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Air (5) Battle Galleons (5) Berry Bish Bash (5) Charlie & The Chocolate Factory (5) Congo River Rapids (5) Driving School (5) Doodle Doo Derby (5) Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back (5) Enterprise (5) Frog Hopper (5) Galloper's Carousel (5) Haunted Hollow (5) Heave Ho! (5) Hex - The Legend Of The Towers (5) Ice Age The 4D Experience (5) Marauders Mayhem (5) Nemesis (7) Nemesis Sub-Terra (6) Oblivion (5) Old Macdonalds Singing Barn (5) Ripsaw (5) Rita (5) Riverbank Eye Spy (5) Runaway Mine Train (5) Twirling Toadstool (5) There's Something In The Dungheap (4) The Blade (5) The Flume (5) The Gardens (6) The Towers (5) Th13teen (5) Sonic Spinball (5) Sharkbait Reef by SEA LIFE (5) Skyride (5) Squirrel Nutty Ride (5) Submission (2) Wobble World (5) --- Nemesis + Submission -

I really hope the entrance follows the concept art are there is a court jester actor. It would be a nice intro I think. Also, if there isn't a queuing area inside the building, the South Bank is going to get even busier and it can get better bad already.

While initially cheap, Samurai and Storm Surge have both given the park problems and don't have the capacity that a ride at Thorpe should have. I think a new attraction just for the sake of it would be a mistake. The problem is more the mentality both on the side of the consumer and company that there needs to be something new. It seems to be hard-wired into the British parks in particular.

They could go all out and market it as a completely new attraction with new props, etc rather than just moving an old one. The website gives that vibe to me.

I think it will good. Some of the sets and figures look really tired at the current site and it just looks like a really awkward space. I just hope that fire of London video finally goes.

It seems this 1 train debate is now an annual event. At a park like Thorpe, capacity and fast track are inherently linked. Fast track just gives incentive to elongate queues. Whether Thorpe do or don't is another matter. Personally, I am way more happy to part with my money on photos, etc when I'm having a good day at a park, which includes operations. Also this money grabbing thing is really boring unless someone has some figures. Guests having bad days (which includes pricing and up-selling) will just mean them being less likely to return and the park losing money which in turn will force the park to up its game. If the park was rolling in profits and I went on a quiet day with long queues due to capacity then I would be annoyed but at the same time, the park could be completely tanking, which just opens up other questions on how the park should respond. We just don't know without figures.

So the event is now over. I could probably write an essay on why the conga-line mazes work so much better than these gimmick based mazes but I'll just keep it brief.

Well yes when I go to a park as far away as America because its cost is small compared to flights, hotels, etc and especially if I'm not going to be back there soon. I'd rather pay more but get a better service. Debatable. Mummy was the only ride to do it and it's all indoors, mainly dark and most theming is to the side or above you.

Universal LA is a pretty good example of a premium fast track option. My memory is little hazy but I went on the VIP tour and was told this was one of the busiest days of the season (people were getting rammed into each other on the escalators because the exits were blocked by the sheer size of the crowds). The Mummy gave the front row of every other car to Express pass so essentially an eighth. The Simpsons Ride has 2 screens, each with 12 cars. Express only get access to one side and 2/3 cars of that. Jurassic Park was more dodgy with giving 1/2 rows per boat but most of the time there was no Express queue so I guess there was no reason to batch. The longest we had to queue was less than 10 mins for The Simpsons Ride which had a 90+ min queue all day.

It's interesting because some other forums without naming names basically applaud parks when they put Qbot systems in. Depending on how those are run, they can really screw up the main queue. I'd rather have a higher base price and get rid of all this up-sell stuff but that just isn't going to happen.

You haven't heard Sunburn? Bad Benin. I think I'm done with Muse for a while after seeing all of Origin at Reading. The new album is OK but Unsustainable, Explorers and Big Freeze are really awful. Kind of funny they still play Undisclosed Desires and not MK Ultra or Unnatural Selection as well.

The problem with Misfits isn't the characters, it's the bad writing. Season 2 was amazing but season 3 was a nosedive. Same problem that Skins had from season 3 onwards. The episode last night was neither funny nor did it gain anything from being darker. The only good thing was the soundtrack.

It all sounds like a ploy to get you into jail to be honest Ryan. Thanks for the help Josh.

It's just a bit silly because the same thing could happen on any of the other coasters just with somebody not on the ride getting hit. I'm pretty sure this only happened because 2 incidents occured within a short period of time. If it's anything like the rides at Universal Hollywood there would have been warnings everywhere and the lockers are right by queue entrances. Yes the ending of Hollywood Mummy is poor and the ride itself is far too short.

Yeah it's just that I have a Premium so don't need to pick up anything else and that queue is normally rather lengthy.

Universal Management seem to be treading lightly and I think it's because of Harry Potter. Non-duelling dragons because of people dropping stuff? Horror maze actors told to run away after a scare becuse one of them got punched? I think they don't want any bad rep being attached to Potter. I'm pretty peeved I won't be able to get on the proper dragons when I go.

I'm trying to avoid spoilers in case someone hasn't tagged them so I'm sorry in advance if this has been asked: is the Advanced Ticket Collection the only place to pick up The Passing tickets as the email claims?

I think you're the first person I've heard say that they like Armageddon. I just remember it being mostly a host trying to work out what language people spoke. Rock 'n' Rollercoaster was so good when all the effects in the show building worked. It was way better than MGM's cardboard cutouts. There are some videos on YouTube showing it when it was new and a making of documentary as well. The outside has always been very tacky though. I see what they're going for but it doesn't work.

Being unique does not make a ride good (though X is amazing).

Surprised this hasn't been posted yet but Hershey have announced that Skyrush will be closed for their Halloween event which covers the rest of the season. It doesn't come to as a shock to me given Intamin's recent track record, the design of the trains and the forces in the track layout.

It is a bit silly because both events are so dependent on actors. Saying that I don't think any of Thorpe's mazes are that scary besides maybe the first time on Experiment 10 if you're in a small group. The atmosphere was a bit lacking on the day I went last year as well but I guess it varies day to day.

She was just too scared to go on Catapult. This park is just so awkward. Either you got lucky or they have improved their operations since I went because it was such a mess. Regarding Bizarro, best in the world is of course subjective but what you do get is a very fun set of airtime hills, helices, great pacing and good length with no MCBR or trims (I think?!). If you disregard UK restrictions, if we got something like it here it would be praised to high heaven. It's not too bad to get to if you have a car and you're staying in the Boston area.

Blergh, I wish my family got into the Disney spirit and wanted to do all the shows, parades, meet n greets, etc. They don't like the 'big' rides either.

I'm interested to see what you make of Euro Disney. I went quite a long time ago and even though the Studios have expanded since, I haven't heard great things about upkeep, staff, etc. I've heard that Space Mountain is getting new restraints at some point as it's ridiculously rough now. It was already pretty bad in 2005 when they cut costs for Mission 2 and didn't get new trains.

I'm already busy that weekend but enjoy the tour everyone! Are mazes actually opening at 3pm this year then?