Marc

I do agree Storm Surge's appearance could be improved with just some small low cost works. Id like to see the leaks fixed / the spin pads back on. More planting under the ride and supports painted would also improve it. I also think would look good if the concrete trough was painted blue like Tidals.

Well thats gone quick hasn't it! The weather sucks, its dark already and the parks are closed.. that can only mean one thing... its time for the 2013 Thorpe Park Mania awards... and after getting accused of doing nothing round here I thought its time I better do something! After the success of last years we will keep much the same format for this years Awards, we are also working on a fancy new system which will make sure people can treasure their awards for ever in their profiles, for the member awards we will also give you some nice certificates! So here we go! The Park Awards: The first round 'comprises' of the Park Awards. The park with the most votes in each category wins. Below are the 'selected' categories for 2012: Best UK Park Best(-Looking) International Park* Best UK Coaster Best(-Looking) International Coaster* Best UK Flat Ride Best UK Water Ride Best UK Dark Ride Best New Attraction for 2013^ Best Themed UK Experience Best Themed International Experience Worst UK Ride" Most Uncomfortable Ride" Most Disappointing Merlin Moment in 2013+ Biggest Thorpe Cock-Up+ Best-Looking New Attraction for 2014 Best Manufacturer (*) These categories are still very much open to everyone but we realise that some members may not have ridden many international coasters or been to many international parks. If this is the case for you, feel free to vote for a park you would love to visit or a coaster you would love to ride, even if you haven't been to/ridden them. (^) This attraction will have to have opened at an established park for the start of the 2013 theme park season. It does not have to be UK-exclusive; any new addition for the 2013 season in any country can be nominated. (") These nominees can be pretty much any attraction you might find a queue for in a theme park, in the respective countries of the category titles. (+) These categories are open. Basically that means you can vote for pretty much anything that has pissed you off about Merlin parks during 2013, I'm sure some of you will find lots so vote for one that has particularly grated your cheese this year. The Forum Awards: Best Member Best Administrator Best Moderator Most Knowledgeable Member Campest Member Funniest Male Funniest Female Biggest Fanboy Biggest Fangirl Sexiest Male Sexiest Female Best New Member^ Best Quality Posts Most Dedicated Most Sarcastic Member Best TPM Meet" Storm Surge Award+ Most Likely To Be Banned In 2014 (^) This nominee needs to have signed up after January 1st, 2013. Obviously, but you'd be surprised how many people forgot this last year... Heres a link so no excuses!! (") Please keep to official meets! - Id list them all.. but you should remember your favourite one anyway!! (+) Vote for the member who you think reminds you of Storm Surge or should be awarded a Storm Surge for their efforts in constantly dripping water all over on strangers TPM/in life. Important: Should you wish to vote, copy and paste the above lists and clearly denote which park/member etc. you nominate for each category. Once I have your votes, I will PM you confirmation of receiving them. If there is a problem in understanding your votes, I'll PM you back saying so. You can then sort any problems and re-send them back to me, with any other changes in votes you wish to make. Please make sure your votes are final, as once they are received and there is no issue with them, they will be final! You do not need to vote for every category. Should you wish to withdraw yourself from voting in a certain category, simply leave it blank and don't be confusing. This topic will close at 20:00 (8pm) on December 20th, 2013. This gives you 20 days to vote, so no excuses. Any votes received after this time on December 20th, 2013 will not be counted. The details set out at the bottom of each category list is final. The categories listed above are not for further negotiation. Further Information: All votes will be kept confidential. You are not allowed to vote for yourself in any of the Forum Awards categories. Each vote will count for one point for each nominee for each category and ill be 'totted up' 'cumulatively'. So there it is, get going and PM me your votes!!

Furios Baco at PA - I'm not sure if it was I was terrified of what was about to happen but the Launch on that thing was incredible and scared me every time - well worth the head banging after for me!

I'm with you, the one they use now / pre 2007 is much better and fits in way more than the one they had on it for a couple of years in 2007 IMO

TBH, nowadays contacting a company through Facebook / Twitter is the best way IMO, especially with a complaint as things seem to be dealt with much more quickly / properly when its for all to see.

http://thorpeparkmania.co.uk/news/26-11-2013/Closed-Season-November-2013 Closed season update from the park here. Please avoid taking these pictures / uploading them to your own twitter / FB Enjoy!

As I've said please PM me with the details I posted above!

Drop me a PM with a date you would like to do it, which ride and a name / contact email

The dates up to you - Excluding Fright Nights and any day closing after 6pm.

In response to some of the questions: Photos are fine on the lift hill walk but will be limited in some of the backstage areas, such as the Engineering areas. As for dates - The park are looking into the possibility of arranging something before the park opens for the season but we cant confirm this yet. You can take advantage of this offer now and redeem this next season on any date you would like, exceptions include Fright Nights and any other dates the park closes after 6pm. Please PM me to register interest. Thanks Marc

Have passed on your questions to the park and will reply here when have the responses

Hi all With thanks to THORPE PARK we are delighted to announce we are able to offer our TPM Members a special a 2 for 1 deal on Thorpe Parks all new VIP packages! For a special price of just £50 members will get both a Lift Hill walk on a choice of either The Swarm, Nemesis Inferno or Colossus (Subject to availability!) along with a Backstage Tour of the park giving an opportunity to see how it all happens, saving you £50! As you can see from the images, you get some good views across the park! Spaces are limited - so if you are interested please contact me as soon as possible. Thanks Marc

I think thoroe have significantly improved now tbh. Apart from the odd couple most of Thorpes rides are at their most reliable points now and work quite reliably. Swarms still yet to have a entire day closed which b&m or not is pretty impressive imo!

Fair enough , but dan is right the site has shown Alton rides do seem to be mis behaving a little more recently, that or they always have just didn't have a site which showed it quite so clearly

That's nothing on things like stealth back in the day

I don't think smiler / thirteen have been down since 3/4 pm for fireworks

Ritas down now too.... And people say thorpe has reliability issues...

http://www.thorpepark.com/plan-your-visit/opening-times.aspx Open times for next year are now out. Much the same as this years.

Wonder how many times this has been posted in this topic this year

Realistic things id like to see: Entrance spruced up - I doubt we will see a massive amount of money here but maybe enough to make improve the presentation (remove them metal barriers!), electronic ticket machines too, they like to close a lot of booths during the day and you can be queueing up to 30/40 mins to even get a ticket. Along with the return of the original Entrance / Bridge theme - If they are going more family they should bring back themed music imo, theme parks should be about escaping the real world, no problem with it on special events etc though. Audio - A lot has been fixed this year but still a few bits to sort, would be great if they could get park wide audio back to working as it should. Park signage - I know its a small park but people do get lost, would be nice to see some signage across the park pointing towards areas / rides (Also replace that Stealth entrance sign!)

There was a few bits of theming added later on with body boxes / mannequins scattered across the park along with plenty of smoke which was good. I do agree would be nice to see more, but I'm not too sure what they could do park wide which both fits in with the Movie Studio theme they are going for and dont cost a bomb.

Anyone remember back in 2007 I think it was when thorpe released their open times and they were open through November / December / January 12 -9pm on weekends and some weekdays. That would be interesting, they've clearly given it some thought in the past!

I noticed some new theming has been added to the fire truck behind depth charge - blue flashing lights are now on there with some sound effects, looks much better!

To be fair they wasn't ,but then they are very good at making sure fastrack queues are low. we queued from the door in smilers fastrack and they just let us all through till fastrack was clear. Good for fastrack people not so much for those in queue, especially on 3 trains!

Merlin* Thirteen was on 2 trains and advertised at 120 min queue, Smiler was running 3 trains with an advertised 110 min queue, could buy fastrack on both with no issue.