United Kingdom Trip
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This was probably one of the most fun vacations I've been on. As it drew to an end I genuinely did not want to return to Chicago, and I was so depressed once I had.
I took far too many photos, most of which are available here. However to make things a little easier, you can look at the highlights page.
Day One Wednesday June 7th, 2006
The word of the day was "FUN" as I galivanted around London! Actually the real word of the day should have been hot .. everyone kept telling me how cold it is in London, and it was easily in the 70s; yet I was dressed in jeans and long-sleeve shirt. Despite being really tired from the flight, I got a lot done: It also appears that my Hey Fever is much worse in London than it is in Chicago (one of the things that's so freaking awesome about Chicago). I think I sneezed more today that I have in the last 10 years..
Day Two Thursday June 8th, 2006
Another hot sunny day today, as I hit Buckinham Palace, Hyde Park Corner, and Kew Gardens. A lot of walking, and a lot of photos:
Day Three Friday June 9th, 2006
I went to Legoland with many people who are doing the coaster tour. This was an unofficial day .. so even though we were all together (most of us!), and on the bus, it was all very informal.
The weather was great, and the park was amazing .. check out the photos:
Day Four Saturday June 10th, 2006
This was the first offical day of the coaster tour. When we boarded the bus we were greated by exclusive Theme Park Review goodie bags, UK 2006 Tour t-shirts, and pillows (hand-made by Elissa and her mum). Tell me that's not the coolest thing ever?!
The goodie bag contained Theme Park Review mints, a pen, water flavoring (that you pour into a bottle of water), a clown nose, note pad, a chap-stick, and a Vekoma Survival Kit that included band-aids, advil, towel wipes and throat lozenges (Vekoma coasters are typically really rough). The whole thing was totally unexpected, but set the tone for the tip. Fun!
Oh yea, we also went to Chessington where we had Ride Time on Vampire and Dragon's Fury. It totally rocked, check out the photos:
As a nice surprise, Robb and Elissa took as to Coney Beach Pleasure Park on the drive from Chessington. We only stopped there for an hour or so, but it really was enough. This place was a total and complete dump, but it was one of the funniest places I've been to!
Day Five Sunday June 11th, 2006
Sunday was Oakwood day! This was really fun as I'd been looking forward to riding Megafobia (it didn't disappoint). They also have a new coaster called Speed that was amazing! We had an hour of Ride Time on Speed (I got at least 10 rides), and a photo-walkback for Megafobia. We also did the Crystal Maze game, and scared some sheep.
Fun, fun, fun!
Day Six Monday June 12th, 2006
One of my most anticipated parks on the whole trip, I was just blown away by Alton Towers! Nemesis was crazy great, Rita was fun, and Oblivon was better than I expected.
We had Exclusive Ride Time on Rita on Monday morning, Nemesis on Monday evening, Nemesis (again) and Air on Tuesday morning. On top of that, we also had line-jumping passes for the major coasters. And of course I can't rave enough about the actual castle.
Just check the photos .. there are a lot, though!
Day Seven Tuesday June 13th, 2006
We started Tuesday morning with 90 minutes of exclusive ride time on Nemesis and Air (well, only 60 minutes on air). Absolutely fantastic .. probably some of the best ERT I've ever had. Nemesis kicks ass .. just thought I'd say that one last time incase you missed the other gazillion times I said it!
But all good things come to an end, and it was time leave Alton Towers. Sadness. We ended up going to:
Day Eight Wednesday June 14th, 2006
We started of today at Pleasureland Southport with some amazing Ride Time in the Funhouse, and also on the Cyclone roller-coaster. The Funhouse is home to The Wheel Of Doom!! Be sure to check out the photos: Later in the day we went into Blackpool for some Ride Time on Big Dipper, and then walked down to: Photos of Big Dipper can be seen in with the rest of the Blackpool Pleasure Beach photos listed under Thursday June 15th...
Day Nine Thursday June 15th, 2006
Woo .. BLACKPOOL PLEASURE BEACH! This was another park I was so looking forward to visiting. It was torture to arrive on Tuesday evening and see the park, but not be allowed in yet! It was worth the wait, though.
We had ride time on five coasters: Big Dipper, Roller Coaster, Pepsi Max Big One, Steeplechase and Avalanche (that's a total of 5 hours!), and the park bent-over backwards for us. It was spectacular: The only down-side was that we had to leave .. I could have spent several more days there.
Day Ten Friday June 16th, 2006
We hit two parks today, the first would be quite forgetable if not for how unbelievably bad The Ultimate was. The second park (Flamingo Land) was a lot of fun. We had Exclusive Ride Time on two of their coasters, both of which were excellent .. surprisingly excellent! These photos brought back a lot of good memories of Flamingo Land and the fun we had there .. however it was at this point where we started to realize that the trip was actually ending. Sadness.. :(
Day Eleven Saturday June 17th, 2006
A huge day today, we were going to hit three parks! Well, that's cheating a little to say that, since Yarmouth and Joyland are a ten minute walk apart.
We started the *beautiful* day with a fun morning at Pleasurewood Hills, for some Schwarzkopf goodness. Then it was on the bus and headed to the sea for Yarmouth and Joyland!
Day Twelve Sunday June 18th, 2006
Oh man .. the Last Day. We had a great day at Thorpe, although there was much sadness in the air.
We had ride time on Stealth and Nemesis Inferno. Stealth was a huge disappointment, but Nemesis Inferno was terrific. I also got to ride Colossus, which has 10 inversions (upside-down bits), more than any other ride in the world!
Day Thirteen Monday June 19th, 2006
- Return Home :(
Be sure to take a look at all my other Coaster pictures..
Or, you can return to the Buzzneon gallery..
