Scott
Former TS Team Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
A lovely sunny day and my first visit to Pleasurewood since 2011...
We arrived on park at about half 10, at a similar time to the handful of school trips who were also visiting... Despite the initial thought of "oh crap, there's gonna be kids everywhere!" the park was actually dead quiet and the only queue faced during the day was for Hobs Pit. After entering, we made our way straight to Wipeout which was running well. Smooth and still packing a bloody good punch considering the old girl's age! The staff seemed to be dispatching and loading fairly efficiently too which was good. They do have this weird quirk though of asking every rider "is that alright for you?" about your restraints...
Moving on, we took a walk down to the dead end of the park. The dodgems were fun as ever, though they still look like they belong in a travelling fair unfortunately. Next it was to the Rattlesnake - which I swear gets louder and louder! The op on this ride today was fairly useless... He didn't utter a single word and instead communicated everything through hand signals. What happened to the days of getting people to shout and scream? Also, there is a bit of a worrying hunk of metal sticking out on the ride. It's part of the rusting frame of the old lift tunnel but it properly juts out over the track and I really think that it could be a health hazard to riders if it is not looked at!
Moving on from that slight negative, we walked back up the park and past the Castle Theatre. Although we didn't use the Laser Labyrinth (situated underneath as a pay attraction), I was intrigued to see just how BIG the queue lane is for it... Does it ever get slightly full? Anyway, we walked through the new 'Kids' area and this part of the park looks fantastic! All the rides in a small space really make the area feel busy and fun, and the Pony Rail (although fairly unimaginative) seems to have bedded in nicely and is a good addition to the parks offerings. Alongside this there is a Chairswing ride, a mini Pirate Ship, an elephant ride, some coin-op cars, the Veteran Cars ride and the mini-drop tower called The Lighthouse.
After this, it was time for a quick ride on the Kite Flyer (a spinny Zamperla thing which is basically Mingo's Hero as a flat ride) before lunch. We ate in the Merry Mariner. The food was reasonably priced (£5.60 for a coke, sausage roll and chips) but the food itself was distinctly average and lukewarm at best when served - and we were eating at about 12, so it shouldn't have been sitting around for long.
It was then on to the main attraction itself... Hobs Pit! The ride opened at midday and so had gained quite a queue by the time we got to it. We probably waited about 30 minutes for the ride in total and I must give praise to the girl in the shop who vigilantly stopped some queue jumping and sent some kids to the back! Good stuff! I do have some gripes with the whole thing unfortunately. Whilst the whole concept, idea and finished project are fantastic for the park and really amazing considering the budget available, I felt it just was nowhere near as scary as the hype made out. The queueline tension is fantastic, and I love the theatre surrounding that element of it - particularly seeing people run out of the exit and past the queue. The actors in the station and at queueline batching were also brilliant too. The actual ride element though is just not even mildly scary. The tactics employed are clever and work well, but there isn't enough of a 'near miss' sensation for them to work. Equally, I feel like lighting could be worked on - as the ride is too light for many elements to be effective. Other small touches like air cannons/fans or some water squirter's (for example, in the fan scene) would be fantastic too. I also noted a lack of actors in the ride section. There was just one who jumped out before the ORP and that was it, though it was a quiet day so that may explain it... I don't mean to knock the ride, as it is a solid experience and fantastic for the park, I also appreciate it is only version 1, however I just think it could do so much more.
Moving on from Hobs, we then rode Timber Falls (the log flume), which got us as wet as usual (though the water was a tad murky!) and it was on to Jolly Roger. This was my first time on a drop tower that wasn't part of a bigger ride (I've only ridden Th13teen, Sub Terra and Tower of Terror before) and I loved it! The suspense at the top was heart-pumping and the view was amazing too! It really packed a punch and it is a great addition to the park. After this, we then rode Enigma. I tried to view it with an open mind - knowing that it is due extensive refurbishment - however it really is in a sorry state. It's in dire need of a repaint and general clean and spruce up, though I know this will be happening soon. The ride itself ran really well though, and was fun as always. The breaks on the final slope/bend were still bloody dangerous but I guess that's Schwarzkopf for ya
From Enigma we went and watched Sean Alexander. The show is really good. It's well put together and his tricks did impress me. However, I found chunks of it dead cheesy and a bit cringey... particularly the dancing sections! Despite this, it was very entertaining and everyone seemed to enjoy it! We missed the sealions and parrots but I'm sure they're as good as ever...
After this it was time for Tales of the Coast, and the less said about this the better... The inside looked awful, there was natural light flooding in and allowing you to see the ceiling easily. No props moved, the scenes don't even make sense and the whole thing is just awful. I appreciate though that the park know this and I'm sure there are plans to make it better - plus I'm eager to see what will be done at Halloween! The ride itself is a small scale boat dark ride which takes you through some mildly dark coastal scenes. After this we hopped on Moby Dick which is a fun little kids ride that looks bloody great! One tiny criticism would be that the queue/exit/paths around it are falling apart as the stones have come out of the cement and are littering the ride area. It's good though...
Finally, we took another ride on Wipeout and caught a go on the little train before going home just before 5. It was a really good day, the park in general is looking fantastic and its amazing to see how well the park can seem when the owners actually care about the place. Though there are still shortcomings, I feel more forgiving and hopeful because I know that these things will be looked at in time, and the park in general has a great atmosphere about it!
Some other points:
- Fireball was swinging high(ish) but for one swing only.
- Menus in restaurants had many things taped over
- Arcade looks awful (but I understand this is run by HB Leisure?)
- Tide Traveller was operating like a Twister
- New marketing style looks bloody great - need this around the park more next year please!
- New merchandise is great quality and reasonable too, not much of it though. Main shop looked bare - and full of random tat...
Overall, I'd say the park is definitely looking up thanks to the investment Loopings Inc have been making and for the first time in many years the atmosphere on park is good. Hopefully, the park has turned a corner and will see some significant growth for the future!
Ride Count:
Wipeout x2
Dodgems x1
Rattlesnake x1
Pony Rail x1
Kite Flyer x1
Timber Falls x1
Jolly Roger x1
Enigma x1
Hobs x2
Sean Alexander x1
Tales of the Coast x1
Moby Dick x1
Little Train x1
We arrived on park at about half 10, at a similar time to the handful of school trips who were also visiting... Despite the initial thought of "oh crap, there's gonna be kids everywhere!" the park was actually dead quiet and the only queue faced during the day was for Hobs Pit. After entering, we made our way straight to Wipeout which was running well. Smooth and still packing a bloody good punch considering the old girl's age! The staff seemed to be dispatching and loading fairly efficiently too which was good. They do have this weird quirk though of asking every rider "is that alright for you?" about your restraints...
Moving on, we took a walk down to the dead end of the park. The dodgems were fun as ever, though they still look like they belong in a travelling fair unfortunately. Next it was to the Rattlesnake - which I swear gets louder and louder! The op on this ride today was fairly useless... He didn't utter a single word and instead communicated everything through hand signals. What happened to the days of getting people to shout and scream? Also, there is a bit of a worrying hunk of metal sticking out on the ride. It's part of the rusting frame of the old lift tunnel but it properly juts out over the track and I really think that it could be a health hazard to riders if it is not looked at!
Moving on from that slight negative, we walked back up the park and past the Castle Theatre. Although we didn't use the Laser Labyrinth (situated underneath as a pay attraction), I was intrigued to see just how BIG the queue lane is for it... Does it ever get slightly full? Anyway, we walked through the new 'Kids' area and this part of the park looks fantastic! All the rides in a small space really make the area feel busy and fun, and the Pony Rail (although fairly unimaginative) seems to have bedded in nicely and is a good addition to the parks offerings. Alongside this there is a Chairswing ride, a mini Pirate Ship, an elephant ride, some coin-op cars, the Veteran Cars ride and the mini-drop tower called The Lighthouse.
After this, it was time for a quick ride on the Kite Flyer (a spinny Zamperla thing which is basically Mingo's Hero as a flat ride) before lunch. We ate in the Merry Mariner. The food was reasonably priced (£5.60 for a coke, sausage roll and chips) but the food itself was distinctly average and lukewarm at best when served - and we were eating at about 12, so it shouldn't have been sitting around for long.
It was then on to the main attraction itself... Hobs Pit! The ride opened at midday and so had gained quite a queue by the time we got to it. We probably waited about 30 minutes for the ride in total and I must give praise to the girl in the shop who vigilantly stopped some queue jumping and sent some kids to the back! Good stuff! I do have some gripes with the whole thing unfortunately. Whilst the whole concept, idea and finished project are fantastic for the park and really amazing considering the budget available, I felt it just was nowhere near as scary as the hype made out. The queueline tension is fantastic, and I love the theatre surrounding that element of it - particularly seeing people run out of the exit and past the queue. The actors in the station and at queueline batching were also brilliant too. The actual ride element though is just not even mildly scary. The tactics employed are clever and work well, but there isn't enough of a 'near miss' sensation for them to work. Equally, I feel like lighting could be worked on - as the ride is too light for many elements to be effective. Other small touches like air cannons/fans or some water squirter's (for example, in the fan scene) would be fantastic too. I also noted a lack of actors in the ride section. There was just one who jumped out before the ORP and that was it, though it was a quiet day so that may explain it... I don't mean to knock the ride, as it is a solid experience and fantastic for the park, I also appreciate it is only version 1, however I just think it could do so much more.
Moving on from Hobs, we then rode Timber Falls (the log flume), which got us as wet as usual (though the water was a tad murky!) and it was on to Jolly Roger. This was my first time on a drop tower that wasn't part of a bigger ride (I've only ridden Th13teen, Sub Terra and Tower of Terror before) and I loved it! The suspense at the top was heart-pumping and the view was amazing too! It really packed a punch and it is a great addition to the park. After this, we then rode Enigma. I tried to view it with an open mind - knowing that it is due extensive refurbishment - however it really is in a sorry state. It's in dire need of a repaint and general clean and spruce up, though I know this will be happening soon. The ride itself ran really well though, and was fun as always. The breaks on the final slope/bend were still bloody dangerous but I guess that's Schwarzkopf for ya
From Enigma we went and watched Sean Alexander. The show is really good. It's well put together and his tricks did impress me. However, I found chunks of it dead cheesy and a bit cringey... particularly the dancing sections! Despite this, it was very entertaining and everyone seemed to enjoy it! We missed the sealions and parrots but I'm sure they're as good as ever...
After this it was time for Tales of the Coast, and the less said about this the better... The inside looked awful, there was natural light flooding in and allowing you to see the ceiling easily. No props moved, the scenes don't even make sense and the whole thing is just awful. I appreciate though that the park know this and I'm sure there are plans to make it better - plus I'm eager to see what will be done at Halloween! The ride itself is a small scale boat dark ride which takes you through some mildly dark coastal scenes. After this we hopped on Moby Dick which is a fun little kids ride that looks bloody great! One tiny criticism would be that the queue/exit/paths around it are falling apart as the stones have come out of the cement and are littering the ride area. It's good though...
Finally, we took another ride on Wipeout and caught a go on the little train before going home just before 5. It was a really good day, the park in general is looking fantastic and its amazing to see how well the park can seem when the owners actually care about the place. Though there are still shortcomings, I feel more forgiving and hopeful because I know that these things will be looked at in time, and the park in general has a great atmosphere about it!
Some other points:
- Fireball was swinging high(ish) but for one swing only.
- Menus in restaurants had many things taped over
- Arcade looks awful (but I understand this is run by HB Leisure?)
- Tide Traveller was operating like a Twister
- New marketing style looks bloody great - need this around the park more next year please!
- New merchandise is great quality and reasonable too, not much of it though. Main shop looked bare - and full of random tat...
Overall, I'd say the park is definitely looking up thanks to the investment Loopings Inc have been making and for the first time in many years the atmosphere on park is good. Hopefully, the park has turned a corner and will see some significant growth for the future!
Ride Count:
Wipeout x2
Dodgems x1
Rattlesnake x1
Pony Rail x1
Kite Flyer x1
Timber Falls x1
Jolly Roger x1
Enigma x1
Hobs x2
Sean Alexander x1
Tales of the Coast x1
Moby Dick x1
Little Train x1
