Fish and Dips and the Mystery of the Missing Wheel
I�ve been to Adventure Island a few times in the past, notably both in the warmth of summer and in the bitter cold of late January. The park is one of those places that seems to guarantee a nice day out regardless of temperature, but even so I set off on Saturday around the M25 (after what happened last time I thought it a safer bet than attempting the more usual �three trains and the underground South West Trains would like to apologise for the delay to this service and any inconvenience this may cause but don�t blame us because we�re really a bus company and we never wanted to run a train service anyway� approach) with trepidation after seeing the BBC forecasting rain, possible thunderstorms and cold winds.
It was a nice surprise then to arrive on the seafront in blazing sunshine. I do like surprises.
It was not a nice surprise to leave my car and find a ticket machine that demanded more than the contents of my wallet coinage in exchange for a ticket. I do not like surprises.
After considerable rummaging around the doors, the back seat and all those little drawers dotted around my car to find the correct volume of fiscal objects, I was able to buy off the money munching monster without having to walk along the beach selling Kiss-Me-Quick hats hastily made out of pages torn from the AA�s 1987 Road Atlas.
Various club members had already arrived at one of the multitude of Adventure Island entrances and were discussing the various amounts they had paid to park in various locations around Southend. It seems the best deal was �5 for the day. Pah! My parking space had a beautiful sea view for just �2 extra.
Wristbands in hand, or rather around wrist, I spent the hour before lunch in the company of Margaret as we rode several attractions including Adventure Island�s other two coasters which nicely sandwich the park�s big wheel between them. Not that Margaret noticed. I suppose a large rotating ring is quite difficult to spot from several miles away. How that explains a failure to spot it several inches away I have no idea. I made sure to point it out at every opportunity after that, just in case she mislaid it again.
Another nicety of Adventure Island is its opening times. It opens late and closes late, so there�s no need for absurdly early starts so often associated with club trips. This in turn leads to the side benefit of it not being too long before lunch. Apart from after lunch of course, but then you wouldn�t be thinking about lunch aside from how long it had been since lunchtime and how it was time for a nice cup of tea.Lunch came and went rather uneventfully. Burgers, chips and chicken nuggets appeared and disappeared in the park�s cheaper version of a Rainforest Caf�.
After lunch some of us made it into Beelzee Bob’s Trail without falling up the steps, walking into the walls or squashing any small children. Actually the queueline seems a lot lighter than on previous visits. Either I�ve substantially increased my carrot intake without noticing or they�ve added extra lighting in the station.
Beelzee Bob’s remains one of my favourite dark rides, especially since the bastardisation of Chessington�s original Bubbleworks. It has enough humour and detail to entertain the adults but is not too scary for the kids. As for the finale: no wonder all the ride photos look like they do!
Back in January, Adventure Island�s two new attractions for 2006 were still being constructed. The less new of the two was the conversion of the old pirate ship walkthrough into Blackbeard�s All At Sea. This is now a short film show that takes place inside the ship, complete with moving seats, wind and water effects. I don�t think I�ll be giving away the plot by saying the film is about the time Blackbeard got lost at sea during a storm which then stopped. Oh, sorry. I�ve given away the plot (not much to it). Still a nice attraction for the kiddies!
Danny was operating Ramba Zamba - meant to go back for a proper chat later in the day but ran out of time - sorry!Tradition dictates that Adventure Golf has to be played during every visit to the park, so I challenged Margaret to a game next. What a mistake that was! Coordination clearly isn�t my thing � the scorecard speaks for itself:
| HOLE | PAR | Margaret | James |
| 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| 6 | 4 | 4 | 9 |
| 7 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
| 8 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| 9 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| TOTAL | 30 | 29 | 37 |
After a walk along the seafront, a trip in the lifts-of-death and the big wheel, we met up with some of the rest of the group to try out Adventure Island�s other new ride for 2006, Fireball. It looks much more intense than it is, but is fun nonetheless providing some interesting sideways-airtime.
My view for most of Goldmine
The culprits!
click to enlarge (very big - 1.8Mb)
