The road to 600 credits | Part 3- Great Yarmouth

For the last couple of years I have neglected to pick up some UK credits that I really should have done due to focusing my attention on going abroad. As there is so much uncertainty with going abroad at the moment it seemed like the opportune time to get out there and do some more UK creds.

Great Yarmouth

This was one of my shameful credit gaps, especially considering I have a particular interest in historic rides. I had not yet done Joyland or Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach! Yep, awkward. So, a small group of us went up one weekend to enjoy the delights of the seaside! Obviously the two seaside parks are a lot more than credits runs but I've included the credit scores here as these reviews are part of the road to 600 series.

Joyland [+2]

Tyrolean Tubtwist

This little park is super cute and tiny, it must be one of the smallest 'proper' parks out there. The park is still owned by the original family that opened it in 1949! The whole park centres around this cartoony mountain and a collection of quirky rides are crammed in and around it! The obvious highlight here was finally getting to ride Tyrolean Tubtwist, the last living relative of the Virginia Reel! If you're looking for old-school charm, this is your ride! You cram yourself into a tub to ride, with no restraints and spin your way along the track. This is one of those rides that is a little bit rough due to it's age but that makes it hilarious so you'll likely find yourself laughing all the way! I imagine that the normal-sized reels were quite something to behold if this ride is anything to go by! We also enjoyed some of the park's other quirky rides such as the Snails (no, I didn't count them, but they're debatable), the undersea dark ride and the spooky express credit that goes through the mountain. The park is very charming and definitely worth a visit!

Here is some offride footage of Tyrolean Tubtwist that I filmed:

Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach [+3]

Just down the promenade is another park, also featuring some historic rides! Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach is home to a rare Scenic Railway coaster named "Roller Coaster". This is one of only 7 operating brakeman coasters (if you didn't know already that's when a staff member rides on the train and manually brakes it as it goes round!) and one of only 8 operating side friction and scenic railway coasters in existence. It has been operating since 1935 and has a very distinctive facade. This was another long-time bucket list coaster for me that I was so pleased to finally ride! The ride experience is a bit more adventurous than Margate's Scenic Railway and has a bit more length too it so you can enjoy the scenery that bit longer. Unfortunately due to the seating allocation I didn't get a ride on the back but I did a few other seats and found it to be a pleasant, family friendly, fun ride and certainly something worth preserving!

Roller Coaster

The rest of the park is full of a variety of other rides including another old school snail-style ride that goes under the Roller Coaster (which was weirdly dark and creepy! haha), a monorail, ghost train, some other family coasters and a variety of flats including the new for 2020 ride, Lightning 360. This ride has since gone down for extended maintenance so the park have (fabulously!) brought in a last minute replacement thrill ride to fill the line up. The Lightning 360 was a new ride type for us all and we found spinning inwards was the way to go to avoid awkward forces! Definitely one to try once it's up and running again! I already had the caterpillar credit from when it was at Alton Towers, which was nice to reride, so this was a +3 park for me. 

Hemsby Fun Park [+1]

The lovely caterpillar

Being the cred-deprived weirdos we are (and up for a bit of a laugh) we decided to pop up to Hemsby Fun Park in the evening to check it out and do the +1. Well, turns out tiny powered kiddie coasters don't do so well in the rain (it had started raining in the late afternoon/evening), especially with a full train of adults onboard! Luckily we got a full circuit so got the credit but also created a hilarious memory of us breaking the coaster with all the staff flocking around to try and fix it whilst we sat there in shame! So awkward haha! They treated us to a free dodgem ride as compensation, which was a nice gesture!

Pettitts Adventure Park [+2]

Day 2 of the Great Yarmouth trip called for some more cred hunting in the form of Pettitts Adventure Park. We had seen some other people had recently visited without children and had said it was worth a stop so we decided to add it to our itinerary as a quick stop off. We were pleasantly surprised with the park, it's really well put together with lots to do for both kids and adults. As well as the obvious 2 credits we enjoyed seeing the animals, riding the train and chilling with coffee and snacks! There is also free mini golf with your entry ticket which is fab but we ran out of time to do this as we were too busy enjoying everything else before we had to get to the next park!

Here's some footage from our visit:

Pleasurewood Hills [+1]

The rest of our day was spent at Pleasurewood Hills, the only park on the trip that I had visited before. I had previously missed the Egg-spress cred so was pleased to complete the set and also get back on the Schwarzkopf Cannonball Express which has now reopened after some prolonged downtime. I always enjoy a day out at Pleasurewood Hills, it has a nice chilled vibe and the park is set in nice leafy surroundings. I feel like although it may be one of the smaller parks more at risk in the UK, it has lots of potential and a nice mid-tier selection of rides, shows and attractions to fill a day!

Cannonball Express

We decided to visit Clacton Pier on the way back but it turned out we had misread the website and the rides were closed so no extra creds for me here. No worries though as we had a nice walk along the pier checking out both the large hole in it and also the latest pier investments that have now created what looks like a great, modern attraction! I definitely want to come back either this year or next year for their new cred to fully check it out!

Obligatory pier hole photo

Following this trip the cred count now sat at 580. Getting there slowly!