Leaderboard

It's official - 2018 was the tightest year yet! Some spectacularly close fought contests were had, and there's even a TPM first. But more on that later... For now, the winners... PARK AWARDS Best UK Park 1) Alton Towers (13) 2) Blackpool Pleasure Beach (6) 3) Thorpe Park (3) Best UK Coaster 1) Nemesis (7) 2) Icon (4) 3) Stealth (3) Best UK Flat 1) Rush (8) 2) Detonator (5) 3) Samurai (4) Best UK Water Ride 1) Valhalla (12) 2) Tidal Wave (6) 3) Tiger Rock (3) Best UK Dark Ride 1) Hex (13) 2) Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon (3) 3) Duel (2) Worst UK Ride 1) Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon (13) 2) Hero (3) 3) Storm Surge (2) Best International Park 1) Europa Park (8) 2) Phantasialand (5) 3) Cedar Point (4) Best International Coaster 1) Steel Vengeance (5) =2) Taron, Helix & Shambhala (3) Best New-for-2018 Attraction 1) Wicker Man (9) 2) Icon (5) 3) Steel Vengeance (4) Most Disappointing Merlin Moment 2018 1) Fright Nights; specific mentions included Vulcan Peak (10) 2) 'Everything' or words to that effect (4) 3) Alton Towers' infamous "It's better than nothing" tweet (3) Best-Looking New-for-2019 Attraction 1) FLY/Rookburgh, Phantasialand (5) 2) Untamed, Walibi Holland (4) =3) Rulantica, Europa Park & Taiga, Linnanmäki (3) Best Manufacturer 1) Mack (8) 2) B&M (5) 3) RMC (4) MEMBER AWARDS Best Member 1) @JoshC. 2) @Mattgwise 3) @Cedar Creek Best Team Member 1) @Marc 2) @Mattgwise 3) @JoshC. Best Quality Posts 1) @Wumbamillio 2) @Coaster 3) 4 runners-up (see below) Most Knowledgeable =1) @Wumbamillio & @JoshC. 2) @Coaster 3) @Benin Most Dedicated 1) @Cedar Creek 2) @JoshC. 3) @Mattgwise Most Sarcastic 1) @Benin 2) @Cedar Creek 3) @Coaster Most Likely to be Banned in 2019 1) @MarkC 2) @Coaster 3) Thorpe Park's Twitter Page Funniest Member =1) @Martin Doyle & @MattyMoo 2) @Benin 3) @pluk Biggest Fanboy 1) @Cedar Creek 2) @Marhelorpe 3) @Marc Sexiest Male 1) @Cedar Creek 2) @Ryan 3) @Martin Doyle Sexiest Female 1) @terrortomb 2) @jessica2 3) @Cedar Creek Storm Surge Award 1) @Ivsetti 2) @Cedar Creek 3) @Coaster Member You'd Like to See More Of 1) @Coaster 2) @BenC 3) @pluk Congratulations winners! This year was one of the tightest yet, so wear your victories with pride! As for the six-way ties, these will be decided by a...*cue dramatic X Factor music*...public vote. Head over to this thread and cast your! The nominees are... Best Member @Cedar Creek, @Coaster, @JoshC., @Martin Doyle, @Mattgwise and @pluk Best Quality Posts @Cedar Creek, @Coaster, @JoshC., @Marhelorpe, @pluk and @Wumbamillio The votes will be open until Thursday, 23.59, when hopefully a winner will be decided! These votes are anonymous, but you can see how many people have voted for a particular person at any given time. In the nature of good sportsmanship, nominees - don't vote for yourself! Happy voting all!

Hello TPM peeps, Please find below a provisional plan for the year ahead. Dates are provisional until I confirm in the individual topics Sunday 3rd Feb - Bowling and meal (other ideas welcome) Saturday 30th March - Thorpe Park opening meet Friday 5th to Sunday 7th April - Blackpool meet Saturday 18th May - Chessington meet Saturday 29th to Sunday 30th June - Alton Towers meet (likely to go up Fri evening) Friday 2nd August to Monday 5th Aug - Phantasialand international meet (2 days - Sat and Sun) Saturday 12th October - Thorpe Park FN December (Date TBC) - London attractions/Winter Wonderland I might look at adding a few smaller parks in at random weekends across the year as well. Any thoughts/opinions/ideas are welcome.

-in relation to the dates for the Phantasialand trip- Its better than nothing!!

LESS THAN 24 HOURS TO VOTE. If you don't vote, the results will be worse than Brexit. SO go on, vote.

It's my favourite park I've been to personally. I was won over when I got there as it's more than the sum of its parts. The rides are good but it's really the combination of fun, charming aesthetics and a lovely atmosphere. Where Thorpe is big on rides but small on everything else in between, Efteling has it nailed it where Thorpe fails. It's just so nice to just BE in. Even on the rides, I find rides like Joris en de Draak more thrilling than most rides at Thorpe. It's got more of a kick than I expected. Air time galore! Baron is also great and Symbolica is one of the best dark rides I've been on.

Just got back from the Efteling/Netherlands and definitely struggled to leave (quite literally because our flights back got cancelled and had to be rescheduled). Key points from the park: Park was decorated with lots of little Christmas decorations, from a Vogel Rock Santa hat to several trees and ornaments in the main path Warm fires and numerous entertainers were scattered throughout the park, including a choir and Live musicians A large tent (with bar and ice rink) and a small Ferris wheel comprised of additional attractions, Park was lively on the weekends but literally dead in the week, with queues rarely excieeding 20 minutes (even on Symbolica) Bob Saw some of the longer queues in the park (probably because it’s getting demolished and has a low throughput) Villa Volta featured an ‘impressive’ projection mapping show on it’s facade at night (although riders had to use an alternative exit) Vogel Rock’s audio was ‘experiencing’ some major difficulties, on one train the music didn’t ‘synchronise’ properly whilst on another the music wasn’t working at all Dutchman and Pirana remained closed during the trip due to maintenance Apart from Baron, you have to take your bags on all the rides now Python is now incredibly smooth since it’s retracking It also snowed on our third (and what should’ve been our final) day, making it the ‘true’ Winter Efteling Park looked beautiful as always at night. The park’s dark rides as always were simply beautiful (Carnaval maybe less-so). From the magnificent set pieces of Droomvlucht, atmosphere of Fata, Villa’s effects and the ‘sheer perfection’ of Symbolica. A similar ride system at Phantasialand would make a perfect replacement for Geister Riksha (assuming it’s getting ripped out next year). The Coasters in general are fun and highly enjoyable all around. Baron compensates it’s small drop and layout which immense details and story telling (which makes it one of the better coaster out there), Joris is great and throws a trick or two. Bob for me is probably the weakest coaster, but is still fun and will be missed.