The C. View

I actually disagree with a part of this. Back in 1995 Thorpe was competing with Chessington who had not only just opened Rameses Revenge to great acclaim, they also had Legoland opening down the road which would take a significant amount of people away from visiting Thorpe. The park obviously saw the success of thrill seeking rides such as Nemesis and Rameses and decided to test the waters with this route. Enthusiasts don't forget this as such, they just see it as No Way out being a complete failure in advertising and as a ride concept in general. It was too scary for kids and not scary enough for adults. It lies in that dangerous middle ground of not knowing who its target audience is and throughout the noughties, was being pinched and pushed in a number of random directions.

I don't like the fact that you have to queue in that stupid garden area- it's not a proper queue line and they should let you queue inside the pyramid instead!Also X is being turned forwards so will no longer remain worlds first backwards in the dark rollercoaster!Does anyone know why it is 'x:/' is it meant to be a nervous face or something?

I actually disagree with a part of this. Back in 1995 Thorpe was competing with Chessington who had not only just opened Rameses Revenge to great acclaim, they also had Legoland opening down the road which would take a significant amount of people away from visiting Thorpe. The park obviously saw the success of thrill seeking rides such as Nemesis and Rameses and decided to test the waters with this route. Enthusiasts don't forget this as such, they just see it as No Way out being a complete failure in advertising and as a ride concept in general. It was too scary for kids and not scary enough for adults. It lies in that dangerous middle ground of not knowing who its target audience is and throughout the noughties, was being pinched and pushed in a number of random directions.

I'm a bit confused here Mark - what do you disagree with? Yep, 1995 they were competiting with Chessington, and the opening of Legoland drew ever nearer. The park was still a completely different place, and no doubt a thrill ride was thought as a natural step for a family park, especially when you look at the succusses of others, like you say. But still, I think X was never meant to be this scary thrill ride - at the time, the park had Calgary Stampede for thrill rides. But they needed something big, a centre point, and whilst it was designed to target the older audiences, it could never have been a proper thrill ride of a coaster; it wasn't the sort of park to install such a thing.

I completely agree with the incorrect advertising in recent years, as whilse the park developed and installed 'real' thrill rides, X seemingly remained as a 'big boy'; just one who was wearing shoes a couple of sizes too big. In the past 2-3 years, the pinching and pushing you speak of has been blindingly obvious, and hopefully we can finally see X find its place at the park.

I don't like the fact that you have to queue in that stupid garden area- it's not a proper queue line and they should let you queue inside the pyramid instead! Also X is being turned forwards so will no longer remain worlds first backwards in the dark rollercoaster! Does anyone know why it is 'x:/' is it meant to be a nervous face or something?

I have mixed opinions on queueing outside. The queueing outside keeps the mystery for longer I think. But at the same time, it builds suspense, creating a fear of the unknown to those who don't know what to expect inside, which is not what should happen with X - it is not a ride to be feared any more. That's why X needs an upbeat theme - adding a scary / dark theme makes people expect a scary ride, and X is anything but scary. I guess that H&S stop there being too many people queueing inside, but I think depending on how any possible retheme works out, the outside queueing section could be made to 'fit in' better.

As for the possibility of it being turned forwards (I know it's pretty much all but officially confirmed that it will turn forwards, but I'm not going to say it will be till it's confirmed..), that doesn't take away from the fact it was the the world's first backwards in the dark coaster. Colossus is still the first 10 looping coaster, despite there be other 10 looping coasters, and an 11 looping coaster opening this year. It would just so happen it is now facing forward. As for the 'X:' (it's a bakslash, not a forward one! ) part of the name, I believe that was due to the original theme of the ride, a computer virus, as it is computer-related.

I've always thought that X:/No Way Out is a good ride - it's just a shame that the theming has been left to rot in places.

Hopefully something will be done with it for 2013 - but I wouldn't want to see it going forwards!

Great entry btw

I agree about the forwards bit; the backwardsness of the ride is what helps make the ride so random. Turning it forwards could well make the random less random and, instead, further highlight the weak layout that X has.

And thanks!