electricBlll

It sure is! Thanks for the photo.I am so glad that I will be visiting when these celebrations are going on. This ride really is magnificent, it deserves all of this credit! Happy birthday Transylvania! :PInteresting to see that they have held that area for part of the event. It used to be part of Transylvania when it first opened, I think, but seems to have since been claimed as part of Pirate's Cove because it is so close to Black Buccaneer. This photo is what I am talking about.In the future I think it would make a lot of sense to merge Pirate's Cove with Transylvania, it is quite obvious as to which is the stronger area.

Ahh, I have fond memories of the Flying Fish queueline. Under the arch, over the little stream, dodging the drips from Tidal Wave, then stumbling across the station hidden in the bushes...SO MUCH FUN

Maybe the queues will actually be bearable now? In the summer last year they were strangely long, really long...

Shame about the completely bland repaint. It's the pot in the centre that I find rather strange. Really, why bother to paint something so that it is completely blank when it looked a lot better before? Isn't that just a waste of white paint?Oh well, it's just the teacups...

I fear you are about to be disappointed.

All in all it had a great retheme.

Queueing for Rush. The air compressors start up with the usual sounds.Boy1: Oi, what's that noise?Boy2: Them tanks. This ride runs on air, I think.Boy1: It runs on air? Fail.___________On ride Nemesis Inferno.Boy1: Aaaaaagggghhh!!!!!!Exiting Nemesis Inferno.Boy1: That was well crap, it didn't go fast at all.___________At a game stall.Stall attendant: Hello, would you like to play madam? Hello, would you like to play, sir? Hello, would you like to play, madam? Hello would you like...Girl1: Hahahahaha.Girl1 flashes breasts.Stall attendant: What de hell?!

Chessington's past is just so rich! It took me a long time to realise it, since I started visiting just as the park "fell into the wrong hands" let's say. But all the magic and the concepts are fascinating for an early UK theme park. These days I find one has to look quite hard to notice fragments of Chessington's old self still hanging around, but it is coming back I think.Fifth Dimension footage is great, really rare and interesting to see. Enough has been said about Professor Burp's Bubbleworks already, but seeing it in its early years really has made me rather nostalgic...Gah, I really want to go back to Chessington soon.

The noise is awesome, leave it alone!

How many loops do you think Oblivion has underground?

Gah! Not Nick Varney, I meant Mark Fisher... Yes. Still, one of the leaders anyway at least.

As long as it is better than this......Then it will be a step forward for Thorpe Park.Merlin Studios are not that bad when they want to do things well. Being a significant development, LC12 should get the money granted that it deserves for theming. I am confident that the days of bland, "WHOOPS we forgut teh theming"-style rides are over. Nick Varney Mark Fisher said in an interview recently about how they take 'theme' a lot more seriously now, and that "we probably would never do a ride without a story these days" (or something along those lines).Should be lovely, let's just hope that it is more visually pleasing than Saw's rather excessive dust and rubble, there are better ways of conveying an atmosphere of destruction, y'know...

A bit of a strange place to do it, I would have thought. Surely cutting through a bare wall is much less hassle than slicing up large chunky bit of theming a having to fill in all the gaps between the "wooden" beams? I guess there was not enough room anywhere else to cut through, then.

I just came across this image again. Does anybody know what has become of this "Catastrophe Kate" wheel feature on the Thorpe Mega Store? I am perhaps not as familiar with that area as I should be, but as far as I know, one wheel has a hole in it and is used for an entrance to the store and the other side is themed to Octopus Gardens next to the toilets. I do not recognise this "Catastrophe Kate" wheel. Did it have a hole knocked in it or something to become the entrance to the shop? The photo below is what I am talking about...After comparing the two photos closely it does seem as if they are the same wheel. Such a shame it got a big hole banged into it... oh well. Quite interesting though.By the way, this photo is from the website of the company who designed the façades and theming for Amity Cove when Tidal Wave was built (they also did Rattlesnake, Transylvania and Forbidden Kingdom at Chessington).

I would usually say "Something like that definitely needs to happen", however I now accept that Thorpe Park are probably never going to do such a thing. It has an awful lack of theme continuity and purpose. Being a contemporary UK theme park, it grew during the very lazy Tussaudes days when pretty much the bare minimum effort was put in and the most easily marketed gimmick used. It's a big shame, but it turned out that Thorpe Park didn't need perfect imagination to be successful. Now that the place has been built up and is pretty compact, it would be very difficult to go about improving the appearance and themework to the extent at which it at last feels great. There is so much to work around that it would be tricky to prevent things from ending up looking squashed in or unrefined.Of course, there are still quite a few places (pathway to Saw Alive, Nemesis Inferno station and Stealth queueline spring to mind, to name but three) where this can be done easily enough. Other places like X No Way Out and the Lost City flat area are too compact, really. I made some diagrams and plans for what I would have done to X No Way Out a while ago, but with Storm Surge now in the most ridiculous location possible there is no hope of anything like that happening. Basically, restructure the X plaza to make it feel less exposed and random, giving it a slightly isolated and abandoned feel, with a new outdoor queueline meaning the interior could become home to a Hex-style preshow walk through (which I still think the ride would really benefit from). There just is no room! Thorpe Park is a pretty small place after all.And then of course there is the money and time to do it with... Just too much effort really for Thorpe! However, with LC12 being built on a completely new island, they have the perfect chance to create something fantastic. It already looks quite promising looking at the plans. The bridge over could be used very well too. I hope they make wise decisions and break away from the "Thorpe Park can't be bothered" mould that they have been stuck in for a while now....Wait, GooseAnima...? zOMG

I cannot remove my eyes from that image.

Not very good timing?! :)Anyway, I wish thee the best of luck Ellie, it's a very brave thing to do.

To be honest, every social place on the internet has nastiness to some extent. It's just the way the internet is. And I'm certainly not innocent!People can write things to people they do not know that they would never say to their face, and words can be interpreted in many different (often negative) ways. You expect it really.

Well, I completely agree with your points on new major investment. Well, who wouldn't? Sometimes Chessington seems to be locked in time compared to other parks, and any new good "Chessington-style" investments would benefit the place no end. Wild Asia sent me thrills simply because it was something new and creative at Chessington after so long. However a major new project has been lacking for far too long now. I think it is time to bring Chessington into the spotlight again, it deserves it. Whether that means it heads towards the dark ride or the rollercoaster end of the spectrum doesn't matter, they would both suit the park perfectly. Of course a third major coaster is needed sooner rather than later, and dark rides in the UK are very difficult to market. Hmm, in my opinion Chessington has actually been looking dilapidated for years now. I don't mean to nitpick your comment, but it just reminded me that until recently it seemed like Chessington was just being left to rot. No, it is starting to look delapidated, I actually think it is starting to get back to its former glory. Just very slowly and without much new investment...

Wild Asia was actually supposedly Chessington's 'moderate investment' year, compared to Alton Towers and Thorpe Park (which have both had their 'large investment years' in 2010 and 2009 respectively). Anyway, of course a disk-o and retheme is not considered a large investment, no matter who owns the park. Chessington is yet to see a large investment since Merlin took over, but that does not mean the changes made so far have been bad.As for a actually getting major investment... There really isn't much of a defence for Chessington here. For goodness sake, spend your money! However, I fail to see how selling off Chessington to become family owned would mean all of its problems would be sold. Surely they would just go bust extremely quickly? Improvements are being made year on year since about 2008. Eventually, I think such things as the Dragon Falls mountain and Runaway rocks will be caterd for, but those are obviously things that need to be planned for far in advance. In my opinion, the guys in charge of making Chessington look good are doing a great job at refurbishing the place so far. Obviously nothing drastic has been brought back from the past yet, and perhaps nothing ever will be... But surely selling off the park will not solve those problems at all? By the way, what does "fully repainted" actually mean? You keep saying it, but it doesn't make sense. What has been repainted? How does one 'repaint' a dark ride? It probably just means a few very minor touch ups here and there, nothing more. I agree with Benin; it is something that should be expected.

Why can't they hold the lap bar? And OTSRs don't mean you have to hold on anyway, you can still put your arms up either way, just much more freedom with lap bars.

It would make the ride far greater. Saw's restraints are very restrictive. Imagine flying around the track but with your arms waving about all the way... lovely! A great move for Eurofighters, but I don't think they would bother buying new cars for Saw.