Nemesis Nick at Basingstoke Leisure Park 4 May 2013

Date: Saturday 4 May 2013
Venue: The Lagoon at Aquadrome, Planet Ice
Who Went: Just me

Rationale For Trip

A trip to Basingstoke Leisure Park to enjoy water sliding at Aquadrome in the morning, and ice skating at neighbouring Planet Ice in the afternoon. My original plan was to do this trip during February or March 2013, but for various reasons it took until the May Day bank holiday weekend for this trip to materialise.

Getting To Basingstoke

In some respects I picked a bad day to go to Basingstoke. Due to engineering work, rail replacement buses were operating all day between Dorchester South and Poole, thereby extending the overall journey from Dorchester South to Basingstoke from the usual two hours on a direct train to about three hours. Nonetheless I wasn't prepared to make that my excuse for putting this trip off any longer.

A 5:15am awakening was necessary in order to catch a rail replacement bus departing 6:37 from Dorchester South to Poole, followed by the onward 8:07 train to Basingstoke. Having reached Basingstoke just after 9:30am I caught the shuttle bus to Basingstoke Leisure Park.

The Lagoon at Aquadrome

Basingstoke Aquadrome is a multi-purpose leisure centre at Basingstoke Leisure Park. I went there to use the Lagoon, which has the following facilities:

Yellow Peril (yellow water slide)

A closed tube all the way down with plenty of twists and turns, making for a fairly fast but gentle ride. Bathers must use a tyre on this.

Master Blaster (blue)

An uphill water slide, this is what I call a "roller coaster water slide", featuring three net covered uphill ramps in addition to closed tube descents. A net covered steep drop into a catch tray completes the ride. Much more thrilling than the Yellow Peril. If you're lucky, you might just get a pop of AIRtime on the final descent. A tyre is required on this.

Space Bowl (green)

Speaks for itself: it takes sliders down a narrow tube, into a giant space bowl. After a rapid spin around the bowl, one drops through the centre into the 2.5 metre deep plunge pool. Tyres are prohibited on this.

Fun Pool

This includes a river run.

Session Overview

Upon entry I was given a light blue wristband (just like on my February 2012 visit). They call a colour out after a certain length of time in the event of The Lagoon reaching capacity. Thankfully my colour was not called whilst I was in The Lagoon, thereby allowing me to stay in as long as I hoped, but it was called a few minutes after I chose to leave.

Having changed, I entered The Lagoon at 10:30am and immediately took to the slides. All three slides (Yellow Peril, Master Blaster and Space Bowl) were running. During my first journey up the stairs I suddenly realised I'd forgotten to take a tyre, and there were no tyres at the top. Therefore I started with one go on the Space Bowl. Afterwards I collected a tyre and had one go on the Yellow Peril followed by one go on the Master Blaster.

As I left the Master Blaster I noticed the green lily pads had disappeared from the fun pool. I asked a lifeguard what had happened to them since my previous visit in February 2012. The lifeguard told me that, due to a change in safety regulations, they were deemed unsafe and removed around about this time last year (circa spring 2012). Due to my desire to have as many slides as possible during my session, I ended up not going in the pool or river run at all this time.

Now that I'd been down all three slides once each, my sliding continued with eight goes on Yellow Peril. This slide was walk-on each time. Next I had eight goes on the Space Bowl, and this too was quiet, most of my goes being walk-on. Afterwards the Master Blaster was considerably more popular, so due to the queuing time I limited myself to two goes.

I returned to the Yellow Peril for another five goes, and at worst had one or two other sliders in front of me. After that the queue for the Master Blaster was getting longer still, whereas no-one was waiting for the Space Bowl. Therefore I enjoyed fifteen goes on the Space Bowl straight off. On several of those fifteen goes I managed to get straight on to the Space Bowl, and at worst there were two or three other sliders in front of me waiting to go down it. The lifeguard by the landing tank evidently noticed me having lots of goes on the Space Bowl, and was surprised I wasn't tired after my thirteenth go. I just said I would have liked a few more goes on the Master Blaster, but noticed it was busy. I rounded off my session with one go on the Master Blaster. Although I had to queue for about 10 minutes to get on it, it was well worth the wait.

I finally left the The Lagoon at 12:50pm to have ample time to dry myself, dress, have lunch and be on the ice at Planet Ice next-door by 2pm. Whilst I was in the changing room I heard an announcement asking all bathers with light blue wristbands (my colour) to leave the pool. Thus I couldn't have spent many more minutes in The Lagoon anyway.

Summary of my sliding in actual order

Space Bowl 1
Yellow Peril 1
Master Blaster 1
Yellow Peril 8
Space Bowl 8
Master Blaster 2
Yellow Peril 5
Space Bowl 15
Master Blaster 1

Cumulative Summary of Slides

Slide	Total
Yellow Peril	14
Master Blaster	4
Space Bowl	24
TOTAL	42

Lunch At Aquadrome Café

Having dried myself and dressed, I went to the Aquadrome café for a light lunch: hot dog, chips, and coffee.

Planet Ice

After lunch, I headed next-door to Planet Ice and got my hired skates on as quickly as I could. Around 2pm I fearlessly walked on to the ice in open space and quickly picked up speed. The rink was lit by coloured stage lights, and music was being played. Throughout my time on the ice, the far end of the rink was closed off for skating lessons, but there was still plenty of space for the general public to enjoy. Around 3pm I temporarily left the ice pad for a few minutes. This was my only time of leaving the ice during the session.

When I returned to the ice, my skating continued; from time to time I tried one-legged skating. Unfortunately I had my first fall around 3:30pm due to me reaching out during a brief moment of one-legged skating. About 10 minutes before the session ended (by which time many other skaters had left) I tried skating as fast as I could on two legs, and had my second fall of the session. Thankfully I got up and continued skating for the last few minutes. The final song to be played was last year's Eurovision Song Contest winner "Euphoria"; it's a pity there wasn't time for that song to be played in full. I finally left the ice when the session ended at 4pm, and thus all skaters were asked to leave the ice. Altogether about two hours of ice skating on a large rink.

Afternoon Coffee

Having left Planet Ice around 4:15pm, I caught the shuttle bus back to town. Once there I went to Sainsbury's Café. The selection of cakes was now very limited, but anyway I had a toasted teacake with butter, and a cup of coffee.

Journey Home

Back at Basingstoke station, I caught the 17:00 train to Winchester for the connecting 17:33 train to Poole. The final leg of the journey was the 18:43 replacement bus service from Poole to Dorchester South. This was a Damory VanHool coach, more luxurious than the More bus this morning. The bus reached Dorchester at 7:53pm, which was earlier than expected.

Outro

Highlights

Sliding the Yellow Peril, Master Blaster and Space Bowl at Aquadrome Lagoon.
Getting 15 goes straight off on the Space Bowl (and no-one in front of me for many of those goes).
Two hours of ice skating at Planet Ice.

Lowlights

Rail replacement buses between Dorchester and Poole substantially increased the overall travelling times.
Master Blaster considerably busier than the other two slides, so disappointingly I had just four goes on it.
Falling twice late in my skating session at Planet Ice (bumping my left shoulder and chin on my second fall).

Summing Up

Another mega fun day out, my first time of going water sliding and ice skating in the same day for this year. Although it took place a couple of months later than originally hoped, it was well worth the wait. It's a pity the rail replacement buses between Dorchester and Poole substantially increased the overall journey times to and from Basingstoke. Looking on the bright side, the rail replacement buses allowed me to see some of the Dorset countryside, including two interesting and unfamiliar routes between Moreton and Wool, which one wouldn't normally see from the train. It's a pity the Master Blaster roller coaster water slide at The Lagoon was so busy I only had four goes on it (I had hoped for more goes on that). Fortunately the Space Bowl was surprisingly quiet throughout my time in The Lagoon, and I achieved a total of 24 goes on it. The ice skating session was also great fun, including brief spells of one-legged skating, it's a shame my hopes of a fall-free session vanished with two falls in the last half hour.

Reflections

This was my fifth time of doing this trip in this manner on my own. My previous visits to Basingstoke Leisure Park to go water sliding at Aquadrome Lagoon in the morning and ice skating at Planet Ice in the afternoon were March 2008, November 2009, April 2011 and February 2012. Going by the fun I've had each time, I seriously think this combined water sliding and ice skating trip could make an excellent official RCCGB trip one Saturday between November and March when most amusement parks are closed. Gala Bingo could then be an optional evening add-on as that's another amenity at Basingstoke Leisure Park.