Hey there guys Got a chance to finally visit Oakwood theme park in Wales this past weekend. It wins the award for being the most out of the way park in the UK, beating even Alton Towers for alkwardness.

First, my review of Speed :P

Speed is already overated. But because Oakwood is so far out of the way i think it's just fanboys overated the damned thing. I must say, first ride i thought it was stunning. It's past-90degree drop is nothing short of amazing and doesn't feel as forced and heavy like a dive machine, if for nothing more than how flimsy the structure is, you really do feel like you're falling and you can feel the back of the car topple forward. The airtime there is also way beyond a dive machine to the point where the two are uncomparable. It lives up to it's name well and as a result, the airtime on the hill is fab. Though despite being well paced with an itneresting layout both ride wise and visually, afetr the hill the ride seems forceless and the loop which looks so tight is just rough. The view of the barrel roll is fantastic, but unfortunetly it holds nothing more than asthestic value just like Colossus. It's helixes are lame, considering the rides speed. And the comparasons to Colossus don't end at the barrel roll. The ride is exceedingly rough and it's reridability, much like Colossus, is nill. The layout seems interesting at first, just like Colossus, but it grows tireing quickly and seems simply repetative. The roughness is a tad worrying. I hope it's just a flaw that Speed will have and future Eurofighters won't suffer the same fait. Other Gleuster's(sp?) ain't this rough.



My Speed music video - http://hajime.co.uk/videos/speed_0001.wmv or on youtube at

And now, the fear of gigantic spelling mistakes... i mean Megafobia.

Again, i think it's overated, but i never pretended to like woodies. I havn't been on a lot of woodies to make a fair judgement of 'fobia. The only one on it's scale i've been on is Colossus at Terra Mitica, and that, aside the double drop and stunning visuals, was crap. But hey, i think Nemesis is overated but that doesn't stop it from being my fave coaster. Megafobia is amazing, but if it's really world class then most woodies must just be poo. The ride ops leniancy with lap bars is even more amazing. It's a powerful and routhless ride, which fails to slow down from the moment is leaves it's lift to the break run. The trick tracking is taken at such speed you don't realise what has happened until it's long since passed and the airtime is never ending. Megafobia is also visually impressive, and we rode the pedallo boats just to get up close. The ride op, Gavin, also deserves mentioning because he was the best ride op ever.



My Music Video of Megafobia - http://hajime.co.uk/videos/megafobia_0001.wmv or on youtube at

The rest of the park was lacking somthing all good theme parks have, and thats good quality family rides, but eh... i won't complain too much. The pop-music played overly loud all over the place also annoyed me, even when it was somthing i liked. It was out of place. Bob Sleigh is so much fun and it rained for the most part of the day (well, i was goign to a theme park... so the wetaher felt it had to. Blue skies at 4 though. :P), so bob sleigh and 'fobia where well lubed by twilight. The park was open 10-10, with a firework finish. Couldn't have asked for better, really.

And now for the extras :P

On the way back to London, we went to West Midlands Safari Park for the soul purpose of the 3 credits there. But i happen to also like animals, so the safari was great. http://hajime.co.uk/videos/safari_0002.wmv or on youtube at

And then the day after we went to check out Paultons Park's new ride, Cobra down in the south of England. Fun little family park, with 3 credits, but the slides where the best things there :P

I may make a full video of my day at Oakwood, but im waiting on videos from a friend becuase i didnt get a lot of footage outside the 2 coasters.

Thanx for reading.

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lol Speed so is not overrated! I rode it 17 times back in June! Its a short ride.. And has some bang to it.. But the drop/airhill/zerogroll/end helix make up for the bad parts.. Hell if you dont want it i'll take it.

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What other Gerstluarer's have you ridden?

I have only been on two myself, both of them spinning models. The first was Mr Six's coaster, which I rode within months of opening, and the second was Timberland Twister, which I rode almost a two full years after opening. Pandemonium was ok, but if Timberland Twister was any indication, it will be moderately rough in little to no time (more or less just a rattle, nothing that makes it un-ridable, at least to me). In my limited experience, they do age poorly, which sucks because their rides are cool otherwise.

After reading your post... is there anything that you think isn't overrated? Speed, Megafobia, Collossus, Nemesis...

Wow that picture of Speed is amazing. You should submit it to the TN photo contest.

Everything in the UK is overated. Everything major, anyway. It must be. Or i have a dissopointing future ahead of me accross the pond.

O... except the Ultimate and Nemesis Inferno, which are UNDERated! =D Nemesis is better than Inferno, but Inferno is massivly udnerated as being 'weak' when it is blatently the more powerful of the two.

Cobraaa... bobsleigh. That's awesomely smooth. Almost too smooth. I think there might be another. *thinks* Oh no thats an MS... 2 then, so my experiance is just as limited. :P

Both the UK Gerstluarer's (thanx for the spelling correction) are bran new. We're getting another Eurofighter next year, too. Cobra and the new Eurofighter are/will be local, so i guess i'll get to see them grow up. But Speed's roughness shocked me.

Hm, you thinks so? Well, thank you. I'll check it out.

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Airtime Awards 2007 - Vote Now!