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Isn't this Saturday Ministry Of Sound though? So the rides are usually open to guests of that between 6/7 and 10...

They opened DBGT just a few minutes before close, so kudos to them.

The minimum age to work at Chessington/ Merlin parks is 16 years old. For operators this is 18 years old. If you like Theme parks, dealing with the gp and working mostly outdoors, this may be a job worth considering. You can search for jobs on Merlin’s career website which can be found Here.

A full review will be happening once I've ridden Icon more times, but for now I'll just summarise in brief. A very fun coaster with lots of unique elements, the changes in direction are frantic at times and there is lots of airtime to be had. I found that both halves complimented each other perfectly, with one of the highlights being diving through the mist-filled tunnel (you literally can't see ANYTHING) and into the second launch. The ride ran efficiently on two trains both mornings, and I believe they will be running all three at peak times. The atmosphere in the ride station is superb with the audio blasting out, and whilst landscaping/audio installation was still taking place (as the rides doesn't officially open until Friday, this is fine), here are some photos of the decoration around the Icon area. Pleasure Beach have done a great job at styling the ride well with a fantastic entrance feature, small water feature in the rock garden, memorial posts (to those involved in the project) dotted around the layout, and the first section of the queue-line is lovely. Loads more photos can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/TheParkUpdates/ A full review will come in the next few weeks

Yep that's right for rides, although I believe it is possible to work in some other departments at 15, don't quote me on that though!

Popped in for a few hours today as I had a meeting in Heathrow that was done by 10am and I was really pleasantly surprised! At the entrance staff were doing a good job separating people with bags for security search and the new turnstiles scan passes much more quickly than the old ones. Coasters were all running two trains and Saw had plenty of cars on. Really efficient team on Swarm with no stacking going on, and Nemesis Inferno not too bad but seemed to be having a few issues with restraints. Didn't ride Colossus but this seemed to be struggling to despatch with any urgency. Two boats on Tidal Wave. Queue times were bizarre and it seemed like a lot of people in the park were going round in a huge group; at one point in the day Colossus' queue time was indicated as 50 minutes, and later on Stealth was going out with empty seats while at the same time Nemesis Inferno's queue was reaching the second cattle pen! Swarm's fire effect was going off on every other train, but sadly still no water effects. Also the new fencing in the queue line while sturdy is totally out of theme - seems they got a job lot as the same stuff is used (in different colours) at the park entrance and in a few other places around the park. Stealth's smoke effects are back but still one of the green lights is out. On Saw the indoor drop and the bit with the arrows/air blasts is in total darkness for some reason. Vortex and Samurai both closed but work visibly going on to fix both of them. Generally a really nice atmosphere on park - plenty of people around but mostly small queues and good ops and it seemed lots of people were taking the opportunity to enjoy a beer or an ice cream in the sun. On my visits to Thorpe Park this year even on quiet days it's felt like it has some life and vibrancy and that it's being run fairly creatively (events, promotions, minor refurbs etc) - so why does Alton Towers with its brand new major coaster feel like an exercise in managed decline?

I was there for a few hours this past Saturday for their late opening. Apart from some people who couldn't handle their drink (seriously? It must have cost you a fortune to get drunk at Thorpe) the atmosphere was great, queues were pretty quiet from around 2000 onwards and the staff seemed pretty happy. They are all paid by the hour I believe so they'll all get a couple of extra quid in their pocket at the end of the month. I really do see the future at Thorpe of being open longer but on fewer days. They still need to sort out ride availability though, when I arrived at around 1930 DBGT, The Walking Dead and both of the B&Ms were down. I don't think DBGT:HGVFHBGIFBIF reopened at all, the 2 B&Ms and Walking Dead did though and SWARM was flying!