MattyMoo

They could at least remind you that you've got to pay for the car parking in the closing announcement

This makes me want to post my favourite animated gif of Kimberley Walsh , but that would be completely off topic... Anyway - hurrah for Ramases and Chessington fixing things! It's a similar situation to Slammer, in that I'm sure they will look at the costs of maintenance this year and if it's costing too much and doesn't fit in with the budget, it'll go. Merlin aren't going to rip out rides just for the hell of it...

Has RR really been that unreliable in the past? For a ride that's 18 years old, I think it holds up pretty well? Place your bets now on Slammer being at Thorpe in 2023?

As I was just saying to Peaj, I can't make it as my missus has a gig in Portsmouth - I mean, in theory I could come along to Chessie, but with the slight consequence of "Mathew Wood is no longer in a relationship" appearing on Facebook

They have indeed had a lick of paint! You could still smell it when we had the Swarm ERT meet in March! The queue line had also been degummed as Sidders found a scraper tool on the queue line fence, ha - he of course handed it in

This. My fondest memory of Vampire is when I was about 8 or 9 and rushing to get into the seat because staff would reiterate you only had a short amount of time to board

I can't believe the dragon has gone too! That's unbelievable... speechless at that.

But this is the internet and there are "enthusiasts" with access to a keyboard, it's a toxic combination I think it's a good move by Thorpe Park personally - no stupid tabloid gimmicks, prominent location, and a target audience that are at least in the locale of Thorpe Park itself. I do question how much it costs, but then, Coca Cola are the exclusive drinks provider at Thorpe, so methinks there'll be some sort of discount involved there, as it's "their" part of the billboards at Picadilly Circus. PS. Looks like I missed out on some drama last night whilst in the land of nod!

So Thorpe are advertising the Swarm via the Coca-Cola electronic billboard in Piccadilly Circus with a 2-4-1 ticket offer...

I drink tea at home... when out, coffee. Costa is my favourite, Nero second and Starbucks if I have to

Put me down as a maybe on this one! Depends on my plans for the weekend with being in Portsmouth and such! I don't have a MAP (shame on me) so would book online or see if someone else needs a 2-4-1 buddy but no major biggy either way!

I enjoyed the meal at Frankie & Benny's, thanks for letting me tag along despite me not #bravingitbloodyfreezing

I can't believe I'm still #bravingthebags even in the panoramic photo

Yep it'll be like the fabled Mountain Dew Energy roll out - it appeared slowly, randomly at places like BP Garages and then went mainstream!

The release of Detty is controlled by the ride op

Pssst! http://www.fdin.org.uk/2013/02/vanilla-coke-is-back-for-2013/ I spotted some in a shop in Southsea the other week - I thought first off it was import, but it was bona-fide UK stuff, 59p RRP as printed on the can!

Yep, what electricBill said - I remember the days of them having a sign at the top with the year on for the ride photo, sigh...

Can we start placing bets on the first day that single use gate passes are being handed out at the exits at CWoA?

I think that Detty pic is definitely a profile photo for Facebook!

Reading between the lines then - is this upgrade going to be more of a downgrade?

If these photo reports don't persaude people to go to meets then I don't know what will - brilliant already! And there's still 4 parts to come!

Hahaha, I can see where this is heading!!

Agree with all the above, especially pluk - something doesn't stack up here! Having RMT and Dragon Falls closed at the same time - arguably two of the biggest and most popular rides at CWOA - doesn't sit right to me. You can't tell me that was "planned"...?!

I'm not sure if the branding was on them last year or not, as I went on F&F day and Rumba wasn't open for that! Same boats though as Emma says, as far as I can tell!

Ah that's what I thought, that it expired over closed season - ta!