Mattgwise

Just got back from the park, didn't go on that much as I was with a friend who had a 7 year old who was into this Moshi Hunting.
A lot of kids seemed to be enjoying the event, hunting around the park for the different Moshi monster things so worked very well. They had to find a symbol at the eight Moshi locations, and convert it into a letter using the code breaker sheet, and then had to unscramble the word to win a prize of a 3 day Moshi membership (exciting!) and be entered into a competition to win a family four day pass and some Moshi stuff.
The park was quiet for the first hour but soon got busy.
Unusually ride reliability was pretty poor for Chessington today. Upon arrival Jungle Bus and Black Buccannear were advertised as closed all day, Black Buccannear was however open when I went past at about 11:45am. Dragon Falls was down from opening and opened in the afternoon, looked like problems with the conveyor belt at the top of the main drop. Vampire closed for a short time, due to first aiders needing to attend someone coming off the ride and was also seen running a few empty cars quite near that time, so may have also had a problem around the same time. Dragon's Fury went down at around 2:30pm from what I saw and later began testing, reopened and closed again after a few people started queuing. At 4:15pm it was testing again, and I didn't get to see if it reopened.
Atmosphere still seemed good around the park and staff as friendly as ever.
Vampire advertised a 100 minute queue and I chanced it and waited 80 mins. Very slow at dispatching, train always waited on break run, Although we would all love the third train to return, seeing it's poor loading today makes me wonder how they ever managed to run three trains, without it stopping on the second lift for a long period of time.
Tomb Blaster again very slow at loading and dispatching, and queue reached an advertised 90 minutes.
Other queue times:
Runaway train - 60 mins
Safari Skyway - 30 mins
Dragon falls - 60 mins
Black Buccaneer - 30 mins
Toadies Crazy cars and Tiny Truckers - 40 mins (insane)
Kobra - 80 mins
Bubbleworks - 70 mins (although it was only 25 mins in reality)
Tuk Tuk Turmoil- 40 mins
Others between 10 - 25 mins
Only got on 5 rides due to having a relaxed day, this silly (IMO) Moshi Monster hunt, and long queues but still had a god day.

I was actually on a tight budget so stayed in a nearby village called Grafenhausen and ran out of time to look at the hotels, plus my friends couldn't be assed with looking at the hotel areas. I spent the Tuesday and Wednesday in the park and the park closed at 7:30pm with the longest queue of the day around 40 minutes for Wodan. Most queues were less than 10 minutes - walk on by 7pm. On the Wednesday the park closed at 8pm but it was much busier. At the end of the day walked by Euromir, Bobsleigh run and Eurosat and all still had queues of around 20 mins.
If Stealth or swarm were at Europa Park, then I am sure a one hour queue at Thorpe would easily be halved to 30 minutes, with its speedy loading and no fasttrack.

Just got back from a fantastic trip to Europa Park. Seriously makes the UK parks seem poor in terms of the way they are run and themed.
The park is just beautiful, flowers everywhere, lovely buildings and very picturesque. It was a bit tricky finding your way around the park but with two monorails and a railway with trains every 5 - 10 minutes you could just jump on and see where it took you.
What's also nice is that although very busy the queues move very fast as all rollercoasters have at least 3 cars. Most many more. The trains are dispatched extremely fast too, I counted 25 seconds on Alpenexpress (Runaway train) between lap bars going up from previous ride to the next dispatch. They don't faff about checking every bar is locked, just a quick look and no thumbs up business before dispatching. (Why do they check every bar here anyway, surely the computer won't allow a ride to start without bars locked anyway) The only rides bars were checked on was Wodan and I think Silverstar.
Wodan is my favourite wooden rollercoaster, had lots of airtime, and seemed to maintain a good speed throughout.
Silver star was amazing, Pepsi max big one is the only other hypercoaster I had ridden and of course being B&M was so much smoother, and got thrown up out of my seat a few times due to the airtime.
Blue Fire was brilliant. It looked a lot slower than I had thought but once on it, it was breathtaking. Felt like I was literally going to come out of the seat several times, and again once on it maintained its speed throughout making the inversions quite fun. The use of lapbars (with pulse readers) made the ride better too. Also had onboard audio which played a nice soundtrack.
Also really enjoyed Euromir (amazing soundtrack) and Eurosat, both much better than I thought they would be. Eurosat reminded me of an insane Black Hole.
All of the water rides were thoroughly enjoyable too, and believe it or not got wettest on Fjord Rafting, (rapids). A million times more fun than Rumba.
Sorry I have run out of time so couldn't do a big trip report. I may edit when I have more time.
Below is a link to some photos, they're not great but feel free to have a look (they should be accessible to all - let me know if not):
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151093344060342.485432.701145341&type=3

Noticed that Storm Surge is down and happened to come across an incident with it when reading a trip report on Pleasure Beach Experience just now. It seems that one of the conveyor belts has come off at the top off the ride whilst it was operating.

Picture from http://www.pleasurebeachexperience.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2395.

Noticed that Storm Surge is down and happened to come across an incident with it when reading a trip report on Pleasure Beach Experience just now. It seems that one of the conveyor belts has come off at the top off the ride whilst it was operating.

Picture from http://www.pleasurebeachexperience.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2395.

I can safely say I have never seen them use it, they will probably say it is too costly to run! At BPB they continuously hoover the water out of the boats, fair enough a lot more water is involved but seriously is it that hard to hoover even just a couple of times an hour or say every 5 times a boat goes around the circuit. There is nothing worse than wet feet when walking around a theme park.

Despite me visiting the park at least 5 times last year, I can safely say on all my visits I have heard No audio whatsoever play on Storm Surge. Personally I think they should just have the Tidal side WWTP playlist playing there.

GTA 5 Announced:http://www.rockstargames.com/Great news, wonder where it will be set? Will it be a new Vice City or new San Andreas or a whole new location? Trailer released on 2nd November.

Great trip to Thorpe Park today. See some photos at the bottom.The day started off very busy and the queue outside the park was insane and we arrived to the sign saying Slammer and Saw The Ride would be unavailable. Slammer of course was closed all day, it must be still awaiting a part as all was dead over at the ride. However Saw - The Ride opened around 11:30am.Once inside the park I was greeted to an exciting sight of a large support for The Swarm being put into place (couple of poor pictures in Swarm construction topic and facebook for those who can find it!!!!!Had a quick go on Depth Charge which had no queue (mainly because I wanted to see The Swarm sight. Then headed to Storm In A Tea Cup and had a tea cup that wouldn't turn much. Is it me or do these cups get stiffer every year? Next up was Rumba Rapids. Got soaked by the tunnel waterfall. Stealth was next which was advertised as 40 minutes but loading was extremely fast and trains were launched the fastest I have seen this year. We were on within 25 minutes.Next headed to our longest coaster wait of the day which was Nemesis Inferno at 45 minutes. (queue started just at the start of the cattlepen in the extension queue). Again must say dispatching was very quick with many trains dispatched before the other train reached the final brakes. Then had 12 slices of pizza at the Pizza Hut buffet.We decided we would head to Storm Surge but it was down and was for the next hour or so and had about 6 engineers at the top of the lift hill for about half hour, so decided to go on X:/No Way Out and within 5 minutes of queueing in the 15 minute or so queue they announced it would cease operation to clean up sick. Next headed to Vortex, which was very slow loading, a very short ride and had a member of staff who loved the sound of her own voice over the PA. Also worth noting that this has new queue line speakers which play the annoying lost city ambience (bird sounds). Then headed for Samurai and had a long 45 minute wait and was on one of the short and dull ride cycle (same every time). Next went for a beer as it was getting dark and noticed Vortex had a smoke machine this year which made it look awesome.Then headed for The Curse which I enjoyed more this year and it had a fair amount of actors in it. Next I wanted to try Experiment 10. We had our longest wait of the day of about an hour and ten minutes. This is such a cleverly done maze, actually has a plot to it and the way the maze operates is very different to the rest of the mazes. Well done Thorpe Park an excellent attraction. Seven was next and had a much shorter queue than previous years and like The Curse a fair amount of actors, although the smell in the second half of the maze is too much. Sadly did not go on Asylum as I was with a friend who had a bad experience in 2006 and refuses to go on.After that we went on Rush, Quantum, Saw - The Ride, Stealth (again) Nemesis Inferno (again), detonator, Storm Surge, X:/ No Way Out and Colossus all of which had 15 minute queues or less. I must add that the Dispatching on Colossus was very slow.This left 5 minutes to go so had a second go on Rush.I was not impressed with Audio this year as I personally found a lot of it more of a rock style than a Spooky style. Some of the tracks they used to play way back in around 2004 were much better. Also most of the flats were playing the Fright Nights music all day. From what I remembered the last three or four years most rides have had their usual themes during the day and changed in the evening, but only Stealth, Tidal Wave, Colossus, Nemesis Inferno and Saw seemed to play normal music during the day and then Fright Nights music from 4pm.Edit: Actually it wont let me add photos for some reason. Anyone know why as it lets me in the Swarm topic???...... ... But please click link to see them on my facebook profile. Sorry for poor quality I am hopeless with photos: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150406888230342.405186.701145341&type=1

Great trip to Thorpe Park today. See some photos at the bottom.The day started off very busy and the queue outside the park was insane and we arrived to the sign saying Slammer and Saw The Ride would be unavailable. Slammer of course was closed all day, it must be still awaiting a part as all was dead over at the ride. However Saw - The Ride opened around 11:30am.Once inside the park I was greeted to an exciting sight of a large support for The Swarm being put into place (couple of poor pictures in Swarm construction topic and facebook for those who can find it!!!!!Had a quick go on Depth Charge which had no queue (mainly because I wanted to see The Swarm sight. Then headed to Storm In A Tea Cup and had a tea cup that wouldn't turn much. Is it me or do these cups get stiffer every year? Next up was Rumba Rapids. Got soaked by the tunnel waterfall. Stealth was next which was advertised as 40 minutes but loading was extremely fast and trains were launched the fastest I have seen this year. We were on within 25 minutes.Next headed to our longest coaster wait of the day which was Nemesis Inferno at 45 minutes. (queue started just at the start of the cattlepen in the extension queue). Again must say dispatching was very quick with many trains dispatched before the other train reached the final brakes. Then had 12 slices of pizza at the Pizza Hut buffet.We decided we would head to Storm Surge but it was down and was for the next hour or so and had about 6 engineers at the top of the lift hill for about half hour, so decided to go on X:/No Way Out and within 5 minutes of queueing in the 15 minute or so queue they announced it would cease operation to clean up sick. Next headed to Vortex, which was very slow loading, a very short ride and had a member of staff who loved the sound of her own voice over the PA. Also worth noting that this has new queue line speakers which play the annoying lost city ambience (bird sounds). Then headed for Samurai and had a long 45 minute wait and was on one of the short and dull ride cycle (same every time). Next went for a beer as it was getting dark and noticed Vortex had a smoke machine this year which made it look awesome.Then headed for The Curse which I enjoyed more this year and it had a fair amount of actors in it. Next I wanted to try Experiment 10. We had our longest wait of the day of about an hour and ten minutes. This is such a cleverly done maze, actually has a plot to it and the way the maze operates is very different to the rest of the mazes. Well done Thorpe Park an excellent attraction. Seven was next and had a much shorter queue than previous years and like The Curse a fair amount of actors, although the smell in the second half of the maze is too much. Sadly did not go on Asylum as I was with a friend who had a bad experience in 2006 and refuses to go on.After that we went on Rush, Quantum, Saw - The Ride, Stealth (again) Nemesis Inferno (again), detonator, Storm Surge, X:/ No Way Out and Colossus all of which had 15 minute queues or less. I must add that the Dispatching on Colossus was very slow.This left 5 minutes to go so had a second go on Rush.I was not impressed with Audio this year as I personally found a lot of it more of a rock style than a Spooky style. Some of the tracks they used to play way back in around 2004 were much better. Also most of the flats were playing the Fright Nights music all day. From what I remembered the last three or four years most rides have had their usual themes during the day and changed in the evening, but only Stealth, Tidal Wave, Colossus, Nemesis Inferno and Saw seemed to play normal music during the day and then Fright Nights music from 4pm.Edit: Actually it wont let me add photos for some reason. Anyone know why as it lets me in the Swarm topic???...... ... But please click link to see them on my facebook profile. Sorry for poor quality I am hopeless with photos: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150406888230342.405186.701145341&type=1

Great trip to Thorpe Park today. See some photos at the bottom.The day started off very busy and the queue outside the park was insane and we arrived to the sign saying Slammer and Saw The Ride would be unavailable. Slammer of course was closed all day, it must be still awaiting a part as all was dead over at the ride. However Saw - The Ride opened around 11:30am.Once inside the park I was greeted to an exciting sight of a large support for The Swarm being put into place (couple of poor pictures in Swarm construction topic and facebook for those who can find it!!!!!Had a quick go on Depth Charge which had no queue (mainly because I wanted to see The Swarm sight. Then headed to Storm In A Tea Cup and had a tea cup that wouldn't turn much. Is it me or do these cups get stiffer every year? Next up was Rumba Rapids. Got soaked by the tunnel waterfall. Stealth was next which was advertised as 40 minutes but loading was extremely fast and trains were launched the fastest I have seen this year. We were on within 25 minutes.Next headed to our longest coaster wait of the day which was Nemesis Inferno at 45 minutes. (queue started just at the start of the cattlepen in the extension queue). Again must say dispatching was very quick with many trains dispatched before the other train reached the final brakes. Then had 12 slices of pizza at the Pizza Hut buffet.We decided we would head to Storm Surge but it was down and was for the next hour or so and had about 6 engineers at the top of the lift hill for about half hour, so decided to go on X:/No Way Out and within 5 minutes of queueing in the 15 minute or so queue they announced it would cease operation to clean up sick. Next headed to Vortex, which was very slow loading, a very short ride and had a member of staff who loved the sound of her own voice over the PA. Also worth noting that this has new queue line speakers which play the annoying lost city ambience (bird sounds). Then headed for Samurai and had a long 45 minute wait and was on one of the short and dull ride cycle (same every time). Next went for a beer as it was getting dark and noticed Vortex had a smoke machine this year which made it look awesome.Then headed for The Curse which I enjoyed more this year and it had a fair amount of actors in it. Next I wanted to try Experiment 10. We had our longest wait of the day of about an hour and ten minutes. This is such a cleverly done maze, actually has a plot to it and the way the maze operates is very different to the rest of the mazes. Well done Thorpe Park an excellent attraction. Seven was next and had a much shorter queue than previous years and like The Curse a fair amount of actors, although the smell in the second half of the maze is too much. Sadly did not go on Asylum as I was with a friend who had a bad experience in 2006 and refuses to go on.After that we went on Rush, Quantum, Saw - The Ride, Stealth (again) Nemesis Inferno (again), detonator, Storm Surge, X:/ No Way Out and Colossus all of which had 15 minute queues or less. I must add that the Dispatching on Colossus was very slow.This left 5 minutes to go so had a second go on Rush.I was not impressed with Audio this year as I personally found a lot of it more of a rock style than a Spooky style. Some of the tracks they used to play way back in around 2004 were much better. Also most of the flats were playing the Fright Nights music all day. From what I remembered the last three or four years most rides have had their usual themes during the day and changed in the evening, but only Stealth, Tidal Wave, Colossus, Nemesis Inferno and Saw seemed to play normal music during the day and then Fright Nights music from 4pm.Edit: Actually it wont let me add photos for some reason. Anyone know why as it lets me in the Swarm topic???...... ... But please click link to see them on my facebook profile. Sorry for poor quality I am hopeless with photos: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150406888230342.405186.701145341&type=1

Greatly missed ride. I remember having a strop when I was a touch too small to go on this. And then over the moon the next time I went as I could go on it.

95ft.