A lot of theme park visits are just days out, but occasionally they are weekend, week or even fortnight long trips in the UK, into Europe and sometimes further afield.
European Coaster Club trips are back, and we were off to visit the new Gulliver's Valley theme park in Yorkshire, plus the chain's original Gulliver's Kingdom park in Matlock Bath.
Coming as new part of Thorpe Park's event lineup and the first major celebration of the season is Mardi Gras, seeing live music, a parade and the park decked out with colourful bunting.
Following on from the major investment in Mythica last year, Legoland Windsor has two more modest new attractions for 2022 - The Brick and The Magical Forest. I took a trip down there on a sunny Sunday in late-May to check them out.
Festival of Thrills is a brand new event for 2022 at Alton Towers, celebrating the start of the season with music stages and live bands at various locations around the park.
Two days at Alton Towers to watch a very special end of season fireworks show celebrating the park's 40th anniversary, plus a chance to look around the new World of David Walliams and ride Gangsta Granny.
Things get spooky as Halloween season returns to Chessington World of Adventures, plus Croc Drop is the new attraction for 2021 and Black Buccaneer has been transformed into Blue Barnacle.
The second trip to Paultons Park this year, with a chance to meet up with friends and explore more of Tornado Springs and the rest of the park.
A four day trip around the UK, taking in parks on a not very direct route between Legoland and Blackpool.
After being delayed a year due to Covid-19, Paultons Park's new area Tornado Springs finally opened on Monday 12th April 2021 after the Government's Coronavirus restrictions were sufficiently eased. I went down a few days later, to check it out on the first weekend of operation.
Checking out the new Rainforest area and just how well (or not) Chessington is getting on with their social distancing and other changes to make them Covid-secure.
The UK's Coronavirus lockdown cancelled Thorpe Park's March opening plans, but with lockdown restrictions finally eased in early July it was time for Thorpe Park to throw open its gates for a belated start to the 2020 season. With a huge array of changes due to the ongoing global pandemic, this is bound to be a Season Like No Other on the Island Like No Other...
Visiting Legoland for the opening day of Duplo Dino Coaster, in circumstances unimaginable just weeks previously.
The last trip of the year to Winter Wonderland, and indeed the last trip of the decade turned icy with a visit to the Magical Ice Kingdom.
A December trip to London to exercise the otherwise dormant Merlin Annual Pass has become a Christmas tradition, along with a visit to the massive Winter Wonderland fair at Hyde Park of course!
Alton's fireworks provides the traditional end to the UK theme park season, and it was back on top form this year with a specuacular show restoring "The Power of the Towers".
Drayton's 2019 fireworks display celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing.
The Halloween season is in full swing, as I visit Chessington's Howl'o'ween event which this year introduced Spyders, a new family scare attraction.
The annual visit to Thorpe Park's Halloween event, which this year premiered the new Creek Freak Massacre scare maze.
Another stop on the tour of Halloween attractions, to Alton Towers Scarefest which this year launched two spectacular new scare mazes: The Attic, and Darkest Depths.
Heading north for the first of this season's Halloween events, an evening at Xtreme Scream Park in Melton Mowbray.
A trip to an overly crowded Thorpe Park, clearly unprepared for the number of people who turned up for one of the last warm sunny Saturdays of the year.
There's something special about theme park friendships: no matter how long it has been since you've seen each other, nothing much changes and it's as if everybody saw each other yesterday. To put that to the ultimate test, the original theme park gang got back together for a ten year reunion!
A rainy weekday visit at Drayton Manor near the end of the school summer holidays.
A long weekend in Germany and The Netherlands, visiting Hansa Park, Hamburg Dom, De Waarbeek, Hellendoorn, Slagharen, Toverland and Movie Park Germany.
Two piers and three new coaster credits on a blustery day down on the South Coast.
A visit to Paultons Park punctuated by a few downpours as we explored Peppa Pig World and the rest of the park.
Usually Gulliver's theme parks would be off limits to large groups of coaster enthusiasts, so when the ECC were invited to a weekend jaunt to visit the chain's Warrington and Milton Keynes parks, it was an opportunity too good to miss!
Dropping into a busy school-trip infested Alton Towers on the way up to the ECC Gulliver's Gallop weekend
A day trip to the seaside with the ECC at Dreamland Margate to check out all the changes at the park, and take a ride on the historic Scenic Railway
Ninety members of the ECC go for a long weekend of partying and theme parking in Poland. We visited Energylandia to ride the largest rollercoaster in Poland, Legendia to check out Vekoma's new Lech Coaster, plus Twinpigs, Zatorland, Rabkoland and a model railway park which has probably the largest dragon coaster in the world!
A week long coach tour with the European Coaster Club exploring the theme parks and culture of Turkey.
My first visit to Cedar Point coincided with their annual CoasterMania event: the park was open for eighteen hours from 6am to midnight, dedicated to rollercoaster enthusiasts and Cedar Point fans.
A five day trip touring the United Arab Emirates with three coaches full of European Coaster Club members, visiting all the major theme parks in the region including four brand new parks that had only opened a few months previously.
Starting in Chicago and ending in Atlanta, two weeks of travelling through the American Heartland to 15 parks including Holiday World, Dollywood, Silver Dollar City, Carowinds and Kings Island.
The European Coaster Club's weekend trip to Paultons Park and Blackgang Chine on the Isle of Wight.
A two day tour around some of the parks on the Eastern side of the UK, including Pleasurewood Hills, Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach, Clacton Pier and Adventure Island.
A weekend trip to Germany, visiting Tripsdrill and Holiday Park.
Heide Park's special event weekend, bringing together fans of the park from all over Europe.
A rare opportunity to visit Gulliver's Kingdom in Matlock Bath with the European Coaster Club
A long weekend in Denmark with friends from the ECC, visiting Djurs Sommerland, Fårup and Legoland Billund.
Going behind the scenes at Gulliver's Land in Milton Keynes
Alton Towers launched their latest rollercoaster, Th13teen, to a crowd of excited coaster enthusiasts on a very rainy March Saturday...
A day trip to La Ronde, back in 2007 when I spent a couple of months in Canada.
Opening weekend at Chessington World of Adventures, featuring an over-abundance of apostrophes.
A relaxing day at Wicksteed turns into a very English adventure as the train breaks down...
My first trip to Disneyland Paris, back in the days when Walt Disney Studios was still pretty new and devoid of many attractions.