JoshC.

I guess, at least, it's a way of get some form of experience in the working world, which will be invaluable. I did a week one summer a couple at an accountancy firm I did Work Experience at in Year 10 (technically it was just more work experience, as the guy I was with told me to contact him if I wanted a bit of work). He did pay me £40, but I worked for 5 days, 9am-4pm. Whilst it was basically nothing, it helped me invaluably in deciding that finance wasn't the sector for me.. I haven't got a job for this summer. Thanks to getting bursaries from uni, I've been able to save up enough money over the year so I can not worry about money this summer, and instead enjoy it and work out what direction I'm going in. It's also allowed me to settle in to uni in my first year, and get to know when are good times to look for jobs and work experience. The next couple of summers, I'm going to focus of getting work experience in the hope I can find some sort of job I'd enjoy if I don't go down the PhD route (and even if I do go down that route, I've still ended up with experience in the working world).

Don't worry, in uni that's a pass, so you haven't failed!

I hate hot weather. Anything above 26 or 27 degrees is uncomfortable to me, so the past few days have been a bit of a nightmare. Looking at some of the night temperatures the past few days - I'd quite happily take them as day time temperatures! I guess the past few days were even worse because I had my Aircast boot on, which made my foot and leg extremely hot and sweaty - not the mention it's quite heavy in itself, meaning lugging it around is a lot of effort. So glad I only had to deal with a plaster cast for a day.

Well, completely obvious now what sort of market they're targeting now! Not quite sure on it though. It's got that sense of humour to it, but it feels a bit forced and unnatural in my opinion. I like it, but at the same time, cringe to it.

I will be there! Thanks Thorpe and TPM for this - can't wait!

When you were born, you were the: 5,619,397,439thperson alive on Earth 80,877,793,452ndperson to have lived since history began With a life expectancy of 77.4 years. Woo.

Haven't you now given away the answer to one of the questions now, before everyone has submitted their answers? But yeah, had no idea on that one. XD

Woo, top of the leader board! Know exactly what question I got wrong; still have no idea about it though. XD Thanks Sids for doing this; have fun in Germany and I look forward to next week!

Just as a thought, do any other Gerstlauers other than Saw have offload platforms (having only ridden Saw, I genuinely have no idea). I remember hearing that Saw was, in a way, a prototype due to the dual loading/offloading, but due to all the troubles Saw had, they probably wouldn't do it again. Not sure if that included the offload station though? Might be the reason why they didn't include an offload platform though. Smiler being a prototype in itself, they might have though it best to not go back to territory they found troublesome in the past?

I didn't think either of them were prototypes. I remember the advertising for Slammer featured a white Sky Swat with American flags, which I always presumed was the prototype. Unless it used a slightly different system or something? I think Rush was the first Screamin' Swing to have 32 seats, but there was no new technology with it? As for what I think of Slammer... Well, to be honest, I hope it reopens quickly and stays open for the rest of the season. Then I just hope they get rid of it and get something better. A picnic area would be nice. (Yep, I really hate Slammer that much...)

Really want to take advantage of this! £16 is the high end of what I'd want to pay for it, but I can see why they're charging that amount, and would more than likely go.

http://www.thorpepark.com/press/releases/2013/10-07-2013-THORPE-PARK-ice-scream-weekend.doc Ice cream snow storm anyone? Looks like I know where I'll be on the 26th...

Now I see why a friend who goes to Imperial was dead-set from living at home! At Warwick, Halls ranged from £76-£150 pw. For me, I paid £89pw, got a large bedroom and, in general, the Halls themselves and surrounding area were beautiful. Granted, I shared a kitchen with 17 other people and it was 1 shower between 6, but I had no problem with it at all. Come September, my house has rent of £90pw, including all bills and utilities (plus TV license). It's a 24 person house, so it's a bit like living in a smaller set of Halls really, but it's one bathroom between 3. We also get a huge kitchen (at least twice the size of the one I had this year), Games room (with Snooker and football tables), plus a TV all included. It's seriously an amazing place! Price-wise, glad I didn't go to a London uni!

Not sure what happened there; might've just been the site updating or something. I've updated the links, so hopefully they'll stay working. Very true. However, this isn't all the of the big picture, at least how I see it. Whilst they won't stop developing, it is fair to say the past few non-coaster year development have been somewhat...poor. In the past 10 years, there's been 7 which have been non-coaster development years, and I'd say 2 of them were actually substantial / of any good (2005 and 2013). The rest have seen very cheap attractions which have either been poor or have not lasted (and Flying Fish, I guess, which isn't exactly a large or special development to any degree really). If the next major coaster isn't going to come until 2017, at the earliest, what will we see in the way of park developments now? Will we see year after year of cheapo attractions which add next to nothing to the current line up, or are gone in a couple of years time? Okay, we may see the park's presentation and overall standard improved, but will that bring in the customers? Though, in saying that, 2011 was the park's busiest year (in terms of number of visitors, I think?), so maybe it's not all bad? Whilst I'm probably thinking of the worst case scenario here, I find it hard not to take into account the park have struggled to have successful developments aside from their coasters recently. I don't quite know how budgeting for rides works, but I doubt it will simply be the case that because they're delaying the next coaster, they can invest more into other rides and such. So, it will be interesting to see how the next couple of years go for the park.

The thing is, they've only been doing well the past couple of months (from what I hear). The first couple of months this season weren't great, and last year wasn't great visitor-wise. So they are still having problems. And a couple of good months isn't going to stop them being out of a bad situation (if they are in one). And, to be honest, if they're wanting a coaster to open with a hotel, that's, frankly, a ridiculous idea, for which Thorpe should deserve to suffer. Sorry to sound harsh, but it's just going to harm the park in the short term, and potentially the long term.

Seems worthy of it's own topic... Thorpe Park have submitted plans for an extension of the Crash Pad units...until 2024, as read here: Source - http://planning.runnymede.gov.uk/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/Generic/StdDetails.aspx?PT=Planning%20Applications%20On-Line&TYPE=PL/PlanningPK.xml&PARAM0=183854&XSLT=/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/SiteFiles/Skins/Runnymede_AA/xslt/PL/PLDetails.xslt&FT=Planning%20Application%20Details&PUBLIC=Y&XMLSIDE=/Northgate/PlanningExplorer/SiteFiles/Skins/Runnymede_AA/Menus/PL.xml&DAURI=PLANNING A quick look at the plans, submitted this time last week, states the reason for this is: A few more bits of info which may be of interest: -Funding for the permanent hotel may not be available before 2020. -The entire scheme of Crash Pad requires a total investment of £9 million. -There will be a maximum of 184 rooms in the new-look Crash Pad, including smaller rooms for couples. -The current Thrill Workshop (next to the Crash Pad) will house all the electrical equipment and other similar things. -The park only has 1 row of the current Crash Pad shipping containers set up, with a second to be installed "shortly". -Crash Pad v2.0 will open in time for next season and will occupy a slightly larger space than the current Crash Pad. All of this information comes from the third link of the plans (which can be seen here - http://planning.runnymede.gov.uk/RBCNGE/ngeResultsForm.aspx?intref=RU.13/0719). I'll be trawling through the plans a bit more as time goes (this information all comes from the first 4 plans, so some may be a bit skewed / misinterpreted). Here's a quick look at how this visually changes the look of the Crash Pads: Now: The second row (the bottom one) has yet to be added yet, but should be added soon. Crash Pad v2: We see a new, smaller, row is added, and can see the smaller rooms (with the smaller rooms, there' 4 rooms per container, as opposed to 3). However, the biggest point that stands out to me here is this (again, from the third plan, page 8): Yep, it is likely we will not see a new roller coaster until 2017 (at the earliest...) Surely a sign of just how badly Thorpe are currently doing?

I could only do the first weekend, as the other weekend I'm helping out at uni with Freshers arriving. However, I'm not going to vote, as the only way I could make it is if my resit exam is on Friday 6th (makes travel easier and cheaper for me, as I'll be a lot closer). I won't find out till the beginning of August the date of the exam, so a case of wait and see for me!

100% agree with this. I don't know how I'd have made any real friends if I wasn't in halls in this past year. Even if you end up not liking the people you live with, it's an experience and a good learning curve of life, etc. Also, got an email back about this. Thankfully, it's nothing to worry about - it's just because where I've technically failed an exam (as it stands), I cannot officially go to next year. As soon as I take the exam (which I'm confident I'll pass easily), then I can officially be 'allowed' into second year. So yeah, turns out I was over-worrying. Phew

I've been thinking about it, and the way it works sounds similar to Séance: The Curse of Mary Black; the main scare maze at Warwick Castle's Halloween event, in that there'd only be 1, maybe 2, groups in the maze at any one time. I really liked the way Séance was set up, but the execution was a bit weak. So, a style of maze like that at Thorpe (which should inevitably be more scary) would work wonders. I think there's two troubles with the suggestion made here: -The setting up of buildings along the route. If the rumours of reopening CCR hold true, it would have to close again in September. It could also cause damage to the track itself, which would be quite costly. -Health and Safety. They're going to be really strict about it, aren't they? It's probably doable, but doable to a degree that makes it effective enough? Not too sure. I remember reading on some site somewhere a while back (though I can't find it for the life of me!) that the CCR did hold a scare attraction one year when Fright Nights first started (I think the 02 season). However, due to surrounding noises and poor marketing of the attraction, it didn't last more than the 1 year. Anyone know any more on that, or did I imagine it? I do think it's something that could be pulled of though, and it wouldn't be hard to execute it correctly. However, I would happily take something similar, focusing around silence, second-guessing yourself, 'seeing things', etc. and relying on your senses. I just can't help but continually think to myself that what I'd imagine from a Slender maze is what I wanted from The Passing though!

Just a quick update on this for anyone interested... I've been playing about with Gimp (thanks Tommy and Cornflakes for the suggestion/recommendation!) so will hopefully get the board sorted out in the next few days, so that it's less 'rough round the edges'. I've decided to put the Free Parking space as 'Passholder Perks' with a picture of a Premium MAP (thanks to Alex for the inspiration). Can't think of anything for Chance or Community Chest, so will probably just keep them named like that. I've also made a few Chance cards: They're a bit bare and basic and rough round the edges at the mo; couldn't really think of what else to do with them. Any ideas? As I said, I've got a fair bit of free time on my hands, so hoping to get everything 'done' (a nice-looking board, complete set of cards, etc.) in the next month or so, so watch this space!

Came across this randomly... http://themeparkdesigns.wordpress.com/2012/09/25/slender-thorpe-park-fright-nights-2013/ Fan made, I know, but I would still LOVE to see something like this. Thorpe's mazes all make use of the same tactic of 'shock scares', and there's no real ambient build up. Something like this would be a fantastic addition. Whilst that actual maze probably could never happen (Health and Safety, the possible return of CCR, etc.), the same concept could be applied elsewhere. I think maybe The Passing could (and should have) employed this idea. Maybe a slight story change to show how you're being tormented by one or two characters in the afterlife, and these keep reappearing and disappearing throughout the maze. With the use of the bags on your head, it would create a tense atmosphere, and could build up nicely, whilst still keeping the scares. It could work well with an Asylum retheme as well. Isn't the maze basically just set in one big room? If so, then the positioning of the speakers could allow things to sound in the distance at one point of the maze, then be really close as you advance through. Coupled in with the feeling of being chased / trapped by someone / something, it's another way the idea could work well.

I'm in. And that time suits me greatly!

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/5001104/Alton-Towers-Air-ride-breaks-down-people-stuck.html Biggest over-exaggeration and non-story of the year?

I think it was mentioned in the MTDP that only a certain number of supports (6 or 9? Some number under 10 at least), would be in the water for the 2012 and 2015/6 coaster combined. I guess that's for a variety of reasons, such as cost, logistics and environmental. As no supports are in the water for Swarm (pretty sure at least), I guess it's possible an element of the next coaster could be over water? As pluk said, all the infilling the park currently have planned is complete (unless there's a bit more to be done on the island next to Swarm), and unless the more are mentioned in the next MTDP (in 2016), we probably won't see any more. To be honest, I think Thorpe are reaching their limit on infilling land, especially as they are edging closer to Thorpe town, and 'noise pollution' could become a problem. I remember reading an article in a local paper around the time of Swarm's application being accepted as well that some councillors are feeling that the park are reaching their limit, and that a balance between them and the local community has to be taken into account.