JoshC.

Oblvion is a good, all round ride, but I can't call it world class, for one reason...As soon as you reach the end of the ride, and are waiting to go back in the station, hearing the Lord of Darkness say there is no escape, etc etc completely ruins everything - the build up from the area, the queue, the station, everything. A world class ride, for me, cannot end by ruining the story..

I find it pretty poor to be honest.The launch is about all there is to the ride. Okay, I 'get' that that's the point, but it just doesn't do 'it' for me - it's not the comfiest or most re-ridable of rides. There's slight quirkiness in the theming, and the audio is okay, but Stealth is a ride I can go without doing on a Thorpe visit, and it is for those reasons which is why I, perhaps slightly harshly, rated it 'poor'.

Probably look at 1.96m as a max. restriction, like with many other rides. Not too sure though..

Not strictly true.. ;)A locus is a collection of points that share the same property. A circle is a locus of points that share a constant, fixed distance from the same point. So, technically, the body of mass travels along the course of a locus, not around it. (At least, that's what I've always been taught )[/end pendent]

As nice as it is that it's testing now, I'm not really overly excited at seeing a couple of pictures of it at a couple of points on the track if I'm honest. Heck, even seeing a video from Monk's Walk won't get that much more excited than I already am for this - nothing really beats hearing the lift hill, the sound of the wheels and such. Sorry if it seems like I'm party-pooping, but seeing a couple of pictures showing trains round a circuit isn't really something 'exciting' for me..But anyways... WOO TESTING!!

Just to throw this out here...Looking at the plans, after the vertical section of track, there's just a small dip in the track and then a turn, I believe? If so, that doesn't seem like the best of ideas to go into after a launch, whatever the speed - would feel very uncomfortable / neck-braking in my view.Just a point to make about this vertical launch section, which I hope doesn't happen if I'm honest..

Which I believe is the same time for the Ride it First competition?Loads of UK Merlin attractions have these VIP launch things, so doubt Swarm will be any different..

With the trains looking almost exactly like that concept art, I think some people who were saying that 'Swarm won't have fire effects just because the concept art says so' might be reconsidering their views now..

I don't think we'll being seeing any sort of launch on the lift hill at all. I get the feeling that the point of the first inversion is to go through it slowly and steadily, create suspense and tension; build up the scare factor if you will.After all, loads of rides can through inversions quickly, but few can go through them slowly and use it as a form of suspense.

Liam quoted this on the previous page, and I'm quoting this on this page too, taken from the noise report.If nothing else, this gives us a very strong suggestion that SW7 is by Gerstlauer. To be quite frank, I'm getting slightly annoyed by loads of different forums arguing what manufacturer it is. There is one line in one of the more important reports that gives us a strong indication to the manufacturer, so where's all this argument of 'Oh, it will manufacturer x, y or z?' coming from!? I'm all for looking through the plans and working out things from them, but when we're more or less told something from the plans, where's all the 'Oh, the plans are wrong!!!!' coming from.

SFTW is one of those shows that, for some reason, I just like. I don't know what it is, but I find myself every Sunday watching it and enjoying it. One of the few times I'm actually prepared to join one of these pointless Facebook groups tbh..

It won't be the used audio.On a different note, I've heard rumours that testing could be happening as early as next week..! Exciting times..

I believe, then, that the rumours going round may be a misunderstanding / lack of knowledge of the revised idea. I for one did not know of this revision, and didn't know there was a plan to connect said pond to Manor Lake, but meh.

I've heard the same rumour said by a couple of people on these forums (I think due to water contamination or something weird like that), but have never know of any documentation available to back it up.

Just thought I'd let you know Sheepie, and anyone else who may have been interested, that I'm not going to do one for Cheesie now, simply because I didn't go there enough to make it feel worthwhile. Depending on how well this year turns out for me, I'll probably end up doing another Thorpe one and maybe a Cheesie one for this upcoming season.

It was, of course, a pun on the character's personality.

I'd say this year they've been rather good.Anyone who says Lez Cougan acting (and police officers to go with that) shows Entertainments to be a flop would have to be crazier than Cougan himself. The roaming FN actors this year were also great this year. Heck, I'd say that Saw Alive has been pretty good this season round too. So, though not the best it could be, Entertainments are in no way a flop, and I'm hope for an acting presence or two around the Swarm island this season and beyond.

To add to this, I think Gerstlauer bashing comes from how, in the UK, they were more used at 'smaller' parks, not the big name parks people relate to the UK. I don't have a problem with them, and think that their designs are pretty great ones. This. This new ride is just maniac, and I think the compact design of it really adds to the experience. I'm a fan of Saw, and certainly think that it would be better if those elements were more compact. Also, with rides such as Anubis, Novgorod and Takabisha from Gerstlauer, this attraction is VERY promising.

Looks the same as every other update from the time lapse camera to me. But we've got the time-lapse shot, which supports Liam's point, and we know how old that is.. ;)Also, RGG / Go Merlin have got another time lapse video, which shows all the construction up till before Christmas. I can't link the actual video I'm afraid, but I can link to the page it's on - http://rideguidegroup.com/site/viewtopic.php?f=53&p=1978#p1978; it's about half way down.

Surely the Thorpe Belle would be to high to fit underneath the entrance bridge, so couldn't be used as transport?

From what I've heard (in other words, could be complete twaddle):-One train (/ all the parts of one train) is on the park, with the other due in January.-Testing to begin in January.-Helicopter theming was due to be installed the beginning of this month.From what I remember / can gather:-Saw had just under 600 test runs. Tbh, whatever the number was, it was a lot. -Church theming (well, the exterior at least) was completed before Christmas.

Well, there's been no construction updates over the past few days, because there's nothing new. No one will post if there's nothing to update after all.It's the Christmas break, workers are probably off till after the New Year. Construction updates will probably happen when...construction is happening?

^Probably because the island is located away from the core of the park, and the immeadiate rides to the exit are... Depth Charge and Flying Fish. The reason why Saw works so well is because it is close to the core of the park, has thrill rides very close to it, and then has it's own support ride a short distance away..Personally, I agree that there should be no rides on or near the island (until 2015), as that part of the park is still 'in development' if you will.

This Christmas wasn't really the best for me.Normally, the days leading up to and days after Christmas Day is when family come round / we visit family, etc. etc. The actual day, the people in my house (My mum, nan and myself - and my Granddad when he was alive) would spend the day together, and just do our own thing. It's normally the same for everyone else; just together with the people who they live with for Christmas. The past couple of years have been different. Last year, my cousin and her 5 year old son (my second cousin?) spent Christmas with her dad at his then fiancée's; now wife (bit complicated; long story short - her parents, my uncle and his wife, are divorced, but usually were able to spend Christmas together until my Uncle found a new partner). My cousin, however, didn't like it over there because it was 'boring' and how 'laptops were banned for most of the day', and silly little things like that. They were invited there again this year, but my cousin didn't want to go for the reasons aforementioned, as well as more, and instead it came about that she more or less invited herself and son to our's instead.No one in my house really wanted them round, but it's sort of hard to say no. So, for most of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, it was a case of looking after my second cousin, because his mum took the day as an opportunity to literally not do anything. Don't get me wrong, everyone deserves a break and all, but that includes me as well, and Christmas is normally a day of relaxing and helping with a bit of cooking for me. What was somewhat more annoying was that, because my second cousin is mad about going on a DS (he had his own, but broke it a few days ago), I wasn't able to go on my 3DS whilst they were around, because he threw a massive strop whenever he couldn't play on mine. It also meant not being able to charge the video camera I got for Christmas, or really do much at all other do run around after my cousin every five minutes. On top of all that, despite getting many presents at the time (far more than I remember when I was a child), he kept saying going on about all the other presents he was going to open when he got to his nan's house in the evening, and kept whining about when his granddad (my Uncle) would be coming. So, it wasn't really a relaxing Christmas, and probably the first time when it was the materialistic side of Christmas that I looked forward to more than the family side.Now, having read over that, I've got a feeling that I may be coming across as selfish, heartless or whatever else. I'm probably coming across slightly as 'OMG, my Christmas was terrible because I couldn't play on my games or do what I wanted to do for one day!!!1!'. I'm not. Simply put, I wanted one day with those in my household to be able to relax, have a bit of fun, not have to stress over anything and just enjoy Christmas Day. I don't think that's wrong in any way, is it?Sorry if this has turned more into a Rant, but ah well. Don't get me wrong, I'm no Scrooge or whatever, and I'm enjoying the festive season, but yesterday was not really a day I would've dreamed about wanting. Nonetheless, glad other's have enjoyed the day and hope everyone else had a great Christmas!