Dan9

Opened for an hour, stuck at the bottom of lift two, evac still in process. Rita yet to open today, Nemesis on 1 train... good times Towers.

Alton Towers ‏@altontowers20h The Smiler queue line will be open tomorrow from 9.30am, the queue will close at 12noon for planned maintenance.

It's not the floodlights, they appear in all sorts of places like the path leading into the staff car park, the bridge normally has loads near the end of the day too (even when the lights aren't on). Not really sure why it's now that suddenly there's a massive gathering!

There'll be an Annual Pass evening yes. But make sure you don't turn up expecting to go to the event named 'Fight Nights' or you might be disappointed...

Eh? Thorpe's attendance fell because The Swarm wasn't intense? Well firstly you disregarded my point about it being the job of the marketing team to bring in customers when there's a new attraction, not B&M's. Why would the fall in attendance be the fault of a ride the majority of their guests every day haven't been on yet? You then seem to assume your own opinion is the opinion of the public. It isn't. For example I don't like Saw but most of the public enjoy it. As I said before, The Swarm is received very well by the majority of those who ride it, regardless of what you think of its intensity. Also the fact that the park's having such a good follow up year (as well as it getting better as a park anyway) suggests The Swarm has a good reputation anyway. People are coming back, more so than last year. It didn't have the instant appeal like Stealth or Saw had and as Benin said, had to deal with difficult circumstances, but in the longer run it's turning out to be just as smart an installation. (anyway, for me The Swarm is the most intense coaster in the park, and the only ride I've ever been on to make me greyout. A lot... clearly new B&M's can't be that forceless then...)

Oh I agree, I've very much enjoyed what Merlin have done with both The Swarm and The Smiler from a marketing and creative point of view. I'm simply suggesting that you can't blame the manufacturer for a park underperforming in a coaster's first year when the public don't know anything about the ride beforehand, that's the job of marketing. As it is, there are many other reasons why Thorpe (and many other Merlin parks) didn't have a great 2012. This year Thorpe have been on much better form and yes, I can confidenty say The Swarm is a very well received ride from the vast majority of the public.

Why would The Swarm be considered a failure after the park's success this season? And even if they did consider it to be a failure (it isn't), why would that be B&M's fault as opposed to their own marketing team?

All Fright Nights dates are officially now 10-10pm, and the season has been extended a day to Tuesday 5th November.

Don't even...

Can you please explain your point further, I'm really not sure what you're trying to get at? Both involved extensive land work, both had buildings constructed, theming props made/bought... all of those costs varied with the two rides and evidently The Swarm ended up being £2 million (if those figures are correct) more expensive, not too much when you think about the scale of the projects. B&M's cost more too...

EC as much as I understand your loyalty to Oakwood, I can't believe that it isn't silly for them to not be able to get one of their most major rides ready until four (?) hours after opening every day. A decent amount of people will go on Tidal Wave from around 11am every day so I doubt there's a complete lack of demand, especially in the summer. If they are that worried about the ride's safety that they need to do hours upon hours of safety checks for half the day then why do they run it in the first place?

Seems I'm way geekier than I thought. Massive thanks/round of applause to Sidders for taking the time to put this together and of course everyone who took part; great to see the quiz turned out so successfully!

Don't be aggressive with your opinions in the first place then...

Tidal Wave is considerably more themed than Saw, something I'd thought was pretty clear. I'd personally give the edge to Nemesis Inferno over it as well, it's just a shame it's effects are less reliable as when they're all working the volcano effect really is impressive (the queueline misters ) As for the ride, I agree that not literally every ride I have is rough, but the vast majority feel like it's trying to cut my neck off, and not in an enjoyably immersive "oh I'm on a Saw themed ride" kind of way. A big problem for it for me is that even when it isn't like that, the layout itself is dull and feels awkward.

Respect for Minnie.

The Swarm is intense... gave me my first greyout last month and since then it's happened on all of my last five rides, the main intense spot being the helicopter turnaround and going into the corkscrew. Only ride so far to do so!

Speaking of buses, the 950 is not on top form today. Was stood in the full cattlepen bus queue, with it spilling all the way back into the main entrance plaza, and 40 minutes passed without a single bus leaving or entering the park. Nothing to be seen. In August, on a 10k+ day, 5 minutes after closing time, in 30 degree heat. Slightly uncomfortable... especially when you know even after you get on the bus with no air con, you'll be in gridlock just trying to get out the car park anyway. They need to sort out their entrance sooner rather than later.

As far as I'm aware RCDB only deals in 'official' announcements, and it's rare that the official announcement is the first time people become aware of the new ride. We knew Thorpe would be getting a wingrider before 'The Swarm' announcement was made, for example. In this case the environmental impact study published last August suggested it was a wingrider, and track at the B&M plant known to be wingrider had been arriving at Heide Park from the start of June. (from Heide-Park-Forum and Screamscape)

Duel is great though; that, Nemesis and Runaway are more than enough to keep me occupied!

Banned because Disney elitism makes me sad

But that's the same with pretty much all other theme parks... (except maybe Europa Park, who seem to be only top notch all the time)

How do you manage to predict how your day's going to go at other theme parks? I'm not sure I understand your point at all. Your experience of a day is affected by an enormous variety of things, I really don't think Thorpe is the main conductor in that, that's just sort of how life operates... From what I've seen so far it seems to be a satisfying event for the guests who go, it's just that Thorpe themselves haven't quite figured out the most efficient way of running it.

Can't be at the live since I'll be at Summer Nights sadly. But surely with the scoring system, everyone will look for the most obscure and it could end up that the most obvious answers score really well?

And you forgot Comet and the Superdooperlooper

Just so you know... the quiz hasn't started yet.