Flamingoland trip report - Kumali :) YAY

okay, okay okay, ive been to flamingoland today to ride Kumali, and wowwwwwwwwww, way above my expectations! Seriously! But before i get into that....

Well me and friends got to the park at 10:30am, bought our tickets, and i made my way towards kumali. [:D] Its alot bigger than i first expected, and really dominates the park along with cliff hanger. The first drop looks great the way it pulls out so close to the floor and the fence! I really cant wait to see this ride when there is grass underneath, an the sun is shining, it will look great! It already does and its in a fiel of mud at the moment. Anyway, the queue was about 5mins olong, and my first ride was to be back seat baby! [:D]

Kumali:

I was expecting this to be quite rough because of all the "OMG SLC" comments you hear! So i was preparing myself as we went up the lift. When you reach the top of kumali, you notice how nice the new areas of flamingoland look. Its shaping up to be a great park, with great themeing (when they finish it [:p]). Anyway yeah kumalis pretty high aswell. The first drop is great, especially back seat. It goes from just a gentle swooping to some pretty heavy gs at the bottom with a great foot chopper as your so close to the ground! The loop is over quick, and is relatively forceful, espcially back seat when you flick over the top and on the pull out. Then comes the pass over the water, with the large rock footers which do add to the experience. If you actually look down at them you feel like your going to hit them, which is great. Then the cobra roll, perfectly paced IMO! Not as forceful as the first drop and loop, but still good. Its taken relatively fast, which is great as its quite disorientating. The zero G comes next which is one of my favourite parts of the ride. I love zero G rolls, and this one is quite good. You actually get the floaty feeling on this zero G, unlike the zero G on nemesis. Its more like the zero G on inferno, but not as quick. After the zero G the ride just falls flat on its face though IMO! The helix is okay, its a good end to the ride i suppose, but theres 1 noticeable bump coming out, luckily the new SLC trains dont let you notice it much. Its not very forceful either, and the banking isnt very high. I would prefer it to be tighter and more harshly banked. But anyway, still a really good ride imo. [:)] I ended up riding it 5 times today, and my best ride was the first in back seat, and then the 3rd in the front seat. I would put this ride in between magnum and the bullet. It isnt as good as Magnum IMO, because thats just a great great Schwarzkopf that never lets up, and has huge forces (even laterals). Shame its gone. But Kumali is a good replacement, and is better than bullet IMO, because bullet was intense, but short as hell. Anyway, i would give Kumali an 8/10? [:)][:)]
I tried to get a POV, but some stupid chav got their phone caught and everyone got warned about taking loose articles on the ride. [V]

heres some pics: They are taken from the video footage i took today (i didnt have my digi cam as i couldnt be arsed) so arent great quality because screens from footage never comes out that great!



zero G



and again



first drop



loop



cobra roll



and again



and a pic from the cable cars!

****sorry im tired as hell and will finish the trip report off tommorrow morning if anyone is really that bothered****

EDIT: scroll down for more [:D]

Sounds like you had a good time Jpe. I'll be waiting for the other part of the report.

I also had another experience on velocity today! With my restraint loose this time (YAY less pain) and i actually caught a little bit of air [:D]

Well I was there today aswell and I to headed straight for kumali, I must say I was impressed it is very smooth and is higher than it looks the first drop and loop is awsome. We then went on Velocity which is a good different ride the sound affects were on and added to the buzz of the start, it's a short ride with the start being the best bit. I to took a few photos (sorry no POV) which I can upload if you want. Sorry I didn't see jpecool would of been nice to meet up. All in all Flamingoland is starting to turn out to be a very good park, lets hope they continue to develop the park more.

More More More!!!
Good report mate. Whats there of it anyway.
And i want to see more.
And i've experianced more floatyness on Krakens 0g roll so Nerrr!

Nice pics and great review, can't wait for the video!

kumali looks really short? how long would you estimate it was jpe?

Ummm, longer than nemmy! But not b much. Somewhere between 1 and 2 minutes.
Anyway im about to finish my report in the next post! Bardy if you saw someone with a video camera, that was me, as there was only 1 other person i saw with a camera and she was old. lol. Also i was soaked for most of the day and noone else was stupid enough to be!

*most of the pics in this part of the report are from last year, and te low quality ones are taken from video this year*

Okay so after Kumali, i was dragged towards the lost river ride. It was about 11am, and we were in Yorkshire here, freezing cold, and this thing gets you soaked. But they wanted to see the zebras, ooooooooooo. So we went on it. I got soaked. Heres a pic of just after riding it, look how bad thwe weather is in the morning, and look how wet you get. Not a god combination!



i ducked down and still got soaked. I have footage of me soaked which has some nice footage of my crotch! I might put it in the vid

Okay so after my soaking, i got some footage of some rides and then off to Velocity. Now my first experience on this ride was bad. I must say i didnt enjoy it vey much because of how tight my restraint was, and because of how hard i was being pushed into it. And also because of how hard you are pushed downwards in 2 of te turns and it squishes.....erm....places [;)] If you arent in a comfortable position. As we approached velocity i heard new sounds (like bardy said) which sound great! I think they are better than ritas sound effects. It is continuous revving noises while the train waits to launch, and then a huge loud roar and a little screech as the ride shoots off down metropolis and into the first airtime hill next to corkscrew. It is while queueing for velocity that i noticed how many chavs we were surrounded by. I even went as far as filming a few because i was so shocked, and may include them in a vid, in a "chav hunt" section [:)] nahhhh, okay i wont, but seriously there were loads. Okay i got on Velocity, sorted myself out [;)] before doing my restraint up and pulling the handle bars forward, i didnt pull them tight, i wanted room this time, for airtime [:)] A quick turn left, and your looking down the launch, you stop, and then after a wait, YOUR OFF! The launch is no way near as powerful as rita's, but it feels nearly as good because of the more open vulnerable position you are in. I still prefer rita though *sigh*. Anyway over the first airtime hill - little airtime for me, sorry. First turn, wasnt so bad this time, YAY! 2nd turn, OUCH, BUMP, pain begins. 3rd turn, again not so bad. Turn into airtime hills was fine as usual, i like that part, and the airtime run, I GOT SOME! [:)] It was freakin cool aswell because of the already vulnerable position, being able to rise out your seat a bit with only a thing lossely across your back, feels great! [:D] Still not as good as Kumali, never will be.

Heres some pics:



YAY launch



YAY again



mess of track. Doesnt look like much but is taken quite fast, and because of the position, it is real fun.



again



empty seats (these are from last year - the ride was testing when i got there last year, and then opened later in the day because it was NEW!)



launch



overall view taken from my footage yesterday! Shame it isnt great quality, but it is on the video so YAY


After velocity, we decided to head for the scariest/coolest/bestest/awesomest/greatest ride at flamingoland! Cliff hanger! Now i dont normally get scared on rides that much. Kumali didnt really have an effect. Coasters dont on me, unless they are huge. Flat rides do a bit though, especially the insane ones, and tower rides freak me out before! And cliff hanger is the tallest shot ride in the UK i think, and its not just a shot ride, its a S&S combo ride, 1 shot, 3 bounces, then your taken to the top, wait for 15 seconds or so, and then 1 drop, 2 bounces. Its a really fun ride, and dominates the park. The queue is set out annoyingly well, so that queuers are staring right into the faces of passengers before being shot up. Anyway my friend was taking the piss out of me saying "oh Jason, i thought rides didnt bother you, blah blah" and i was saying "well this one DOES!". Im small, i fly out my seat alot on this thing, its great, but its crazy! Also with the winds on the yorkshire moors, some days this can feel really vulnerable. But i still love it. I get nervous before. So when we were sat down, everything changed. I wasnt that nervous, and my friend was shitting herself. HAHA. She had her eyes closed all the way through the ride, and ive never heard such a high pitched scream than the one i heard when she opened her eyes for a second at the top, apart from the one that follwed when we were shot down. Anyway, that ride was extremely entertaining, i had my hands and legs out, YAY! heres some pics (again, some rom last year, so from yesterday):



Watching people before being shot 200 feet towards the yorkshire, freezing cold, windy sky!



I love S&S, S&S, S&S! I love S&S, please buy me one [:D]



Bad photography here [:(]



here you can see the tower is held up by wires because of how windy it gets up there. Its placed on really high land, and the wind is crazy some days!



looking up!



yes i love this ride, can you tell by the amount of footage and pics i have of it?



especially funny to watch arrogant people get scared.



Some good airtime there after being launched up. Not as good as the airtime on the 80 foot S&S tower at Pleasure Island. Thats crazy. But still good. [:D]



when standing underneath it, this is when the ride first gets to you. From the car park it doesnt look that bad. But from here, you change your mind! [:(]

Afer cliff hanger we went and had some dinner, in the coaster tribute cafe. I was sad (apparently) and looked at the schwarzkopf pictures. [:P] They have loads along one wall of Magnum Force and Bullet on the fair scene, and even one design of magnum force up! BTW theres now a nice view out the window in that cafe, of Kumalis cobra roll and the rock footers. Shame about the birds though (one of my friends is scared of birds??? - so Flamingoland really isnt the best place to go for them).

After that we went for another ride on Kumali. Middle seat. It was good! [:D] I like this ride, i could gladly spend all day on this, cliff hanger, Circulator and the new GCI/Vekoma/GG woodie we are hoping to get soon hehe. I hope its GG, they could do so much with the flamingoland site! Anyway after another ride on kumali, i had another one, and this time we were lucky enough to get front seat. I was ready to get a POV! I had my coast on, and my camera all strapped around me underneath and you couldnt see it at all, and then my plan was to just edge it out the side of my coat when we were going up the lift. BUT, you never guess what, someone had the same idea with their phone (but without hiding it) and tried to get a POV just holding it up. Of course, the ride ops, who have got alot stricter now flamingoland is looking like a proper park, stopped the ride, climbed the lift, took it off him. And one was really mad, he looked like he was gonna chuck the guy out the park. Of course, i was on the next ride, and the ride ops were furious. I wasnt gonna risk getting chucked out, sorry guys. Hopefully gazag will catch 'em on a better day! [:)]

Okay so i had had 3 rides on kumali so we went to the zoo now. Saw some animals yay.



some tigers



some baboons.

And we got lost in the zoo and "accidentally" found ourselves in the bird sanctuary, with birds on both sides. My friend went crazy and ran off.

After the zoo we went on the cycle rail thing! Then we went on corkscrew. PAIN! serious PAIN! Then we stopped for some drinks, i got some footage of velocity, and then fell through the floor outside the wooden hut thing!
[:(]

erm, then we tackled Circulator, a fabbri evolution. It was good,but now i have scratches and bruises all over my shoulders from the hang time.



really weird ride. I like it.



YAY! Shame about the taped up restraints though.

After that, we went on the wild mouse, as Navigator (Zamperla disk'O) was closed. I had never been on this thing but they were running it really well, cars were going round really fast, and the ops were getting lots of people through! It was a really fun little ride, quick zippy corners, steep drops, violent brake runs. What more could you ask for? On our 2nd ride though, the thing nearly broke my nose, because i was too busy watching kumali, to notice the damn violent turn! [:(] Its a Maurer Sohne wild mouse, do you really need pics? Normally i would put them in, but i dont have time as im going out in a minute! Thats why this report is getting rushed.

By this time it was getting late in the day. One more ride on velocity! Not s painful, again. I love the fact that the ops didnt check your restraints on this anymore. hehe. Kinda dangerous for some people (espcially the fat guy that got wedged in velocity, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, i over heard someone talking [:)]) but i was careful, and again just left a bit of room for air! Its a much better ride when you do that.

Just time for anoter ride on kumali! You bet! 2 more rides in fact! [:D] So in total i got 5 rides on kumali, front and back seat being the best. Front because of the amazing foot choppers on the first drop and between the loop and cobra roll with the water and rock footers. Back seat because of the great forces on the first drop, and loop, and the fact that you float a little more on the zero G! [:)]

ummmmmm, thats about all we did for the day. Flamingoland is great because its a good park, with tiny queues. My longest queue was 15min for cliff hanger. My longest queue for kumali was about 10 minutes, and the shortest queue was walk on for Circulator. I really love flamingoland now, and i think with a GRAVITY GROUP woodie [;)] the park would be completed nicely! Themeing in the park ha sreally improved, and im shocked at how much the park has changed in less than a year! from last time i went to this time, this is what has changed:
- magnum force gone - now an animal paddock
- bullet gone - now replaced by kumali
- muddy duck farm added with tractor ride
- part of the zoo has changed
- new huge bird show building
- the part of the park that connects the kiddy section with the zoo has changed dramatically. A load of the crappy looking rides taken out, and its been repaved and looks so much nicer.
- new walls and themeing around new parts of the park
- new facade on the reptile house.
- wagon wheels added
- sky flyer painted and moved - making some room i think [;)]

ummm thats all i can think of now. But thats really great. I couldnt believe how much everything had changed.

Shame i didnt get another ride on Cliff hanger, but my friends werent up to it [:(]

Good report dude, and when i went to FL, im sure that Circulator was called 'Terroriser'.
Why feel the need to change the name!

^It was.
I think they've moved it further into the park maybe as well?
Sweet report though. I wouldn't go on their water ride, I'd never seen such vile looking water on anything else as when it opened. Im sure its coz it runs through the zoo part.

Yeah the water runs right next to the bird thing. I swear they crap in it.

yeah circulator was called terroriser, but now its been moved into metropolis right next to velocity and navigator, and has been painted sky blue, so they decided to rename it with the re-theme. Personally i think terroriser is a better name though.

When is the flamingoland meet up? I really want a few more rides on kumali..... if i can get there. [:)]

Thursday the 4th of may i think, i know a school day but gaz said he would change it to suit people's needs.
Hes such a star [r].
,

Okay i cant do that, and im not gonna ask him to change the date because i might not be able to go whatever anyway. So meh. BTW im just mixing the vid now [:)]

Good Lad! You know what gaz is like, i think of him as a fairy elephant, such a sorted dude.
And if you ask your parents which days you can go, then its more organised and increasing your chances of coming!