Sidders

Bollinger and Mabillarr though - what's that all about?!

The Asylum seems to fit that bill pretty well.

Phobias? Phobias?! Please no moths... please no moths.

Ahur hum Whilst I don't condone the behaviour, I think it could be a lot worse. I wouldn't even be that bothered if Thorpe kept it like that as it still looks like it fits. That said, because they replaced it pretty swiftly the last time I don't see why they wouldn't do it again.

Looks good though...

I've not been this year, but last year I made a record three trips so I'm paying for the overindulgence you might say. EDIT: I don't think there's much debate about my favourite ride... Y'all know it.

No, I just know the member in question is very resilient to deadpan humour; and it wouldn't have been patronising to younger members anyway. I've said I'm sorry for my mistake - what more do I have to do? On topic - I'm actually really pissed that Se7en is gone (if it has). It had some rough years but I thought 2010 and 2011 were really quite good!

Woops... awkward moment when I thought I was quoting someone much younger than you... My apologies, Tommy

FN 2011 last hour = 9pm - 10pm FN 2012 last hour = 8pm - 9pm Oh look, there it is. Like Ryan said, even with the lost hour, the majority of guests will have clocked that there might be large queues trying to get out of the car park, so there's a chance some may leave earlier, as in last years, and the same 'quiet hour' at the end of FN days will still be there.

Well surely a theme park, by definition, is a park with a theme? Take Blackpool Pleasure Beach - tonnes of coasters but no themes, hence it's an amusement park. Angry Birds land has a theme so there's nothing wrong with calling it a theme park.

That said, it wouldn't be too much of mistake to assume that, if Thorpe are planning anything, they would have decided on the ride/location/theme/potential marketing by now. I think javs was waiting on the only real 'if' remaining were they planning anything, which would be council consent. To me, it doesn't look likely that we'll get anything new. Snooze Box isn't a cheap investment regardless of it's poor comparison to a genuine hotel, and in light of Thorpe Blast/Blow Sh!t Up not returning, it seem even more unlikely. To be honest though, I see Thorpe's sense on this one. I don't want another Storm Surge.

Enjoying quite a bit of music lately. Hard to define, and it's not usually my kind of music by any stretch, but I suppose they're all easy-listening/electronic and revolve around the theme of love/devotion/whatever. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiSShkmSvNE

That looks... wow. So much want. There's air-time, speed, zero-g rolls... Seems like bigger and bigger parks are coming round to the idea of hybrid coasters now.

Glad we could help! Hopefully you'll be able to enjoy your birthday without too much difficulty with getting on rides as, by your description, you shouldn't have too much trouble getting on all the rides you want.

Very topical...

Your trusty Mod friend is here to help. Merrrrrrrrge. And yeah I agree - I loved the way the clowns interacted with the guests. There were considerably fewer guests gone 9pm so it was great to see so many actors doing so much more than simply running up to you from nowhere, pulling a funny face and making stupid noises and then disappearing again. Some of them stalked guests and/or wanted their hands held and to be guided round the park because they were lost.

I must've been extremely lucky or high on something, but when I went on my first ever FN trip to Thorpe (2011 season), I distinctly recall roaming actors a-plenty. They were brilliant and were most common around the Stealth plaza all the way over to Calypso Quay, including the Tidal Wave and Storm Surge areas... (didn't visit Lost City/Saw Island in the darker hours - was all about night rides on Inferno and Stealth y'all ). But yeah basically why does everyone complain about no raoming actors? Is it because they're not consistent? They were fantastic when I was there - groups of psychotic clowns and harlequin puppet-looking things banging on bins and running through queue lines shrieking - really helped the atmosphere! I remember watching a couple of women who clearly had phobias of clowns launch themselves onto their friends in the Stealth photo booth when they saw a guy sprinting at the from the other end of the plaza - was hilarious!

If your partner doesn't come close to 52" then you've got nothing to worry about on pretty much all of the rides. One thing I will say with regard to your query about Colossus though, is that quite often taller guests with considerably long legs will find it hard to fit into the cars. You'll notice when you get there each train has fourteen rows of two seats, each of which is numbered 1-14. I recommend you avoid the even-numbered rows (the back two seats to each car), as there is considerably less room for legs in these two seats. Aim for the odd-numbered rows, as the front of the cars has more leg-room. Hope we could help.

I think it was once red, but like a lot of stuff that's been mishandled by The Swarm, it's covered in black ash/rubble/debris. I would've liked to see more of the original apple red colour though, as it'd make it stand out more and would just look better with more than a single colour to it.

Ah, come now, MB, Colossus isn't all that bad. Sure it's designed for people without legs but it's still a more satisfying thrill than Saw in my opinion. Though I my past experience I'd head to Inferno first, as no-one really notices it, meaning you can get a decent number of rides before the queues really builds up (this is all assuming you get to the park for the 9:30am opening), especially not since Storm Surge blocks everything out. Saw and Colossus usually see the biggest queues earlier in the day because they're the closest coasters to the gate, and everyone's heard of Saw and so will be likely to want to try it out. Stealth also sees a large number of visitors quite early on so if you get on Stealth first that's still a bonus, but usually it's the far side of the park that are the best to start with. I'd say go for Inferno first, then hop over to Detonator/move across to Stealth, then The Swarm, and then come back to Lost City to try rides like Rush (a must do) and Vortex (if you like that sort of thing). Ignore Zodiac and Quantum, and then move onto Colossus and Saw round about lunchtime (try to have you lunch at about 2pm - after most other guests so that during their lunch the queue times will dwindle a bit). Hope this helps.

Well, first there's the issue that using the Nemesis name creates a brand, and so it would've worked wonders for the promotion of the ride back in 2003 given the success of the original. But "Nemesis" doesn't categorically mean "alien"; it means enemy, so if you ask me it's perfectly suited.

I feel so much more at ease now that I have the information this poll gives me. Who's up for voting for your favourite Russian dictator next?

But they can realistically do that the moment the rooms are built? I don't think the number of rides at Thorpe being insufficient has anything to do with the overall response of disappointment to these hotel substitutes, especially considering the park will close no later than 7pm for the majority of the year, regardless of the number of rides.

Yeah, Raptor is styled. Styled after a prehistoric bird thing that picks you up and flies you around a bit, so yes, generic because Talon, Hydra, Griffon, SheiKra, and Kraken (among others) do the same sort of thing. And I don't know why but Maverick doesn't appear to go all the way to theme for me. Point is, GateKeeper is styled as a sort of protector of the park, as in, it's signature purpose is to provide an enormous entrance gate feature and will be styled to a creature that flies over the entrance in order to achieve this. I never took it that a coaster this big was ever going to see all the way to theme.

Well, naturally. Most large American parks build their coaster to big to theme properly, and so the lucky ones who see a bit more money splashed in the ride design and marketing department might see a certain style rather than an actual theme. Cedar has loads of examples of this - Maverick, Raptor and now GateKeeper.