JoshC.

Nice idea - hope people take them up on it! As for price; I'd expect an extra £20-£30 for a bolt on (at a maximum). Given that it's saving guests £10 per visit (£5 for the visit, £5 for the car parking), and they're getting a Fastrack package worth about £15-£20, Thorpe will probably want to entice people to buy it to visit more. As for Fastracks at Fright Nights, whilst I only visited once, I thought that the Fastrack queues were rather short during the night, so actually had little affect on the main queues (since there were times when the Fastrack queue was none-existence. Then again, maybe I visited on a quiet-ish night. Much better than 2012 at least!

Interesting how my opinion's changed on this.. I did like X:\NWO, possibly due to the fact that it was 'that bad it was good'. However, I do prefer X now; much more fun and rerideable as well. As much as I'd like to have just one more ride on it, I don't miss it. Still, my opinion hasn't changed about me missing WWH / CCR / The Flying Fish, as well as the jetties, equally..

Number 2 was the lie. I used to own a Samsung phone, but recently upgraded to the HTC One Mini 2. Old-style TVs are the best, and I do indeed have two pairs of glasses (though only ever wear one...)

Happy birthday Benin - I hope you're having fun collecting more creds in Germany!

I'll do some stuff now, to occupy myself instead of insulting you further Jason ... 1) I don't have a flat screen TV because I prefer the old style TVs. 2) I own a Samsung phone. 3) I have two pairs of glasses. (Yay for being boring with my options...)

Clearly Number 2. *Shakes fist in anger*

Organized Chat! Some people have been asking for Chat-related games/quizzes/ice breakers/whatevers, so I'll have a go at organizing one. So, this Thursday, 7:30pm. Things will start off with an ice breaker game - Mr and Mrs. Rules are still being finalized and stuff, but the idea is that you'll pair up with someone (preferably someone who you don't know very well), then chat with them for a few minutes over private chat bit to get to know the person a bit better. Then there'll be a series of questions, like in the Mr and Mrs game show, that you have to answer about your partner, to see if you've got to know them any better. The idea will be that you have to PM two sets of answers - your guesses about your partner, as well as your answers about yourself, so that I can compare. As I say, rules are still being finalised. (And if this fails miserably, this was LePaige's idea - so it's all her fault ). After the ice breaker, there'll be a small theme park quiz. Questions will probably be about all theme parks and rides - ranging from Thorpe Park to Six Flags to Disney. All a bit of fun of course, just to see how you measure up to others. If you'd like to take part, give a quick post so I know not to start without you. Or, if people want to see a different time, just say - the majority may decide something else. And if you can't take part in this at all, there's usually a couple of people hanging out in Chat most evenings now - why not drop in and say hi?

Empty dodgems. Would benefit from seeing some action going on there. 5/10.

I think that, when the park closes at 10pm, the shuttle bus riibs till 11pm, so you should be okay.

I've found that, in my experience across the Merlin parks, some staff are okay with letting the odd one or two non-AP people through if they're in a group that's mainly AP holders. Some might be a little stricter, some might not be. As you say, no harm in asking!

The amount he was screaming and playing up, I was beginning to think he was an actor to be honest!

Feel like this thread needs to be used some more... 7 toofpikk expertly modelling the glasses used for the Angry Birds 4D Experience. j.s217 is rolling in Inferno's mist with utter joy. Peaj is approving of such shenanigans.

Thorpe Park asked for students to open their A Level results on some rides: (Notice how Saw has a new film IP... )

Feel like this could come in handy at some points...

As much as it pains me to say anything good about Storm Surge, it is better for the park the park then Octopus Gardens in my opinion. At the end of the day, Octopus Gardens was a collection of dated rides which would look more comfortable in a high street than in a theme park. Their popularity was declining (well, of course, considering the target market), and it just wasn't for the park. Storm Surge, despite its list of flaws longer than the Great Wall of China, is a family ride which can be 'enjoyed' by the majority of people. Now the target market is families, but they seem to be focusing on families where the children at slightly older. Chessington and Legoland have family markets that are more geared towards families with younger children, so it makes sense for Merlin to turn Thorpe to do what they're doing. When a child hits 7-8, they'll likely be 1.2m anyways, so can do a lot of rides there now. Octopus Garden just didn't have a place in Thorpe any more, and I think even if Thorpe had always been a family park, it wouldn't have deserved a place any longer than what it got.

It seems that, despite the Haunted House ride for next season being recommend for approval, the council have refused the approve the ride! Why you ask? Fears over extra traffic... http://www.windsorexpress.co.uk/News/Areas/Windsor/Legolands-haunted-house-proposal-refused-planning-permission-14082014.htm Such a shame. I wonder what Legoland's next step will be... EDIT: After looking through the plans and such - http://www.rbwm.gov.uk/pam/view.jsp?ID=14%2F01251%2FFULL - it seems like there was a LOT of objection from locals, with traffic being one the major concerns. Also sounds like there was a disagreement between how much it would encourage new visitors to come to the park. What's most interesting about the comments received is the ones from the Highway Authority. At first, they didn't seem in favour of the project, but then changed their minds.. I wonder if we will see an appeal on our hands then..

^This is just a list for what people would pick; so it may or may not include ones that are currently there! Just wondering; does anyone know how long the current playlist is? I think for me, what's actually played is less important, but more the length of playlist, to keep it fresh and such.

You have some Bantille lyrics in your signature.

^Would actually love to hear that played in the area during Fright Nights! They probably won't change anything. If they go for park-wide theming, I guess we could see some small bits adding to the area. Given that Fright Nights is aimed towards the older audience, there's no need to do anything to ABL really, as the majority of people going for Fright Nights will be less interested in it. Roaming actors will probably be told to not focus on younger children I expect.

According to Screamscape, it's the state of New Jersey that have put the restriction on (though they themselves find it hard to believe!) - http://www.screamscape.com/html/six_flags_great_adventure.htm They mention about how the control systems for both rides are linked, so essentially the rides cannot operate at the same time. I've definitely read this somewhere else, though where I cannot find. Certainly doesn't surprise me; though I do hope the two can run simultaneously in the future.

Looks like a new maze is definitely on the cards: http://www.prweek.com/article/1307467/thorpe-park-hires-prettygreen-fright-night-sessions (Loving that MBV photo as well ) Here's the company Thorpe are working with - http://www.itsprettygreen.com/ . They seem pretty good; looking forward to seeing how they go about with the PR!

I don't have any jokes unfortunately. I guess you could say I'm a pun wit wonder.

Helix cost just over £21m, but I guess the difficult landscape could add to the cost. According to Wikipedia, Blue Fire cost between £5.5m-£6.5m without "decorations", which I guess means theming. Alpina Blitz at Nigloland only cost £5.5m as well. So they certainly seem quite affordable, and at say £6m, it's not unreasonable to say that one of the smaller parks here could splash out and get a smaller one. I do wonder if the lack of Mack is because the parks are waiting for more to be made, to see how good the quality is - I don't think Mack have done many major coasters for example.

Stealth won't be able to get the additional supports to get one, because of the council restrictions. Thank goodness as well in my opinion - Detonator is a great drop tower. Plus I wouldn't want to see the park's icon coaster have to deal with troubling throughput to accommodate for a drop tower.

Yeah, Jessabelle's released has been continuously put back - with it currently having a limited release in November now. I'd be surprised if that was turned into an attraction to be honest, but if it was, it'd make for a create chance for to have a maze which uses atmosphere more than actors jumping out at you. Still holding onto a sliver of hope for a Hostel-themed attraction, however 'out there' that sounds, but TCM seems like a likely choice.