JoshC.

Still £5. Only VIP holders get it free.

No doubt they'll have tweaked the maximum numbers / the way the advertised the event. The first few Summer Nights were very quiet (but obviously popular enough to keep going!), and word of mouth probably made the event much more popular then anticipated. They'll have learnt from last year for sure!

There is a 'Preview Event' for all Annual Passholders, where you get into Summer Nights free instead of paying £5 - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/thorpe-park-resorts-summer-nights-preview-for-annual-passholders-tickets-12074235363

http://old.towerstimes.co.uk/history/plans/woodie.htm Withdrew the application due to concerns from the council it would seem. The next two coasters to be installed at Alton Towers ended up being Spinball and Rita. Yay.

I'd say Chessington is in a lot worse position than Thorpe when it comes to land. Thorpe have had the ability to create new land for ages (with the first time being the land for Tidal Wave I think?), so have been able to expand. They've still got an empty island, the island with the Shark Hotel as well as plenty of space in the core of the park for future developments. Surprising they have so much, considering how small the place is! Chessington, on the other hand, don't have many 'dead spots' in the park (like, say, the MHFS spot, CCR station, etc. that Thorpe has), they can't expand outwards much more and they can't go very high or very loud. It seems more difficult to build things there than at Alton Towers too, considering there's all the animal enclosures and the rumours about the land sliding (I don't know if that's true or not?). This is my biggest fear over Chessington. I just can't see physically being able to expand much more. It's all well and good saying they need this, that and the other (and they need a lot!), but then where they're gonna put it is just too difficult to call.

Mark is happy about this news...

Biggest banboy of 2013, joint sexiest ban of 2013 and joint most banicated member 2013 - aimed at Creeky; was too slow! You must go on the ban list. It's the BANLAW.

I didn't even know Fury had temporary approval? Presumably, the temporary approval would have been for 1, 5 or 10 years (all of which have passed), so it's likely to be on permanent approval now.

I seemed to be in the few that actually liked the You're Next characters roaming around the park! They weren't as good as the previous couple of years, but I still quite liked them. I expect we'll see a replacement for Asylum. There's of course the obvious film choice to replacement (clue: it's about chainsaws), but whether we see that or not, I don't remain fully confident. As a wild choice, I'd love to see the park try Hostel as an Asylum replacement. Space would likely be the main problem, but I really think it would work as a great scare attraction, and certainly be the extreme level Thorpe go for for Fright Nights! In saying that, I'm still interested how Fright Nights will be marketed this year. There's been a huge push on a family market this year; could possibly ruin all that by saying 'COME GET SCARED ****LESS WITH OUR HORROR FILM THEMED SCARE MAZES'. I do wonder whether we'll see a more family-orientated attraction (Hunger Games? ), even if it's just with the roaming actors. I wouldn't be surprised if there's minimal money spent on the existing attractions, which would lead the way for more money being able to be spent on any new attractions as well as park-wide appearance and atmosphere. Well, that's the hopes and dreams at least!

Think you're confusing a Zacspin with a Topspin there...

Flamingo Land is pretty bad with Twitter as well; likes to just post EVERYTHING in one hit, then you don't there for another week. So so bad.

More like Probanor Drunk!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

So was looking around old planning applications (I do have a life, promise...), and found this little thing in Slammer's original application... So one of the old MTDPs proposed that an existing water ride could be moved to what is now Slammer's site (as, bare in mind, that MTDP would've been written in the early 2000s). Given the water-based rides at the park during that time, the only feasible option would've been Depth Charge. Unfortunately, the original MTDP plans aren't available (there seems to be a nice habit of removing them off the council's site after a couple of years!), so who knows. But yeah, slightly interesting maybe. Also, near the end of the application, there's a report written by someone from Thorpe about the Sky Swat prototype built in Utah: How true it was that the world became familiar with the Sky Swat, but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons!

Via @derekburgan on Twitter: CATTLEPEN IN GRINGOTTS! (And that's another reason why Angry Birds Land is better than Diagon Alley )

Just a suggestion... Peaj is obviously a busy man, so is it worth, in future, other people volunteering to write an 'official' trip report for meets? I always like reading trip reports in general, the the Meet ones in particular are great (either to relive memories or to see what I've missed out on!). Plus I think having an official TR always looks good for newer members if they're thinking of going on a trip. In the past, I've thought about doing a TR, but then end up not doing it as I know there's going to be an official one - and the fact I've usually left an hour or two early - but if I was told to / asked to do an official one, that'd give me more of an incentive.

It was last rethemed the same year they got Colossus. It's in dire need of a retheme and considering Thorpe have been focusing on families and guest experience lately, I don't see any reason why they can't get a new attraction and retheme it. Sure, it's extra money, but it'll be money well spent.

Obviously going to be rethemed around Saw next season then.

I personally felt that Single Rider never really worked with Stealth. Too much faffing about and by the time staff realised there was a spare seat, it took so long for them to get a single rider, let them drop off their bag and then get to their seat that it would just hold up the ride a little bit. If you're going to have a SRQ on a ride, the queue lines needs to be incorporated; it's too difficult to shove it in with a Fastrack queue, exit queue or disabled queue. In saying that, I thought SRQ worked well on Saw, and I rarely found it possible that you'd be able to jump in the main queue from the SRQ as staff would always be watching to ensure you didn't do that. I just don't think SRQ will ever really work at Thorpe. Just not enough space for it to work in my opinion. It's a shame really, but I just can't see it ever working.

Presumably Ricky was more referring to a maximal theoretical throughput, as opposed to a theoretical one. Human flaws (with both staff and guests) will make it very difficult to achieve those throughputs. I think it's very rare that you ever get a ride reach (or exceed) maximal theoretical throughputs!

Stop medalling in other people's baniness.

I've made it no secret that I've liked the Shark from Day 1. However, I do see people's concerns / dislikes about it. Personally, I thought it looked a bit more vibrant and colourful than the photos show. It doesn't really look like junk in person, more like a collage of metal. On the other hand, I'm disappointed that the inside received no "scrap pieces", showing all the metal framework. It looks a bit dodgy and untidy really; would much rather have seen it given more piece on the inside for a more complete feel. It still looks great from a distance, but close up, perhaps not so much.

I could see it being popular during the days where Summer Nights are occurring in the evening. After all, some people will turn up for the 10am-6pm/7pm day, then stay for the extra 3 hours for Summer Nights. Some people will be more than happy to take an hour away from doing rides to experience the Flow Rider, given the fact they could be spending 11 hours on park! They were still offering the 2 for 1 offer on Sunday as well.

The Thorpe Park Mania logo at the top of all the forum pages has disappeared for me. Anyone else got this issue? :S