Loop-di-Loo

So on my way back from Gatwick when I returned from Venice, I saw this sign for Chessington World of Adventure. I had no idea what it was but I thought it was a pretty amazing name. Who wouldn't want to go to a world of adventure?

The next day at work I mentioned it to the girls who explained that Chessington is an amusement park, but when we looked it up online it seemed aimed more towards little kids than I would have liked. Then they told me about Thorpe Park and last Saturday's event was born.

Thorpe Park is the closest thing to Six Flags in the UK - with the possible exception of Alton Towers, but that's a pretty long way out of London. Thorpe is only about 20 miles outside the city.



Anyway so Juliet, Tim, Jenni and I went on Saturday when it was supposed to be a gorgeous day, sunny, over 70 degrees...and it actually was! After a few train shenanigans - our plan to all get on at different stops but end up on the same train didn't go so well - we re-grouped at the entrance and began the most awesome day of adrenaline (second only to when I went to Six Flags for Mikey Z's bday, that was most excellent).

The lines really weren't that bad - they have 3 big coasters, and we were able to ride each of them twice, which was pretty awesome. We also rode a couple of the water rides - just not the first one for which we stood in line about 30 minutes...the line was really long and the people coming out weren't just wet, they were soaked to the bone. Plus, even though it was a nice day outside, 3 of us were wearing jeans, and it's so fun to walk around in wet jeans for a few hours. Anyway, we bailed. But the log ride and the rapids were just the right amount of liquid fun. (okay, it's possible i shrieked at the time, but i did get a line drive of water aimed at my side)

It was an fab day with an awesome foursome of friends, and I definitely went on all the rides I could in a single day. In fact, for future reference, don't try riding an entire roller coaster with your eyes closed. That's a dead lock for a good 20 minutes of queasiness.

Some shots from the day...




Here's one after the log ride (a little moist-er than five minutes before):


And here we are on the train home with all the little Zippys I "won" on the goblet toss (i actually lost every time but they give you a little charity prize):



There's now talk of going to EuroDisney at some point. I'll keep ya posted...