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Was back at Towers today for the afternoon, few things I noticed since the last time I went - A couple seats broken on each train, being a single rider meant I kept getting back row which was nice - Seemed to be staff training going on today but worst ops I've ever seen on Nemesis, lots of faffiing in the station. Stacking every train. Wasn't an issue as it didn't have a queue but it was noticeable - Towers seem to have implemented the headsets Thorpe have got which is good to see - unsure if this was on every coaster as didn't go on most of them but they had them on Galactica too, not on Wickerman - The new queue is a pain to walk around for re-rides - Noticed a little rattle which seemed more prominent on train 1, but not as bad as people are making out

Pacing will alter significantly as testing continues. Firstly the train literally crawled over the crest of the lift hill, in a couple of weeks it will be going significantly quicker over the top as Mack lifts are normally fast. This won’t dramatically alter the speed at the bottom (probably only a couple of mph) but that will mean a significant amount of additional kinetic energy is being carried by the train. Secondly the friction will reduce as the ride beds in and warms up so the speed will be maintained throughout the layout. This will probably mean more airtime but less hang time

Best thing about the testing was the cheers from the crowds as the train went down the first drop. The sense of community from things like this is never better then days like today.

Looks good tho

better angle courtesy of SLKSTN

it's all a bit stressful in there now

Watching it go around, it does look like it's going to be cut short at the end. It also seems much shorter than I seem to have imagined it being 😬 And that's with it going slowly! Still - what a ride. Very exciting to see it going around for the first time! The first element is taken at a good speed even this early in the testing, and the hangtime looks wild towards the end.

Not being funny but if it takes 20 minutes to get up the lift hill the queues are going to be horrendous and in my view this is just another way of Merlin exploiting fasttrack sales.

Bit slow etc. Definitely will have a lot of wasted momentum going into the final brake run by looks of it.

Hyperia has just dispatched from the station for the first time, within the last minute, and is currently at the bottom of the lift waiting to ascend. Live stream here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwCOiaDEU9c

Oooops - that was the one I was thinking off, I have removed myself from the community for not knowing Samurai as well as I assumed I did! 😃

Yes still playing the same soundtrack thankfully The one on the main arm returned last season for the first time in a very long time. Unsure why it hasn’t returned, maybe they’re looking at getting a different one with the new colour scheme

Just needs the one on the arm putting back on now, which only seems to be on 10% of the time

My first thought when it was repainted was - hope the disc comes back! Looks untidy without it.

It definitely does - I know we aren't engineers etc etc etc etc but - 39 days to go (38 days until the press event)... we'll see!

Is the soundtrack still the same? The loading and main Matrix Reloaded track. I do genuinely love that Thorpe’s rides have been playing the same music for 20+ years. The only casualty we’ve had is Detonator.

Hmm.. hopefully it’s going to be ok. They got the first train in and on the track within a couple of days so hopefully it’ll be the same for the second! the timing does feel tight on this doesn’t it 😬

Samurai looks fantastic. Hasn't looked this good since 2003. A genuine improvement for the park. Somehow the yellow disc doesn't look out of place either. 😍😍

Train 2 for Hyperia isn't yet in the country and on it's way over, according to the latest SLKSTN vid... cause for concern or is it just a case of plonking it on the track when it arrives? 😄 From the latest video - it's clear there is still a lot of groundwork to be done on areas that aren't the bit they are focusing on near the station. That bit looks good though, looks like they've put shingle down around the planting from what I can see.

Yeah it did always stylistically fit in with Lost City, I think they’re sort of trying to fit it in more with Saw now. It’s lumped together with Saw on the map and signage now. So the black is a bit more fitting. Always been an awkward junction of themes there anyway.

Looks great and glad its back open! Just rumba to go now which is testing apparently. Although it looks great/fresh, I never though Samurai looked out of place so I don't think it fits in any better than it used to, especially with Hyperia now next to it.

It does suit its original Chessington scheme much better, as much as I liked the Lost City blue on it. Funny how it now actually matches its logo.

For anyone interested/not in the know, Samurai reopened this morning. Pictures taken yesterday afternoon.

Initially guests wanted it at Helix, it got complaints that it felt unsafe. Then with Icon its because the restraints had double redundancy in case of failure, the seatbelts give it a third redundancy if something was to go wrong. Looking at a few others, Copperhead Strike opened with seatbelts (unsurprisingly, Cedar Fair after all) and DC Rivals Hypercoaster didn't, neither do the majority of the Blue Fire clones, Star Trek or Capitol Bullet Train. Merlin being Merlin, I can just see the guest perception taking precedent with Hyperia. This is the company that wouldn't batch a station at Mandrill and has ugly queue lines where every new ride has fences over 6 foot tall.

Train looks lovely. Sleek, simple, all it needed to be. Hopefully testing starts very soon.