Oakwood Theme Park
7th August 2010
The annual trip to Oakwood Theme Park is in some ways the signature event for the European Coaster Club. Each year a lot of club members set up tents in a field next to the park, and perhaps unsurprisingly the main draw for a lot of people is the social aspect of the weekend, rather than the amusement park itself. Oakwood Theme Park really isn't a full day park, especially for those who've been there on multiple occasions, but even still the time spent with good friends seemed to pass far too quickly.
The morning began with a session on Treetops Coaster, followed by Waterfall. The latter requires good balance (and luck) to avoid getting soaked, and as expected a number of members ended up completely drenched. Rather than tempt fate I decided to watch the proceedings with increasing amusement. With that out of the way, we were given the chance to walk around the course of the Spooky 3D dark ride, the only proviso being that we shouldn't step on the live electrical rail unless we wanted to become part of the ride theming. I'm not sure that I'd have the hair for it mind.
My favourite bit of the day was taking two separate flights on Vertigo, in both cases with people trying a skycoaster for the first time. I'm not sure whether I'd be forgiven if I uploaded one or two of the more amusing photographs, though all professed to have enjoyed themselves afterwards once the adrenalin broke through the absolute sheer terror!
As the park closed we were treated to a barbecue dinner, followed by exclusive sessions on both Speed and Megafobia. It was interesting to see quite a few familiar faces (including my own) drop out of the sessions mid way through; it would appear that we're all getting that little bit older. The day finished back at the camp site with a few drinks and a camp fire, the latter ignited in spectacular fashion using pyrotechnics.
