John Smith

If that plonker had actually hurt himself, it would probably be blamed on Thorpe Park in any subsequent media or whatever. So I say ban the guy, and ban anyone else who does the same thing. That guy was almost certainly the kind of person who smokes in the queues, swears, queue-jumps, and probably steals from the shop outlets, therefore would be the kind of person who wouldn't be missed if banned!

Your spelling isn't anything special either!And I'll have you know that those happy faces are wonderful.

Yes, Thorpe Park written as THORPE PARK annoys me an awful lot. Irrationally so.

Don't let him bully you!

I've never seen Neptune's Beach listed as unavailable. Well done Thorpe Park! You've managed to break the impossible to break.

College certainly had (yay, I can say HAD now!) its' good points. The social aspect, and yes the alcoholic aspects to name but a few! But in all honesty it's just a continuation of school and all of these extra good aspects kind of get forgotten about when you're sat in a boring hour long lesson... Make the most of it though is what I reckon, the good points that is :DAnd enjoy working at CWoA! I hope to apply to Thorpe for next season once I'm back from my fridge walk (gap year project)

The Stealth smoke did make a brief re-appearance last year.Alton Towers seem to be able to keep Rita's smoke running...As for effects, everything that should work should work! It all adds to the escapism of a theme park..

H&S is not about making the world safer anymore. It's about covering people's arses from getting sued. As an example, at my work in Farnborough, well I work in a shop that is fairly small. There are two clear exits, both in the fact they are the only places in the shop that light comes from, and they are about 30 feet from each other. Health and Safety comes in, and insists we put fire-exit signs up all around the shop. Ones that point people to the directions of the exit etc. It's not to make people safer, it's so that if we had a fire and someone was stupid enough to get lost in a 30 foot shop, their family could sue us for not having adequate fire exit signage. It's the compensation culture, the culture of "I just tripped over on a pavement, I'm going to sue the council for not filling in a pot-hole", whereas it should be "I just tripped over on a pavement, it's my own stupid fault for not noticing the hole".Health and safety as in fully checking rides/ making sure negligence doesn't happen is certainly a wonderful thing though. You would expect that, if you go to a theme park and follow all the rules, you would be guaranteed a safe day.

I feel your pain. Exams are awfulI had 4 A level exams back to back yesterday. That was 7, yes 7 hours of exams with a 10 minute break between. :/

What gets me about the whole tube strike (even though it's now over) is that millions of people across the country face redundancy, with many hundreds of thousands who have already lost their jobs. And these guys, most of whom get paid more than teachers (as an example) want a bloody pay rise. They should be greatful for the jobs they've got, and quite frankly after the way they screwed London over they should be fired! There's plenty of un-emplyed out there who would gladly take the jobs I'm sure. And no offence any tube workers, but teachers do a far more admirable and difficult job than you!The whole country/ world is just greedy. Nothing's ever enough, and money seems to be everything. That's why we're in the mess we're in, and unless people change there attitudes we'll be headed for another recession pretty damn soon. You've only got to look at the way these speculators are sending the price of oil through the roof (and the consequent massive rise in petrol) to see that we're pretty bloody buggered again in the very near future. And it's all because of the greed of a few; much like those lovely tube workers...

There are two water effects left working. 1) As you enter the cave, the waterfall. It gets the entire boat wet, so people won't get up and move about.2) A fountain inside the cave. You cannot see it because it's pitch black, so again people won't get up and move around. The seat belt idea sounds like a good one, but would it increase loading time/ unloading time? Thorpe should just have a sign that says "DO NOT stand up... blah blah... Thorpe cannot be held responsible for any injury as a result of mis-behaviour". That would "cover their arses" which is in reality all that Health and Safety is about.I mean if someone jumped over the fence to Nemesis Inferno and got hit by a train, I would have thought that Thorpe would actually get sued because of it (as stupid as it sounds) which is why they've put up the signs that say "Ride area do not enter" along the fences. A similar thing on Rumba could cover them..?

Small rant about Health and Safety.As some of you may have noticed on recent trips to Thorpe, all of the squirting fountains have been turned off. As well as this, the first waterfall that only got half the boats wet (after the first bend after leaving the "station" (?)) has physically been removed. This implies that it will never ever be coming back. Now even Thorpe Park can keep some water-foutains running, and this coupled with the actual removal of the rock that had the waterfall on it means that the only reason has to be H&S. The waterfall that falls on the boats just at entry to the cave is still there, but I think the only reason why that hasn't been removed is because of the fact it gets the whole boat wet, meaning people don't stand up to avoid it.Now I've heard (although it hasn't been proven) that the shower was turned off for H&S reasons, again because of people standing up to avoid it. Soooo,, Thorpe have removed all effects on Rumba that will encourage people to stand up. This in turn has made Rumba easilly the most boring ride in the park now. There is actually no point to it, and it isn't fun in the slightest.In this ridiculous culture we live in, if someone stands up and falls out the boat, they can sue Thorpe Park so I guess I can see it from Thorpe's point of view. But it sucks nontheless. And I HATE health and safety when they come in to work and start making us change things, and put "warning" signs up everywhere etc. etc. but that is off topic majorly.

I know it shouldn't, but saying Thorpe Park like THORPE PARK really annoys me. I know it's not you, it's the new idea Thorpe Park's had this year, but it kind of sounds like it's being shouted at you rather angrilly!

Yeah...

No worries, and I personally prefer the new track because I've never been to Alton Towers when it's been playing (I live too far away to go very often )

Ok, a trip report for yesterday the 2nd June!We arrived just at opening time, and of course everyone rushed over to ride Saw. We went the other way and managed four rides on Stealth at the front (yay for us!) We stayed over the Amity side of the park for until 11 or so, and got in another ride on Stealth at the back, as well as Rumba Rapids and Nemesis Inferno (Which has an effect working Ive never seen before!!! The smoke vent at the top of the queueline!). Oh and then Stealth again!Next Rush, with a 5-10 mintue queue or so. Rush was operationally running amazing today- I haven't seen it running so well in a loonnnggg time. Both swings were going to an exact or very similar height, and it was in sync! There weren't enough staff on the ride though and so loading took forever. Did Quantum twice, without getting off.See by now it was about half 11 or so, and some poor people hadn't even got off Saw by this point. The queue was still ridiculously long, and I never saw it less than 50 mintues until right at the very end of the day. So seriously, don't do Saw at the start of the day, there's a whole empty park waiting for you!At this point we walked over past Saw to Canada Creek (we were going to do SLammer but surprise surprise it was broken) so we rode Loggers. Then Rocky Express (twice!) then we went over to X:// which was rubbish as usual, then lunch. The afternoon consisted of two more times on Stealth, one on the front (with an ever increasing queuetime - 30 mintues it peaked at), another couple of Rush visits, a go on Slammer (finally!), another Rumba Rapids, Samauri, and because we wanted to get our days worth, Saw right at the very end of the day. I hate Saw more and more everytime I ride it, but it made the day longer.The day was surprisingly very busy, and the majority of our ride count was acheieved in the first couple of hours. It was very hot and we spent the afternoon in a very relaxed way- no rushing about, lots of standing next to Tidal Wave and a bit of arcade. All in all a fantastic day!Ride Count:Stealth: 8 (5 x front)Rush: 3Saw: 1Samauri: 1Rumba Rapids: 2Quantum: 2Slammer: 1X://: 1NI: 1Rocky Express: 2Flying Fish: 1CCR: 1Time VoyagersTotal ride count: 25Two main points.1) Slammer, although a good ride if it's working, has had its day. Get rid of the thing! It never ever ever works. I wouldn't be able to prove it, and I may be wrong, but I think its actually had more down-time than up-time this season. And even when it does work it is constantly breaking down! Yesterday it didn't open till at least 12. When it did work the loading time was even more painfully slow than usual, and I saw it broken, stuck, or running empty for tests many many times. Before people jump at me, I like the ride experience too, it's just that because it's always broken you never get to experience it! And it makes Thorpe look bad to guests because it's always roped off, or has engineers at the top. 2) Saw- I've said this before but if you want to have a good day at Thorpe, don't go on it until at least after lunch. The rest of the park is literally empty. Everything is a walk on, or no more than a minute or two's wait, so enjoy it and make the most of it! Lost City up Saw's end is a no-go until later in the day. If you want to have an even better day, don't go on Saw at all because it's awful! Cheers

And Samauri, mainly because it has an odd number of seats and most groups travel in an even number. It wouldn't slow things up too much either as staff have ages to get everything ready during the ride cycle.But why anyone would actually go on a ride on their own is a mystery to me.

I swear though that the time taken to find a single rider and put them on the train takes a long time- possibly reducing efficency?On Stealth for example, more often than not they don't realise that there's space for a single rider until everyone's on the train; a member of the ride team raises their hand, and it take a good 10-15 seconds for the person to get on. I personally don't think single rider adds much to efficency... but I may be wrong

So you got given a crap setting on Samauri, you had to wait ages for Slammer to actually work (and when it did it broke down on you), Saw was broken for a while meaning you had to wait for it to re-open, the effects in the Saw queueline weren't working, and neither were the ones on the actual ride...If I paid money for a day out like that then I wouldn't be particularly impressed! But no, I agree about Nemesis Inferno; it is always a very fast moving queue due to its quick dispatching. It's brilliant to hear that the effects on NI are fixed too!

2010) No new rides.No Thrill ChillNew entrance sign.New queueline (do away with the cattle pen) at the entrance for normal paying guests.Paint/ refurbish the Dome. Paint Colossus Theme the Flying Fish or at least sort out the disgusting ponds and general ride area.Either remove Zodiac or if not paint it to fit in with the Lost City area.Introduce ERT for Annual Pass holders during peak days and summer holidays. 2011) Laser/ shooting style ride- much like Duel- in the dark and well themed ride. Possibly where Fungle Safari was.2012) Big coaster to welcome in the year of the Olympics. A B&M flyer would be lovely- one that goes out across the lake.A giant frisbee to replace Vortex2013) Continue expanding Thorpe's infilling of the lake to allow for more room for rides, and a green space where guests can eat lunch/ relax. After the heavy investment from the year previously, no new rides, and a general clear up/ repainting of the areas in need.2014) Begin targetting families as well as Thrill seekers. Whilst still promoting the thrill capital of the UK, Thorpe could also try to target families with children "young thrill seekers". Possibly a runaway mine train and/ or a woodie that does not invert but provides a thrill. Maintain rides such as Quantum, Loggers Leap and X to achieve this. This would promote a "nicer" atmosphere in the park.2015) -2016) The year that Thorpe can go above their height restriction again? If it would be allowed built a higher, faster version of Stealth. Thorpe like records so why not the World's tallest or fastest coaster? Either keep Stealth as a "baby brother" for younger thrill seekers to try out first, or remove it.

No, that isn't the one I'm after unfortunately, but thanks for posting it along with the info. I swear you've posted audio for me before, so thanks! :)Hopefully they'll release the track to the public soon, I really like it!

Well... parts of the park open at 9:30 Plus, it's not the point, the early opening for AP holders at Thorpe would me little or no queues during that time. Perhaps when or if Thorpe develop a hotel resort we will see the same sort of thing seeing as that's part of the package at the AT hotel.

The current one. I had a look on Towers times or something and I presume that the track on there is the old one...?

Does anyone have, or have any idea where one might find the Towers Street audio?

Myself and a friend decided to go to AT over the bank holiday weekend- on both Sunday and Monday.It's only the second (and third) time I've actually been there, and it's a brilliant place.So we started off getting there about 9 o clock, took the monorail over to the entrance and went through the turnstiles. This is the point at which we were told Annual Pass holders got to go in before everyone else! Of course we thought that this was brilliant!During this extra time we went on Oblivion several times, as well as Rita. It was our first rides on Rita, and although a very good rides with some lovely air-time, I personally think that Stealth is far far superior in ride experience. Once all the guests had been let in we assumed that the queue times would rocket to 60-90 mintues, but we were wrong. We queued no longer than approx. 15 mintues for Air. For the Sunday our total tide counts would have been at least triple anyone who visited Thorpe Park over the May bank holiday. This is where we both began to find ourselves continually moaning about Thorpe Park, and wishing that AT was the 30 mintues drive away that Thorpe is for us. I've already mentioned the queue times, which because of the size of the park, and the running of all rides at full capacity were tiny. But there were many other things.1) Theming. As an example, Duel had much better theming than Saw. That't not even me joking about or being flipant (sp?), it's completely true. Saw's queueline consists of some rusty farm machinery, and some plastic bodies laying on barbed wire. Duel's queueline uses anamatronics, has a room that is lop-sided and creates an atmosphere that does exactly what theming is supposed to do- take you away from reality. Saw does not achieve this in any sense of the imagination. As well as this, ALL of Alton's rides are themed, and most of them majorly so. The whole park gives a sense of escapism.2) Operation of rides. Reliability was amazing. Oblivion broke down for around an hour on the Sunday, but the staff still actually bothered to fix it and get it running 15 mintues before closing time. And as well as this, they told us all in the queue that they would keep the ride open an extra 15 mintues at the end of the day to make up for the down time. (So we just kep going round and round). Thorpe Park would never ever get the ride up and running so close to the end of the day, and moreover, they would never keep the queueine open longer to make up for it. 3) Annual Passes let in early. AT do it, why can't Thorpe Park? Or is it simply because Thorpe can't get their rides open for normal opening time, let alone an hour before hand!?4) Guests! AT actually targets all age groups, meaning that it isn't packed completely full of the dregs like Thorpe is! (we still got queue-jumped several times)5) Effects. This kind of falls into the theming category, but effects were working everywhere! None were broken as far as we could tell! (obviously if we went there more we would probably notice them more)Those are just some of the major points we picked up on. Of course the staff are equally as good at both, and as I said Stealth is a major positive of Thorpe (at least for me it is). It was just so noticable how much nicer the atmosphere was, and there was NO ONE in guest services at the end of the day. No one!All in all a big fat 10 out of 10 for Alton; I enjoyed it a lot. The only thing is that it's made me dangeroulsy anti- Thorpe!