Cred Hunting 06/19 – Kent + East Sussex

Decided on a leisurely mop up of the south east coast – all those creds that were insultingly close to me but not yet ticked off.

Dreamland

Visited this place before when it first reopened with the woodie and some worm. But now they’ve got a different worm!
Wasn’t impressed with the woodie, being a bit of an insult to its type because the brakemen run it like wimps (not drugged up Danes) and therefore it doesn’t do anything. Didn’t reride.

Encountered some poorly explained rule about a minimum spend on a points card for the rides, which was a bit of a pain for those looking for a quick cred stop. Apparently you could spend the excess on food, but I didn’t manage to find a place where that was true, every single establishment turned me away in confusion. This may just have been because I was rushing for parking reasons.

And for the same reasons, here’s a bad shot of the also new spinner. You know what they look like.
The area it’s in is a lot nicer than I remember. They’ve redone all the pathing and got grass and trees in there. All I remember from before was tarmac and 90s flat rides, which didn’t fit the vibe the park was going for.
It span very well for the Zamperla edition. They’ve always struck me as the weaker ones compared to Reverchon.

First worm of the day, but it’s actually a bee. Isn’t that something.

Done.

Found a nice picnic spot on route. These cliffs are greener than I expected.

First picture of the sea for the day.

Dymchurch Amusement Park

This place isn’t quite what I was expecting. The entrance is literally in the middle of a high street, you can park at the chemist opposite and stroll in for your cred.

Imagine living in that house, then imagine if it was a decent park. Crazy.

Second worm of the day. Might be the longest I’ve ever sat in one while it was loaded with guests. Isn’t that something.

Second picture of the sea.

Next.

Flamingo Park

Ah, the place that I foolishly got spited by on a weekday. Nearly gave up on it again as Hastings was the busiest place in the world just because a bit of sun was out. Almost impossible to park. Ended up in a mall in the town and making a bit of a trek.

Best and cheapest worm of the day though. Ride ops were enthusiastic, high-fiving people through the station and getting everyone to hands up on the drop.
See, no shame.

So that was a fun little +4. British summers at their best.

Cred Hunting 09/18 – Southport + North Wales

I’ve been putting off Southport for what seems like forever now, which may have been a mistake as they keep removing as many rides as they gain. They also seem to hardly ever be open, so while I was in the area for work on a Friday afternoon, I grabbed the opportunity for a short weekend of cred hunting.

Southport Pleasureland

Rain seems to be the bane of my life in this hobby now. The Pinfari looper wasn’t ready first thing because of “health and safety stuff” and “the rain.”

The payment system here seems a bit harsh, you have to get a cashless card with credit on it to ride anything. This costs £1 which isn’t refundable (unlike most other places with this system), each individual has to pay for their own (unlike most other places with this system) and it only lasts until the ‘end of the season’ (which is in like 2 weeks) rather than for a decent length of time (like most other places with this system).

Did the weird little powered coaster #1 Grand Canyon to start, it should have been an added bonus, as I thought there was only a +2 here to begin with.

Walked up to the Wacky Worm that was running. “Just gonna do some maintenance now, come back in 10.” Strange, the place only opened half an hour ago, but fair enough.

Waited another half an hour, keeping an eye on the other cred in the meantime.
Spite. Not ready yet, gotta go and stick another hour on the car parking.
Sat and watched it from the outside for a while. There goes the Wacky Worm. Back in we go.

+1.

Asked about the looper again. “Not quite ready yet, we’re doing maintenance on the dumbos and then we’ll move on to that one.” K.
Went for some lunch and sat watching from the car again. Parking ran out again. No sign.
Couldn’t be arsed to walk in again, so made a phone call. “Got problems with the brakes, probably won’t open today.”
Spiteport.

Would have tried a visit to this park today as well but “Gulliver’s World could not be reached for comment” – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-45533601
Ha.

There’s a good little hive of activity going on in North Wales, with 3 ‘parks’ and an (un)healthy +4 all within 5 minutes of each other.
So on to greener pastures.

Knightly’s Funfair

Got slightly worried as the cred didn’t seem to be listed on the price sign here. Never fear, it just comes under the generic ‘Children’s rides’. Sounds good to me.

£1 deposit on a card that both people can use. Deposit back on return. Card lasts 2 years.

Powered dragon that people can be arsed to run. Sounds good to me.
Actually had the biggest queue of the day, waited a whole trains worth!

Tir Prince Family Funfair

£1 deposit on a card that both people can use. Deposit back on return. Card lasts 2 years.

Another Fabbri spinner for the set. Didn’t notice that the cars tilt last time. I hope they’re supposed to. Quite good fun with the fact they are free spinning on the weird perpendicular lift hills. Got a decent spin throughout.

Another Wacky Worm for the set. How about a picture from the inside for once?

Family Fun Fair

Final place was another worrier as half of it is a construction site with signs saying coming 2019.

You can find it by the massive drop tower in the car park, for decorative purposes only.
The cred was still here though and just about to pack up for the day, but unlike Mack’s Amusements, they didn’t turn down token money in hand.

This one’s a #6 Nessi. That’s all the classic creds covered today.

Cred Hunting 07/18 – Oakwood Theme Park

Had a bit of a crap time at Oakwood, but some stories have to be told anyway.

Work lumbered me with a morning free in the arse end of Wales, so I thought it would be rude not to pop in, mostly because I’m far more shameless than I once was and having skipped the smaller creds on my last visit, it would be a +3 for me.

Oakwood Theme Park

Turned up bright and early before opening time thinking this’ll be a breeze. Staff were arriving later than me and were confused by my presence. Sat it out until a few minutes prior, by which time a crowd of 20-30 people were ready to roll.

Had a completely free run of the place for the first hour and hit all of the smaller creds in this time.

#1 Circus Clown was tested and opened for me, on request. Good start.

Highlight of the day – I broke #2 Crocodile Coaster.
It completed the first lap without a hitch (that’s the +1 sorted), but as it was picking up some speed through the second lap, sparks began to fly and some black smoke wafted up in the vicinity of the trains contact with the power rail. The operator hit the E-stop upon seeing this and ran off to get a manager telling me to stay where I was. I thought to myself, sitting about 2 inches from the floor, ‘if I see any more smoke I ain’t staying.’
He returned and had a quick chat about his procedures and what we thought had happened, can’t fault him at all for how the traumatising ordeal was handled. The manager and some engineers arrived shortly afterwards and coaxed it back into the station.
That was fun.

Didn’t know #3 Creepy Crawler (I do admire all this alliteration) had a little themed queue with some fog and an animatronic. That was cool. The ride wasn’t. M&Ds must have given it a hard time.

Even though they were posted as also opening at 10:00 at the entrance, Speed and Megafobia did not open during this time.

So I sat on a bench for half an hour outside Megafobia and waited. By the time it had opened, a couple of hundred school children had rocked up to the park and after getting my first lap, the queue was instantly up to around an hour, with painfully slow one man operations, half the rows closed off cos they’re broken and 10 minute dispatches.

I’d been told this woodie was on its A game recently, but it was pretty much how I remembered it – meh. It rides with the sort of roughness that saps all the airtime away, when you should be pinned out of your seat you just end up bouncing around instead from all the poor tracking.

Sucked up one more wait just to prove a point, then got annoyed and sunburnt and promptly left.

Maybe I should start collecting castles instead of coasters.
This is Pembroke Castle. One for the count.

Cred Hunting 05/18 – Somerset

Exciting (or harrowing) news! 2 shiny new creds have hit the UK.
But before we get to that, need to squeeze in a little visit here.

Animal Farm Adventure Park

For the second time in a week, I’ve been asked if I want to buy any sheep food. What sort of impression am I giving.

The park is home to a quirky Wacky Worm.

This model features magnetic brakes that are working far too hard, so the operator has a bit of a work out to get the train through the station for each of the 3 laps.

Reminded me of this scene for some reason.

With the important stuff out of the way, went to see some animals.

Reminding me of Pettitt’s now.

Sheep are rather scary creatures. Something about those eyes.

What’s in the shed?

Admiring the hair do.

Didn’t think llamas coulid have such cute faces outside of animation.

If sheep and goats aren’t scary enough for you, they’ve also got a reptile house.

So just down the road, on the beach at Weston-Super-Mud, this place made its contribution to the world only a week prior to our visit. And what a great name.

Funland at the Tropicana

For the second time in a week, bought some tokens from a dog. This one was inside someone’s shirt, so no picture unfortunately.

10 hours seems a bit of a stretch, but who am I to judge?

As I climb aboard my third Wacky Worm in a row.

The paint was still shining and it glided effortlessly through the station.

This one had teething troubles and, for a brief moment, we thought it was going to spite as they evacuated 3 cars from the station and told everyone to go try something else.

This is the same part of the country where we camped out a certain Pinfari looper that was broken for 3 hours, so unperturbed, we simply settled in for the wait.

2 minutes later, following a spanner to the brakes, each car was sent round once and it was back in business. Well that was easy.

Used to these being run down and falling apart, making it an unusual experience to ride it in fancy new trains. Gave quite a good run, not blocking at all until the final corner, but definitely missing that sketchy spark.

So there you go. No need for Icon and Wicker Man this year. Have at it.

Cred Hunting 05/18 – Cornwall + Devon

‘Your move Big Sheep. I’ve got my voucher. I’m ready. Are you?’
Gotta start this one off with I can’t believe I forgot the bloody voucher…

Flambards

If anywhere needed a voucher it was this place. I’m always saying “I’ve done worse”, but struggling to think of an example right now.

WENT for the BUZZZZ! …on Britain’s most Southerly COASTER.

Having a walk-on Vol Don’t Care was a novelty and they were hauling as much arse as its counterpart, running 3 trains for about 3 people.

Was quite fun watching other trains buzz around while on it.

Had a quick browse of what else was on offer.

Figured Skyraker001 was worth a shot, one of those SBF bouncy towers that offers some mild tingly feeling.

Wandered into a spinning tunnel.

Wandered into some dinosaurs.

Wandered out. Not a fan of this place as a ticket costs the same as a Blackpool Pleasure Beach wristband and there’s really no comparison there, but hey, it’s done. Next.

Camel Creek Adventure Park

This place was nicer.

Home to this beast.

Some other beasts.

Good to get another obscure manufacturer cred on the list (Garmendale Engineering). Train was cute and the ride was a good laugh.

Wandered into this place, which housed 5 little 4 seater simulator pods in front of a big screen, with about 30 chairs straight out of a school hall placed behind them for the ‘non-thrilling option’.

The film was Red Beards Rapids (as promised) and was another good laugh.

This place had animals as well (didn’t see any camels though) and felt like a much more well rounded park, so good job. Next.

Big Sheep

Cornwall was left behind us and Devon seems much friendlier in comparison. As with Milky Way earlier in the year, got an enthusiastic run down from admissions staff of all the things on offer in the park. Was also asked if I wanted any sheep food. I’m alright thanks.

Follow the arrows to the cred.

Ride operator on this custom Zierer Tivoli was great, really going out of his way to acknowledge everyone and make sure they had a good time.

The coaster was fun, if just for the weirdness of the layout.

It was an indoor ride in its original location and now it’s just up in the air doing its own thing.

Those super long trains make back row quite a thrill as well.

Some sheep appeared, just to remind us where we were. Think they were doing a practice lap for the race later, also wetting the track to add an element of danger.

Smart.

China, can’t escape it.

Not much else on the ride front here, but seemed liked a good day out for regular people. Next.

Funder Park

Final leg of the trip and finally a Wacky Worm to make the tale worthy of the cred hunting series. There’s something heart warming about those faces.

Bought some tokens from a dog.

Got 3 laps of goodness.

That was fun(der).

Cred Hunting 02/18 – Devon

Surprised it’s so early, but it turns out some places actually open in February!

They obviously get very busy with it.

A hideously early start for a winter weekend landed us in the car park somewhere in between park opening and ride opening for:

Milky Way Adventure Park

All the rides you could ever want.

Kicked off to a fantastic start, with a very enthusiastic staff member giving us a highly detailed explanation of the park map, planning out a little itinerary for our day including a show at 3pm. Didn’t have the heart to say we’d be gone by 11:10.
Took particular note of the speech about the wacky worm, saying that for those not brave enough for the big coaster, adults are always welcome.
Great to hear such thoughtfulness when a fair few parks in this country try and make you feel bad about taking a harmless ride (or even flat out refuse you). One day society will accept us.

This highly detailed explanation led to us immediately getting lost. The park has a very weird layout, forcing you through certain attractions including Dr. Who and pink R2D2 (what?), then down corridors that look like a school and into doors you don’t feel you should be opening.

Stumbled outside and bagged our first cred of the day.

Standard stuff. Spent most of the ride in a battle between keeping the park map safely in hand and protecting said hands from the bitter cold.
Reminds me I’m back home when I’m freezing my arse off in a park.

Made a beeline for the worm and as if by magic, the operator appeared, coffee flask in hand.

Now had 17 minutes to kill before Clone Zone opened. Decided the maze sounded like the best way to do this, but managed to navigate through the hedges much easier than the actual park.

Magnificent looking specimens.

Seeing that we couldn’t contain our excitement, they opened a couple of minutes early and led us through for a quick safety chat. The assumption was made that we wouldn’t get scared, but make enough noise and the aliens will go away.

The walkthrough bit was a good laugh and I like the way you get a tour guide giving you a bit of back story and a scare or two. Got attacked by an alien near the end as the host made a swift exit, presumably to go run the ride. The best reaction I could manage was a mild “oh no!”

Weird contraptions these bat flyers, particularly in powered form. I rather enjoyed the exposed feeling as it pitches about accelerating and deccelerating in hilarious fashion. Scenes and animatronics were great too, just all ended a little too soon.

Almost ended, had to ungracefully manouevre the tunnel at the end.

All done then.
Grabbed a £1 voucher for Big Sheep on the way out, though we knew their cred wasn’t open today. Have to stay one step ahead.

Back on the road to Credit-on.

With due dedication, we had done our research and the other park with available creds in fickle February was:

Crealy Adventure Park

We even had an email confirming said creds would be open, playing it so smart.
Wait, what’s this?

Just…
Can’t escape the spite.

Have to grab things while you can in this game, so soldiered on anyway.

Roman soldiered even.

Vekoma Junior with a shed. Name might oversell it a bit.

Bit more significant in comparison to #5 Shark Bay though.
Was told it was difficult to get. It wasn’t. +1!

The Paultons-fed dinosaur craze in UK parks has reached Devon too. We’re blatantly worse for copying stuff than China.

Fearless seagull.

Gave their version of the dinosaur ride a go. Gotta get your moneys worth from these places.

Started off a bit budget, but it had another shed and some animatronic ones near the end. A reasonable attempt.

Not quite the perfect success we were hoping for but a +5 is a step in the right direction and a great way to kill a day.
Should only need 1 more trip down this way to dust it all off… but I’m far too cursed for that.
Your move Big Sheep. I’ve got my voucher. I’m ready. Are you?

Cred Hunting 09/17 – Norfolk + Clacton

Day 2 – Pettitts Animal Adventure Park
Nice little park.

Nice little ride.

Spent some time looking at raccoons.

My reaction to yesterday’s spite.

Joyland Childrens Fun Park
Didn’t make it here last time we were in Great Yarmouth. Can’t remember exactly why.
They pack the rides in tighter than I do.

Another WGH for the collection in the form of #2 Spook Express. Jellikins may make that collection hard to complete.
The ride is quite a good use of space, being situated above everything else in the park. Takes a few laps and has a bit of an ‘indoor section’.

Did Tyrolean Tubtwist. Hilarious. Vicious. Don’t agree on the Coaster Count stance on this one when it’s pretty much the same logic as:
Did the Snails. Hilarious. Vicious. ‘Undefined’. Not a cred.

Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach
Popped in for the first Wacky Worm I’ve ever reridden, albeit 15 years later. Mega-Lite needed the cred. Not as good as I remember, but very enthusiastic staff is always a plus.

Took a token lap on Rollercoaster. Be rude not to.
Tivoli Gardens killed these classic woodies, the brake men are such wusses everywhere else.

There’s still time. What else can we squeeze in? Against better judgment, Clacton.

Pavilion Fun Park
Got out of the car just as Hurricane Irma was hitting the east coast of England.

Shouting through the wind:
“IS THE ROLLERCOASTER OPEN?”
“NO, THE TRACK IS WET”
What is this? Nagashima?

Battled through a sandstorm and walked to…

Clacton Pier
Stella’s Revenge was that she was also spiting.
However, the ticket bloke managed to phone up a member of staff to run #3 Wild Mouse Coaster for us, in adverse weather.

As it’s obviously a Wacky Worm and not a Wild Mouse, I’ve finally got the ‘most confusing cred name’ cred to my name.

A reasonable amount of success in this weekend. Still plenty of loose ends around the area to keep me out of trouble though.

Cred Hunting 09/17 – Skegness

Here’s a bit of a fun weekend in pursuit of some previous spite:

Day 1 – Fantasy Island

#1 Odyssey (pictured in yellow) is a hard creature to catch, but we finally managed it this year. I had some mild form of excitement for the ride, as although it’s a Vekoma SLC, it’s reasonably unique and absolutely huge.

Well it rides terribly. I simply resorted back to my zoned out defensive mode and that was that. At least it’s done.

Millennium (pictured in yellow) remains an offensively smooth mince around the park and the nearby streets. Boarding the the train directly above the high street is still a novel experience.

Couldn’t resist riding Seaquarium, the fishy dark ride thing. Got the song stuck in my head again. A classic.
I forget the rest.

Botton’s Pleasure Beach
As nice as the staff were last time, this park was down to a 5 minute job, from the previous 15 minute job.
Needed #2 Queen Bee. Got Queen Bee.
Did the ghost train cos it worked out with a token deal. Wasn’t great.

Mack’s Amusements
The wrong Mack unfortunately.
Sketchy looking thing on a beach:

They closed down early for the day, in front of our face.
Didn’t want to take our money.
You win some, you lose some.

Day 2

Cred Hunting 07/17 – West Sands Fun Fair

West Sands Fun Fair

Time to take a short break from the fancy stuff and get down and dirty.
Drove for 40 minutes through intermittent bursts of rain so heavy you couldn’t see the road.
Sat in the car park for 30 minutes while it was chucking it down.
The rain eased slightly.

Walked up to the cred as a couple of staff members were starting to come out of hiding from the weather. No one else around at all.
“Do you wanna go on that?”
“Yes, yes we do.”
“Sweet, I don’t know how the brakes work but I know a man who does.”
Several more staff wander over and between them are able to meet the criteria to take our money and get the ride running.
Got 3 laps.

Highlight: Got the cred.
Lowlight: Got wet.

Better than Nagashima Spiteland.