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Old 30 Mar 18, 04:33 PM  
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HEMANCLOFTY
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Tom’s 13 So Let’s Try to Do 13 Theme Parks this Year (updated 20.02.19)

Tom’s 13 So Let’s Try to Do 13 Theme Parks this Year

Introduction, Background & Index:

For those that don’t know us, we are the Huxwolds – Ems (37), Rich (37-again ) and Tom (13)...



You can read all about the background and planning evolution of this adventure / challenge after the Index...

---------------------------------------------------------

The Index:

1. Blackpool Pleasure Beach:
Part 1 – Sun 25th Feb 2018
Part 2 - Sun 8th July 2018 (Icon: Dare To Ride)
Part 3 - Fri 24th / Sat 25th August 18 (inc a day at the Zoo) - coming soon
Part 4 - Sun 31st September 2018

2. Alton Towers:
Part 1 – Sun 25th March 2018
Part 2 - Fri 13th April 18
Part 3 - Mon 30th July (Just Mom & Tom)
Part 4 - Sun 9th September - coming soon

3. PortAventura:
Part 1 - Tues 29th May 2018
Part 2 - Weds 30th May 2018
Part 3 - Fri 1st June 2018
Part 4 - Sun 3rd June 2018
Part 5 - Mon 4th June 2018

4. Ferrari Land
Weds 30th May 2018

5. Caribe Aquatic Water Park
Thurs 31st May 2018

6. West Midlands Safari Park
Sun 1st July 2018

7. Oakwood - After Dark
Sat 4th August 2018

8. Drayton Manor Park
Mon 27th August 2018

9. Phantasialand (Germany)
Tuesday 30th October 2018

10. Attractiepark Toverland (Netherlands)
Wednesday 31st October 2018

11. Movie Park Germany
Thursday 1st November 2018

Unfortunately, we didn't quite make it to 13
---------------------------------------------------

Background and Planning Updates...

So, this is going to be a different kind of trip report.

Up until last year, our holidays have always been of the Florida kind – no surprises (given that we are here on The Dibb), but we are all big fans of WDW, US and everything else that Orlando has to offer.

After our Feb/March 17 Floziday, we were lucky enough to squeeze in a bonus mini-holiday to Salou in October half-term, where we absolutely loved PortAventura, so we started looking around at what other theme parks Europe had to offer as a possible alternative for 2018, as well as a May half-term return the Salou that we already have booked (trippie here).

These conversations led to us thinking why focus on Europe when there are so many parks in the UK that we have yet to explore, and we decided that we’d visit Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Alton Towers and Thorpe Park, and as Drayton Manor isn’t too far from home, it was inevitable that we’d probably end up there too.

Then we had another idea (which is currently looking very likely but we haven’t booked yet) – which is to do a week in New York in August, during which 6 Flags New Jersey and Coney Island are must-dos on our itinerary.

So, the end of February found us on route to Blackpool for a WOW weekend visit to the Pleasure Beach, and as we were chatting on the drive up, we were counting up the theme parks that were now on our list for 2018 – which were...

1. Blackpool Pleasure Beach
2. Alton Towers
3. Drayton Manor Park
4. Thorpe Park
5. Chessington World of Adventure
6. PortAventura
7. Ferrari Land
8. Caribe Aquatic Park (PortAventura)
9. Aquopolis Water Park (Salou)
10. Six Flags Great Adventure
11. Coney Island

Once we realised that there were 11 on the list, I suggested that it could be realistic to round it up to 13 (seeing as Tom is 13), and that it would be nice to keep a record of our visits in a trip-report of sorts.

For our final 2 parks, we have a couple of options, including Adventureland (Long island); Lightwater Valley and Paulton’s Park, but we’ll see what the rest of the year brings.

I fully appreciate that a non-holiday trippy won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, so won’t be offended if it’s not for you and you don’t fancy reading along.

Anyway, as of today (Good Friday), we’ve already ticked 2 parks off our list, so I thought I’d use the Easter Weekend to get started...

-------------------------------------------------------

An Update: 17th June 2018

A lot has happened since Easter, and it's safe to say that our plans have evolved and changed quite a few times over the last couple of weeks and months.

Around the end of March, we started watching Theme Park Worldwide vlogs (which I can highly recommend), and every one we watched ended up with us wanting to go there, resulting in our plans changing all the time. On the radar has been Dubai, Germany, Madrid, Rome and The Netherlands, plus we have Sweden on the future wish list.

As things stand, having just got back from our May half term week in Salou, we are looking at Germany / Netherlands for 5 days in August visiting Phastasialand, Moviepark and Toverand, then back to Germany in October half term to do 4 days at Europa Park, and then either a Disney-less Orlando or Dubai in Feb 2019. New York will happen in the next cuple of years, but it's no longer a priority for this year with so many European parks & coasters on the bucket list)

This currently makes our 13 parks in 2018 list as follows:

1. Blackpool Pleasure Beach
2. Alton Towers
3. PortAventura
4. Ferrari Land
5. Caribe Aquatic Water Park
6. West Midlands Safari Park
7. Thorpe Park
8. Drayton Manor Park
9. Phantasialand, Germany
10. MoviePark, Germany
11. Toverland, Netherlands
12. Europa Park, Germany
13. A N Other British Park - TBC

-------------------------------------------------------

Another Update / Change of Plan: 31st July 2018

If you have ever read any of my Florida trippies, you'll be familiar with our "plan, but be prepared to change the plan" approach. Well, it turns out that this challenge / this year's holiday plans are no different.

This particular plan change is out of our control. The reason is not something I can share on here, but it has meant that we have been unable to make any firm plans for what would have been our August trip to Germany & The Netherlands.

So, this weekend we decided to switch things around and we will now be doing the August plan in October Half Term (4 nights in Germany, visiting Phantasialand, Movie Park and Toverland). This is good, but does mean that we've had to lose Europa Park for this year .

We'll hopefully be able to squeeze in a few UK parks during the August week that we have booked off work, plus we've got the weekends to play with too - starting with Oakwood this coming Saturday for late night opening & fireworks.

Plus there's bound to be a couple more Alton Towers and Blackpool visits in there too - we need to ride Icon in the dark! It's the best ride in the UK, without a doubt!

-------------------------------------------------------

Update: 7th October

As I mentioned in my last update, summer didn't exactly go to plan. We have been able to squeeze in a few theme park visits, but these have mainly been returns to Blackpool (as Icon is sooooo good) and Alton Towers (making the most of our Annual Passes). We did manage to squeeze in Bank Holiday Monday at Drayton Manor, so we have ticked one more park off the list (bringing us to 8). Plus we've booked our flights for Germany for the end of this month, so parks 9, 10 and 11 are in sight (and we are very excited about Taron).

Thorpe Park has been pushed back a few times, mainly because it's been very busy at weekend (Rich has been tracking queue times). Hopefully we'll be able to squeeze in a visit before the end of the season.

We're also thinking of doing Southend On Sea in the lead up to Christmas, wrapping up warm and making a weekend of it, so we should still be able to complete our 13 parks challenge (fingers crossed).

So the latest list is now looking like...

1. Blackpool Pleasure Beach (Done x4)
2. Alton Towers (Done x4)
3. PortAventura (Done x5)
4. Ferrari Land (Done)
5. Caribe Aquatic Water Park (Done)
6. West Midlands Safari Park (Done)
7. Oakwood (Done)
8. Drayton Manor Park (Done)
9. Phantasialand, Germany - Oct 29th / 30th
10. MoviePark, Germany - Oct 31st / Nov 1st
11. Toverland, Netherlands - Nov 2nd
12. Thorpe Park
13. Adventure Island, Southend-On-Sea

I'm really behind with writing up our days, but I will keep this going, as I'm loving the memories

-------------------------------------------------------

Update: 20th February 2019

First of all, sorry for the delay in keeping this trippie updated - I got a bit waylaid at the end of the year with a big project at work, then a new role and Christmas - but I'm off for half-term so am getting back on track (I've just finished off the last 3 days of our Salou trippie)

So, we didn't quite make it to 13 parks, but we had a whole lot of fun trying along the way...

We had an absolutely awesome time on our Germany / Netherlands road trip over October half-term, and I'll be writing about our visits to Phantasialand, Toverland and Movie Park Germany (parks 9, 10 and 11) soon. Spoiler alert - Taron at Phastasialand has just pipped Shambhala to my #1 coaster spot (but only just).

Unfortunately, we didn't make it to Thorpe Park before the season closed, and we also didn't take into account that, even though Southend was open at weekends in December, not everything was running, so we're saving both of those for 2019.

We did nearly make it to 12, as we made a very brief stop at Winter Wonderland Stoke whilst we were in town for the Panto, but nothing took our fancy (it was a bit naff), so we didn't ride anything.

Technically, we did ride the Log Flume and Wild Mouse on Blackpool South Pier during a visit over Easter Weekend, but we haven't included that one as a park visit, as it was only 2 rides and we thought it would be cheating .

However, we did manage to do 21 days of theme parks in 2018 and had an absolute blast doing so - I think it's safe to say that we have become Theme Park enthusiasts - I now know my Macks from my Intamins and Gerstlaurs and my screensavers are all coaster pics (or coaster-porn as I call it ).

Roll-on the 2019 season - we're off to Blackpool on Sunday and have lots of plans for the year ahead, including Merlin passes, another Europe road trip and a return to Salou...

PS - here is the final list...

1. Blackpool Pleasure Beach (Done x4)
2. Alton Towers (Done x4)
3. PortAventura (Done x5)
4. Ferrari Land (Done)
5. Caribe Aquatic Water Park (Done)
6. West Midlands Safari Park (Done)
7. Oakwood (Done)
8. Drayton Manor Park (Done)
9. Phantasialand (Done)
10. Toverland (Done)
11. Movie Park Germany (Done)

Edited at 12:56 AM.
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Old 30 Mar 18, 07:04 PM  
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jools1302
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What a great idea, Tom will definately remember the year he became a teenager! Have fun I will be following along... we’re doing New York in July with a 15 year old but haven’t mentioned the possibility of theme parks to her we’ve too many other sights to see!
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Old 30 Mar 18, 09:51 PM  
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Enjoy . Hope you bought a Merlin annual pass
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Old 31 Mar 18, 09:03 AM  
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Brilliant idea 😀. I'm sure Tom will love his birthday year. Just a suggestion, Legoland isn't on your list, may be worth looking at for one of your final two?
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Old 1 Apr 18, 01:17 PM  
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Hi Ems

This sounds great! We're trying to do more UK parks this year too. We've managed Chessington & Alton Towers so far & off to Blackpool for a few days tomorrow. We've invested in Merlin Passes which has really helped keep costs down. You know we don't live far from Drayton Manor either so no doubt we'll make it there at some, I think we'll count West Mids Safari too

Enjoy your adventures x
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Old 1 Apr 18, 05:17 PM  
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HEMANCLOFTY
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Originally Posted by jools1302 View Post
What a great idea, Tom will definately remember the year he became a teenager! Have fun I will be following along... we’re doing New York in July with a 15 year old but haven’t mentioned the possibility of theme parks to her we’ve too many other sights to see!
Thanks - have a lovely time in New York
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Old 1 Apr 18, 05:20 PM  
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Originally Posted by buryboy View Post
Enjoy . Hope you bought a Merlin annual pass
We did ponder the Merlin Pass when they were on offer at the start of the year, but the numbers didn't add up (and we aren't particularly bothered about the London Eye etc).

We have gone for the new Alton Towers Season Pass though, so we are planning a few visits throughout the year
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Old 1 Apr 18, 05:22 PM  
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Originally Posted by DisneyDaffodil View Post
Brilliant idea 😀. I'm sure Tom will love his birthday year. Just a suggestion, Legoland isn't on your list, may be worth looking at for one of your final two?
Thanks for the suggestion. Lego Land has been on our UK and Florida to-do lists for quite a few ears now, but somehow we'Ve never made it. I think we may have missed the boat now as Tom really isn't particularly fussed anymore
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Old 1 Apr 18, 05:25 PM  
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Originally Posted by magickate View Post
Hi Ems

This sounds great! We're trying to do more UK parks this year too. We've managed Chessington & Alton Towers so far & off to Blackpool for a few days tomorrow. We've invested in Merlin Passes which has really helped keep costs down. You know we don't live far from Drayton Manor either so no doubt we'll make it there at some, I think we'll count West Mids Safari too

Enjoy your adventures x
Sounds like you have a fun year of adventures ahead too. We did ponder the Merlin Pass, but the numbers didn't stack up for us. We'be got the Alton Towers season pass though, so can head back there a few times, and the plan is to do Chessington and Thorpe Park with the Kellogg's BOGOF offer
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Old 2 Apr 18, 09:30 PM  
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Park visit #2 (Alton Towers) now added 😀
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