witchfinder
Giga Poster
Whilst on holiday in Pembrokeshire I took the opportunity to make my first visit to Oakwood. I only had enough Tesco vouchers to get one entry ticket (and it wasn’t worth paying £20+ for a second ticket) so this was a solo run whilst my wife and dog waited outside in the car park, so it needed to be a relatively quick visit.
We headed down on Sunday 27th August on the basis that it was sandwiched between two days where they were doing their late night opening, so was likely to be pretty quiet, and so it proved to be! Weather was pretty decent (and got warmer throughout the day) so I didn’t lock the wife and dog in the hot car and let them sit outside on a patch of grass instead
I got through the entrance about 15 minutes after opening and didn’t wait for the train like everyone else did, walking straight into the park. I’d been warned that Megafobia was still testing and wouldn’t open till a bit later on, so I head for Speed. By the time I got there I knew that the park was dead at this time so things were looking good.
I had to queue a few minutes for the first ride due to them only running one train, but then grabbed three rides on Speed in quick succession, two on the front row and one on the back. I found it quite enjoyable - not too rough, the airtime hill after the drop was great and the inversions and final helix were fun too. I’d probably rate it my second favourite Euro-Fighter after Saw. 7/10
Next up was the nearby Treetops coaster, which was also walk-on. I’ve ridden 3 or 4 of these large Tivolis this year and this was no different to any of the others, aside from the near misses amongst the trees. So I would rate it marginally better than the others I suppose, but one ride was enough. 5/10
After a short wander around the park I noticed Megafobia was running (still testing at that point) so made my way over, negotiated the immense but empty queue line and ended up at the front of the queue for what must’ve been the second train of the day. So I grabbed front row as I knew once queues started building up that’s what most people would go for.
It was kind of fun on the front row. Nothing too exciting in terms of airtime but it’s always good to see the track winding around in front of you. After coming off I headed straight around the queue line again for a back row ride, which I managed to fluke quite well as some guy was on the back row alone while his wife and son rode in the seats in front.
What a difference on the back row! The first drop has some of the most violent ejector airtime I’ve experienced to date, which would certainly throw you out of the train if you didn’t have a seatbelt on. The whole ride is pretty wild and far more exciting than on the front. I didn’t find it too rough, though it’s certainly pretty rattly in places, and it’s certainly the best operating woodie in the UK. 8/10
(Some people have been holding on too tight on the back row!)
With the queue now building up I waited 25 minutes and got another ride, again fluking the back row, and with time pressing on I decided to leave it at that. I headed to the ‘new’ Flight of the Giant Peach coaster but it didn’t seem to be running, and I already have the cred from when it was at M&Ds, so I skipped it. (It was running ten minutes later)
(At least f*cking give the thing a lick of paint!)
That just left the two kiddie +1s, but it turned out the Crocodile Coaster was closed and the Circus Clown was running on rotation and I couldn’t be bothered to wait. With the bobsled queue at over 30 minutes and Drenched not opening for another couple of hours, I decided that my 2 hours was enough and headed out of the park. I did get a hand stamp with the intention of popping back in later to ride Drenched, but in the end I didn’t bother.
Thoughts on Oakwood – it’s obviously past its best, and for the park to be so quiet on a weekend in the summer is not good. That actually did me a favour though as it was easy to get re-rides on the coasters I wanted to. I can imagine on a busy day (if they have them) the operations are dire, especially only running one train on Speed and with several rides shut down.
I’d read some pretty horrible recent reviews of the place, suggesting it was filthy, with bin bags everywhere, a serious wasp problem and disgusting toilets, but to be honest I didn’t see any evidence of that. The place seemed pretty tidy and the staff were generally pleasant, so it did make me a bit sad that it’s currently got such a bad reputation. Hopefully Aspro will sell the park to somebody that cares about it enough to invest more, but if the current state of affairs persists I can only see the park shutting down, so I’m glad I got the decent creds while I could.
We headed down on Sunday 27th August on the basis that it was sandwiched between two days where they were doing their late night opening, so was likely to be pretty quiet, and so it proved to be! Weather was pretty decent (and got warmer throughout the day) so I didn’t lock the wife and dog in the hot car and let them sit outside on a patch of grass instead
I got through the entrance about 15 minutes after opening and didn’t wait for the train like everyone else did, walking straight into the park. I’d been warned that Megafobia was still testing and wouldn’t open till a bit later on, so I head for Speed. By the time I got there I knew that the park was dead at this time so things were looking good.
I had to queue a few minutes for the first ride due to them only running one train, but then grabbed three rides on Speed in quick succession, two on the front row and one on the back. I found it quite enjoyable - not too rough, the airtime hill after the drop was great and the inversions and final helix were fun too. I’d probably rate it my second favourite Euro-Fighter after Saw. 7/10
Next up was the nearby Treetops coaster, which was also walk-on. I’ve ridden 3 or 4 of these large Tivolis this year and this was no different to any of the others, aside from the near misses amongst the trees. So I would rate it marginally better than the others I suppose, but one ride was enough. 5/10
After a short wander around the park I noticed Megafobia was running (still testing at that point) so made my way over, negotiated the immense but empty queue line and ended up at the front of the queue for what must’ve been the second train of the day. So I grabbed front row as I knew once queues started building up that’s what most people would go for.
It was kind of fun on the front row. Nothing too exciting in terms of airtime but it’s always good to see the track winding around in front of you. After coming off I headed straight around the queue line again for a back row ride, which I managed to fluke quite well as some guy was on the back row alone while his wife and son rode in the seats in front.
What a difference on the back row! The first drop has some of the most violent ejector airtime I’ve experienced to date, which would certainly throw you out of the train if you didn’t have a seatbelt on. The whole ride is pretty wild and far more exciting than on the front. I didn’t find it too rough, though it’s certainly pretty rattly in places, and it’s certainly the best operating woodie in the UK. 8/10
(Some people have been holding on too tight on the back row!)
With the queue now building up I waited 25 minutes and got another ride, again fluking the back row, and with time pressing on I decided to leave it at that. I headed to the ‘new’ Flight of the Giant Peach coaster but it didn’t seem to be running, and I already have the cred from when it was at M&Ds, so I skipped it. (It was running ten minutes later)
(At least f*cking give the thing a lick of paint!)
That just left the two kiddie +1s, but it turned out the Crocodile Coaster was closed and the Circus Clown was running on rotation and I couldn’t be bothered to wait. With the bobsled queue at over 30 minutes and Drenched not opening for another couple of hours, I decided that my 2 hours was enough and headed out of the park. I did get a hand stamp with the intention of popping back in later to ride Drenched, but in the end I didn’t bother.
Thoughts on Oakwood – it’s obviously past its best, and for the park to be so quiet on a weekend in the summer is not good. That actually did me a favour though as it was easy to get re-rides on the coasters I wanted to. I can imagine on a busy day (if they have them) the operations are dire, especially only running one train on Speed and with several rides shut down.
I’d read some pretty horrible recent reviews of the place, suggesting it was filthy, with bin bags everywhere, a serious wasp problem and disgusting toilets, but to be honest I didn’t see any evidence of that. The place seemed pretty tidy and the staff were generally pleasant, so it did make me a bit sad that it’s currently got such a bad reputation. Hopefully Aspro will sell the park to somebody that cares about it enough to invest more, but if the current state of affairs persists I can only see the park shutting down, so I’m glad I got the decent creds while I could.
