Martyn B
CF Legend
So, she loves Gavin and Stacey, and I needed to increase my CC, so I secrectly booked a bargain Travelodge for a weekend in June. Luckily a dirt cheap room came up on our route, at the Newbury services, M4. So the plan was to travel there on the Friday evening, then do the rest on the Saturday. I knew we wouldn't be long in Barry, and Brean was open until 10pm, so I decided on a stop in Cardiff in between. Then on Sunday, head back home, but stop at Thorpe for the day first (still needed the Saw cred).
On with the pics...
I must say that the rooms in the older Travelodge's are a lot bigger and better than the new ones.
Ugh, left me £5.70 out of pocket!
You are greeted with such beauty as you enter the island.
It actually seemed quite a nice place really. Nice and clean, with a good looking beach.
But unfortunately, that all changes beyond them walls....
BUT, there is cred....
Never have I felt so unsafe on a coaster before!
Oh, little tip for anyone who's after the cred, there's a few small rides infront of it, and I think one ride op operates them all, so hang about outside, and he'll appear.
He did look like a chavvy pirate, but he was really polite and friendly, I guess thats one thing that the new owners have demanded. Also found it quite funny that the ops were inticing people to come on the rides, yet you have to get your tokens from a booth by the entrance, so the ops are waving people over, some passes by give in and go to ride it, then the op points back in the direction that they've just come from to go and get the tokens! Made me laugh anyway...
That is a smile of fear...
And obviously she had to go see the house, which was on a ridiculously steep hill.
The lady who lives there is bit nutz really. Posters in the window etc, and she even lets people in to look around, with a sign in the windowing telling people to go in! So, Chloe being Chloe, she did.
So after that, we took the short 8 mile trip to Cardiff city centre.
Cardiff Castle (well, the Castle wall if you want to be picky!)
The Millennium Stadium, which was some what of an anti-climax really. Looked quite impressed when driving into Cardiff, but close up, its looks like a hole. And I was gutted I couldn't do the tour either, only £7 which is dirt cheap really for what you get to see and do etc, but they weren't doing any that day
After that we then departed Cardiff and headed back to England, and Brean Leisure Park. It was a really nice drive down to Brean from the M4. Nice scenery, nice weather, and empty motorways!
I cant quite grasp what Brean is really. Holiday park? Seaside pleasure beach? Id imagine it could be quite fun as holiday park, with family etc, but as seaside park, its a bit of let down, even though in general, it is cleaner, and somewhat nicer than other seaside parks, such as Barry Island, Dunes Leisure, GYPB etc.
But naturally the place is major let down with its pricing system. Single ride prices are ok, and if you just want all 4 creds, it will cost £9.50. But, firstly, £20 for a wristband is a but much, and secondly, its a damn right rip off when their wristbands have 'sessions'. You have an afternoon session 1-5pm, then evening session 5-10pm. So where as other parks tend to reduce the wristban cost in the evening, this place doesn't, and also expects you to buy another if you want to have the day here. So a day here technically costs £40....
I rang up before visiting to make sure all the creds would be open, and the kind lady on the phone told me that would be. She was really nice and helpful, so I had high hopes that this place was going to be a good professional park with nice staff etc and good ride operations.
So we got there at half 6, and I could see the 2 'big' creds running as I went to get my wristband, however, by the time I had got my wristband and headed over to Shockwave (Pinfari Looper), it had spited me and closed for the night. Literally 180 seconds before, it was open.... gutted, especially as I was told on the phone all the rides stay open until 10pm.
Nevermind, lives does indeed go on, so I headed over to the Magic Mouse, to which I was politely turned away from for being a single rider (SHE refused to pay the £20 for a wristband) and the wind being too strong (no wind), even though empty cars were being sent round... go figure.
So I sat down for a second, looking around, seeing that Astro Storm hadn't opened yet (Space Invader from BPB), I mean what the hell? There's a pic on RCDB showing the ride complete from July last year! and the Caterpillar cred not doing much. Boy was I pleased, just spent £20, and getting spited by every cred!
However the ride op on the Mouse was one of the people I first spoke about Shockwave closing, so I guess he may have felt bad or something, because he came over and said he'll let me on (I never EVER thought I'd be happy to get on of them!)
So with one cred, and no chance of getting a refund, what other choice did I have but to 'go it alone' on the other rides.
After a couple of rides on the Flume, I noticed the Caterpillar cred was open (w00t?)!
And I was that desperate to get my moneys worth, I even done the Mouse twice!
I've never come across one of these before. The aptly named "X-Factory" is a Miami Wave meets Ripsaw, as it has water fountains in the floor which spray up and just wet your feet really.
I normally like these, but this wan insane, felt more like a Huss Frisbee with how much it was spinning!
This was unreal. Never been on such a **** up ghost train. Proper scary really, doesn't give you a chance to breath before something else pings in your face and screams at you! I'd be surprised to see a child come off here NOT crying.
And that was that. +2, which I will take after how it started. The place isn't very good really, though probably would be better with the other 2 'big' coasters open.
From there we headed back to the hotel, approx 80 miles away.
The Sunday was to be a VERY wet day at Thorpe, which to be honest, pleased me a little as it kept the queue's down. I had brolly, and she had poncho, so all was good, until we went on Colossus.
As the train engaged with the chain, it seemed to lump quite heavily, and done it again shorty after, then we stopped, rolled back a bit, kerplunk.
So, second ride of the day, and my plan to stay dry was ruined. We were stuck for about 45 mins, and I got soaked. They got us ponchos to cover up with after about 30 mins :roll: God the evac process is a SLOW one, even slower in the rain too.
Never mind though, free fast pass! For some random reason Nemesis built up like an hour queue, so we used it on that. Had dinner, then the queue went back to 5 mins. Happened again later in the day, but I noticed it had broke down, so I guess no one is closing the queue, so its filling up people none the wiser.
Storm Surge was a bit dull really, and the spinning actually annoyed me after a while.
Whats happened with X:/NWO version 2: The Pete Tong remix? Really random, loud trance music blasted in your face? This ride just gets weirder an weirder as the years pass...
Thorpe's still a great park, with some great coasters, especially Stealth, its really grown on me a lot, and the single rider queue is fab <3
Only took a few pics...
We'd done everything enough times, and the rain just wasn't going to stop, so we headed home about 4pm.
It was my first 'credit' run as such (apart from Thorpe), and I enjoyed it. Total milage clocked up was just under 700! Oh wells, +4 <3
On with the pics...
I must say that the rooms in the older Travelodge's are a lot bigger and better than the new ones.
Ugh, left me £5.70 out of pocket!
You are greeted with such beauty as you enter the island.
It actually seemed quite a nice place really. Nice and clean, with a good looking beach.
But unfortunately, that all changes beyond them walls....
BUT, there is cred....
Never have I felt so unsafe on a coaster before!
Oh, little tip for anyone who's after the cred, there's a few small rides infront of it, and I think one ride op operates them all, so hang about outside, and he'll appear.
He did look like a chavvy pirate, but he was really polite and friendly, I guess thats one thing that the new owners have demanded. Also found it quite funny that the ops were inticing people to come on the rides, yet you have to get your tokens from a booth by the entrance, so the ops are waving people over, some passes by give in and go to ride it, then the op points back in the direction that they've just come from to go and get the tokens! Made me laugh anyway...
That is a smile of fear...
And obviously she had to go see the house, which was on a ridiculously steep hill.
The lady who lives there is bit nutz really. Posters in the window etc, and she even lets people in to look around, with a sign in the windowing telling people to go in! So, Chloe being Chloe, she did.
So after that, we took the short 8 mile trip to Cardiff city centre.
Cardiff Castle (well, the Castle wall if you want to be picky!)
The Millennium Stadium, which was some what of an anti-climax really. Looked quite impressed when driving into Cardiff, but close up, its looks like a hole. And I was gutted I couldn't do the tour either, only £7 which is dirt cheap really for what you get to see and do etc, but they weren't doing any that day
After that we then departed Cardiff and headed back to England, and Brean Leisure Park. It was a really nice drive down to Brean from the M4. Nice scenery, nice weather, and empty motorways!
I cant quite grasp what Brean is really. Holiday park? Seaside pleasure beach? Id imagine it could be quite fun as holiday park, with family etc, but as seaside park, its a bit of let down, even though in general, it is cleaner, and somewhat nicer than other seaside parks, such as Barry Island, Dunes Leisure, GYPB etc.
But naturally the place is major let down with its pricing system. Single ride prices are ok, and if you just want all 4 creds, it will cost £9.50. But, firstly, £20 for a wristband is a but much, and secondly, its a damn right rip off when their wristbands have 'sessions'. You have an afternoon session 1-5pm, then evening session 5-10pm. So where as other parks tend to reduce the wristban cost in the evening, this place doesn't, and also expects you to buy another if you want to have the day here. So a day here technically costs £40....
I rang up before visiting to make sure all the creds would be open, and the kind lady on the phone told me that would be. She was really nice and helpful, so I had high hopes that this place was going to be a good professional park with nice staff etc and good ride operations.
So we got there at half 6, and I could see the 2 'big' creds running as I went to get my wristband, however, by the time I had got my wristband and headed over to Shockwave (Pinfari Looper), it had spited me and closed for the night. Literally 180 seconds before, it was open.... gutted, especially as I was told on the phone all the rides stay open until 10pm.
Nevermind, lives does indeed go on, so I headed over to the Magic Mouse, to which I was politely turned away from for being a single rider (SHE refused to pay the £20 for a wristband) and the wind being too strong (no wind), even though empty cars were being sent round... go figure.
So I sat down for a second, looking around, seeing that Astro Storm hadn't opened yet (Space Invader from BPB), I mean what the hell? There's a pic on RCDB showing the ride complete from July last year! and the Caterpillar cred not doing much. Boy was I pleased, just spent £20, and getting spited by every cred!
However the ride op on the Mouse was one of the people I first spoke about Shockwave closing, so I guess he may have felt bad or something, because he came over and said he'll let me on (I never EVER thought I'd be happy to get on of them!)
So with one cred, and no chance of getting a refund, what other choice did I have but to 'go it alone' on the other rides.
After a couple of rides on the Flume, I noticed the Caterpillar cred was open (w00t?)!
And I was that desperate to get my moneys worth, I even done the Mouse twice!
I've never come across one of these before. The aptly named "X-Factory" is a Miami Wave meets Ripsaw, as it has water fountains in the floor which spray up and just wet your feet really.
I normally like these, but this wan insane, felt more like a Huss Frisbee with how much it was spinning!
This was unreal. Never been on such a **** up ghost train. Proper scary really, doesn't give you a chance to breath before something else pings in your face and screams at you! I'd be surprised to see a child come off here NOT crying.
And that was that. +2, which I will take after how it started. The place isn't very good really, though probably would be better with the other 2 'big' coasters open.
From there we headed back to the hotel, approx 80 miles away.
The Sunday was to be a VERY wet day at Thorpe, which to be honest, pleased me a little as it kept the queue's down. I had brolly, and she had poncho, so all was good, until we went on Colossus.
As the train engaged with the chain, it seemed to lump quite heavily, and done it again shorty after, then we stopped, rolled back a bit, kerplunk.
So, second ride of the day, and my plan to stay dry was ruined. We were stuck for about 45 mins, and I got soaked. They got us ponchos to cover up with after about 30 mins :roll: God the evac process is a SLOW one, even slower in the rain too.
Never mind though, free fast pass! For some random reason Nemesis built up like an hour queue, so we used it on that. Had dinner, then the queue went back to 5 mins. Happened again later in the day, but I noticed it had broke down, so I guess no one is closing the queue, so its filling up people none the wiser.
Storm Surge was a bit dull really, and the spinning actually annoyed me after a while.
Whats happened with X:/NWO version 2: The Pete Tong remix? Really random, loud trance music blasted in your face? This ride just gets weirder an weirder as the years pass...
Thorpe's still a great park, with some great coasters, especially Stealth, its really grown on me a lot, and the single rider queue is fab <3
Only took a few pics...
We'd done everything enough times, and the rain just wasn't going to stop, so we headed home about 4pm.
It was my first 'credit' run as such (apart from Thorpe), and I enjoyed it. Total milage clocked up was just under 700! Oh wells, +4 <3
