West Midlands Safari Park Rapids
West Midlands Safari Park has got a "rapids slide" (I believe it's a Fabbri rather than a Reverchon), and now Paul Orsmond has taken some pictures of it. I must say, both the theming of the ride and the quality of the photographs is excellent.
This ride was the highlight of the fair when I rode one last year, but even I'm impressed with how well-themed they can turn out.
at 8/30/05 10:42:50 AM
> West Midlands Safari Park has got a "rapids
> slide" (I believe it's a Fabbri rather than a
> Reverchon), and now Paul Orsmond has taken some pictures of
> it. I must say, both the theming of the ride and the
> quality of the photographs is excellent.
Fantastic news! what a great addition to the park, it also seems they've themed their off the shelf reverchon log flume quite a bit too, looks like an interesting park to visit
i like how you can clearly see the concrete queue line base in the middle of the roller skater, is still there from the boomerang coaster that used to sit there
> West Midlands Safari Park has got a "rapids
> slide" (I believe it's a Fabbri rather than a
> Reverchon), and now Paul Orsmond has taken some pictures of
> it. I must say, both the theming of the ride and the
> quality of the photographs is excellent.
It looks very well themed for a small rapids ride. I just looked on rcdb.com for pics of the other coasters there. They look obviously quite small but also fairly well themed. After looking in the history i found that they used to have a vekoma boomerang called cobra. I have one question for them. Why get rid of such a big coaster and replace with very small ones? It might have been a well known park if they kept it. I sure didn't know about it until this forum topic.
Anyways, it looks like quite a fun park. The rides are credited for having themeing, so good for them.
at 8/30/05 5:39:43 PM
> After looking in the history i found that they used
> to have a vekoma boomerang called cobra. I have one
> question for them. Why get rid of such a big coaster and
> replace with very small ones?
Once upon a time I heard a rumour that it had operational problems, but I don't know if that's true, as a huge amount of parks have Boomerangs and they run fine.
Incidentally, the Vekoma Junior Coaster they have is the 335m, which is the biggest type (apart from custom) and the same model that Islands of Adventure has! I'm sure it's one of the very best junior coasters in the UK. Looks pretty big and thrilling for a junior coaster, and Vekoma ones are excellent anyway.
Anyway, what an impressive park! Looks better than some theme parks!
at 8/30/05 6:35:41 PM
Graeme... I agree with your assement of the Rollerskater. The Vekoma rollerskater is probably my favorite "family coaster" outside of the Disney coasters. I used to live in Orlando and I'm sure you'll be amazed... but the Flying Unicorn (Rollerskater 335 m model at IOA) is my 2nd favorite coaster in the park, after Dueling Dragons fire. So much fun, nice lenght and never a line... since IOA run 2 trains all the time on that thing with no stacking!
at 8/30/05 7:11:57 PM
> Graeme... I agree with your assement of the Rollerskater.
> The Vekoma rollerskater is probably my favorite
> "family coaster" outside of the Disney coasters.
> I used to live in Orlando and I'm sure you'll be amazed...
> but the Flying Unicorn (Rollerskater 335 m model at IOA) is
> my 2nd favorite coaster in the park, after Dueling Dragons
> fire. So much fun, nice lenght and never a line... since
> IOA run 2 trains all the time on that thing with no
> stacking!
Unfortunately, I've only been on the 207m so far, but I just love the way they move. So different to other junior coasters. Really, the smoothness and transitions are as good as any bigger coasters.
at 6/2/07 12:44:44 PM
A weekend or so back i finally got around to visiting West Midlands Safari Park, having wanted to visit since they installed Twister (it was exciting at the time!)
Admission was £9.50 which included entrance to the animal attractions and safari - as well as a free return visit anytime this year!
Amusement rides required a seperate fee, either tokens or unlimited wristband for £9.25
So finally got to try a fabbri rapids sl-ride, i'm very impressed, the first sldie part of the ride just seems mad as the boat rubs against the sides of the flume spinning around at a rate of knots, the splash back into the rapids section caused quite a wave - we got absolutely soaked from the waist down (oooh err) as the water sloshed between the seats and down our backs
the rapids end to the ride, is definately what the whitewater versions lack, those feel much more like a waterslide, this was somewhere between that and a traditional rapids, a very happy medium i think for small parks who are on a tight budget . . though i'd like to try the ABC version
the log flume has had its mountain themeing removed and a fresh orange coat of paint - I've noticed looking at Paul's photos linked in the original post the park has improved itself, for instance the rhino coaster now has a proper station building
Overall the amusement park is quite a nice little park, they've chosen some great rides, sadly i didnt get to try the fabbri frisbee as it was having vomit hosed off it at the time!
As well as the safari the park had some animal exhibits next to the amusement area, including hippo lake, repitle house with anacondas, aquarium and twilight cave with free flying bats which scared the life out of me!
The safari was long and featured a lot of animals, including white lions, white tigers, elephants, giraffes, camels, rhino and buffalo
You were able to purchase animal food to feed some of the residents, this photo shows the moment the camel reached into the car and took the actual box off the bloke, but unable to get the food out by banging it on the car roof ate the box insted!
Most parts you were supposed to not attempt to make contact with the animals, this giraffe teaches this stupid woman that by drooling over her hand!
Nice to see people following the rules to keep doors locked and remain inside your car at all times . . . working for a visitor attraction i really get frustrated poeple seem to leave their common sense at home when they go on a day out
at 6/3/07 3:48:56 PM
Thanks for reminding me about this park! A good one to combine with Drayton Manor, perhaps?
> Amusement rides required a seperate fee, either tokens or
> unlimited wristband for £9.25
Pretty good value. I can see myself wanting to re-ride the coasters, frisbee and rapids. Dreamland (Margate) in 2001 and 2002 was one of my all-time favourite parks, because it had two steelies, a woodie and a frisbee!
> the rapids end to the ride, is definately what the
> whitewater versions lack, those feel much more like a
> waterslide, this was somewhere between that and a
> traditional rapids, a very happy medium i think for small
> parks who are on a tight budget . . though i'd like to try
> the ABC version
I'm surprised you got wet! That's something I'll have to look out for (and hopefully avoid!) the next time I see one.
> Nice to see people following the rules to keep doors
> locked and remain inside your car at all times . . .
> working for a visitor attraction i really get frustrated
> poeple seem to leave their common sense at home when they
> go on a day out
I know, I know. All I can say is that I'm always on my best behaviour and I never ask the staff to bend the rules etc!
at 6/25/08 6:26:52 PM
*bump, a sad twist to this thread, West Midlands have now been ordered to remove Wild River Rafting, as they didn't apply for planning permission to install the ride
The local Newspaper reports that the councillors have said the ride is a blot on the landscape because of the position and height of the ride and encroachment into the countryside
From memory the ride was in a small dip of land surrounded by tall trees, it was positioned right behind the reverchon spinning mouse, so an area of the park which has been established sometime as an amusement park
This news perhaps explains why the fibreglass mountain themeing was removed from the park's log flume
at 6/26/08 9:22:17 AM
> *bump, a sad twist to this thread, West Midlands have now
> been ordered to remove Wild River Rafting, as they didn't
> apply for planning permission to install the ride
> The local From memory the ride was in a small dip of land
> surrounded by tall trees, it was positioned right behind
> the reverchon spinning mouse, so an area of the park which
> has been established sometime as an amusement park
Bah! I've ridden one of these, and the idea that it was too big is just beyond belief. Just the kind of boost the UK theme park industry needs!
OK, they should have applied for planning permission beforehand, but I don't see why it was refused retrospective permission.
