Nemesis Nick's Swansea Slidathon - 5 to 7 September 2008

Nemesis Nick · Nemesis Nick's Swansea Slidathon - 5 to 7 September 2008

It's more than two months now since I met Andy, Barry, Frosty and several other members at the Summer Bash at Great Yarmouth at the end of June. I hope you're all keeping well.

Here's a significant trip of my own that I've done since, a weekend away in Swansea Friday 5 September to Sunday 7 September 2008. Ironic that I'm including it here as I didn't visit a theme park that weekend, nor did I even go on a funfair ride of any description. The weekend was focused around sliding, I did a bit Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Hence why I've called it my Swansea Slidathon. The reason for including this here is that because, in my opinion, sliding on Astra slides, drop slides and water slides is a similar in principle to riding roller coasters, in the way the January Club ski trip is claimed to be similar in principle to coaster riding. The three key venues I will describe in my report are as follows:

Swansea Playzone (adult night) - Friday 5 September
Aquadome at Port Talbot - Saturday 6 September
Swansea LC Waterpark - Sunday 7 September

Friday 5 September

Friday Daytime
I woke at 5:40am so I could leave home just before 7:00 and catch the 7:25 train to Newport, for connecting train to Swansea. It was a really wet day that day, pouring with rain all the way from Bath to Swansea. When I joined my connecting train at Newport, the guard announced that, due to flooding between Cardiff and Bridgend, the train would have to be diverted via the Vale of Glamorgan Line, adding an hour to the journey. Thankfully, by the time the train left Cardiff Central, the main line had just reopened and we were able to proceed along it, thus the train I was travelling on got to Swansea on time. Phew, that was lucky.

I checked into the guest house I'd booked without further ado. It was raining very heavily at the time. About half an hour after I checked in, the rain stopped and the sun came out. For now I wandered around Victoria Park and along the sandy beach as far as the Civic Centre taking plenty of photos of the scenery.

By the time I reached Tesco, it was around midday and heavy rain was falling again. I went to get some lunch, then decided to spend the afternon at Plantasia in Park Tawe. This is an enormous greenhouse which displays plants from around the world. I spent about three hours in there, and got back to my guest house around 5pm.

Sliding Venue 1: Swansea Playzone
Swansea Playzone is a large indoor adventure play complex at Llansamlet on the outskirts of Swansea. The first Friday of each month they do an adult night from 8pm to 11pm on a pay-and-play basis. My plan was to go to that this evening. Just one worry all day: due to the excessive rainfall, might they cancel tonight's adult night in order to send the staff home early? Therefore around 5pm I phoned them to check that the adult night was still taking place. It was, what a relief!

Very soon afterwards, I left the guest house, and went to have a meal at Abertawe Ale House on the sea front, before catching the 7:05 pm bus from the Quadrant Bus Station to Samlet Social Club, the nearest stop to Playzone. From there it was just a short walk to Playzone. It rained all the way during that bus journey, and on arrival at Playzone. When I got there just before eight several other adults were waiting to go in.

The session began at 8pm. Once admitted I was eager to start playing. Swansea Playzone has loads to play on: a 3-lane Rainbow Astra Slide, blue double drop slide which lands in a ball pit, Red Devil drop slide (single drop), a twisty tube slide, a straight tube slide and two short wavy slides side by side. Unfortunately I don't know the heights of the slides, but I can tell you that the equipment is made by Taylor-Made Play Equipment. There's also loads of soft play equipment, including a zigzag web climber, tumble tower, wringer rollers, slither chicane with 90 degree turn, over and under barriers, X-changer, swing over nets, roller pole 2, spinning poles and spinning discs. Unfortunately there's no separate ball pit (other than the one at the bottom of the blue double drop slide) which you can play in, but then again, you can't win them all.

The problem was knowing where to start. I began with 6 goes on the Rainbow Astra Slide, followed by 4 on the blue double drop slide and 8 on the Red Devil. After that I worked my way around all the soft play equipment, had two goes on the green and yellow spiral tube slide and two on the blue tube slide.

Around 9:20 I went to the Cafe for a cup of coffee, and a few minutes break, before returning to the main play area to enjoy the soft play equipment and slides all over again until closing time of 11pm.

The blue double drop slide gives you AIRtime while you freefall the short vertical drop to the half way ledge, then you slide forwards along that and down the sloping bit into a pit of play balls. A fun way to end your slide. Even more thrilling is the Red Devil drop slide, that's straight down and out along the run-out. By far my favourite, it has two launch heights, lower and upper. Sit on the beam of your choice, let yourself go and enjoy the AIRtime as you freefall before slidng along the run-out at high speed. Early in the session I went to the end of the run-out, but later I stopped well before the end of the run-out.

Here's a total count of the three big slides I went on all evening:
Rainbow Astra Slide: 12 goes.
Blue double drop slide: 8 goes.
Red Devil drop slide: 34 goes.

All in all, what a mega fun evening that was. An evening of fun, Taylor-Made fun. It was great to become a child for the night. Three hours just flew by too quickly! If only three hours had passed just as quickly when I saw The Fellowship of The Ring at the cinema several years ago; time dragged on a bit watching that.

I'm sure I'm not the only adult RCCGB member who likes complexes such as Swansea Playzone. When the Sunday of the Blackpool Bash was at Southport, there used to be a session in the Fun House which was popular with adult members. Sadly I never went to that (my first Blackpool Bash was this year), but I remember seeing the photos of members enjoying themselves on the Joywheel and in the ball pits there in the 2006 Yearbook.

It was dry outside when I left Playzone just after 11pm and returned to my guest house by taxi. I finally got to bed at midnight, what a long, tiring day having been up since 5:40am. Is it really true that you have such early rises and late bedtimes on the RCCGB USA Trip?

Saturday 6 September

First Thing
The day began with breakfast consisting of bacon and egg, plus toast with butter, and coffee to drink. After breakfast I set off for the bus station to catch a bus to Port Talbot for my next sliding venue, Aquadome at Afan Lido. It rained heavily all the way to Port Talbot, but having got to the Aquadome the rain had stopped.

Sliding Venue 2: Aquadome at Afan Lido, Port Talbot

Aquadome is a water park within the leisure centre Afan Lido. You'll find this venue on Aberavon seafront. Aquadome boasts the following facilities:

Rubber Ring Ride (water slide), you must sit on a rubber ring to ride down a wide tube, around a small pool anticlockwise, down an open top flume, and around another small pool clockwise. Continue down another flume, part open top, then a covered tube as it goes outside the building, and finally back inside to land in a catch tray.

Body Flume (water slide), a narrower tube all the way down, much faster, and you slide that on your back. This too goes out of the building and back in towards the end.

Large pool with a wave machine and a shallow beach area at one end where the waves break. Just unfortunate that the day I was there, the wave machine was out of action.

Small pool for children only which includes lily pads.

I entered the pool area around 11:00. The person who issued me an orange armband said I was supposed to get an hour and a half before being called out, but if it remained quiet, as it was at the time, they wouldn't do call-outs and I'd be able to stay as long as I like.

It was very quiet in there that day. I had feared it being extremely busy, as that's the kind of indoor attraction everyone would want to go to escape the pouring rain. Near the start of the session there was at most two people in front of me waiting for the slides, and often I managed go straight down without waiting. Likewise there was hardly anyone in the pool. It picked up a little whilst I was in there, but even at the busiest time, there weren't many in the pool or more than about six people ahead of me in the slide queues. Around 12:50 I'd been in there nearly two hours, and asked why the colour of my armband hadn't been called out yet. The lifeguard said it still wasn't busy enough to do call-outs, and hence I could stay as long as I liked. I ended up leaving of my own accord at around 2:30pm, having had about three and a half hours in there.

For comparison, the final day of my 5-day holiday in Cornwall last year, I went to Newquay for the day when it rained much of the day. That day I spent the afternoon at Newquay Waterworld, and it was crowded in there - the fun pool was chock-a-block and there was a really long queue for the orange spiral tube slide. My guess was that Waterworld was where everyone holidaying in and around Newquay went that wet day to escape the rain.

Hence why I feared Aquadome at Afan Lido being just as busy last Saturday (6 September). I've since wondered if there were any warnings on TV / radio that morning advising people not to travel unnecessarily by any means (private car, public transport) due to floods, hence people just didn't bother going out. I personally didn't hear any such warnings breakfast time that morning.

Here's a summary of my three and a half hours in the pool area:
Rubber Ring Ride: 4 goes.
Body Flume: 12 goes.
Rubber Ring Ride: 8 goes.
Body Flume: 8 goes.
Pool: 6 lengths (my only time of going in the main pool).
Body Flume: 8 goes.
Rubber Ring Ride: 6 goes.

Note how I was hardly in the main pool, just that one lot of six lengths. I wanted to do mostly sliding.

It's difficult to say which is my favourite slide of the two there, both are exciting. The Body Flume is thrilling in that it's a quick ride in which you lie on your back. The Rubber Ring Ride is slower and a longer ride.

Rest of Saturday
Having left Afan Lido building at 2:45pm, I went to Burger Knight next-door and had a burger and fries. After that I wandered along Aberavon promenade and back along the beach. The sky was overcast, but it was dry at this time. Around 5pm I left Aberavon seafront and returned to Swansea. Despite the rain during the day, there was no problem with the buses back. Around 6:30pm I enjoyed a delicious pub dinner at Abertawe Ale House, which took about an hour, and then returned to my guest house just before 8pm to relax the rest of the evening.

Sunday 7 September

First Thing
My final morning at the guest house already. I got up at 7am, packed and had breakfast, the same as Saturday. I left the guest house and walked to where I wanted to go today, the new Swansea Leisure Centre - LC.

Sliding Venue 3: Swansea LC Water Park
The old Swansea Leisure Centre opened in 1977 and closed in 2003. Last year the place was gutted out and rebuilt internally at a cost of £32 million. In March this year, the new LC opened on the site of the old Leisure Centre, and it's completely different to what it used to be inside. I know, I went to the funpool and slides at the old Swansea Leisure Centre during my week long Swansea holiday in June 2000. The new LC has commonly been known as LC2 (even I've called it that), since the wave logo which appears after the initials LC resembles a 2, but officially it is LC.

The water park boasts several features, including:
Aqua Tube (water slide): a narrow twisting tube, which lands in a catch tray.
Aqua Slide (water slide): open top all the way down. There's a u-bend to the right just after the start, then a straight bit, bend to the right, straight bit, u-bend to the left and finally land in a catch tray.
Master Blaster: you need an inflatable tyre to ride this. Either one can go on a single tyre or two people can go on a double tyre. In essence it's a water roller coaster, as there are several places where it goes up as well as down. If the RCCGB decided to do an organised visit here (e.g. outside the coaster season) this would be the one for us to have an ERS on.
Wave Pool: a funny shaped fun pool with wave machine. It's not on continuously, but the wave sessions are quite frequent.
River Run: this spurs off the Wave Pool. You swim around clockwise with the flow.
Boardrider: a surf facility which you have to wear a surf suit and helmet for. Also you have to pay extra for it, and if it's your first time, you have to go through the induction procedure. It was only on for part of my session, and I gave this a miss.

The Aqua Tube, Aqua Slide and Master Blaster were made by Aqua Leisure International (I saw their name plate at the top of each one), but I don't know the heights of the slides.

When I arrived around 10am, the Master Blaster was out action, so I was given reduced price admission. The receptionist said they were hoping it would be working some time in my session, but it didn't sound as though that could be guaranteed, nor did it sound particularly promising. When I entered the pool area I began by having seven goes apiece on the Aqua Tube and Aqua Slide alternately.

At this point I went in the Wave Pool, my only time of going in there today. The waves were on at the time. Before the wave machine was switched off, I entered the River Run. This is one way only, clockwise. I was surprised they allow you to use this when the waves are on, but they do. When the waves subsided, I stayed here to do a few more circuits of the River Run before leaving the pool and returning to the Aqua Tube and Aqua Slide, three goes each alternately.

At last, the Master Blaster was now open, but there was such a long queue for tyres I didn't bother for now. Instead I had two more goes each on the Aqua Tube and Aqua Slide.

As a RCCGB member, I was determined to go on the the water roller coaster (Master Blaster), so I went to get a tyre. There were two queues: one for single tyres and one for double tyres. After a long wait for a single tyre I returned up the stairs and faced a further wait for my turn. Wow, what a mega fun ride it was! I made the most of this as I knew this would be the only go I'd have time for due to the long wait for tyres. That's the nearest I got to riding a roller coaster all weekend. If only time had allowed for more goes.

My session was fast coming to an end, so I was determined to fit in as many goes on the Aqua Tube and Aqua Slide until my time was up. I managed to do 7 goes on each alternately before my session was over around 12:30.

Summary of my use of the faclilities:
Aqua Tube and Aqua Slide: 7 goes each alternately.
Wave Pool (with waves on)
River Run (with and without waves)
Aqua Tube and Aqua Slide: 5 goes each alternately.
Master Blaster: 1 go.
Aqua Tube and Aqua Slide: 7 goes each alternately.

Here's a video of LC under construction that I've found on You Tube.

Rest of Sunday
Once my session was over I had a quick bite at the Poolside Bistro before leaving the LC. I spent the afternoon wandering around the area in front of Swansea Waterfront Museum, Swansea Museum and around the marinas before returning to my guest house to collect my bag. I then returned to the city centre to have a Sunday roast and pudding at Yates Wine Lodge around 5:15pm. Finally I returned to the station well before my train home just before 6:30pm. Throughout the day I feared disruption due to flooding between Bridgend and Cardiff. Indeed trains had to be replaced by buses between Bridgend and Cardiff all day Saturday 6 September, but thankfully there were no problems Sunday 7 September evening. My journey home was plain sailing with just one change of train at Newport. As far as Sunday's weather went, first thing it was overcast and damp, but not raining as such. From late morning it was dry the rest of the day, but overcast much of the time with just a few sunny intervals mid afternoon. It was cloudy and dry all evening.

Outtro
On the whole, what a mega fun weekend away. Those of you in the Club who enjoyed the Fun House at Southport would almost certainly have enjoyed the adult night at Swansea Playzone. If there are any RCCGB members who enjoy water sliding as much as roller coasters, log flumes and non-coaster rides, you'd like the slides at Aquadome Port Talbot and Swansea LC Water Park. Members who enjoyed the Southport Fun House sessions and enjoy water sliding should give a weekend of this format a try.

stevencaine

Great trip report Nick unfortuntley its 3am when im reading this and i cant stop yawning,sounds like you had a good time at Swansea play zone sounds cool,it was great too meet you at Great yarmouth are you doing
loopathon it would be good to see you again Wink

Good trip report Nick

Coaster_Police

WOW. This sounds fantastic.

Nice to hear from you again Nick, perhaps you can speak to Andy and suggest a fun pack weekend like you had as a club trip.

Coaster Chick

This sounds awesome! Maybe Andy could ask Ryan to organise this as he lives the closest to Swansea - I am sure he would be up for it.

Wildthing

Wow sounds a fantastic weekend, wish I had been there. If Ryan was able to organise a weekend like this it could be a backup for Mega-Glow-Mania if Megafobia became waterlogged. You never know after the weather we had this year!!

Rogue

Sounds like you had a good weekend.

I went to a Playzone in Portsmouth which is very similar to the one you went to. I had such a good time there and agree it is a different type of day/evening.

Nemesis Nick

Steven Burns

Help!!!!

I don`t get it lol

Anyway, swings rule much more than slides. Me and Vicci have been touring play parks in the gloucestershire area ticking the swings. I truly am a swinger now. Very Happy

stealth fan

Nemesis Nick

Happy Helen

Excellent trip report Nick.

I used to go to Swansea with my dad and I vaugly remeber passing Plantasia. One of my other friends from Swansea has been to Afan Lido.

The indoor playzone sounds execellent as I have always loved places like that, however some do have restrictions for example height and age, but some are built for adults as well as children.

It would be great to do a weekend like that with the club.

STEALTHYBUTBAD

Great Report there Nick !
I havent been on any slides or tubes for years. It would be great to do something like that over a weekend. Maybe there could be a RCCGB trip on something like that.

Happy Helen

STEALTHYBUTBAD

ive never been in the sandcastle (apart from the foyet bit). It does look good i must admit. Maybe ill go in there on the friday afternoon of the bash as its something to do.

Nemesis Nick

Happy Helen