JoshC.

I watched the Opening Ceremony as well. Admittedly, I was not planning on doing so, but I sorta got suckered into the hype of it and decided to watch it.
I really did enjoy it, actually. It was a brilliant story piece full of British humour, which is exactly what a country's Opening Ceremony should be. People were complaining that it was 'too British' - I'm sorry, what would you want instead? To be fair, there'll be some things people won't get (Rowan Atkinson / Mr Bean playing the piano was CLASSIC, though maybe an example of things that won't be fully 'got'), but when showing off Britain, there'll be many things other countries will not get. The inflatable children character villains, five rings going up in the air and the lighting of the cauldron were pretty spectacular as well (though I almost feel as though the introduction of the young athletes lighting to pieces wasn't as good / clear as it should have been).
Couple of negative points from me as well. Dizzie Rascal performing, though I understand why to a degree, I personally just feel that he isn't 'good enough' to do something this big, but heyho, it happened, and I guess he did alright. The James Bond / Queen thing was good, but the jumping out of the helicopter bit was a bit...anti-climatic and it felt a bit like 'Oh, why?'. Also, Paul McCarthy?! Just why in my opinion, so many more choices which would have been better in my opinion...
So yeah, really enjoyed it and a huge well done to everyone involved it! The one other thing to gather from it would be this - if anyone asks what 'Britishness' is, or what it means to be British, I would tell them to watch this Opening Ceremony and that would explain it to me perfectly.

I watched the Opening Ceremony as well. Admittedly, I was not planning on doing so, but I sorta got suckered into the hype of it and decided to watch it.
I really did enjoy it, actually. It was a brilliant story piece full of British humour, which is exactly what a country's Opening Ceremony should be. People were complaining that it was 'too British' - I'm sorry, what would you want instead? To be fair, there'll be some things people won't get (Rowan Atkinson / Mr Bean playing the piano was CLASSIC, though maybe an example of things that won't be fully 'got'), but when showing off Britain, there'll be many things other countries will not get. The inflatable children character villains, five rings going up in the air and the lighting of the cauldron were pretty spectacular as well (though I almost feel as though the introduction of the young athletes lighting to pieces wasn't as good / clear as it should have been).
Couple of negative points from me as well. Dizzie Rascal performing, though I understand why to a degree, I personally just feel that he isn't 'good enough' to do something this big, but heyho, it happened, and I guess he did alright. The James Bond / Queen thing was good, but the jumping out of the helicopter bit was a bit...anti-climatic and it felt a bit like 'Oh, why?'. Also, Paul McCarthy?! Just why in my opinion, so many more choices which would have been better in my opinion...
So yeah, really enjoyed it and a huge well done to everyone involved it! The one other thing to gather from it would be this - if anyone asks what 'Britishness' is, or what it means to be British, I would tell them to watch this Opening Ceremony and that would explain it to me perfectly.

Not gonna lie; really don't like the way they've done.
I much preferred Saw's 'story first' approach, followed by you on ride (and uninterrupted). Also liked how Saw's featured the whole lift hill, as opposed to just near the top (I guess you could say Saw doesn't show the first part of the ride, but you get my point - the lift hill can show some nice expressions I think).
Swarm could've had a really good, minute long back story made - in fact, it could have just been made from all the little blipverts we saw leading up to the opening and the first part from the TV advert and that would have been more than enough. Quite disappointed with how it looks, and I'm not sure any more if I'm willing to part with £12/£13 (guessing that's the price?) for it...

Technically Liam, Furius Baco is Europe's fastest winged coaster... [/pedantic]
Anyways, my rankings:
1) The Swarm. Love everything about the ride and it sits firmly as my favourite ride to date.
2) Nemesis. Brilliant, brilliant ride. The location makes it so unique and it just has this 'feel' to it which makes it special. Only just pipped by Swarm in honesty.
3) Nemesis Inferno. Fantastic ride which flows really well. Great layout all the way through, and has a great mixture of force and elegance. Also love it when the the tunnel is full of mist and has all lights on.
4) Joint Oblivion and Air. Really difficult to separate the two. I do enjoy Oblivion, even if it is a one trick pony. When I first went on it in 2006, I guess you could say I was at the point of being scared - something which I don't think has happened to me on any other coaster since. I love the story and theming, but feel it lets itself down at the end and just needs something a little extra to finish it off. Air, on the other hand, is a good, solid ride. That's it; nothing special. I enjoy it, but it doesn't blow me away.
Perhaps worth noting that, with Air and Oblivion, there's nothing wrong with them, as they're ranked highly in my favourite coasters, but they're just not really that close to other three B&Ms in this case...

Gerstauler.

Pretty much the only thing I'd think we can safely know about SW7 is that it's a Gerstauler (always get a sense of satisifaction spelling that correcting first time! ) and it's some version of a Eurofighter (could be, say, a Eurofighter V2.0 for example). Oh, and where it is and it'll be a world first, if you wish to be pedantic...
Personally, I don't think a vertical launch will occur. Looking at how the car goes over the vertical 'bit', I'd hate to imagine how that would feel at any quick pace. So, for sheer comfort reasons, I'd expect it to go over that bit quite slowly, which would mean either a slow launch, or a launch which means it goes over the crest slowly (both of which are pretty pointless in my eyes) or a standard vertical lift hill. If I'm honest, I'd be disappointed if there was any launch at all on this - it seems like an unneccessary extra which will add little to the ride, bar an increase in reliability issues and perhaps discomfort...
I'd say the world first will either be something to do with how cars, though no idea what, or a 'Th13teen trick', where something happens inside. Rumours have been going around about 'inverting track', where the track itself moves in a circle to invert the train. Again, something which I think is unlikely, but just something which is reguarly thrown out there..
If this ride is half as good as it looks, I'll be more than happy. Even happier if it has lapbars.

Oops, turns out Pterodactyl opened to the public yesterday...

Thank you, brilliant FL marketing team, for bringing this to the public's attention...

Oops, turns out Pterodactyl opened to the public yesterday...

Thank you, brilliant FL marketing team, for bringing this to the public's attention...

Can't do more than reiterate what has been said already, thanks to Thorpe Park and TPM, it was really good

You're welcome hun xxxx

Massive thank you to Thorpe for arranging the whole event! It all went very smoothly and all the staff involved were professional yet fun and friendly throughout.
Me and Ben managed 10 rides out of the 11 sent, had to take a break about halfway! It was great fun going 10 times even if it makes you sore and dizzy (I felt like I'd had a few drinks after 10 rides!), and a few of the rides were also in the ran which added to the experience! And closing our eyes throughout one of the rides was quite odd too!
After the ERT we had a short "briefing" and then they brought out a cake and we sang happy brithday! We then lined up and drew straws as 3 people got to go up the lift hill. Mark9, Daniel9 and another member (can't remember their name!) were the lucky 3. Whilst they had their lift hill walk, the rest of us got Swarm lanyards with numbers on (which we were allowed to keep) so they could note us all down on a register, then we were split into smaller groups and taken around various areas of the ride: the maintenance workshop, brake run and underneath the final inline. All three areas were very interesting and we learnt quite a few things about the ride, and there were some things which even I didn't know despite working on it for 2 years! For example, they have wheels for winter and summer (and when its like it is at the moment they put a mixture of both wheels on!). Going under the final inline was awesome as you really see how low to th ground the ride actually gets! Oh and we got to go and touch the track
We were also taken to the top section of Crust where we could get good photos of the four inlines. It's a shame that such a great and iconic view of the ride is hidden away form the public eye!
We then all met back and they cut the cake, although I didn't feel like having any after all those rides! They checked everyone was there (and I have to mention Ben saying "Yes Miss" when they read his name out, that was just...brilliant! ) and then that was it!
So all in all, a great event and some great opportunities to leanr more about the ride and ask questions. It was also great seeing everyone again and seeing some new faces too!
Once again a big thank you to both TPM and Thorpe, and to the staff who stayed behind to run the event As Josh said, fingers crossed we will be privelaged with more events like this in the future!

Massive thanks to Thorpe Park for doing this - an ERT, tour of the ride area (as well as the chance for a lift hill walk) and workshop after park close for free is something well and truly brilliant for any park to do.
Somehow managed all 11 rides, though my shoulders have felt a bit tender today.. The tour was great too; my personal favourite being walking under the final inversion. Also great to meet some people for the first time, always nice to put faces to names and a thanks to everyone for being friendly and such. (Annnd, a thanks again to whoever offered me a lift home - though I've forgotten who that was now :$).
One thing I'd just like to say though - if we're lucky enough to have another ERT event organised, I think the 'advertised' start time should be say at least 10 minutes after park close. It was said the ERT was 6-6:30, and we didn't get on till 20 to 7 ish? I don't have a problem really with waiting around and that (did leave more opportunity to chat to people), but it just allows people to ensure they can get timings right with getting home and such. (Not a grumble - if it is coming across that way - as after all, there needs to be a bit of time given for staff to have a break, get organised, etc., but just something to consider for next time I'd say ).
Again, thanks to Thorpe and TPM for getting this organised, and - fingers crossed - we'll get a similar event at some point in the future!

With all these reversals, you do have to wonder that if SW7 is poorly received, if Alton would close it after a week and decide to build a different coaster instead...

With all these reversals, you do have to wonder that if SW7 is poorly received, if Alton would close it after a week and decide to build a different coaster instead...

Didn't know where to post this really, but anyways...
With articles on the site / posts by Hob Bot, how hard is it to check over spelling and grammar? Without being rude, there's pretty much mistakes in every single one, from just simple spelling errors to annoying things like the using 'your' 'you're' incorrectly. Sometimes, half of it just won't even make sense. I understand no one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes, but it just feels like they're posted without being reread or checked over at all, and that doesn't really reflect on the site well.

There's a Saw one as well. I don't know how much they are this season, but they've been £7 the past couple of seasons. They probably cost between £5-£7 though.
There's also a Vampire one at Chessington and a Nemesis one at Alton.

We have fire!!

You always know a year is going to be good when you start off with a new B&M, 30 miles up the road from where you live. To continue the momentum, a trip to Paris and Parc Asterix was planned quite swiftly to experience OzSiris, a brand new custom made B&M inverter. The first day of the trip was seeing all the Parisian sights. Our first adventure was to the Louvre. We didn't go in due to it being far later (and more expensive then we thought) so we instead walked up the Arc de triumphe. I'll be frank when I say things are big in Paris. The Arc de Triumphe, Notre Dame and the Eifel Tower can be seen from all around and for me personally, I really admire the effort and beauty of the structures. Fairly late in the day, we walked up the Eifel Tower for example and the metal structure is so gorgeous... well as far as metal can be gorgeous anyway. And the view from the third level is incredible. Overlooking the urban sprawl of Paris is something everything should do.
On the same day, we also visited a random park with animals. All the coasters were closed, much to john's annoyance but it was a fun diversion, particularly the Barbara Streisland ducks.
So.. Parc Asterix. A very popular park apparently as on both our days rides such as OzSiris, Tonnre de Zeus, L'Oxygernarium and Goudurix saw full queue lines, at least 60 miutes each. It's a very interesting park to, based around the characters of Asterix and Obelix, and a village which want to fight of the invading Roman empire. To follow the theme, each ride is themed accordingly. Each attraction is tounge in cheek in the fun stakes. So to start off, I'll begin with OzSiris
OzSiris - Four rides (One in the front, two in the back and one on row seven)



It was quite evident through-out the construction and concept art that OzSiris was going to be a very special rollercoaster. Unlike 99% of B&M's which are all themed around fear or some kind of animal, OzSiris is themed around the Egyptian god Siris. Now history doesn't tell of a god that hyptnotizes everyone but the park has gone down this route anyway. As you join the queue, the ride jumps around you, giving impressions of rides such as Nemesis and Black Mamba with the ride interacting very well with its landscape. You then enter the main building, themed around an Egyptian pyramid. I can say safely that we were overwhelmed with how much there is look at as you queue. From plans of OzSiris taking over Ceasers palace, Statues, beautiful wall drawings that depict Sris bending the Egyptian people to his will, there is always something new to spot. The ride building has been designed beautifulyly and it is such a joy when the general public latch onto it as well. People around us were photoing the theming, posing in front of it and even better was the lack of graffitti. Swarm's seconday queue line was full to the brim of tags. Nothing such at OzSiris.


So eventually you walk up into the main crypt (like grave robbers) and the full scale of the ride is shown. The use of lighting and effects is dazzling. One of the main things I thought of Swarms openness is that whilst the station inline is inspired, when its sunny, the ride will lose all atmosphere. It was sunny on our rides of OzSiris, but losing atmosphere wasn't on the agenda. Deep blue lighting is used throughout the station and cleverly, depicted on the wall is a line of people being hyptnotized and going through the rides layout. We think the storyline is that OzSiris uses the ride to put the population under his spell, hence the flashing lights as you leave the station.This attention to detail seperates the ride from other inverters in Europe.


So the ride? There are very few custom made inverters in the world that do something different with its layout. The majority go for the tried and tested curved drop into a vertical loop followed by a zero g roll. The only two that realy attempt something unique are Nemesis and OzSiris so unfortunately, as much as I hate doing it, Nemesis will be referenced a few times. OzSiris's first drop is pure excellence and is on a par with Oblivion, iSpeed and Stealth for pure adrenaline. For those that just assume newer B&M's are smooth and forceless, well just give OzSiris a go. Even the bottom of the first drop has a slight edge to it as the train at full speed tackles a high speed corner with a bit of roughness. Not head banging, but think Nemesis's relentlessness.

You dive into a well composed dive loop, rare on a European B&M, around a tight corner into the vertical loop which is very fast and forceful before diving downwards into an immelman turn. Each part of this part of the ride is done at fast speed, giving it some excellent pacing. Even the dive under the main plaza is done surprisingly fast. I thought it would be slow and cumbersome, but no it's done with great spirit, pulling upwards into a nice corkscrew. The only let down is the turnaround here. It interrupts the pace which is similar to what I thought on Batman La Fuga. There is no worry with the Zero-G though. Rarely done with the train turning to the right, the zero g is absolutely perfect. Some criticism is thrown at similar rides (Nemesis, Nemesis Inferno, Katun) that the inversion is done too fast so you lose the zero g ifeeling. None such criticism here, the ride takes it at such a perfect speed that you feel zero g for what feels like minutes rather then micro seconds. The ride is coming to an end now but not before diving into a helix around one of the queuelines zig-zags and into the break run.





The more of these I go on, the more they get harder to rate. Whilst some come across as over-rated such as the Dragons, some boil under the radar and surprise through their sheer awesomeness. Katun was the first and the second is OzSiris. The park has taken one of the most intense ride types available, twisted it and give it a theme that is pure tounge in cheek, fun and more importantly enjoyable. I applaud the park for their effort.
OzSiris - 10/10

http://www.thorpeparkmania.co.uk/page/features_colossus10 - An excellent feature to celebrate 10 years of Colossus - With thanks to Mr 9!