Theme Parks

As a member of the Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain and the European Coaster Club I spend quite a lot of time in Theme Parks. There are hundreds of parks worldwide worth visiting, and I'm slowly trying to visit each one!

In the UK, Alton Towers is probably the park that will most please the masses. It has plenty of good rides, one of the best steel roller-coasters anywhere in the world in Nemesis, and some rides that really pushed the boundaries of coaster design when they were built like Oblivion and Air. For kids and younger guests there is plenty to see and do also. The park itself is built on the grounds of an old stately mansion so it looks better than 99% of theme parks in the world. Also they've just put in the last piece of their brand new coaster, The Smiler, which should open in May sometime. It will hold the record for the most inversions on a coaster so if you haven't been to Alton Towers in a while, or ever, then it might be worth a visit this year.

Thorpe Park is another park under the Merlin umbrella (who own Alton Towers, Chessington, Legoland, The London Eye and Dungeons among others) but it is more aimed at the teenage market. You'll find plenty of extreme rides but the park itself isn't the nicest place to visit at times.

Most coaster enthusiasts prefer wooden coasters to their steel counterparts and I'm no different, so both Oakwood and Blackpool Pleasure Beach are worth a visit. The main selling point for Oakwood is Megafobia, one of the best wooden coasters in Europe. Ride it on a wet day (which can be quite common in South Wales!) and it is an amazing ride. They also have Speed which is decent, a few other nice rides, and a brand new area of the park is opening this year which will improve it immensely. Blackpool Pleasure Beach holds the record for the most wooden roller-coasters in a single park, having five in total. Most of those rides are classics, and while they've seen better days they're still great fun. The Wild Mouse is definitely my favourite. Strangely, given its location and climate, Blackpool also has one of the best water rides in the world in Valhalla. This ride will take you through extreme cold and heat with fire effects and animatronics throughout. It features three splashdown drops, one of which is backwards, and comes with the warning "You will get wet. You may get soaked!" which is completely true! The park is also home to dozens of unique rides so well worth a visit.

For younger kids Drayton Manor and Chessington are popular, with Thomas Land being in the former and the latter having a zoo, a safari ride, and some gentler rides. Legoland is aimed at very young kids but still a nice place to visit.

Florida is a popular destination for Irish people, it seems many of the posters on this thread have been there. It isn't the greatest place in the world for coasters however. If you're interested in coasters then Busch Gardens, Universal Islands of Adventure and Seaworld are the best to go for. If you're going for someplace that's well themed and has great attractions, rather than coasters, then Universal Studios and Disneyworld are what you're looking for. However Disneyworld is so big now that you'd almost need two weeks to see it all. As it tries to appeal to the whole family you will find a lot of attractions that won't be to your taste. Still, it still has that Disney Magic, and the Tower of Terror is worth it alone for me.

Elsewhere in the US there are hundreds of parks to choose from, and many of them have wooden coasters, which you don't find so much in Europe. If coasters are what you're after then both Cedar Point and Six Flags Magic Mountain is what you're looking for, with around 18 coasters each in both I believe. Dollywood and Knoebells are great parks to experience well run and homely parks. I try to avoid Six Flags parks in the main as their customer service leaves a lot to be desired, however they do have some good, if repetitive, coasters.

In Europe the easiest parks to get to are probably Gardaland in Italy and Port Aventura in Salou, Spain. Both are excellent parks and well worth visiting. If you can at all get to Europa Park in Germany. It's a park hardly anyone in Ireland has heard of, but it is only second to Disney in terms of size worldwide, and it has a huge array of rides, themed lands, excellent food and best of all it's run with German efficiency!

There are loads of other parks spread out throughout Europe too, especially in Scandinavia, and most are worth a visit if you happen to be nearby.

If anyone is interested in theme parks and would like to visit a few more then it might be worth joining either the RCCGB or the ECC . Membership of either club gets you discounts on most of the UK theme parks and then either the US or European parks depending on which club you join. They also run trips to the major UK parks each year, as well as a USA Trip with the RCCGB and European trips with the ECC. On the club trips the big perks are ERS, Exclusive Ride Sessions where the club rents out a coaster or two for an hour where only club members, and not the general public, can ride. For example the RCCGB do a two day trip in November taking in both Alton Towers and Drayton Manor. On that we get an hour each on four separate rides, as well as early entry to the parks. So you can ride most of the major rides before lunchtime, something you'd never get to do as a normal visitor.

Anyway I'll shut up now!

Mahoosive fan of Theme Parks, but never have the money to go anywhere. Splashed on a 10 night holiday in Orlando in Sept '09 after the schools went back. Got the flexi-ticket, so got SeaWorld, Universal Studios & Island of Adventure, Aquatica, Busch Gardens and Wet n Wild.

SeaWorld was amazing, literally spent 10 to 11.30pm in there on the second day. Legs were in bits, and scalded alive, but brilliant day. Still not enough time in the day to do everything, and the then missus was a mad animal fan, so done all the animal shows. Manta and Kracken were brilliant, with Manta just tipping it for being better, just because you felt like Superman!

Univeral Studios was equally brilliant, Duelling Dragons (now the Triwizard Tournament Dragon Challenge) was pretty cool, and was savage to see the other coaster coming towards you. Hulk was alright, the fast start was good but the rest was only ok. The Rip-Ride-Rockit was cool, picking your own song to play as it zoomed in and out of buildings was nice. Special mention to the Simpsons ride, was very, very well done for a stationary "coaster".

Island of Adventure was more water based, but still had some savage rides in it. Loved Popeyes one, got soaked! Initially wondering why there was a section in the middle of the giant ring for you to put your valuables in to stop them getting wet! Also another mention for the Spiderman ride, while old it was still pretty good (overshadowed by the Simpsons ride, as it's really the same thing).

Aquatica was excellent, made me fall in love with Water Parks, and each tube/slide was brilliant in its own right, one of them even has an underwater section where, with the right timing, you see dolphins outside!

Wet n Wild seemed good, but she was on the blob so didn't get to experience it properly.

And my favourite, Busch Gardens. Half Theme Park, half Zoo. Some great coasters in it, SheiKra has 2 savage drops (one was 110 degrees, but now it's only 90?). Gwazi is an old school wooden coaster, and was the scariest of the lot, if only because you felt like ti was going to fall apart and was crazy loud! Kumba was great fun, and you get 3 seconds of weightlessness in it which was savage. Any my favourite of the whole holiday: Montu - savage fast, legs dangling, loads of loops, just a savage coaster. Went on it thrice!

If i ever win the lotto, i'm going on a worldwide Theme/Water Park tour!

Thorpe Park was awesome.

New ride that's nearly finished being built at Alton Towers this year.

Been to DisneyWorld Orlando as a kid and as an adult and Space Mountain will always always be my favourite ride! Wow.

Went to Eftling in the Netherlands (based on the Brothers Grimm which has a sinister new feel to it now since have seen the tv show Grimm!) and it was great especially since my kids were little and really enjoyed it.

Also went to Parc Asterix not far from Paris. Based on Asterix de Gaulle it is a good wee theme park too for anyone who is holidaying in France and wants something different to Disney.

Best Theme Park ever though was Las Vegas! Loved the rides on top of Stratosphere and also the rollercoaster in New York New York although thought it was a bit tame.

I love theme parks been too

Alton Towers - was great loved the ride called Air.
Islands of Adventure (orlando) - Loved the Hulk, dueling dragons
Disneyland (orlando) - Wasnt a favorite but loved the Aerosmith rollercoaster.
Disneyland (los Angeles) - Actually liked this better than Florida, Loved the Indiana Jones ride.
Universal Studios (Los Angeles) - Love the Jurassic Park ride and back to the future.
Wet n Wild - water park in Orlando, loved the bomb bay slide.

Really want to go to six flags magic mounatin.

So excited. Just booked to go back to Orlando in August. Haven't been sine 2009 which was the year BEFORE the first section of the Harry Potter Experience opened. As a MAJOR Harry Potter fan that was a little disappointing, especially as I had know idea when or if I'd get a chance to visit it. But myself and my best mate both turn 30 this summer so we were like f it we are going. The excitement Also gonna go on down to Busch Gardens, cos we didn't visit that the last time we were there.

As mentioned above the Simpsons ride in Universal was great! Was on it in LA about 6/7 years ago

Mike Litoris wrote:

There is also lots of new stuff on International Drive if you're staying there plus they've finally got an Applebees!!! 

I am staying on i-drive. delighted to hear they finally have an Applebees

Alton Towers is superb.

Disney Paris is good but because it's disney it is packed with 3 yearolds to trip over.

I found it a little weird as the French are fiercely proud of being French...... all that forced americana seemed to rile some of them......

what we REALLY enjoyed was Parc Asterix which is French, run by the French and full of French folk.

I loved AT but I haven't been since I was 18 so....... Corkscrew was still there last time I went I am overdue a trip.

Last time I went to Disney Spoace Mountain was closed :mad: I also got a MASSIVE (and I mean MASSIVE) migraine halfway round MK so had to cut it short and missed a whole section.

I spent most of my time in SeaWorld and in Universal DRENCHED. Between Journey to Atlantis in SeaWorld and Jurrasic Park, Jaws (RIP), Dudley DooRight's Ripsaw Falls and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barge!!!!!!! I remember getting off Journey to Atlantis the first time and I was walking like a cross between someone who'd crapped themselves and a cowboy who'd been on his horse too long I was that soaked. Fella came up behind me laughing (he was only half as wet as me - front row sucker here) and said you need a hairdryer!!!!

I LOVED IT THOUGH. Seriously excited right now.

JupiterKid wrote: »

What do posters think of Tayto Park? Is it any good? I've been thinking of taking a couple of kids there.

It's more of an activity park really. Great for kids in terms of exercise. They're actually building a roller coaster there atm but it would be nothing in comparison to the popular theme parks in Europe / US.

26sdrawkcab wrote: »

Seriously jealous!

I have been to Disneyland Paris 3 times with my sister and we both loved it. We never got to do any of this stuff when we were younger so we didn't even really care about the kids everywhere, it was just heavenly. When we walked in first the parade was on (I think it's usually on at midday), we were still trying to read our map etc so didn't even realise what was going on. You get totally caught up in the magic and can't stop smiling. We had sore faces from the smiling and laughing after the first day.
The one thing that annoyed us was local brats skipping the queues and pretending they didn't understand us giving out to them but after the first few times it happened and the staff did nothing about it we just learned to ignore it and not let it bother us, otherwise you'll get very grumpy.
We loved Space Mountain obviously and the Aerosmith rollercoaster, however, the first time we went on it for some reason the music never came on so it definitely wasn't as good without the music. The Tower of Terror was incredible - we wanted to go on that all day! Also loved the Cars ride and the Finding Nemo ride (although it was closed the last time we were there - there was a child having a full on tantrum about the ride being closed, I don't know about you but I would prefer the ride be in working order before I get on it :rolleyes:)
The Toy Story one is very childish but we still went on it loads of times because it's fun shooting things.
Oh and the haunted house ride, on the left hand side when you walk in first, is fun but not as exciting as the other rides.

When you come off Space Mountain for the first time it takes you a while to find your bearings again and you really are buzzing with adrenalin, you feel like you could do anything! You kind of feel like it's difficult to keep your feet on the ground or something.
The night after our first day at Disneyland we both kept feeling like we weren't grounded or something.
It was amazing

I was the same as you when I went to Disney in '09, grinning like a Cheshire cat from the sheer joy of FINALLY being in Disney. And we went on everything sad sods that we were, even the kiddy Dumbo ride!!! Can't wait to try Space Mountain though.

Mike Litoris wrote: »

With Orlando, just dont go June-August and avoid weekends and bank holidays if you can. Thats not so easy with kids though! May and September are still roasting, less rain than July/August and its way cheaper to get and stay there.

Ooops, we are going in August!!