Adventure Island - Saturday 15th July 2023
Adventure Island was my local throughout my childhood, so when thinking about a park to do to get Jason’s credits up a little to try to make a good coaster his 100th (I have a plan) this park came to mind as it’s not too far from home and too big that we would need to set aside a whole day for it.
Originally we were meant to go on the 14th of July however the rain and a lack of good sleep the night before meant we delayed it to the 15th of July. The weather as we left home looked overcast but it predicted rain in the morning then partly cloudy and windy for the rest of the day. We arrived at Southend a little before noon and the weather prediction was not wrong about that wind. We had parked up near the Rossi Ice Cream parlour for a strategic end-of-day ice cream so we were walking in the wind for a small while. The sun was starting to shine through as we entered Adventure Island.
Collecting our prepurchased wristbands was a breeze and with that set, we were ready to get on some rides. For a Saturday it didn’t look too busy which was a nice surprise.
First up, as we were down that end, was Kiddie Kosta a fairly standard Kiddie Kosta that I was sure used to be on the floor not on top of a building but not 100%. This was our first time experiencing how excited and friendly the ops were, the two guys running this ride were chanting and cheering and getting everyone in a great mood. Otherwise, it was a standard you’ve ridden 100 times before kiddie coaster with an added touch of sea breeze.
Up next Mighty Mini Mega and this one I know for sure used to be in a different location and not on top of a building. This park does have a habit of moving rides around as needed to fit new things in so though odd to see it now on a roof of a building it does fit the park's MO. Again the ride ops were fantastic and full of energy started to see a pattern throughout the park with the attitude and excitement given off by the staff. Might Mini Mega was a bit more thrilling than I remember we both thought it was a nice step up from the other rides for younger thrill seekers.
Right next door to Mighty Mini Mega is Barnstormer, a childhood favourite for looping as it was easy to run off and back on without going all that far. We lucked out and got the back row but we sat the wrong way around, if you ride this ride put the larger person on the left and the smaller on the right, I have a nice bruise to prove I rode it and got slammed into the side by Jason on a turn. Still as fun as I remember but now with new animal props.
Up to this point, we have been doing extremely well mostly walking on or only waiting for 1 train at most. So we were making record time for these credits. Knowing that Jason isn’t the biggest fan of vertical lifts I decided to leave Rage to last so Green Scream was up next and I’m not gonna lie I remember the train being long but thought my brain was exaggerating the length a little in memories. Nope 20 car trains taking 40 people at a time, we made a B-Line for the back row and watched a single but happy OP having to check all 20 rows. Still as good as ever a lot of fun and great views, I remember as a kid it used to go around twice but that might be me misremembering.
The final credit of the day was Rage and our only slightly bigger queue, we had to wait about 10 mins. Jason isn’t a big fan of Eurofighters due to a good number of their standard elements, and I don’t get all that excited about them but I understand why so many parks get them and Rage is a perfect example, it fits a thrilling multi-inversion ride in a tiny area and as far as I am aware they are fairly affordable when they are a smaller layout.
As for the experience of Rage itself, what it lacks in theming it makes up for easily in elements, this layout is very compact but contains 3 inversions and hits the major elements that similar coasters take a lot more time to get through. It’s not mine or Jason’s favourite but we both enjoyed it and it's still semi-smooth after all these years, I was expecting it to have roughed up over time.
Credits done time for photos, we walked around the East side of the park taking multiple photos of Rage, Green Scream and the Archelon before walking back through to the West side of the park with the aim to ride the Helter Skelter and the American Whip. Unfortunately, our attempt for the Helter Skelter was foiled, it was closed due to wind. Oh well, try again in a bit.
However, the American Whip was right next to the Helter Skelter so time to ride this classic. Adventure Islands Whip dates all the way back to 1925, back when the park was Sunken Garden and went through an extensive refurbishment in 2009. This ride has been a staple of my visits for as long as I can remember, so I was excited to get Jason on this one. He’d never ridden or heard of it before. He suggested we went on separately so we could take photos of ourselves on ride, so I went first and it was as good as I remembered. Next, Jason went on and he loved it definitely thought that off-ride does not fully portray how fun and forceful such a small ride can be.
Still, the Helter Skelter was closed so we went for a wander for more photos cause why not, we had two new cameras to get used to and test so best to get used to them before taking them to bigger parks.
As we were going to head back to see if the Helter Skelter was open one last time, we decided to explore the indoor section of the park, this is new since the last time I visited. We discovered they had a slightly unusual indoor swinging ship, I’m glad they have one after the park used to have two different ones but they have both since closed. The shit is a bit different in the fact all the seats face the same way, rather than half one way and half the other. It was a good amount of fun, and Jason loves a good swinging ship. If you ever go into the inside section make sure to check out the wall on the upper level, they have a bunch of old movie posters which we spent a good amount of time looking at.
Unfortunately, our last attempt that the Helter Skelter was also a bust, damn you strong winds. So we called it a day in the park and spent a little time (and money) in the arcades down Southend seafront and ended the day with Ice Cream.
If you are ever down in Southend make sure you try Rossi Ice Cream. It’s a local business that has been around forever. Multiple of the places near Adventure Island serve it but if you are willing to walk a few minutes down the seafront they have their own ice cream parlour.
Overall a fun day which was made better by the staff being so excited and happy, it was really infections. I’m glad to see my old local still getting investments and being in good condition, all the visitors seemed to be having a great time. Jason was pleasantly surprised by the park he was expecting a bit of run-down seaside amusement that was not going to be run well and really thought it would be a grab the credits and leave, however, he thought it was a really cool place with a great inclusive and family-friendly vibe, everyone wants you to be having a good time. Nothing spectacular ride-wise but nothing terrible and the staff are world class.
Not something either of us would recommend going out of your way for but if you are in the area, great park for credits and other rides.
Credit Counts at the end of the day:
Kate - 200 Jason - 84