September Trip Report

Just back from being on park for a week. Here’s a roundup of the latest news developments.

Beast downtime
Despite only reopening last Friday, Beast was closed again between Wednesday and Saturday lunch time. After numerous testing and the maintenance team seen doing something to the ring
at the centre of the arm, the ride reopened again around Saturday lunch time.

Plazza Cleared
The Plazza has been refurbished since the 99p shop was closed and removed from the area at the end of last season. The area now houses a cafe, a shop selling fruit and vegetables and a seating area. Several other unused outlets and what looks like a small play area also reside in the area, but as of yet it remains to be seen what becomes of them.

Castaways Bar
Woody’s Wine Bar has been renamed to Castaways. This is presumably related to the change in management at Fantasy Island since the bar used to be named after previous owner John Woodward. New signs have been erected to reflect the name change.

In related news, the sign above this used to promote Millennium Roller Coaster as Europe’s largest, looping roller coaster. This sign has now been painted over, as can be seen along with the new Castaways bar signs in the following images.

Go Kart Price Increase
The go-karts at Fantasy Island operate separately from the token scheme in place around the rest of the park. The fare had been £5, but has since risen to £6. Although unconfirmed, this price increase could be related to the recent increase in fuel costs since the go-karts are petrol powered.

SIMEX Paintjob
Albeit a retired ride, speculation continues as to whether the attraction is still installed beneath the pyramid floor. Perhaps the latest nail in the coffin is that the sign has finally been given a lick of blue paint; covering over the text that used to read ‘SIMEX: The Ultimate Movie Ride Experience‘.

Caravans back at Fantasy Island
At the end of last season, the caravans were removed from the Blue Anchor owned caravan park adjacent to Fantasy Island. It’s assumed that these were relocated to the old overflow car park; which has now become a new caravan park. Presumably, this means that Conduit Leisure now owns the land where the caravan park used to be, but also means that the maximum number of car parking spaces has been reduced considerably. Further backing up this theory is that the footpath that connected Sea Lane to the overflow car park was closed permanently from November last year.

Car Park Drainage
The land at the far end of the Fantasy Island car park has been subject to ongoing construction work since winter. Originally work went ahead without permission, which halted work. Plans were then submitted and approved, revealing that the work being carried out was for new drainage to be installed. Whilst the work is still being carried out, a vast amount of the work has been completed as can be seen in this photo.