Sheepie

^ I take it you're at Broadditch on the 13th, for Press Night? You're in for a treat. Heard some early reviews from Staff Preview evening about experiment 10 and they have all been tremendous and glowing. One comment described it as on "another level". Looking forward to reviews from tomorrow evening and onwards.

Actor Training at Broadditch this evening. Can't wait .

Oh and Dan, don't expect to be there for more than a couple of hours. It'll take a maximum of 3 to complete the attraction. I love the Dungeons though, not been in a while!

Sorry for the huge delay in posting reports. So many reasons why, I wish I could list them all but I'd look like a right sap. I gave up with doing a summary, though if you'd like to check out the blog, you're more than welcome to at http://cheekysheepski.wordpress.com/ :)No matter how much I re-write and analyse my thoughts when writing this review, I cannot really express what I want to say. I am truly out of my depth and at a complete crossroads in my own thoughts about the whole idea of a theme park. The truth is, Epcot is not a theme park, at least in the traditional sense. Sometimes this works in its favour, sometimes it leaves me in a complete contradiction to even my own thoughts. With that said, Epcot is a great park, literally in two halves. My favourite is the World Showcase. It would be so easy for me to sit here and review rides and attractions, but that is not what I feel is right for this park. As with every park, Epcot is home to some great experiences… and some not so great. One of the most special moments of the entire trip, in fact, was our Lunch in Mexico. After spending the morning trying out what Future World had to offer, we began our trip around the world in Mexico, with a very tasty lunch indeed. The pure magic inside the temple that represents this country is not something that can be captured on camera to do it justice. A beautiful, night-time backdrop; an erupting volcano, shooting stars and gorgeous atmosphere litter this romantic surrounding. This is where we received some of the best customer service at any of the parks. It's all theatre. Everything about how we were spoken to, how we received our food and how we were treated was all theatrical, which is no wonder how they managed to get so much money from us. They know their menu, they know their guests and they take advantage of this. This is one of the most orgasmic drinks I've ever had in my entire life. Margaritas- Mexico stylee! Served up in what can only be described as a fish bowl. We were pretty drunk by the time we emerged back into daylight. As the holiday continued, there were several points where I'd ask myself, "would this work in England?". It is very common amongst theme park enthusiasts and many Florida veterans alike, to criticise the UK for their efforts in the theme park business. Many criticisms I agree with, yet there are many which I'd like to challenge, especially after my own personal experience with British people in the States. On this occasion, with the Mexico pavilion, yet, it'd work. In fact we have many themed restaurants here in the UK, and to see this coupled with live entertainment, retail, and the whole theatricality, I could honestly see being a huge hit here in the UK. Sadly though, there are many things, due to cultural differences that would not work, as much as we'd like them to. Half-cut, we emerge back into the wet afternoon that we were treated to at Epcot. World Showcase is indeed awesome, but sadly, we were not given the weather to appreciate it as much as we would have liked. I touched on it earlier, but World Showcase truly is a romantic paradise in itself. It's so hard to describe in words, I wish I could take you with me virtually, in my mind to make you see what I'm seeing. The detail that goes into each country is phenomenal, even down to the staff; each country has staff that are of the same nationality. It's all a show. You could really spend a lot of time experiencing each country. Some have small rides, some have shows and all of them have dining and retail opportunities. Whilst that may sound boring, it is the detailed … argh… I dunno… I'll let the pictures do some of the talking… This is a couple's park. Bring them here on your honeymoon, take them for a romantic meal. Sit and chat and do the "in love" stuff in any of the countries around the gorgeous World Showcase. There are plenty of areas to explore away from the "mainstream" guest parts. Some absolute real hidden gems here. *Gushes* *Romantic music comes to a halt* Except if you have weather like this… A few final points then! I enjoyed Future World, even if some of the attractions were sub- standard, though it was just out-done by a certain other half of the park that I've been gushing about. Mission Space, I found a let-down. I found the story a bit weak which is where Disney are supposed to excel, I was disappointed. My guilty pleasure (and also favourite attraction) was Living With the Land- boat ride. I just found it so interesting and a great mix of dark ride and then out into the greenhouses. Brilliant. Universe of Energy and Captain EO? Burn them both. Shocking. Though I liked the Dinosaur dark ride bit in UOE and appreciated the technology behind it. Was nice to sit down for 45 minutes I suppose. Finally, don't go to China with a shirt, looking like this, or you'll discover you've been beaten to your desired look: Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed!

It is certainly valid feedback. But using that phone as a medium to do it may not be the best way to do it. It is likely to be a way to improve the rate at which service recovery can be provided, so there are less angry guests walking about the park, to reduce GS queues and just helps give the operations department an overall view of issues that are occurring on any particular day.It is likely a phone that a member of management has on them during the operational day. Much like the queue jumping one which I believe is is possession of whoever Rides 1 is each day.

I would not suggest that people use this number to comment on Storm Surge's themeing. Such a number exists so that people can send in any feedback that can be quickly resolved. Such as any operational issues and customer service. This is to help improve communication between guests, and park operations and in theory can improve guest satisfaction.Any comments regarding Storm Surge's themeing in this way is not helpful both to the operations department and also shows that we can't be responsible to respect the services in place to help improve the service delivery guests are receiving on park. By all means, provide feedback through the machines, through sending emails to Guest Services and any other official means, but to send to that number is not going to help anyone especially as it can't be resolved very quickly- as in the same day, which from what it seems, is what the number is intended for.

I'm with you Fred- except I have loved all of the NuWho Doctors. I like how each one is played differently, yet, it's still the same man. Each series has had good and bad episodes. I have to say though, I have yet to find an episode this series that has been totally rubbish. Yes, I even enjoyed The Curse of the Black Spot and appreciated The Almost People story. (although the latter I enjoyed possibly the least).Saturday just gone's episode is possibly one of my favourite NuWho episodes ever. From the performances to the story, to the photography. It was all so very beautiful and understated. The ending, I thought was brilliant. Go watch it if you haven't.

Indeed you are! There are plenty of 16-30 year olds who perhaps aren't the biggest fan of the mazes.I think to an average group of young adults who go to the park once or twice a year. In that group of friends, there is usually somebody who, for example, does not like a couple of the attractions. If that person who is not experiencing the attraction was still entertained then the fact that they've not been on the ride specifically does not matter as much as they've still enjoyed themselves.If the people who do not want to do the mazes can be entertained whilst they wait for their friends then they are vastly expanding the amount of people at the park who can enjoy the event. Of course, there are the rides if you're not into the mazes, but then, the example above still stands.

I just think what Universal achieve is an overall complete event, or as you say, a show. Some people are not into the intense mazes with actors jumping out at you. Universal has "scarezones" to battle this. Whilst there are still live actors, they're much more interactive and are there for a show element and are much less likely to jump out at you like they would in a maze.By doing this, they're actually expanding their audience of who can experience the event. In theory this means more people are satisfied, more people return the following year, more profit and more investment.I do enjoy Thorpe's efforts but I have seen far better, producing much higher quality results by independent events. Broadditch Farm for example, have blown me away with their passion, enthusiasm and love for Halloween. This comes through in their event.

My views on the quality of performance throughout the event depends on many factors. On one hand, you'll have actors who are returning to the event from previous years and will have an idea of what may or may not work. Whilst all actors will know their environment extremely well and will know their characters inside out; dealing with a live audience during the actual event will be quite a different experience.During this time, they'll get a feel for what gets the biggest reactions and will adapt their performance to do so. This is speaking generally, of course. These sorts of things can be very different each time you go through, depending on the group you're with and the actor themselves. Most of the actors there will try their absolute best because for many of them, it is a twisted passion to see that reaction in people and isn't just a job.

Oh bless you Adam! It's good to share happy memories though. I'm glad you did.

That is my brother thank you! But yes he is very camp, he's so cute and a future gay!

Can't fault anything have done with this attraction. In fact, I think everything they've done has not only been a fanboy's wet dream but also making the public more aware that something big is coming to Thorpe next year. Fantastic stuff. Whoever their new Marketing Director is, I want to meet them. ;)Love it all.

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread. How very exciting! I can also confirm the WWTP radio segment that mentions the aliens has been there since the ride opened. Big coincidence though.

I love Colossus. I think that after Tidal Wave, it is Thorpe's most "complete" attraction. It still has that Tussauds magic of including everyone in the excitement of the ride, whether you're queueing, or just watching the ride. It is styled perfectly, has fantastic audio (when it works) and I actually really enjoy the coaster as well.I do not enjoy the loading and unloading part, or find the trains particularly comfortable. I do not find the ride particularly rough, either. I really enjoy it.

I loved those last two videos. Your video, Optimax I thought was really good, had a lovely sombre tone to it. That Saw, On- ride video really does show how rough that ride is. I can feel my head wanting to explode just watching it.Oh and I love your beard! Lol!

Well described Jason. Here is THE Wardley talking about it, here, from 1:30:

I hope you passed on your comments to Thorpe Park themselves! They always love hearing good things.

Wearing my uncle's hat as a joke. Awesome Sea-Food restaurant in Key West. Stuffed Shrimp! <3

Magic Kingdom Trip Report! Summary:This is one of my favourite theme parks. Haunted Mansion is possibly the most complete dark ride out there.It's a bit rough around the edges in places.The Winnie The Pooh characters have some interesting connotations.Character dining is awesome.Which statue relates to which Mania Hub member? Trip Report Excerpt: Please feel free to discuss anything on here that's in the report, ask questions, do what you want. To read the full report, click the link at the top of the page. Cheers Chris. I hope you enjoy reading. I'll get round to reading everyone's trip reports eventually, including yours. I do love reading them!

1) To have a huge willy.2) To be thin.3) To Be rich.1)Be a Creative Director/ part of the creative team @ Merlin or Universal.2) To be a better conversationalist.3) Have the ability to cure physical and mental illnesses/ pain.

Hehe thanks Adam. Please don't feel as though you can't post a report either. I love reading them!

Afternoon everyone!I got back from Florida last week, after literally the holiday of a lifetime. I'm feeling it now- I came crashing back down to reality so hard due to various reasons and circumstances at home and I'm finding it really hard. It'll be a little while before I'm back on the forums properly so please be patient with me whilst I work through things.With that said, I'd like to introduce you to my trip reports! I'm going to try and do things a little differently; I'm going to post summaries on here, so for people who want to just have a brief outline, they can read on here. For those that want to know every single detail about the trip, they can click on a link to my blog and can read it in full there. This is to prevent this topic from becoming a chore for me to write in and keep it interesting to read and write. I realise not everyone enjoys reading all the gory details.Here is a bit of background info, before I go into day-by-day reports.This is my auntie and uncle who I love very much. My auntie especially, is basically an extension of me and my character. I really do love her to bits. My uncle is brilliant. They both paid for the entire holiday, which was a joint Christmas and Birthday present for my 21st... (and 22nd, 23rd, 24th... you get the picture). I have a lot to be grateful for.For those that don't know. This is me. I'm just a few sandwiches short of a picnic. This trip has really made me realise even more what audiences want from an attraction/ show and demonstrated even further that this differs from each culture. It has also made me appreciate our UK and European theme parks with a level of respect and admiration.... I'll get to that at some point, it's just trying to find the right time.I'm already thinking about the next time I go, what I'd do differently and what I'd keep the same. I came to this conclusion- it depends on who you go with. It is only really theme park nuts like us on here who would be up for doing theme parks, day in, day out for a couple of weeks. We ended up doing that this time and by the end of it, I was finding it all very monotonous and I wanted to hit people over the head with a very large, blunt instrument.If I went again, I'd spread the theme park days out a little, that way, I can appreciate each park even more, without finding the whole thing contrived and to the point where all of the parks merge into one. This is not to say I felt like this all of the time. I really do love their theme parks over there and are some of the best in the World. However, they are not perfect, just like every other theme park in the world and have areas of improvement. I'll cover that in each individual trip report.I flooded the wet room. There was no drainage.... work that one out. This was in the hotel at Gatwick airport; I love how they gave me a disabled room. They clearly knew I was coming. ;)We stayed in a very cheap and cheerful suite in Orlando. Celebration Suites, Kissimmee.This was the main reception. Around this are various "blocks" of suites. I'll be honest, they are the equivalent of a council estate flat you'd find in London. Nothing wrong with that of course, but perhaps not if you're on holiday and wanting to spend a bit of relaxation time in your apartment. However, we knew we'd only be literally sleeping there and out and about the rest of the time. To put it in perspective, we'd be having breakfast by 8:30 most days. we'd get back after an evening, have a couple of drinks and then crash out. A crash pad is all we needed. It was also cheap, I believe it was £600 for three of us for 14 nights. You get what you pay for.Denny's- where we ate breakfast. My uncle loves it there. I would have settled for some cereal at the apartment some days and I'll admit it got a bit much towards the end, however we didn't have to have loads every morning, I spose! Beyond the Denny's sign is the "Fun Spot" in Old Town, Kissimmee. They boast the World's largest "Sky Coaster" and also a collection of other Fairground type attractions.Next time, I will do only one group of theme parks, either Universal or Disney and make an excursion to Busch or Sea World. I will without doubt, do Discovery Cove again though, which was arguably one of the most special things I have ever done. I'd stay in a Villa and in between theme park days, I'd lounge about in the villa for some relaxation time, which you desperately need.I feel like I'm doing this holiday a disservice. I had such a blast on holiday and I feel like I've got to know my auntie and uncle even more. That was one of the best perks about the holiday- spending lots of time with them. I miss them.I seem to have gotten ahead of myself though, back to England....MATE: I am ready! :PSo we arrive at the Hotel in Gatwick Airport (which was very nice and included a meal within the price). We're very excited and also relieved after a stressful couple of days doing the usual routine thing you do before going on holiday. At the dinner table, it was time for our first group picture of the holiday! Funny moment- I'm watching Come Dine with me in the room and my auntie asks.... "OHHHH, is this the menu for downstairs?" I let her watch it for a few seconds and then look over to her, she's looking at me as though to tell her what's on the menu. "Ohh, is that chicken?!" Haha, bless her.Fast- forward!Breakfast at the Airport and we have an awesome view of the planes.YEAH! BA! :DI'd fly with BA again. They were a lot cheaper than Virgin and we also received better service than I did with Virgin last time. You're able to book your seats 24 hours in advance without any extra charge, so this is what we did. We managed to get exit seats, so yay for unlimited leg-room!Very tired and nervous auntie. It feels as though we blinked and we were in Orlando, drinking in a bar in Old Town. We are exhausted but also excited for what's to come... one of my favourite parks... Magic Kingdom.Magic Kingdom tomorrow.

And so it begins- the theme park forum mega catch up!