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Top 5 attractions you miss

Benjsh

Benjsh

TS Member
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Steel Vengeance
Your top 5 most adored/missed attractions of years gone by and why. (Doesn't have to be just coasters)

Here's mine:

1. Jaws @ Universal Studios Florida. Probably still my favourite ride of all time and gutted I only ever rode it twice. It was awesome. Felt so real and the atmosphere on the ride hasn't been replicated since for me.

2. Extra TERRORestrial Alien Encounter @ WDW.
This ride holds a special place in our family. On our two trips to Florida we absolutely loved it so much and I have to confess the very first time was utterly terrifying. I was 10.

3. Tower of Terror @ Camelot
Schwarzkopf classic and I think it was the first coaster that I went on that went upside down. It was a local park growing up so we were there lots in summer.

4. Black hole @ Towers
Again a bit of a family favourite. It wasn't up there with the ride at Disney it tried to be but it had so much charm and most of all it was so fun. Not a great fan of the Smiler really which eventually replaced it.

5. Pirate Adventure @ Drayton
Huge huge fan of all things Pirates in general and the POTC ride at Disney. This obviously didn't quite match up to that standard as you'd expect but it was still a fantastic knock off if you will. Our family loved it and we'd always get 3-4 rides in on our early visits to the park.
 
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Just because I'm old, and they were the finest hours of my youth, The Reel, Monster and Fun House at BPB.
All within yards of each other, each one sadly missed and so cool.
Then the Wild Mouse...probable overall winner here, then the Cyclone at Southport, so many weekends of early childhood...if I was good all weekend I got to ride the Cyclone, so it was a very rare treat.
 
rob666 said:
Just because I'm old, and they were the finest hours of my youth, The Reel, Monster and Fun House at BPB.
All within yards of each other, each one sadly missed and so cool.
Then the Wild Mouse...probable overall winner here, then the Cyclone at Southport, so many weekends of early childhood...if I was good all weekend I got to ride the Cyclone, so it was a very rare treat.
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Cyclone was amazing. Must have ridden it over 100 times easy. Once got stung by a wasp on it in the tunnel too. Never live that down with one of my mates. He still brings it up 20 years later.

I know it's an unpopular opinion on here but never cared that greatly for the mouse (I know I know I'm sorry). Always found it far too rough even years and years ago.
 
My top Cyclone tale.
Massive cloud swarm of Ladybirds...literally millions of them, flew in...I think off the sea, and covered every flat surface on the coast, whole cars were smothered.
Cyclone went round slower and slower, crushed bugs everywhere.
Virtually stopped on the first turnaround by the sea, was scared we would end up trapped up there with a zillion bugs.
Think they closed the whole place hours early.
The wise sheltered in the Fun House, which ended up absolutely packed.
Very Hitchcock.
Around early 1970s.
 
Here's mine

1. The Black Hole @ Alton Towers. Especially back in 1987 when they had it in total darkness. It was ruined in later years with new restraints and lighting up the track

2. The (Wooden) Wild Mouse @ Blackpool Pleasure Beach. May be small, but very nippy, plenty of airtime.

3. The Log Flume @ Alton Towers. Again Especially back in 1987 when they had the dinosaurs in the wooded section with the roaring sound effects and the second drop was in total darkness unlike recent years where they let a lot of sunlight in.

4. The Pirate Adventure @ Drayton Manor. I do love my dark rides and this was probably one of the best in the UK.

5. Toyland Tours @ Alton Towers. As I said, I do like my dark rides and this was one of my guilty pleasures.
 
Jeez that sounds both traumatic and wonderfully surreal at the same time.

I've been stung on another coaster too sadly. I got stung on my cheek on Great Bear at Hershey park back in 2009. Great park and great coaster too. Didn't ruin it for me.
 
RoyJess said:
Here's mine

1. The Black Hole @ Alton Towers. Especially back in 1987 when they had it in total darkness. It was ruined in later years with new restraints and lighting up the track

2. The (Wooden) Wild Mouse @ Blackpool Pleasure Beach. May be small, but very nippy, plenty of airtime.

3. The Log Flume @ Alton Towers. Again Especially back in 1987 when they had the dinosaurs in the wooded section with the roaring sound effects and the second drop was in total darkness unlike recent years where they let a lot of sunlight in.

4. The Pirate Adventure @ Drayton Manor. I do love my dark rides and this was probably one of the best in the UK.

5. Toyland Tours @ Alton Towers. As I said, I do like my dark rides and this was one of my guilty pleasures.
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Toysland Tours is a shout. Another beloved ride I sadly miss. Also add in Thunderlooper from Towers and the old Corky obviously. Even New Beast as well. In fact Towers really have had a whole host of amazing attractions in fairness. Probably why it's such a loved place still despite the times.
 
Just done a quick search...1976 was the year of the ladybird invasions...many of them during that long hot summer.
Scary as hell, far worse than The Birds!...in your hair and mouth, smeared windscreen all the way home...they darkened the sky.
 
rob666 said:
Just done a quick search...1976 was the year of the ladybird invasions...many of them during that long hot summer.
Scary as hell, far worse than The Birds!...in your hair and mouth, smeared windscreen all the way home...they darkened the sky.
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Absolutely surreal. Good old Southport eh?

Pleasureland was quite the thriving park in my childhood. Used to be very busy and had a good selection of rides for such a small seaside park. Used to love the Pirate Ship and the Hall of Mirrors with my mates.
 
1. Bubbleworks, Chessington 1990-2006 - before the Imperial leather nonsense. I was on the last ever circuit on a special annual pass event before that awful retheme.

2. Wicked Witches Haunt, Thorpe Park - it's always been my local park and this used to terrify me as a kid. The witch animatronic on the entrance was an amazing piece of theming.

3. Corkscrew, Alton Towers - the sound of the lift hill was iconic. I can still hear it when I walk around Dark forest!

4. Loggers Leap, Thorpe Park - my favourite ever log flume and a huge part of my childhood.

5. Slammer, Thorpe Park - yes a very recent one but this was genuinely my second favourite ride in the UK after Nemesis.
 
1. Knightmare, Camelot - Adored this ride, was my UK No.2 when it shut. Was hopeful Jetline may ease my pain a little but it just isn't the same, being so heavily trimmed for the end section.

2. Wild Mouse, BPB - Gutted! Hadn't ridden it for about 4 years either :(

3. Nightmare Niagara, American Adventure - Cracking log flume with some really nice themeing up until you got to the added on part. I'll forgive them for that though, as that drop was just insane for a log flume!

4. Eurosat, Europa Park - Fair enough, I haven't rode the new version yet and the layout is almost identical, but it looks to be quite a change of theme. Will always have a soft spot for the original.

5. Black Hole, Alton Towers - Really fun coaster, sure it's just a Jet Star 2 but all coasters are better in the dark right? :)
 
1. King Kong, Universal Orlando.
2. The Black Hole, AT.
3. The Great Movie Ride, MGM studios (it's proper name) WDW.
4. Corkscrew, AT.
5. Cat and Mouse, a wild mouse coater in the car park behind the train station in Weymouth.
 
Benjsh said:
2. Extra TERRORestrial Alien Encounter @ WDW.
This ride holds a special place in our family. On our two trips to Florida we absolutely loved it so much and I have to confess the very first time was utterly terrifying. I was 10..
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Me too man, me too. Holy balls this scared the living hell out of me.
 
1. Wild Mouse, BPB. Almost impossible to put into words how much I loved that ride, its still too raw to even think about :(

2. Texas Tornado (formerly 'Cyclone'), Frontierland Morecambe. A great, out & back woodie, especially at night when the ride disappeared out into the trees in the pitch black before coming back. Chuffed that I got to ride the backwards-facing car in the late 90s. Recently found a pic of me on this, will upload sometime. I wish BPB would do this on Big Dipper or Streak now and then, NOT on Nash though, that would be terrifying.

3. Log Flume, BPB. Always my favourite flume. It went so fast, even on the flat parts, compared to other flumes. The very fact that it was elevated above the lake added something to the experience, with the Tom Sawyer rafts passing underneath & great views of Big Dipper & The Big One. It was a good, long ride that I never recall waiting too long to get on. Mostly rode it in the dark.

4. The Bullet, Flamingoland. Ok, the concertina style OTSR's could be horrible, but this was a great, if somewhat terrifying, ride. The queue was right up close to the ride so you had a great view whilst waiting, and the train didn't half thunder through the station. With the station built into the ride layout and no lift hill, it had a rather small footprint as well. Front seat before the backwards return was amazing, all you could see was sky ahead of you.

5. Monorail, BPB. So, not the world's most exciting ride, but it was great for a chill out inbetween more high octane thrills, gave fantastic views of the whole park and it was always fun to see old the old tat dumped in corners of the park that you could only see from the ride. I still miss it.

Honourable mention: Log Flume, Frontierland, Morecambe. My second favourite flume after BPB's. Loved the way it snaked in and out of the trees before the drop. Also back in the days of ride tickets, the ride op used to let my brother & I go round again for free if it wasn't too busy. No wonder they were losing money, though that guy is still something of a hero to us! I visited Morecambe recently for the first time in about 20 years. Sad to see the sorry state of all that wasteland, though it was cool to see the concrete base of the flume trough, drop support concrete and the exit slope & railings still intact. Lots of happy memories of that park. The Wild Mouse was good too, just not a patch on BPB's.
 
1: Believe (SeaWorld Orlando), an incredibly moving show and in my opinion the best production in park history. The soundtrack was stunning as well, especially the "Something Far Greater" segment.

2: Blue Horizons (SeaWorld Orlando), a fantastic production that had an incredible decade long run at the park. Dolphin Days is a worthy replacement though.

3: Wild Mouse (BPB), obvious reasons, insane ride that I was luckily able to experience quite a lot.

4: Shamu Rocks (SeaWorld Orlando), what a show! The energy in the stadium was fantastic, only reason it's not higher on the list is that I think Light Up the Night is even better, that show is electric!

5: Twister (Universal Studios Florida), such a hilariously bad ride, I wish they had kept it!
 
A lot of love for Black Hole (obvs!) and Pirate Adventure (Defo a favourite of mine)

Toyland tours was a brilliant ride should never have been scrapped in my opinion.
 
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