Camelot was only 30 mins from us and we used to go all the time when we were kids. The tower of terror was the first coaster I went on which went upside down. I remember being so scared to go on it the first time but once I did I must have rode it 10 times that day. So many good memories of that place.
Great video mate. Looking forward to the next one, as I worked at Camelot from 1995 - 1997. I worked on some of the rides mentioned / featured here. My first season, I was at the bottom end of the park, and worked on the Rack, Balloon Ride, Cinema 180 (I had to load the film through the projector!), Mad Monastry, Lancealot's Leap and the Indoor Play area (and the odd time on Dungeon's of Doom). 2nd and 3rd years were at the top end, working on Caterpillar Capers, Log Flume, Venom, Pendragon's Plunge, Galleon, and the Kingdom in the clouds. Happy days those - had such a laugh, and worked with some great people - some legendary nights out with them in The Park nightclub in the Park Hall hotel next door! Some of the stories of things that went on at Camelot though - I could write a book. "Venom Surfing" is probably my favourite. If you know, you know.
Ooo a new series! Interesting video. I really enjoyed the Alton, Thorpe and Blackpool ones. Look forward to seeing all of these too. Thank you for your hard work putting these together 😁
God I miss Camelot. We love visiting the park for Scare City Experience just to feel the nostaliga of what used to be there. Love these series mate, keep em coming 👏
Great video! Thanks! I used to go to camelot constantly when I was growing up and have very fond memories there over the years. The guys at scare city took me round last year for a walk around the site. It was emotional. Many things changed over the years and it was great to be a part of it all
I went once as a kid maybe about 7 yrs old and I remember I did enjoy it! 😊 The most I remember was the talking dragon and the castle exterior. I do also remember though, believing we were actually going to a castle and being highly disappointed when we walked through the gates into a theme park 😂 bless!
@@coaster_dad Looking forward to it :) Our first experience at the park was Scare City - which is a great look at the remains in a sense, but we really noticed the decay of the buildings that remain has ramped up a lot since last year...
What an interesting video to watch on your channel Coaster Dad! I have learnt quite a lot of history about Camelot theme park between 1983 and 1989! Another awesome video by you Coaster Dad 😊
That dragon coaster in my eyes is a legendary coaster. Sure we all had to breath in diesel fumes as it appeared powered by that but BOY it was fun. I did hear that the council were fed up with the noise via local residents hence they blocked new investment and the game was over.
I remember going here on a school trip! What a blast from the past. More recently I've been there for their Scare City event, which is awesome and uses some of the original park theming.
A great video as always mate, I love the theme park history videos; I am looking forward to the next ones 😁. I wish I had got to go to Camelot it looked like a very nostalgic and fun park to visit and great theming😊. Also, congratulations on 1 million views bud 👏😁. Great stuff.
The Beast (formerly Knightmare/Space Mountain) was the first coaster I ever went on when I was about 9 years old. There was a giant glowing green dragon egg in the centre that the track went around. Tower of Terror was the second coaster I went on, and it scared the life out of me and put me off rollercoasters for years.
Anyone else find it weird that so many UK theme parks opened in the 80s? Camelot, Alton Towers, American Adventure, Thorpe Park to a certain extent. Anyone got any ideas why this may be? Do we think it was linked to Disney World opening around that time?
Great video. I used to go here every year from the mid 80’s until the mid 90s. I only have good memories and really miss it. My memory of the helter skelter slide you mentioned is that you had to climb up rope netting not stairs (could be mixing that up, not sure). I loved Dragon Flyer coaster as it was quite long. The log flume was also a favourite - I remember going on the Alton Towers log flume some time after and being amazed how much longer it was and had multiple drops, blew my mind as a kid. I remember being really scared in the queue first time I went on Tower of Terror, genuinely terrified, I think it was the first coaster I went on that went upside down.
im from manchester so this was my local park but i remember going in the final years many times as a child , when the park shut i tried to see where many of the bits of the park went like puff dragon who i thought was scrapped but after 10 years i managed to find out that he's actually at gulivers world warrington on a princess dark ride an found photos of him which i'm happy the parks history lives on
@@coaster_dad my dad has videos of when i went in 2012 i remember going on the bertie basset driving school , you had the weird ghost train really old school , another one was the merlins apprentice show that happened which was a magic show that was good , think there was another animatronic thing called cats of the round table near front of park , the best was knight-mare my first coaster an also whirlwind the spinning coaster . The hotel next door had themed Camelot like lodges an like rooms based on Bertie basset sweets and knights an castle as i remember going to stay there in 2015 was just left the same
@@twntodaywithniall7702 Cats of the round table was a mystery to me, I saw mention of it, but can't find any images/videos. Although I saw a lion above an entrance that I think I mention in the future episodes asking if that was the cats of the round table, so when you see that please let me know :)
Really enjoying these retrospectives of theme parks :) The northern ones especially are bringing back so many memories for me. I grew up going to BPB, Camelot, Pleasureland Southport, and Frontierland. Thank you, and keep up the good work :) PS any plans to do one on Frontierland?
I forgot to add in my comment yesterday, but both Thorpe Park and Legoland have quite large splash parks for children. So water based play isn't that unusual in theme parks, even today. Also, it was very normal for local newspapers to print the road name where somebody lived. Not even just local newspapers, but national papers and magazines would also do so. These days you only tend to see people's road names mentioned in the "court hearings" section, where people have been sentenced for crimes. I was so excited about the new history series, I forgot to discuss the above until I remembered about an hour ago 😂 Can't wait for part two, into the 90s when I visited Camelot 😁
I remember waiting for over an hour for The Beast when I was a boy. Outside it looked nothing but when they put it indoors it added to the thrill. I remember it went round a few times in the pitch dark then on the last lap you went through the Beast mouth (which only lit up on the last lap) into the station again.
Yeah the jousting shows were long, like an hour or so and happened two or three times each day. There was also falconry show in the jousting arena and the magic shows in a different theatre in the park. I never went for water attractions or into the softplay area (not that kind of parents, and mostly I was visiting as an 8-15 year old) but in addition to the splash pool there was perhaps later a water slide and you always got totally drenched on the log flume. The Beast had similar monster theming to the later Nemesis while the ride itself was a similar experience to The Black Hole at Alton Towers. I also remember there was a disused ride entrance for a tunnel of love boat ride in the mountain which I never saw in operation on any of my visits but which persisted there for several years.
Loved this video, was gutted when it closed-went there 4 times from 1986 2009! You did miss some clips/videos which I found-should of sent you them.....🤷🏻♂ Which theme park you doing next mate?? 😀
A few polite corrections - Dragon Flyer opened in 1986, not 1987 (RCDB is wrong), the Galleon was scrapped (the one that went to Southport came from Metroland in Gateshead, a few years before Camelot had even closed)
Do you have an email address? I have a few bits that may be of interest to you. I see you used Coasterpedia - I added the majority of the UK rides on that site 😊
I grew up down the road from here and my cub group leader used to work on the park. It blew my tiny tiny mind when we went on a school trip and he was there.
The dragon flyer.... The diesel powered coaster..... Which was the only. One in the UK and one of only 2 in the world.. There was only train to this coaster and the other train which is in Algeria actually originated in Belgium. The engine tgat powered this tide was a ford 2ltr diesel engine with turbo charger and four speed gearbox to the drive wheels..... Had the epic chance to drive / operate this at the age of 15...... Normally not going any further than second or third gear low revs.... In fourth gear was a positive g machine!
These parks just never evolved like the rest of the world. The truth is the UK is a poor country and the GDP they talk about isn’t in the country, it’s with the wealthy and they do not invest here. They will continue not to invest and we will see Labour make everything far worse. People seem to not understand that if you tax more, the money leaves. The only people that actually end up being taxed more are the general population. So no one has any money and we are all cheap here as a result. You go to the US and they all have so much money, they’re happy paying far more than we do and do not bat an eyelid. Universal will do well simply because it’ll bring in people who are willing to spend, but none of those people will visit any other park. The sad thing is Universal are being given all these tax breaks and infrastructure paid for by the tax payer….. Where is it for our native parks? No they’ll just go out of business.
Camelot was only 30 mins from us and we used to go all the time when we were kids. The tower of terror was the first coaster I went on which went upside down. I remember being so scared to go on it the first time but once I did I must have rode it 10 times that day. So many good memories of that place.
Nice. Hopefully this episode and the two that are out later this week will bring back a lot of happy memories 😀
Great Vid, great memories of being a kid going in the early 90s
Thank you. I’m sure the next episode will jog some of those memories 😀
You're the gift that keeps on giving, Coaster Dad
Thank you for all of your park history series!
You’re welcome. I hope you enjoy 😀
Great video mate. Looking forward to the next one, as I worked at Camelot from 1995 - 1997. I worked on some of the rides mentioned / featured here. My first season, I was at the bottom end of the park, and worked on the Rack, Balloon Ride, Cinema 180 (I had to load the film through the projector!), Mad Monastry, Lancealot's Leap and the Indoor Play area (and the odd time on Dungeon's of Doom). 2nd and 3rd years were at the top end, working on Caterpillar Capers, Log Flume, Venom, Pendragon's Plunge, Galleon, and the Kingdom in the clouds. Happy days those - had such a laugh, and worked with some great people - some legendary nights out with them in The Park nightclub in the Park Hall hotel next door! Some of the stories of things that went on at Camelot though - I could write a book. "Venom Surfing" is probably my favourite. If you know, you know.
Ha ha. Sounds like you have a lot of stories to tell 😉 glad you enjoyed part one, the next one is out Thursday 😀
Ooo a new series!
Interesting video.
I really enjoyed the Alton, Thorpe and Blackpool ones.
Look forward to seeing all of these too.
Thank you for your hard work putting these together 😁
You’re welcome. Glad you enjoy them 😀
God I miss Camelot. We love visiting the park for Scare City Experience just to feel the nostaliga of what used to be there. Love these series mate, keep em coming 👏
Cheers bud. Glad you enjoyed 😀
Great video! Thanks! I used to go to camelot constantly when I was growing up and have very fond memories there over the years. The guys at scare city took me round last year for a walk around the site. It was emotional. Many things changed over the years and it was great to be a part of it all
Thank you. Hopefully the other episodes bring back some more memories 😀
@coaster_dad looking forward to seeing it
I went once as a kid maybe about 7 yrs old and I remember I did enjoy it! 😊
The most I remember was the talking dragon and the castle exterior. I do also remember though, believing we were actually going to a castle and being highly disappointed when we walked through the gates into a theme park 😂 bless!
I would have loved to experience it. Even though toward the end it looked pretty bad 🙈
I love these historical reviews. Very thoroughly researched and nicely presented.
Thank you 🙏
An excellent video insight into the history of a park we never visited. Thank you for your time and research on this
Thank you 😀 glad you enjoyed. Some interesting tales to come in the next episodes…
@@coaster_dad Looking forward to it :) Our first experience at the park was Scare City - which is a great look at the remains in a sense, but we really noticed the decay of the buildings that remain has ramped up a lot since last year...
I was looking for a Camelot video like this the other day and you’ve posted this. Thankyou for another great video.
You’re welcome. Glad you enjoyed. The last two episodes are out later this week 😀
What an interesting video to watch on your channel Coaster Dad! I have learnt quite a lot of history about Camelot theme park between 1983 and 1989! Another awesome video by you Coaster Dad 😊
Thank you, it's such an interesting place. I really wish I'd got to visit when it was around!
That dragon coaster in my eyes is a legendary coaster. Sure we all had to breath in diesel fumes as it appeared powered by that but BOY it was fun. I did hear that the council were fed up with the noise via local residents hence they blocked new investment and the game was over.
😔 and the rest is history
I remember going here on a school trip! What a blast from the past.
More recently I've been there for their Scare City event, which is awesome and uses some of the original park theming.
Yeah it’s a shame it’s no longer with us. I wish I’d managed to visit when it was around.
A great video as always mate, I love the theme park history videos; I am looking forward to the next ones 😁. I wish I had got to go to Camelot it looked like a very nostalgic and fun park to visit and great theming😊. Also, congratulations on 1 million views bud 👏😁. Great stuff.
Cheers bud. Appreciate the support!
You’re welcome bud, you deserve it 😁👍.
I really enjoyed your video Chris, I never got the chance to visit Camelot so it's nice to see what it was like. 👌👏
Thank you. I’m the same. It looks like a strange place but I wish I’d experienced it first hand!
Great video Chris. Love your videos always 😊.
Glad you enjoyed 😀
Hi. I worked there 98 to 2000. Worked on both Junior Skydiver and Leverets. Happy to answer any questions. Oh I worked the clownaround too
Ooo I’d love to know more about Leverets since that was a total mystery!
It was also the worst ride to work on. It was situated next to the original excalbur ride which was on one side and the Dungeon of doom on the other.
Love these series. Thanks for the work it must take especially when thebpark hasn't got as much information available like past parks
Thank you. Yeah they take a few months to put together but they do seem to be well received so I’m happy to keep making them 😀
The Beast (formerly Knightmare/Space Mountain) was the first coaster I ever went on when I was about 9 years old. There was a giant glowing green dragon egg in the centre that the track went around. Tower of Terror was the second coaster I went on, and it scared the life out of me and put me off rollercoasters for years.
Ha in part 2 I cover that ride when it was venom and they said it had spectacular effects. And in my head I had a green light. So I wasn’t far off 😂
Another great video. Love your history of series if various theme parks
Thank you 🙏
Anyone else find it weird that so many UK theme parks opened in the 80s? Camelot, Alton Towers, American Adventure, Thorpe Park to a certain extent.
Anyone got any ideas why this may be? Do we think it was linked to Disney World opening around that time?
That’s a good question. Because if Universal comes I can’t see lots of other parks opening. More worried some would close!
I'm here for the adverts. Let's go !
Great video. I used to go here every year from the mid 80’s until the mid 90s. I only have good memories and really miss it. My memory of the helter skelter slide you mentioned is that you had to climb up rope netting not stairs (could be mixing that up, not sure). I loved Dragon Flyer coaster as it was quite long. The log flume was also a favourite - I remember going on the Alton Towers log flume some time after and being amazed how much longer it was and had multiple drops, blew my mind as a kid. I remember being really scared in the queue first time I went on Tower of Terror, genuinely terrified, I think it was the first coaster I went on that went upside down.
Awesome. I really wish I’d got to visit
im from manchester so this was my local park but i remember going in the final years many times as a child , when the park shut i tried to see where many of the bits of the park went like puff dragon who i thought was scrapped but after 10 years i managed to find out that he's actually at gulivers world warrington on a princess dark ride an found photos of him which i'm happy the parks history lives on
Indeed. So many pieces were saved, but unfortunately many were not. Like the knightmare and the castle structure etc. 😔
@@coaster_dad my dad has videos of when i went in 2012 i remember going on the bertie basset driving school , you had the weird ghost train really old school , another one was the merlins apprentice show that happened which was a magic show that was good , think there was another animatronic thing called cats of the round table near front of park , the best was knight-mare my first coaster an also whirlwind the spinning coaster . The hotel next door had themed Camelot like lodges an like rooms based on Bertie basset sweets and knights an castle as i remember going to stay there in 2015 was just left the same
@@twntodaywithniall7702 Cats of the round table was a mystery to me, I saw mention of it, but can't find any images/videos. Although I saw a lion above an entrance that I think I mention in the future episodes asking if that was the cats of the round table, so when you see that please let me know :)
@@coaster_dadok thanks i will do, great video by the way
I've got a few upclose photos of Puff dragon if you'd like to see, it's from a track walk I got in august.
8:44 - I think Kingdom in the Clouds also relocated to Southport.
Really enjoying these retrospectives of theme parks :) The northern ones especially are bringing back so many memories for me. I grew up going to BPB, Camelot, Pleasureland Southport, and Frontierland. Thank you, and keep up the good work :)
PS any plans to do one on Frontierland?
I’m sure I’ll get to it. I’ve got a poll running right now and Flamingoland is looking likely to be the next one 😀
I forgot to add in my comment yesterday, but both Thorpe Park and Legoland have quite large splash parks for children.
So water based play isn't that unusual in theme parks, even today.
Also, it was very normal for local newspapers to print the road name where somebody lived.
Not even just local newspapers, but national papers and magazines would also do so.
These days you only tend to see people's road names mentioned in the "court hearings" section, where people have been sentenced for crimes.
I was so excited about the new history series, I forgot to discuss the above until I remembered about an hour ago 😂
Can't wait for part two, into the 90s when I visited Camelot 😁
Thanks Richard. Clearly I don’t read my local (or national) newspapers 😂
I remember Alton Towers having a splash pool back in the 80’s too.
I remember waiting for over an hour for The Beast when I was a boy. Outside it looked nothing but when they put it indoors it added to the thrill. I remember it went round a few times in the pitch dark then on the last lap you went through the Beast mouth (which only lit up on the last lap) into the station again.
Ah nice!
I wish I could have gone to Camelot looks so cool
same!
The 2 things I remember about Camelot were the rope bridge way in and ghost train. Not sure why that is all I really remember.
Yeah the jousting shows were long, like an hour or so and happened two or three times each day. There was also falconry show in the jousting arena and the magic shows in a different theatre in the park. I never went for water attractions or into the softplay area (not that kind of parents, and mostly I was visiting as an 8-15 year old) but in addition to the splash pool there was perhaps later a water slide and you always got totally drenched on the log flume. The Beast had similar monster theming to the later Nemesis while the ride itself was a similar experience to The Black Hole at Alton Towers. I also remember there was a disused ride entrance for a tunnel of love boat ride in the mountain which I never saw in operation on any of my visits but which persisted there for several years.
Interesting!
Tower of Terror was my first roller coaster
Tower of Terror was my first inversion on a rollercoaster.
Nice 😀
@@coaster_dad I realise that this really ages me! :D
The caterpillar coaster is now owned by Mitchell smith and is traveling on UK after Gulliver's replaced it with the one they have now
Ah thanks for the info 😀
Loved this video, was gutted when it closed-went there 4 times from 1986 2009!
You did miss some clips/videos which I found-should of sent you them.....🤷🏻♂
Which theme park you doing next mate?? 😀
I’ve got a poll up just now asking what people want next. I think Flamingoland is winning…
@@coaster_dad Oh ok, will have a look as didn't see your poll come up-will have a vote 😀
When you doing a video for them Q+A again?
@ planning to release next Thursday (28th). So I’ll probably film it this weekend.
Theres a POV ride of Tower of Terror if you search which is worth watching.
A few polite corrections - Dragon Flyer opened in 1986, not 1987 (RCDB is wrong), the Galleon was scrapped (the one that went to Southport came from Metroland in Gateshead, a few years before Camelot had even closed)
Ah thank you. I did find a few conflicting dates and as I mentioned some stuff just had no dates. So tricky to be 100% on this one. 🙂
Do you have an email address? I have a few bits that may be of interest to you. I see you used Coasterpedia - I added the majority of the UK rides on that site 😊
@JasonFoulkes chris@coaster-dad.com 😀
Mat of mine from high school his dad was Merlin for a few years he loved working there
Nice!
I grew up down the road from here and my cub group leader used to work on the park. It blew my tiny tiny mind when we went on a school trip and he was there.
ha ha, that's awesome
The dragon flyer.... The diesel powered coaster..... Which was the only. One in the UK and one of only 2 in the world..
There was only train to this coaster and the other train which is in Algeria actually originated in Belgium.
The engine tgat powered this tide was a ford 2ltr diesel engine with turbo charger and four speed gearbox to the drive wheels..... Had the epic chance to drive / operate this at the age of 15...... Normally not going any further than second or third gear low revs.... In fourth gear was a positive g machine!
Awesome
Hopeful get around do history of. Flambards.
Always sad to hear of a park closing 😔
I still have home videos of us at Camalot in the 80s, I should probably upload them
In my home videos that talking dragon had a different voice, sounded very camp 😅
@segacollect 😂
These parks just never evolved like the rest of the world. The truth is the UK is a poor country and the GDP they talk about isn’t in the country, it’s with the wealthy and they do not invest here. They will continue not to invest and we will see Labour make everything far worse. People seem to not understand that if you tax more, the money leaves. The only people that actually end up being taxed more are the general population. So no one has any money and we are all cheap here as a result. You go to the US and they all have so much money, they’re happy paying far more than we do and do not bat an eyelid. Universal will do well simply because it’ll bring in people who are willing to spend, but none of those people will visit any other park. The sad thing is Universal are being given all these tax breaks and infrastructure paid for by the tax payer….. Where is it for our native parks? No they’ll just go out of business.