Completing the UK - Update
So a few weeks ago a few of us decided to go crazy and hit up the east coast. Major pockets of creds in these locations but only 2 for me because I'm a veteran now!
Considering I only had a couple of creds to get and the drive to Skegness is about 3 hours, we left slightly later and met up with everybody at Dunes Leisure for the Miner Mike cred. Upon seeing the thing I had totally underestimated quite how pathetic it was, and had to consider whether this even counted. But apparently they're fine for adults to ride so I sucked up the embarrassment and got on. Needless to say we had a hilarious ride, laughing at how ridiculous this 'coaster' was. +1 and on to the next location.
I hadn't been to Fantasy Island since 2009 and was excited to get back and ride Jubilee Odyssey, one of the more substantial coasters in the UK. And I was being nice and escorting those who hadn't been before. This side of the country is very flat and we saw Odyssey emerge upon the coastline from quite far away - and our eyes were locked on it all the way to the car park. You see, Odyssey is a temperamental beast in that if there is the slightest fart of wind: it closes. No ifs or buts about it. And unluckily for us today was apparently a windy one (not from where we were standing it wasn't!). Those who needed the cred were rightly pissed off, I just found it ridiculous to the point of being hilarious. No wonder Fantasy Island has gone into administration on more than one occasion - they can't even manage to get their major attraction open on a hot sunny summer day!
I remembered the inside of FI being quite fab - kind of like Splash Landing at Alton Towers - so I insisted we headed inside. Upon entering the pyramid we were faced with a giant waterslide which we saw getting riders totally drenched. Because they're mental, Conor and our friend Jordan got tokens and headed straight on. They got drenched. Mission accomplished.
I didn't take many photos in Skegness because, well, it ain't pretty. We ended the day with a ridiculous drive to Hunstanton for the last coaster, played some 2p machines (because that's the law when you go to the seaside) and headed off for a cheap but satisfying dinner at a Brewer's Fayre next to the hotel before proceeding to get quite drunk.
The next day involved a lot less driving as we headed down to Great Yarmouth where pretty much all of the coasters are within an hour radius. We popped into Pettits Animal Fun Park for those without the cred first before heading on to the seaside.
Our first stop was Joyland, which I believe is probably the most amount of attractions squished into the smallest amount of space in the world. It's proper old school seaside fun with some weird (and dubious) coasters and rides all piled on top of one another. It's pretty cool and even if you're not big into theme parks/rollercoasters I'd suggest going just to experience what a kooky place this is!
Anyway, I got bored of watching people riding stuff so went for a walk and stumbled across a vintage car show! So pretty <3
Great Yarmouth is so classy, it's like the British Las Vegas!
Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach had recently gotten a new coaster and they have one of only a few operating 'brake-man' coasters left in the world, so a few reasons to revisit.
We were running out of time so we jumped in the car to our final destination Pleasurewood Hills so that the guys could finish their East Coast coasters. Conor and I sat in the car park laughing when we realised that the big coaster at this park was also closed. Spite!
A nice +2 to finish the weekend on, which is a massive achievement for me at this rate! Not many to go now, I've got lots of weekend trips planned for the summer to hopefully finish up the UK!
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