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Most noteworthy UK park you haven’t visited and most noteworthy UK coaster you haven’t ridden

Matt N

TS Member
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Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
Hi guys. I’d imagine that most of us know the major UK parks fairly well by this point, but there must surely be parks that we haven’t visited or coasters we haven’t ridden within the UK for most of us on here. So my question to you today is; what is the most noteworthy UK park you haven’t visited, and what is the most noteworthy UK coaster you haven’t ridden?

I’ll get the ball rolling with my answers.

Personally, I’m from the the Forest of Dean/Gloucestershire (in the South West), and I have visited all 4 UK Merlin parks, as well as Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Paultons Park, Drayton Manor, Oakwood Theme Park, West Midlands Safari Park and South Pier Blackpool.

With that in mind, I’d personally say that:
  • The most noteworthy UK park I’m yet to visit is probably Flamingo Land. It has the joint largest coaster selection in Britain, with 10 coasters in total and a few noteworthy thrill coasters, but I’ve never set foot in the park in my life; Yorkshire is a very long way from the South West!
  • There were a few candidates I considered for most noteworthy UK coaster I’m yet to ride. If The Ultimate at Lightwater Valley were operating, that would win the title quite comfortably, and if it reopens, it will regain the title, but with Ultimate currently SBNO, that does make this harder for me to pinpoint. I’d probably go with Odyssey at Fantasy Island; it’s the country’s 3rd tallest coaster, one of the world’s tallest full-circuit inverted coasters, and a true UK coaster icon, but I’ve never set foot in Fantasy Island. Once again, Skegness is unfortunately a very long way from the South West!
But what is the most noteworthy UK park you haven’t visited, and what is the most noteworthy UK coaster you haven’t ridden?
 
I'd also say Flamingo Land (although recent reviews are putting me off) and for coaster it would be Odyssey as well (until Inversion opens at Flamingo Land).
Flamingo Land is coming up as over 3.5 hours drive so perhaps not for now.
 
Used the past 2 years to hit a number of parks I'd never been to before.

However the two big parks left are Flamingo Land and Oakwood. With Flamingo Land since 2019 its been a case of I'll wait until the new coaster opens.

Specific coasters - Megafobia, Scenic Railway in Margate (frustratingly I'd planned to visit when planning my early 2020 itinerary), and The Ultimate which I'll probably never get now always thought I'd go to Lightwater Valley as part of a trip to Flamingo Land.
Edit: Forgot to add Shockwave at Drayton Manor, it didn't operate the day I visited in 2020.
 
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The Ultimate would be the most note-worthy UK coaster I didn't ride.

Also back when I went to Oakwood I was still scared of some rides so didn't do Megafobia.

Would be nice to go to Flamingoland just because Velocity is unique to the UK.
 
I always try new theme parks when I holiday in Devon with the misses and 2 kids. We always go to Watermouth Castle which I always enjoyed but we also visited Milky Way last time and after watching Shawn’s vlog I hope to visit the Big Sheep or Crealy this summer.,
 
Flamingo is the biggest park missing.

The scenic at Margate is probably the biggest thing I'm missing now
 
I went to Margate and wasn’t impressed. It was on a Sunday and the park was open but the coaster was closed and we had a look round the park and nothing else was worth buying tokens for so left within half hour.
 
Sorry to add to the chorus of Flamingo land virgins but I've also never been. I used to travel to Yorkshire every other week for work (Bradford) but never thought to pop in to Flamingo Land. I've never been to Lightwater either so the Ultimate would also be my most noteworthy missing coaster. I'd also like to do Roller Coaster at Great Yarmouth. When I had the same job as above, I used to travel that way every few weeks and went to get in Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach but it had just closed for the evening.

Living so close, I do frequent Brean (well it is 9 miles from my house) and Crealey which I'd imagine are quite rare for many due to where they're situated. Neither have noteworthy coasters though.
 
Living so close, I do frequent Brean (well it is 9 miles from my house) and Crealey which I'd imagine are quite rare for many due to where they're situated. Neither have noteworthy coasters though.
Interestingly, Brean and Funland at the Tropicana in Weston are actually my closest two theme parks, yet I've never been to either... my dad's told me that me and him could remedy that this summer, though, as it is literally an hour from our house; he's said that me and him could tick off Brean at some point this summer, so that's a big one crossed off the list!

Great Yarmouth, as well as nearby Pleasurewood Hills, are two other glaring omissions from my UK count... getting there is easier said than done, though, as Great Yarmouth is the best part of 5 hours from where I'm based if going by car. To put that in some perspective, that's only a little shorter than my total journey to Europa Park in April is taking, and that includes the 3 hour drive to London Stansted (2h 57m from Gloucestershire to Stansted by car, 1h 25m from Stansted to Baden-Baden by plane and 45m from Baden-Baden to Europa by car = roughly 5h 7m... Great Yarmouth is 4h 42m according to Maps, and that's at 9:30 at night when traffic is likely low).
 
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Err not sure on the park? Maybe M&D's for being Scotland's only? I've done all the major and several minor parks (All the Merlin, Paultons, BPB, Mingo, Adventure Island, Oakwood being the obvious with a load of smaller parks)

Coaster would be Scenic at Margate. If it ever opens.
 
OMG I been past Tropicana so many times on my way to Butlins and from the outside it looks like a run down kids adventure play ground. Didn’t have a clue it was a Zoo.
 
Amazingly I still haven't visited Chessington at the age of 36 despite being really into theme parks since the age of about 9. This is mostly due to being a Northerner. Obviously I have seen numerous POV's and know a lot about the park now but never experienced it in the flesh.

That is all about to change with the B&M coming though. I'm a B&M fanboy so a visit in the near future is pretty much nailed on for me.

As for the coaster.....I suppose it would have to be Vampire or Dragon's Fury wouldn't it? Would like to experience both rides but can't say it keeps me awake at night knowing I haven't.
 
Chessington is an amusing one...
I haven't been in half a century, back when it was a real zoo.
Done the park, but there were no coasters .
Tried (very hard) to get the kids I worked with to go when the Vampire opened, but they wanted Alton/Blackpool...and I was repeatedly outvoted.
Curses to voting democracy, facism would have gifted me a Vampire.
 
Probably Blackgang Chine.

As for many, Scenic Railway in Margate the most notable coaster. Doubt I will ever get on that now.
 
Interestingly, Brean and Funland at the Tropicana in Weston are actually my closest two theme parks, yet I've never been to either... my dad's told me that me and him could remedy that this summer, though, as it is literally an hour from our house; he's said that me and him could tick off Brean at some point this summer, so that's a big one crossed off the list!

Great Yarmouth, as well as nearby Pleasurewood Hills, are two other glaring omissions from my UK count... getting there is easier said than done, though, as Great Yarmouth is the best part of 5 hours from where I'm based if going by car. To put that in some perspective, that's only a little shorter than my total journey to Europa Park in April is taking, and that includes the 3 hour drive to London Stansted (2h 57m from Gloucestershire to Stansted by car, 1h 25m from Stansted to Baden-Baden by plane and 45m from Baden-Baden to Europa by car = roughly 5h 7m... Great Yarmouth is 4h 42m according to Maps, and that's at 9:30 at night when traffic is likely low).
Yeah, the way the motorway and rail networks are built like arterys out of London, it's easy to travel North West in England but awful to travel North East from where we are. The coastal areas of Norfolk and Suffolk take similar time to get to as the Scotland border!

Grand Pier, Tropicana and Brean can easily be done in a day. Park in the Sovereign Centre, everything on both the pier and Tropicana (I'm old enough to remember Tropicana as a waterpark) can be done in around 3 hours total with a 5-10 min walk in-between them along the promenade. Brean is then a 15 min drive if you use the back route (A370 to Bleadon then down Accommodation road) and that can be knocked off in 2 hours if not visiting the waterpark (yes, Brean has it's own small indoor waterpark).
 
Yeah, the way the motorway and rail networks are built like arterys out of London, it's easy to travel North West in England but awful to travel North East from where we are. The coastal areas of Norfolk and Suffolk take similar time to get to as the Scotland border!

Grand Pier, Tropicana and Brean can easily be done in a day. Park in the Sovereign Centre, everything on both the pier and Tropicana (I'm old enough to remember Tropicana as a waterpark) can be done in around 3 hours total with a 5-10 min walk in-between them along the promenade. Brean is then a 15 min drive if you use the back route (A370 to Bleadon then down Accommodation road) and that can be knocked off in 2 hours if not visiting the waterpark (yes, Brean has it's own small indoor waterpark).
I was surprised at how difficult the East Coast is to reach, particularly on my current primary travel mode of the train; I think the journey to Great Yarmouth from my local station went something like:
  • Train from local station to Newport
  • Train from Newport to London Paddington
  • Tube from London Paddington to London Liverpool Street
  • London Liverpool Street to Norwich
  • Norwich to Great Yarmouth
The journey all-in would be nearly 7.5 hours, and would cost about £150 even with my railcard discount… even leaving my local at 6:04am, I wouldn’t reach Great Yarmouth until 1:24pm

Cheers for the Brean & Weston tips! I haven’t been to Weston since I was a little kid… last time I went was when we camped in Brean Sands when I was 7 or 8! That’s also the first and last time we ever went camping as a family, as we discovered we’re not really camping types, but that’s besides the point…
 
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