What were theme parks like back in the day? (Early 90s)

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IrrelevantPiglet@reddit

Sounds about normal for the school holidays, then or now.

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detectivebabylegz@reddit

Mid September is the best time to go. Kids are back in school, weather is warm'ish, just need to dodge the wet days.

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chronicbint@reddit

Always been that way for big rides. My best trip ever was to Alton Towers on the day of Princess Diana's funeral, was empty, could walk straight on the Nemesis and back round to go again and again. 🙂

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mosleyowl@reddit

Perfect way to honour her memory, going 70mph in a vehicle with no control

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Danielharris1260@reddit

Her driver who was drunk did though I doubt it was helped but her not wearing a seatbelt.

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ExcitementKooky418@reddit

Through tunnels too! Hope they had a couple of drinks beforehand

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feckarse-drinkgirls@reddit

At least this one remembered to wear their seatbelt

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vegan_voorhees@reddit

Thorpe Park in the 80s (and maybe early 90s) was 'the crap one'. It was more like Paultons Park (if that's still around?), with a handful of not-so-thrilling rides.

Then it suddenly sprang into action with a bunch of cool stuff.

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JimmyBallocks@reddit

Yeah it might not have had the rides in the 80s but Cinema 180 though, come on

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DameKumquat@reddit

I had a school trip there about 1987 and it had two big rides, plus the Cinema 360 and small rides. It was fine for me but none of us were bothered to go back.

Went to Alton Towers in 1992, queues weren't bad, we notched up 14 rides. I hear that's changed... My mates had a sausage in a bun shortly before leaving. I was in the middle of the back seat, which was just as well as all four of them ended up puking out the windows as we went down the M1. I'm told the food quality hasn't changed!

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Master-Tank6719@reddit

Now you throw up just looking at the price of a frankfurter in cardboard!

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citruspers2929@reddit

Nowadays Paultons Park is decent and the Merlin parks are ‘the crap ones’. (Excluding Legoland, which is brilliant)

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pruaga@reddit

You mean the home of Peppa Pig World? Paultons park is just doing just fine...

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Bumpyslide@reddit

Yes Alton towers or Chessington were the ones to visit; used to go chessington so often. we did first ever fright night it was so good but heaving in the evening. Bubble works was playing radio rather than prof bubble songs

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68_namfloW@reddit

I heard the drive down in Simon’s shitty yellow car was more terrifying.

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thefootster@reddit

You mention fast track, and IMHO, that is one of the main things that has changed and personally I hate it. The park is saying that people who can afford to pay more can do so to make other guests days worse.
I remember a few parks both here and in the US having free fast track, it was basically a virtual queue type thing, you went up to the ride and took a ticket and it gave you a time slot when you could go on the ride, it worked great, but of course they had to monetise it.

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dbxp@reddit

I remember fast track being free at Alton towers when they first launched it. It wasn't a money spinner but it was meant to prevent bad experiences due to people spending all their time in queues for the biggest rides. Without it lots of the smaller lines were essentially ignored as everyone was waiting in queues

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thefootster@reddit

Yep, I remember grabbing it for nemesis

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iamwiggy@reddit

yeah I went to Disney World in Florida in 2000 and the fast track was free. Was quite strange how few people seemed to realise it was a thing. I assume to go back in 2026 even without paying for fast track would be horrendously expensive...

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thefootster@reddit

I had a quick search and it looks like "lightning pass premiere" which is one queue skip per ride costs around $300 per day per park, which is absolutely insane. For comparison, "Fast Track Gold" at Alton Towers is £95 a day, which is also insane.

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Speedbird223@reddit

It’s supposed to be priced high. If it were cheaper then it wouldn’t serve its purpose as many more people would do it.

Personally I think the fast passes and such are easily justified for theme park days. Standing in queues drives me nuts and when you look at how many rides you get to go on if you do have to wait you’re getting very poor value for money.

Although it obviously makes for a more expensive day if your aim is to go on rides all day it represents good value for money, IMO.

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thefootster@reddit

Obviously it's supposed to be priced high. If everyone could afford it then there would be no point, but I'm never going to pay for it because it is elitist and unfair to force everyone else to wait longer just because you are wealthy enough to be able to afford to pay more.

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iamwiggy@reddit

We were a family of 6 so no chance my parents would have been paying even $20 a person never mind $300!

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Greatgrowler@reddit

This is why I stopped going to theme parks. The last time I went to Chessington there were two entrances to the major rides, one general access and one for fast track and disabilities etc. The general queue moved at a snail’s pace but you could see people coming off the ride and going straight on again with the fast track pass again and again.

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kalendral_42@reddit

Smaller theme parks/fair grounds were better - though also less safe (still remember by brother dangling out of the top of a ferris wheel when the safety bar suddenly disengaged - was there an immediate shutdown with major safety investigation? Nope Did we go back the next day & get straight back on the same ride? Yep)

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DameKumquat@reddit

Went to Chessington a few times in 1992. A few rides had signs warning of 45 min waits if the queues got to that point, and people just avoided those rides because what sane person would queue more than 30 minutes for a ride? Bem-Boms (later Dreamland) in Margate was similar.

My claim to fame is being thrown out of the Bubble Works. Twice, 20 years apart.

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_youllthankmelater@reddit (OP)

Hero. The Bubble Works at that age (probably when you got thrown out the first time) was immense. It's the Gruffalo ride now, wildly more tame, but then I'm 30 years older now...

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DameKumquat@reddit

The first time I was 18, supervising some juvenile delinquents (age 11-13). Only there wasn't anything I could do when the lot in the boat in front decided to get out and climb the sides...

Next time I had my own small kid who was very excited, got on the boat, and they noticed kid's arm was in a cast. No broken limbs allowed. They were very nice about it and we got tickets to come back another day - but it was the Gruffalo by then. Remarkably similar except for the themed cutouts, actually.

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eventworker@reddit

Pretty much the same thing as today (warm day in the school holiday = super busy, cold day outside the school holiday = straight on riding), except it was the same for everyone and you didn't have people paying to skip queues.

Although the last time I went on a rollercoaster was Alton Towers not long after Oblivion opened - we'd queued for 2 hrs for Nemesis and I wasn't about to do that again for Oblivion, but then noticed the Oblivion queue was only 15 mins.

What was VERY different in the early 90s was you couldn't guarantee you'd get a quiet Summers day if England were playing a WC/Euros game that day. That really changed between 98 and 02.

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VolcanicBear@reddit

Nemesis first opened in '94.

It was pretty high end at the time, but American Adventure had a double loop thing.

They were decent.

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-hopalong-@reddit

The loop the loop at American Adventure was my first proper rollercoaster! When I came off I said I loved it and then passed out 😂

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Overthinker-dreamer@reddit

I remember going to American Adventure with my summer play scheme. The only ride I really remembed was the runaway train.

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-hopalong-@reddit

God I hated that Runaway Train! To 8-year old me it seemed to go 900mph and be made of extremely old rickety wood

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Pleasant-Hearing-721@reddit

The log flume at American Adventure was top tier!

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filbert94@reddit

For years I thought I imagined it as none of my mates went

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redandbluebadness@reddit

The missile!

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VolcanicBear@reddit

The reason I spent 5 years or so terrified of roller coasters lmao.

Must've been 8-10 or something, went on it twice, then whilst queueing for a third go, looked up and was overcome with terror.

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Firebrand777@reddit

I miss the American Adventure! Apparently they auctioned off a lot of the ride cars and props a few years ago!

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Swimming_Possible_68@reddit

It's a housing estate now....

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The_Scurvy_Dog@reddit

I live on this estate!

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Firebrand777@reddit

No way!!

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liglitterbug@reddit

The Missile is now Wipeout at Pleasurewood Hills. My husband eagerly joined the queue for it while I had flashbacks of being very very sick and swearing off thrill rides for life!

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Intrepid_Bearz@reddit

In the early to mid 90s there was the most handsome guy at Chessington selling band t-shirts. He mostly wore Def Leppard t-shirts and I learnt all I could about a band I had no interest in and would wear their t-shirts just to try and get his attention,. I went there so often to talk with him about music. I wasn’t at all interested in the rides, just him. It was delightful.

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Far-Simple1979@reddit

Wicksteed Park. Low queues. 45 mins queue for a ride? Screw that

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Overthinker-dreamer@reddit

Used to love Wicksteed park.

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Mr_XIII_@reddit

The only one there that always had big queues was the Steam Train ride. Probably still the best thing there.

Still, loved it as a kid, more so once big enough for the gokarts solo

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GabberZZ@reddit

Alton towers mid 80s just as the corkscrew was installed. My mate and I were dropped off at the entrance gate next to the road and over the relatively small car park.

We'd walk down the field to a set of half assed huts to pay our entrance fee and dash to the corkscrew before it got mental.

Got a certificate for daring to go on it which was a promotion in the first year of opening.

The black hole was there and a toboggan that I'm sure people must have gotten injured on.

As the years went on and the nemesis got installed it got more and more corporate and just seemed less fun.

We went a few years ago and the carpark was half a mile away. The monorail was broken so a long trek in the pissing rain (both ways) to then queue for what seemed forever for just about every ride.

All the restraints like KFC had reverted to shitty generic expensive restaurants they had back in the 90s..

Whole place was a total cash grab and we vowed never to go back.

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OldChorleian@reddit

Corkscrew opened April 1980 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corkscrew_(Alton_Towers)

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GabberZZ@reddit

Time flies!

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JoeDaStudd@reddit

You went during the school holidays on a day with the best weather of the year and surprised it's busy??

Theme parks have always been busy during school holidays and good weather.

If you were to go on Wednesday next week you could probably walk onto most rides with little to no queuing.

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_youllthankmelater@reddit (OP)

No i wasnt surprised it was busy. I wanted to know if it was the same in the 90s when i was younger as I dont recall - during hot days in the school holidays - ever queuing that long.

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InsaneNutter@reddit

I remember Alton Towers been that busy. The best time to go is a day England are playing in the World Cup, you'll be able to get off the ride, run back around and go again! Failing that any day kids are in school.

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DTH2001@reddit

I’m old enough to remember when it was still called Chessington Zoo

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_youllthankmelater@reddit (OP)

We said to each other how little green space there is to just sit and chill now. All the space being taken up for new rides to enhance the experience traded off against some peace of mind there are places for a little respite from all the walking.

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Patient_Panic_5704@reddit

I used to take my little brothers in the mid to late 90’s. It was 20-30 minutes wait most of the time. Maybe 45 if it was really busy, but you’d just come back a little later. Felt like we got loads done in a day. We’d be pooped getting back in the car to drive home. The M25 was clearer too.

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_youllthankmelater@reddit (OP)

This feels like the experience I can remember around 91/92.

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Puzzleheaded_Drink76@reddit

I would say an hour at Alton Towers in the late 80s/90s. School holidays. For the big rides.

I remember going to Thorpe Park in the early 2000s and being really underwhelmed with how few rides we got on. Felt worse than my historical Alton Towers.

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_youllthankmelater@reddit (OP)

I was around 11/12 when I went to Chessington once, and have memories of several goes on the Bubbleworks, and Vampire but I guess the wait times are just suppressed by the thrill of the rides.

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Personal-Listen-4941@reddit

Before apps, there would be screens similar to those are train stations showing current wait times for big rides, they would be situated at the park entrance & in a few areas around the park

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Gullflyinghigh@reddit

This isn't a 'oh I'm too good for that' post, each to their own and all that, but I am so glad that after one go on a rollercoaster I decided I hated them. I can't imagine waiting hours for a go on one!

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_youllthankmelater@reddit (OP)

This is a level of smug I can get on board with.

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Bogroleum@reddit

You need to go low-season when the kids are at school or it isn't worth it.

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_youllthankmelater@reddit (OP)

I think this is it. It's about attaching some kind of sense of value for money, where the waiting, all the walking, a toy perhaps, some drinks, and the final £12 stinger you pay on exit for the carpark doesnt amount to an enjoyable £100+ experience.

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Outside-Resist4688@reddit

Flamingo Land was wayyyyyy better in the 90s than it is now. It had the big rides of course but lots of smaller rides (waltzers etc) and other attractions dotted around to break the day up between big queues. I went last year and it was all fairly big rides but not as many, plus it looked too polished and manicured somehow. It has lost its fairground charm. I watched some YT videos from the 90s and thought to myself it was so much better back then when it was a bit messy, a bit patchy but had so much more to offer.

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Least-Conference9547@reddit

Loved FL in the 90s,was there a ride called the bullet?

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Outside-Resist4688@reddit

Yes!! I was terrified of it at first and riding it felt like the bravest thing I'd ever done...after that you couldn't keep me off it 🤣 The best was Thunder Mountain which was the rollercoaster in the dark.

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Least-Conference9547@reddit

It was a really good ride though...

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Outside-Resist4688@reddit

It was unique in that it went back on itself. I read somewhere that it's in Germany now. Remember the Terroriser? I loved that!!

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Least-Conference9547@reddit

I will have to look up some of the rides,cant remember their names.Top day out though.

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MrSpud45@reddit

A few differences to now - mainly the rides as engineering has advanced from basic roller coasters to the wide variety now. The queues are the same, can be long. A friend got sunburn waiting to get on oblivion. As he was balding it wasn't the best look.

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Hamsternoir@reddit

Blobby land in Somerset was fun if you went with a load of weed.

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opopkl@reddit

I can remember going to Alton Towers in the 80s/90s, out of school holidays, and we rode everything multiple times with minimal waiting.

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Danielharris1260@reddit

Theme park definitely were always busy especially during holidays I remember queuing for ages for stuff like Nemesis Air and oblivion at alton tower towers in late 90s/ early 00s

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MattWillGrant@reddit

My parents busted me out of school on my birthday in '91 and we went to Chessington. Went on everything twice. Half hour wait was about right in Summer '94.

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ramapyjamadingdong@reddit

This sounds typical whether now or 20 years ago.

We went to Chessington on a random Thursday in September last year and it was longer to walk through the queue for Vampire than it was to wait when you got in. We rode Vampire 6 or 7 times, plus Bubbleworks (or whatever it is called now) 4 times, we went on all of the other big rides at least once, with exception of tiger drop, which was closed. Mostly we just walked on, but we queued maybe 15mins for a water ride and mandrill mayhem.

I did similar at Thorpe Park 20 years ago and we went on 30+ rides in a day. We ran between rides, ate in the queue and double rode when the queue or lack thereof allowed

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yourefunny@reddit

Went on a school trip at the end of the 90s and the queues were so damn long we spent most of our time on simple rides like the swing ride doing stupid stuff like trying to fling out trainers at mates or in bins. Climbing through bushes etc. May have even been mid week during term time... But probs not as it was a boarding school.

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molluscstar@reddit

I remember queuing for nemesis at Alton towers for 3 hours in about 1994/5! It had just opened so was very popular. I wouldn’t have the patience for that these days!

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takesthebiscuit@reddit

Yeah my brother and I went about the same time, late 1980’s black hole 2 just opened and waited about the same

Reached the front of the queue and I was tall enough but my brother want that was awful

Going to AT was a complete surprise,

My dad was in the round table and the arranged a bus trip to the place from Oxford

So early one morning dad woke us up and said we were going on a road trip, loaded us up at like 7am and drove an hour south to Oxford to board a bus 3 hours to Stafford,

We had no idea where we were going! And eventually saw more and more signs to Alton Towers!

A great day out (inspite of the corkscrew issue!) he got on the black hole

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blinky84@reddit

I remember queuing 2+ hours for Oblivion when that opened, and the English schools weren't even on holiday yet.

I've got a distinct memory of being bored af in the queue aged 14. There was a bunch of lads in front of us in the queue, having a laugh and chatting about their clubbing escapades, shagging in the toilets, etc.

I was lugging in, thinking this was great entertainment, until one of the lads said "guys there's kids around, watch what you're saying" and they changed the subject to something a lot less interesting. I glared at the poor sod for that, but as an adult, I definitely have respect for him doing that now...!

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Evening-Web-3038@reddit

I did 3 hours in the smiler's queue when that first opened. An extremely hot day and constantly surrounded by mesh fencing. The pen.

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idcalvin@reddit

I remember my brother pushing me around in a wheelbarrow, early 70s. That or riding a cow was as good as it got. 🤔

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OrangeBeast01@reddit

I remember going during school holidays to theme parks in the 90's, mainly Blackpool pleasure beach, Camelot (RIP) and Alton Towers, and the popular rides always had queue's between 45-90 minutes.

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ExoticExchange@reddit

Was hopeful to see Camelot mentioned. Absolutely wonderful place.

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vegan_voorhees@reddit

One of my first memories is getting stuck on a little electric rollercoaster at Camelot. It was bucketing down and the train just kept sliding backwards down the final slope.

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OrangeBeast01@reddit

Yeah, great memories of the Tower of terror and Excalibur.

Did you know, Tower of Terror now operates as Big Blue in a Croation theme park?

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HalfAgony-HalfHope@reddit

I did two and a half hours at Alton Towers for Oblivion. Didnt seem out of the ordinary.

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Robosquidsquad@reddit

Anyone remember American adventure land

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badger906@reddit

I went to Lego land the same day as the royal family, it was a soft opening day to stress test the park. Would have been early 1996!

It was epic, a few parts weren’t open yet, and Some rides broke briefly!

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Timely_Egg_6827@reddit

Always like that for the flagships rides - we often avoided them and just went on the smaller ones with shorter queues. Variety over thrills. Just muscles ached less and you were usually wired on sugar.

Did like at Disneyworld in 80s for some of the real flagship rides, they put you on a moving conveyer belt though exhibits so you were entertained on the wait - Space Mountain comes to mind.

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EyeAware3519@reddit

I can remember queueing over 2 hours to go on the Corkscrew at Alton Towers in the mid 90s. Wasn't even that good.

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marxistopportunist@reddit

Early 90s i can vaguely remember was some kind of fantasy wonderland

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O_C_Demon@reddit

Just in and of itself! 😉😂

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Tanto207064@reddit

I distinctly remember going on the thunder looper at the American adventure over 10 times and also the nemesis at Alton towers about the same amount in fact we always said 15 times but not sure that could have been correct. We’d come off and run round to re join. However I also remember on a separate visit queuing for over 2 hours for the rapids. I remember because my mum wrote a letter to complain and we got given free tickets. Yes it’s bound to be busier now but times will vary depending what day you go

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Naive_Reach2007@reddit

So i went to Alton Towers on the day of Princess Diana's funeral

Tickets were 1/2 price amd the park opened at 11am out of respect 😅

There were 8 coaches (mainly from Scotland and some cars) rode everything, longest que was 10 minutes.

Went a few years back for a cousin bought fast track was ok, now the price plus howuch fast track cost is obscene

Yet ironically the CEO of Merlin was complaining as sales are down at there parks due to digital etc.. Ignoring the pricing they do.

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Cultural_Joke2025@reddit

We used to go to Pleasure Wood Hills American theme park (near Lowestoft), back in the late 80s. Fortunately, queuing wasn't so bad back then, and you'd hop onto a ride pretty quickly.

It was a fairly decent theme park, and it was great when we went there (probably still great now!).

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Lonely-Job484@reddit

Yeah pretty standard to have 1hr+ queues during peak times like school hols. INSET days were the best as not all schools coincide but, well, no school so no harm getting out and about.

About a decade ago I went on a cold rainy midweek day and I doubt there were more than a few dozen visitors in the park tops. Walked straight on to everything. Couldn't go on Rameses Revenge as there weren't enough people waiting to get enough weight on the ride for it to work properly - apparently it had a minimum load to run.

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BowiesFixedPupil@reddit

They were fucking busy is what they were.

2 hours for one of the better rides? Yeah, you'd begrudgingly be quite happy with that in season during the peak of the day.

Realistically, you'd get on 2 big rides, 2 medium rides and then you'd just try and get on as many small rides as possible or because it's now late in the day, hopefully there's one last chance to sneak on a big ride now the queues have gone.

The trick was always run to the main ride when it opens and hang around them late in the day before closing.

I was 12 in 1991 and visited theme parks semi regularly from late 80s til late 90s. It was definitely not better then in terms of wait times.

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