Play-and-Stay Blog

I’m terribly sorry, I’m sure there are at least 3 people out there who were eagerly awaiting my tenuous LEGOLAND^® based blog of the week and were left waiting. Unfortunately my computer and I got locked in a battle of wills and it has taken me two weeks to win, but win I did!

To make up for this atrocity I’m treating you, dear readers, to a particularly impressive LEGO based blog. You are, without doubt, the luckiest people on the interwebs today.

In this instalment of my favourite blog of the week I’m going to share a very good use of the LEGO Mindstorms system (which I really want, hint hint.) Behold Donkey Kong ^® cleverly rendered in robotic LEGO.

Was’nt that fun! I desperately want a Mindstorms kit so I can use its super-cool robotic technology to make myself some kind of strength and speed enhancing Iron Man suit - made of LEGO! Ahhh one day……

I may well be alone in this but as a child I spent a great deal of time “inventing”. By this I mean I took things apart to see how they worked and then struggled to put them back together again. Occasionally I would cobble together a gadget from the bits that never made their way back into their own gizmos. My proudest creation was a self-stirring coffee cup. A questionable, leaky and thoroughly dangerous combination of a polystyrene hot drinks cup, an old mobile phone battery, a spoon, a motor and a mind-boggling amount of non-branded sticky tack.

As you can probably ascertain from the fact you stirred your own coffee this morning, my invention never did take off. Alas my career as an inventor was cut short and instead I found myself in the glamourous and action-packed world of career blogging. I’m telling you ladies and gents, it’s like Sex and the City in here (except interesting, and nobody looks like zombie).

I’ve gone off on a bit of a tangent so I’ll get to the point. Some people, like me, like inventing. A reasonable percentage of these people, unlike me, are good at it and the elite of these people invent using LEGO® You see where I’m going on this now? It’s yet another blog tenuously linked to LEGOLAND by the fact it relates to LEGO. Submitted for your approval, a collection of some of the greatest gadgets and gizmos you can build from LEGO.

1) The LEGO Automatic Loo Roll Dispenser.
Day to day life is pretty tough and it’s the little luxuries that make it just a tiny bit more bearable. The air-con in your car, the spellcheck on your PC, wi-fi and of course, a clever little contraption that measures, folds and cuts your toilet paper at the push of a button, a button made of LEGO! Behold!

Did that or did that not just change your life? I for one intend to make a similar device for nearly every consumable in my home. No more effort for me, automatically dispensed loo roll, milk, biscuits, and frubes! My house will become a LEGO version of Kubrik’s 2001, except my automated LEGO home won’t kill me. The worst LEGO can do is really hurt your foot when you stand on it, the price we pay for progress eh?

2) Laser Guided Rocket Launcher.

Life is just not complete without a nemesis. Spider-man has the Green Goblin (debatable I know), Superman has Lex Luthor, Bill Gates has Steve Jobs, everyone who’s anyone has a nemesis. Personally, my nemesis changes depending on if Big Brother is on telly and if I prefer Britney or Christina on any given week (this week is a Christina week, sorry Britters). Anyway, what better way to protect your under-bed secret lair from your chosen nemesis than an automatic, laser guided, self-reloading rocket launcher. Only one thing, sharks, and you can’t buy all the materials to build a shark off eBay.

The applications for this technology are literally endless, biscuit tin sentinel, automated cleaning cupboard guard - stop the other half moving your things in the name of “tidiness”. It’s a wonder that the military has not picked up on this. Or perhaps they have….Strategic Defense Initiative (”Star Wars”) anyone?

3)LEGO Vending Machine

Words cannot express my joy that this exists, a home-made vending machine made of LEGO. All the thrill of a cheeky vend, none of the expense and best of all you can pick what goes in!

I’m lost for words, I’m going to have to leave you, but fear not. there’ll be plenty more LEGO gadgetry hitting this blog so please do keep checking in.

A couple of weeks ago, I reported on the latest offering for visitors to Alton Towers which resulted in the team from Play and Stay being invited up to the resort for a day of fun and laughter (for free, of course). My co-worker and understudy, Jonathan “Big D” Dudley, has just posted his review of the DVD on our blog for you all to read. I, however, am going to report on the events that unfolded on that fateful day, September 2, 2008.

It all began at 4:00 in the morning when my alarm went off, thus telling me it was time to get up out of my bed. Whilst the darkness and beating rain outside was trying to stop me from leaving said bed, the thought of going to Alton Towers for the day won over.

Armed with a cup of hot tea, the company’s Ford Galaxy and free entry to the park, I set off on my travels to pick up the rest of the team.

By 5:00 am, everyone was onboard and almost awake, so we headed for the M20 and the lovely prospect of a four hour drive to the Midlands.

After a long drive (made ever so much longer by Nathan’s request to listen to the Today Show on Radio 4), we arrived at Alton with no McMuffins in our bellies. It would appear that the M1 is no place for McDonalds.

The first ride we went on was Spinball Whizzer. Although when I say “we”, I actually mean “everyone except me.” I am indeed a chicken and have a real fear of theme park rides. (See entry entitled Family Fun at LEGOLAND Windsor for a little history.) The rest of the team seemed to thoroughly enjoy the ride and Jonathan realised at this point that he really shouldn’t have bothered straightening his hair this morning.

From there, we headed over to X Sector. Of course, there was absolutely no chance I was going on anything here - I was content to take pictures of everything around me. Oblivion did get rave reviews from all who braved it whereas the general consensus of Enterprise was “AAAAARRRGHHHHHH I’m going to fall out!!!!!”

I was allowed to escape a few rides without getting too much stick and I unfortunately used my quota in this section alone. It’s ok, Hex was next. Any of you who have previously ridden Hex will probably agree that this is one confusing ride. After watching a few films on TVs dotted around the various dark rooms and corridors, we were all led into a chamber with two rows of seats facing each other, separated by a cursed branch in the middle. What happened next just didn’t add up. It felt like we were spun all the way around, yet my camera never left my lap. Anyone got any ideas what actually happens in there? Answers on a postcard please…

Next up was UG Land; home of Rita and Corkscrew. I chickened out of Rita to much ripping from my comrades and opted to test my wits against the Corkscrew instead. Quite why, I’m not sure. Rita is new, doesn’t involve any massive drops or loops and is relatively safe. Corkscrew on the other hand is old, rickety, and downright horrible. I was stupid enough to sit on the wrong side and felt like I was about to smack my head on the uprights every five seconds. If nothing else, Corkscrew did get the nerves out of me and enabled me to actually start enjoying the rest of the park.

After a leisurely stroll through the Gardens, we ended up in the Forbidden Valley. I had heard that Air was pretty tame, so I was well up for ride. Some unfortunate soul didn’t agree though and chundered at the end of the ride, just before we were allowed off. Air is definitely exhilarating and thoroughly enjoyable. The best part of the ride is easily when you rotate round so that you are facing the sky. I actually wanted to go again, but our priority passes were only good for one turn each.

Next up was Nemesis, the ride I had waited all day for. When I went to Thorpe Park last year, it was easily the best ride there, and this one was supposed to be even faster. After a short wait and an obnoxious employee who didn’t really want to give us priority, we made it on. And WOW, what a ride. Nemesis is still the best around. I’m hoping that one day, when all my hard work as a copywriter pays off, I might actually be able to open my own theme park full of various Nemesis rides. Or even just one really long one that lasts about 10 minutes. Or maybe even both.

Onwards and upwards, we headed round to the the delights of Duel where the ever smug understudy got a high score, almost doubling my own effort. If the Zombie Holocaust that is (apparently) only a matter of years away actually happens, Jonathan is so on my team.

The last ride of the day was the Runaway Mine Train. This is my chance to shine and actually remove my hands from the safety bar for more than one second. The crew operating the ride were great. Ever smiling and chatty, I honestly believe they made the ride what it is.

With Priority Ride Passes in your hand, two things happen:
1) You feel extremely important when you stroll to the front of the queue and
2) You get through the park in a very short amount of time.

Both factors are great and made the day that much better. We started at 11.30 and finished just before 17:00 but then we did miss out all the water rides and the extremely inviting Squirrel Nutty Ride. All that was left to do was go back, grab a shower, and then head down to the bar to discuss the day’s events.

We were staying at the Alton Towers Hotel which was absolutely amazing and the perfect end to the day. It is only moments away from the park via monorail and comes complete with a bar, a restaurant and Stacey the singer. Splash Landings was also great, but the entertainment was a little too young for my liking. This is where the real difference comes in to play: Alton Towers Hotel is the better choice for couples and families with older children whilst Splash Landings is definitely more for the kids.

The only thing left to say is that the buffet breakfast rocked and that apparently, I am eight years younger at Alton Towers. Thanks Giovanna.

For more great pictures of our day at Alton Towers, check out Play and Stay on Facebook.

Evolution is a funny old thing; as the world changes, so do the things in it. Eons ago, whales were in fact a type of shore-dwelling canine and we were chattering monkeys who had not yet invented pants, toothbrushes or cheesestrings. Needless to say, times were hard but evolution stepped in and steadily improved things. This is essentially what is going on at Alton Towers.

For as long as I can remember a trip to a theme park usually involved buying several photos of me on an assortment of rides. No doubt many of you have similar pictures in your homes, on your fridges and even on your keyrings. These pictures have remained very similar for over 20 years, but now that’s all about to change thanks to YourDay.

YourDay are offering personalised DVDs of your theme park adventure. By wearing a RFID wristband (RFID = radio-frequency identification, for those of you who care) you can be filmed on eight of Alton Towers’ most popular rides. This footage is spliced together and for a modest price you can take home a DVD of you looking windswept and excited for your friends and family to enjoy. A clever little system I’m sure you’ll agree, but just how good is it?

From a financial point of view it’s a bit of a bargain. You can get all eight of the featured rides on your DVD (providing your wristband got detected on them) for under twenty quid. If you were to buy the photo from each of these rides you’d be looking at over forty quid so that’s a noteworthy saving. Initially I was not convinced you would actually watch your DVD once you got it home. When I returned from my Alton Towers escapades I was proven wrong within the hour. After my girlfriend demanded to see it so she could see a little bit of dribble escape my mouth me looking dignified and thoroughly attractive on Rita: Queen of Speed, the DVD was rapidly passed to my flatmate and his girlfriend.

I think this is really going to be the defining feature of YourDay: you don’t actually watch it yourself. It will probably be mainly used by friends and family to laugh at the silly faces you make when zooming around Spinball Whizzer at a frankly ridiculous pace. As I type this the DVD is doing the rounds at the office, people seem to genuinely enjoy the footage, a victory for YourDay in my opinion.

I’ve written a fair amount about “the footage” and I’m sure you are wondering just what you get for your money. The DVD I received at the end of the day was around 10-15 minutes long. It contained enough footage of me to keep my friends and family chuckling and engrossed and had some very well spliced in stock footage to give the impression we were being filmed by a proper film crew rather than robo-cameras. Truth be told, you only appear on screen for a few minutes of the total running time but that is more than enough for all but the most desperate former reality TV contestants.

If you are truly desperate for maximum on-screen time, I would suggest you ride The Flume, Congo River Rapids, Nemesis, Air, Rita: Queen of Speed, Corkscrew, Oblivion, and Spinball Whizzer.  Wear something garish so you stand out and wave or pout at any camera you see. The DVD of all eight of Yourday’s filmable rides will set you back just under twenty pounds and lasts approximately 20 minutes but rest assured, your friends will thank you.

Overall I would say that a YourDay DVD is a fun and affordable memento of a day at Alton Towers but it’s not a replacement for a good photo. It is best used in conjunction with one or two photos from your favourite rides. The fact the price changes depending on how many rides you choose to add to it is a nice feature. You can choose to take home a DVD of only your favourite ride, the one where your hair looked best, you weren’t green and nobody was sick on or near you. It’s a bit of a shame you can only record your last visit to any ride but that really is the only negative thing I have to say about the whole system.

I strongly suggest that if you’re going to Alton Towers any time soon grab a YourDay wristband. You’ll barely notice you’re wearing it and there is no obligation to buy anything.  Preview the video they make for you at the end of the day and see for yourself. It’s the biggest thing to happen to theme park photography since they started photoshopping extra water into flume pictures.

Halloween is a bit of a controversial topic here in Britain, some see it as a vulgar americanisation, others consider the holiday to be little more than an excuse to sell pumpkins and plastic broomsticks. In fact, Halloween is a long-standing part of european culture. It has its roots in pagan ceremony, the festivals of all-saints day, Samhain and hallowed end are all closely tied to the modern holiday.

Whatever your opinion of Halloween, it cannot be denied that there is a great deal of fun to be had on October 31st. Scary movies, visits to spooky locations, bonfires and fireworks, it’s an exciting time of year. Theme parks have been getting in on the action for a while now and their celebrations are getting bigger and better every year. With this in mind, us lovely people at Play and Stay® have compiled a little run down of what’s going on this Halloween and where.

Fright Nights - Thorpe Park

Running from Monday 13th October until Sunday 2nd November 2008 Thorpe Park’s Fright Nights promise an evening of spooky fun not for the faint-hearted. During Fright Nights the gates of Thorpe Park remain open until 10pm allowing guests to experience the white-knuckle thrills of the park in total darkness. Rides such as Thorpe Park’s legendary Nemesis Inferno take on ferocious new personalities in the darkness, a daunting prospect for even the most hardened thrill-seeker.

Live-action horror mazes are a major part of the Halloween experience at Thorpe Park. You might remember the mazes Se7en, Hellgate and The Asylum from previous years, they will be joined by a new top-secret maze located on Neptune’s Beach. On top of the spooky performers in the mazes the Circus of Horrors ‘Apocalypse’ will be giving some of their most freakish performances a UK premiere. This Halloween event seems to be the scariest on offer on this side of the pond this year. One for adventurous and the older members of your family.

Halloween Hocus Pocus - Chessington World of Adventures

Also running from Monday 13th October until Sunday 2nd November 2008, Chessington’s Halloween Hocus Pocus is a family-friendly spookfest. Cheeky goblins and wicked witches will descend on the park and it’s up to you and your family to stop them. Write your own magic spell and drop it in the giant cauldron in the middle of the park to stop the chaos, if you dare.

Dennis the Menace will be trick or treating in Beanoland and all the park’s usual rides will be open. Dare you ride the Vampire on Halloween? If you can take any more thrills after a moonlit adventure around the park, take the chance to meet the Zoo’s snakes, creepy crawlies and glow in the dark scorpions!

Scarefest - Alton Towers

Between 17th October and 2nd November 2008 Alton Towers will become a haunted palace of creepy fun kids of all ages will adore. A Halloween character meet and greet lets you and your brood meet the ghoulish inhabitants of Alton Towers. The park will, of course, be open late, until 9pm to be precise. Guests will discover trick or treat doors scattered around the park, behind each one lurks a surprise, if it’s a nice one or not, well you’ll have to find out for yourself. For the older members of your family, the Terror of the Towers attraction guarantees a thrilling chase for those over 14.

Other attractions include a spooky live show in Sir Algenon’s attic, some special guests lurking between Gloomy Wood and Duel and costumed performers aplenty. For those brave enough to spend the night the frights continue in the park’s spectacular hotels. Special Trick or Treat rooms are available as well as a host of themed activities suitable for all ages.

Considering all of these halloween events will be running for a fortnight there is plenty of time to go to all of them if you want to. Personally, if I had to choose, I’d go to Alton Towers. The park’s castle is slipping into a delightfully genteel state of disrepair, it reminds me of a setting from Scooby Doo. The broken windows, the slow, seemingly endless renovation and the legend of a curse really makes it the ideal location for Halloween shenanigans. Add to that some of the best thrill-rides in the UK (especially the zombietastic Duel and the eerie, undefinable experience that is Hex) and you have all the hubble, bubble, toil and trouble you need for a perfect Halloween. Yes the mazes of Thorpe Park will be very scary but the chance to ride Air and Nemesis in the dark is just too good for me to pass up, god bless employee discount.

Here at the Play and Stay® blog we’ve covered some pretty big stuff. Dubailand for example, or the dangerously exciting Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Usually, these super-duper theme parks are planned for far-off lands, places you probably couldn’t pop over to for the weekend. Grand Scala is going to change all that. The planned new leisure complex will cover 4,900 acres, contain 32 historically themed casinos and 5 theme parks as well as golf courses, horse racing tracks, villas, apartments, shopping centers (noticed nearly everything is plural yet?) hotels and a water park.

Grand Scala is planning to be located in Spain, Aragon to be precise. There is not a great deal in Aragon at the moment, it’s 200 miles east of Madrid and it seems to be popular with tourists on walking holidays, not exactly a white-knuckle location. If plans go ahead and manage to stick to schedule we can expect a first phase opening in 2010. This will transform the previously sleepy desert region into Europe’s “most important” leisure and tourism destination.

There is not an awful lot in terms of details just yet, we can tell you that three of the five theme parks have been confirmed. Spyland, a park themed around the history of secret agents, Aquantica, a historically themed waterpark and Space Port, a space and futuristic technology themed park. The remaining two parks are still a mystery, even to us. Perhaps some of the big players are looking to get involved as they have in Dubailand, or perhaps Grand Scala have just not decided themes yet.

Whatever materialises in the other two parks it’s sure to be on a massive scale, Grand Scala covers over 4900 acres and will feature 32 separate historically themed hotels and casinos. These attractions will be laid out on a “time roadmap” and so far we can expect neolithic, Celtic, ancient Egyptian and space-age areas, each with its own mini-museum.

This ambitious project is going to cost roughly £8 billion. Given the current sorry state of the property market around the world, I remain unconvinced that this very exciting but expensive project will go ahead in the stated timeframe.

Cynicism aside, if this leisure wonderland goes ahead it will be the single most impressive entertainment complex in Europe, it will dwarf Eurodisney. Perhaps the most exciting part is not the complex itself. Disney’s reaction to a competitor so close to it’s european park, a mere three hour flight from London, may well spark an exciting competition between the two resorts. Fingers crossed ladies and gents, I want a european Animal Kingdom.

The Amazing Machines are coming, coming to a LEGOLAND near you…

On the weekend of September 13, 2008, LEGOLAND will play host to one of the most spectacular shows of any theme park in the UK with the arrival of monster trucks, an 11 ft high half pipe and the RNLI.

They are all aimed at giving visitors the ultimate theme park break (and, of course, easing those back-to-school blues). Ride the rides, visit the shops, then watch in amazement as monster trucks perform crazy stunts and world-renowned skaters perform aerial aerobatics, tens of feet above your head.

Those of you brave enough to want to learn some new tricks are welcome to join Team Extreme on the half pipe. Special coaching sessions will be held throughout the day giving you valuable tips on how to perfect that Superman Seat-Grab or the death-defying Christ Air.

If skating isn’t extreme enough for you, then check out Big Pete, Europe’s number one monster truck team. They’ll be battling it out in the special events arena throughout the day with their combination of car jumps and wheelies.

Due to prior engagements and the imminent birth of my first baby, I will not be able to attend the day. Any of you who are going and read this blog, I implore you to take some pictures and let me know how the day went.

Any of you who haven’t got your tickets just yet, check out our main site at Play and Stay, where you can get theme park access and a top local hotel for the night in one great value package.

In the mean time, I have tracked down some footage of Big Pete and Team Extreme for you to enjoy.

As anyone who has read this blog or spoken to me for over 25 seconds will know, I am very excited about the upcoming Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park. My excitement has now reached a level which forces me to obsessively scour the internet for any news on what is clearly going to be the single happiest, funnest and potteriest place on earth. Today’s fevered clicking has actually uncovered some legitimate news which may be of interest to the general public rather than just me.

Firstly, Universal’s Flying Unicorn coaster is now hidden behind construction walls. Apparently this kid-friendly coaster is being redesigned to fit in with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Considering unicorns in the “potterverse” don’t fly I should imagine that the ride will become a hippogriff or thestral theme coaster. As the coaster is aimed at children a hippogriff seems the more likely choice, thestrals are a bit scary after all.

Elsewhere, Hogwarts itself seems to be well underway. A gargantuan framework has been constructed and speculation is rife as to what will be housed inside. Rumours have been fuelled by patents recently filed in the US. They describe a very exciting interactive dark ride which uses RFID technology to allow guests to cast spells with specially designed wands. These spells will apparently effect the outcome of the ride, very very exciting stuff (and pleasingly similar to my predictions made months ago). Although these patents have been filed that does not necessarily mean that Universal intend to use them, they could well be a red herring but this is doubtful as there is little evidence of any other conflicting patents being filed. Chances are, in my humble opinion, that the interactive RFID wand ride will go ahead, and that is most certainly good news.

Other similar attractions, such as Magiquest in South Carolina allow guests to purchase and customise their wands. This allows guests to have a perfect souvenir of their day and the wands interact with various objects outside of the attraction, a nice touch that I doubt Universal will have failed to notice. The potential for a highly interactive Hogwarts environment is the best news I have heard since they invented crustless bread. The Various applications of the RFID wand are equally awesome. Fans of this blog will have no doubt heard about Alton Towers Resort’s use of RFID bracelets to track and film guests in their park allowing them to create customised movies of guests days out. I would not be surprised if Universal had similar intentions, after all they could have simply used IR or Bluetooth® in the wands design. The use of RFID suggests (to me) something far more impressive than simple point and click interaction.

The RFID wands are not the only exciting new technology being used in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Kuka, the designers of the robotic arms behind Islands of Adventure’s breathtaking The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man simulator have apparently granted exclusivity on the use of their newest and most sophisticated arm to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. This is exciting enough in itself, the Kuka arms really are the Rolls Royce’s of the robotic arm industry. Having personally ridden the Spider-Man simulator several times myself, I can honestly say it is the best simulator I have ever ridden and I’ve been on more than my fair share. We are talking about technology far more advanced than those overpriced space-shuttle simulators you get at upmarket games arcades. Kuka’s arms produce a totally immersive, believable experience when combined with the correct visuals. This impressive technology has been the subject of a great deal of online chatter. Some have suggested that it will be used to create a simulation of Mr. Weasley’s flying Ford Anglia. Others have suggested that it will be used in combination with released and hastily retracted designs for a flying bench type ride which takes guests to a variety of locations from the second novel including the Basilisk’s Lair, Aragog the Acromantula’s nest and the Forbidden Forest.

Needless to say I’m ridiculously excited about the opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Not only will it be a theme park based on my favourite series of books ever, it will also use cutting edge technology thus catering for both my love of all things Potter and my technolust. Patents for a “punch-through waterfall” and “transforming scenery” have only served to further inflame my childlike excitement. See you at the front of the queue sometime in late ‘09.

My RSS feeds and Google Reader is literally awash with news on Mutiny Bay at Alton Towers Resort right now, so I thought it would be rude not to jump on the bandwagon and supply you with a little snippet of information on the area.

This swashbuckling land of pirates is the newest area of Alton Towers and offers guests a wealth of cut throat action and a jolly good soaking to boot. Keeping in tune with the resort’s quest to be the top destination for the whole family, Mutiny Bay offers more light hearted rides than the vicious Oblivion and crazy Corkscrew.

There are three new rides (Battle Galleons, Marauder’s Mayhem and Heave Ho!) and a fantastic new show, Pirates of Mutiny Bay.

With so much to see and do at Alton Towers these days, you really need to make use of the fantastic accommodation available. Alton Towers Hotel and Splash Landings offer the best access to the park, but there are a wealth of hotels near Alton Towers if you’d prefer to leave the park behind at the end of your day.

That’s me for now, i’ll fill you in and supply some new pictures within the next month. We’re off to Alton Towers very shortly….

It was only yesterday that I was reporting on the news that Alton Towers were releasing various artwork in the style of a certain Mr Warhol, and yet here I am again unveiling the theme park’s latest franchise: DVDs.

‘YourDay’ is a DVD of… well, your day at the resort. The DVD captures you on various rides around the park and captures the expression on your face as you plunge to your peril on the likes of Oblivion and Nemesis.

Visitors are given an RFID bracelet to wear as they go round the park which tracks them as they walk from ride to ride. The bracelet then registers when they go on one of the major rides and films them.

At the end of the day, visitors hand over their bracelets in exchange for a comprehensive DVD of their day at Alton Towers. Sounds cool huh?

The best thing is that you don’t even have to hand over any cash until you have actually sampled the footage, so customers who fear buying something that doesn’t show them doing anything at all can rest assured that they won’t be wasting money.

Alton Towers are currently the only theme park offering a service like this, but if it proves a success, I’m sure the rest of the parks will follow suit.

I haven’t personally sampled this technology yet, but I am secretly hoping the bosses are reading this and want to send me on an educational trip to Alton Towers Resort VERY SOON. As soon as I have, I will surely update you on how I get on.