Sheepie

I didn't really know where else to put this, found this absolutely amazing interview with John Wardley from a week ago.Talks about how he got into the business, through to the development of Chessington, to some of his best work at Alton Towers.He talks about the future, and what interesting is that he says he's working closely with B&M on a new product.Many, many more highlights of the interview. A must, must listen to anyone who's interested in the theme park industry.I love how he speaks highly of Merlin <_<EDIT- woops! forgot to add the link! Lol! Interview with John Wardley

Ditto and Ditto! Female artists are awesome, amazing voices. Omg, I haven't heard much of her music, but I think she's pretty cool. I also have a massive range of taste in music.... I think I just like music in general.

Anybody else watch the new Who episode last night?I thought it was okay until the last 15 minutes which were absolutely amazing television. Set up Tennant's last story brilliantly.

I love how retro it is!

The first few bits are definately identical, it does seem different about halfway through though. I much prefer Alton's though, it does feel very different to Chessie's especially if they are identical designs.Those spider crabs though. No, no nonoooooo. I can't go near the things.

Bumping this topic back from the dead, James6 actually gave me the inspiration to come and look at this topic again. I love photography yet I don't my own camera unfortunately.Here are a few of my faves that I've taken at parks....

Just a quick one, but those wondering whether Kobra will have an express queue.... well, it will. There's an EXP queueline on the plans.

It's a difficult one to answer.For me, the best overall ride experience, from queue line, to ride, was Expedition Everest. That had to be the most immersive environments on any ride I've been on. You're there in the story and it's just fantastic.Manta was also a fave of mine. Probably the best coaster I went on out there.There are so many attractions that appeal to different people. Tower of Terror is another one of those rides where you're just immersed completely.In terms of water rides, my favourite was out of Splash Mountain and Bilge Rat Barges. The latter being amazing if you just wanna get drenched.

Did anyone here that went to Scarefest, go and check out Hex: Live?There area a few reviews on other forums. It was organised by the Cloud Cuckoo Land staff and only ran on the 31st and the 1st. Basically it sounds as though the attraction was filled with actors, especially the Octagon room to the vault. An actor replaced the announcements in the vault- the ride then carried on as normal.Hopefully due to its sucess it'll be back in full force next year.

Fantastic season. Well done to everyone for their hard work. It's a fun job, monotonous, tiring and frustrating all at the same time. What makes it though, are the friendships you make. The socials, the nights out... makes everything worth while.Thanks everyone.Bring on 2010.

That queue you see at the exit for Vampire is a mix of disabled groups, and exit passes (but mostly disabled groups). Those not familiar with the system- it works through a type of virtual queueing system, where they have to wait the stated queue time for that ride, until they can do another main ride.So for example, say the time was 12pm, and Vampire had a 45 minute queue, the disabled group wouldn't be able to do another main ride until 12:45.

Regarding Rameses' fountains. Some operators get people wet, some don't. Nobody has been officially told to not get people wet, although it's only a matter of time before the rule comes into action after someone ruins it for everyone. Same happened last year, all was going well until some people go to guest services and complain.You'll be surprised at what people will complain at.... too wet, not wet enough... you just can't please everyone. And people are very stupid sometimes, you'll be surprised at the amount of people who are shocked that the ride has water fountains when they get on the ride, even after watching it for 20 minutes.Regarding queue times, expect it to be heaving, over 60 minutes for main attractions. The old school extended queueline was opened at Rattlesnake today, first time this season! Chessie has been getting higer gate figures than Thorpe Park, the past few days.

Thanks Aero.The trouble is, he lives seriously far, I'm talking, what, 6 hours by car! And this is the reason why I'm seriously annoyed with myself; to even begin to like someone who lives that far away is just silly for me.I've decided that the feelings are always going to be there and our relationship will always be somewhere between friendship and something else. It just makes it worse because I know he feels the same way. However, life goes on, I've dealt with much worse in my life so I'm just going to deal with it.Thanks again, Aero.

I decided that I'm pretty annoyed at myself tonight. Been mates with someone for a while, started messaging each other on a Towers forum over two years ago but I would say been speaking to each other properly a year. Now I've never met this person, we've only really spoken over internet/ phone.Now tonight I realized he reminds me of someone, someone I used to actually love to bits, but no longer speak to, And I'm torturing myself now because it's pretty obvious to myself that I really like this person. I've made myself angry because it goes against everything I feel really- yet here I am finding myself in the same position I was with someone a couple of years ago.The thing is I know he likes me too but things are a bit complicated. The thing is now, it's going to make our friendship awkward; whenever we speak we're going to know that we both want more. As afterall, friends are fantastic, but sometimes you just need the bit extra.

Only reccently have I noticed just how detailed the bathroom scene is. It was only when I decided to look sideways during the heartline that I noticed all the urinals, bath tiles and general grime of that scene. It's a shame that you're going through an inversion during that part of the ride as you don't really get to benefit from the scenery being there.Also poor use of lighting in the Sirynge and Crossbow scene take away any drama that the scene may have had in theory. It also helps when the effects are in synch with the ride cars

Just wanna point out, when I went yesterday, none of the mist effects were working. It simply looked like they hadn't bothered to turn them on.

Nope! :)I do enjoy Hocus Pocus, although I think it's about time they added something a bit different, atm it's just all recycled year after year, with hardly any expansion or improvements.I do really love the atmosphere out on park though, feels much more a complete event than Fright Nights, which are all about the mazes.

The Black Forest Haunt isn't going to be a maze, it's going to be on the same level as Haunted Hollow- Live, which was more just a bit of fun, and that's what it's designed for.

Maybe, but I hope not. I'd rather not see a good chunk of the budget being spent on contractual rights for some movie. I'd much rather see Alton come up with their own storyline and general theme. The results will be much more satisfying with the money going into the new developments and not elsewhere.

I'd just like to add a few observations. You look at the whole thing, and it's a reflection of someone's eye. So that's what that person is seeing. Awesome.Also if you covered the whites of the eye, so the Iris and pupil are showing, it looks like that hand (somewhat claw- like) is reaching out for the moon- the pupil showing a black adaptation of a moon.Now, could we be seeing some sort of beast? Evidence to support this comes from one of the first promo images where we see that werewoolf howling at the moon. The eye also looks to represent the same sort of change we're used to in films when a human becomes "possessed".But maybe I'm looking too much into things.

OOOOOFFFFFT!Promo art for SW6 found on park and on Alton website. Saw, Thorpe, eat your heart out!

Yeah forgot to add that the station was rammed yet the music was still at a great volume.

Interesting...The music in the Vampire station today was at a fantastic volume- much, much louder. Also the lights around the Organist look less like a disco and are now all green, looks absolutely fantastic.Certainly not perfect with the operator cutting the ambience with Health and Safety announcements, but definately a massive improvement.

The one called James

Remember though, one of Chessington's main aims is to make a profit. Having just those rides open would probably cost them more to pay out for staffing than to keep them open. Let's not forget that Chessington is a business.