A Day of Fun, Laughter and.... Screams!?

Right, off the bat, I have to say that up until Saturday, I'd never been to a theme park, and mostly for the reason that the appeal has never really been there to do so. I've never really seen the enjoyment out of standing in queues for hours on end waiting to go on a ride which lasts (in some cases) seconds...
However, my girlfriend and her family are on the other hand, the complete opposite. Regular visits to Alton Towers each year, holiday's to Disney World in Florida, Portaventura... basically, anywhere there are rollorcoasters... they are there. In short, they are theme park mad.

So when the suggestion of going to Thorpe Park came up, I wasn't particularly excited about it, but figured we were going as a group, so whatever happened, it would be a good day. After all, it was more for Sal's Birthday, as the family couldn't make it the weekend of her birthday, so we decided to do something the weekend before.

As the weeks went by and the weekend got closer, I began to look up the rides, and expected to start to feel some kind of nerves building up, but they didn't. Even when doing my research on the rides I was to expect, I didn't get that sense of 'Oh my god!'... I did however, really start to look forward to the weekend. More so because Sal was getting excited and it was a weekend with her family, which is when I know she is at her happiest.

We were up early doors on Saturday to ensure we got the Thorpe Park first thing and didn't have to queue for the tickets too much. As we got closer, I could see the rides sticking out above the horizon... OMG! These were big... You could see Stealth for miles... and they only got bigger the closer you get.

Once we were parked, got the tickets and were actually in the park, it's then you start to see how big these rides actually are. They tower above everything. Just watching them put a huge smile on my face and gave me a sense of excitement. The sense of excitement I had been looking for over the last couple of weeks.

The crew arrived and we were soon heading off around the park looking for the first ride to go on... As I'd never been before and had no idea about rollor coasters, I was happy to follow everyone's lead and go on whatever they wanted to throw at me first. But still, I had no sense of nerves... nothing was telling me 'this isn't such a good idea'... The first ride we headed for was Nemesis, and as we joined the queue the voice over the speaker said the estimated queuing time was 60 minutes... "60 minutes?... That's a lifetime"... But it wasn't... you stand there (luckily in the sun) chatting away, wandering through the landscaped queuing areas, ducking un-necessarily as the rollor coasters fly by, and actually find that time flies by almost as quick as the people on the ride only a mere couple of feet above your head.

It was only when we got to the very end of the queue, and I was strapped in, that the feeling of fear hit me... and boy did it hit me! Ha! I wasn't panicking, and wanting to get off, but that sense of butterflies that I'd been expecting (and forgotten about) suddenly hit me. By this time tho, it was far to late... We were off... 

The floor below me disappeared, and the coaster was off, ducking and diving through the trees even before we reached the climb to the first and major drop, almost preparing you for what was to come. my legs suspended below me, I decided the best thing was to just relax, and go with it, and boy... was it fun. OK... so it only lasted a minute, tops.. but wow.. the feeling was amazing.

This was the point where I realised why people happily queue for hours to go on a ride that lasts seconds... It was amazing.

Following Nemesis, we headed for Stealth... 0 - 80 in 2 seconds, then up to a height with a view which can only be described as 'breath taking', and then diving back down to the ground again and back into the finish. Must have been all of 10 seconds, but had to be the best rush I've ever experienced in my life. It all happened that fast that I can't exactly remember what was going through my head as we launched, but whatever it was, I must have screamed it, because when I got off, my throat was sore... That deep down sore you get following a night of partying, shouting and screaming. I loved it so much, I was ready to get to the back of the 1hr queue and go back on it again... But the day was drawing fast, and there were more rides to hit.

Next was Saw. We queued for 2 hours in the baking sun chatting away and having a laugh. Over this time, the ride broke down twice, and we contemplated walking away, but the ride was back up and running within 10 minutes max, and we were relieved we didn't walk off. After all, by this point, we'd been queuing for well over an hour. Saw was a different experience all together. I guess they had tried to encompass that feeling of fear, taken from the Saw movies. It was a very good ride, and had plenty of drops, twists and turns. But I spent more time trying to figure out where I was and what was happening to me, than actually enjoying it. So, I guess, it wasn't my favourite.

I think the only disappointment of the day was that Swarm broke down toward the end of the day, and we never got to go on it... But I'll be back, and that'll be the first coaster I make a B-line for :) 

Needless to say, I now have the bug and will be investing in some Merlin passes over the next couple of month's. With Thorpe Park only a 20 minute drive away from where I live, I'd be mad not to. But I'm also keen to now visit Alton Towers... I hear they have even more, bigger and better rides which I just have to experience.