JoshC.

To be fair, I think we all sort of expect something to go on over closed season. I was just saying that visible things to the rides is quiet this time round.

^ No...Just that in comparison to previous closed seasons, it's been quiet...

Zodiac has been deconstructed (ie had pods taken off). Not much else in the way of winter maintainance to be seen. Samurai still has its pods, Rush still has its arms, no scaffolding to be seen...Quiet closed season really...

Ah right, thanks for that

Sorry if this sounds stupid, but I thought the European equivalent of the ADIPS (there is one different?), was much stricter than the ADIPS? So how on earth does Europa get away with that sort of thing.Or is it more a Merlin thing?

^When the name was stated, it was said to either be X-Raptor or Raptor. I actually prefer just Raptor..And a very nice video too..

Totally agree with this!The last time I used Fastrack was in 2009 (a friend gave me her complementary pass for Saw because they wouldn't return before it expired). I have had... one, maybe two, bad trips out of nearly 50 since then. The last time I bought Fastrack was, oh, never. Simply put, not using Fastrack hasn't meant I have had bad days. Yes, I've haf bad days, but not because of Fastrack...

^Someone obviously can't read...

I may never have actually known him, but he seemed like a great guy. RIP Cjw.My condolences to his family and all of his friends on the forum.

Excuse me!? I do not see how you can say that at all...2010 season, cost was £4 (with 17.5% VAT). Pre-VAT, that works out as about £3.40. With 20% VAT, it works out at about £4.10. If you check here: http://www.thorpepark.com/prices/tickets.aspx?tabname=fastrack you can see that prices have risen before you even take into account VAT. Take Stealth again, 2010 - pre VAT was £3.40, now it's £5.00. Just shows how much the prices have gone up - nothing to do with VAT at all.

Quoting this because it is true. Why Thorpe are going to this extreme price in the first place is a bit mind boggling, but hopefully it acts as a deterrence.

Seems to be a very quiet closed season really. Slammer hasn't had it's scaffolding for what seems to be the first time, the four major coasters are probably fine, and Storm Surge is hardly the greatest piece of construction ot occur. I haven't even seen Rush's arm taken off. Hopefully we're looking at more spruce up this closed season..

I understand want to go back on CCR. But quoting a post that's over 2 years old? Seriously..

This. The queue for Colossus can be extraordinarily long and can be as painful as the ride itself sometimes. I'd never wait more than 20 minutes for it personally, and I rarely see that...

Meh, it's not that different to May / June time for me. Revision and school work, and pretend the places don't exist for the majority of the time.

Looks like we live in a world where a teenager can be told off for pulling a leaf of a tree...

Operations have already resumed... Between yesterday and about 10 days ago, more work has gone on.

Vertical Construction started mid-December, so not a while really.The only update that can be given is that vertical construction is continuing.

Dan, I think there's been a misunderstanding between us.I agree he should go for the job in the summer. It's what I adviced him to do in my very first post about all this. But everything just seems to have diverged between loads of things. In short, what I'm saying: work on GCSEs and wait till summer for the job. :PAnd yeah, I was wrong. I didn't think about personal situations for everyone and all that. All I can say to that is I was wrong and I'm sorry. I just feel that people are having a go at me for the fact my mum was able to give me money..

I totally agree that money shouldn't be an issue if you love what you do. But if you're in it just for the money, Chessie or Thorpe wouldn't be my first choice.. Granted, I was a bit narrow minded at first (ie, not considering what he wants to di with his life, etc.) but I still think that the more time you have to focus on GCSEs the better, which I would feel would be not taking a part time job. As for the whole education vs working after compulsory school argument, well, whatever you choose to do, good GCSEs are prefrable, even if it just ends up as a safety net. I find that quite offensive. Yeah, when I was at school, I lived off my mum. She gave me £10 a week, which was for me to buy what I needed / wanted (excluding breakfast lunch and dinner and school clothes). Yeah, I could have done with a bit more, and when I hit 16 I did talk about getting a job. But eventually I decided against to concentrate more on my GCSEs. Personally, I feel if I had had gotten a job, I would not have coped. Now, if I wasn't going to college, in the big wide world of work I would have gone. But instead, I went to college. Decided not to get a job till I settle into the workload and I probably won't get a job till summer. My EMA covers my travel costs, gets me lunch and what I need each week with a little bit leftover. My mum doesn't give mr money any - at my request - because I feel I have enough. So really, I don't need the money. I don't see the point in getting a job that will not relate to my future ambitions for a bit of extra money.So I do apolgise if my mum giving me some money for a couple of years is so wrong.

Yes, we have been talking about summer jobs, but not JUST summer jobs. I think that in general, summer jobs ARE good things - I've never said they're not. Whenever a friend of mine has looked for a summer job, they've always gotten one. So yeah, for me to say there's plenty of summer jobs is wrong, but I've never known anyone who's been looking for a summer job to not eventually get one...And yeah, I am lucky. And, for the record, my mum doesn't have money to toss around, but she actually went out of her way moreso than was probably required so that I could have some money and concentrate on school work primarily.

Perhaps it's just my personal preference then. I know I couldn't have gotten through my GCSEs with a part time job due to the sheer amount of work I was doing. The weekend was a saving grace to relax, not to be working even more. My mum doesn't earn that much really, yet she was able to give me enough for me to be able to do what I wanted to do / get what I wanted to get.At college, most people need as much money as possible, so I can perfectly understand people wanting jobs then. But personally, no matter what I'd want to do in the future, I'd hold back until after I've done my GCSEs before getting any jobs. Simply put, they're important, and I'd want to be fully focused on them and them alone.So yeah, in my eyes, I just can't understanding rushing into a job ASAP. But each to their own..

Whilst I can understand this to a degree, I don't see why you need to rush into it literally at the first instance. My mum earns about £16k a year, I didn't get a job (still don't for the record due to heavy workloads of college) and I didn't really need any more money than what my mum gave to me. Yeah. when people get to college, I can understand, but rushing in at the first instance, I just don't get it...

Just giving my view on things really. I'm laying on him as it were. If he wants to work there, fine, I'm not stopping him. But why apply at the very first strike of turning 16? Why not just wait a bit, focus on school work. Yeah, getting a job isn't easy, but there's plenty of summer jobs to go around, and I'd guess getting one at Chessie isn't going to be that much harder than getting any other summer job. The point is, I just don't get why some people want to rush into jobs at the very first instant. Seize your youth as much as physically possible and all that...

I like Facebook. It is an easy way to keep in touch with people. It's simple and has helped me arrange so many things and sort things out. It's when you get the silly add ons like Farmville and god knows what else that ruin it.