I've just returned from the longest coaster trip I've done to date and I wanted to write a trip report about it! We've travelled all over the UK to visit the following parks: Thorpe Park (2x), Legoland Windsor, Chessington World of Adventures, Drayton Manor and of course Alton Towers (2x)

I want to start off by saying that our experience in this country has been absolutely wonderful. Literally everyone we've met or interacted with has been so kind, friendly and helpful. I love the Brits! 

As for the reviews on each park, you can find detailed ones on my [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/markridescoasters/), so in this post I will only talk about the highlights. 



# Thorpe Park

Obviously Hyperia is a world class coaster. I was going on it with low expectations, seeing how I've read things about it being too short or having a rattle etc. While some of those criticisms are kind of true, it didn't bother me personally. The first drop is spectacularly insane and every element hits. I only find the trim-brakes to be a real negative. It's supposed to have water effects there, but locals told me it hasn't been turned on for a while. Hyperia is a very re-ridable coaster and after going on it through the single rider queue I've experienced almost every seat. I've still not decided if I like front row or back row best. What do you prefer?

Another highlight was Nemesis Inferno. I don't think I've ever experienced a B&M with such a long prelift section. Didn't expect that and I thought it made the ride unique, since B&M Inverts tend to look and feel similar to each other, in my opinion. The coaster itself was very good. Basically the first 1/3 feels like a Batman clone, but after that it really winds around itself with those iconic whippy corkscrews and roll-overs. Liked this one very much!

Stealth was also great, though it didn't blow me away like I expected. I honestly don't really buy into the fact that this is supposedly the fastest accelerating coaster on the planet. But, front-row on this is a fun experience!



# Legoland Windsor

Lovely park with a large, terrainy layout. They definitely know their target audience and cater to them very well. Mini Land is always a good time and Flight of the Sky Lion might be the best flying theatre I've ever done. The latest addition to this park is Minifigure Speedway and though it looks tame it really does pull some strong positiives, especially on the blue side on the way back. Pretty intense stuff for a family coaster, but I thought it was great! Haunted House Monster Party is also a must-do if you're ever visiting. It was very charming and usually these madhouses have stories explaining why something is evil or spooky. This one sort of turns that around and shows how Vampyre turns his haunted house into a disco. Lovely stuff.



# Chessington World of Adventure

Busy day here, because of the May bank holiday weekend, so we didn't have time to ride everything. It was okay though, because I only really wanted to ride Mandrill Mayhem and Vampire. Both are a lot better than they look and especially Vampire is a coaster they should keep for as long as possible. 



# Drayton Manor

We spent our morning in Oxford because the park was open til 9pm that day, but in the end we were 'done' after three hours. It's a nice park, and Gold Rush is a great addition to it, but in the end this park was not for us. The Wave was cool, but the egregiously slow operations made us not wanting to ride it anymore after two laps.



# Alton Towers

A park I've wanted to visit ever since 1999 when Rollercoaster Tycoon came out. It has changed a lot since then of course, but in the game it was always a massive scenario with tons of space to work with. Well, that part is still the same. This park is huge! I thought the Efteling was big, but wow, put on some walking shoes for this one. Anyway, the rollercoasters here are awesome. The Smiler was a bucketlist coaster, due to its inversion record, and it blew me away. The only downside to it are the restraints, but that's just a personal thing. When it rolled out of the station I started to count the inversions, but after four or five I've already lost count. How on earth did Gerstlauer manage to design and build this. What an outstanding engineering feat. 

Not the best coaster here though! For me it's hands down Wicker Man. I love GCIs, and especially family woodies, so this was right up my alley. Back row on it is the best laugh I've had on a coaster in a long time. The whole ride is perfect in my eyes and the pre-show is fantastic. My most ridden coaster of the park. 

Nemesis Reborn is also incredible. It's so different from other B&M Inverts. The whole idea and thought behind the ride is so well done. From the design and engineering to the theming, it does it all really well. Not as smooth as Inferno (new age B&M!!11 blah blah blah) but still very, very nice to ride. Good forces and relentless pace, just like you want on these.

All other coasters are fun here as well! 



# Blackpool Pleasure Beach

And finally, the last park of the trip. Went in with zero expectations seeing how dated most of the rides are here, but honestly, this is a great park! Icon is the best coaster here, which shouldn't be a surprise. It's kind of a hybrid between Star Trek Operation Enterprise and Blue Fire. Nice airtime and hangtime, Mack is great at that. Also tried Enso and that made it even better! 

All wooden coasters here run very well (Grand National was closed) and especially Nickelodeon Streak has a really fun out and back layout. Big Dipper was also a lot of fun.

Another thing Pleasure Beach does very well is darkrides. You can clearly see where Chris Sawyer took his inspiration from when designing some of those for RCT by the way. Both the Ghost Train and Alice in Wonderland are super old by now, but are still very well done in that classic darkride way. Wallace and Gromit was also great. Very well made and it's quite lengthy too, which is always nice. 

I said I was only going to mention highlights, but I have to talk about The Big One. In the words of the ride op at Big Dipper: "oh it's shit, innit?" Yes. Yes, it's not good. Honestly, it's straight up scary. If you like that, good for you, seriously. But I didn't. It's also pretty painful. Every turn gave an unpleasant jolt. I know the comments will be full with how that's what you want or that classic Arrow coasters are great. Nah mate, even the employees dislike it. Iconic? Yes. Shit? Also yes.



# Conclusion

I know I just ended on a negative there, but don't let that change your mind about how I feel about the week I've spent in England. Like I said earlier, the people here are great. Also quick shoutout to Nando's. We liked it so much that we ate there three times. Oops.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the photos!

8 days, 6 parks, 1 epic [🇬🇧UK trip!]