que would be for it if they did have wristbands! I mean they got rid of the big wheel because it wasn't very popular, NO RIDES AT FANTASY ISLAND ARE POPULAR,all due to their paying system, but they don't understand this! I bet FI will eventually offer wristbands, but I bet they will be for the small rides only! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinb Posted June 23, 2006 Author Share Posted June 23, 2006 For those of you who wanted to know what the new Fabbri Spinning coaster looks like at Bottons Pleasure Beach, here you go: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apollo210 Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 Hey,I'm supossed to ride an exact clone at the Topsfield Fair in Topsfield,MA. Looks Fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Fan Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 I rode the one that will be at topsfiled back in march when it was around here. It wasnt a very good ride.. But I was also on it when it was like 30* out... COLD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scruffy Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 Very nice pictures. Also I have a Chipmonk running around in my back yard as I type this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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