JoshC.

So, I went to Thorpe Park yesterday with some old friends from secondary school. The park seemed to be off form on the day, and if it weren't for the company I was with, I'd think I would have felt somewhat disappointed with the day out..We got the park at about 9:20 for a 9:30 opening. As ever, Inferno was on the cards to start the day (and we felt almost confident of a reride due to the quietness that there was). But, before we get to all that, a couple of pre-entry photos:It was a scorcher today, despite rain being predicted at some point.I had to get a photo of the LC12 stamp, even if it did take 3 attempts with my friends jogging me... :shifty So yeah, we got into the gates and the usual beginning of day rush occurred, with people piling all over each other. We took a gentle stroll over to Inferno, with most other guests being distracted by Storm Surge, Tidal Wave or headed over to Saw. JoshC. approved of the emptyness surrounding the area.So yeah, we walked through the queue and reached the silent station, see a train half way through leaving. Fair enough we thought, probably just a sign to show the ride is actually working. Being the first ones there, we opted for the front row. I smugly thought to myself how I have more luck than thorpeparkjack... Anyways, the second train came into the station and stayed there. The staff were happy to talk amongst themselves, but tell us nothing. The train went off empty (by this time, more people were arriving at the station..) The other train arrived with a couple of staff members on and, after they unclipped all the seats for about 10 people, the gates finally open! I can't lie and say I didn't enjoy front row Inferno, it was pretty sweet. As the ride ended, we were hoping to be able to move rows and get what seems like now as the sacred reride. However, it seemed as if the staff hadn't got their finger out and were still testing the other train - in other words, it was one train operation meaning no reride for us. Can't say I wasn't a little bit peed about that, considering with both trains working, a reride would have been possible. We got to the photo unit, which wasn't actually showing any photos, just the Inferno logo. Oh dear, not the greatest start. Using my keen eye, I had realised whilst on Inferno that Saw wasn't open, which disappointed me, as it has been doing well for most of the season. Also, I had realised Storm Surge had broken down and staff were evacuating people from boats on the lift hill... That, and having Stealth down meant that what rides were open were going to get right busy..We went for Rumba Rapids times instead, which left me pleasantly surprised when I saw that the waterfall before the tunnel had returned - leaving 3 out of 4 of us soaked! We had the classic reride to ensure everyone in our group was wet.I tried to get a photo of the waterfall, but failed...A closed Stealth.As we were rather wet to say the least, we opted to go over to Loggers Leap to continue the wet themes. I noticed that by this time, Saw was testing. Due to how, somewhat surprisingly, quiet Loggers was, we were able to get a reride on this too - I was happy.The little grassy bit before the tunnel was flooding for one reason or another...We were now thoroughly soaked. We decided to not do another water ride, but instead do Samurai. We had noticed Saw was carrying passengers whilst we were on Loggers, but everyone was leaving the queue and it was testing again...An empty Saw car.Spin Samurai, Spin!After an intense ride on Samurai, leaving half the group feeling a bit ill, we opted to do a slightly gentler (in the eyes of all the group) ride, Slammer. It had no queue, but due to the poor loading, we were there for a looong time. I was pretty bored half way through to be honest - personally, I find the ride little more than a short filler.After a little wander round, we opted to do 'Techno X', which is certainly warming to me more now. Oh, and one more track tie has been painted to glow in the dark! *OMG, WOWZ* We just had a long break and chat now, sitting on the little grassy area by Stealth, before having lunch at 12.The Swarm site has 2 drillers on site now.The group decided to split for lunch, with half going to the Pizza Hut Buffet whilst it was relatively quiet, and me and another going to the Mexican Cantina opposite. First time I've properly been to the Mexican place, and I really enjoyed it!We both had a Chicken Nachos each. With AP discount, it came to £3.88, which considering the size of the dish, is probably one of the best values deals on park! By the way, it does look more appetizing it real life, it's just a poor shot.We plodding through lunch, taking about half an hour and not even finishing it! The group re-met and after more chatting (and me getting about 3 refills from the amazing AP drink refill...) we did some wandering around, and ended up at the Flying Fish, which had no queue. I was fortunate enough to get back row, and we also got an extra circuit, because the platformer seemed to forget about the water squirting he did on the previous ride, which left everyone on the train a bit disappointed.. Anyway, we got quite wet from it - more wet than you get on Storm Surge anyway, now they've gotten rid of the free water squirters and that...As we were getting off, I spotted Les Coogan (I guess that's the character's name in general) running away. I moved slightly quicker than everyone in my group, who were still looking at our ORPs from the Fish. I noticed that Les was being chased by a 'police officer'. Les slowed down to a walk, whilst the police officer slowed down to a brisk walk shouting at Les. Les then stopped by what will be the entrance to Swarm's island pointing, jumping and shouting 'LOOK, LOOK!' before running off again. The officer then started chasing after him, then they disappeared out of sight, which was slightly freaky.. I guess they were going off for a break or something, as we didn't see them in Neptune's Kingdom. My friends had also seen the thing and were shocked, wondering what on earth had happened and were obviously taken into the story, believing it. They had trouble believing me when I said it was advertising! What I liked even more was, after they passed Flying Fish, we were the only people around - the only other people that could have seen it were those on Depth Charge, who may have overlooked it even. I really found that a great touch; acting realistically when next to no-one is around - adds to the belief. In honesty, it is the best acting I've ever seen at Thorpe. Unfortunately, I was only able to get one shot of the goings on..This seemed to be when Les broke into a run...After all that, we opted to do Depth Charge. It's a little favourite in our group; we enjoy racing each other okay! When we got to the top, and promised not to 'cheat' (as in push against the sides at the beginning to give a little head start, my trick the first time we did the ride as a group a couple of years ago...), we all ended up cheating, though I was probably last to leave. However, what with me being a little heavier than everyone else, I still just reached the bottom, and also got the furthest on the ground.. losers..! (I'm not at all competitive, am I?) Due to the extreme busyness of the park at this time and after a bit of general wandering, we left at 2..So yeah, it was a bit of an odd day. Reliability had gone downhill massively, but there were some real highlights from the park too. As I said at the beginning, if it hadn't have been for the company, I would have felt a bit disappointed and almost on a bit of a downer. However, having to only pay £3.88 for the day out makes it that little bit better. I look forward to seeing how the park is next week, before my Chessington and long awaited Alton Towers trips later in the month...

So now the only way to get wet is getting lucky with the shower or hoping people have money to burn to pay for water canons...Nice one Thorpe, nice one...

It probably is. All the actors are part of the entertainments team, and some have probably been in FN mazes, Saw or Saw Alive. :rolleyes:Pretty sure I've seen one of the other guys who played the 'LC12' guy in Saw Alive previously.

Just an interesting point to throw into the height thing..Island C, ie The Swarm, was meant to be the 'up to 50m coaster', with Islands A and E being up to 40m. Pretty sure I read somewhere in the plans for this coaster that, because the coaster high points were carefully planned, they wre allowed to swap them round.

In the video there is a wall of fly posters with missing people, probably links in with that? I'd hope that it ties in with a ride it first competition like there was on the Saw minisite.

In honesty, if it was called 'Swarm', people would end up saying 'Let's ride The Swarm' and with 'The Swarm', people will end up saying 'Swarm' a lot. In that case, it's lose-lose.I don't mind though, I love the name, and I didn't have myself as someone who would like rides named as 'The ____'.

Love the name, the theme idea, the concept art, the minisite - love pretty much everything so far.That is all.

I heard that the park had always planned it to be a horror film themed ride from early on, put the actual theme was somewhat 'fastracked' and a deal was secured in late Spring / early Summer 2008. Then the plans changed a couple of months later to get rid of the windmill, and instead build the Saw store and have the police car occupy the space of the windmill..

As popular as it is during the summer, I've always seen the larger side of Neptune's Beach and Wet Wet Wet as a way of giving compensation for the ride, to make the area a little less condensed.But who knows really..

It's a red splat mark. In a war, guns are usually fired. Splat marks come from being shot. Logical really.

With regards to the name, I don't think it is 'WAR', but somehow has the word within the name. If not, the extra emphasis on it is a bit of a let down.But yeah, interesting...

As I said on Saturday... Just because I'm not saddened by her death in any way, doesn't mean that I am showing her, and more her family, no respect..'Good riddance' was probably too harsh a thing to say, but I still stand by the view that I'm personally not saddened b the fact she's died.

I sorta understand where you're coming from here Liam. Innocent people are murdered every day through bombs and gunmen and such; which is of course terrible. This is perhaps more significant because of the country - I believe I heard it was the country's biggest loss / damage since WWII (along those lines anyway). So I do get where you're coming from, though I in no way think Amy Winehouse was a 'true icon', in any good sense. This celeb culture thing just really pees me off...

I don't deny that a death of anyone is sad, especially when she was well liked by many.However, for her to finally be out of the news for good is something that I'm glad of - I tire of seeing celebrities getting loads of media attention for silly things like being an alcoholic or addicted to drugs. They're human, and these things happen to humans - so why should it be in the news? 'Good riddance' is probably more harsh than I need to be, but I'll freely admit that I'm in no way saddened by her death.Condolences should still be expressed to her family though, of course.

So, she finally died ey? To be honest, good riddance - in a couple of weeks she'll be out of the media for good so we don't have to go through this whole 'look, she's drunk on stage' malarkey ever again.If you like her music and that, all well and good, but I think there's more news-worthy things out there rather than how one woman was on drink and drugs all the time...

If you basically want to see the same film with a different name again, here's the trailer for Paranormal Activity 3:http://trailers.appl...ormalactivity3/

All good then.

If my memory serves me right, I think the last time there was some form of fire on Loggers (going back a couple years now..), it was only down for a week or so? If it's a similar case, which I do doubt though tbh, then should hopefully be up soon.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2Well, here it is really - the end of the Harry Potter films. In short, I think the film was pretty amazing and does what it was meant to do - give a memorable ending to the series. Before I go into more detail, a little bit more about my 'experience'. Yesterday, I found out my local cinema was doing a double bill - showing Part 1 yesterday evening, which would then be followed by Part 2 (in 3D) at midnight. After a little thought, I went for the opportunity and had a little power nap in the afternoon to ensure I was fresh for it. -_-So, Part 1 was scheduled to start at 9:20, so we arrived at 8:50 to hopefully get good seats (which we got). Before the film started, the guys who run the projector were having a little fun, putting little cut out characters in front of the light, some were kissing, some were riding broomsticks, etc. etc. Was entertaining indeed. Anyways, unsurprisingly, the screen was more-or-less full, but it didn't at all feel crowded - if that at all makes sense. Part 1, which I had watched on Wednesday to keep it fresh anyway, was of course in 2D. It was nice in some ways how there was always resounded laughter at the comical bits, as opposed to to odd laugh when you watched it when it's quieter. Also funny how people were laughing before the lines were told, showing just how many times everyone had already watched the first film. At the end, there was a 20 minute break before Part 2 started, to get more food and that. And that's enough about the first film and my experience and all that - probably boring you a bit now...The 3DThe double bill included Part 2 to be in 3D, so it was 3D I would be watching. I'll start off here to get it out the way. I was a tad unsure about it, knowing how it was just a conversion job, how Part 1 was going to be in 3D and was then scrapped, how they had to re-shoot some scenes and just not being a fan of 3D in general. However, I put that behind me. This was the first 3D film I watched at the cinema since Spy Kids 3D, all the way back in 2003ish when it was the red and blue ones, so it was a fun thing to try out. In all honesty though, I thought the 3D was a needless thing. It added next to nothing to most scenes, with it more being a character just standing out a little more most of the time, as opposed to anything major. There were some good bits, but not enough for it to be worth having to put up with the glasses over my real glasses. A positive thing on it though: next to none (from what I remember) cheesey moments, where something flies out at you for the sake of the 3D, which I liked.The FilmWARNING: There will be spoilers, including how it differs from the book. So, that's that. Until the DVD comes out, au revior Harry Potter.8/10

There was a double bill at my cinema - Part 1 at yesterday evening, Part 2 (in 3D, which I'd avoid tbh) at midnight.THE FILM IS EPIC! Review to come later.

The random squirter that goes in the water to the left..The flats were, of course, busy. Quantum was only a few minutes though, so opted to do that. Quantum - that ride that's tucked away over there.After a good, but slightly short, ride we went for lunch at the noodle bar - on the other side of the park where we just came from. I braved using the chopsticks, whereas Jack was boring and used a fork. :L CCR followed, and the first train of the day too.Time to humiliate Jack now. He tried opening the train gate from the left hand side, failing to notice it was from the right hand side you opened it. Silly boy.The CCR sign on the trains. Much love. <3Waiting for the train to go, I got a shot of Saw with Samurai sneaking in.Random wheel near the station.Despite my improving camera skills, I still failed with the Colossus shot to be perfectly on the top of the vertical loop.. Saw must have been on reduced capacity or something, it has been running bad earlier and not a single car went past whilst we were on the train. So you'll have to do with some track.The driver was going so fast today, and there was literally no interaction, which left us both a little bit disappointed. This was the best bear shot; yes, that is a toy fish in its mouth! Random digger underneath Logger's lift hill.The splash did actually reach us - just like I remember as a young child! Aww, memories and that..Whilst we're on the topic of Canada Creek, they've changed the audio loop to 'new' country music - half of which isn't really country. From recollection, there was Taylor Swift and some remixed Lady Gaga. Much to my upset to be honest - I loved to old loop! :(We did some wandering and we saw this:Loong Fastrack queue still! Coming in 2012 - Fastrack for Fastrack..We ended up going to Flying Fish, which was actually for our second time. First time there was this epic op who was singing through a loud speaker thing, which was hilarious! He was there again, but no singing this time. Love these little bits.Tidal Wave in general has epic theming.Flying Fish was as fun as ever really. What was an amazing laugh for us both is seeing 3 chavish looking people, Jack branding them part of the infamous Staines Massive, going in the single rider queue, and a couple being sat next to little kids. During our general wandering, we also did Time Voyagers - the screen had this random patch that was visible whenever the screen was dark, which was very annoying to me. We also did good old Rocky, which was a laugh and a half as ever.We also popped back to Sunken Garden for a longer nose around:Reminiscent of Thorpe Farm.As you can probably tell, I'm quite fond of Sunken Garden. It brings back memories for me of coming back from Thorpe Farm on the jetty and having a wander round it, followed by Model World. I love how quiet it is as well. I think it's a shame that it will eventually end up going to make way for access to a new island.. By about just after 2, the weather was on the turn.It was getting silly busy now so we were thinking of calling it a day. However, I wanted to do X to check out the change to music. The queue board said 30 minutes, then 45 minutes, then 60 minutes, then 30 minutes - could not make it's mind up. In actual fact, it was about 20 mins - not bad at all. The music change and addition of flashing lights on the final brake run (oh, and like 3 track ties being glow-in-the-dark) is better, but it was too disco for my liking. However, definitely an improvement, and I think it is a step in the right direction!As I said, we decided to call it a day here. We wandered round the shop in the dome and that was that. It was a great day, despite it being very busy. That's that really. Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it; until next time! *Sorry about splitting the report, silly image limitations*

More Inferno admiration. We decided to head over to Stealth (I think), but it had closed temporarily, so we went over to Detonator. Imposing look of Detonator.I really wanted to get a photo of the gondola coming down, but the sun prevented me from seeing the screen, so I needed a bit of guesswork and luck. Bit too early on this one.Much better!Detonator was done, and it was great as ever. We headed over to Stealth again, which was still closed, but was testing. We opted to wander round Sunken Garden for a bit to see if it would open. Sunken Garden is by far the greenest area of the park.After a bit of wandering and spying on the LC12 site, Stealth had reopened. But so many people were outside, we couldn't be bothered with the wait, so went straight to single rider and both got on within a few minutes. Spinney times on the Teacups was had afterwards.Before it got too busy, we headed over to Loggers as the weather was just too nice. On the way, we saw how busy the Inferno queue was and we were glad that we'd gotten that out of the way:Busy busy busy.Never seen all 3 extensions open that early before.Fastrack generating much popularity at this time of course!So we did Loggers and got very wet indeed. I know loads of people say there's a terrible smell after the tunnel, but it honestly has gone now. There's no dodgy smell and the water is quite clean too I'd say. Walking over to the Lost City flats, I spotted a stray Viking Longboat from the 90s floating about. A photo had to be taken.Another obligatory photo shot for me. Nature and Thorpe Park.

So, whilst my college was still open yesterday owing to the teachers' strike, all my lessons were cancelled, which meant a trip to Thorpe was in order. I arranged to meet up with thorpeparkjack, after postponing a trip for ages. :PWe met at the bus stop in Chertsey and were due to arrive at Thorpe by around quarter-to 10 for a 10 o'clock opening. The bus came, and we got there about 20 minutes early, or so we thought..Well, that's the weather. Nice and warm, but not boiling hot like it was earlier in the week.Somewhat to out surprise, the park had opened early - probably due to the large numbers that would be inevitable! We didn't complain though, and decided to head to Inferno first thing. However, a short queue on Storm Surge caught out eye, so we opted to do that, as Jack had only been on it once. It was relatively spinney, but not wet. A shame really. Now we went over to Inferno, as originally planned..A shot of Tidal Wave on the way.And of Stealth. Inferno love. One of the most photogenic rides on park in my opinion.After a thrilling ride on Inferno, though with less mist then on previous visits, we opted to do Rumba Rapids. 3 rerides were easy to get and we did get quite wet, much to our enjoyment as the weather was hotting up.Random bird house feeder thingy I noticed. Dunno how long it's been there, but it caught my eye - I had to get a photo!

Pretty normal for this time of year really.And school trips will end when schools go on summer holidays more or less. So that means, once school trips are over, it will be packed. So yeah, Thorpe to be packed till September...