JoshC.

Banned for being called Luke!

The trims on the airtime hill only play a role if the train is going too fast; they're not like Th13teen's and operate all the time, for example. I didn't find Smiler's airtime hills that great to be honest. I can't remember if I got that much airtime, but the main reason I enjoyed them was the fact that they weren't an inversion and broke up the monotony of being rolled upside constantly...

When people say 'being forceless' is a bad thing, that all comes down to personal taste. Some people will prefer rides like Nemesis, which is just intense all the way through, some will prefer rides like Air which is very floaty and doesn't really inject much force on the riders. I don't have any personal preferences either way really; if it's a good ride, with an interesting layout and theme, then I'm happy!

Banned for having a problem with people having a problem with... You get the idea

It's hard to tell from a set of pictures, but I reckon that the soundtrack will fit in nicely with the ride and area. Granted, it's not an example of IMAscore's finest work, but it looks like it will work well with the area.

Not going to lie, when I here 'Derren Brown' and 'wood' in the same sentence, my first thoughts are this: Maybe with a Derren Brown theme, they could say it's the first roller coaster in the world to play with your mind and even call is a 'The world's first true Psychcoaster'!?!?!?!

They could easily chuck a "gimmick" on a Mack Mega Lite, be it some sort of inversion or thematic element. In fact, a Mack Mega Lite would be a great idea - the hardware is cheap, so they can spend millions, literally, on theming and the like. Go all out and create something different and exciting, then there's your killer image and tagline sorted. Gimmicks won't necessarily equate to "firsts".

Banned for being incorrect! (JG has none - you can see how many Awards members have by looking underneath their profile picture )

"Europe's first Wooden roller coaster with a *insert type of inversion here!!"

5 minute demo of Flug der Dämonen's soundtrack. Here's hoping that Merlin and IMAscore have developed a good working relationship and we see them collaborate as much as possible!

Banned for calling Inferno 'The King of Thorpe Park' in your signature. She's obviously a gal...

You are indeed! Funnily enough, I'm planning on writing a blog post about Detonator and it's history sometime next week (it's surprisingly richer than you may think!); keep an eye out for it...

Just to say, my problem isn't wholly about the car park issue (as I have no clue if they're doing their best with it due to very limited experience with it...). However, the compensation they give does annoy me slightly. You complain, so you get free Fastrack. It's the standard reaction from Guest Services. That's what I have a problem with. Sure, it's nice for those who get it, but Fastrack can have issues, and handing out free ones like sweets isn't going to help... Even if they gave you money off food or a cheaper ticket (if you don't have a MAP) or some occasions, it would be an improvement.

The point is, this is typical Merlin. You complain, they don't do anything more than give a 'standard apology', and bung Fastrack tickets at you to make everything feel better. And we all know how much of an issue Fastrack can be. I remember in 2012 when I complained about the ratio of Fastrack guests to ordinary guests being let into Experiment 10 (30 Fastrack guests to 0 normal queue at one point). Nothing was written down and they simply said 'it shouldn't be like that', and I had 10 Fastrack tickets offered to me...

Was looking forward to reading this report! Air Meeting looks really nice and the themed announcers is such a brilliant touch; would love to see a similar idea implemented as much as possible. Plus, themed uniforms are just lush. Alpina Blitz looks sexy as and I hope parks take note of this. Cheap, simple hardware and you create a beast of a ride. People say B&M are the Rolls Royce of the coaster world and that Intamin produce quality rides. But when you look at rides like this, Blue Fire and Helix, you get rides which looks great, can be cheap and ride excellently. Hopefully the next couple of years really puts Mack 'up there'. Also interesting about Rodolphe's sheer honesty about the park that you mention. Taking Merlin for example, I don't think if a group of 4 Americans, say, emailed asking for someone to talk to about their latest attraction, they'd get someone who's quite as open about the park and where there failings are. Always nice to hear there are people like that.. Seeing the installation of Alpina Blitz put Nigloland on my radar of places to visit instantaneously (then again, what park isn't on that list at the moment for me...). Shame it's so out of the way. Had a look on Google Maps and there just doesn't seem to be any easy way to get to it!

Following photos are from Coasterforce's Twitter... CF also tweeted that the queue line is "more extensive" than they thought, saying that lights, smoke and the maze are beautiful. Seats are also as comfortable as the Blue Fire ones it would appear. Already made up my mind now - DEFINITELY going here next year.

Banned for being from Essex.

Those Pax coasters look really...weird. Just checked out Formule 1 on Youtube and looks surprisingly wild for a coaster of that scale. What sort of height restriction / market is that particular coaster geared towards? Certainly seems like it could said to be a 'big coaster' in a similar style to how Rattlesnake is at Chessington. Obviously difficult to tell from a selection of pictures, but the coasters feel very RCT in how they've been placed. Looks like a cute little park though!

According to RCDB, it's about 4500ft long (so a bit longer than Lisebergbanan) and will be the 7th longest coaster in Europe. EDIT: Beaten by Benin. Though it will be the 7th longest, not 6th.

Th13teen's shutter seems to be like Inferno's mist - very hit and miss, and can completely change the experience depending on whether it works or not. It's interesting really, I would have thought the shutter system could have been synced with the drop system, so that if the drop system works, then the shutter will also work. Seems not, but I would have thought that such a thing was physically possible, so it's curious that's not the case...

Really shouldn't do that with any ride really, let alone one at Chessington where they're quite hit and miss at the moment still!

I don't quite get the logic in creating the full experience a year after the ride opens? I know it's something that Tripsdrill did with their Gerstlauer, but it's just a unusual way of going about it... Anyone know why exactly some parks decide to that?

Banned for playing an instrument.

Banned for having a better avatar than me