Marc

Why would I need to read this?I dont go to any park car park and stare at the park, if I'm there, there is a reason for it.

Couple of bits!We welcome Michaela to the team, she will be helping out around the forums and TPM in general!We also now have a chatroom, just select it from the top, the rooms always open, we will look at holding scheduled weekly chats in the near future =]

What Date: Sunday 6th February 2011What Time: 13:00Where At: Guildford SpectrumWhere We Going To Meet: Outside the main entranceIts been a while since we all got together, so why not join us at the Guildford Spectrum for a day of fun and then a meal out in Guildford in the evening! The plan is to meet at the Spectrum around 13:00, from there we will go and have a couple of games of bowling and then some disco ice skating after! Once weve finished up at the spectrum we can take a vote and finish off the day with a meal in Guildford. (You can change your option later just by clicking a different button)The meets are always great fun and a great way to meet the people behind the screen, plus you can make some amazing friends. I would like to get as many of us there together as possible to kick off the new year in style.Confirmed as Attendinghttp://forum.maniahub.com/meets/confirmed.php?meet_id=060211 Maybe Attendinghttp://forum.maniahub.com/meets/possibly.php?meet_id=060211 Costs:Skating (16+): £5.60(Under 16): £5.00Skate hire: £1.60BowlingAdults: £5.50 per gameJuniors: £5.20 per game(Shoe hire included)See you There!

Lets stay on the topic of Slammer please.. xD

Indeed, can we keep on topic please guys =]

It wasnt working / turned on on the friends and family day.

Yep, this is what was said at Behind the Loops

Hi guys,From me and the rest of the team, we would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas, and a happy new year!Enjoy!

Id feel safer in Slough than I would Hounslow thats for sure!

1 its easier for you to get to central from hounslow.2 Hounslow is possibly the worse place in the south of england, why would anyone go there out of choice anyway?

Tell me, how can someones opinion on something which THEY like, can it be wrong?Its more respect than anything..

Agreed.. Please try to respect others opinions, they may be different to yours but that dont make them any less valid.If everyone was the same the world would be a pretty boring place!

I dont really get this comment, the UK parks all do very well?

This is just the Project Name, not officially advertising or anything what would really interest people apart from fans of the park!

Oh of course, but I doubt they would risk looking silly and potentially alot of money if they were not pretty confident of it going ahead

Happens with most rides does it not? Storm Surge rings a bell, Stealth. I guess theres no real reason for it to be refused.

http://thorpeparkmania.co.uk/news/17-12-2010/LC12Very interesting.. Let the speculation start here!

Them 3d renderings are nice though, good work!

Theyve released a few more details now..If your renewing a 2010 Standard AP to a 2011 Standard AP it will cost £108 (No free parking / entry to Lego after 2pm in august)If your renewing a 2010 Standard AP to a 2011 PREMIUM AP it will cost £129.60 (No restrictions atall)If your renewing a 2010 Premium AP to a 2011 Premium AP it will cost £129.60If your using Tesco clubcard vouchers, you can upgrade to a premium pass for just £30, all standard pass holders can upgrade to a premium for just £30 after 4th jan.. They only released the renewal prices within the last hour...the moanings been going on alot longer than that!

Agreed, I do wonder if people would have taken a "new" unlimited / unrestricted pass at £175 being the only option better than the news of the loss of perks on the standard one but I guess we will never know.. Agree to a degree, but even enthusiasts, you cant just "pop" abroad like you can with the merlin parks, espically if you live around the southern area and the pass will still offer the flexibility it allways has, even with the standard pass, £5 on food, £5 (max) on parking isnt a majorly expensive day out. I would be very surprised if guest numbers are majorly effected by it..

But the reason they sold badly was because they didnt offer enough over the standard one surely? When I considered it at the start of this year weighing up the options, the Premium just wasnt worth it even with having to pay for fright nights and losing London in summer, I couldn't justify it and I'm guessing the vast majority were in the same position. It was inevitable to make the Premium annual pass a more premium product the standard one would lose benefits from it. I can eventually see the standard annual pass being phased out more and more, and the premium one becoming the standard at the higher price... back where we were a few years ago basically at a higher price.

I agree with that, it dont look great on their facebook page and should have said something sooner, but now they have I dont think the deal is as bad as it seemed when this was first announced with people jumping to all sorts of conclusions. I cant remember the last time when enthusiast groups didnt moan about somthing which either Merlin have done or one of their Theme Parks over the years, no one likes price increases, my self included but everything in life only goes up and I dont see why theme parks would be expected to be any different, with a on the day ticket for that parks around the £40 mark, £175 for a years worth of unrestricted unlimited entry dont sound that bad..The premium pass is now effectively what the annual pass was back in 2003/4 etc, the standards a cut down version. For the small difference in price I suspect most will now opt for the premium.

I think the facebook page has got abit silly now, people are moaning about all sorts and seems people on there expect there to be a deal suited to their needs only.As Mark said its a effectively £25 price increase, you only need to use your pass once more for it to be worth it... and well if you dont like it, Merlin are not forcing you to renew.

I'm not really surprised, I did consider a premium pass last year but it really didnt offer much atall over the standard, london not being a huge deal to me and fright nights id of had to visit over 20 times to make it work out better value so it just wasnt worth it.With the car parking now free for premium and it going down in price its a much more attractive option, I'm wondering how much it will cost to renew my standard and upgrade it to a premium at the same time.I'd personally rather they scrapped the Standard / Premium stuff and had one bog standard annual pass which offers everything with no restrictions, at £175 thats only £25 more than a standard this year IMO they could easily get away with that. I guess this all goes back to the questionare sent out by merlin a few winters ago asking our opinions on the pass/ perks/ restrictions and how we would rather they were.

Merlin have posted this on their facebook. Prices down for both passes, premium pass has free parking no restrictions. Premium it is!