Mer

What's the motorway/junction that you can see from Detty? If it's 14 then we'll give you a wave...just flash the headlights or something :rolleyes:If it's anything like last year, a massive crowd will build up around the final turn of Colossus, and when it finally opens after hours of water dummy testing, and the staff tell them NOT to stampede up the bridge, they er, will do just that! I was not impressed! I didn't stand there freezing myself all morning to get pushed along over the Colossus bridge! Hmph!

Or that we don't experience a lift hill evac...or that we do *free hot chocolate as well hehe*

Never mind Colossus, Inferno and Stealth - what about XNWO?!That's a joke enough as it is, let alone with SAW to compare with! Imagine it, guests come off SAW all "WOW!! That was brilliant, the theming is immense!!" then they decide to go on XNWO...their faces? :D ... "What a joke this is!!!"Sorry, I couldn't resist! I know some people on here still love XNWO and will stick up for it, which is fine because everyone is entitled to their own opinions. But personally, I think it's had its day, and it should be Thorpe's next priority to sort out. The "re-theme" in 07, erm well let's see, the manaquins on Animation 3 don't light up cos the sensors broke or stopped working for whatever reason at the start of 08, the bulbs in the queueline are fading so the red and blue is no way near as good as in 07. I know they had a small budget to work with and that those bulbs in the queueline are expensive to replace (from what I heard). And I was glad that they did attempt to improve the ride. But what really needs to be looked at is the general state of the building - the bag room they built in 07 at the front was out of use from halfway through 2008, because the ceiling collapsed...because of water leaking. The whole building is falling apart, whenever it rains there are bits of the wall and roof falling off. Which can happen at anytime during the day, so a guest can walk through the queueline and...well. Ideally the building needs to be demolished and re-built to permanently fix the problems (pretty much a quote from an engineer), but that's pretty extreme, so duct tape and plasterboard it is!Oh and how could I forget - DUST! Everywhere! Anyway, that doesn't stop me thinking positively about SAW...not long to go now woo!

Hmm this is something that's hit me recently - I don't seem to have any other hobbies other than theme parks :DI used to when I was younger - I used to go out on my bike, my trampoline, join clubs at school, did karate for a few years, miss it quite a bit but I wouldn't have the time now, with work and everything, to go back.Anyway they all faded out as I got older, and my trampoline was soooold!!! And yeah more work at school and college and everything, they gradually faded away.I mean I go out with work friends for nights out and stuff, and when I'm not at home being a bum I'm with my boyfriend but I mean during the day I have nothing to do...cos surely spending hours online, msn, and watching TV can't really count...I dunno it depends what people call a hobby. Some people put them on their CVs, and in that case then the things I do wouldn't look good! :PPlus as my job is seasonal and everyone I made friends with are up near Staines, it's not easy to have nights out with them at the moment. As for friends where I live, well firstly I left college early (in January) cos I was so depressed there, so less time spent with my friends there compared to the others who finished in May/June, and no proper goodbye. I didn't really connect with any of the girls in my Performing Arts group, my other subject was English, same thing with the people in that group. I don't make friends easily...well I do, it's just only certain people that I can easily get on with, and no one in those lessons were my type of people! I did have friends there, two of which were my best friends from school. They fell out. So one of them I haven't seen or spoken to since, the other one, who I really got on with, has moved up to Manchester with his partner, which was strange - as in, there's like a different side to him now, well it seems like it when we chat (haven't seen him since college either sadly). Not saying it's a bad thing, but I've known him for years, and now he's moving on and stuff, so have I in a lot of ways, and it's just a bit crazy! I suppose I could have put more effort into meeting up with him, rather than thinkinh "oh I'm working" or "I'm supposed to be doing something with Rob that weekend"...cos I didn't have many chances to see him cos he was up north and I was busy working...though one time I did have awful tonsillitis :(So yeah, I'm stuck really. Bit of a bizarre situation! It's my 19th birthday in two weeks, don't know what I'm gonna do :(The only other thing I'm really passionate about is animals, and the only hobby related to animals that I know of around here is "cat-cuddling" at the Cats Protection League centre in Chelwood Gate, which isn't exactly down the road from me. It's voluntary work, and you literally just go and cuddle the cats that are there, so they don't feel lonely and get used to new people! If I had more money and a car it would have been easy to do...but that is not the case. *sigh*

RCT3 is great in some ways but when I have a park full of rides, especially with water slides, the game is painfully slow. And my laptop is much faster and better than my PC but in terms of graphics, it's only got a built in thing, so compared to another laptop of the same spec but with better graphics, it's no way near as good obviously! But it's ok.Probs better on my laptop than my PC.RCT1 was the first one I ever played and it brings back memories runs so much better too (as does RCT2). Although it's a bit random when sometimes a coaster crashes BEFORE it tells you there is a station brakes failure! Also I miss some of the music from those two, like the Techno and Jungle music woo! And the Merry Go Round music (Fairground Organ)! Shame I can't put them onto RCT3. There's no music files in the game folder so I can't put them on the game.And none of those games have a Screaming Swing well none of the RCTs do, not sure about the others.

NANDO'S!!!!!!! :POnly had it twice BUT YUMMMMMMY NANANANANANANANANANANDO'S:rolleyes:Never had Wagamama's.

Woo thanks for explaining that :PAh the number of carers allowed, it was supposed to be no more than three carers at Thorpe. Some staff who were very strict with it annoyed me a bit. When there is an extra person, or two...may as well let them on, depending on what ride it is. And when people didn't fill in the cards properly, and filled it in when they still had 45 minutes to wait...which leaves the staff who do it properly with a load of shi*t from the guests, because so-and-so at Nemesis Inferno didn't care, or "nobody all day so far except YOU!". I just say that it's written on the back of the card, Guest Services should have explained it to them or told them to read the back of the card, and I was just doing my job, and if nobody else was, then they should be moaning to them, and not me. And tell GS to sort themselves out, height-checking kids and giving them bands when they were clearly not tall enough...it's like they WANT the guests to be angry with us, in turn, sending them back to GS to complain!Can't believe one guy on Vortex snatched the height stick from my attendant and threatened to hit her with it, when his daughter was too short (by miles as well)!! If they're that bothered about having a good day out at the place, should have really checked the kids' heights before going I say

Can't believe railcards are £24, I forgot this last year I think, and thought they were £20 like in the good ol' days.Should get a renewal discount like AP holders do tbh :rolleyes:And the power cuts are such a laugh! Last year I was on break when it happened, all the lights went off, everywhere pitch black obviously (apart from the dim emergency lights haha). And the whole canteen just got up and cheered :DDepending on where the power cut is, depends on what rides are affected. Can't recall exactly what rides run off which generator, but there's one at Thorpe and one in Chertsey, which is the one that usually goes. Vortex is great when the power goes, the ride just swings on it's own momentum for ages, according to the training the longest it can take to stop is 45 minutes, but tbh that would be very rare! If it was windy however...hahaha! Same with Rush (which I experienced on a staff ride once, swing A cut out but swing B didn't, so they were stuck there until we had stopped ). Fun times!And btw, X does have back-up lights should the power fail, it's the first thing everyone thinks of (guests), they're like "OMG! The people in X No Way Out are gonna be trapped in the dark!!" With the ghosts...watch out for those...and the bats and the pigeons!! (The last two have actually happened lol)

I've wondered that unless it's something along the lines of there are more trip hazards in a main queue, or if it's crowded someone could knock into them. I sometimes think too much into things and miss the main point, there could be a really obvious reason.Hmm this is supposed to be the Vampire topic :PActually I do have a question about it - RCDB says as well as getting new trains, a few track changes were made? I also heard this (when it reopened) from a friend of mine but they could have been making it up, knowing them!

Ooooooooooooooooooh my god. Same here Never mentioned it on here before, I keep putting it on and then taking it off my Facebook too! That's the thing. It's the same with ADHD, which I also possibly have You tend to get a lot of kids with ADHD with wristbands, and when it's severe I'm fine with it. But you do get people who know full well they can queue but they get the band anyway. Because as far as I know, Guest Services would not have the right to say "Ok you have a disability according to your doctor's note (or whatever they show) but how severe is it, if it's mild we can't give you a band otherwise there'd be too many people with them." That would probably class as discrimination! I don't know about Chessie, but the way Thorpe do it really should change Alton Towers do it something like this *I think*If the guest does NOT require a carer, and can understand instructions etc during a ride evacuation, then they can let more than one on each train, every train. Whereas Thorpe it's only one per ride, so one every other train on 2 trains on Colly, or if X has 4 trains, one per every four trains. Now this is unfair when someone is "stuck in the middle". They have a disability severe enough that they cannot queue, however they can easily cope with an evac. They end up waiting for a long time on busy days, defeating the whole point of having a band! So yeah, Alton AFAIK only have the one per ride, one per train rule for people who DO require a carer. That's what I think happens, that may not be the exact procedure. But it seems a lot better from what I've heard (bearing in mind I've only been three times and haven't paid much attention to how big the queues were), and I think Thorpe should do the same. Because at the moment the disabled queues are too long, it's not fair on them and defeats the point of having a band.I didn't know I had Asperger's til I was 17 (dammit! Years of wondering what the hell is wrong with me, lousy teachers didn't seem to pick up just how different and quiet I was!). I could have potentially found out when I was 7/8, when my behaviour called my parents to the school psychologist. But they (well mainly my dad apparently) were saying there was nothing wrong with me, I guess as a parent it's hard when a teacher suggests your child has a problem. But if only they'd listened to her!! So what if she was a moody cow, she could have saved me from years of...not hell, but suffering...sort of. Not so much making friends, more coping with school and homework. Ah well.Anyway, I don't think I'd get a band...it's tempting, but I might be thinking that for the wrong reasons, like taking advantage of what I have, cos I've queued before ok-ish. So if I got a band I'd be going against what I said above! Also from working there I know when the busy periods are, so I would try to avoid going on a busy day. Quiet days are such a laugh, both as a guest and a staff member!

Yep, a ride host is the general term for rides staff. It goes:Attendant - checks bars, batches, deals with fastrack and all that...oh, and don't forget a very important job...cleaning up sick that any guests should deposit Good luck if you work on XNWO, it's puke central there! One memory sticks in mind...when it was closed for 2 hours , due to 8 big piles of sick down the exit, plus the guests had trodden it through. Bearing in mind it took so long because of the vast amount, and having to air the building out of sanitaire. The staff who cleaned it were working their butts off. I'm not trying to scare anyone, just warning you of the joys of XNWO, hopefully you'll avoid it though, then you're fine!Operator - the one who sits in the box and pushes the buttons :PThen there's...well, different parks have different terms, but Thorpe have RACs (Ride Area Co-ordinators), who deal with breaks, swaps, train attendants and ops, assess attendants. Ride unit managers are the next ones up, the ones in the light blue t-shirts and ear-pieces hehe. They assess operators, attend shut-downs, brief and de-brief at the end of the day, do some stuff in the office (Op Suite). Both RACs and Unit Managers get to wear nicer coats as well :)You'll get to know other people and managers as well, but those guys are the main ones you'll see every day at work. And the engineers ;)Once again I hope my little XNWO story hasn't scared anyone or put anyone off, it's just one of those "legendary" events that will happen whilst working there...along with Colossus lift hill evacs, Stealth rollbacks (maybe even a nice rest at the top eh?), VORTEX TRIPPING OUT WOOOO, Samurai being naughty with oil, and many, many other mad times! And their annual power cut, and adverse weather conditions (which can have interesting affects on Colossus)...I think I'm gonna stop now. These things may sound a little negative, but they're not, they're really just all part of the thrill of working at the Great Thorpe Park! I hope you all have a wonderful time working there! The socials are awesome too!EDIT: I've just remembered that Thorpe have changed their RACs etc, from what I hear (in rides). They have TLs now...and then senior TLs? I don't remember...well you'll find out when you start, but they're all lovely people!

Going back a few pages... That isn't always the reason disabled guests use the exit. It's whether they can stand up or put up with queueing for a long period of time. I don't think someone on crutches would like the idea of hobbling through a crowded queueline for 90 minutes! And being disabled isn't always a physical thing, there are a lot of mental disabilities that affect people in different ways, which in turn affect their ability to wait in a long queue without becoming distressed, etc etc.They might look perfectly able but it doesn't mean they are (I found it insulting when I worked at Thorpe, when this woman pointed to this group of boys, one of whom was disabled, and she said "HE'S disabled?! He doesn't look it, he's walking and talking fine with his mates!"). Silly, ignorant cow! :)I have a lot of personal experience with this stuff

Awww reading all this reminds me of when I first applied at Thorpe, it took about two weeks to hear from them, and the first thing they did was apologise, but R&A had a lot of applications to go through. And when I did hear obviously it was a yes! :PAnother thing to consider is whether they mean 7-14 working days or not.Good luck to all of you waiting, hopefully it will be good news

Straaaaaaaaaaight Feel a bit of an odd one out lol.Going back to when someone mentioned Thorpe staff...aaah that reminds me of when I went with some other staff I worked with, on 1st September 2007, and went to Nemesis Inferno fastrack...came across a certain spikey-haired young man who caught my eye hehe! Didn't think anything would happen, cos he worked in a different area and I'm quite shy, and I hadn't had much luck with anyone I liked before...3 days later at the Rides and Attractions "Big One" social however...well, what a great party that was! :D1 year, 4 months and 18 days later and we're still together <3Any excuse to mention that *blushes*I also remember when somebody described me to their friend as "the short hot one who works on Samurai"

I did? Ok then... Yep, worked there in 07 and 08, miss it Well some of it :DWas in Rides, a very fun and interesting place to be, I can assure you! Not sure how many people they pick exactly, it depends on how many returning staff go back and how many of the people in the assessment centre were good or bad. If they were all useless then that's no help lol...but if they were all great then I don't see a reason for them all not to be accepted, I mean they're always looking for staff...

There was someone called Tim who worked on Rush in 08 but he didn't operate it AFAIK. Unless it was Ti? When did you go lol, I'm curious to know who it was!Water Cup challenge on Vortex is the best And the screaming competitions between Vortex and Zodiac...I'll miss those days...Some guests are easier to get interacting than others, a bunch of grumpy old men won't be willing to sing "If you're happy and you know it" for example! But it's great when the guests want to join in, there's nothing worse than them all sitting there staring at you in the console like you're a loony Although making animal noises down the PA probably isn't most people's idea of interaction...I didn't do it that often, honestly! Good luck with your application themeparkaddict, I'm sure you'll get through!

Oooops...silly me

I thought the renewal price was £100 this year? Apparently the AP website says so...I'd love it to be as cheap as £68 though

I shall possibly be attending this wonderful meet! Will have to renew my AP though grr, money I don't have atm...but it needs to be done!And I get to ride my baby! Vortex that is

Awesome pics! The drop is gonna be fantastic

Why are you taking it so seriously? It was clearly meant to be a joke, a bit of fun! :DAnyway, seeing as Samurai leaving THORPE PARK is being discussed in a Chessington topic, you were asking for a pic of it leaving Chessington tbh!

Haha so many guests think it's a ghost train!Or they think they're queueing for Colossus I used to do that (go on it as a calm ride) with my friends. Although it does tend to make a lot of people sick, what with going backwards, round and round, disorientating, etc. And the sudden stops.

I didn't throw water in the end lolCeiliings yes! It had to be him out of all the people hehe!This probs sounds really confusing to people who don't know what I'm on about but if I say I will be in trouble!

Lol ;)Hmm...well my right hand hurts and has been getting worse over the past week, no idea what I've done in the first place to injure it though. And then my right foot started hurting earlier. My body is falling apart lol.Also my boyfriend is lying asleep next to me...someone dared me to throw water on him...hmm...teehee!

Engineers check the rides in the morning for hours. Ride ops operate the ride :angry:And the fact that the ride music was playing the other day...the q-line music always plays, it's on the parkwide audio system. So thats probably what was heard.