MattyMoo

Geek post - anyone notice that the "Detonator" logos had been covered up? Something to do with *too much* advertising perhaps?As previously stated, how good do the overhead shots of the park, and the ride VTs look - Stealth looks sexay! haha

Small world!! I don't think they could believe their luck either, haha. I won't go on something like Colossus if I've just eaten... in fact, I only tend to go on it in the morning before lunch If the whole group had been together, there would've been 4 of us in a line and I'm sure it would've got us!!

Poor Stealthy indeed! I thought that cable was replaced quite recently? Or at least, last year? Or was that just another rumour I hope she feels better soon!! Any rollbacks this year yet? I still want one!

And the Stealth launch mist is working The park looks really tidy right now - I know it's the start of the season, but it's clear that they've had a really good tidy up! New signage, queue matrix signs replace where applicable (e.g. Banana Boat) - good stuff!

Agree with BenC to be honest - just posted a review of today in Trip Reports - themeing on SAW Alive is top notch, but I rate Asylum and Hellgate as more of a head**** (for want of a better word!!) than SAW Alive... For me, the SWAT guys at the start were very good on both occasions, one girl told him to "eff off" and he bellowed in her face "DON'T YOU DARE SWEAR AT ME, JUST SHUTUP AND WATCH THE VIDEO" They also took the mickey out of a chap in front for tidying his hair, and also the guys behind for not wanting to touch each other's shoulders The final scene was the best for me on SAW Alive - prior to that, there were some good scares of people grabbing my legs, the pig mask chappy turning up in our queue line... but there was a lack of actors today as a whole. The electric fence part was particularly dead - what are they going to do there now they can't have it electrified?!I like the countdown clocks... but I'm sure they were wrong at one part and time went backwards in that we suddenly had 8 minutes left then 10 or something? Hmmm!So yes - all in all, good effort, I just hope it continues to improve and be tweaked. Those actors must be shattered though doing that all day, so credit to them. Must be hard work!

Went to Thorpe today... and as confirmed already, lovely and empty! Perfect if you're with peeps who don't want to do everything, as they only have a 5 min wait for you to get on a ride and get off!Longest queue we were in all day was 20 mins for SAW... the boards said 30 but it was more like 20! Highest queue times we saw was 30 mins for SAW, 20 mins for SAW Alive, 30 for Nemesis Inferno. Everything else was 0 or 5 mins! Other than Samurai, which, thanks to it's new found popularity being near SAW Island, had a 15 minute queue.Ride counts:SAW The Ride x1SAW: Alive x2Rush x1Detonator x2 (I still love Detty!! It's classic! On our second go, we were left waiting at the top... we thought it was going to drop but it took aaaaages!!)Slammer x1Nemesis Inferno x1 (at the front... epic! Full mist in that tunnel too, and the lights working - good stuff Thorpe!)Stealth x1 (at the front - also epic! I still love Stealth, still my favourite, despite what I'm getting onto next....)Colossus x1Admitedally, the ride counts were a little lower than usual as I was being social today!! I sat out of a ride on SAW because I'd just "felt the force of the mighty Slammer" Also no water rides as it was raining in the afternoon!My only slight niggle of the day was that spiteful mistress Stealth, haha. We joined the 5 minute queue at 11am and it ceased operation... managed to get a ride front row later... then came back at 3 and she wasn't in operation again! The ride attendant suggested it might be down for the rest of the afternoon - anyone know what's up with it? I love the ride, but her reliability has been questionable so far!! Didn't see any other breakdowns at all during the day... Rush was on two swings (woot!), Colossus on 2 trains, Stealth on 1 train, Nemmy on 1 train. My mates managed to dodge a load of falling vomit on Colossus when they were walking under the arch near the final stretch into the station before the final barrell roll... yuck!! Haha.SAW Alive I was on the whole, impressed with. Themeing inside is very good, but I think - to be brutally honest - Asylum and Hellgate pack more of a punch than SAW Alive... there was some great scares with people jumping up from the floor, grabbing your legs... and the two chaps who make you watch the "welcome" video at the start were fab both times. Their voices must be shot to pieces!! I felt compelled to do what they said, haha. Second "ride" on SAW Alive wasn't as good as the first, there were a number of instances where there were no actors at all. Similarly, the scene that *did* have the electrified fence is rather weak to say the least, as there was no one in there at all. The final room was v. good on both occassions, so thumbs up there. I know it's still early days, and work in progress... but I think I was expecting to be more grossed out than I was! Credit where credit's due though, it did whiff in there! Summary for today was more actors required, specifically in the electric fence part... all in all though, a pretty good job and I'm sure it'll get better. Pig mask person - thumbs up to them too!!To conclude - the park is looking very presentable, everything's been degummed, the signs - EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE ALL IN CAPITALS - look good - in a way! - and it was good to see the new Colossus sign, Nemesis Inferno's volcano working, Stealth smoke working - and CCR choo chooing!! Another niggle whilst I think of it - the new Nemesis Inferno music is rather awful, as is the new Colossus theme - bring back the "Power of 10" whispering music please! Stealth launch was a mix of "5! 4! 3! 2! 1! GO GO GO!" and "Beware, the car is about to move" or something similar, which amused me!

There was a non-public Fright Night on Friday - for Merlin employees

Anyone know what's up with Stealth? I hope it is routine maintenance... I'm going on Monday, and if it's down, that'll be two trips out of two for me this year with Stealth unavailable!

Ah good, thanks! If it got stuck at the top hat full of passengers, methinks it would've been on the news somehow...!

Someone entered the ride area of SAW? My god, the stupidity of the general public knows no bounds, and I am continually flabbergasted!!

I'm pretty sure that when Stealth got stuck at the top of it's top hat, it was completely empty on one of it's test runs before the park opened.

3 Hours 45 minutes? Oucccchhhh! Glad you enjoyed it thoughI know not everyone can go on off-peak days, but I personally get miffed queuing for anything longer than 30 mins!

I'd agree... that's annoying!! Minor I know, but... 0 just doesn't look right!

SRQ gets the thumbs up from me... I used it on Monday with my friend who visited Thorpe Park with me - we didn't care about sitting together, and knew that we would be split up - so the 90 minute queue became 5 minutes! It was used very well the 3 times I rode SAW - filling up whenever groups of 3 were next.As to the effects, on Monday I noticed:1. Countdown at bottom of lift hill staying at 00:00:00 for a long time before going up the hill (kinda ruins the effect!)2. Body barely shooting water 3. TVs after the ride (when going down the stairs) not workingOther than that, as previously stated - I thought SAW was fantastic!

Indeed. We weren't best pleased either - my mate who I was with is yet to ride Stealth - last time he went it was down for the whole day. Add to that the fact that we originally planned to go to Thorpe over 2 weeks ago, when it would've been quieter, but had to reschedule twice due to the curse of the S-named rides, it was a little annoying to say the least...!

Ouch... they better pull their finger out for next week...!

The faces on the people of the rollback we witnessed at 3pm ish were classic!!

In a completely different SAW related note - I thought the guy at the unload station looked familiar today... it was BBQChris! On my 3rd ride, some Irish chaps were making a lot of noise to Chris about Billy talking to them specifically if I recall correctly... they seemed to be having a good time anyway!

Sorry... I've never actually watched the SAW films! I heard other people refer to him by that name so assumed it was correct!

We'd literally just joined the queue - so 89 minutes! We weren't that fussed to wait an hour and a half!

I had 3 rides today, avoiding the 60-90 minute queue and queuing less than 10 minutes each time... all thanks to the SRQ. Very handy indeed! Kudos to the friendly chap at the end of the SRQ - very chatty/helpful!Today was my first ride on SAW, and I'm very impressed. The station is fantastic, I love the countdown clocks! Jigsaw on the plasmas below the lift hill is good! Is the Jigsaw in the dark section on a bike supposed to ride towards you? Because he wasn't moving today. The "dead body" didn't look like a dead body at all - don't know what was going on there!I'd love to see what SAW looks like in a few years time, when it's got some more established plants etc around it a la Nemesis Inferno. The skyline from the Slammer queue looks really different with SAW too!The ride broke down a couple of times today - one time when we were in the batching area - and all was rectified in about 10 mins. The main lights came on, the cars went round the track and it was sorted! SAW was running 4 trains today, and there were signs up mentioning this and warning people to expect longer queue times... maybe they're trying to break it in gently?! 4 trains won't be good enough come Easter.... 3 hour queues anyone?!And yes - that first drop - you don't expect it at all!! A couple of the cars were squeaking today too, but as said before - it kinda adds to it! The spinning blades look amazing!

Stealth today didn't open until 1PM... and consequently when it did, the small number of people on park went straight for it, meaning the queue quickly rose to 60 mins, then peaked at 90 mins. We joined the queue at about 3pm - thinking we may as well queue, and as we did - it rolled back! Meaning they had to call an engineer etc... so we gave up!I've had my Stealth-age many times before... I think my record is 13 times in the morning on the first fright night of 2008, haha!

Maybe it was a busier-than-expected day for TP yesterday so they decided to start selling? (By the way - kudos to your Tegan & Sara related name & quote, TheCon - I saw them last year at Shepherd's Bush Empire and also in Brighton at Concorde 2!)