JoshC.

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?

But even when a higher inversion coaster opens, Smiler would still be the 'World's first 14 inversion coaster' - nothing can take that away. Also, a park in China have built an 11 inversion coaster, but it hasn't opened yet. An Intamin 12 inverting coaster has been designed, but one has yet to be built yet. So, the moment, Colossus and its Chinese clone still hold the record for most inversions on a coaster.

Well, the lack of stopping on the brakes should make the whole experience less awkward, like how it was the last time I rode it. Still reckon I'll prefer it backwards with the stops than forwards without the stops though. Anyone know why it only happened recently, as opposed to when the ride opened? Was it to do with Vekoma? I had heard when the rumour first came about the brakes would no longer be used, so it doesn't seem to be a late of plan.

Agree with what you're saying here Marc, but I reckon if Smiler say *only* had 9 or 10 inversions, the marketing could easily focus on all the inversions, and people would still be drawn into it. The world first thing is just helping it all the more in this case. Yeah, it does seem like these boxes have been released a little early really. You also forgot how posters advertising the logo with the name came out a day or two before the name was officially released. It's a shame, but it's certainly not disasterous to any of the ride experience thankfully (like Th13teen, for example). Just to be clear, I'm not trying to strip you limb from limb - I too am just expressing my opinion. But anything which is a world's first is there for life, as others have said. Personally I feel combining it with inversions is a bit silly in a way - if a 15 inversion coaster comes along soon (which I however doubt), it will look strange for AT to say 'Well, we've got the first 14 inversion coaster'. But until that day comes, AT are on to a winner with that marketing.

I reckon The Disorientator is simply the indoor inversion. On The Marmaliser screens, it mentions strobes and something else I think, so it's probably going to 'disoreintate' you in the sense that it will make you feel like you're inverting more or less than you actually are. But that's just my views - no one really knows what it will be!

The only people this will be slightly predictable too was enthusiasts, who make up only a very very small percentage of the park's guests. To your average guest, this is going to be something surprising, shocking and unexpected. Sure, they've seen it and decided to count how many inversions there are, they won't be surprised by the large number, but will lap up the 'world's first' tagline. It's pretty much exactly the same with Th13teen - many enthusiasts had guessed / found out the secret long before it has opened, but the majority of the public (ie - the ones who didn't watch ITV the day before it opened...) had no clue what to expect. Edit: It's a lot better than with Th13teen I guess. To be honest, I highly doubt many people are going to take note of this for the time being - most people won't even pay attention to it. It won't be until AT scream and shout about it that people will know about it and think it's only just been 'revealed'. Also, about below, the Guinness Book of Records now has a specific record for track inversions - http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/1/largest-number-of-track-inversions-in-a-roller-coaster

Cereal.

This was found in my local Tesco by the way As for it being a "naff" world first.. This ride doesn't need a world first - it could easily market itself; imagine an advert showing a train just going through the track, inversion after inversion. Most people would immeadiately think it looks great. Then, include the theming and story, and most people will be drawn in. It's a Secret Weapon, so by definition, it will have some sort of 'first' connected to it. You say that sooner or later it will be beaten. Think about it this way - the first 7 looping coaster, Goudurix at Parc Asterix, held the title of 'Most inversions' for 6 years, then Dragon Khan (with 8) for 8 years. Colossus then held the title for 11 years. So, I'd expect it will last for several years, if it gets beaten at all. Look, for example, at roller coasters with the steepest drop in the world. When Steel Hawg opened in 2008, it had the steepest drop in the world. Then Mumbo Jumbo opened a year later to steal the record by 1 degree. Then, in 2011, Takabisha blows all the S&S El Loco coasters out of the water and has its 121 degree drop. Doesn't look likely it'll be beaten any time soon really. With roller coasters, you can only go so far, and I think 14 inversions on a single coaster is pushing towards the limit, unless you want to build a ridiculously long coaster with several brakes, lifts and goodness knows what else just to throw in a few more pointless inversions. The Smiler's record is here to stay for a long while in my eyes, so it is something worth shouting about. Of course, Wardley did say in the radio interview he gave that 'You'll have to ride it to see what it's about' (well along those lines), so we shall see I guess what else is in store...

Slap my wrist I'm double posting, but... It's official - the world first feature on Smiler is that it has 14 inversions.

I think it was mentioned a couple of pages back. I noticed it was Saw when I saw the dive loop first time I watched it, but I didn't notice the blades; only noticed them after looking at that video twice and just caught them for a second.. I don't think it spoils the atmosphere or anything; they've used footage of a similar ride for a few seconds at a sister park - nothing wrong there whatsoever. I bet most people will just assume it's Smiler and that's it.

It was the best meme I could find at the time

http://www.the-smiler.com/videos/ New section of the minisite, along with the second video. Love the second video with the 'Don't Look Down' and 'Submission' references! Fantastic stuff. Great to see Kelman returning too Can't wait to see how this develops. By the 'clues' section, looks like there'll be 4 videos about Cedars, each with their own clue. Alton Towers - you are doing an absolutely brilliant job!

Stop the forum fighting and join the people who "spend their whole lives" looking at cat memes. You're making kittens sad, and soon they'll start dying.

You've made this poor, defenseless little kitten sad now Smidget. Can you just look at that kitten, and tell me there's more to life then cat memes? No, I didn't think so

Fried Chicken Co. is usually a great place to go to, but the Fish and Chips are pretty decent too. Though, as Coaster Jamie says, don't go to Burger Kitchen, no matter what!

Bank holidays are always weird ones. Either everyone goes and it's really busy, or everyone expects it to be a bist because it's a bank holiday and it's really quiet. Can be a bit of pot lucky really, but normally I found the May Day one isn't too bad. I'd say be prepared / expect to queue around 30-45mins for the major coasters. That way, if it's less than that, you'll be pleasantly surprised!

Hope Curse goes, don't like it. Theming-wise it's nice, but that's it (Though, I heard rave reviews about it last season and it was the best of the lot last season..). If it does go and they're keen to get rid of tents, it'll be intersting to see where the new maze would go. I was always under the impression the reason Se7en was moved to the beach in 2011 was because it was impractical / not possible to have shipping containers on the beach (hence why Experiment 10 couldn't go there). There's not a lot of space really, and I think all permanent buildings would be occupied in one way or another. Maybe make use of the CCR route (well, part of it) somehow? Would also like to see Asylum changed sooner or later, it's getting a bit old now. If we get a new maze, I would like to see them stick with the traditional conga line though. Experiment 10 and Passing are good ideas with their twists, but you don't want too many of them. Some mazes just need to be kept to traditional conga line and eat through the queues, something E10 and Passing aren't good with. Would like to see a more spooky theme as opposed to the horror thing with got going - things seemingly moving by themselves, 'ghosts' / 'shadowy figures' in the darkness, those sort of things. Dunno why I'd like to see it, just seems like something different and make a change from your regular maze.

A bit more 'open' than I was expecting (I was more expecting a 4-row Eurofighter car with just a little more space between rows), but I like it. Nice and simple design, but will stand out from a distance - exactly what was needed. Me like.

The awkward moment when I can't count...