South Trip Report - 24/10/15 - 31/10/15

[NemesisRider]

South Trip Report

This trip report contains spoilers!

Over the half term holidays this year I've finally managed to visit the two main Southern parks, Thorpe Park and Chessington World of Adventures. Also I stayed in Dorset, and while I was there I got a chance to visit some of the Merlin attractions on the Jurassic Coast. This review will mainly be focused on Thorpe and Chessington, as I was my first ever visit to Chessington and Thorpe Park was one of the most eventful days I have ever had in a theme park. However, I was a bit of an idiot and forgot to take photos, so sorry that this review is mostly just text.

Thorpe Park: Fright Nights

I've visited Thorpe Park before but this was my first ever time at their Halloween event. I began the day at Nemesis Inferno, after venturing to the Lost City to discover Colossus was closed and Saw: The Ride had a 70 minute queue. Nemesis Inferno was definitely the most reliable ride all day, and for our first ride on Ninferno we only had a 30 minute queue. Sadly the fog effects were not switched on like they were at my visit last year, but the Fright Nights specific audio in the station was a nice touch. My main complaint was that you couldn't hear the speech in the audio clearly due to the noise in the station. Ninferno seemed to be running well and I think it's probably the most under-rated ride at Thorpe Park.

Next, we decided to head to The Swarm and get at least one ride in before my night ride using fastracks. It was roughly a 45 minute queue (not as bad as the advertised hour) and, despite some rain, I did enjoy the ride. Next we got lunch at Infernos Pizza and Pasta Buffet. It's a nice enough place to eat, but the location was so crammed with chairs it became quite uncomfortable. While our lunch went down we tried the Rumba Rapids which was nice, but I consider it inferior to The Conga River Rapids as the theming is not brilliant. I also tried Angry Birds 4D, and I was pleasantly surprised by the attraction. The moving chairs and water were used to full effect and I'd say that this type of 4D cinema is much better than Ice Age: 4D even with the new film.

Next we went on Stealth for the first time this visit, it was a bit better than I remembered it to be. The Fright Nights audio here is definitely the best on any ride at the park and it felt a bit smoother than I remembered it being. Whilst a very short ride for the hour we queued, I thoroughly enjoyed Stealth but I prefer rides like the Swarm as they are longer and more immersive. After this we rode King Pig's dodgems twice. It's actually a brilliant and fun ride! Despite being only dodgems, they definitely fill a gap at Thorpe and it's a good laugh.

Finally our fastrack times slots on the 5 big rides started. We began on Nemesis Inferno which was unfortunately still in daylight. We were on in 10 minutes with our fastracks and I enjoyed the ride. I would like to be able to ride on the back row on Nemesis Inferno, but I know Disabled Pass guests use this row in case of an evacuation. Next ride on the list was Colossus. This is when things took a turn for the worst.

Colossus is unfortunately a lower capacity ride and it seemed to be running quite slowly. The fastrack queue didn't move for half an hour, and we were sure we were going to miss our time slot on Saw. We final got on after 40 minutes, which was not amazing by any stretch of the imagination. Then we went to Saw, which was closed. We were told to come back later. Then we went to The Swarm, which promptly broke down. A restraint failure meant the front row was cordoned off on both trains, and we waited roughly an hour in the pouring rain. Thankfully my night ride on Row 2 of The Swarm was the best night ride I have experienced up to now, otherwise I would not have been a content enthusiast. Things began to improve. Stealth at night was great and we walked on with our fastracks. It was finally time for me to take on all 5 mazes on Directors Cut fastrack.

Cabin In The Woods
I was incredibly nervous before Cabin, being my first ever maze at Thorpe. I got over my nerves fairly quickly and I led our small group through the maze. There were a good amount of actors and there was a decent amount of lighting effects. There were various illusions and this made it probably the most unique maze. An actor had to break character after I thought a door signed emergency exit wasn't the right way, so he told us it was the wrong door. Overall, Cabin was a good maze, I'd rate it around 7.5/10.

Saw:Alive
You can definitely tell this maze is in a permanent venue compared to some of the others. The mandatory Merlin photo at the beginning was a bit out of the character of the maze, but the maze itself had very good effects. There were a good amount of actors, smell effects, lighting effects and it was an all round good maze. The actors also were willing to get up-close and personal. I'd rate it around 7.5/10, the main issue is the conga line.

The Big Top
This maze was not really as good as I hoped. Whilst the use of psychedelic colours and lots of strobes was different, I hardly saw any actors and I wasn't really made to feel trapped or scared. Even the chainsaw was gone, replaced by a couple of sound effects. This or MBV was probably the weakest maze of the night. I'd rate it around 5.5/10, it just wasn't scary and the main characters were missing.

My Bloody Valentine
My Bloody Valentine featured uneven floors and crawl spaces more than the other mazes. There were on OK amount of actors too, but I must confess I didn't see a Miner in a boiler suit like advertised. The story wasn't really conveyed well and I would only give this the edge over the Big Top because of the variation.

Saw was up and running again so we squeezed in a night ride. Whilst not as good as The Swarm at night, Saw felt more atmospheric at night than in the day.

Blair Witch Project
Of all the Halloween attractions I'd say this was my favourite. They had atmospheric music as you walked along the route and the jumpscares in this maze were impressive. I was at the head of our group and you felt like you venturing into the unknown, even though it was mostly obvious where actors could hide. I'd easily rate this maze an 8.5/10, especially doing this maze at 9:30pm you felt like you were alone and you didn't know what was lurking. This was also the most unique attraction for Halloween in my eyes.

Finally we headed back to the hotel, completely exhausted, a little damp from the earlier downpours and I planned for our visit to Chessington the next day...

Chessington World of Adventures

My first ever day at Chessington began with us buying some fastracks for Dragon's Fury. We would later regret not buying fastracks for Vampire too, but I'll explain that later. We went straight to Vampire, only to discover it had a 70 minute queue already. I was quite shocked, but luckily Bubbleworks was right next door with only a 15 minute queue. Bubbleworks was nice, not brilliant or funny, just nice. It really feels like the soul of this ride was ripped out with Imperial Leather's sponsorship. The finale room was still impressive and obviously the highlight of the ride, but all the little jokes and humour I'd heard was on the original were gone, leaving the first portion of the ride quite flat. The whole area of Transylvania feels a bit like this, the flourishes and attention to detail that made it so great are now not utilised or emphasised, even as a first time visitor I felt that.

Next we went on the Mexicana and Rattlesnake. Rattlesnake's queue was genuinely brilliant. It's so themed and, despite some things being to decay a bit, you feel quite immersed. The operations were slow and they only loaded half of each car for some reason and the ride bashes you around a fair bit. Probably this was my least favourite of their thrill rides.
Next we went on to Scorpion Express, which I really enjoyed. Whilst Alton Towers' Runaway Mine Train has a superior layout and landscaping, Scorpion Express has some cool theming and effects. The fire was consistently running and the Scorpion was spraying water on full force. Overall they've done well with this revamp and it's a fun ride!

Zufari was the next ride and I also really enjoyed it. It's a good way to show you some of the animals whilst combining a more theme park type feel, and the finale surprised me. Whilst I'd say it would be better if you got less wet in the finale, especially at the edges, I'd definitely recommend this attraction. After this we went around the zoo (my favourite was the Big Cats, especially the Tigers and Ocelot) before getting lunch. We went for a quick run-through Hocus Pocus Hall to see
what it was all about then headed for lunch at the Azteca Hotel.

Lunch at the Azteca is probably my favourite lunch I've ever had at a theme park. There was a huge range of choice and it was all very tasty. Also, the ice cream was good t round of the meal. The area was very relaxed and felt miles away from the busy theme park. The small display every 15 minutes was also a nice touch.

After lunch we went to Mystic East and rode the two attractions there, Peeking Heights and Dragon Falls. Peeking Heights was good but was running in a strange way (only 6 pods used) and Dragon Falls is probably my favourite Flume I've tried up to now. Some of the brilliant theming like the heads has been gone for a while, but despite this it's a well themed ride and also you don't get too wet. Next we fastracked Dragon's Fury twice. I didn't know how much better it was than Sonic until my first ride. Fury is much smoother, better paced and better themed (the dragon animatronic at the entrance was quite good), but I think you spin marginally less.

Finally, the last ride of the day, Vampire at night. The queue was an advertised 100 minutes. That time dragged by. The queue is very dark and cold and it hardly felt like it was moving. We ended up queuing for 2 hours but the ride was very good at night. It's a little on the rough side, but fun nonetheless. We finally headed back after a busy two days.

Jurassic Coast Attractions

At the Jurassic Coast there is a SEAlife and an observation Tower.

The SEAlife is probably my favourite I have visited so far. It's got everything your standard SEAlife has (clownfish, turtles) but with a few small rides including a nice little Flume called Escape From Crocodile Creek and animals like Sealions and Otters. During the half term they also had an external team in who did a display with snakes, spiders and other creepy-crawlies. It's a little more expensive than the other SEAlifes in the chain, but definitely worth it. I'd consider visiting on a warm and sunny day as a lot of this attraction is outdoors.

The Observation Tower gave some quite good views, it had some informative voiceover and (to the delight of my inner Towers fanboy) it had the Air music used between 2006 and 2007. If you've never herd it before, click here, it's a lovely piece and I always thought it was a shame it was never used.

Thank you for reading! Well done if you made it to the end! :P

[Stan.H]

Believe it or not, I was at the Jurassic Coast the exact same time as you!! I also did the Sea Life and Observation Tower!!

[NemesisRider]

Believe it or not, I was at the Jurassic Coast the exact same time as you!! I also did the Sea Life and Observation Tower!!

That's interesting Emporium! What exact date? I did SEALife and the Jurrassic Coast attractions on the 27th of October.

[Stan.H]

26th