When the heck did kids get so brave? I remember standing in Forbidden Valley in 1994 staring at what my child brain perceived to be an actual living, breathing beast (OK the ads might also have had something to do with that) and telling myself I would NEVER in a million YEARS be going on that ride (Nemesis, in case you missed it). Cut to 2023, opening day of the brand new Mandrill Mayhem rollercoaster at World of Jumanji in Chessington World of Adventures Resort of the place is swarming with keen 1.2m-ers desperate to get their bums on the seats of *checks notes* a quadruple launching, forwards and BACKWARDS rollercoaster that goes upside down. I even saw one devastated little girl who couldn't ride as she was too small.

And it doesn't stop there. A friend of mine recently took her three year old son on the Tower of Terror and as much as he wasn't thrilled about the experience he didn't seem to hate it either. My own four year old nephew has cried several times because he was too small to ride Croc Drop, a rotating multip-drop tower set within the jaws of an Egyptian crocodile god, and Rage, a beyond vertical drop coaster featuring three inversions. He did cry when we took him on the Green Scream which is arguably much less intense but if you ask him now what his favourite ride is I guarantee you he'd say that one. 

My point is, kids just seem to have no fear these days. I remember what a rite of passage is was to ride your first 'upside-down' rollercoaster over the summer holidays, purely for the bragging rights when you were back at school in September. I'm pretty sure mine was Python at Busch Gardens by the way, but I know for a lot of UK enthusiasts that accolade goes to the legendary Corkscrew at Alton Towers. And even then, with the promise of regaling the tale of your summer theme park trip with friends, it took so much courage to get yourself in the seat in the first place, and now we have kids crying because they are literally too small for what I would have assumed to be a pretty intimidating coaster experience.

So it seems we have a nation of young thrillseekers on our hands, and how to satisfying that urge for adrenaline and adventure? Where do you even start? Today I'm counting down my top five rollercoasters I'd recommend for kids who are ready to take on their first white-knuckle rides!

The aforementioned Mandrill Mayhem is my first recommendation, and largely the inspiration for this post. Firstly, despite being what I believe is the smallest B&M coaster in the world, the size of the track is still chunky, meaning it looks like a proper, big boy rollercoaster. For me, Mandrill Mayhem is a great starter thrill coaster because it gives you a little bit of everything without that intimidating first-hill climb which is I'm sure what turns most kids off. 

It's got great launches, forwards AND backwards so you get all kinds of crazy sensations throughout the ride. The launches themselves are super thrilling without being too gut-wrenching and intense, so it edges just on the right side of fun for those who are more easily rattled. There's lots of little pops of airtime, some great lateral forces on the final helix and, of course, it goes upside down! A great first-inversion for those who've never experienced it before as it's smooth and floaty, not like the head-bashing intensity of the vertical loops we had to deal with as kids.

Rage is sneaky because it lures you in with its candy shop colour-scheme and fairly unintimidating height and compact layout, but it's a whippet of a thing and packs a ton of intensity into the short ride it delivers. I'd recommend this one as I feel it would be fairly easy to coax a nervous rider onto it given the aforementioned, and there's nothing in the layout that I'd perceived to be particularly panic-inducing. 

...Except maybe the lift-hill. Vertical lift-hills are, for lack of a better word, terrifying. BUT - this one is fairly short and honestly if you can conquer a vertical lift-hill you can do anything. The beyond vertical drop is a weird sensation too, and the inversions on Rage put your body through pretty much every angle available so it's great for experiencing a bunch of different forces for the first time in one go.

I know Thirteen LOOKS spooky, and that might put some kids off, but in my opinion it's more of a glorified mine train just with some slightly more interesting elements. So yes, the scary theme. A lot of bigger coasters tend to go with dark/more intense themes, especially here in the UK, so Thirteen is a good one to start with to ease into that as in my opinion the theme is waaay scarier than the ride itself. 

The outdoor portion of the coaster is fairly tame (although the first drop always feels higher than I remember, anybody else get that?) but *spoiler alert* the indoor section is where it gets interesting. A vertical drop in the dark plunging you into a pit below, and then a backwards launch followed by winding tunnels in the pitch black. I...feel like I've made that sound scarier than it is, it's a lot of fun but it is quite terrifying, especially if it catches you off guard. I remember growing up everybody used to brag about going on X:\No Way Out at Thorpe Park, a 'backwards roller-coaster...in the dark!' so I feel like Thirteen is the modern day equivalent of this?

In terms of easing into different coaster types and sensations, suspended family coasters are a great precursor to larger coasters like Nemesis and Nemesis Inferno whilst still being mega thrilling in their own right. Flight of the Pterosaur at Paultons Park is no different - not only is this fun family coaster really well theme as part of the Lost Kingdom land, it has some really intense moments including a brilliant first drop and a few genuinely intense helices. 

I actually think the restraints on this coaster add a lot too - the B&M inverts have the classic over the shoulder restraints that, whilst making you feel very safe, are quite restrictive. Flight of the Pterosaur is a lapbar only setup, meaning you feel a lot freer gliding through the layout. Depending how afraid of heights you are, this can potentially be intimidating for younger riders but may also add to the thrill!

Slightly odd one but hear me out - I think the fact that this coaster has the word 'big' in the name says something in itself. It feels braggable, like you've conquered a BIG ride! It's also a classic, a Blackpool Pleasure Beach icon and one generation after generation have whited their knuckles riding - it's a lot tamer by today's standards but there's something cool about that shared family experience and it being a bit of a rite of passage. 

I would also argue it's the most airtime a 1.2m rider can get in the UK - the first drop is nuts and I float out of my seat every single time. If you're looking to ease a thrillseeker-in-training into what airtime feels like I'd absolutely say the Big Dipper is the place to do it - that out and back layout and relentless bunny hills never fail to deliver.

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Hopefully that's enough coasters to keep them going through their next growth spurt and get them prepared for reaching the coveted 1.4m mark! 

What do you think, do you agree with my list? What do you think are some great thrill coasters for kids in the UK? Let me know in the comments, I'd love to have a chat!

Talk later xoxo,

It's been a few weeks now since Sam and I got back from our European road trip, and as such we've had some time to reflect on what was a pretty hectic week. For Sam it was the longest holiday he's had since he visited Orlando in 2019, and for me it was a chance to get back to some parks I hadn't visited in a long, long time whilst tagging on some favs (I'm sure Phantasialand are sick of the sight of me at this point!) Also, having done a couple of big US trips in 2022 and with the pandemic in 2021 and 2020 I hadn't done a big Euro road trip in...I can't actually recall, so it was something I was super excited for as trips like that are basically how I cut my teeth as an enthusiast all those years ago. 

I feel like there's been a lot of haunted house ride talk on my feed as of late, which is strange considering it's April. As a long-time, unashamed lover of all things spooky this adoration of course extends to the humble haunted house ride, and after riding the terrifying new update to Alton Towers' classic Haunted House ride in the form of The Curse of Alton Manor, it got me wondering what the best haunted house rides in the world actually are. So naturally I had to get my thoughts down on paper (digitally of course).

I'm currently sat on the sofa nursing a bit of 'Center Parcs flu' after a gorgeous four day break at Center Parcs Sherwood Forest, located about 30 minutes north of Nottingham and deep in the heart of Robin Hood country. It was my first time visiting any Center Parcs anywhere in the UK, so I wanted to take some time to get all my thoughts down on paper as it were as I recover. Was I impressed? What did I like? What didn't I like? And most importantly, would I go again? Settle in as I get stuck into the good, the bad and the ugly of my first ever visit to Center Parcs! Let's start off with the stuff I LOVED, shall we? 

Long time readers of this here blog will know that in the past I've not been a fan of Europa Park. Having visited twice before, once in 2012 and once in 2015, I never really understood the hype around the place, nor why people call it magical or even the best theme park on the planet. For that reason over the years it has ended up on many a 'most overrated parks' list from myself, as well as me building a bit of a 'thing' around the fact that I disliked the place when everyone else seemed to love it. 

That said, I have always maintained that I'd love the chance to go back and give it a proper go. My visit in 2012 was with a person I'd prefer to forget exists, and on my visit in 2015 my phone was stolen which put a sour note on the whole trip for me, so I've always been acutely aware that I was probably not giving the park a fair review. So finally earlier this year we made it happen, and as a treat for Sam's birthday we headed to that little German town of Rust for four days of Resort hotels, dark rides and animatronics on literally every corner as I finally got to understand why Europa Park has the reputation it does. Here's some things I absolutely fell in love with on this trip. 

So starting this list with something that doesn't technically sit within the walls of the park itself but something that undoubtedly improved our visit tenfold, and that is the Resort Hotels. The park had good operating hours anyway, closing the gates at 7PM, but with such a massive selection of hotels to choose from with restaurants, bars and live entertainment until the early hours, you can continue the fun of being in the Resort until long after park close. Yes, even if you're not staying on site.

For the first few nights of our trip we stayed in a cute little apartment in Rust (because the Resort hotels are fantastic but they are expensive!) but we still managed to visit a different hotel every night and have a great time as if we were guests anyway. Dinner looking out at the fountains in Colosseo, incredible cocktails at Bell Rock, ridiculous live entertainment at the Silver Lake Saloon, cigars at Bar Buena Vista Club - we enjoyed a different Resort every night and even though we had a 15 minute walk into town back to our apartment at the end of it it really didn't matter. 

We stayed at Kronasar on our final night for Sam's birthday treat but as we spent the majority of our evening swimming around with cocktails in Rulantica it was probably, ironically, the hotel we spent the least amount of time in if you exclude the parts where we were sleeping in our room. They're the best theme park hotels in the world in my opinion (yes, better than Disney and Universal in my experience) - the theming is top notch, the food and cocktails feed 'real world' worthy (you know what I mean, usually theme park hotels do this watered-down-catering-for-a-mass-contained-audience thing where everything is just a little bit underwhelming?) and the entertainment was like something you'd get on a night out in the city. Just incredible fun and a great way to relax after a day on park.

I love me a dark ride. From the jankiest, fustiest piece of crap you find half-falling into the sea at the end of a pier to Rise of the Resistance, there's just something about a good dark ride that sets my world on fire. So good news then that Europa Park seem to have a rule that if there's some spare warehouse space hanging around they will do their damnedest to squeeze some sort of dark ride in there. 

The stand out for me has to be Piraten in Batavia. I'll admit I didn't remember tons about this ride pre-refurb aside from the fact it felt a bit like Pirates and it went through a Chinese restaurant, so riding this was like having an entirely new experience for me and it was glorious. Massive, epic sets, tons of animatronics (of course, it's Europa Park), loads of kinetic energy with seemingly endless storylines for every character in every scene the more you look, beautiful projection mapping, a wonderful soundtrack and, oh yh, it ends with a trip through a Chinese restaurant. So rerideable and fun, just a joy to float through and was easily our most-ridden ride of the trip aside from maybe Wodan?

But even the non-dark ride rides have dark ride sections squeezed in. Log flume that goes through a diamond mine, pre-launch show scenes on Blue Fire, giant whale animatronic on the splash battle, etc etc. It's clear Europa Park love dark rides just as much as I do and are determined to squish every variation of what a dark ride can be into their park. 

For most theme parks you'll find all of the budget is spent up front making the 'main' areas look attractive, then the lesser trodden pathways tend to be fairly stripped back or even unsightly depending on which chain you find yourself in. Again, even Disney and Universal and my beloved Efteling are guilty of this. But not Europa Park. If fact, something I soon discovered was that you can stumble across any number of hidden gems by wandering off down what might appear to be an unused walkway at first glance, only to suddenly find yourself in a Swiss mountain village with houses full of animatronics, or down the back alley of a street lined with umbrellas and cinema posters. There is quite literally no area of this park untouched and every nook and cranny is a joy to find oneself in. 

This also extends to going above and beyond with the attention to detail. As mentioned previously, if Europa can stick an animatronic somewhere, they are gunna. Sam and I had a running joke that painted Roland as a tyrant, walking around inspecting the park demanding more animatronics be added to any area lacking. It just adds in that extra layer of kinetic energy that elevates parks to that next level, and is something I fundamentally believe should be integral to any theme park design. Disney are the masters of this of course, but there's a real joy that comes with sitting in Italy at Europa, for example, surrounded by dark rides and transport rides all doing their thing at different levels, symbiotically bringing the place to life.

There's many silly things in Europa Park that had me laughing to myself wondering how on earth anybody could come up with such a concept. It's something a lot of German parks do, actually, even the German fairs. It's kind of got that British seaside, 'Carry On' vibe almost, where it's bizarre and strange and titillating. The difference when Europa Park do it is the theming isn't janky and musty smelling, so there's less of a Five Nights at Freddies vibe like you do get in some lower budget places and instead are just left with the whimsy. 

It's camp is what it is, so, so bloody camp. A roller coaster that traverses under fishnet clad legs of Moulin Rouge dancers as the Can Can plays? Camp. Roller coaster station filled with animatronic pigeons followed by a lifthill where you're surrounded by clucking animatronic chickens? Camp. A dark ride where all the dinosaurs are wearing fancy knitted scarves and hats and having a little tea party? Camp camp camp. I adore how silly and ridiculous so many of the themes are - there's something joyless about parks that take themselves a little too seriously in trying to deliver an experience whereas Europa just seem to do things because it's funny or zany or silly, and isn't that ultimately what theme parks should be about?

This goes without saying I suppose - Europa Park are infamous for their shit hot operations and my experience in January was no different. The park wasn't exactly busy, but they were still running a full train operation on everything where possible (Wodan was only on two trains but I think one is out for maintenance?) The thing that gets me is the staff don't even look like they're breaking a sweat, and yet everything is dispatched at breakneck speed with no messing about. I'm not sure how it works from a H&S perspective but hats stay on, bags come on with you, glasses stay on, very much the Disney school of thought in this area. 

But the other thing that got me was things like if small kids want to ride the car ride, parents can walk the track next to them to make sure they don't jump out half way round if they get bored. Something totally logical but definitely in the 'only in Europe' camp of behaviour that is deemed safe. Essentially it's like they let logic dictate what you can and can't do and trust their guests not to be imbeciles, and it works a treat both in terms of minimising friction points with guests by having to explain seemingly nonsensical H&S rules and in speeding things up by removing that element of faff. It's great.

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Of course, this is not an exhaustive list. There's tons more I could say about the place, and I am so glad to have finally had 'that' trip there to get to experience all this great stuff for myself. I will say that  it's still not a top park for me - the style of theming is personally not my preference, I still think they're lacking an 'excellent' coaster (maybe the Big Dipper will fill that void?) and for me it doesn't have the magic the likes of Toverland or Phantasialand or Efteling have for me. BUT, it is a great park, and everything they do goes above and beyond to be as good as they can possible make it. I'm very excited to go back once the new land/coaster is ready, hopefully there won't be an eight year gap before I return this time!

What do you think about Europa Park? Is it a top park for you? Let me know in the comments, I'd love to have a chat.

Talk later xoxo,

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Ah, another January, another threshold of new roller coastery goodness to get excited about! I'm almost jealous of myself looking back at my 2022 most anticipated because this year is going to be a lot more low key than last year's madness, however I am very much excited about getting back to some European theme park favs of mine in 2023. It's crazy to me that I'll (hopefully) be getting back to parks I have visited in five-NINE years ago (looking at you Madrid) and also getting to see Sam's reaction to these as he visits them for the very first time. As always, this list is based on *finger in air* plans as I've long gotten over the idea of any sort of plans being set in, but I still want to start getting hyped for what's potentially to come this year!

Man, I remember when this thing was announced and thinking mannn 2023 feels like a lifetime away, and all of a sudden here we are! I LOVE me some Intamin, and I was very hyped for Pantheon last year that sadly didn't end up happening, and Toutatis seems like Pantheon on crack so silver linings I guess! Parc Asterix always do an excellent job of delivering brilliant, high-octane coasters without scrimping on the themeing, and Toutatis is no exception. Multiple launches, beyond vertical drops, 23 moments of airtime AND it was inspired by Taron? Hell. Yes. Easily the coaster I'm most excited to get on this year, and plus I haven't been to Asterix since 2017 so it's high time I get my ass back there. 

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More European Intamin joy on the horizon, and something that seemingly popped up out of nowhere? I can't even pertain to know more than a very top line bit of what this coaster is about, but opening at Parque Warner Madrid this year is Batman Gotham City Escape - which essentially looks like Europe's answer to Velocicoaster. And the trains apparently have on-board audio? Sweet. I ADORED Velocicoaster so if BGCE is even a fraction as good as that oh so perfect of coasters then we're in for a real treat. As well, I haven't visited the park since 2014 so I'm looking forward to getting back there as I don't really remember much about it other than the rapids was pretty good and I need the Stunt Fall cred. 

The first new coaster at Chessington in 20 years, who had their money on B&M? Certainly not me, but I am entirely here for it. Having been lucky enough to see the construction of this one up closed, the theming pieces are really impressive and I can't wait to step into World of Jumanji for the first time to see the (terrifying) mandrill-themed coaster trains encircling the land. B&M launches are always fun (hello Thunderbird) and I can't wait to be part of that opening day excitement where the collective hype of all the enthusiasts in attendance fills the air, nothing like it!

Well late to the party on this one but forgive me, I haven't been to the park since 2017! I LOVED original  Colossos and was lucky enough to ride it on a few occasions visiting the park, so I'm excited to see if this revamp lives up to my memory of what was one of my first 'big' wooden coasters. AND I'm really excited to see the giant wood creature monster guy up close, if he's even half as impressive as Towers' Big Bob then I'm in for a treat for sure. 

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I'm sure there will be other new-for-me coasters that end up on my coaster count this year (well...I hope so because +4 for the year is pretty bleak...) but it's a pretty exciting year once again for sure getting back to some old European favs and watching the European coaster landscape continue to change with every new development. 

What new-for-you coasters are you most anticipating in 2023? Let me know in the comments, I'd love to have a chat!

Talk later xoxo,

After a couple of let down years starting really optimistically and striving to arrange and rearrange trips, I told myself that going into 2022 I was just going to make the most out of whatever happened and take every trip as it came.  Luckily I only ended up with one cancelled trip this season and ended up with one of the most action-packed theme park years I've had in ages! From visiting UK favourites to heading to the US twice to enjoying some European theme park Resorts, it's been a non-stop mixed bag for me this year with some real stand out moments along the way of course! Here's what my 2022 looked like in theme parks...