JoshC.

Probably living in la-la land when suggesting this, but why on earth haven't entry prices been reduced, even by a couple of quid? I 'get' that it's a business and all that, but we have three major rides which will look and feel significantly less 'good' isn't a good service. It's all well and good saying 'We're improving your experience, we're sorry for the inconvenience', but is that good enough for seeing naked rides and construction sites across the park? As I say, I know it's probably living in la-la land, but personally, seeing the state the park is in more and more, I don't think that a few notices here and there apologising is enough for what guests will experience this season...

I don't think a B&M would suit the park at this stage yet to be honest, and finacially I doubt it's worth the risk. A Gerstlauer would suit the park well and be cheap, though a Mack would go well as well I think (though I'm not too sure on the costs of that?)

Did someone say two world's firsts? http://press.altontowers.com/news-alton-towers-resort-unveils-worlds-first-14-looping-rollercoaster-11766 Oooh-err!

http://www.coasterforce.com/news/1-latest-news/2235-gatekeeper-media-day-report A review of the Media Day on CF. I guess as you'd expect, front of the train gives a nice, elegant ride, whereas the back can give some nice Gs and be surprisingly forceful. Wooo.

Wow, she was certainly at the base of the vertical lift for a long time... It's almost 50 seconds between arriving on the breaks just before the vertical lift and going up the vertical lift. Yeah, okay, there's TVs there, but when you're on a coaster, do you want to be stuck waiting half way round watching a TV? Probably not. Trying not to judge it because we have no idea what may happen, but I find it hard to see what could keep me entertained for so long mid course... Of course, it may not necessarily be like that when the ride is open, but who knows?

Ah, one of the few positive memories I have of secondary school are the Welsh jokes I heard... And SCB, I understand your rant completely. I remember being told how our year was the going to be the best yet, and we had a 72% expected pass rate. It ended up being 50-something % and about 33% 5 A*-C including English and Maths... It really annoyed me how the focus was always on getting this pass rate collectively, as opposed to get the passed out of individual students. I don't know if it's the same at other schools, or whether it's still the same now, but it always felt like if everyone got the bare minimum to make the school look good, the school was happy, regardless of whether students met their own targets. I remember one teacher in particular who constantly banged on about how 'every student she ever taught' had gotten at least a C in French, and yet our class ended up with a range of grades from C to E, for various reasons.. Best of luck for your exams scary (and to everyone else!), I'm sure you'll do great! When it comes to the school and teachers itself, just do your best to ignore them and focus on exams however you do it best - no point in stressing about somewhere you're leaving in a couple of months..

So, testing is happening in front of the public now... Should put to rest any rumours about a 'chain break' feature where you freefall backwards on the vertical lift. Nice screechy wheels too. Not sure whether that'd still be normal after the number of test runs it should have made by now (considering it's safe for human riders)..

Don't think it's as funny as the first time though, when it was in a more impossible looking position!

Strangely, when I was watching the video, I was thinking it didn't look like as 'jolty' (if that's the right word) as Saw. And it certainly looks a lot better than other headbanging rides (ie Colossus). From that offride video, it certainly looks likely that there'll be a good few 'duelling' points if the trains leave the lift hills and roughly the same time.

AT have posted on ride footage of the presenter, showing the second half of the ride. Looks fast.

Did no one get a recording on their phone to upload to Youtube?! I am disappoint. Still, the train on that track looks nice, a lot more 'train like' than I was expecting really. Can't wait to see it going round the track and completing those tight elements...

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.