This summer I went on a coaster tour across the UK with the American Coaster Enthusiasts (
ACE). A coaster tour is an organized trip where you're taken from park to park, usually on a bus. I've done
a few trips with other clubs in
the past and they're always a great time. This was my first tour with ACE, and it was huge! Four buses, 171 people, and more than 40 coasters over a week long trip. There was also an add-on that included even more parks, but I skipped that so I could have time to
hang out with friends in London instead.
The coaster portion of my trip started with a visit to
Thorpe Park with my friend Janice. Thorpe was in the add-on portion of the tour that I was skipping, but it was really close to Heathrow airport so we made a quick trip to get the credits. It was a decent park. It has some of the best coasters in the UK, but felt kind of like a Six Flags and was absolutely crawling with teens and pre-teens. When did I become a crotchety old man, complaining about teenagers? Get off my lawn! But we had a good time and I really enjoyed a couple of the coasters.
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| We got a fast pass for the 5 big rides, and it was VERY worth it. We got one ride on each coaster without waiting. This saved us hours of time. |
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| Swarm was my favorite coaster at Thorpe. It has a post-apocalyptic theme. |
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| Stealth was short but great - except when I almost lost my fitbit and Janice almost lost her necklace because there was so much airtime at the top! |
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| Nemesis Inferno was a fun inverted coaster. |
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| Saw: the Ride was OK but too rough. |
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| I really disliked Colossus. It was really rough and uncomfortable! Some new lap-bar trains would do wonders. |
After spending a
few days in London, I joined up with the ACE group at the
Radisson Blu Heathrow and the tour officially began. Our first park was
Paulton's Park in Hampshire. It's primarily a children's park, but I was pleasantly surprised. It has some decent theming, and a couple of small but enjoyable coasters. There was an entire section themed after a cartoon pig! The park is actively expanding, and we could see the construction site of two new family roller coasters they're building for 2016.
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| Cobra was a great family coaster with more forces than I expected. |
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| The frog on the front of this coaster looked bored. "Well, I guess this ride is OK." |
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| Another coaster! This section of the park looked brand new and was very colorful. |
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| The Peppa Pig section has some unique rides, like this cloud-themed spinning tower/wheel combo. |
After leaving Paulton's, we made a stop at the the famous rocks of Stonehenge. It's a UNESCO world heritage site. The archeological site was neat, and certainly a "bucket list" opportunity. Unfortunately it was swarming with tourists - thanks in part to our 4 busloads. I had to carefully time my photos to try to avoid the crowds.
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| Welcome to Stonehenge! |
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| The classic view. |
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| You can see how the site would inspire wonder in ancient peoples. |
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| They even had some Stonehenge beers! As the frog coaster at Paulton's would say, "I guess it's OK." |
After a bit of a drive, a night outside of
Newport, and another drive over to Wales, we arrived at
Oakwood in Pembrokeshire. This was another surprising park. It was quite hilly, with an odd selection of rides and interesting scenery. Morning rain didn't stop us from enjoying ERT on Megaphobia, and once the rain let up all of the other rides eventually opened.
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| England is rainy. This was the typical view from the bus. |
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| We've arrived at rainy Oakwood Park! |
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| Time for some morning rides on Megaphobia in the rain. |
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| A wet exclusive ride time session! |
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| Speed was a fantastic coaster, possibly the surprise of the trip. Intense drop and amazing airtime over the second hill. |
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| The inside of a Peter Pan walk-through. |
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| An interesting thing about being in Wales - a lot of the signs were also in Welsh! |
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| A shooting game. This is supposed to be Mississippi. Seems accurate! |
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| Tiny car on a big loop. Wheee! |
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| The Treetops coaster glides through the trees. They could only load the back half of the train because the brakes were still wet and they didn't want the train to coast right through the station! |
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| This was the line of enthusiasts when the kiddie coaster finally opened after the rain stopped. :) |
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| A powered ride in the Neverland section. |
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| The giant water ride. Down the drop.... |
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| ...SPLASH! |
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| Back to bus #4. Bullocks! Our bus driver was the best. |
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| See ya later, 5 flags over Wales. I mean, Oakwood. |
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| A beer at the hotel bar to close out the day. |
The next day we got up bright and early for our drive to my most anticipated park of the trip:
Alton Towers! The site of the park is very unique - it was the former seat of the Earls of Shrewsbury, and the center of the park is dominated by the namesake towers. Parts of the structure date back to an
11th century Norman castle, but most of it was built as a hunting lodge and later a grand estate in the 1800s. Because of this historic significance, the entire park is a conservation area, and no rides can be built above the tree line. You might think this would limit roller coaster development, but Alton Towers has used this to great advantage by burying many of its major rides in blasted-out canyons or with huge underground tunnels. With the great scenery, unique rides, and the best coaster in the UK (Nemesis), Alton Towers is one of the best parks I've ever visited. Luckily, we had a full day and a half to enjoy this great park.
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| Welcome to Alton Towers! |
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| The beautiful grounds of the park, with the towers/castle in the background. |
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| A weird little guy in the kiddie section of the park. |
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| Our first stop, the brand new kiddie coaster, themed after an aquatic cartoon. The whale even spouted water. I think this was the longest line of the entire trip, at 45 minutes. |
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| Sonic Spinball was a really fun spinning coaster. |
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| Unfortunately Smiler was still closed. Very impressive looking coaster. |
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| Oblivion was the world's first vertical drop coaster, opening in 1998. It's only 65 feet tall, but it plunges 180 feet into an underground tunnel. |
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| The station of Oblivion. This is a very high capacity ride. |
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| A real castle. I can't believe this is in a theme park! |
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| A Charlie and the Chocolate Factory boat ride. |
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| The creepy station of Thirteen. The coaster features a special surprise in the dark. "If you go down to the woods today you'd better not go alone." |
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| The tracks of Rita and the entrance of Thirteen. |
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| Sky ride time! |
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| Rita from the sky ride. |
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| NEMESIS! |
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| This ride is incredible. The drops come just inches from rocks and waterfalls. This turn is my favorite part of the ride. |
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| The first corkscrew flies above the path before you dive into the canyon. |
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| Me at Nemesis! Definitely one of my top 10 steel coasters. |
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| The first "drop" casually builds up speed down the hillside before you fly into the canyon. |
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| The ride is themed after an alien monster uncovered during an archaeological dig. Most of the ride is buried in this big pit. |
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| Whee! Watch out for the ground! |
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| Such a cool ride. I rode it 20 times. |
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| Nemesis track and the alien monster - see his eye on the right? |
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| The last picture of Nemesis. I promise. :) |
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| Right next to Nemesis is Air, the world's first B&M flying coaster. It's a decent ride. |
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| Lots of fun flips on this one. |
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| Inside the towers. |
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| Really cool grounds around the towers. |
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| They had a fun powered mine train too. |
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| And FREE CASH! Ok, that's just what they call ATMs in England. |
After a fantastic first few days of the tour, our next stop was Blackpool Pleasure Beach, home to more coasters than any other park in England. For that park and the rest of the tour, check out
part two of my trip.
