JoshC.

If you hit enter after you enter your guess, it comes up with a tick if you're right. Apparently, Smiler is appeared on Daybreak tomorrow, with human riders..!

Media event today, before the public opening on Saturday (From the park's FB page). Worst trains and station of a B&M wingrider?

Well, we pretty much know it's testing, so it would be pretty silly of them to have not got shots of it testing with that set up. It does seem as if we won't see it run until it opens, which is great for the build up. Can't help but feel that some will get too excited and think there's still some special secret, and could end up disappointed when seeing there isn't (as I highly doubt we're seeing any special features on the cars or the lift hills, as has been speculated...)

So that's what all the lighting equipment was for... [/CaptainObvious] Great stuff, looks amazing. Glad to see they've confirmed the world first feature there and brought it to public attention as well!

I see it will end up just being like Fastrack. That used to be free, when the park realised people would pay for it, boom, they starting charging. It'll be exactly the same with the car parking charge, the only difference being high Fastrack prices are good, whereas high car parking prices aren't so good...

In terms of first years, most people here finish the beginning of June, in later years, it's a lot later (some finish 20th/21st, and the results would be due a week later!). None of my exams are Open Book (heck, I don't even get a blooming formula book!), but hopefully I'll be fine. I tend to find that Open Book exams are harder anyways. Best of luck to you as well!

Nicely ninjaed me there Benin! So, opening on the Thursday before half term I make that? Should give it a day or two to 'settle in' then.

So, there's someone above Kelman it seems...interesting! Can't wait for the fourth, and presumably final, part. Should tie everything together to show what The Smiler is and who's behind it explicitly, I hope (or at least set it up so we have a rough idea). I find it interesting that the second and third video both have "I'm posting this in the hope..." at the beginning, and that we don't know who this person is. Maybe something will develop there?

As I said before, I always thought of Chessington whenever I heard the End of Day music, so I always thought it was a ticking time bomb. What we've got at the moment isn't too bad really. I'm not a fan of hearing The Noise anywhere on park (except the Dome / very nearby areas), but once the park's closed, it seems fitting.

There was a 'School and Studies' topic before, but that seems to have disappeared.. So, end of first year of uni approaches, which of course means EXAMS. At the moment, I've got multiple choice tests on Fridays for a module I just picked up, and then my 10 proper exams start 25th May, and finish 14th June (finish a lot later than most of my friends too! ). Feeling good enough about most of my exams (except one), so it'll be interesting and 'fun' to see how they go!

June is off limits for me due to uni and stuff unfortunately. Would love to go to a Legoland meet in the future though, so I hope to see another one sooner or later!

Only been on it once, but I quite liked it really. Fun experience which is quite different. I also seemed to be fine with the restraints; no way painful at all and I was on the furthest inside. I can see why people would find the uncomfortable, but I was fine with them and they caused no issues. I can think of a couple of flat rides (top spins, Slammer...) which I find much more uncomfortable and less entertaining (especially in the case of Slammer for the latter there).

She's definitely been involved in a lot of projects around all the Merlin parks, which I guess is only natural considering she's been working at Tussauds/Merlin for 17 years (according to this link - http://www.coasterforce.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=751914). Pretty sure Wardley called Smiler "Candy's baby" as well at some point in the radio interview, and based on what we've got so far, can't go wrong. She was also used in Saw's marketing shortly after the announcement of the name - http://projectdylan.co.uk/Construction/106 (finally found that link after goodness knows how long digging! ). So, she seems like an obvious choice if they were to continue with having a 'creator' in the press I guess. XD

Definitely not on Inferno. If you were evacuated, you'd have to tred on the woodchippings / whatever it is just before the lift, and so you could risk getting splinters and such, so you have to have footwear on. On the other hand, you can wear shoes on Nemesis at AT I believe. Presumably the entrance boards at each attraction will state whether shirts and/or shoes must be worn on rides. If you have a spare 30 seconds, you can check through them to see if it says so or not.

I've found that the pods rotate more easily this season, not sure whether that's down to not riding it in a while or whether the pods have had a bit of attention over closed season though.. Samurai is still quite a popular attraction, so it's unlikely it would be outright replaced or removed. What would the cost of a new topscan be though? And would it be worthwhile enough to see a difference in the way it's run and how long the park would want to keep the attraction? To be honest, I think we won't see it replaced by a newer model any time soon, because it will either lead to an increase in cost (which, of course, no business really wants), or replacing it instead of doing something else, which in itself could cause issues.

Posted by Danny on TTF. Banners around the site are coming down and apparently fencing around the area has finished / nearing completion. I'd guess as soon as fencing and theming are finished, it leaves a 100% clear run for testing all day and not just evenings. There's also been delivers are temporary lighting and rumours that ITV are on site as well, with an official media announcement coming soon. Should be interesting to see how it spans out...

In all of my visits this season, reliability has been very good - I didn't see many, if any, breakdowns, and the main reasons for ride closures was the weather. It's a shame that there were many breakdowns yesterday, but at least situations like that are becoming rarer (compared to a few seasons ago, where it was a miracle if all the rides were open on one day...)

Finished reading the book a couple of days ago.. Fantastic read; cannot fault it. One thing that struck me was the amount of humour that was just intertwined in the book and seemed so effortlessly done - I guess showing he is a showman through and through. Sometimes I've felt Wardley is miscredited by enthusiasts for the work he does, but reading this book shows that the praise he's given is well and truly deserved, even if it has been a bit miscredited sometimes. If he reads this - thanks for taking the time to do this; I'm pretty sure all enthusiasts of any description would love this! A question on my mind since finishing the book, though, is now Wardley has retired, I wonder who - if anyone - will be used by marketing as the 'creator' of rides for interviews and such, a position Wardley has taken for the Merlin parks recently...

I heard something about the roots of the trees causing problems with Samurai itself, so all of the trees needed complete removal; can't remember where though, so could be complete rubbish.

And in the space of just over a week, plans have changed again, with Alton Towers now confirmed in August, and maybe a Scarefest trip on the cards! Drayton next month is probable, and a trip to Legoland is on the cards over Summer, along with a couple of fairs and such. May not seem much, but at least it's an expansions away from Thorpe and Chessie. Hoping Flamingo Land and/or LWV to be on the cards for next year too.

From Theme Park Collective Live Well, all the supports are concreted in, and the supoort-that-doesn't-support-support now supports. So, testing is probably next. I bet the first test run will be some time tomorrow (except they'll have already done one at midnight, just to make sure it works... ) EDIT: Recently tweeted by AT: I guess once they've got testing underway, they'll be able to know a date when it can be green-carded. After that, it should all be plain sailing; definitely think we're looking at it opening between 18th and 25th though!

Bringing this topic back! Well wasn't yesterday's episode great?! It just had a great storyline and everything fit so well together. Loved it all, and Strax is just a great character! This and the previous episode have been two of the best episodes in a good long while. EDIT: By previous episode, I meant Hide - for some reason, I completely forgot about Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, which was rather average... :S

I bet big name stars will always come with large figures for one performance (5 figure salaries for just one night in some cases I bet...), and normally you want a large, sell out crowd in a huge theatre for those sort of comedians to be worth the cost. Also, the cost per ticket would shoot up as well. I haven't heard of any of those comedians, but most people in showbiz has had that 'lucky break', and these sort of nights will help some lesser known comedians get them, hopefully. I'd much rather see the money invested in other events, such as Fright Nights or Sun Scream, or to their other big evening events, liek Ride and Rave (or whatever it will be called this year).

This one seems to have stayed off the radar... https://www.facebook.com/notes/mount-olympus-water-theme-park/mt-olympus-resorts-press-release-hades-360-summer-2013/463854223660627 Turns out RMC aren't the only ones trying inversions on hybrid coasters, The Gravity Group have joined in as well. The inversion is an 'inverted roll', so presumably some sort of barrel / zero-G roll, and is replacing an airtime hill on the coaster, orginally called Hades, at Mt Olympus Park. An image of the roll, from 25th April, taken off the park's Facebook page. Interestingly, it's repeatedly said to be the first 'all-wooden' coaster with an 'upside down' roll, which confuses me. Clearly from that photo there's a steel structure holding it up, and with Outlaw Run open (and well under construction when this was announced in November last year), it seems strange; probably just marketing talk I guess? So that's another coaster that has wood with an inversion. Interesting that this ride was voted Best Wooden coaster when it opened in 2005 (by the Golden Ticket Awards), and it's now scrapping an airtime hill for an inversion. So, inverting woodies - a thing for the future, or just a fad which will pass?