Slamming Coastercore
Mega Poster
Allow me to set the stage.
The year is 2021. International travel is still a massive challenge. Merlin parks are rammed, understaffed and there are reports of general discontent amongst both staff and guests. Paulton’s does little to get the blood flowing and Oakwood… the feedback has been pretty damning (I do now have it booked… god help me).
So where else can I feed this hunger? Somewhere that has new-to-me creds, isn’t too far away and that doesn’t hold a general air of discontent.
Well I needn’t look any further than the (proudly proclaimed) UK’s No.1 Free Admission Fun Park, Adventure Island!
Now I won’t lie, going in I kept my expectations grounded, Rage being the only thing really drawing me in; but it far exceeded them. The charm of Adventure Island isn’t necessarily delivered by the attractions or the theming (there was some in places in its defence… more than bloody Fantasy Island at least) but by the sheer enthusiasm of every member of staff in there.
This was made evident without delay, being greeted by the ticket booth attendant in such a friendly way I was honestly in shock. He introduced himself as Montel and proceeded to ask us who we were, where we’d come from, what kind of rides we liked, etc… The contrast between his approach and that of the majority of theme park staff I’ve encountered was staggering. How often is it that you come away from a trip and two weeks later you still remember the name of a member of staff so clearly?
Immediately he had provided a boost of excitement to the whole experience, it felt like somewhere we wanted to be, somewhere we’d be looked after. This continued throughout our evening, every ride op smiling and giving their own unique experience in the station for each ride. I don’t know what they’ve been putting in their morning coffees, but the sense of genuine happiness to be there in all the staff was absolutely infectious. Even parks with good employees could take note from these guys, in this category they’re in a league of their own.
Alright, enough gushing over the customer service, there are attractions here too. Let’s start with the positive aspects.
Rage is a cracking little coaster. Bar the turnaround after the loop, every single element delivers. The drop provides a very satisfactory yank of airtime, the loop has some lovely floaty hangtime (maybe the best loop that I’ve done, not on a B&M invert), then after the banked turnaround it blisters through the rest of the layout; making both the final inversion and helix a lot of forceful fun.
Despite it being a Friday night on pretty much the hottest week in Summer + traffic leading us to get there with only 2.5 hours of operating time left, a combination of speedy ops and reasonable crowd numbers meant that I had basically the fastest +5 since I started counting. Within the first hour we bashed out all 5 coasters and the dark ride, Over the Hill 2: Spooksville. Goonfficiency at its best.
As the evening went on and darkness crept in, the whole park became a buzz of illumination. Don’t get me wrong, it does still have very much a funfair aesthetic and some of the lighting packages definitely felt a bit tacky, but there are so many rides crammed into the small plot of land Adventure Island sits on that it’s really difficult not to be visually entertained. It also doesn’t have the funfair feel that you’re being ripped off (£12.50 for unlimited riding in the last 5 hours of the night) or that the rides aren’t safe.
Despite all the things that endeared me, I did have some really minor nit-picks, not that they would put me off going again.
The aforementioned dark ride had apparently gone through a re-theme and whilst it previously had some good scares, it now caters more for children. No problem with that, but apparently there used to be more animatronics and which have now mostly been replaced with a plethora of neon cardboard cut outs, littered throughout the ride course. The other issue was that the animatronics that did remain did look a bit tired and in need of TLC. Like I said though, it wasn’t enough to make me actively dislike it.
The other thing that was a bit weird was the music in the park and how inconsistent it was. The lights were mad and if the sound had been there too I absolutely would have described it as an assault on the senses. It wasn’t though. Some rides had music blaring from their bases, others were silent, spinning rapidly only to the tune of whirring motors and the whoosh of steel as it passed through the Southend night air… feeling especially weird on Adventure Island’s Twister flat ride, Pharaoh’s Revenge.
Whilst spinny flat rides don’t do a whole lot for me, I’m sure others on here would have taken issue with the fact their much feared flat, Time Machine was closed for maintenance. The big inverting SBF Frisbee, Axis, whilst it wasn’t closed did have a more substantial queue that anything else and as our time was limited/better spent on Rage we decided to skip it that evening. (Those late night rides on Rage where pretty beautiful too
)
To be honest those are the only real negatives I can think of and the park as a whole deserves much more attention that it currently gets. Adventure Island understands what it is, it strikes a great balance between amusement park and fun fair. It’s not ashamed of its identity and it doesn’t need to be, it’s a damn good time. I’d rather go here than Winter Wonderland any day haha.
It’s rare that such a short visit to a park can give such a good impression, but I felt ridiculously satisfied with what we got for our money. As nice as it would be to have another thrill coaster here, Rage is good enough to keep me coming back every 2 or 3 years. I’d happily face those wretched Dartford crossing toll charges for another visit.
P.S As you might have noticed, I’m a bit out of practice with TR’s as it’s been a long ol’ time since my last one. Please be patient with me. The usual ebs and flows of an Alex TR will return I’m sure. There will be at least a couple coming up soon too! Stay tuned!
The year is 2021. International travel is still a massive challenge. Merlin parks are rammed, understaffed and there are reports of general discontent amongst both staff and guests. Paulton’s does little to get the blood flowing and Oakwood… the feedback has been pretty damning (I do now have it booked… god help me).
So where else can I feed this hunger? Somewhere that has new-to-me creds, isn’t too far away and that doesn’t hold a general air of discontent.
Well I needn’t look any further than the (proudly proclaimed) UK’s No.1 Free Admission Fun Park, Adventure Island!
Now I won’t lie, going in I kept my expectations grounded, Rage being the only thing really drawing me in; but it far exceeded them. The charm of Adventure Island isn’t necessarily delivered by the attractions or the theming (there was some in places in its defence… more than bloody Fantasy Island at least) but by the sheer enthusiasm of every member of staff in there.
This was made evident without delay, being greeted by the ticket booth attendant in such a friendly way I was honestly in shock. He introduced himself as Montel and proceeded to ask us who we were, where we’d come from, what kind of rides we liked, etc… The contrast between his approach and that of the majority of theme park staff I’ve encountered was staggering. How often is it that you come away from a trip and two weeks later you still remember the name of a member of staff so clearly?
Immediately he had provided a boost of excitement to the whole experience, it felt like somewhere we wanted to be, somewhere we’d be looked after. This continued throughout our evening, every ride op smiling and giving their own unique experience in the station for each ride. I don’t know what they’ve been putting in their morning coffees, but the sense of genuine happiness to be there in all the staff was absolutely infectious. Even parks with good employees could take note from these guys, in this category they’re in a league of their own.
Alright, enough gushing over the customer service, there are attractions here too. Let’s start with the positive aspects.
Rage is a cracking little coaster. Bar the turnaround after the loop, every single element delivers. The drop provides a very satisfactory yank of airtime, the loop has some lovely floaty hangtime (maybe the best loop that I’ve done, not on a B&M invert), then after the banked turnaround it blisters through the rest of the layout; making both the final inversion and helix a lot of forceful fun.
Despite it being a Friday night on pretty much the hottest week in Summer + traffic leading us to get there with only 2.5 hours of operating time left, a combination of speedy ops and reasonable crowd numbers meant that I had basically the fastest +5 since I started counting. Within the first hour we bashed out all 5 coasters and the dark ride, Over the Hill 2: Spooksville. Goonfficiency at its best.
As the evening went on and darkness crept in, the whole park became a buzz of illumination. Don’t get me wrong, it does still have very much a funfair aesthetic and some of the lighting packages definitely felt a bit tacky, but there are so many rides crammed into the small plot of land Adventure Island sits on that it’s really difficult not to be visually entertained. It also doesn’t have the funfair feel that you’re being ripped off (£12.50 for unlimited riding in the last 5 hours of the night) or that the rides aren’t safe.
Despite all the things that endeared me, I did have some really minor nit-picks, not that they would put me off going again.
The aforementioned dark ride had apparently gone through a re-theme and whilst it previously had some good scares, it now caters more for children. No problem with that, but apparently there used to be more animatronics and which have now mostly been replaced with a plethora of neon cardboard cut outs, littered throughout the ride course. The other issue was that the animatronics that did remain did look a bit tired and in need of TLC. Like I said though, it wasn’t enough to make me actively dislike it.
The other thing that was a bit weird was the music in the park and how inconsistent it was. The lights were mad and if the sound had been there too I absolutely would have described it as an assault on the senses. It wasn’t though. Some rides had music blaring from their bases, others were silent, spinning rapidly only to the tune of whirring motors and the whoosh of steel as it passed through the Southend night air… feeling especially weird on Adventure Island’s Twister flat ride, Pharaoh’s Revenge.
Whilst spinny flat rides don’t do a whole lot for me, I’m sure others on here would have taken issue with the fact their much feared flat, Time Machine was closed for maintenance. The big inverting SBF Frisbee, Axis, whilst it wasn’t closed did have a more substantial queue that anything else and as our time was limited/better spent on Rage we decided to skip it that evening. (Those late night rides on Rage where pretty beautiful too
)To be honest those are the only real negatives I can think of and the park as a whole deserves much more attention that it currently gets. Adventure Island understands what it is, it strikes a great balance between amusement park and fun fair. It’s not ashamed of its identity and it doesn’t need to be, it’s a damn good time. I’d rather go here than Winter Wonderland any day haha.
It’s rare that such a short visit to a park can give such a good impression, but I felt ridiculously satisfied with what we got for our money. As nice as it would be to have another thrill coaster here, Rage is good enough to keep me coming back every 2 or 3 years. I’d happily face those wretched Dartford crossing toll charges for another visit.
P.S As you might have noticed, I’m a bit out of practice with TR’s as it’s been a long ol’ time since my last one. Please be patient with me. The usual ebs and flows of an Alex TR will return I’m sure. There will be at least a couple coming up soon too! Stay tuned!
I actually had planned to try and do it this year, but the summer filled up quite quickly. I will definitely make sure to do the trip next season though.