So Hobs Pit finally persuaded me to visit the park after four years not visiting. I arrived at the park at 11:10, immediately I headed to Hobs Pit and joined the queue that was pouring out of the entrance to the ride.
As I edged closer to the entrance of the tunnel I enjoyed watching the reactions of the riders who had just left the ‘pit’ as well as an actor who was scaring the other people in the queue. After nearly an hours wait it was my turn to enter the pit, I wont spoil it for future riders but I thought that the effects in the walkthrough section were good and I enjoyed the interactivity with them. The train section of the ride was well themed, with some good cgi effects and genuinely scary parts. There were some bare parts of the ride however not all the effects were turned on. I thought the ride was very enjoyable, well themed, with good, high quality effects and some entertaining interactive elements as well. My only real concern was the time I spent queueing however this is probably due to how it only opened two days ago and Ben did say that the park had over 600 more guests than it was expecting.
I then went round the park and did most of the other big rides a few notes on what I experienced:
Wipeout was a lot more forceful than I previously remembered and 8 of the seats were still out of action.
The Rattlesnake seems to be getting louder and louder and the tunnel does look a bit random.
The Jolly Rodger is a fantastic ride and very powerful considering its height, just a shame it looks like it does.
Enigma broke down when I was just about to get on but I did manage to get on later in the day, a great, fun ride but the capacity is a big problem.
Although when watching Fireball didn’t seem that exciting, it was still rather fun when riding and not much different to how I remember.
The Tide Traveller wasn’t lifting into the air so it was operating like a twister, I thought it was quite forceful and I felt quite dizzy after coming off.
Overall I thought it was an enjoyable, Hobs Pit and the Jolly Rodger are definitely good additions to the park and I hope there will be more like it in the next few years.
Good report and nice photos, great weather for it to. The good news is with Enigma is we know that's it will be restored back to former glories. Shame SITG though, I think that surely won't last too much longer :(
if STTG was dumped you knew there wouldn't be anything down that end of the park, they would never get permission for anything worth wiled. (they could move the rubber boat slide I guess, that's quiet) All The snake needs is a new tunnel, the structure has been up for years and I doubt it about to fall down anytime soon, the mechanics can't be bad either because you never hear of it breaking down... it's all theses new rides that fall to bits lol
Maybe they can move it? Pull it down and give it a complete re-build?
I still think Jolly might be replaced, everyone keeps saying they still have two more years before planning permission runs out on a taller one, I reckon they've plonked it there knowing it may very well be changed sooner than later so no need to give it a real 'home' that's my guess, probably wrong. lol
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It's always the cracked ones that let the light in.
Why though? It's a perfectly good drop tower - yes a taller one would be great to market but now that it's there if a proper job was done on it then it would be absolutely fine. I think a name change wouldn't go amiss though. It's a good enough name but it doesn't say "Drop tower".
I don't know why, i'm just guessing as to why they haven't giving it a proper home (re-locating and made to look nice) All i'm saying maybe it's because there are other plans in the pipe line... I have no idea.
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It's always the cracked ones that let the light in.
I find it strange how there's still no photo's of Jolly anywhere... (website, promotional material etc...). It's an impressive ride, they should be proud of it.
Just think, if they got the original tower, the park would be home to 3 top quality rides, all featuring their own merch etc. Just a shame that the current ride is just 'another ride at the park'.
I agree Martyn, even though it's not what we expected it's crazy that last season it was even really marketed. The difference between this season and last are like chalk and cheese.
As I said before.. probably they wanted to put more money into Hobs, not sure drop towers need to be marketed. They're kinda a giving at theme parks theses days, it certainly looks awkward in it's current location.. bit of an eye sore, but that's my opinion. I wish it was more central and a real focal point in the park than off the side. (old cin 180 site)
I don't think the name is a problem.. it's a flag.. the ride hoists people up and then drops them down.. lol seems appropriate. Is this one bigger than the previous tower they had?
600 extra people is a huge upgrade.. hope the rest of the week is steady. (is it half term or was that last week?)
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It's always the cracked ones that let the light in.
Nice to see those 'Balloon rays' looking smart in those photos, Last time I saw that it was dull, didn't have a proper queue line and it didn't have a booth for the operator, they used to give them an umbrella instead.. LOL.
Certainly looking a lot better.
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It's always the cracked ones that let the light in.
