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'The Yorkshrie Tripper' LWV/FL Trip Reports!

Lightwater Valley

I arrived and ended up in the queue directly behind the gang that had stayed at John and Tanya's. I introduced myself, then jumped at the chance of sharing a BOGOF voucher with Rich (Thanks!). Once we got in through the gates everyone met as planned and stood around chatting. This gave me a chance to meet everyone and start to find out who's who. Special thanks to everyone who made the effort to come and say hi and chat to me! It was also where the party bag related fun began (fantastic idea, Ian - nice one!).

We headed for Eagle's claw, which was really good fun - MILES better than vortex. I sat out of Hornet's nest though, as that definitely would've brought my breakfast up.

Then onto the first coaster – a spinning mouse. Not much else to say.

Finally, what I'd been waiting for – t'Ultimate. Chaz and Wooly spent much of the queue time 'preparing' me for what I was about to let myself in for... but I don't think it's really possible. After riding I completely see what everyone means about it being violent fun. I've still got the bruise on my knee to prove it. Oh, and cheers to Martyn for letting go of his bubble mixture halfway through the first section, most of which landed all over my face! :)

Sewer Rat's interior queue line is fantastic (the stupid greenhouse bit outside isn't, especially not in that weather) even if the ride is very mediocre. That said, getting soaked coming out into the stairwell in the exit wasn't so great – Cheers Furie! ;)

We then finished off the morning on the skate karts. I'd suspected I would, but half a run later, it was confirmed – I'm useless!

So then it was off for lunch with Rich, Rach, Mike and Leighton. After a quick go on the straight, but lumpy, water fall of terror (or whatever its called) we decided to sit in some shade and cool down with an ice cream. Que one of the funniest moments of the day, where Rich threw a hissy fit at the guy in the snack kiosk upon being told that a) there was no ice cream and b) their Slush Puppies are sugar free. I don't think the guy quite knew what was going on when sugar sachets started flying at him across the counter!

After meeting up with everyone, and a quick go on Grizzly Bear, it was over the the pirate ship. I though it was probably best at this point to rest my foot and take some more painkillers, so sat on the grass chatting to Ian. Once everyone came off the ride, the random carnage began.

Then it was off to the caterpillar coaster for a new credit and a group photo, before wandering down to the drop tower. I was gasping for a drink, so headed to the pub for an ice cold drink and a chat.

We had a go on the ladybird coaster before another go on the Ultimate pain machine. After that, there was just enough time for a bit more faffing on the skate karts, before heading off our separate ways.

My pics (and a video clip or 2) can be found HERE

I'll do mingo and general thoughts of the weekend later, once all the pics have finished uploading
 
Harvey said:
Excellent day at Flamingo Land with a good ERT session packed in, I wonder why so many people sat out after only one ride though - I would have hoped that with a park going to these lengths, without asking for anything in return, people would have shown more enthusiasm towards the moment.
Click to expand...

I rode twice and to be honest, I avoided riding again due to having my nuts crunched by an over zealous ride op and his pinning tactics. To then say "oh you wont need them". I appreciate the irony of that statement, but still, for a ride op to have that kind of attitude sucks. It may be worth noting Harvey, that I wonder why some people felt the need to run past everyone the moment the queue for the ERT opened, barging and knocking people out of the way in the process! It wasn't exactly neccessary and downright rude..... ANYWAYS...

LWV was great as usual. I took great pleasure in riding a few of the rides but equally sitting out of a few to just simply enjoy the sun and the social atmosphere amongst the members. Had some cracking laughs through that all. LWV is a dire park at the best of times but as always, the people made it a fantastic day either way. It was amusing riding t'Ultimate with marc a second time for him to see what it was really like, after saying it wasn't that viscious the first time round!

The highlight of the whole weekend was definately Mingo though. I'll be the first to say that previously I detested the park. I have always thought it was ugly, lacklustre and just generally, 2nd rate. Well, in the 2 years since I last visited so very much seems to have changed and a real noticeable effort has been made in the park. Things being repainted, a generally better cleanliness, friendlier stuff (for the most part). It was fantastic. Needless to say, I have a lot more time for the park now, purely because I hated it before and if it werent for lives. I would have never visit it. The whole splosh area is brilliant. Bright, vivid colours, great fun atmosphere. It was a real pleasure to be in that area and likewise it seems to have had a positive effect on the surrounding areas. Even the food has improved!

In terms of the Live it was an equally impressive day. Gorgeous weather and happy people. Water splashing was consitent throughout the day. Kudos to Karen for getting me during the rather random, wholey pointless, yet strangely entertaining Bongo show. I swear my underwear had only just dried out. Although it was good revenge for me getting you at the table whilst others were getting friction burns on the slides tehe. Plus I had not long completely got Jordan right down her top... Nobody complained about the water antics either, most welcomed them with sheer relief!

My personally favourite moment was riding Velocity without any pain whatsoever. I have always liked the ride, but prior to an operation it always caused me a fair deal of pain. Now, I can just enjoy it. I love that ride even more. Perhaps I just love the whole motorbike feel, but still. It is a short sharp ride, maybe a couple of rougher pathches, but it is overall good fun, and it was ridden in the greatest of company. Yes thats you ya big chuff nugget and Tanya!

It was a shame Ian wasnt feeling too well though, although I did join him on many a ride sit out for tabs and gossip, along with Karen. Some very funny conversations in there!

Cheers Ian for the mass of dentist pleasing sweets too. Was brill and of course the ERT. Not my favourite ride in the world, but still, it is certainly better then nothing at all. And either way, it meant I got to spend more time with some of my best friends before having to head home, so chin chin and cheers!

Many thanks to John and Tanya for our place at the Chateaux de BJ, Tanya and CAKE. Your mum and dad RULE!!!

Kudos to Rob for putting together a seamingly effortless Live, with very little faff, frequent rides and as minimal walking as possible in very hot weather. You always pull it out of the bag dude! :)

See you in wee Scotland.
 
I got home at 11pm last night and was in bed by 11:30!
Firstly, I would like to say thanks to Slayed and Leighton for putting up with me this weekend and transporting to all the parks, home and the Lodge! Much appreciated.
Rob, for organising the live itself.
Ian, for the party bags and the ERT on Kumali.
And everyone else who went to make it probably the best live I've been to! :D

Well, this is time for reflection on what a fantastic weekend I have just had.

I had a feeling that this would be a fantastic live right from 7:30 when Slayed got to my house and picked me up. About 9:35 we get to Doncaster where we would be spending the next two nights. Will I Am was also staying at the same lodge.
We went to MacDonald’s at about 10 where we stayed for a good half an hour. Back to the Lodge and it was time to assemble the badges as Mark didn’t have time the previous night.
Went to bed about 12:30.

Lightwater Valley
I was really looking forward to getting back on t’Ultimate after 9 months. We got there about 9:30, but there were a few CFers wandering about so it was a great opportunity to talk to the members that had got there already. They eventually let us into the park at about 9:45 when the queue for the car park was snaking on the main road, quite dangerous if you ask me. Then we were stopped again when we got through the gates.

Upon arrival to the park we were greeted with some awesome party bags curtsey of Ian. Thanks, they were great! The fun began there. The only thing I’m glad to see the back of is them horns, they were driving me mad!!!

So the first stop was Eagles Claw and Hornets Nest. In favour of not loosing the contents of my stomach, I sat both out and much fun was had with the bubbles from the party bags. It was only 10:30 and the heat was already getting to me.

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Hornets Nest was actually working, but it was taking a rather long time to load and unload

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Eagles Claw in full swing, I think there may be CFers on this, not 100% sure though

Went over to the Twister coaster and yet again I sat this out and brought myself a ice cream because I was boiling already.

After the Twister coaster, we headed over to t’Ultimate. I couldn’t not ride this, far too awesome to not ride. The station was a bit like a sauna though which was a bit uncomfortable. It was much rougher than what I remember it being. I still enjoyed it though.
It was time to give out some of the sweets that I had with me, after that ran over to the end of t’Ultimate awaiting the train that had CFers in.

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Will and Lain on front row, other CFers are towards the back

Apart from me and Ian, the rest of the group went on the Sewer Rat, I wasn’t very impressed with this last September so decided in sitting under a tree in the shade and taking a photo of t’Ultimate.

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CF ride the Sewer Rat

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t’Ultimate through the trees

Eventually getting bored of sitting under a tree, me and Ian decided to go on the Skate Karts to get some practise in before the rest of the group have a go. As we were going around the track the first CFers were emerging from the Sewer Rat looking a bit moist.

We broke for lunch then. We walked into one of the food places and instantly walked back out. It was so hot in there. So, myself, Nic (who is awesome), Mike, Leighton and Stone Cold headed to find some Ice Cream and a way to cool off a bit. We sat under a tree near the entrance with a sugar free slush puppy that wasn’t very tasty at all. A good 30 minutes later we head towards Falls of Terror in an attempt to cool down. Not even a splash of water on me. :(

We head to the Grizzly Bear to meet up with everyone again. Ian, John, Tanya, Mark, Marc and a few others were already there, so we sat there for the rest of lunch.

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Mark talking about something, something interesting by the looks of it

The rest of the members arrive gradually.

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Pierre, Rob, Lucy and Martyn are the last to arrive

The group then moves on and does the Grizzly Bear, still feeling like ****, I sit this out and go in hunt of some water.
My mind has gone foggy from here, I know that there were a lot of antics, involving Stone Cold, Ian and Big John mainly around The Wave. We moved onto the kiddies section where I recall Mike going mental with Ian. Some done the caterpillar coaster and others stood around talking. I chose the option of standing around and talking. We then done the group photo and moved onto Trauma Tower. This was fun, bouncy airtime is always good.

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Slayed, Martyn, Lucy and Rob ride, once the ride stopped, Martyn’s restraint wouldn’t open

My memory really has gone fuzzy from here. I think we moved onto Fall’s of Terror in which yet again I didn’t get wet. The heat was really getting to me now, it was stupidly hot and humid due to the lack of air, I sat in the shade of a tree feeling like ****!
I then remember walking to the Lady Bird coaster and collapsing in a heap on the grass.
After 10 minutes of lying on the floor, I felt a little better and was ready for t’Ultimate again. I rode this time with Big John, I remember flying all over the place.

Skate Karts were the final stop over for the day. I think, I have mastered the swines, as I done a few circuits without actually falling off and loosing balance. Good fun!

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Leighton gives in and walks

The hour car journey on the way back went quickly, as I think I feel asleep in an weird position as my neck was killing me when we got back to the lodge.

Despite the fact I felt ill almost all day, I had a terrific time!

Big thumbs up from me!

I'm typing up the Flamingoland one now, so it should be up sometime tonight.
 
I thought one train would be an absolute disaster on a day like that, but as it turned out, the queues were ridiculously short (well, until our group joined) both times we rode, so it wasn't too bad.

I'm sorting through my (mostly mediocre) photos at the moment. I'll see if I can get them online at some point, which means you probably have a 50-50 chance of seeing them sometime before the universe ends.
 
Flamingo Land is so different from 20 years ago, I really enjoyed the park its become really nice and the new water area is fantastic.

The whole day was just great just a shame Ian did not feel to good.
 
Yes, my random illness (which I must repeatedly insist was not a hangover! I've had enough of those in the past to recognise one!) did put a dampener on the start of the day for me.

Once I got some food in me, knocked back some painkillers and watched the Bongo Warriors, I felt right as rain.

In actual fact, whenever I feel ill again, I'm just going to do a Bongo Warrior dance and I'll feel right as rain.
 
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHBd5JVnFXU[/youtube]

Pressie

Excellent day at Flamingo :) Tehe to spitting water at Ian and putting water down Mark's back into his undies tehe.
 
Flamingoland

Well, Flamingoland, I really was surprised by the park. After hearing such negative reviews of the park, I thought it was awesome!
Was anyone else surprised by the queues? The car park was full and yet the queues were no longer than 10/15 minutes.

I was feeling much much better than what I was at LWV. Shame that Ian wasn’t feeling too good. Hope you feel better now!

We got to Mingo about 9:50 there was already a fair few CFers here so we go over and speak to them. Me, Mark and Leighton then make a move for the ticket office.

At about 10:10 we go in the park and wait outside the wave swinger to see if any body else was going to turn up. Turns out no one did. The Wave Swinger was tempting me, so a few of us went on it. What a cool and refreshing breeze.
After getting off, Lucy, Martyn, Pierre and Sam were going on.

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Sam had to sit on his own, in the middle of kids

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Pierre, Martyn and Lucy get roughly together

After this, we move onto Velocity. I wasn’t expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised by how good this actually was. I enjoyed this, and was definitely different.

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Launch

We done Navigator next, this was the first Disc-O ride I had been on, and I wasn’t really impressed. Bit boring if you ask me.

We moved around to Corkscrew then, which wasn’t really that bad, bit of bashing on the ears but smoother than Alton’s one imo. We also done the Dragon Coaster and then the Runaway Train. Both were average. The Runaway Train was lethal.

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How many coasters can you spot?

We moved around the park then, doing the Wild Mouse, which wasn’t too bad really, bit rough here and there, but ok. Finally, the moment that I had been waiting for, it was Splash Battle time. Knowing that I had a long drive back home, I opted for the lack of shoes and socks and it was good thing that I did. Soaked to the friggin’ skin, but such a relief to not be so hot. Took about 2 hours to dry off with the underwear taking the longest to dry off properly. After Splash Battle, we broke for lunch and went to the American Diner. It wasn’t too bad in there. I had a delicious Fruit Salad which was bloody lovely!
We then went to meet up at Kumali, and found some shade to relax, blow bubbles and take pictures of Kumali.

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Kumali, doing its thing

I loose track of what happened after Kumali, we made our way into Splosh for Flip Flop which I sat out, as it spins!

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Flip Flop

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[CFers queuing for Flip Flop[/i]

I was really impressed with the whole Splosh area, the colours were lovely and the water area which you can run around in was lovely and refreshing.

We moved onto Cliffhanger then, I was really looking forward to this and I wasn’t disappointed at all by this. Not knowing when you’re going to shoot up and drop down is really awesome! Made a horrid noise as it landed though.

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Awesome

We then done the Rock Slide. Ow is all I can say. I went on with Leighton, Lucy and Rob. I’m not 100% sure what happened. This is what I think happened. Leighton went flying down, with me closely behind then Rob and Lucy behind. Leighton sort of flew into my lane on the last bump and landed where I should’ve landed. I crashed into him, then Lucy and Rob crashed into us. Bloody painful! 2 rather nasty grazes as a result. One on my arm and one on my knee.

We went to see the Bongo Warriors then. I was actually amazed by these. Really impressive! These seemed to cheer Ian up a bit which was good! Went in search of some toilets and water.

A few of us went on Lost River then. Half an hour we were gone from the main group. 10 minute queue and a 20 minute ride. We broke down on the top of the drop for like 10 minutes much to everyone’s disappointment. Eventually, they got us down, smelling strongly of horrid green water. YUCK!

We moved back to Velocity. It was good on the back row, I enjoyed it loads again.

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Mark and Marc are visible here and John at the back

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Getting ready to launch, few CFers are on here, Sam is one I remember being on this train

We had a toilet break and made our way over to Kumali for the ERT. Thanks Ian for organising that, it was a good ERT session. Got 5 rides in various places on the train. Front row was good and the second from back row was just painful.

Overall, I was really impressed by Flamingoland. Much better than what I expected.
Thanks again to all who went and organised. Fantastic live!

Bring on Scotland!!!!

All photos will be uploaded to Facebook tomorrow.
 
What can I say, it was great to see some old faces and come back with the bruises we associate with lightwater, no i don't mean the ultimate i mean the skate karts, Hey mushy i have a bruise on my knee and my trousers will never be the same again lol. I still laugh about it though, I hope to catch it on someones video at some point.

Thanks furie for the exercise of the swan boats also and that includes rubens excellent driving skills in them too :lol:

The ultimate as smooth a ride as ever and great fun, I only wish we had a hour ert on it. A great ride.

The sewer rat sat next to a sewer rat in a sewer rat, will I ever see that sort of a ride again lol.
 
Cheers to Sam for purchasing it and Ian for sending me it!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1FCgVo8kvY[/youtube]
 
Mingo

I arrived quite early (as it was closer and easier to get to than I thought!), so stood outside the gates chatting to Raybould, Will I Am, Mike, Jordan and Ali. We eventually went in, stood around while people organised entry, then went and waited by the wave swinger. Deciding to actually go and have a go on the wave swinger was a VERY good call, Rach – well done! I'd not been on one since I was a little kid, so it was good for a change.

We eventually headed for Velocity which would be my first bike coaster. I'd been really looking forward to it, as I always enjoy trying something different. The launch is a bit tame, and it doesn't do a great deal, but I really enjoyed it. It's a fun coaster, and I'm glad we got back for a 2nd go later in the day.

Then a load of people had a go on the Disk-O, before we all headed for the corkscrew. I'd been dreading this as the last time I went on the one at Alton I pretty much came off with concussion. However, I was pleasantly surprised, as it wasn't TOO bad. Still not great, but not too bad, and better than how I remember Alton's to be.

So then it was over to Dragon coaster for the first kiddy coaster of the day, before heading to Runaway Mine Train for the 2nd. This ride is lethal! You could just hear lots of screams of pain from other CF-ers as it went round! After recovering from that, we went for more pain on the Wild Mouse. They've got video cameras on here now, as well as ORP's. That's it's only distinguishing feature though, really.

After that, it was time for the ride I'd been dreading all weekend – the splash battle! I don't usually do water rides these days, as I can't stand the feeling of wet clothes (eugh!)... but seeing as it was scorching hot, and there was a big group of us, I decided to make an exception! I'm glad I did because it was a lot of fun, even if I did get completely SOAKED to the skin! One tip though, don't put a ton of hairspray on in the morning before going on a water ride – I ended up with it all in my eyes and mouth. Nice.

So then it was off to the American Diner for a lovely burger and chips (well done to whoever suggested eating there – Big John?). We then managed to find the one patch of grass (next to the train track) to dry out in the sun. This is where I made my daft quote of the weekend, which caused Big John and Tanya to spend about 20 minutes trying to “pop all over my face”! hehehe

Once everyone had gathered together, we went for our first go of the day on Kumali – my first Vekoma SLC. I managed to get front row with Slayed, which made for an enjoyable ride. I was alright on the cobra roll (unlike Will), but I didn't see the Zero-G coming, so that caught me out! More on Kumali later...

It all goes a bit hazy from here on in. Think we did flip flop next, which was a lot of fun with a ton of airtime. Then over to cliffhanger, which I'd been really looking forward to. It was my first tower to do shot and drop. It really is like having two rides in one. They held it at the top for aaaages before letting it drop, which really built up the anticipation, and gave a bigger impact to the drop. I thought it was brilliant.

Then it was time for a load of faffing in that area. Loads of people went on the rock slide (but there was a huge queue) so Big John, Will and myself headed for tidal wave. We were sat there for what seemed like hours waiting for them to finally run it, then the ride itself laster for about 10 seconds. Not impressed.

That meant we were just in time to head for the Bongo Warriors. I can't remember the last time I watched a show at the theme park, but this was definitely a good one. Well done to whoever suggested going to see it (I think it was Rob?). After the show we did a group photo in their hut thing which involved quite a bit of dancing and general sillyness.

Then it was over to the pirate ship for another one of Rich's horn blowing, ranting moments (this time aimed at Will). The ride op was pissing himself by the time the ride had finished. After that, it was over to the boat ride thingy. I took one look (and smell) at the water and decided to sit it out. After taking an age to finally get to the top of the drop, the CF boat got stuck while they waited for a bunch of idiots in the station to faff about. When they finally did drop, and I saw the reactions on their faces at being covered in icky green water (see my photos!) I was really glad I didn't ride.

Following that, there was just time for another go on Velocity, before the coolest part of the day began – Kumali ERT! This is where I discovered what everyone complains about – the middle of the train is so rough! Well done to Big John for pointing out that walking all the way round the exit was daft when there was tons of empty seats just begging me to re-ride! As a result, I did 4 consecutive runs, by which point my head was about to fall off. As a result, I decided to give in, and take photos of other CF-ers on the last few rides of the day. That was my first ever ERT session, and it was so cool. So much more chilled out than riding during the day. It was also at this point that the Kumali music finally became etched upon my brain (I kept finding myself humming and dancing to it yesterday, half of the time without even realising I was doing it!)

It was then time to say our goodbyes at the front of the park, before heading off. I'm so glad I'd opted to stay in York an extra night, so didn't have to face the same horrible long journeys as everyone else.

Once we left the park (and drove over the “air time hill” AKA hump back bridge!), we ended up in what turned out to be the most entertaining traffic jam I've ever encountered. This led to lots of hanging out of car windows shouting to each other, and Jordan blowing bubbles along the road out the window. The funniest bit, though, was me and Slayed/Leighton/Rach trying to aim sweets into the sunroof of Raybould's car. God knows what everyone else in the surrounding cars thought of us!

Overall, I had a fantastic day. It's a great little park, and I can't really see what people have got against it. They've obviously put in a lot of effort lately to improve it, and I hope they've got more up their sleeves for the seasons ahead. The whole splosh area is lovely, and especially welcomed on such a hot day!

Photos of the day (and a couple of video clips) can be found HERE
I've also put all my photos on facebook, and am doing my best to tag them!


Overall

I had an absolutely amazing weekend, and will definitely be heading to more lives in the future (even though, looking at it, I might have to wait until Blackpool). I really can't thank you all enough for making sure I had an awesome time!

Special mentions must go to:
Ian for the party bags and ERT
Rob for a brilliantly organised weekend
Rach for taking me under her wing and generally looking after me!
Rich for the BOGOF voucher for lightwater (and thanks to whoever gave it to Rich in the first place!)
Everyone for making the effort to chat to me and make me feel welcome! I really appreciated it, especially on Saturday morning.
Oh, and special thanks to the weather for not raining all weekend! Me in a polythene poncho is really not a good look
 
Just a quick one for now i will post more soon had a great weekend and big thanks go to stone cold for liftage its so nice not to have to have tanya driving for a change at was relaxing apart from him nearly crashing lol. Flamingo is very much improved apart from the ride ops who need to really watch what there doing hence me sitting a lot of the ERT out after he didnt look at what he was doing and trapped my Shoulder/neck in the restraintes which has since caused untold pain and muscles spasms which resulted in me spendin monst of monday at the local hospital and having a week of work as the painkillers im on make you sleepy so ye thanks for that mr flamingo land ride op much apretiated. Apart from that a great weekend, Again will post more soon when not feeling tired
 
^^Class on ride video Pierre. Pitty they put the music over it, would love to hear what you and Sam were saying.

Great reports so far and photos from Mark and Rach.
 
Mine's not gonig to be an epic post for a change - sorry Ian :p

The Family_Furie all had a superb weekend. Both are actually superb family parks, so we all had a great time.

LWV then.

We actually arrived on time(ish) and were presented with party bags, which went down exceptionally well with Maxi-Minor_Furie. Then we had some FF faff and everyone went off with MF while I looked after MMF on the baby rides. MMF had fallen over in the car park, and not even the hooter could cheer him up entirely - but Madame_Furie turned up and took over, and I worked on the assumption Eagle's Claw would be the first ride, and got on with CF :)

Erm, getting bored with the tedious family_Furie trivialities now :lol: Suffice to say I spent a bit of the day split between CF and Madame_F/MMF. Thanks to everyone for letting Minor_F latch on and annoy you :)

I enjoyed Eagle's Claw, but it's still not the best I've been on. I then went in search of coffee and did some filming. I think I got Ian and me talking about making better than Raybould video's :lol: Sadly, the mic in my camera is crap so you can't make much out :(

Erm, we did stuff... Probably the Ultimate... Had a lark with Stone Cold and Pierre. In fact, I had a fair amount of larkage over the weekend which was a general good thing :)

I think Joey, Lain and Stone Cold were generally the butt of it all :D Rolling down the hill to get Lain was one of my personal highlights ever. It's rare you get an idea in your mind, and when you attempt it, the execution is exactly how you imagined it :)

Okay, I've lost it now, this report has got lost in the wilderness utterly.

Highlights!
Ultimate! Superb ride
Skate Karts - always a laugh
Soaking people on the rat!
Mushy pushing Chaz off his kart!
The hammer fights
All the hooters (steady)
Mike getting hurt by the Ladybird
Japes thanks to party bags and great weather
The people!
Sam missing the wasp with the hammer in the Ultimate station.
Slade losing his hat on the water chute.
Joey failing to annoy me by pulling my arm hairs! :p
Great staff on the kiddie stuff.

Lowlights
I didn't actually ride a great deal :lol:
Bruises! Badly bruised elbow (thanks Ultimate); bruised thighs (I think from rolling at Lain with camera and keys in pockets).
Food costs!!!! £20 to feed three of us jacket spuds, chips and a bowl of soup (we had a jacket spud, some chips and a bowl of soup). Extortion!

Ian said:
Lunch time! Had a jacket spud with Big John
Click to expand...

I had beans with mine, but whatever floats your boat! :p

Flamingoland...

Erm, welll, I never planned to be with the group generally at 'minger, as I wanted to find out how good the park was as a 'family park' - rather than a thrill park. I can happily report it's absolutely superb. I'd always lumped the place with DMP, but even with Thomas Land, DMP doesn't come close now.

We arrived late (not by much, just 10 minutes, by which time CF were on Velocity). We had toilet and drink faff though - so got further behind). So things went a bit to pot with all of us joining the group, you kind of play catchup, only fail. Bloody hangers on. :lol:

Anyway, thanks again to everyone who put up with Minor_Furie.

I went off and tried to engage MMF's enthusiasm. Like Blackpool, it was all a bit overwhelming, only he was too short to do a lot of the kiddy rides he'd normally do at other parks (Mine Train, Dragon (they didn't height check him though), Rockin' Tug, Pirate Ship, etc.). So he was a bit stroppy, until he spotted the play barn. So he had 15 mins in there and then I introduced him to the Splosh area.

I think I spent around an hour, and hour and a half with him there. He loved it, anyone who goes on about "water stuff in a UK park is a stupid idea" is wrong - just utterly. I managed to drag him onto the Lost River ride which he also enjoyed, but just wanted to get back to the Splosh area.

Basically, we tried to catch up with CF as and when we could, but it was certainly more disjointed by us than usual - sorry it left the group missing my presence :p

As always though, when we caught up, it was a good laugh :)

Highlights:
The family side of FL. It's superb, even the zoo is very good.
Kumali ERT
Splosh!
Rubbish car ride
Girraffes sitting down (they're so amusing).
Good food!
Stone Cold and MMF having a hooter fight!

Lowlights:
Spraining my finger on the bumpy slide trying to avoid killing MMF
The traffic home
Not being with the group much (but the ERT I made up for it to a degree).

I think that's about it. I'm tired and my head is buzzing (lots to do yesterday, and lotsto do today).

Thanks to Rob for organizing - it went well, Ian for arranging ERT and FL for letting us have ERT.

Sorry must go to Nic and Andy. Sorry I only did a basic 'recognition' kind of thing rather than actually making the effort to talk to you. It's just one of those things sadly, I always seemed to end up away from you in queuelines and the like. You're not the only people I failed to do anything other than acknowledge during the day though - I don't even think I talked to Will!!!!

I'll make more of an effort at Alton/Drayton (I best had as I'm running it :lol: ) :)

Video is mostly sorted. It's better than Raybould's (obviously), but still rubbish. I don't care, it's been fun to make. Will get it online tonight as long as Movie Maker stops crashing every 2 minutes (I have 125 clips in AVI format Premier and Vegas wont touch, so I'm stuffed :( ).

Anyway, with a £50 digital camera on the case, shooting in high resolution 200x150 - expect the full cinema experience ;)
 
I had to LOl as I saw you (furie) jump over the fence to steamroll Lain...it's as I read your mind, I knew exactly what you planned to do. Very LOL.

Anyway, on to my FL report.

As you know, I felt very ill at the start of the day but with Rob being delayed after a mobile phone incident, I took on the group booking faffage, which I actually enjoyed doing and got me active.

When the group went in the park, I attempted to rest in the car for a few hours. After trying several positions on the back seat (!), the heat and chavs passing the car made me get off my arse and go into the park.

Saw CFers on the disk-o and chatted to a few members, mainly answering the "how are you feeling?" question.

It was at this point I thought I best go and check and see if the ERT was still on as the park was open an hour later than expected.

Went to the exit by Cliffhanger and spoke to the guard in the hut for a while as some chap from management arrived. The guard in the hut was possibly one of the most intimidating yet friendliest person I've ever met. We ended up chatting about coasters for a while. Eventually Vinnie arrived and gave me the go-ahead for the ERT so I headed back to the Corkscrew area to meet the group.

Again, more "how are you feeling?" questions and answers, lol, which was soon finished by the move to the mine train coaster.

Sat next to Sam and got a bruise on my inner thigh due to our fat arses and small restraints. The things we do for an extra coaster on our count!

Stood in the shade (like I did most of the day) and watched members on the mine train coaster, spoke to Karen and madame_furie and watched CFers get greasy and sweaty on the bike monorail.

Next up was the Wild Mouse, which I sat out in the shade near the dodgems with Hoyer and Jules/Woolly. The floor was so cold and refreshing, not to mention filthy! Meh. Had a good chat with Jules talking about York (one of my favourite places in the UK, also his growing up place!).

Then off to the Splosh area.

Like everybody else has said, that area is fantastic. I don't know if the hot weather made it great, but the whole place screamed fun. Despite sitting out the Splash Battle (which I regret now tbh), it was so rewarding to see so many members just laughing and smiling. ACE!

Bit of a faff during lunchtime, as we couldn't decide where to go. Once I got to that rainforest cafe, I decided I did not want to eat here and marched off to the Diner. Everybody followed. What a great choice! :p Tasty burger, nice air-con, good company and it allowed me to sit and have some painkillers, water and rest up.

Then we found the Only Grass Patch in Flamingoland and sat there for about thirty minutes. Well, I led there feeling bubbles burst over my legs every so often. Tanya was on form "blowing and popping" all over Nic's face. It's funny when you've got your eyes closed and you hear such remarks. I couldn't help but giggle. When I removed my cap from my face, I was shocked to see everybody gathering!

Was it Kumali next? I think so. I sat down and watched the group, at this point I was still feeling ill but "the colour had come back" in me and I perked up. Chatted to the Rat and his bro.

I'm not sure of the order next, but I think Cliffhanger was next. Again, I sat out but had an ice lolly (Feast) and some water and the stupid, delirious chats with Mark, Karen and Tanya. Discussed Karen's nipples, my penis and other random stuff. Bit childish but it certainly perked me up.

I think I was perking up on purpose so I didn't have to keep answering the "are you feeling ok?" question for the millionth time. Don’t get me wrong, I was touched by the concern but I needed to feel better.

What better thing to cheer me up than the Bongo Warriors?

The sheer chessiness, campness and laughter put a smile on my face. By the time the group photo was done, I was 'dancing' like a BW and messing about. Laughter certainly is the best medicine.

Again, it gets messy here in my head. I watched the pirate ship, which I though was quiet for a group of CFers and then waited for an eternity for the Lost River ride to finish it's circuit. However, that time was well spent on me messing around, something that I think CF-Lives do best! I remember having possibly my longest convo ever with Will at this point. He's a goon, but loveable all the same. I also remember getting annoyed at Raybould's inability to pronounce the work "thing" correctly. It's "something", or "nothing", not "somethink" or "nothink". Anyway, little things like that annoy me.

Sat out of flip-flop and Velocity didn't want to risk the gut. Spent the time chilling outside Velocity eating a pasty, chatting to Slayed and Mike.

Then it was the end of the day and onto Kumali ERT.

I spent a few minutes talking to the managers that come over (got a few tit bits of info!), which, lol, delayed the ERT for a few mins, but I didn't care really :lol: I thought they deserved to be complimented on how well the park has come along.

I felt immensely proud to turn round and say, "that's my group" and point to a load of CFers queuing up. And I felt smug and content (best I felt all day) walking up to join the back of the queue. It's moments like that I realise why I love CF so much; I feel like I'm making people's day that extra special and enjoyable.

I managed three goes on Kumali (with Furie, Rach and Karen) and I agree with the Rat in some respect. I was a bit concerned that the queue kept getting smaller each circuit, but I appreciate it was a long, hot day and some CFers may have been coastered-out!

When the ERT ended, the spontaneous round of applause for Nick (the manager dude that arranged it for us) was great. He, and Flamingoland in general, really deserve it for creating a great park. I was worried when they removed the Bullet and Magnum Force that it would go downhill, but it's a ****ing great family/thrill park. The only down points I can find with the park is lack of grassy areas to sit on and that it's so far away from my home!

Despite me not riding much all day and feeling like a pair of pooey pants, there is nothing more rewarding that seeing CFers laughing, joking and getting on with each other and having fun. Like everybody else, I like to be thanked and complimented but when a weekend away goes as well as this one did, that's all the thanks I want.

Cheers, CoasterForce!

More photos, photos and repots here now please! Don't want to ever forget this one!
 
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