electricBlll

Successful career? You would probably get killed by an angry mob of theme park enthusiasts before you reach 2014!Please say you are joking.

What? You can't move a dark ride. They can't be dismantled and rebuilt in random places. Try moving a supermarket, you can't transport it around on the back of a truck, can you? Also, Alton Towers would be left with a huge gap if Charlie was demolished, and as for 'getting rid' of half the zoo... After spending loads of money each year on running, improving and adding to the zoo (it is now one of the best in the UK), why chuck it away? :DAlton Towers is NOT all of about thrills, anyway!? How can you say people only go there for thrills? That isn't the case for any theme park and probably never will be because you have people of all ages and tastes going to these places. Especially families at Alton Towers, since that is actually marketed as a family park. It makes no sense, Charlie is loved enough where it is thanks.But, your logic in demolishing Wild Asia in favour of some tatty slide set is ridiculous and Bubbleworks does not need a sponsor. Sorry if I am coming across as rude, but are you coming up with these silly ideas on purpose??I'm afraid that none of that will work, not for the business or the guests. Sorry!

I think that was the same with the Original Source splash zone too, it is not in the right place and too far left. Though I guess the water changes direction depending on the weather and weight of people in the boat.As for the Dr Pepper theming, I am glad it is (mostly) in good taste. The signs fit the theming such as a damaged "Dr Pepper bathroom fittings, Amity Cove" sign on the wrecked bathroom. It fits the theming and mostly fits in which is something that Original Source didn't do and therefore looked out of place.What I don't like is that sign at the top that tries to make a last-second joke. It has lots of small words on a warning sign that you are supposed to try and read before going over the drop, panicking becuase you don'y have time to read it all. It just doesn't really work and looks weird. Glad to see Tidal Wave looking quite nice, too. Apart from the vandalised toilet and huge puddle under the leaking patch. Those flashing lights on the entrance sign are great to have working, even if they are just a little detail. Hopefully (hopefully) they might make an attempt to fix the water tower next year or possibly (just possibly) rebuild the gas ball's equipment.

No, you said "when is ft released?".Well, I worked it out but it was far from clear.

Wasn't it behind glass?I hate dumbing down. No wonder I could not see it on my last visit. The only piece of theming left gone. Ridiculous vandals!

I see, thanks for the information. I hadn't realised that Freakshow 3D used a lot of the X No Way Out theming.What exactly do you mean by hanging bags?

Vampire is a family ride with good thrills, especially towards the end. It is technically an Arrow suspended roller coaster, in which riders sit in trains that swing out from side to side around the turns. Vampire uses trains with no floor, so your feet are free to dangle out of your seat. It does not go upside down at all (this type of rollercoaster is not designed to do that), but travels quite fast with various drops and fast turns.So, I would definitely recommend going on it. It is great fun and, if you are worried about rides, is a good coaster to get rid of your fear. The speed is not that fast, but it certainly isn't slow. There are two drops, both of which are not that high from the ground, but do pick up good speed. It is not like any roller coaster at Thorpe Park, and it is not high in the air.Rollercoasters don't naturally make people scream, I don't know what you mean there. You can't judge a ride by listening to how much people scream. People will scream depending on what they want to scream about, so some people will and others won't. That is the same for every ride. You will never know if you will scream until you go on it, so give it a try! Don't worry about screaming hard enough to lose your voice, pretty sure that will not happen!Vampire is quite a rattly ride but some seats don't rattle as much as others. You might find that your head gets bashed around a bit from the roughness but it usually does not hurt. And, no, you will not fall out of your seat and you won't feel like you are.Hope that helps. Remember that rollercoasters are all different and Vampire is not the same as many others. It works in different ways than most. It is not meant to be really fast or really intense, and is not meant to go upside down. In my opinion it is great fun, so I recommend doing it!

Well considering it has very almost already lasted longer than two weeks (it was working when I visited on July 5th)... I think we can be very grateful!Unfortunately I noticed that the ambience theme had gone from the queueline, which was rather strange. That speaker that everybody put their fingers in their ears when they move past it was silent. The only sound came from the police walkie-talkie announcments. I don't actually recall any music, but there certainly wasn't any ambient theme. Why does the music keep changing anyway? Hopefully that has been tidied up now and everything is perfect again.

I hate it. There is no music, bad lighting and the walk seems to last forever. This all severely damages the atmosphere to the point in which there is not any. Now there is absolutely no chance of resurrecting the fake lifts or any other theming effects that would have otherwise greatly improved the experience.What's more, the outdoor queue is awfully boring. You have to wait forever whilst the batching person comes back down the queue, whilst listening to "The system is failing" repeat fifty billion times. I would rather queue in an atmospheric dark corridor with proper music, lighting and effects than a boring cattlepen queueline. Unfortunately my preferable option seems not to exist anymore.

Wooden coaster are never going to happen at Alton Towers, at least not in the next ten years, let alone 200ft ones. Thirteen has to have the trims to keep it reliable. They are the solution to problems that would otherwise affect it very badly. It was never really about airtime anyway, so it is irrelevant really. Still means that airtime is an aspect of rollercoasters that has not been explored much yet, but it needs something to go with it to market the ride.Thorpe Park is a completely different type of area where they probably will be able to get away with something bigger.

Granted, but it is a tinned chicken.I wish could go back in time so I could ride Terror Tomb again.

Loggers' Leap at Thorpe Park is actually the tallest log flume in the UK, so no it is not true.I don't know what you mean by gravity making the boat fall out of the track, since gravity is what keeps the boat in the flume. It isn't going to make the boat fly over the edge. There are metal sides to the channel which the boat bumps against, which keeps it from crashing into the ground. Common sense, really! However, on the drops, which may be what you are talking about, the boat is kept steady in a position in which it skims the water by two rails on either side. Look at this photo and you can see what I am talking about.Hope that helps.

Just had a great idea and listened to the Inferno dispatch theme on the speaker set. The subwoofer was going like mad. The music came alive and I hadn't heard it properly since 2006, I think. It felt like I was actually in the station. It is a surprisingly dramatic piece when played properly through good speakers, it would be even better on those BOSE bass cannons.If they do one day bring it back it would be amazing. That thumping bass adds so much.

From RCDB. I had never seen this photo before so I thought I would share it for anybody else who was interested. The original, longer, themed tunnel! Looks much better than the metal rooftop thingy there now. Such a difference these things can make...

I am right in thinking the lifts were those two spaced out rooms just before the queue goes into the station?

Is anybody able to write a detailed description of the original X No Way Out and if possible the changes it has been through since opening. It is quite clear that the ride used to be very different and most importantly more of a proper experience than it is now. So, what exactly was in the original indoor queue before it was partly cut off for Freak Show 3D/Hellgate and moved outside the building? And what and where exactly were the original 'effects', such as this intriguing grinder I have heard of. Was the intended theme much different to the strange backstory that was imposed in 2007, or the loose 'computer error' concept that we have today? And has a lot of theming been removed? (I didn't see the robot behind the glass this time, and I was looking out for it. Has that gone too?).I would love to know and I am sure so would many others. So, if anybody does have some good memories of old X No Way Out, then it would be great to hear them in good detail. Who knows? Maybe the ride has barely changed and it always used to be as bad as this! But there is definitely a sense of "something that isn't there anymore" when you ride it. There seem to be so many secrets which makes it a fascinating ride.

Oh, now that you have said that, I have just realised that this video is actually amazing! I am rolling on the floor laughing my head off! Oh, you only got chased by an angry guest once so it doesn't matter, does it? Next time I go to a theme park I will be honoured to have you run past me and spray crap in my face, I am sure it will be hilarious.Looking forward to seeing you deface Thorpe Park in your next video!

If most people were sprayed by an idiot with silly string whilst trying to have fun I don't think they would pass it off as "harmfless fun". Why exactly would this be funny anyway? Unless you are the type of person to think that inconviniencing other people is "heeeeeeelarious, innit!" or you are some sort of silly string enthusiast then this has no good humour anywhere. The video is poorly edited and filmed, as well. There are long moments of slow-motion nothingness, repeated over and over again.

And that is meant to be funny?It is close to being classed as vandalism. Somebody would have had to clean that all up off the theming and walls now. Ever heard of something called respect? It is certainly against the rules and could potentially damage the theming. Just for the sake of that YouTube video?I would hate to have one of my rides during the day ruined by some guy with a bad sense of humour spraying me with that stuff. Look at those visitors getting attacked by it? Funny? What else in in the series? "Chessington vs Spitting chavs", Or "Chessington vs Graffiti"?

My life is crazy and way too melodramatic, but even me saying that sounds gimmicky. I just can't understand my personality.

Brilliant!Be fair, it is still a decent ride even after the retheme, no matter how pathetic and wasted it seems at times.

Just to make this even more strange, I took that photo on the 7th of April 2009, not 2008. So it must have been fixed (albeit with the foot against the wall) and then broken again since then.So, that's Prof Burp's Bubbleworks with battered up feet. It is the left that is being tickled and has a patch where the feather duster had been wearing the paint away for 15 years.Then I can only assume that during the retheme they got altered (they would have had to remove them to paint them) leaving the positioning slightly different. This photo shows little change other than the angle of the lefty (I assume it was taken in 2006).Finally this one shows a big change when the left goes missing, the big toe fallen off (you can just see it behind the foot) and the angle changed so that the feather duster is now reaching the right.2009 it gets some TLC and the left makes a reappearance.2010 it happens all over again.Is that right? What's more, I quite clearly remember a year ago when I was researching this seeing a photo of the left foot in place of the right foot with the right missing. But, I can't find the photo (just as well probably, I mean, this is rather silly).

Well, you can't really tell from a few sites and Wikipedia.Oh, wait, you can of course! Anyway, Rameses Revenge has always been a very non-action ride I feel. The theming is great and the location in the pit really effective. The ride is nicely thrilling and unique compared to most others at Chessington and in fact the UK (obviously apart from Ripsaw). However, there is no music, sound effects or atmosphere coming at riders. It benefit really well from something like that, but would that be better than the guest/operator interaction we have now? Perhaps not. In fact, I think the ride already has a kind of atmosphere when watching others from the viewing point. There is always a crowd there and is not something you find on many thrill rides.

Well, you can't really judge from a few photos. I remember riding before the rocks went (they were removed in 2005) and the elephant still working. The fountains, theming and general ride experience was much more impressive, I think. Now the sculpture heads on the falls are going rotten, the elephant still isn't fixed completely, the fountain just outside the station is on and off, the station looks a bit empty, the rocks missing is a BIG let down. You had to have seen them with your own eyes to realise the difference the rocks made. That area feels so bare now. Also, John Wardley said on an interview that he wanted the ride to take you to different countries around Asia, which is a concept that has since been completely lost. There were probably other changes to the ride since. Back in its good late 80s/early 90s days I think Dragon River would have been much better, though what he have now is still a far above average log flume.By the way, those photos are very early, in fact the large areal view photo was taken from its opening year, so that would explain the lack of foliage. Notice you can just see the dragon on the far left, but on opening year it was painted to look like a statue and is therefore grey, meaning difficult to spot. Here is a photo of it back then in 1987, also from Theme UK:

You two have never seen the mountain on Dragon Falls?!?! Good to hear there was actually a good excuse for its removal, but I wish they would go and rebuild the whole thing. As you can see, it looks far better than it does now. I always assumed that they removed them just to make way for that money-grabbing 'pan for gold' game stall. The mere thought of it is horrifying!Apparently the effect in the dragon's tunnel was a waterfall over the track. When the boats came close, the lights would go out and the water switch off, tricking the riders into thinking they would get wet. (It would have been similar to the same effect on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at Alton Towers). It, along with the elephant, broke and was never fixed. I guess it has since been removed, but I only knew about it recently, so have never looked for remains. As for that new 'wall effect'... Well, hardly very nice, is it? It looked better without it if you ask me. Why exactly would there be random brick towers climbing up the side of the track? Is is anything to do with Mystic East? And it is so fake, obviously just a sheet of painted material, I mean it is even translucent!? Send it back to Tesco where it came from!