blackholes crow
TS Member
Ill be there on sun only as ive only got enough money for 1 day out 
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MINI MEET: Alton Towers 5th May / Drayton Manor 6th May
WillG
TS Member
OK, firstly, sorry if I caused any confusion on the Sunday and people were hanging around waiting for me, as I thought I'd mentioned, I couldn't make that because of family commitments, though based on how much I enjoyed yesterday, I'd have liked to have been there. I may have been a bit useless this year with saying I'll be at trips and then forgetting - and I hate when people do that, so I'll make a point of improving in future, sorry again guys
Onto the happier notes I felt were worth sharing - you may have picked up on the fact that I, like a lot of people, don't hold Drayton Manor in particularly high regard, and was only really there to enjoy the weather and the sociable aspect, both of which were largely responsible for making it one of the best trips to the 'other' Staffordshire park I've ever had.
It was only my second meet as you probably gathered, but the group was so impressively welcoming that I already felt like a part of it by the time we were in the queue for the second ride - the Skyride made memorable by Sam whose loud mouth and uncontrollable libido were once again on fine form throughout the day!
It was also nice to meet Rowe, who no doubt regretted her moniker as 'friendliest meet member' since she seemed to keep getting stuck with me every time I was either too hot, too lazy or too keen to avoid pain to go on a ride - I do talk a LOT once I get over my initial shyness, so hope I wasn't too annoying
As for the rides themselves, G-Force was... every bit as woeful as I remembered it after 5 years of refusing to ride, Shockwave wasn't overly horrendous, Verkoma's famous Haunting and its fixed queue line effects remain hysterical, albeit for all the wrong reasons (especially when they've batched too many people and it's a struggle to sit down!), I'm still TERRIBLE at the shooty dark ride thing and the rapids remain downright syphilitic.
It wasn't all bad news though - despite the vile, bright, loud, hot claustrophobic indoor queue line during which I tried my best to shutdown my mind entirely, Ben10's still pretty good for what it is and I enjoyed Apocalypse a lot more than I remembered doing, perhaps because it's a long time since I've done a drop tower, so it had regained its shock value. Maelstrom's also worthy of a mention as it's very good, but spinning rides whilst already hot and dehydrated proved to be a mistake, and I did have to sit in the shade for a while soon afterwards. Hope dreadful, dreadful Pirate Adventure proved to be worth the wait for those of you daft enough to brave it!!
Also worthy of praise (beside the rare British sunshine) was the park's decision to extend opening - it was 7 (alas, I had to leave early as I knew I had a tough first day back at work ahead of me) when I left, and may well have been extended further - as many were saying, Merlin, if guest satisfaction is your thing these days, take note! The Burgery place where we had lunch was pretty good as well, considering how dire Drayton's food was in years gone by - the long queue was dealt with very efficiently, it was just a shame we ended up eating in a gloomy corner! ALTHOUGH, for those who were following the saga of Will's attempt to get an ice cream, I never DID get my bloody Cornetto - the stand at which I finally found one, next to the Buffalo coaster SOLD ITS LAST ONE TO THE FAMILY IN FRONT OF ME IN THE QUEUE. I settled for a magnum, and wept silently The £5 card machine thing was a bit of a kick in the balls as well, although it turned out I *did* need 3 water bottles just for myself - Rowe, you owe me a drink next time I see you
However, it wasn't the rides, park, weather or LACK OF CORNETTOS that made the day - I've said it before, and I'll say it again - after 8 years with a nameless coaster group with which I finally became disillusioned, I'm amazed and delighted in equal measures by how welcoming this community is to new faces; I'm still not great with names, so I'm not going to list and compliment everyone but with maybe one exception, I managed to exchange conversation and a laugh with everyone at some point over the day, which may be a challenge at a larger meet! The ratio of 'geeky' theme park chat (mainly... gently mocking Drayton!) to general banter was just about right as well (in fact, I've been neglecting the forum recently, and realised I was a bit out of touch, though I think the fact that I've been an Alton enthusiast since 13 years now worked in my favour!) and again, by the time I left, I felt like a part of the furniture - I've been tagged at places on Facebook and everything
Conclusively, cheers Sam and Dan (there's 2 names I won't forget!) for organising, and everyone else for being nice people and keeping me amused for a day, basically And will I see you on the 18th? Well, to revive a running joke from Monday, that all depends on 'circumstances'. But I'd say it's looking likely
Onto the happier notes I felt were worth sharing - you may have picked up on the fact that I, like a lot of people, don't hold Drayton Manor in particularly high regard, and was only really there to enjoy the weather and the sociable aspect, both of which were largely responsible for making it one of the best trips to the 'other' Staffordshire park I've ever had.
It was only my second meet as you probably gathered, but the group was so impressively welcoming that I already felt like a part of it by the time we were in the queue for the second ride - the Skyride made memorable by Sam whose loud mouth and uncontrollable libido were once again on fine form throughout the day!
It was also nice to meet Rowe, who no doubt regretted her moniker as 'friendliest meet member' since she seemed to keep getting stuck with me every time I was either too hot, too lazy or too keen to avoid pain to go on a ride - I do talk a LOT once I get over my initial shyness, so hope I wasn't too annoying
As for the rides themselves, G-Force was... every bit as woeful as I remembered it after 5 years of refusing to ride, Shockwave wasn't overly horrendous, Verkoma's famous Haunting and its fixed queue line effects remain hysterical, albeit for all the wrong reasons (especially when they've batched too many people and it's a struggle to sit down!), I'm still TERRIBLE at the shooty dark ride thing and the rapids remain downright syphilitic.
It wasn't all bad news though - despite the vile, bright, loud, hot claustrophobic indoor queue line during which I tried my best to shutdown my mind entirely, Ben10's still pretty good for what it is and I enjoyed Apocalypse a lot more than I remembered doing, perhaps because it's a long time since I've done a drop tower, so it had regained its shock value. Maelstrom's also worthy of a mention as it's very good, but spinning rides whilst already hot and dehydrated proved to be a mistake, and I did have to sit in the shade for a while soon afterwards. Hope dreadful, dreadful Pirate Adventure proved to be worth the wait for those of you daft enough to brave it!!
Also worthy of praise (beside the rare British sunshine) was the park's decision to extend opening - it was 7 (alas, I had to leave early as I knew I had a tough first day back at work ahead of me) when I left, and may well have been extended further - as many were saying, Merlin, if guest satisfaction is your thing these days, take note! The Burgery place where we had lunch was pretty good as well, considering how dire Drayton's food was in years gone by - the long queue was dealt with very efficiently, it was just a shame we ended up eating in a gloomy corner! ALTHOUGH, for those who were following the saga of Will's attempt to get an ice cream, I never DID get my bloody Cornetto - the stand at which I finally found one, next to the Buffalo coaster SOLD ITS LAST ONE TO THE FAMILY IN FRONT OF ME IN THE QUEUE. I settled for a magnum, and wept silently
The £5 card machine thing was a bit of a kick in the balls as well, although it turned out I *did* need 3 water bottles just for myself - Rowe, you owe me a drink next time I see you However, it wasn't the rides, park, weather or LACK OF CORNETTOS that made the day - I've said it before, and I'll say it again - after 8 years with a nameless coaster group with which I finally became disillusioned, I'm amazed and delighted in equal measures by how welcoming this community is to new faces; I'm still not great with names, so I'm not going to list and compliment everyone but with maybe one exception, I managed to exchange conversation and a laugh with everyone at some point over the day, which may be a challenge at a larger meet! The ratio of 'geeky' theme park chat (mainly... gently mocking Drayton!) to general banter was just about right as well (in fact, I've been neglecting the forum recently, and realised I was a bit out of touch, though I think the fact that I've been an Alton enthusiast since 13 years now worked in my favour!) and again, by the time I left, I felt like a part of the furniture - I've been tagged at places on Facebook and everything
Conclusively, cheers Sam and Dan (there's 2 names I won't forget!) for organising, and everyone else for being nice people and keeping me amused for a day, basically
And will I see you on the 18th? Well, to revive a running joke from Monday, that all depends on 'circumstances'. But I'd say it's looking likely 
Rowe
TS Member
WillG said:It was also nice to meet Rowe, who no doubt regretted her moniker as 'friendliest meet member' since she seemed to keep getting stuck with me every time I was either too hot, too lazy or too keen to avoid pain to go on a ride - I do talk a LOT once I get over my initial shyness, so hope I wasn't too annoying
Ahaha, I'll have you know I did not regret my moniker yesterday and enjoyed your company! I hope we'll be seeing you very soon providing the CIRCUMSTANCES!
WillG
TS Member
^
Good
So, repeatedly spraying someone with suncream means you like them, I'll remember that On a serious and related note though, I think I've got you to thank for not being mocked for having a glow-in-the-dark-sunburned bald spot in the office today - there's dermatologists out there would call you a lifesaver
Good
So, repeatedly spraying someone with suncream means you like them, I'll remember that
On a serious and related note though, I think I've got you to thank for not being mocked for having a glow-in-the-dark-sunburned bald spot in the office today - there's dermatologists out there would call you a lifesaver
Rowe
TS Member
WillG said:^
Good
So, repeatedly spraying someone with suncream means you like them, I'll remember that
Eeer, OI! That was not intentional! That was my own idiotic misalignment with the suncream spray!
TheMan
TS Member
WillG said:
Hang on. You cannot get to that word, and not have mentioned faff?
Is there something at DMP that is anti-faff, or did the baking sun evapourate the faff?
No.
Something is not right.
You didn't go on a TST meet Will, they must have been imposters!
WillG
TS Member
OK, you make a good point - so there was faff - but not of an unendurable level - bearing in mind I've attended other group meets in the past where the first ride happens over an hour after meet-up, with a member with a penchant for showing up late and proceeding to get herself locked in a toilet...!TheMan said:
I was early at the start of the day to beat traffic queues and make meeting up easy, so the only major faff really happened when the group split after lots of us decided we didn't fancy standing in a stationary queue for dreadful Pirate Adventure, and there was minor confusion about what we were doing instead and who was/wasn't re-riding Shockwave, but as I was preoccupied by my fruitless quest for a Cornetto soft at that point, I didn't really notice. Besides, it's not a huge issue at a park like Drayton, especially with extended opening hours, as nobody (least of all me!) was very bothered about ride count, so sociable faff was as good a way of using the time as any
[...but I'm new, and trying to make a good impression here and focusing on the positives - Drayton's usually a park where that's easier said than done!!!]