Shameless cred mopping-up in the north east, 22 Sept 2013

[Ian]

On Sunday, Darren B and I went to the north east of England to mop up a few creds. Our first stop was Pleasure Island in Cleethorpes. It was ok. I've been there twice before, it was Darren's first time. We were in and out of the park in an hour.

Then we headed two miles along the coast to Macks Amusements which has a four rides on the beach. There's a cred.

It's called Little Dipper and it's the ONLY ONE OF IT'S KIND IN THE WORLD! It's made by a now defunct company called Supercar, according to RCDB.

When the tide is in, the bottom of the cred is submerged under water. You can see the flat, tide washed sand in the ride area.

A lot of sea debris and **** clings to the safety fences.

It cost us £1.50 each and we had five laps. It's really rough, the wheels could do with an oil. People were watching. We have no shame.

We then drove 18 miles south to Dunes Leisure on Mablethorpe's promenade.

We approached the kiddie cred, Miner Mike It's a powered oval cred. One of the smallest coasters I've been on.

There's a raised bit at one end.

The amazing bloke operating the ride recognised us from CoasterForce and let us ride for free. I took front seat in the Rolf Harris lookalike train.

It was actually entertaining! First we did about 4 laps forwards then it stopped on the raised bit before going backwards four times! It was fab.

The amazing bloke shook our hands and informed us that enthusiasts regularly visit and ride it. He doesn't understand why. We all know why...

We also went to Bottons in Skegness. I CBA to write about Pleasure Island or Bottons but as they were both new for Darren, perhaps he might tell you about them.

Thanks for reading. Keep gooning!

 

[nadroJ]

Re: Shameless cred mopping-up in the north east, 22 Sept 201

Urgh I need the Miner Mike cred. Got spited by the one in Vegas <//3

 

[Darren B]

Re: Shameless cred mopping-up in the north east, 22 Sept 201

As I was a Pleasure Island virgin I didn't know what to expect, I wasn't particularly bothered either to be honest, we were on a tight schedule so I was more interested in getting in, getting my +2 and getting the **** out! Of what I did see of the park I wasn't impressed, it was VILE. It had no personality, it was either masses of concrete or masses of grass with a few crap rides plonked on top. I won't be going back there until they get a new coaster, and I won't be recommending anyone to go either. Anyways, the creds...

Boomerang:- VILE. HORRIBLE. DISGUSTING. +1.

Mine train:- Actually a half decent coaster, I kind of have a soft spot for Vekoma family coasters, they ride like glass and give half a smile. +1

Go Gator:- We thought we would try our luck and ask the ride op if he would let us ride, he said YES! If we rode separately, sadly neither of us would fit in the ride though. <//3. When we passed the coaster on the way out there was a little lad riding by himself with a big smile on his face, prompting Ian to murmur "Lucky bastard".

Bottons, I really love this place, not because it's a nice place, but because it was offering me 4 creds in 1 park. The park was actually pretty nasty, it's your bog standard seaside amusement park.

The creds...

Queen Bee:- It's quite an unusual coaster (inverted kiddie cred) and looks quite good, it rides like crap though, barely more fun than walking. The highlight of the ride was identifying a Mcdonalds drive thru next to the park, I was starving! I left Ian to fap over the ride whilst I ran off to mop up the remaining 3 creds.

Runaway Train:- +1. It's actually themed, but because it's not been maintained for what looks like years the theming looks vile, covered in mould and park litter.

Rockin' Roller:- I secretly like spinning wild mice, but more so with 4 CFers in a car. Riding alone is just not fun, I found it pretty painful and the spin was disorientating with all the weight on one side of the car.

Big apple:- Standard wacky worm. Highlight was the ride op smoking a fag whilst he was checking the restraints (with a train full of children). Does what he wants!

On the whole the trip was worth doing, plenty of laughs, farts and fags. The creds weren't up to much but +8 is a good day in my books. Special mention to Dunes Leisure, park and cred of the day.

Urgh I need the Miner Mike cred. Got spited by the one in Vegas <//3

Aha, I said to Ian we'd be the envy of CF having the Miner Mike cred And it's actually fab!

 

[Smithy]

Re: Shameless cred mopping-up in the north east, 22 Sept 201

That dragon train looks very odd. Imagine it might be weird riding it as the tide comes in underneath.

 

[Hutch]

Re: Shameless cred mopping-up in the north east, 22 Sept 201

Miner Mike is probably one of the best creds I've ever see.

 

[insanecoastervids]

Re: Shameless cred mopping-up in the north east, 22 Sept 201

That ride operator was legit

 

[furie]

Re: Shameless cred mopping-up in the north east, 22 Sept 201

I've got a Supercar cred, there used to be a few of them in the UK. Or it was the same one moved from place to place :lol:

I need to check it out for definite, but I'm pretty sure some where manufactured pre-war, which makes them 1930'ssteel coasters - pretty special.

One ran at New Pleasureland too (the was one there many years ago as well) in the old Fun House building as an Indiana Jones rip-off ride.

I can't believe they let the salt water rise up over it all the time, it can't be good.

Kudos to the ride-op in Miner Mike for recognising the famous Ian Bell from CoasterForce :lol:

I really enjoyed Pleasure Island... to a degree. We were stopping at Thorpe Park next door, so it was an easy trip, and the family_furie was young. Met up with a handful of CFers and we had a great day just doing the flat rides. It was more like a visit to the local fair though than a park, but it was certainly better than a lot of trips I've had

Bottons I did for the credit run, I'm in no hurry to go back, but MMF loved the Ghost Train :lol:

 

[sean]

Re: Shameless cred mopping-up in the north east, 22 Sept 201

Mmm, think you're a tad harsh with Pleasure Island Darren. I wouldn't say Boomerang is that bad, sure its not glass smooth but its nowhere near as bad as what the corkscrews were or what any slc is.
Yes, it has that concrete fairground charm but its not for lack of trying. Melanie, the owner is really trying hard to turn this place around but I suspect it may be too little, too late.
My kids love the park and love taking them there....take your enthusiast head off when you're there and the place actually has a nice aura about it.

 

[CookieCoasters]

Re: Shameless cred mopping-up in the north east, 22 Sept 201

Pleasure Island is actually one of favourite UK parks. I love the flat rides and the p;ace itself is quite pleasant.

 

[Darren B]

Re: Shameless cred mopping-up in the north east, 22 Sept 201

Mmm, think you're a tad harsh with Pleasure Island Darren. I wouldn't say Boomerang is that bad, sure its not glass smooth but its nowhere near as bad as what the corkscrews were or what any slc is.
Yes, it has that concrete fairground charm but its not for lack of trying. Melanie, the owner is really trying hard to turn this place around but I suspect it may be too little, too late.
My kids love the park and love taking them there....take your enthusiast head off when you're there and the place actually has a nice aura about it.

I'm sorry but I just didn't like the place. It had NO atmosphere, especially as the place was dead. It's also very bland, as in every section of the park from the exception of maybe the main entrance square. The Boomerang really was VILE, but that's my opinion on all the Boomerangs I've ridden, not just Pleasure Island's. It wasn't all bad though, so I'll at least have the decency to note a few positive points...

-The hand dryers in the men's were really powerful.
-The SeaLions were extremely polite and friendly, we didn't get to watch the show but as we approached the tank they came out and said hello.
-The car park was well organised allowing us to escape even quicker.

That's actually the only good points I could think of, I may have just come on a really bad day, but it just didn't do it for me. Good luck to the new owners though, I hope to see an improvement when I next return. (When they get a new cred).

 

[furie]

Re: Shameless cred mopping-up in the north east, 22 Sept 201

Pleasure Island is all about the flat rides and sitting around drinking tea and trying to recover from the flat rides :lol:

It's a very family park though and not in any way, shape or form an adult visiting for the coasters park. Pepper Pig is a superb piece of television and I can't recommend it enough for adults watching the show with their under five. I also would say that it's worth watching a couple of specific episodes even as an adult because they're entertaining- particularly with a few mates around and some beers.

Should you, as an adult, be replacing your normal viewing with it though? No.

Pleasure Island is the same. It's good, but only in a narrow context.

 

[caffeine_demon]

Re: Shameless cred mopping-up in the north east, 22 Sept 201

I'm sure I put this comment down yesterday, but....

You went to pleasure island and didn't do the ghost train??????

 

[Darren B]

Re: Shameless cred mopping-up in the north east, 22 Sept 201

I'm sure I put this comment down yesterday, but....

You went to pleasure island and didn't do the ghost train??????

We did. It was rubbish.

That's not me giving even more hate to PI, it was actually awful, All the effects lacked any light so it was basically riding round in a dark room for 2 minutes.

The ghost train as Dunes Leisure was actually fab, there were a few jumpy moments and one pretty amazing one! I won't ruin the suprise though...

 

[Ian]

Re: Shameless cred mopping-up in the north east, 22 Sept 201

Maybe Darren is being a little too harsh on PI but I see his point. The park entrance is fairly grand with the Arabian style buildings but most of them are just facades - it looks dead and lacks atmosphere. I don't understand the cohesion between anything there. The park entrance is themed a English market square, then it becomes all Ali Baba and ends up being a big field with some (half decent) rides plonked it. There are a few interesting, unique to the UK rides but nothing exciting or appealing. Tbh, the only two rides I got excited about were the bouncy swing things near Alakazam and the rotating bouncing circular thing near the game stalls. The park isn't turd, it's just a tad bland and medicore, which comes as no surprise as it's cut from the same cloth as Flamingoland.

 

[sean]

Re: Shameless cred mopping-up in the north east, 22 Sept 201

-The hand dryers in the men's were really powerful.
-The SeaLions were extremely polite and friendly, we didn't get to watch the show but as we approached the tank they came out and said hello.
-The car park was well organised allowing us to escape even quicker.

:lol:

Shame to hear about the Shrieksville ride, seems none of the staff have tested it recently to sort the darkness out. When it first opened it was quite good....not really scary in any way, just executed well. To be honest though, I think all UK parks are guilty of not keeping their dark rides in tip top condition, they just seem to let them die a slow death hoping the public won't notice when an animatronic doesn't work or lightbulbs have blown.

 

[Tomatron]

Re: Shameless cred mopping-up in the north east, 22 Sept 201

Pleasure Island reminds me a bit of Southport at the beginning with the tacky theming, flagship Vekoma ride, mini S&S tower and a few sickly spinning rides. But the general ambiance of the place is just 'meh'. Even though the rides are unique for the UK, there's nothing there that makes me want to visit anytime soon.