JoshC.

http://go-merlin.co.uk/wp/?p=2028Confirmation of SW7 being planned for 2013!Following on from the Th13teen event, it's pretty much known it will be a new 'thrilling ride' with a 1.4m height restriction. So yeah, time to get excited!

God I hate that phrase so much.Yes, life could be so much worse. Every person's life could be worse. If you want to compare yourself to the world, life could be so so much worse. Considering the fact that most teachers (who are hardly the most well paid) are in top 1% of earners in the world, it does put it into perspective. BUT, that is beside the point. People die and suffer every single day. Unfortunately, it's what goes on. Every day people have bad days and don't feel great - but when you're stressed out beyond belief and stretched every which way possible, thinking about the fact that "you're in an alright position" doesn't really help that much...

I've always said this - I've got a soft stop for Rumba. I don't know why, but I enjoy it.This season does seem to have improved slightly - on my goes last week, I probably got wetter than most of my rides during the whole of last season. Also, there's the padding on the bars which I think is good. I'm not saying it's perfect - that tunnel could be improved greatly (lights, a sprinkler / squirter - anything!) and there should be a point somewhere else in the course where there's some sort of effect that could get you wet. I'd also love to see the water-squirting lizard work again! So yeah, it can be improved, but I still like it. People talk about the garish colour scheme - yeah, it's not the best, but it's just something that I overlook now. The music is pretty nice though! ;)Basically, it just needs a little spruce up - an extra squirter or two at some point in the course and some lights in the tunnel. Simples.

Hmm, that's a bit of a hike!I can understand that there's sometimes some things that need to be changed and all that, but increasing it by 30cm!? Just ouch.Wonder if Loggers Leap will suffer a similar fate?

I can't see it being a new attraction as in 'another maze / walk through' - I just can't see it fitting in well enough.Personally, I think it's a maze being rethemed - and I'd say Hellgate that would be...

I'm sure they dented it when ripping it out... Meh.And personally, there's still some greenery by the Storm Surge area no? Well, there's the best place to put it in my eyes...

Yeah, they dented when they were tearing it out. And a few people did kick up a right fuss about it... As I said, I like it, makes it look better

That dent in the top right hand corner has added to it as well; nice!

I'll possibly be attending.Mainly comes down to cost. I've already got a Chessie trip planned with the family, so I've got to save money for that. Then there's costs for driving lessons and all that too..So yeah, I'll see what I can do

Quite literally, there's large pieces of velcro stuck onto the slide! When the boat passes over them, it snags (best way to describe it really) slightly which means it spins more. Basically, it's to ensure the boats keep spinning - and it works very well!

That, and it was to take place the day before the Thorpe meet as well, meaning most members had to choose between one or the other.

Gotta say welldone to the staff today!All were friendly, informative and effiient. Considering it's opening weekend, that's a great start!

^ ^That's exactly what I was thinking!Would be nice if they added ones outside the queue line next season as well. Even this season, they'll soon be redundant when the queue isn't that long!

So, got on Storm Surge today.My view in a nutshell - I like it! It was fun, wet and just a good ride to do after lunch.Queue LineThe queue itself is pretty dull. Just round and back. Must say that the free water canons are a great idea! However, I never saw the queue reach that far to them. To be fair, people were still using them and obviously enjoying it - even if you have to wait a little longer for the pleasure of it. Must say the queue is probably quite easy to queue jump, which is a shame. No theming really, but the themed signs and being able to see people splash down was enough to keep me happy really.AudioI could hear it, and I could hear the announcements. They're quite good, though probably need to be louder - you can't hear it underneath the lift hill because it is so noisy! Only when you're approaching the loading area can you hear it properly. Not really much else to say on that. ThemingWell, what to say about this? There's not that much there really - it's more subtle more than anything. There's the pipes just after the station, the little bits on top of the control cabin, the water canons...oh, the fire car too. Then there's the signage which is themed well too. Apart from that, there's not much going on. The ride itself has no themed relevance at all, the rust looks more like it hasn't been washed more than anything. It's okay, but could be better.AestheticsPig awful. The colours are terrible, they do not suit at all. The ride structure looks like a junkyard. It sticks out like a sore thumb compare to everything else. My friends straight out said 'It looks sh!t'. It would look nicer if greenery was added.Ride ExperienceWell, the boats are...different. Quite like the rubbery style to be honest - at least it's something different. Being whisked off the platform is a bit of a 'woah' moment. The lift hill - I love it! Getting a nice foot massage (unless you're at the 'back' where all the water will trickle down too..) is good. You get some good views too! I know some people say the lift hill takes forever, but I didn't find it too bad - it went much quicker than it looked I thought.Then, going down the slide. The Velcro attached to the slide, yeah, it looks tacky, but I'd say it's worth it! Starting off quite slow and just picking up pace and spin it just, wow. I really really enjoyed it. With the right people too, it's a brilliant ride. Even the leaks from above add to it; getting 'dripped on'. On our second go, we were even splashed down the slide (getting me soaked might I add!). We all had smiles on our faces coming down.After going through the little shower, it's surprising how wet the water canons get you! And both times, we had kids, no older than 10, on them. Of course, that meant one thing - NO REGRETS! They just soaked us - using the canons how they should be. Again, we were all laughing, whether it was with joy or anger though... Then, just float around, and a minute later, your fine!So, overall, I really enjoyed this ride. We all agreed it was our favourite ride of the day. The queue moves quite fast too I felt, which was a bonus. HOWEVER, the aesthetics and lack of strong theming let this ride down. I really dunno how to rate this ride - I don't want to rate it too high, but every time I look back at how much fun we had, I just can't rate it lowly.7/10, but need to go on it again.

So, JoshC. came out of his Thorpe hibernation today. I must say, wat-er day is the best way to describe it! Firstly, an apology about the photos. The date/time is wrong and needs to be sorted, and some are sideways because I haven't bothered to change them yet.So, I arrived by bus just after 8:45 and was greeted by a very empty looking park...I joined the AP queue. Now, I was expecting them to open up the AP office at least half an hour before official opening at 9:30, what with it being first proper weekend and all that. Waited, waited, waited. Nothing. Got me a bit agitated to be honest, and finally doors opened at 9:15. Being second in line, I wasn't too bothered. My brand spanking new AP - and I'm blue! So, it got to 9:25, and my friends from Addlestone had arrived by bike. They planned on arriving for about 9:00, but due to one of them get a puncture on the way, they were held up. Turned out a fifth person was joining us, and he;d been there since 8:45 too! One of them needed to get an AP, so we decided it would be best to leave him to it (the queue was about 30mins at that point, not too bad really) and we'd go inside the park.As per usual, we headed over to Inferno. The majority of extensions were open, which surprised us. Though, did make for some nice photo opportunities...Quite like this photo - definitely one of my better ones! :DWith mist and all, Inferno was definitely great fun and oh how I've missed it. After all that was said and done, we moved onto Storm in a Teacup - first riders of the say too, and met an old friend from secondary school too!Obligatory 'look at the sponsorship!!!' picture.Teacups received a new white paint job, with the Tetley logo on them, and some little cracks. Teapot in the centre is pure white. I personally like it, though Ive heard people criticise it. They have painted over the numbers though - I can't find the epic cup No.2 now! Nevertheless, 2 rides in a row on a decent cup was great fun. Then headed over to Rumba Rapids, no queue, as usual. Got 2 rides on and got quite wet to be honest! Also noticed a friend from college was working on the photo booth - quite awkward actually, she had a different name tag on and I kinda blanked her! XDPadding has been added onto the metal bars at the edge of the seats, comfy.The group was finally reunited just after 10. So, after that, we opted for... Rumba Rapids. After 3 times, quite fair to say I was wet.We checked the iPhone App, turned out Stealth (as we could see), Colossus and Depth Charge were all down. We decided to check out Storm Surge. Queue board said an hour, and the queue was about half full, so we decided to steer clear till later. Zodiac times were had instead. Wandered over to Samurai - favourite ride for the majority of the group (bar me to be honest!). Usual Saw picture taking in Samurai queue. The weather, as you can see, was beautiful!After what was a good cycle on Samurai, we opted to do Loggers Leap - bad singing was involved! Again, got very wet! Turned out to be what a lot of the day involved.After some general wandering round the park and awkward 'what do we do?' moments, we opted for lunch at 12. But oh, what do we have? Well, turned out we all wanted to go somewhere different! So that's what we did. I opted for the new kebab place where the Amity Bugle was (just near Flying Fish). With AP discount, it came to about £4.60 - and included a large drink, kebab in pitta bread, and salad! I thought it was a bargain!The 'Hot, Hot, Hot Inferno Sauce'! I'll tell you one thing - it is blooming hot! The kebab was surprisingly large, and, of course, tasty.After meeting on the grassy bit by Stealth, I noticed a stage - live acts were performing throughout the day. To be honest, they all sounded terrible, glad we missed them! As a side note, the MTDP stated that of the grassy bit just to the left of Stealth, an open air stage was mentioned. I'd guess events like this would occur there!Now, it was time for... Storm Surge. Queue time said 60 minutes, but only a quarter of the queue was full. Review is in the appropriate topic. Anyways, pictures:I quite like how this shower only goes off when a boat is approaching; nice to see Thorpe being water friendly! Splashing downThis has been a JoshC. approved queue line.Gotta love themed signage!If you ignore the ugly people in front... you can see what is 'new' (as in, since AP day) theming - a buoy, a rubber ball and a propeller. Well, it's a nice touch..Bird poo on Storm Surge! Found this amusing.That's where the images end, as my camera ran out of battery. However, after 2 goes on Storm Surge, popped to the Megastore and got the Top Trumps game. We headed over to Rush for a fun ride and that was that really. 12 rides, 9:30-3:30. 10,000 guests were expected, so we thought that was reasonable. Could have probably fitted in more if we were more proactive, but ah well.So yeah, I enjoyed myself - we all did. All rides were operational by the afternoon. Storm Surge and Inferno had slight blips, but they were sorted out quickly as far as I know. Well done Thorpe!

^The majority of closed season was spent more building the ride than anything.Remember, 3 weeks of snow / extremely cold weather, plus Christmas break, probably means they weren't working for nearly a month and a half! If the ride area is not even finished by AP day, then I don't think theming and that will be high on their list...

I hate the fact that Storm Surge basically takes up the same space as Colossus. Yeah, it's new, but it's not THAT major!!

From photos, it looks like the queue line differs to that that was shown in the plans? Pretty sure it never went anywhere near the 'splash zone?

Maybe this sounds a little pathetic, but I need to get this off my chest.I am not a bloody information point. I hate it when every single week, the day before homework is due in, I get people asking me 'What's the homework?' 'Where's the homework?' 'How do you do the homework?' 'Help me with this, help me with that...' 'Can I have a cover sheet?' Okay, realised that's only ever in Maths....It just plain annoys me. I don't mind helping people out every so often; sometimes people do just forget something / don't understand it. But when it comes to the fact that people rely on me to tell them everything, probably for nothing more than the fact I understand what's going on, it just pees me off.Then I ask myself, 'If I was to ask for their help, what would they do?' And, when most of the time, the answer's no, I know what I'm just going to say now on...

Maybe I'm missing something here, but that still ruins the day slightly, no?Let say a group of 4 people go, 1 of whom is disabled. Last year, the group of 4 people could have gone on say, Saw all together. Then, they have to wait 90mins before being able to go on another major ride. They can utilise the smaller attractions at their leisure, and then go on another major attraction after 90mins. I see no real issues with that.This year, if it works how you say, then 2 people would queue for Saw for 90 mins, whilst the disabled guest and 1 carer are left hanging around for 90mins. What can they do? Go on another ride? But what if the whole group wants to do that ride, not fair on them is it? And then it's awkward anyway - when will the disabled guest know to join the queue to rejoin the rest of their group? Etc. It makes it more complicated and makes the day less enjoyable for the guests.The best option I can see is tightening who gets the disabled band. Last year for example, I saw someone get a band because 'they had ADHD and didn't understand the concept of queueing'. Sound a bit like they were pushing it? Guests probably could get away with the smallest of things if they tried hard enough. Personally, unless it's a severe mental disability or a physical disability that stops people from queueing / standing for long periods of time, then I don't think you have a right to a disabled band. And, the disabled guest should have a reasonable number of carer accompanying them - as in from 1 to 3 (maybe 4).

Parts of Cheetah Hunt's supports still look like Kerplunk. It just looks a wee bit... off putting...

Don't know why, but I find this funny...

This will be my last point on yesterday's events. Not all AP holders regularly go to Thorpe, so I see it as perfectly justifiable that some will moan. But considering everything that happened, that's a good ride count. Staff slowness is something I usually expect at the beginning of the season, but that slow!? A wee bit ridiculous.

Because it's £30 cheaper than normal...