Mer

That's a shame - Matt Creek on ice would've been entertaining!

I have two questions about this before I take over next week... 1) First song ever bought - can the song be literally anything? I honeslty can't remember what the first song I bought was, I only ever had compilation CDs (or recorded stuff off the radio onto tapes, woop!) and even those were usually Christmas/birthday presents! The first thing I'm 100% certain I brought was a John Williams film soundtrack... 2) Hottest record in the world right now - I'm not sure what this even means I'm assuming it's a recent song that you like?

Space Mountain was my first ride at Disney and I will never forget my reaction when I came off! However, I personally prefer Big Thunder Mountain, it feels more "Disney" and more magical than Space Mountain. If I had to choose what one to miss out on, I would say Space Mountain (although it is a great ride!) Also, let's not forget Pirates of the Caribbean. Just...I could have cried I was so amazed by it all I swear there's always going to be something closed whenever you go. POTC was meant to be closed when I went, then it was swapped with Phantom Manor! And we didn't get to do Peter Pan's Flight as it was broken

As much as I don't like to see the park fined, I can't help but feel disappointed with them for letting the fence rot like that, it's not exactly acceptable. It's all very well saying kids etc might have kicked it - fence panels shouldn't just come loose from kids kicking them! They should be sturdy enough for that sort of thing, given the environment that they're in, and maintained or replaced properly to ensure they don't just fall off!

So this is now happening in April instead of July? Only one post says about a possibility of it also being in April But I'm assuming there isn't gonna be two! Just checking!

X Factor (and its all predecessors/anything similar - hey, anyone remember that Pop Idol winner Michelle McMannus? Didn't think so ) Basically for the reasons Matt Creek pointed out. Plus all the irritating, screaming audience. And the way that the contestants break down in tears as though they've received devastating news.. They've clearly never experienced anything quite so emotional in their lives before! Well, the ones that don't have sob stories that is You should hear the way my brother rants about it, it's hilarious (Also, Strictly has been beating X Factor viewing figures for the past few years (probably longer) ) I await the day it ends. Same for Big Brother and Ceplebrity Big Brother!!

Yeeeeah why not

https://twitter.com/Odd_Miliband/status/495498746944561152 https://twitter.com/Odd_Miliband/status/508369364513718272

Double post, BOOM. Trip report is here http://forum.maniahub.com/blog/36/entry-656-a-very-happy-christmas-trip-to-london-201214/ The photos *should* all be showing up now too!

WARNING: High Liam content. Well, what an amazing day this was! It was a joy to see everyone again and to meet some new faces (Btw, I got the xmas smilies by googling them, started typing this during xmas, was gonna remove them since but meh, it's a Christmas meet ) After being greeted with hugs and smiles at Waterloo station, it was off to The Eye (and that wonderful 4D experience). It was a clear day so we got some great views, could even see Stealth! Liam was such a tourist (actually, he was for the whole day) and came out with a great response to The Shard: "It doesn't look real! It looks like it's been painted on!" Seflie time! Next up was The Dungeons, which were a great laugh as usual, and with it being Liam's first time, we were provided with much entertainment in the form of his vocalizations. Such as: jumping on the boat ride; screaming in the plague doctors scene when the leeches crawl under your bum, and just general camp reactions. The highlight was, of course, when he got picked in the torture device scene Just...perfect! Shame we couldn't take any photos! Although... Our ORP from Drop Dead with Luke (and some random lady) was quite something... Luke's face! We skipped SeaLife and headed straight to Nandos, about an hour before our booking We managed to lose Peaj on the underground, whilst gaining Mark9 and Dan9...but were eventually reuinited in Nandos. Secret Santa was fun as always (but did we actually finish it?!), I think Liam was most impressed with his sexy fireman calendar At this point, I had intended on going around and handing all my Christmas cards out...not really sure what happened! So instead, I just went to people individually throughout the rest of the day and gave them their cards. But because of this, there were some people who I didn't get round to giving their cards to, so major apologies! BUT I did bring loads of candy canes And I tried to make sure everyone got one lol! After this cheeky dessert of candy canes, it was off to Madame Tussauds for most of us while the rest headed to the pub. A few bits (and groping of!) from Tussauds: Santa Banter! (In full HD 60fps, as are all my videos) http://youtu.be/FWs9qD1OAro I also added some silly/amusing annotations And it appears that our meet organiser was clearly still in shock after becoming seperated from us on the underground, and couldn't even catch a giant box A few stills from that footage: W're royal, ya know Erm, I still have no words... Aww I do love this photo! Soon, it was time for The Spirit of London! Here's some stills from my on-ride footage ...Because the detail in this ride is just brilliant. Luke popped his head round to tell us something important... (Watch the video that I have included further down to find out what, I didn't upload them for nothing ) Rebuilding London and St Paul's #Lad Hmm, this reminds me of a particular coaster... Only just realised when watching the footage back that this helter skelter is also Big Ben! Where did everyone go?! Plot twist: they were taken by the creepy fireman! I think it's partly the fact that his right eye just stares straight ahead which makes him creepy (ish). I thoroughy enjoyed the ride as always, as did Liam! Why not see (and hear!) for yourself? http://youtu.be/boytOANK8_E I was a bit sheepish about being too obvious filming it, hence why the view seems quite low down at points. But it's the things that are said/the reactions (again, mainly from Liam) that are the highlights of the video, really! "WHO'S THAT?!" "Oh my god we're going down...OOOH!" "We're going oop...WE'RE GOING OOP!" Winter Wonderland Well, once we'd eventually got inside and shuffled painfully to the Carousel Bar, we could enjoy ourselves (as much as humanely possible). Myself and some others did Wild Maus XXL, which was even more insane, hardly seemed to trim! There's a particular corner which is ridiculously fast - you can actually see people being thrown to the side when watching! Then while some others did Barrel of Laughs, we did XXL. It was definitely worth it! Far more than just a giant Freakout or better version of Vortex It was fast, pretty intense, had both great force and great airtime, and when I thought we'd reached full height, it still went higher! Pretty sure I shouted "What the f**k?!" a few times! Winter Wonderland off-ride footage http://youtu.be/E3htSa9TRvU At 14-15 seconds in, watch the corner just above the blue sign - that's the corner I just mentioned, you'll see how fast the car flies through! You also get to hear the wonderful operator on XXL, who kept repeating the same things over and over again. OH and watch (and listen) out for my little edit at the end It was eventually time to say goodbye It really was lovely to see people again, especially people like Liam who I haven't seen in a long time and live bloomin' miles away! Actually had to hold back from crying when hugging goodbye Although, it was nice to go to the pub after with some peeps and just chill, was a nice way to finish such a good day! Here is the album with all my photos in for any who want to see the rest of them: Christmas London Trip 2014 Oh and any photos with people in are set to private (the above link is a guest pass, so only those who I share the link to can see the private photos) So thank you to everyone for making it such a great meet, and of course to Peaj! Last year's meet unfortunately ended up on a very sad day for me and my family, so I don't have great memories from it. And for various reasons, 2014, up until around late October/November, was a pretty awful year for me personally. BUT (cue happy/triumphant music), since November-time I've finally been on the mend, and for the first time in a very long time (a few years perhaps!) I feel back to my old self - if not, better than that! Something must have shone through as I was often the one the actors spoke to at The Dungeons Seriously though, I feel so alive and more chatty, and I was eager to see how I'd be at a meet (especially with so many people), and I'm very pleased to say that I felt amazing! So here's to 2015 Happy new year! x

Wow. What a load of ****.

Casual Christmas selfie... Just realised how un-sober I look in this! But hey ho, it's Christmas!

WAIT. Is it me or did we not actually finish Secret Santa?

Downloaded the taxi ride photo!

It gets worse every year. I have no words. All my photos are on Facebook, for those who have me on there, I will add quite a few to my trip report too! And I'll scan my taxi ride photo and upload videos tomorrow hopefully!

Oh no, Josh - that means you'll miss out on a Christmas card and candy cane, too!

You should've interviewed people during/after Twister Not gonna lie, I tend to scarper when I see Matt interviewing people, because when I'm not up for all the enthusiast questions then I will actually have a face like Grumpy Cat Blackpool is an exception though, as this was only my second visit and with such fun and unique rides - you should've interviewed me and Luke after our backseat-whoring of all the woodies! Did laugh at Luke's reaction to The Big One though!

Just randomly responding to all this On 20th December, I'll have been on here for... years! I'll drink to that at the meet

Ooh, found this on YouTube... Footage from 1993, with the Spirit of London at the end. Doesn't seem like much has changed with the ride since then - the year it opened! (Although the photo man doesn't say "Oi oi oi!" etc) I've often wondered (and can't seem to find an answer on the internet) if John Wardley had any involvement in the ride. I know he did some work for them on animatronics, and given the quality of the ride, one would assume he was involved, but it's not actually stated anywhere. Hmm...

Aah reminds me of the year 9 skiing trip to Austria

I saw it all on the news earlier, absolutely disgraceful how violent people were! TVs were literally flying!

This is spooky - I was only thinking earlier that I hadn't seen Sidders online for a while and had a feeling he might have stepped down/would be stepping down! Tis a shame, and ditto to what Josh said, but understandably people do have other commitments And woo, welcome Josh and Altitude!

Drew an enormous

Hey Katherine Woo another female!

Sausage and mash