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.
#1 Cosmic Typhoon
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.
#2 Cosmic Caterpillar
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.
#3 Clone Zone
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.
#4 Maximus
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?
Day 2 – Pettitts Animal Adventure Park Nice little park.
#1 Rocky Roller Coaster
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 #3Wild 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.
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 resistriding 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.
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.
#1 Big Apple
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.
