AJ

I feel privledged now - I have never brought a drinks capsule yet as I can't bear the idea of carrying that thing around with you all day. However I renewed my pass this month which therefore means my new current pass does not expire until July 2014 as I had the renewal added onto my current pass. Therefore unlimited drinks for the next 18 months for £16, I think I may be obliged to finally buy one, I'll still be saving money I'm sure even If I don't bring it with me all the time. Plus it answers the question to what the white dot is - I've been confused about it since I bought it!

Please remember Mer - the date has yet to be confirmed and is currently on poll

Good evening all of you wonderful people! I'm very excited to officially announce plans for our Open Season Meet at Thorpe Park! The event is on Sunday 24th March 2013. The Outline of the day will be as follows: Meet by the annual pass entrance at 09:00 and 09:30 am by the cash machine just on the off chance the gates could possibly open earlier than advertised such as last year. As soon as the gates open we will go into the park, if by any chance you happen to miss this meet point due to travel arrangements or just plain lateness you can either a) phone or text so we can arrange to meet you or meet up at the second meeting point later in the day. This first part of the morning we will make the most of the quiet park and churn out those rides. Once the park starts to fill up a little bit more we will calm down slightly and then have a chill for 15 minutes around the stealth rocks so if for whatever reason you could not get there for opening you can meet us at 11:30 am if you had not arranged to meet beforehand via phone. Please bear in mind we will leave without you if you are late as it’s not fair on time keepers! A couple of members found out this happened whilst we were in London. We will then continue visiting the attractions and it will be arranged beforehand that we will try our best to get on all the attractions people wish to ride. One thing that has been annoying in the past is the decision making on where to go next and then the group changing their minds if a queue is above a certain level. This just ends us up in the past riding less as we spend a lot of the time deciding where to go. I know not everyone will want to do some of the rides at THORPE PARK. If you decide to not come on please be polite and wait for everyone to come off and chat to other members whilst you are waiting. Or go off and do another attraction as long as you’ll be back after the group has finished riding the attraction. If you are going I will be talking to you beforehand to see what attractions you are most keen to do so I can make sure I can arrange the day so that everyone gets a chance to ride what they wish to ride. Please respect other people’s wishes who wish to ride certain things that you yourself may not be too keen with. During the day, around half 1, we will stop for a bite to eat where you can go and eat where you like and we will arrange where to meet after everyone has finished eating. (Who knows we might all want to eat the same thing anyway ) After lunch we will group together for the Official Group Photo for the meet and continue going round the park and riding the attractions people want to do until the park closes. I will be handing out my phone number for everyone who is attending the meet that day, should there be any problems. We aim to stay together as a group for the day, going from one activity to the next, enjoying getting to know people you share very similar interests with, the idea is to just go with the flow and enjoy the day with some awesome people. There will be many photo’s in the day being taken I’m sure and the possibility of a few video clips. Whilst we cannot force you to stay with the group, it is the general purpose of these meets! You will have my number (and some of the senior teams) if you become split so by all means use it. The meets are a fantastic laugh and everyone is invited, even if you’ve never posted before or been to any kind of meet at all. If it's your first meet, I understand it can be nerve breaking - but we were all there at one point so know how it feels, please don't let this stop you from attending - Once there you'll be part of the group in no time! Once again, everyone will have my phone number so please use it on the day If anyone has any issues or concerns or even nervous about coming, feel free to post here, or PM myself and I will get back to you as soon as possible. If you feel like my response is taking too long another member of the team will be more than happy to help. We will all try and help you out as much as we can. Please PM me or post here to say if you’re attending. If you are bringing a mate along with you, please also include who they are so they are not known as ‘Plus 1.’ The events with TPM have been fantastic this year and this one will be no different Attending Meet (21) C1hrisin (+Jody) Dan9 EC! Han30 IanNem Jackstevens217 (Plus Jamie) Marc Mark9 MattyMoo (Just Frankie & Bennie's) Maximillion Peaj Phill Pritchard Ryan Scarycoasterboy Sidders Smidget Tommy Topsyturvey15 Turtle Let's make this meet great - and people spread the word!

Hello and welcome back to the conclusion of our story - and also to my first ever double post Who will we meet in the final chapter of the TPM London Meet? Before we continue, Jaymie, Myself & Mer would like to raise a glass to all the fantastic people who came & for also sticking together for the WHOLE day Look who it is - It's Mia-Louise - So that's where she has been hiding Mer, Myself & Mark9 naturally break out into a celebratory dance to mark the occasion Mia-Louise always one to quickly aquaint herself starts wrapping her legs around Tommy I am completely terrified to witness this and wonder who's next... To calm myself down, I moved everyone onto Winter Wonderlands very own Tower Of Terror Mer9, Pluk & Luke_A even thought it was better than the real version! After the 'Tower of Terror' we needed to calm down so back to the waltzer & carousel bar for what is my favourite photo of the whole meet You may have noticed Marc didn't turn up so before we departed we hunted him down and gave him what he deserved Detective Luke_A couldn't stop us! And finally the photo where every single person who attended appears in so your Official Group Photo is I can't thank the people who attended enough for sticking together and I for one thouroughly enjoyed myself and really cannot wait for Guildford now to collect even more memories. For those who have not yet come to a meet, I hope these past photo's have shown a little insight into what we get up to. If you want to see a few more photos you will see them on my Facebook page and I see a lot of tagging has already been going on - at least that's one less job to do Now for quite a few of you - I will see you next month! Watch the Mania Trip Forum section this weekend for a special announcement

A bit delayed today I'm afraid as I've been sorting out Carpet Laying & Wall Building at work! However welcome to the penultimate post for the TPM London Meet. What will our TPM adventurers face today, especially as we last left it with a very disappointed Mer! Why Nando's of course! And this being the first photo where the entire group (at that point) were all seen together After the gorgeous Nando's meal, we made our way to the London Dungeons - But Mer was still hungry However she then choked and went into one of her giggle fits whilst thinking about onion rings... Everyone was really excited for the dungeons and will most likely be the last time in it's old location for most. Don't Fret Tommy & Dan9 How of course - sadly no photo's can be taken in the dungeons as it's mysterious! But we do however have one 'sinister' photo After the dungeons we made our way to Winter Wonderland and Luke_A & Mer LOVE this queueline for teh Wild Maus OMG Look who's arrived it's Pluk! Steady boy you don't want to fall now... Boy George even Jaymie has appeared in this queueline - where's the mouse hole Due to all the excitement of these new arrivals it sends Tommy all in a spin! However too much spinning can make you sick you know There it is, a delayed rushed job of Part 4 but still with it's quirkyness - Join me tomorrow when the final part of our story is released and the Official Group Photo will be there for all to see

It's the Wednesday after the meet - which means part 3 is here. We left part 2 showing the amount of love for Boris Johnson, let's continue our journey through Madame Tussauds... Myself & Mer always have trouble deciding between good and evil, so spent a bit of time speculating Meanwhile Tommy was playing a game showing off his reflexes - How triumphant he looks However after all this, Myself & Mer finished speculating and kidnapped everyone into the taxi! You may be surprised with the kidnap but it was all predicted in the stars However detective Luke, was on our case and managed to save the day and got photographic evidence of the kidnap Who just so happened to work for Nelson who oversaw the whole investigation This resulted in the rest of TPMs freedom and they were left to enjoy the Spirit Of London After the kidnap, the boys play with their toys, to recover and have lots of fun! After he had finished the investigation, Luke_A did too This left Mer extremely unimpressed Join me tomorrow, when the adventure continues after Madame Tussauds and some more people come to play!

Hey all because of the great help received to me in getting the pictures up properly, I thought tonight I'd give you Part 2 of 5 of the London trip (and basically so I can catch up and be on track once more) You may remember we left the story with a few of us smiling in front of fishes - well the story continues.... Into the depths of SeaLife, Tommy (a bit nervous on the wheel) and Mark9 (with glee) found a motorcycle to help us through our journey After the motorcycle lift we found a Blue light which hypnotized everyone with its spinning spiralling coins... But not Luke_A...He escape the evil claws of the blue light and laughed at us in a trance Good thing though Luke_A was on the board so we could warn us about the CROCODILE!!!! However we escaped with our life as it was no match when faced with the Wall Of Ice. Penguin! After SeaLife we decided it was time to go to Madame Tussauds - however on the way to the tube New Years Eve happened all over again... On the tube Mark9 has some crazy urges for the Spirit of London which leaves Mer scared However no need to fear - Mark9 is only a Light Flyweight (however the scales were broken that day so who knows) To finish Part 2, I thought it was fitting to show how much love Mer & Luke_A have for Boris Johnson! Hope you enjoyed Part 2 & Part 3 will be released tomorrow to find out the next chapter of what happened on the TPM London Meet

Hello all, here is my picture story of what happened on the lovely day in London - It was a briliant day and here it is in pictures Part 1 of 5 At the beginning of the day, the group has these wonderful glasses on ready for the London Eye Experience (Talk about first impressions) As the experience with the seagulls has finished Mark9 looks like he has some serious doubts coming onto the London eye! Dan9 thought it would be a good idea to scare Turtle. Because of this Mer thought she would plot her own evil masterplan... And some lovely chatting followed After the chat Luke_A became thoughtful and reflected on what was said Here is a random view from the top of the eye After the eye we thought let's go Sealife. Naturally Tommy sprawled himself over the floor to look like he was floating Here is a Jellyfish And to finish Part 1 I thought I'd pop into a photo with everyone with some fishes in the background Part 2 will most likely be up on my lunchbreak tomorrow (Plus have not got the foggiest atm how to make the pic's nice and big like Mer's so until I do you'll have to put up with the smallies for the time being)

It would help if you read your PM's as well as the one's I've sent you, do not appear to have been read. There was a good turnout for a London Meet and I've been corresponding with people who have been replying about it up and till the day. There has been plenty of advertising as from what Tommy has said, the topic was also pinned! There is only so much you can do to promote it, but your also need effort on the members part as well - it's not all one sided. I have taken note from what you have said and will issue out a further PM the week leading up to it and also a couple of days beforehand so you have that reminder. Didn't do that this time as I did not want to clog up people's inbox, just please make sure you check your messages, as the only thing we can do extra on the board is using the Shoutbox as per Ryan and refreshing the actual topic

PMs were sent to all who were attending a couple of weeks ago - There has also been contact with those who have had questions - so there has been reminders. Plus there has been an announcement on the site about the 5th on practically everywhere you go on the site at the top of the forums. So there has been plenty of notice and reminders. I'm sure you are old enough to take responsibility for your own planning and actions --------------------------------- Thank you everyone for such an awesome day. It just seemed to flow and it was nice and relaxed and basically an all well round bunch of people. It was good to see the familiar faces once more but also great to see the couple of new faces also. To be honest I'm totally knackered now and the photos that were took will probably not be on till Monday, so will write about the day more in detail then. However thank you once more and chin chin for everyone keeping together today!

I am ready and waiting to meet you peeps under that Waterloo clock - cannot wait! This is gonna be a fab day

For me even though the next coaster I would want a woody followed by an intense flyer - I don't know why but in the back of my mind from a year or 2 ago I thought I heard possibilities of a bobsled coaster around the front of the dome in the middle of this decade. When I heard that I was shocked as it's not something that strikes out at you as an obvious choice - Something I thought I'd throw out there.... p.s. even though I do like a bobsleigh, I'd be sitting on the fence if Thorpe got one...

The date has now been confirmed - Really looking forward to this!

We are aware on the forums that there are different age groups and that for most people going on their first meet can be very nerve-wracking (even for some who have been to a couple of meets beforehand whilst they are getting to know the members within the community). At the end of the day, we want everyone who comes to a meet to feel at ease as much as possible and anything that worries or concerns you, we are more than happy to discuss with you what is making you nervous so you'll feel more confident about meeting new people face to face. We understand that for some people they will hardly know who other people are and a couple of friends to support them (or also because a travel buddy is fantastic) can help boost confidence at the meets, after all the more the merrier - however we also need to state that of course, that these meets are for the members of our community to get to know each other better at the same time. So if you do bring friends please make sure you integrate with the rest of the group at the same time. After all that is what these meets are for. Therefore: If you wish to attend a meet, you are more than welcome to bring up to 2 friends along with you. If you decide to do so, when you confirm your place on a meet please also state that you will be attending with a plus 1 or 2 and the name/s of those coming with you as we would like to include them too. There will be a variety of trips happening at Thorpe Park throughout the year as we are the Official Fan Site, but there will be an excursion to Chessington & Alton Towers during the year plus some additional social event extra's. Once an event is over there will usually be an after party if you don't want the fun to stop with a possible over night stay. Contact is essential and the meets happening in 2013 and beyond, you should have no problems finding the group or contacting the people running the meet. In regards to contact: Before a meet takes place, you will receive a PM by myself with my contact details for your first point of contact and also of the mod/ admin team confirmed attending the meet if for whatever reason you are unable to get hold of me. This will ensure you will always be able to find the group! More answers to follow: Edit: Posts below have been moved from the January meet thread.

Right In an attempt to go through every post that has been made so far, I get through each individual topic made so far... Right yes, everyone has made a good point on this subject, we come to the meets at the end of the day to get to know the others within the community in person, and 1pm is half the day gone already. Now I understand that on certain days transport can be a bit of an issue for some people so in reality there should be no one really getting there from after 11am. However I know in past meets that those who do get there before opening have a mini meet before the main meet before the park opens so rather than their be loads off mini meets before they join up we will meet up together at the beginning. After all the 30 minutes leading to park opening is a fantastic opportunity to be social without the distraction of the rides in the background. This also gives us the opportunity to hit the rides as a group whilst the queues are quiet - so after reading peoples posts on this matter in future, when there is a meet at a theme park: We will meet 30 minutes before park opening, to take opportunity of the low queues before another meeting time at 11am for those who couldn't get there for park opening. After which if you do arrive later (or want to join in between opening and 11am) you will have the contact numbers of the team so we can arrange to meet you so you will still be able to join us. Group Photo's are making a return this year - As I also agree we want to remember these good days and show what a great bunch of people we are! so being added to the beginning post A group photo will be taken usually around lunch time as at this point, everyone who should have arrived to the meet who is attending will be there. It also means we get 5 minutes to let our food settle down before more activities. This is where I've come in to spruce things up and one of the reasons why this topic was made so more ideas came to the table. Some things mentioned are on the cards to happen this year. Alton Towers & Chessington for example will be making an appearance on the agenda. In regards to Thorpe Park the will be a lot more meets there as we are the Official fan site for Thorpe Park so naturally quite a few trips will be based there! However The Beach Party Idea I love and think is a good thing to break up the year mid season so is something I will look into and Paulton's Park is something I will consider for the future. Overnight stays is also something I am looking into and the Guildford 2013 trip is a little test to see how it goes. If it goes well which is looking likely at the moment there will be many more appearing in the future. So to summarise: There will be a variety of trips happening at Thorpe Park throughout the year as we are the Official Fan Site, but there will be an excursion to Chessington & Alton Towers during the year plus some additional social event extra's. Once an event is over there will usually be an after party if you don't want the fun to stop with a possible over night stay. More subjects I will respond to later but please keep contributing to this topic in the meantime as after all these meets concern you!

Now I have to admit - the prices are deemed quite high bearing in mind you'll be sleeping in temporary accommodation and at the end of the day this is no 4/5 star hotel. However as Marc says starting off high and then reducing it in the future will make it seem better value when you see the 50% off to sell you the rooms etc on a business point of view might as well start high and then go low so people will be like wow look how much discount rather than start low and then raise the prices and have people turning around and complaining the prices are going up to quick!

Good day to all you fine people We have many exciting things planned for you all in terms of mania hub trips for the future. However all these potential plans are no good at all if no one wants to do it or plain right interested. And also your suggestions maybe things we have never actually thought of and might one day become reality. This is the central point where all of you wonderful members can express: What trips you would like to happen? How often you would like a meet to take place? How much warning you need so you can prepare? What improvements in general you would like to see happen on the meets? What actually happens at the TPM meets? Now please can I express again that this is a place where you can put your thoughts/ concerns across about the TPM meets? Not everything is going to happen straight away , but I will try my best to accommodate as many things as possible. This post eventually will be regularly updated to answer the most common things and basically turn into a mini guide whilst also opening up the table to hear your opinions. At the end of the day without you - we have no community! What you can expect from a meet so far: There will be a variety of trips happening at Thorpe Park throughout the year as we are the Official Fan Site, but there will be an excursion to Chessington & Alton Towers during the year plus some additional social event extra's. Once an event is over there will usually be an after party if you don't want the fun to stop with a possible over night stay. After a trip has happened, another new trip will be announced a week later. The day of the trip will have a suggested date that will suggest different days of the week, but this date will be put up to a poll alongside other dates to see what day is the most popular within the community for 2 weeks before the poll is closed and the actual date is confirmed. Due to this method you will sometimes find the next 2 upcoming trips as the next trip will already have been confirmed after the previous meet! This will mean you will wait no longer than 8 weeks before the next meet and often a lot shorter. If attending a Theme Park, we will meet 30 minutes before park opening, to take opportunity of the low queues before another meeting time at 11am for those who couldn't get there for park opening. After which if you do arrive later (or want to join in between opening and 11am) you will have the contact numbers of the team so we can arrange to meet you, so you will still be able to join us. Before a meet takes place, you will receive a PM by myself with my contact details for your first point of contact and also of the mod/ admin team confirmed attending the meet if for whatever reason you are unable to get hold of me. This will ensure you will always be able to find the group! When you come to a meet and arrive at the beginning of the day and ain't too shy, there will be a short period where everyone will get to say who they are and reveal 3 interesting facts about them. Later in the day once everyone attending has arrived there will be a small optional 'get to know each other activity' which should encourage some conversation starters so you'll get to know your fellow TPM Members. For exclusive ERT events, you will get a provisional place on a first come first served basis. However confirmed places will be sent to you by a PM after those who are interested have been confirmed. Confirmed places will be given to those who have taken an active interest in attending meets and/ or who have been to meets. The more interest you show the more of a priority you will become to gain an exclusive spot. This ensures that people who actively try to attend (whether they can or not) will gain a spot and those who only turn up to an exclusive ERT event to not ever be seen again will not! If you wish to attend a meet, you are more than welcome to bring up to 2 friends along with you. If you decide to do so, when you confirm your place on a meet please also state that you will be attending with a plus 1 or 2 and the name/s of those coming with you as we would like to include them too. A group photo will be taken usually around lunch time as at this point, everyone who should have arrived to the meet who is attending will be there. It also means we get 5 minutes to let our food settle down before more activities.

Air (5) Battle Galleons (5) Congo River Rapids (5) Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back (5) Enterprise (5) Hex: The Legend Of The Towers (6) Ice Age The 4D Experience (5) Marauders Mayhem (5) Nemesis (5) Nemesis: Sub-Terra (5) Oblivion (6) Ripsaw (5) Rita (5) Runaway Mine Train (5) Sonic Spinball (4) Sharkbait Reef by SEA LIFE (2) Skyride (5) The Flume (5) The Gardens (7) Th13teen (5) Hex +1 Sealife -1 Totally agree Fred without the Towers and the gardens, Alton will lose it's character and history overnight - In addition to that the towers at Scarefest when it hosts the mazes make them soooooooooo much better as it's housed in a distinctive building and not a tent! Such a shame it's left already.

Good morning all of you wonderful people! I'm very excited to officially announce plans for our Guildford Meet! We are going to be holding the event on Saturday 16th February 2013. This date was chosen after this date was the most popular in the poll. It might also be advisable for those attending the Ice skating portion of the event to book your tickets in advance through this website (or by phone which you can find via the link) http://www.guildfordspectrum.co.uk/content/view/12/44/ You do not need to worry about booking the bowling lanes as I will be sorting this out for us before we get there. Here is a link so you know how to get there http://www.guildfordspectrum.co.uk/content/view/14/31/ The Outline of the day will be as follows: Meet by the stairs outside the Guildford Spectrum between 11:30am and 12pm as shown in a cheeky helpful picture below (in case you don’t know the area). This then gives us time to go into the Spectrum and get are skates and lockers ready to hit the Ice as soon as the session starts at 12:30. Price’s are yet to be confirmed for 2013 but at the moment they are approximately £5.80 for the session and £1.80 for the Skate Hire. During the skating session those who do not want to skate can be a spectator to all the comedy you’ve been framed moments of us falling over (and maybe get the cheeky video clip ). The session will finish at 2pm where those who have not come to Skate and only want to show up for the meal and bowling can meet us within the Ice Skating arena. From here this is where times become approximate. We will then go to eat within the spectrum which currently offers a Wimpy (Burgers), Trattoria (Pizza), The View (Like the 360 Bar), Costa Coffee (Coffee )& The Strikes Bar (Drinks), so this should cater for everyone’s different tastes. After we have eaten and before those skaters leave who do not want to bowl we have The Return Of The Group Photo so you can all have a picture to remember your day. Then we will get to play 2 games of bowling which is priced at £5.50 each which should provide a good amusing end to the day. The event will approximately finish around 6pm if you want a rough estimate and after which you will be free to do whatever you please . I will be handing out my phone number for everyone who is attending the meet that day, should there be any problems. We aim to stay together as a group for the day, going from one activity to the next, enjoying getting to know people you share very similar interests with, the idea is to just go with the flow and enjoy the day with some awesome people. Whilst we cannot force you to stay with the group, it is the general purpose of these meets! You will have my number if you become split so by all means use it. The meets are a fantastic laugh and everyone is invited, even if you’ve never posted before or been to any kind of meet at all. If it's your first meet, I understand it can be nerve breaking - but we were all there at one point so know how it feels, please don't let this stop you from attending - Once there you'll be part of the group in no time! Once again, everyone will have my phone number so please use it on the day If anyone has any issues or concerns or even nervous about coming, feel free to post here, or PM myself and I will get back to you as soon as possible. If you feel like my response is taking too long another member of the team will be more than happy to help. We will all try and help you out as much as we can. Please PM me or post here to say if you’re attending (and which parts your attending). I’ll update the lists where appropriate! Meeting place is around these stairs outside the spectrum. Attending Full Meet (12 + 2) Dan9 Han30 (+ 1 Boris) IanNem Jaymie Marc Mer Peaj (+ 1 Husky) Ricky Sheepie Sidders Smidget Tommy Let's make this meet great - and people spread the word!

Air (5) Battle Galleons (5) Congo River Rapids (5) Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back (5) Enterprise (4) Hex: The Legend Of The Towers (5) Ice Age The 4D Experience (5) Marauders Mayhem (5) Nemesis (6) Nemesis: Sub-Terra (5) Oblivion (7) Ripsaw (5) Rita (5) Runaway Mine Train (5) Sonic Spinball (5) Sharkbait Reef by SEA LIFE (2) Skyride (5) The Flume (5) The Gardens (6) The Towers (3) Th13teen (7) The Towers +1 sealife -1

Joint 3rd in biggest fanboy how I laughed, that was one thing I was really not expecting according I really only know the basics. However joint 2nd for sexiest male - I am we'll chuffed - confidence boost. Thanks guys! It's also the 1st year I appear to have been nominated for things so was great to get a mention - worthy winners on the forums and regarding the park awards the majority of it I am totally agreeing with

Band Aid The rap section in Band Aid 20 don't fit! Home Alone or Miracle on 34th Street

Air (7) Battle Galleons (5) Congo River Rapids (5) Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back (5) Enterprise (5) Hex: The Legend Of The Towers (6) Ice Age The 4D Experience (5) Marauders Mayhem (5) Nemesis (6) Nemesis: Sub-Terra (5) Oblivion (5) Ripsaw (5) Rita (5) Riverbank Eye Spy (4) Runaway Mine Train (5) Sonic Spinball (4) Sharkbait Reef by SEA LIFE (4) Skyride (5) The Flume (6) The Gardens (5) The Towers (3) Th13teen (5) Sea Life -1 Hex +1

Doctor Who Xmas Special, Eastenders does not change at all each year! Mistletoe or Holly?

Well to put it like this - £15 - £20 for a short session on the zip wire at Hyde Park or just 25 mins away on the train from London you can have a 3 hour session for £30. Puts it in comparison really, however the tourists don't know what's on the outskirts so they'll pay it