JoshC.

Coventry Uni students supporting their ice hockey team...

Well that's shut me right up, hasn't it? Still, a bit of a shame that that look couldn't have been passed onto the coaster.

You know what that coaster needs? MORE CONCRETE! Thank goodness that Merlin parks are actually bothering with a theme / theming on the major installations.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=SegaWorld (Though I'd never heard of it before now!)

Let's not forget all the good things MMM have done. Granted, things which they've done at Chessington haven't been great, but for the most part, MMM's creations have been top notch.

I wonder whether that view will look any different this time next year..?

Turtle does indeed raise a good point, but I think Ryan's idea could still work. We have the blog features on the forum and, no doubt, if someone wanted to write a blog entitled 'Why I think Thorpe is rubbish' (or whatever), and give a good argument for why they think that, then it would stay on the forum. The forum itself is all about free speech of course, so there'd be nothing wrong with that. Indeed, I would love to see someone write a good blog post on why they think Thorpe is rubbish (if that's their view), as it would no doubt lead to a good debate. But I think having articles written by members could work as well. Yes, of course, with TPM being the official fansite, it would be unwise for the website to publish an article giving heavy critique of Thorpe, but there could be articles praising Thorpe, people giving their views on what they'd realistically like to see at Thorpe in the future, or reviews on other parks, just to mix things up a little bit. It could generate more discussion, leading to more membership on the forum, and then more balanced debate, meaning that we're not going to see 'THORPE PARK IS AMAZING' everywhere and, at the same time, avoid publishing negative-Thorpe articles on the main TPM page. I definitely like the idea and think it could work if the articles were of the right topic. Would love to see it trialled out if the Team think it's a good idea!

I quite like the little Twitter was the parks have. Creates a bit of fun, keeps all the Merlin parks in the limelight, and does no harm. More importantly, it's actually pretty decent - not like the cringey 'Thorpe Memes' or anything like that.

Low and behold - a picture of what everyone is talking about! (From Towers Nerd Live - http://live.towersnerd.com/, of course) Could be for SW8, could not be. It's not been that much of a secret that there's been rumours of SW8 replacing the flume, going near Gloomy Wood, etc., and that this is the original SW7 which was delayed due to technical issues, etc. etc. Not much more that we can speculate over for the time being. Could just be the felling of trees; there seems to have been quite a lot of that judging on the pictures from TNL.

Tallest inverting flat ride in the world is going to be at least 200ft, surely? I really don't think a flat ride that could go that tall would suit Thorpe, and do not issues of capacity would play a part. Plus, any ride which dwarfs Stealth would have to be a no-no in my books. Plus, I don't think it'd be that big of an appeal to guests, if we thinking in the Merlin-way. "Tallest upside non-coaster in the world" doesn't have that big of a pull-factor in my books. Slammer's the 4th tallest ride on park, when it reaches maximum height, I believe. 'Tis behind Stealth, Swarm and Detonator. Even then, you're only really 'upside down' when you reach the height of the supports, so at about 60ft.

Track almost finished. (From Premier's Twitter) I still really don't what I think about this sort of ride. I can see why it'd appeal to people, but at the same time, just seems a bit 'meh' to me...

I do see what you are saying, and do agree, but the (sad) fact is, Scorpion Express is one of the park's major rides. With a month to go until the park opens, I'd expect a major ride of a park of Chessington's-supposed quality to be almost done, and to be adding the extra fine details which turn, in what should have been this case, a themed, bog-standard mine train, to a special mine train. However, at this stage, we're looking at ride with a plastic cactus in the middle, that needs everything done to it to claw its way into the definition of 'themed mine train'. So I think people's concerns and judgements at this stage are more than fair, though I still do agree that full judgement should be reserved until the day you ride. In saying all that, I don't even think a flashy fire effect and a water sprinkler could impress everyone if all else they do is put a vinyl backdrop and a couple of plastic cacti about. And that's exactly what I fear they're doing.

Depends on what the homework is. Sometimes it's good to be set homework for the simple fact that it makes students do the work. Of course, getting feedback is good, and if you really wanted it marked, no doubt you could ask if you really wanted. It's a part of education - you get work set, and it's not always possible for it to be marked. Indeed, as you go through education, it will become more and more common. Think of it as preparation

BLACKPOOL PLEASURE BEACH. MUCH RIDES. MANY TICKETS. SO BIG ONE. WOW. [/futile 'let's get back on topic post']

Looking at Scorpion Express depresses me. I'm just hoping that the final result will actually be alright...

Meh, I prefer the 'fresh; fizzy drinks over the stuff from the bottle; I'd feel more cheesed off if they were giving it to us from a bottle to be honest... I guess the only good thing right now is the fact they might re-design the bottle again, so that it doesn't leak / break.

Two words: Exam stress. Worst. Thing. Ever.

To be fair, when they updated they're website, there are crosses for 'Unlimited Refills' for Standard and Premium holders. So they haven't technically lied, but have been very underhand in the change. But yes, I'd be very interested to see their "market research", and why that makes them think they can be somewhat patronizing in their reasoning behind this all.

New Drinks Capsule conditions, sourced from Merlin's FB: Not a fan. -The whole point of the quencher, to me, was you paid a one of fee, and got unlimited drinks. -Quenchers are meant to be easy and convenient. Having to muster out 75p from my wallet every time I want a refill, or having to deal with 25p change every time I pay with a quid, doesn't spell convenience to me. These days I don't really have that my change to hand, mainly paying with card and what-not. -Smaller capsules = boo. I never had a problem with my drink 'not staying fresh'. For me, this will likely end up costing more than the £16 flat rate from last year. I made 12-14 trips to Merlin parks last season, and would usually get 4 refills each time (average guestimate there of course). That's £3.50 a trip under the new rules, so working out at about £48 roughly. Eurgh. Thinking about it, I may not even bother with a capsule this year then. Just trying to work this. If people are going to end up saving money (according to Merlin's research), then that means people were buying a capsule, and fill it up less than 18 times in the year. Dunno how reasonable that sounds to be honest. So yeah, bad thing for me personally; will have to see if I end up actually buying a capsule this year then... Quite possibly this has been done to enforce stricter fair usage policies...

First look at the new-style restraints. (From KI's FB)

As far as I'm aware, if you were to get off the M25 at Chertsey, none of the route from there to Thorpe is affected (indeed, my house is on that route, and is in no way affected, or going to be affected, by the floods - fortunately!). Water is bound to be high either side of Staines Road on the route, but I expect it would take a ridiculous amount more rain and such before it would actually affect the road.

You can (probably) get diverted to go through Chertsey if the roads are still inaccessible Staines way. If Thorpe remain largely unaffected, they'll still open

Found this photo: From my FB in July 2011 - https://www.facebook.com/joshua.coyston/media_set?set=a.2236459274034.133126.1324550230&type=3 (Sorry about the terrible quality) Certainly looks like it was but up then? I vaguely remember seeing the shop after it had opened thinking the sign would have suited a Swarm shop, because the font used looked very similar to that of Swarm's at the time Strange either way though EDIT: Looks like there's two different sets of photos there. There's some labelled as 'Berk09-####' and some as 'JasonHawkes-####'. So maybe the Berk ones are from 2009 and the JH ones 2012? You can sorta make out from one or two of the 'Berk' ones that Octopus Gardens is still about.

Gosh darn it, pluk beat me to it... Meh, I can still sum up Ricky's post with this:

Imagine the busiest Subway you've been to at lunch time, ten times busier. That would be a theme park Subway all the time... *shudders*