Right! Flamingoland!
This was my first time at the park (which Ian couldn't believe) and was really excited to be visiting it finally. I have heard many negative and positive things about the park. From an outside view I can say they are definatley willing to invest in the park, that can't be faulted, perhaps their choice of rides aren't to everyone's tastes, but hey.
So arriving hungover/upset stomach through the mist and fog I was somewhat quiet and I apologise, just felt awful that morning. Here's a misty Mingo;
SO after faffage with the money and quiz we started on the kids cred Runaway Mine Train, it was dull, but a cred. One thing I did like about the park was how dominating the rides looked from the outside, I think if Corkscrew did leave they need to put something 'intimidating' in that space, almost like how Colossus looks from across the lake. I like the entrance plaza, nice and big, not cluttered and invites you into the park. After I felt much better and we went on Velocity. I was really looking forward to Velocity, being my first Motorbike coaster and experiencing a different launch coaster.
I really enjoyed it! I found it good fun and enjoyable, great airtime over the hills and a good launch. Shame about the restraints being somewhat pinning. But I enjoyed it and fancied a re-ride if we had time later.
Moving on swiftly to Kumali and Mumbo Jumbo area after a failed attempt to ride Corkscrew, we tried queuing for Mumbo but they put a new car on which slowed the queue, so moved onto Kumali instead. Now I was told the Kumali music and effects were great but there was none...I mean...I don't know whether the license ran out on it, or they don't want to pay royalties. But I was dissapointed with this it's little touches like that that can make the ride better. The roller coaster itself was mediocre, the first drop and turn was great but fell flat after that, nothing that amazing.
Next was Mumbo Jumbo, nothing amazing about that, the queue banter was better than the ride. It was rough, horrid and horrid, had a mild headache after. Flip Flop was next, not a fan of spinning rides, so sat out and took some photos on le phone;
Next up was Zoom, which was ok for a kids ride, lacked any atmosphere, in fact the whole area was devoid of anything atmospheric, just was horrifically bland...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GODtp_qJz7k[/youtube]
Very controlled swinging and gentle ride.
Lunctime was called, we went to the pub and had le cavery. It was really nice, shame my stomach was still feeling delicate at the time as I would've wolfed it down. Remember a good chat with Richard before we tried to get into the Little Monsters ride thing...but we failed, too long of a queue. Quiz results were declared, no one won! So Ian kept the money, shaaaame. Then Bongo Warriors was up next, heard good things about it from Ian on the way up.
It was a good show with a few amusing moments, mainly pre-show....
http://youtu.be/ScT2MH9TggE
http://youtu.be/fWAXTGnzAF4
Dissapointed by lack of fire, but oh well!
Moving around to Cliffhanger, but wasn't really feeling up for it, despite the good reputation there is about it. There was a terrible smell of sewage around this area, don't know if some drains had backed up prior to our visit but it smelt vile and made us want to move off quickly.
Wild Mouse up next, another cred, but me Maddie, Neal and Mander made it amusing by making jokes about that young Man Utd fan who got stuck riding with AJ and Ed. Rather amusing. Tim tried to drown wasps in some sort of honey syrup from the waffles when I got off the ride, bought some tat and moved onto the Corkscrew, which apparently was leaving. Quickly got on, up the familiar sounding lift hill and saw a huge cloud of rain heading towards the park, but soon we were off, and was expecting a rough ride but was surprised, it was quite smooth and a better ride than the old Corkscrew. Then the rain started to come down, some of us reached for umbrella's, some made do with other means;
We then did the last cred the Super Dragon, got called 'big kids' by the ride operator, which was amusing! A small faffage ride later and last creds were done. By this point Ian had rightly thought it was time to head off to save time and get home at a decent time and we left the park. It was a good call as we both got down south around 10pm.
I enjoyed experiencing Flamingoland, it reminds me of a mix between Pleasure Beach and Thorpe in that they themed several rides alright but some are just plonked are very close together in some areas, such as Velocity placement. I found in the water area a lack of benches or places to sit around the park, as well as the lack of atmosphere, no music or sounds that could've added to the rides. Zoom would've been perfect to have little airport noises, sounds etc. Even Come Fly With Me on repeat, something that adds to it? Was dissapointed with the lack of Kumali music.
Overall a nice park, definatley improved since I first started to become aware of the park when they had The Bullet and Magnum Force.
