Poisson
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Giant Squid
After our last sensible trip we thought we should continue and be even more sensible with a visit to another new country or two, because that's what sensible people do. After a day at work I drove down from Rotherham to Ingatestone to go and collect a wild @MattyH from going to a new station and headed to a hotel. The following day we continued around and headed for the first new cred of the trip, Mandrill Mayhem at Chesvegas.
We arrived early, parking in what we thought was MAP parking and headed for a bakery we had spotted on Google Maps (Coughlans Bakery, about a 5 min walk from CWOA at it is pretty damn good) and then back to the entrance (whatever the one near the hotels is called). Around 10 mins to opening a load of dancers arrived, performing a pointless dance in the very little space they had and blocking the entry when the turnstiles opened. Clearly someone has been to Energylandia, ignored the good ideas (an RMC or Vekoma Mine Train) and taken on board the worst idea that isn't throw rides in a haphazard pile (blocking the entrance with performers.)
Mandy's Mayhem was booked for an instant time slot we headed over and climbed aboard. Well I say climbed aboard, the queueing system is an utter joke. Why they didn't get large airgates and run it like a normal coaster, who knows? Also whoever made the station from tin forgot it gets warm in the sun and was already not great on the bridge behind the op cabin. The ride itself is decent enough, but bounces a bit, possibly from running so slowly? The bounce reduced throughout the day as the ride warmed up and sped up.
Next up was Vampire. A coaster I have too much love for thanks to nostalgia and the fact it is pretty fun. The operations however were anything but fun. There was no batcher, fine, they should block off the disabled rows and let people self batch right? Nope, you were shouted at if you self batched, the host had to accept the train, and then when it had parked they had to climb over and then batch you in to the bays. Stacking on 2 trains, well done CWOA. You do remember this used to run 3 right?
After climbing off Vampire, we were accosted by a red squirrel. Chessie is known for animals, but this one had escaped so we alerted the nearest keeper. After much explaining from said squirrel (who knew they could talk?!) we then realised we had encountered a wild @NuttySquirrel who for some unknown reason thought it a good idea to join us on part of one of our infamously sensible trips. We headed back to MM for another go and then spent a heap of time looking at the Capybaras. Because why wouldn't you? They're the best. Fact.
The next thing we did is take Matt to see Croc Drop in person for the first time. It spent all day broken and much hilarity ensued at his reaction of "That's it? Oh wow." Sadly he isn't wrong. Rattlesnake was a thing next and our reaction to the throughput mirrored what Matty had said 5 minutes earlier. Woeful. Zufari was the next ride and a new ride for me, we were lucky with the animal parts but what is that cave? UTTER BALLS. Why would you do such a thing? Whoever thought that was good needs a slap. With a nice wander through the zoo, we did Trawler Trouble (Rockin' Tug fans represent), Monkey Swinger (it was hot so the water obviously wasn't working) and Gruffalo where one of the jets didn't clear the boats and somehow got us quite wet despite only being one small jet.
We headed into the smokehouse for food and that was a mistake. I felt badly for the next couple of hours. It's such a shame the parks have got this way but I'd be suspicious of most Merlin outlets now.
To round out the day we ended up hitting Vampire again and several more rides on Maaaandy where we realised staff hadn't used the car park I had parked in so my car was pretty much on its own, on hard standing. A rarity at CWOA. We also went to see the Capybaras again on Jungle Rangers. 10/10 best ride on park because Capybaras. After bidding @NuttySquirrel farewell, we headed to the Holy Land: Big Tesco Luton.
I'm sure I saw @JAperson and @Thameslink Rail but they claim they weren't there. Liars. We then headed to the world's warmest Premier Inn for a few hours kip before our flight. Aircon, who needs it? Us apparently, us.
We arrived early, parking in what we thought was MAP parking and headed for a bakery we had spotted on Google Maps (Coughlans Bakery, about a 5 min walk from CWOA at it is pretty damn good) and then back to the entrance (whatever the one near the hotels is called). Around 10 mins to opening a load of dancers arrived, performing a pointless dance in the very little space they had and blocking the entry when the turnstiles opened. Clearly someone has been to Energylandia, ignored the good ideas (an RMC or Vekoma Mine Train) and taken on board the worst idea that isn't throw rides in a haphazard pile (blocking the entrance with performers.)
Mandy's Mayhem was booked for an instant time slot we headed over and climbed aboard. Well I say climbed aboard, the queueing system is an utter joke. Why they didn't get large airgates and run it like a normal coaster, who knows? Also whoever made the station from tin forgot it gets warm in the sun and was already not great on the bridge behind the op cabin. The ride itself is decent enough, but bounces a bit, possibly from running so slowly? The bounce reduced throughout the day as the ride warmed up and sped up.
Next up was Vampire. A coaster I have too much love for thanks to nostalgia and the fact it is pretty fun. The operations however were anything but fun. There was no batcher, fine, they should block off the disabled rows and let people self batch right? Nope, you were shouted at if you self batched, the host had to accept the train, and then when it had parked they had to climb over and then batch you in to the bays. Stacking on 2 trains, well done CWOA. You do remember this used to run 3 right?
After climbing off Vampire, we were accosted by a red squirrel. Chessie is known for animals, but this one had escaped so we alerted the nearest keeper. After much explaining from said squirrel (who knew they could talk?!) we then realised we had encountered a wild @NuttySquirrel who for some unknown reason thought it a good idea to join us on part of one of our infamously sensible trips. We headed back to MM for another go and then spent a heap of time looking at the Capybaras. Because why wouldn't you? They're the best. Fact.
The next thing we did is take Matt to see Croc Drop in person for the first time. It spent all day broken and much hilarity ensued at his reaction of "That's it? Oh wow." Sadly he isn't wrong. Rattlesnake was a thing next and our reaction to the throughput mirrored what Matty had said 5 minutes earlier. Woeful. Zufari was the next ride and a new ride for me, we were lucky with the animal parts but what is that cave? UTTER BALLS. Why would you do such a thing? Whoever thought that was good needs a slap. With a nice wander through the zoo, we did Trawler Trouble (Rockin' Tug fans represent), Monkey Swinger (it was hot so the water obviously wasn't working) and Gruffalo where one of the jets didn't clear the boats and somehow got us quite wet despite only being one small jet.
We headed into the smokehouse for food and that was a mistake. I felt badly for the next couple of hours. It's such a shame the parks have got this way but I'd be suspicious of most Merlin outlets now.
To round out the day we ended up hitting Vampire again and several more rides on Maaaandy where we realised staff hadn't used the car park I had parked in so my car was pretty much on its own, on hard standing. A rarity at CWOA. We also went to see the Capybaras again on Jungle Rangers. 10/10 best ride on park because Capybaras. After bidding @NuttySquirrel farewell, we headed to the Holy Land: Big Tesco Luton.
I'm sure I saw @JAperson and @Thameslink Rail but they claim they weren't there. Liars. We then headed to the world's warmest Premier Inn for a few hours kip before our flight. Aircon, who needs it? Us apparently, us.
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