Apologies for the long post, but I feel I will describe the day well and offer my thoughts. So it's a bank holiday, and I decided to visit the hills with my sister. It was a cold start to the day - though the car park gave the impression that there were quite a few people visiting.

We were greeted by the usual 'Meeter & Greeter' staff, and made a move towards the Enigma area of the park. Firstly we had a quick go on 'Thunderstruck'. It had no tricks for us. Moderately thrilling, though a very short ride cycle ended any of that soon after. It still does, and always will hold it's appropriate nickname 'Thundercrap'. We exited and then went down to Enigma. Already several other people had the same idea, and there were about thirty or so people in the que line. As reported recently, it is running the 'question mark train'. The que line progressed slowly, due to the rides slow throughput. Once on though, the ride was thrilling as usually - the banked turns towards the end are still great. If only it wasn't for that horrid 'emergency' style brake at the end that really pushes into your chest! 

Walking back up towards the pirate ship I noticed, what appears to be, the new play park for children in pieces along the area where Wipeout's track and footers lay dormant for many months in 2006. It looks quite nice, but do they really need a new one?

Continuing on, we then jumped on the pirate ship. It felt as though it's performance has some how been altered. We sat at the back nearest to Timber Falls, and were on for a good 4 or 5 minutes. It seemed to reach good height, and was a nice surprise to the day. This area of the park is looking alright at the moment, though the shortcut between the back of the pirate ship (towards Wizzy Dizzy) was all blocked off due to construction of the new child's park.

Next up was Wizzy Dizzy. Surprisingly for quite a busy day, it was walk on. I wasn't impressed with the program on this though. Again, like the pirate ship, it appears to have changed. It did it's usual drop of floor, slow height climb with the spin, then got to full height twice, and then slowed right down. The ride duration was literally a minute or so. We did ride many, many times though, so it kind of grew on me in the end.
Next we headed down the Main Street area and checked the go karts out. These were not operational at this point due to the rain overnight and in the morning. Unabashed, we headed over to the chairlift. Slow as usual, and for some reason, they had that weird fountain thing running?! It wasn't even hot. Once off of the chairlift, we went to Snake In The Grass.

Again, there was something wrong with the ride. The train was about three quarters full, and was launched in the usual way. Oh, by the way, the new 'tunnel' is horrendous. Plain, and really drab - it is just an aluminum (for want of a better word) 'shell'. No theming. No nothing. All of the track is exposed (which looks incredibly rusted and old), and the ride felt generally slow. The first drop was okay, into the banked turn. It had trouble climbing the subsequent drops, each one slowing more than the previous. At the final one I wasn't sure it would actually make it over, it felt that slow. SITG is usually okay to ride a couple of times, but this visit proved just how old and unfortunate that area of the park is. We had a quick go on the dodgems (crap as usual) and then headed for something quick to eat at nearby Chip 'n' Dip.

I will say that the catering provisions at the park have steadily improved since previous visits. I had a Westler hot-dog with onions, and at £2.70 wasn't too bad for money - though still expensive for what it is. My sister had chips which, according to her, tasted fresh and were nice and hot. Later on in the day we also had a soft serve ice cream from the hut near Wizzy Dizzy. It was quite big and tasted very fresh.
After the snacks, we headed towards Wipeout. The que had about thirty or so people in and there was a good half hour wait. The ride was rough as usual, though very thrilling. At six feet tall, the restraints are punishing on me, and I can say that the ride was painful in that sense. Later in the day as we were heading back, it had got stuck about half way up the first 'tower' - it gathered quite a crowd and cheers were heard when the maintenance people had fixed it.

After Wipeout, we headed back across to the other rides, with lots of time spent mainly on Wizzy Dizzy and the various other rides. We rode Timber Falls a little later which was still moderately fun and very wet as usual. I mentioned in another post that the que line has now been fully themed and looks quite good - there are tall logs that make up 'posts' along the line as well as eroded wood and roping which looks effective. Also, the photo booth has been rotated to now face the ride.
After some more rides on SITG and the dodgems again, we decided to head home around half four, with somewhat mixed feelings. Whilst a few of the existing rides offer some thrills, and the park is well presented (in terms of landscaping and plantations), it is crying out for at least the following:

* A new roller coaster
* Three or four new thrill rides
* Rearrangement of existing rides to more evenly 'spread' them
* A rapids/lake boats ride

Those are just what occurred to me today, that, in my opinion would firmly re-establish the park, and keep the guests coming back. For small children the day out is pretty well sorted, and the range of family shows are great value for money. Hopefully, the new manager will have reviewed the park's status and is looking over options for improving the facilities offered (as it mentioned in the article).

Anyway, enough of my ranting and posting, hope you have enjoyed the report.

Leon.