What's new

"Get Yer Mumbos Out" (FL/LWV) trip reports

Well Pierre and Tanya aren't if Twitter is anything to go by....

I'm not so good either....

Lol it's a CF epidemic :p
 
Yeah I've been to the docs this morning, Laryngitis!

Lovely.

That was a cool video ollie (although you didn't film it in widescreen then converted it to widescreen which squashed it)... but the music was a good choice to represent the fun weekend, also loved Kaz's video too, some proper LOL moments captured haha :)

Thanks to Ian for the 'organisation' ... I put organisation in the inverted commas because it was a very loosely organised live which made it more relaxed, casual, and I think that rubbed off on everyone as everyone seemed to let their hair down and enjoy themselves.
Also the party bags were mega, thanks again for them (and my nephew says thanks too!)
Was nice to ride Mumbo Jumbo without a two hour queue, front right seat is the best, thanks for the ERT again to Ian and Flamingo Land!

Was great to see a load of people I haven't seen for almost a year, some over a year, and great to see people I spent time with on Euro-Live again too :)

Lightwater Valley was great too, Ultimate ERT was unbelievable, thank you to Mark (Nadia/Ragdoll is probably the funniest thing I will see in a long, long time!)
The new rapids are surprisingly wet! Great fun, just the 'travelling' look lets it down a bit but takes nothing away from the ride experience.
Pub in the Wood looked a lot fresher too, also £2 pints, yes!

I always go to a live with my mind thinking "yeah I'll do this one and give the next one a miss I think..." but always end up going home thinking, sod it, I'll do the next one too, so I'll try my hardest to get down for 666!

Also, CF + Flamingo Land = AWESOME WEATHER
 
Awww Dylan looks so tiny, even next to me!

9029_279351995318_752170318_9015846_1047763_n.jpg
 
I'm really enjoying these trip reports and I LOVE the videos from Kaz and Ollie - probably two of the best Live videos I've seen all season.

I was hoping to have written up my LWV report by now but like many others, I've been ill since returning. I have flu (not swine flu) and it's lowered my concentration levels.

I think the flu developed on Friday night - that's when my throat went sore but I blamed the tabs then - so I apologise if I passed it on. :p

Anyway, I'm in the process of gathering photos for a home page trip report using the album links people have posted. If you do not want me to use your photos, please PM me, otherwise I'll assume it's ok.
 
I feel as fit as a fiddle now minus the bruises that I have quite literally everywhere.

My highlights include:

Taybarns all-you-can-eat which resulted in weird napkin times (tell me someone has saved those!) :D
Meeting more lovely people.
FL's weather and the girly pub time.
Drive to LWV with Vadge sharing cringeworthy drunken tales.
Mumbo Jumbo ERT which made me actually appreciate the ride and not criticise the **** capacity of it.
Witnesssing some lovely duets on Singstar at John and Tanya's.
Crapton challenges!
Mark's horny / half-drink mood first thing at LWV.
Vadge asking me if I was left handed.
La Roux being the song of the Live however **** it is.
£2 pints at Pub in the Wood.
Will being drunk after two drinks.
Rachel's sneezing fit which i'm still sure I dreamt.
Ultimate ERT.
Mine and Jordan's "Who would you rather...." game.
The balloon game in the Rat queue.
Sexy Falls of Terror ride op who was lovely and got excited about moshpits.
ect ect.

Had a great time, and fingers crossed for Ghosterforce!
 
Manderr said:
Mine and Jordan's "Who would you rather...." game.

Lol, Sam, Vadge and I have played that many times.

Just wondering if I was an option, and if so, who was I up against and did I win?
 
That's ok actually. Hate to say it, but, in a non-gay way, Stone Cold is a handsome looking bloke, so I'm glad I was in the same bracket as him and not Raybould.
 
Lightw00ter time!

Somehow, me, Ian and Nicky managed to get from Hotel Big John and Tanya to Lightwater in an hour and therefore was the first to arrive in the CF car park!
Although Raybould was infront of us, he missed the turning and ended up having to go up the road a bit before doubling back on himself.

Within the next half an hour, everyone arrived and we made our way over to the entrance to the park where we met up with the management (who's name I didn't catch) and headed over to T'Ultimate for a bit of early morning bashing.

The first lap was not as brutal as usual, but it soon got warmed up and by the 2nd lap the pain was starting to sink in. For the entire hour, I kept checking my watch to see how long we got left and to see if I could break somewhere.

The break never happened and I went through the entire ERT without getting off the train (apart from moving seats) and by the end of it I was having trouble walking.
I rotated seats ever lap but ended up near the front for most of the rides and managed to get the front row as the last ride with Lucy which was eye watering!

Got off it and hobbled down the stairs to be greeted with muffins from Raybould which were nom and while we waited for the other train to come back, we had a quick natter with the management and then headed off to pay.

8924_1212305344446_1133143676_660779_3636741_n.jpg


8924_1212305384447_1133143676_660780_6172316_n.jpg


Once we got off the ride, we were escorted back to the entrance to pay and then were allowed on our way. We met back up at the Sewer Rat.
Once everyone had met back up, it was time to get into the slow moving Rat queue.

We managed to amuse ourself with balloons by trying to keep them off the floor. This continued much until people actually realised the GP were being hit with them. So we popped them by peoples ears and headed into the Rat.

I didn't ride the Rat last year cause I didn't feel up to it, but if the re-theme is going ahead I thought I would.
Aside from not being able to see anything, the Rat was pretty fun, the drops are good and the speed is good to.

I headed for a quick toilet break and then hobbled back up to the Skate Karts to see members on them. This made me happy as Skate Karts are awesome. I managed to get 2 dodgy karts and gave up promptly after falling off both times.

But I took photos of other members enjoying the Karts.

8924_1212305464449_1133143676_660782_7022797_n.jpg


8924_1212305504450_1133143676_660783_3284209_n.jpg


8924_1212305544451_1133143676_660784_941999_n.jpg


8924_1212305584452_1133143676_660785_3693767_n.jpg


8924_1212305624453_1133143676_660786_6330994_n.jpg


8924_1212305664454_1133143676_660787_6568119_n.jpg


8924_1212305704455_1133143676_660788_3042121_n.jpg


8924_1212305784457_1133143676_660790_4735773_n.jpg


8924_1212305864459_1133143676_660792_6603015_n.jpg


8924_1212305904460_1133143676_660793_749897_n.jpg


8924_1212306024463_1133143676_660796_130417_n.jpg


8924_1212306104465_1133143676_660798_3349559_n.jpg


8924_1212306144466_1133143676_660799_5737245_n.jpg


8924_1212306224468_1133143676_660801_6962405_n.jpg


8924_1212306264469_1133143676_660802_4369591_n.jpg


8924_1212306304470_1133143676_660803_2615955_n.jpg


8924_1212306424473_1133143676_660806_2939239_n.jpg


8924_1212306464474_1133143676_660807_8219677_n.jpg


I think that's enough Skate Kart photos :lol:

So after the Karts, the people that wanted the spinning Mouse coaster got on that and we then headed for Eagles Claw for some Spin N Spew action. Naturally, I sat out with quite a few others.

8924_1212306664479_1133143676_660812_6862624_n.jpg


8924_1212306544476_1133143676_660809_1863249_n.jpg


8924_1212306584477_1133143676_660810_5145853_n.jpg


Once everyone had had their Eagles Claw fix, we headed for Falls of Terror. I done the bouncy slide last year, so this year I done the straight slide with Tanya and got quite far down the landing area. But clearly not as far as what Nicky and Ploddish did.

8924_1212306744481_1133143676_660814_1161274_n.jpg


8924_1212306784482_1133143676_660815_2821648_n.jpg


8924_1212306824483_1133143676_660816_6568140_n.jpg


8924_1212306904485_1133143676_660818_3932455_n.jpg


8924_1212306944486_1133143676_660819_4174164_n.jpg


8924_1212307024488_1133143676_660821_999808_n.jpg


8924_1212307064489_1133143676_660822_4421487_n.jpg


8924_1212307104490_1133143676_660823_3312112_n.jpg


We broke for lunch then. Seeing as we had brought food with us, we went back to the car for lunch. Where we squashed into Ian's Corsa of love and nommed. This is where amusing things happened and after we headed back into the park ready for the afternoon of trying to amuse ourselves.

Our first stop after lunch was the Ladybird coaster which was enjoyed by many by the looks of peoples faces on the photos.

8924_1212307224493_1133143676_660826_5939499_n.jpg


That is, everyone apart from Ciall!

8924_1212307264494_1133143676_660827_7634646_n.jpg


8924_1212307304495_1133143676_660828_5541251_n.jpg


While whoring took place, somehow, Stone Cold managed to get hold of 2 inflatable hammers and hit people with. He had not given me his camera to take photos of him twatting people yet, so I took some on mine of him tormenting a slightly drunk Will, who actually seemed to be enjoying it!

8924_1212307344496_1133143676_660829_7303927_n.jpg


8924_1212307464499_1133143676_660832_6540597_n.jpg


8924_1212307504500_1133143676_660833_6288156_n.jpg


8924_1212307544501_1133143676_660834_21000_n.jpg


Somehow, Peter's toy dog and managed to find it's way into a little pond of water. Unfortunately, photos of this incident are on Stone Cold's camera, so we shall have to wait for these. (If they came out ok as I couldn't find zoom)

8924_1212307584502_1133143676_660835_3964685_n.jpg


8924_1212307624503_1133143676_660836_1223970_n.jpg


Meanwhile, Will slept on Jordan.

8924_1212307664504_1133143676_660837_600368_n.jpg


After whorin' took place, we headed for the traveling Rapids.

8924_1212307144491_1133143676_660824_1597570_n.jpg


The rapids were actually quite wet to say the least. I managed to get quite a wet arse and back from it and then a wet head from the next boat that went down the drop thing.

After Rapids were done, it was group photo time. I'm actually quite glad that we chose the slope to do it on as it worked quite well and I'm happy with how they turned out.
The silly one amuses me as I couldn't see if the photo had been taken seeing as I had Nadia on my head! So we may have been lying there longer than necessary.

Ian said wave!

8924_1212307704505_1133143676_660838_2956312_n.jpg


Proper ones now

8924_1212307744506_1133143676_660839_663144_n.jpg


8924_1212307784507_1133143676_660840_5891787_n.jpg


We then headed down to the Pile of **** after saying bye to Aaron and Element.
Sat out as usual and ended up running from side to side trying to get everyone in at least one shot.

8924_1212307824508_1133143676_660841_585170_n.jpg


8924_1212307864509_1133143676_660842_5113465_n.jpg


Following Pile of ****, it was time for the scenic walk to the last coaster.

8924_1212307904510_1133143676_660843_7396396_n.jpg


This is where Stone Cold made Dylan cry and we all booed him. Dylan soon came around when presented with hammers to attack. This was an amusing game.

8924_1212307944511_1133143676_660844_6074453_n.jpg


Most people who had been sad and pathetic before and already had been on the coaster sat out. I went to take photos but couldn't really be arsed so I just took one of Lain who seemed pleased with himself for getting front row!

8924_1212307984512_1133143676_660845_2142110_n.jpg


8924_1212308104515_1133143676_660848_1318922_n.jpg


Most people were spectators of the game where Brian was being twatted with the hammer.

8924_1212308064514_1133143676_660847_7565887_n.jpg


Once everyone had whored the coaster, we made our way over to the jumpy tower thing.
I'll let the photos do the talking here.

8924_1212308144516_1133143676_660849_7662120_n.jpg


8924_1212308184517_1133143676_660850_6315649_n.jpg


8924_1212308264519_1133143676_660852_7630822_n.jpg


8924_1212308344521_1133143676_660854_1379111_n.jpg


8924_1212308384522_1133143676_660855_7930626_n.jpg


8924_1212308464524_1133143676_660857_461186_n.jpg


My last ride of the day was the Dodgems. We had fun in the queue dancing to Dizee Rascal and singing to anything else that came on. The Dodgems were actually pretty fun!

8924_1212308504525_1133143676_660858_7830614_n.jpg


8924_1212308544526_1133143676_660859_3794276_n.jpg


8924_1212308584527_1133143676_660860_182614_n.jpg


8924_1212308624528_1133143676_660861_1626880_n.jpg


8924_1212308704530_1133143676_660862_1793071_n.jpg


Quite a few of us then left as a lot of us had quite a epic journey home. We said our very long goodbyes to everyone and headed for the exit.

We bumped into the management who had given us the ERT and thanked him for a fantastic hour and he made sure we got on everything we wanted. We thanked him again and made our way to the cars.

And that was it apart from the 4 hour drive home for me and the twattish drivers in Birmingham.

I had a absolutely fantastic time this past weekend and can't thank people enough for taking me, giving me floor space, making me laugh and just generally being there!

I'll see you all at GF!

And here's the Facebook links to a few more pictures, but most have been posted!

Flamingoland

Lightwater
 
Some nice photos there Rach and Mushy. Really caught the spirit of the day and the members in action. :)


Oh....
BUMP!!!
Ollie said:
TADA!!!
First time I've made a video in ages so may still be a little rusty.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbsLUDpB_lQ[/youtube]

It's also in HD if you view it on the Youtube page. :)
 
Go on then have a report.

Woke up at about 8am, at this point I realised I just wasn't going to be ready and arriving in time for meetup so text Ian and let him know we'll be a little late!

Got there about 15 minutes after (I'd only missed the Mine Train and Wild Mouse), rang Ian who informed me the group was next to "that Wild Cat thing whatever..." haha :lol:

Arrived there said hello to everybody, got a party bag from Ian for my nephew who was a bit cautious at first but he can't say no to sweets!
We all did Velocity afterwards, short queue, my nephew did the disko as he ain't big enough for Velocity yet! It was here we saw Undead Creature wandering around, keeping things running smoothly :D
After this we rode the Disko so my nephew did it again with us, me and Stone Cold were trying to get a bit of conversation out of my nephew, he had enough after a while and just gave Stone Cold the middle finger :|
Corkscrew was up next, which was when the Welsh invaded us! I hate Corkscrew but always vow to ride it once a year, this was my once a year, and I remembered why I kept it at such a low ride count each year ;)
We hung around for a bit whilst the whores who hadn't been to FL before got their credit on the Dragon Coaster. This was the point where Vadge tried out her new 'Dyke Box' and someones party bag went flying all over the place. The rest of my family arrived at that point so my nephew buggered off with them!

We went on a bloody long walk afterwards towards Flip Flop, Ian said he was really up for it this year, but as we arrived at the ride I noticed him collecting bags around where he was sat so he must have had a change of heart :p
Nothing much to say about the ride other than it was as awesome as usual!
Splash Battle was up next, time for WillyLOLtimes. Jordan and Will went up the wrong pathway for the queue, Will hilariously jumped over the queue fencing, made the jump quite well, but stacked it on the landing and rolled on the floor, hahaha!
I went on with Slayed and as he well knows I attract water, so he wasn't impressed he ended up next to me, needless to say as soon as we had sat down, some kids were shooting us at point blank range straight away!!

I think we broke for lunch after that?
Quite a few of us went to the American Diner, but when I realised everything was a burger (or if it wasn't a burger it was served in burger form (steak in a bap?!)) I wasn't too keen. Harvey wasn't either so we checked out the new Coach House pub.
It was a little more expensive but had more of a 'proper meal' choice! I opted for the bangers, mash, peas and gravy, Harvey opted for the fish (HUGE!) & chips!
Of course with the weather being so lush we sat outside and had a couple of swifties!

We headed back and met up with the rest of the group, on the way to meeting up we saw Ciall, MArtyn and Peter, and tried out Peters balls, they were really sour and hard to keep in your mouth, but once you got the taste out the way they were easy to handle and swallow[/obvious childish innuendo]

We did the Cliffhanger which was on Shot AND Drop!! Yayyy I hate the ride running on shot only :( but it was awesome that day! :D

After Cliffhanger, Ploddish's Mum brought out some belated birthday cake for Ian, I tried some of the chocolate cake, it was delicious! Thank you very much Ploddish's Mum and Ian for sharing!
Also the Rocky Roads made an appearance, very nice but predictably sickly!

Kumali was up next, stupid long queue, no chance of a second train either as the other one was disassembled! Me & Az rode at the back, still felt the same, first drop, and then getting dragged over the top of the loop was brilliant, the rest just petered out though!

Swinging Ship next, I don't do them, ever, so I sat out, thats enough of that exciting part.
Actually Mark was sat on a rock while we were waiting and stood up and caught himself on a sharp shrub, I LOL'd at him, then did the same thing 2 minutes later :(

So that was that, it was about 3ish and we had literally done everything we needed/wanted to do!
Ian decided on the zoo, some people took the People Moover down, some people walked down, me and Martyn got a drink from Costa while we were waiting for the Moover.

The walk round the zoo was pretty cool, just nice and relaxed, although far too much time spent at the meerkats :lol:

Afterwards it was a break and do whatever you want until MJ ERT!
I wandered around with Rob, Lucy, Dylan, Ed and Nadia for a bit (at which for some reason they decided upon doing handstands and cartwheels rather than watch POSTMAN PAT!) then met up with my family for a bit.

I realised the Spurs v Man U match was kicking off at half 5 so went to the new Pitchers Sports Bar and had a few pints in there whilst watching the first half, rushed over to MJ but I had missed the group photo :( I'd got there just in time for the ERT though.

Now that I've rode it without my mood being hindered by other factors I can safely say although its focused on its gimmick of the steepest drop, thats not even the fun part, the fun part is the twist which hangs you upside down for a while before swooping down! The outbanked curve is pretty sweet on the right too!

All in all a great day, awesome weather, and amazing to see everyone again, was so shattered but really looking forward to the next day at LWV

(God TR's without photos can be quite boring can't they!)
 
Pierre said:
Ploddish's Mum brought out some belated birthday cake for Ian, I tried some of the chocolate cake, it was delicious! Thank you very much Ploddish's Mum and Ian for sharing!

I'll have you know that was all down to Mattie and me, my mum was still in Pembrokeshire! She had no idea I was there at all.

I'm sure I'll write up something, but it'll just be a long thankies to all who made the weekend something really truly splendid.
 
The laughter of last weekend may still be ringing in my ears, but alas, one of my all-time worst post-Live collapses is clearly upon me, combined with mind-mangling sensations, which I can only assume are withdrawal from the sweet taste of Essex flesh...
So, once I've set iTunes to 'Sentimental tacky crap', and mopped up the vodka that I've just managed to slop all down my front, trying to get some words down on here for a change, whilst reliving the good times that were September 12-14th, 2009, may well be as good an occupational therapy as any.

It's hard to know where to start, since it seems a bit daft for me to say how much I enjoyed the weekend - admittedly I've not given this much thought, but it was definitely one of my favourite British Live experiences in the 5 years you lot have been putting up with me - and too ****ing right was it worth the wait! But I don’t need to say all this - because I know from the few times that I was unfortunate enough to come face to face with my reflection that it was written all over my face - I’m as unfamiliar as you with this suddenly ludicrously happy, optimistic Will - so each comment along the lines of “Who are you, and what have you done with Will!?” amused muchly.

For a few short days, the good times were indeed without end… except that they did have an end. Bad times. This is one of my uncharacteristically small list of regrets from the weekend, along with my thought that I should… possibly have mingled slightly more - Will_annoyance was divided very unevenly, and thus lots of my traditional victims didn’t get nearly as much of my attention as normal - so, sorry to the people that in retrospect, I probably did ignore a bit. Fear not, I’ll make up for it in 6 weeks time (Ohhhh… SIX weeks), and at least some of my normal crazy time found time to happen at the beginning of the Saturday. Also, I’m annoyed that I drunkenly sat on my camera a few weeks ago, cracking its screen, and thus it is being mended, and so I haven’t taken any pictures to break up these intimidating, self-indulgent… and probably slightly dull blocks of text. All other complaints are silly little things, such as Cherry Lucozade times - there’s a long and boring story behind that, but the important bit is that one bottle decided it would be fun to leak in my bag, thus making a mess of everything within - even after washing, the smell has not gone away - I wouldn’t mind if I was just annoying, but since by association it makes me want to cry, that’s a whole different story. But I digress - once again, as with the EuroLive, having to leave you all behind was definitely the hardest, worst part - but alas, that’s the problem with ludicrously good times - they have to come to an end. “Hello, normality - you are BORING, and depressing, and I do NOT want to return to you.”

Highlights… is a harder task, so I may as well just tell the whole story…

Once upon a time, in the rather dull town of Castleford, a Will and a Lain were up annoyingly early, awaiting good times. Liftage to the park happened, courtesy of Harvey, and this lift featured fun roads, amusing conversation and Iron Maiden, thus making for a fun game. The sun was shining over Flamingoland, and, despite being well aware that this weekend could easily be either the best, or the worst thing ever, optimism and happy times reigned, as we reached the park in good time, with fun people already there. Loud times occurred with Stone Cold, as did reunion times with Brad, Manda, Ryan etc. and, perhaps most disturbingly, armpit-sniffing times from Rach, who had at least picked the most sensible time of day to perform her unenviable task! Faff was fun - there was LOTS to be said, and LOTS of people to say it to, to the extent that I was concerned I’d have lost lots of my voice before some people even arrived…
Arrived they did not, because some people are silly gibbons who enjoy Boring men and failure - and thus, we would proceed to the Mine Train of doom. Mine Train of doom was NOT a fun game, though queuing amused, because Dylan is a fun game, and… whilst I can’t understand a word he says, and he probably has the same problem with me, the combination of him and Stone Cold is a brilliant one - and both are equally good at mocking Lain - not that it’s exactly hard :D Mine train of doom was do-not-esquely rough, did too many laps and… in retrospect, attempting to text while riding was not one of my brighter ideas - but since what little logic I once possessed went out the window a couple of months back, I cared not - similarly, shouting occurred and that is always fun. After slight faff, further fun times and Velocity doing it’s best Thorpe Park impersonation, Wild Mouse was headed for. Again, memory times are hazy at best - but pictures suggest this ride happened with Lain, and I have vague recollection of it not being very fun, but not hurting either - padding is a fun game, but there are better wild mice. Besides, I like it when people who aren’t me are hurt - though I knew there’d be plenty of time for that the next day.
After the questionable delights of the Wild Mouse, party bags containing various excitable substances and devices for the purpose of making people called Richard even louder than they already are happened - though the Cherry Lucozade I mentioned earlier did NOT get on well with the contents of the various bags I ended up carrying all day - Lain, Jordan, Harvey and… probably other people besides, I still have some of your junk. It is on my floor. Ohhhh… floor reminds of good things.

Yeah, anyway - party bags occurred, and a fence was sat on, and Mark/cs and Aarons and so forth were amused - Marc was disappointed that I did not have a cannon with which to do my infamous Cher impression (?) but again, fear not - there shall be lots of time for that at the next Live… Following on from this, Velocity happened, and amusing people amused in the queue, thus hyperactive times happened. As for the ride, however… it was… Velocity, and I dislike nearly everything about Velocity, from its… unwanted launch, to it’s stupid, non-male friendly riding position to its general Vekomaishness, so I may as well just say “Ohhh… Velocity” and leave it at that - but the presence of Stone Cold unsurprisingly added to the experience - the launch was less irksome than usual, the roughness more bareable, and my mood - good. And the sudden appearance of a few familiar faces suggested that things would only get better. And that the burgeoning pile of junk in my bag would be added to - if the few Jordanless days that had just transpired were too many, then that had nothing on 2+ years since Nadia had last presented herself at an event, so brief catch-up times and “Bloody hell, long time no see etc. etc.” happened, whilst I decided I did NOT want to ride the Disco thingy, because… it’s not very good, and because 6 weeks sans Tom did not feel like nearly enough time. Hehe. Fun to annoy Tom :p Ed also arrived, in case he was feeling left out, which I doubt. Also… apologies to whichever Mark I nearly took out with my bag at this point - over excitable times needed calming with overpriced water from confusing shop woman, before fence times could be resumed…

Lots of Flamingo virgins appeared to feature in the group, and thus many credits needed mopping up - and besides, since the good times that were November 9th last year, we had been deprived of Vekoma Corkscrew goodness, so what better way to make up for this than ride a slightly less aged clone when it was quite so accessible? Good times seemed set to occur on this ride… though good times that lead to Will singing Dream Theater songs time can ONLY be bad times for anyone else! All was going well… UNTIL we hit the helix leading into the first corkscrew - and judging from the noise that accompanied this EVERY chin in the train came into contact with EVERY restraint, and smiles rapidly faded to the grimace that only this variety of ride, or the presence of Steven can induce, thus good times were put to an end, and angry times from people who were not be resided, and nobody was sad to the see the back of Corkscrew, which fortunately did NOT overshoot the station this time. If only Alton’s had run that badly on the last day, then I’d miss it lots less. I remember little of what happened next, other than I acquired a bench, and a pleasantly scented shirt, which I would treat like a security blanket for the remainder of the day without being entirely sure why… I did not go on the Dragon coaster, because I didn’t really want to - the weather was nice, and, aside from the wasps who were already making their presence felt and requiring LOTS of shouting at (Clearly, there’s some sort of link between goon magnets and wasp magnets, which may be worth looking into some day). Meanwhile, Vadge acquired a Dyke box, to much hilarity, and… far too many humorous good times occurred for even my memory to replay at me.

Once we were all back together, WET times were next on the agenda, which was possibly for the best, considering the weather was doing what Flamingoland did best in 2005, 2008 and now 2009 and warm times were occurring. This made me happy. Flip Flop is a fun game, and I remembered really enjoying it at the last Live, so I was looking forward to another ride. Queuing similarly amused, and feet times, meaningful times and good times occurred all at once, to the extent that… I barely noticed I was on the ride, since, not to put too fine a point on it - the dizzying, airtime-esque sensations were already happening before the ride started - but not as a result of alcohol, for once! Conclusively, fun times occurred - and… sorry to what I think was Andy for nicking your seat; bad times.

Another ride I really wanted to do was the Splash Battle, since I arrived too late to get a ride at the 2008 Live, and then sulked about not riding any of the European ones - OR Alton’s… etc. etc. conclusively, this was my first Splash Battle, and a few people were eventually talked into joining me. I’d forgotten all about my exploits in the queue line until Pierre’s post, but yes “Look at me - look at me, I'm a bit of a twat, and I ENJOY Jordan times, and my favourite attention based position is: CENTRE OF, and I am LOUD and HAPPY and OVER THE TOP and have TOO MUCH ENERG… OW…!” bad times… undeniably occurred, as I crashed gracelessly to the floor of the queue line. Silly Will. Furthermore, perhaps not wanting to stimulate me any further, wet hair molestation times could not occur, and thus the ride featured Ed, Lucy and Dylan. Ed did NOT want to get as wet as we did, and apparently spent most of the ride attempting to hide behind me, while, for my part, as pictures demonstrate, I was realising there was method in my shirt-stealing madness, which nicely made up for forgotten poncho times. One way or another, LOTS of wetness occurred - shooting back at people is a fun game, but I am NOT what you would call a good aim - and the numerous squirty things beneath which we passed wore thin after a while, and Angry Man was an angry man. Nevertheless, being a water ride fan - though only of those which just get you wet for no apparent reason if the temperature is above 20 degrees, I thought this was an amusing experience, albeit not one in which to partake on every visit. That said, clearly I wasn’t wet enough - and went to taunt small children who were riding, attempting to persuade them to lead to further wetness, though many of them were BAD at splash battling. Balloon times similarly resulted… as did water balloon times, but - sadly for some of you, it would have needed a LOT more than water to… ahem, dampen my mood at that point in the proceedings. Good times? Understatement. And just to add to the happy times, it was lunch time. I like food.

I don’t like Flamingoland food much however, and was sad that amusing people had picnic times and would be going elsewhere to indulge in them. But attempting to organise makes my head sad - so I walked through some fountains instead. Much better. Did NOT want dodgy sausage and “heart-attack chips” time, so I didn’t take much persuading to try out the new American Dinery place in a silly part of the park - though this would turn out to NOT be my best idea. The chips were very good, despite absence of vinegar, and BAD music was played, which Tanya enjoyed singing too, as well as hitting me. Meanwhile, the HEAVILY overpriced ‘steak burger’ was quite ****ing clearly a Feaster’s microwave sandwich - which I normally only eat when I’m very drunk! Still, relaxing times were good, as was sitting having chat times with some people I hadn’t seen much of for the rest of the day, but then annoying times commenced, and it was time to go in search of others. Paying was unnecessarily complicated times, so, with plans for the second half of my lunch break, I left my moneys on the counter, and the rest of the group to it, and began a silly long walk back to the entrance pub, during which time I got Martyn Hed, which is seldom fun :p

The others, were having pub times in an easily missed area, and were soon joined, as annoyance needed to occur, and umbrellas required binning etc. It was also at this point that I realised just how many females were in attendance this weekend - since they taste so much better, I approved of this, so long may the trend continue. I… forget what else happened at this point, aside from metal chairs and probable awkward times, but nevertheless - to use an almost forgotten phrase, it “loved it”.

Meet up times took place at Cliffhanger - sorry if I snapped at anyone at this point - I’d just discovered that Cherry Lucozade is neither as sweet, nor as well behaved as it would like me to believe, and was attempting to limit the damage it caused to the contents of my bag, whilst fending off ****ing Yorkshire wasps and Mushrooms, whilst working out how the **** a sealed bottle had leaked lots in the first place. Stupid cherry lucozade, why turn against me like that? Ugh. Apparently, it tastes like alcohol. Wish I’d thought of that, good times could have occurred.

Anyway, digression times - **** the cherry lucozade, Cliff Hanger, and perhaps more relevantly, a rather disturbing queue line were to happen. Much excitement greeted the overpriced “non-Will shoes”, which were making my feet sad, and other people happy… and then, rather oddly, Vadge, Jordan and later Rach, decided that the conversation should turn to underwear. Myself and an equally confused Ryan had… little to contribute, but listened with an unhealthy degree of attention to the excessive amounts of information we were treated to, enjoying impure thoughts and still worse mental images, as immaturity and sexual deviant times are among my favourites. But… you know that. Anyway, Cliff Hanger - as the big drop tower fan I’ve always been, I like to think I’m sadistic enough to enjoy inflicting them on non-drop tower fans… Alas, this only induces in BAD noises… had Cliff Hanger been at Alton Towers, I fear Jordan would have had Mr & Mrs Roper straight on the phone to their lawyer… but as it was, it just led to ear based badtimes, and not of the lobe variety, followed by unsettled times, because scared people are scary. On the plus side, much hilarity (which nobody else will get…) greeted the fact that on return to the ground, exactly where Tom had been standing, there was now a serious looking man who looked how we assumed Tom will in 40 years or so… Unwanted times in general.

Slides were similarly unwanted, thus relaxed bench times ensued, and I discovered that CiallKennett is almost as amusing as saying his name in mildly irritated style, even if the fact that he was looking closely enough to make… trouser based observations was oh, so slightly unnerving! This aside, it was nice times - , as various peoples photos demonstrate admirably, and even while my hair was being molested, and I was being festooned with the contents of various party bags, contentment resided, and I could happily have fallen asleep… UNTIL Tom & Rich decided that putting pencil crayons in my exposed bum crack was a fun game - evil, cruel people :p Still, revenge would follow, in the form of LOTS of salt in Tom’s hair, which, while alas, I cannot claim responsibility for it, was nevertheless amusing.

Anyway, speaking of evil and cruel, it was Kumali time next. Flamingo fan boys, frequently those named Pierre, enjoy disagreeing with me on this, but again, I’m not a big fan of this coaster, and ERT last year was NOT a fun game, aside from mocking the ride. Which I did: lots. Of course, during this point… some time around 2-3, the sun reached it’s warmest - and both Cliff Hanger and Kumali have queue lines in full sun, so warmth occurred. The wait was lengthy, so complainage and happy times occurred - the most memorable moment surely being some rather mouthy Liverpudlian chav… probably about 11, deciding it would be wise to pick a 4-letter fight with Jordan. Mistake, thus he had go away times, and his brother (who was not a bearded gentleman, historian - Lain)… there were also LOTS of wasps, and bad sweets, and it was warm, in case I hadn’t already mentioned that 14 times or so. Happy times. Then Kumali happened, which was less fun times, though yes, Pierre - it did feature feets. And no, Pierre, it wasn’t excessively rough. It wasn’t very good either, though! Amusingly, a wasp apparently lingered on the back of my seat throughout the entire ride… if it wasn’t a wasp, I’d probably have felt sorry for it! Then… moreorless everything was done, and Pirate Ship was slowly headed for. (Yeah, I’m getting tired now… can you tell - so the rest of this report may go downhill a little - and you know how I enjoy going on and on).

Pirate Ship featured sneezing fit, and thus shouty times were rather unenthusiastic - from my end anyway. Quite why I have sneezing fits on rides, I know not - but it happens a LOT. Similarly, I had no intention of losing my voice, when I knew that more than 1 day of LOUD, hyper times still remained ahead of me. Pirate Ship… was a pirate ship - I don’t think I need to explain that much. Anyways, with Pirate Ship done, everything was done, until Mumbo Jumbo ERT times, which weren’t for a few hours, and thus ‘do what you want’ times commenced… or were going to, but for some reason, confusion and shouty times occurred. I didn’t like these very much, and sat on a rock until things had been decided, then walked FAST at the front of the group, because impatient indecisive times are not my favourite. Things that were, were still to come.

Garlic-scented toilet times occurred… then I decided it would be fun to queue for the monorail using the exit, because I fail… Monorail queue is long, and monorail cars are small, cramped and NOT fun when you’re facing in the wrong direction… Monorail went a long way (Ergh… really wishing I hadn’t been woken at 07:53 this morning now)… The plan was for zoo times, because zoos are fun - but few exciting animals were found, and, whilst I like zoos a lot (though they’re better with GIBBONS), attention span for anything besides the obvious was severely flagging - thus reptile house was not even investigated because hot and busy, and weird HOT building with weird things in was no fun at all. Tortoises are good however, and van der Graaf birds, and… whatever was opposite them that was watched for a while whilst people fought over my overpriced water. Babboons were similarly fun (although I now know from my Africa trip that wild baboons are NO fun at all) - many had excessively large red behinds, and were mocked mercilessly for this, whilst others were acting in a downright Willish manner, and imitations occurred. Grooming is a fun game. Apparently bats are exciting… but, after seeing her become worryingly attached to an overpriced stuffed scorpion in the rainforest café, I am well aware of Jordan’s ridiculous animal preferences. The chimpanzees also smelled bad, thus, wishing for relaxing times, I collapsed on some nearby grass in the sun, and found a stick to play with. I was soon joined by Manda, then Lain, then Tom and Jordan and whoever else we were there with… Sticks are fun, biting is fun, molesting times are fun… even having my hair ‘restyled’ is fairly enjoyable, though it causes lots to fall out, bad times. Again, I shall spare you the details, as photos tell you all you need to know - but this was obviously one of the day’s highlights, and resulted in amusingly affectionate_Will - rarely have I felt more intoxicated without having drunk - to cut a long story short, clearly there are forces in this world stronger and more mind-altering than any drug…

Yeah, anyway, in an attempt at dragging me back down to Cloud 8, or maybe even 7, shop times occurred and water was purchased, ready for the long monorail ride back to the main park. Thanks to queue jumpy children, and obnoxious Northern parents, there was no room for us on the first train, and thus a LONG wait ensued, but there was lots of time for mocking Tom, and frustrating Manda and biti… well, other traditional favourites.

These paragraphs are becoming increasingly pointless and shorter and less detailed, as I am tired, but if I don’t finish this crap tonight, I know I never will - so stick with me - we’re on the home stretch now… By the time zoo-based grass lying and happy times, and moonorail (hehe) based frustrations were complete, there was only one ride left for us, which was the excitement of Mumbo Jumbo ERT times, which I had not done during the day, so as to save the credit-based joys to end on a high! However, much waiting had to occur before this, allowing time for an impromptu waterfight to break out, much to the annoyance of Tom… which in turn, made it more amusing. Despite having no water, I was caught in the crossfire of waterfight times, but cared not - and this was also one of the points when I found time to talk to more of the people I’d overlooked all day, whilst avoiding water times… but, with it being the end of a fairly hectic day, tired, hungry times soon returned, and I retreated to my favourite right shoulder to address both of these concerns, whilst disturbing various people named Mark, and making NOISE with an empty cake tin. Hehe. Comfy times <3

Yeah, at length - the GP were dispatched with, and our time with Mumbo Jumbo began - chances are, if you’re still reading - you were there, and know exactly what we did (and how confusing the loading times were), and what the ride did, so I don’t need to go into explicit detail… which is good, because I can’t remember. I think every seat was attempted, and some were better than others - it was also a lot more fun when the shoulder bars weren’t pushed down HARD a la Slammer - and parts of the course were enjoyable, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that the ride is nothing but a gimmick and a shameless attempt at grabbing the record books - I just hope they don’t catch on… I didn’t mind the drop, and the corner on the outside was very good fun, but otherwise it did next to nothing for me at all, and silly hang time is never fun - hence my LOATHING of G-Force (though even Mumbo Jumbo kicks **** out of G-Force)… but enough complaining - while the coaster is - to my mind, fairly mediocre - it wasn’t as bad as I’d been led to believe. But nor was it as good as some people appeared to think. I was spoiled by a variety of good rides and good times a couple of months back, and it will be a long time before anything compares, basically. That said - I don’t want to sound like an ungrateful bastard, so cheers to Flamingoland for looking after the group so well, and letting us play with the new ride for a while without the annoyance of queuing and rubbish throughput - though it will still struggle to score higher than a 5 on my list…

As Mumbo Jumbo times finally drew to a close, the Live times, alas had to do the same thing, and because of M62 roadworks, Harvey wanted to get gone, before I had time for more than one over-the-top goodbye… which, as Mark kindly pointed out, I ruined with yet more bum crack times! Shoes have been changed, evidently, it’s jeans and a BELT I need to start wearing again sometime between now and GF - if I’m going to cause people nightmares, I’d rather it’s something more unnerving than my arse that’s doing it! Once more, digression… Anyways, whilst this wouldn’t stop me missing lotsofpeoples - I knew I’d see them again in not much over 12 hours, and that made me happy.

Amidst tired times and want Sunday times times, I was also made happy by being allowed to blast Black Clouds & Silver Linings during the hair-raising ride back to chez Lain, following being enlisted to help push a car on the carpark. Different times! Then we went home, and I wanted to sleep and Lain had LOTSofbeer and went “ROLE REVERSAL!” over and over…

Right, as I’ve mentioned a few times, I am ****ing knackered. Writing this has more than done the job, and I’m feeling much more balanced now, so Lightwater can wait until I have sad times again around this time tomorrow!

But I’d better include my acknowledgements here, just in case I never get around to writing Lightwater - I know what I’m like!

OK, in no particular order… (and major apologies if I miss anyone who helped me with ANYTHING, however small over the weekend)

Ian - the Live may well have been such a relaxed affair that I didn’t even notice that organisation was going on - but somewhere in the background, your own subtle genius must have taken place for the day to flow quite as smoothly as it did - and, like I’ve said - that was my favourite British live for some considerable time. Thanks :D And hope you’re feeling better soon.

Harvey - Another thing that helped the Flamingo day run smoothly was that lift, which meant that getting to and from the park required NO early start, and NO effort on the part of either myself or Lain - hope I let you know how much this was appreciated at the time - and I LIKE Djing… so hope you like Dream Theater!

Lain - Another person who made this Live a lot easier, not to mention cheaper for me, by letting me use your house for free AND providing Morrisons bread on the Saturday evening <3 I LIKE Morissons bread LOTS. Beatles rock band and Nevermore were also fun times - you’re another one whose tolerance still impresses me, and thanks for free accomodation, entertainment and lift age - your Mum is awesome for the lifts on Sunday as well, so thank her, in case I didn’t already! And yes, since you ask, my 31 minutes were well worth ALL the effort I went to for them!

Phil & Karen - Yet MORE people who made my Sunday so much easier - the lift was appreciated LOTSLY - you saw how happy it made us when you said you were going ALL THE WAY into Leeds (Why would ANYONE go to Leeds by choice :p), because that saved us a truly horrific bus ride whilst knackered and slightly depressed post-Live, so again, can’t thank you enough for that. And as if that weren’t enough - LIQUORICE ALLSORTS <3 and dodgy Metallica times. Nothing Else Matters was EXACTLY what I wanted to hear at that point :p Almost forgot - also, Karen - LOVED the video - possibly my favourite Live video since the Mane Event back in 2006!

Everyone who has tagged awesome... or non-awesome photos of me on Facebook, to help the memories live on - thanks :) While Friend-of_Az-Laura, has also provided a new wallpaper. Happy times.

Finally - and you all know who I'm talking about... It goes without saying, that you’re ****ing brilliant in every way, and probably a load more than I haven’t even had chance to discover yet - not to mention the fact that you have the patience of an entire order of saints where I am concerned. Such extremes of tolerance never cease to amaze me, and even my vodka-addled vocabulary of idiosyncrasy can’t find words to explain how awesome every last second with you is - or why; only that if this is the shape of things to come, then I shall remain an unrecognisably happy Will for some considerable time. I miss biting times! Hell, I miss YOU full stop... <3

Yeah… I’m going to cut myself off here before I get REALLY silly and emotional again, but… I guess I’ll thank everyone who was there - even the people I didn’t really talk to - or those like Martyn H and Ciallkennett - or even Mr. Broken Satnav himself, who feature only when I want to take the piss out of him. There’s not a lot I’d have changed about Saturday - and one way or another, this awesomeness was contributed to by everyone in attendance, so I shall close by saying, thanks everyone, for whatever it was you did or didn’t do…

Because right now - I’m not sure that I’ve ever been more glad I found this place back in 2004.
CF <3
GhosterForce. Want.

That’s all…

Until I have the energy for Lightwater times.

Apologies to those of you who’ve just read all that crap, and not just for the mistakes and... inevitable pisstakes and toomuchinformation times it contains! This is why Will reports seldom happen these days - because I am INCAPABLE of doing things by halves, and end up with something not dissimilar to my dissertation.

If only to remind me of one of my favourite moments of Sunday... "Thankyou, and Goodnight".
 
Top