JoshC.

*Awaits a barrage of unoriginal gifs being directed towards Tommy*

Bumpty bump: http://whatson.ae/dubai/knowledge/27410/ferrari-world-new-record-breaking-roller-coaster/ Another new coaster for Ferrari World is 'Flying Aces', featuring a '51 degree lift hill' and the world's tallest loop at 52m. Great to see even more investment in the park, but does anyone ever actually care about the a roller coaster having "the world's tallest loop"?

Out of all the parties, Green is the one I'd be most inclined to vote for. But, like others have said, some of their policies are great, whereas some just...aren't. Which makes it difficult to vote for them. I kind of got annoyed as well by some of their broadcasting, namely... Sure, it's quite funny, but it feels very cheap and accepting that some of their policies aren't the best.. The other 'big' parties are just a no for me as well.. So, unless a MRLP candidates is running in my area (I actually haven't checked), then I'll be spoiling my ballot this time around.

A world of triple posting. Meh. I did this again today! Same course, etc. Went really well, as this little feedback sheet shows...

Let's move any political discussion here to avoid a topic derailment: http://forum.maniahub.com/topic/10940-general-election-2015/(surprised it's taken this long for such a thread to come about, but we need one!)

So the general election is happening THIS THURSDAY. And we don't even have a thread for it? Disgraceful. Discuss all things electiony here. Are you voting? Where do your allegiances lie? Or are you apathetic to the whole process and feel much bigger change is needed? Even if you're not old enough to vote, still feel free to contribute your thoughts! (PS: This thread could get very opinionated and very messy very quickly; let's try and keep handbags away from this yeah? )

Seems to change a lot. Usually it's every 3 trains, but sometimes it's more (I've seen it anything up to once every 7 trains, though that was in 2012) or less. Some Summer Nights that I went to they had it going off every train which was pretty sweet.

From TPM's Facebook: One of Swarm's water effects is back working again.

Question: Why is this only open on weekdays? (Never been to AI or given it much attention, so this could be a really stupid question. I'm just a bit confused!)

Have I missed something? Where / when have people been calling the show inappropriate? :S

Well that explains why they kept the Carousel control booth. How else will they keep their ladders upright when not using them?

*6 months, since they've had closed season too. Hopefully this can be open by June time when all the school trips start happening in their hundreds. I know it's not got a brilliant throughput, but every little helps and SBNO rides are never a good reflection on any park...

Has it? Completely missed it on my visit then..

So this thing is testing now: No duelling yet, but that will come I assume.

Yeah; almost doubled the size of the land really, with a few new rides and a couple of play areas / exhibitions. Highlight for me is a Zamperla Demolition Derby which looks pretty fun actually In fairness, they had Air Race last year which is a fabulous addition to the park's line up in my opinion. I'm fine with them investing in Thomas Land as much as they want, but other parts of the park need attention too Buffalo, Pirates Adventure, the god-awful Wild West shoot out are all rides which either need removal or complete overhauls. If they sort them out, then they've actually got a pretty solid selection of attractions for a full day out. Another major coaster would be nice, but it's not a necessity at this stage to be fair.

Phill: "I'm scared, I want to go home. They've got super spinny things on this Carousel" Adam: "Oh go ride Thorpe Park's Carousel. Oh wait, YOU CAN'T. HA."

More Thomas Land expansion coming next year: Credit to Theme UK's Facebook. Nice to see the park continuing to invest and I'm glad Thomas Land has worked for them, but the rate they're going, it may add well be called Thomas Theme Park with Drayton Manor Land.

Double posting? How wrong of me. I've had it confirmed today that (assuming I get the grades) I've got a scholarship for my Masters Degree!

Carrying on with exam-esque theme, my first wave of exams is over! So yay, slight celebrations before my second wave begins in 2 and a bit weeks time.

Don't include the 's' in "https://" part of the link ie: You used this: http://youtu......... Fixed it for you though

Banned because you probably made 321 posts resurrecting dead topics like this one.

Pretty drawings. Let's see how the place looks in 5 years time before getting exited though.

The way it worked last year is you choose a date and tell them where you'd like to see. Of course, there may be limitations, but just ask for what you want and see what happens! I think they give you time though, so they can fit in with other VIP guests and the engineers' schedules. The VIP are usually really quick to respond to emails and give as much detail with any questions you have, so if you have any other questions, probably best to ask them directly!

3 of the 5 major Merlin parks have winged coasters now. A winged coaster wouldn't fit in with Chessington really and given Alton's constraints, I'd be very surprised if they had the space to build a decent winged coaster. The Swarm argument could go round in circles for months, but I think one thing worth remembering is this: 2013 saw the addition of a new, large-scale piece of theming (the billboard), which many see as the best near miss of the ride. The backwards rows, despite all the stick they are given by enthusiasts, have been well-received too. Given that, I don't think it shows they're *completely* out of touch with their customers, but rather they needed to give it a kick start for it to be as popular as they wanted it to be. I think you might have hit the nail on the head - they simply need more staff. I don't think having extra trains would help, as that requires a lot more storage space (which Thorpe simply don't have), and they would probably end up doing a Stealth and always having two ready and the third in the middle of a major strip down. It must be a pretty major part for it to be down this long. The ride was fine for AP day and the first few days of the season, and then died, so it must be something quite serious and unforeseen to be waiting this long.