Benin

Think you're the one who should be careful what you say, because I left for educational prospects mis-season, so was never going to return... So I'd stop listening to certain people have to say about me, because otherwise you make yourself look stupid because you don't know what you're talking about...Either way, in my opinion, they were over the top with their interaction, and ended up not dispatching a car attempting to force me to interact when I didn't want to... Harrassing guests is wrong especially at the impact of reducing throughput... That isn't the route the park should be taking...

Lego Lord of the Rings you say?

^2010 was a fab year, 2011.... Not so much...There is a fine line, but to not dispatch a car because of the guests not wanting to 'flap your dragon wings', is just stupidity... Especially after an hour in Fury's burdenous shadeless queue... Incidents like that make me wonder if they're going toooooo far on the interactive side...Then again, when I worked there, I made as little effort to talk to guests as possible on Fury and Vampire, because there's just some rides and times when you just cannot be expected to interact on the scale that the management seem to expect...In regards to enthusiasts working there, you will always get a mix of them, from the really good ones, to those who are really high and mighty because they are an enthusiast and hence know EVERYTHING...It's a fine, fine line tbh... But then again I think throughputs should be the most important aspect of the rides teams, and interaction for those departments with a larger face to face time with guests...

Does the pavement style REALLY matter when there's a 100+ft B&M soaring over us?I think I know which will grab the attention more...

Funny how the people who dislike the place all got fired ;)Although tbh now, it seems like there's too much focus on interaction and learning life stories than putting people on the ride, resulting in some of the most cringe-worthy guest interaction I've seen at the expense of not dispatching a Fury car...Plus the ride staff seem useless at life, and this is from an external point of view... Dread to think what it's like on the inside

^I much prefer TTD's support design to Stealth's, makes it look a LOT taller when you're stood right under it...But that lift hill is just... MADE OF WHY...

Well isn't this interesting...

Track doesn't NEED to be repainted for engineering reasons, it IS entirely cosmetic...BUT, let's look at Oblivion, it is currently grey, it's meant to be black... Colossus, is seemingly always covered in oil on the lift hill... And the less said about Vampire the better...Thing is, maintaining APPEARANCES is just as important to a theme park as maintaining the rides from a technical standpoint, the difference between a freshly painted ride and one that hasn't been touched for 10 years is massive, and people will notice... Sure it won't bring in new people, BUT it could easily entice the customers to either come back, or tell their friends about the brilliant, clean, and fun experience they had... Cosmetics are a huge part of a theme park, as people more readily notice something that looks shoddy, preventing this means that guests will feel a better atmosphere and follow the escapism (cue blah blah Thorpe is a thrill park it doesn't need to do this)... If that is the case then why do Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks repaint their rides every so often?I don't see how it's not realistic to imagine that a company that constantly bleats on about being second to Disney (a company which does ensure constant appearance upkeep in its parks) won't do it... HAJiME hits the nail on the head really... And if smaller parks can afford to repaint their rides in these 'hard economic times', then why can't Merlin?

It's something that the UK parks really lack in is maintaining the rides to the same standards, especially in comparison to everywhere else...No idea why repaints aren't done here so regularly... It makes a world of difference, especially when your lift hill is covered in oil...

That wingspan thing is for a Condor [/pedant] ;)Nice to know nothing's changed so I don't have to bother... Monkey Kingdom would have made a WORLD of difference to the zoo side...Oh and my name's still there... Win... Moved about much though...

OMG THIS PARK STILL EXISTS?!And perhaps adding the Southern version of Raptor Attack?

Jaws is FAB, silly Nicky...

It is quite good, see that a fair bit of effort was put into it...Although some are just overally complicated, how some people play the games for so long to get such high scores baffles me...

Oh Remi

My most memorable moment of the fire was when it caused my injured head (after tripping and smashing it on a fence in the Mini-Golf) even further grotesque pain...Ahhh the park was so different back then...

Ohhhhhhhhh did someone mention international students?The ones at Stafford are by far some of the most ANNOYING students ever... Let's take my exams for example, now we all know the ground rules right? No talking to anyone, can't start until told to, have to finish when told to...Apparently, no-one told the foreign students (and this is NOT tarring with the brush of generalisation, it's true), and yet even though all of these rules were clearly broken and state that the exam should be taken away or discounted if you break them, nothing was done...Urgh...

Well if they don't work they get taken out and shot so ;)The final piece of the ride's puzzle too... Wonder how the scaremaze is going?

Normal 4 across trains? I'm a bit surprised by that in a way but then for B&M this is something new so going back to a flat row does make sense...And coar that's a fab view from the entrance...

It's to prevent lots of topics being created which are essentially the same thing if I recall...90% of people on here cannot create Thorpe topics...

Awkward Facebook stalking is awkward...Maybe I AM the snake?

Ohhhhhhh did someone say UPDATE?Taken from the Neverland Themepark Projects Facebook

Merlin parks HAVE turned a corner...Evidently IF this is true, some clever bod at Thorpe said "Hang on, we're installing fire on Swarm, we used to have fire on Tidal Wave... IDEA!"EDIT - @Will, Soltau = Heide Park

So blunt Liam... JEEZ ;)Seems though that effects could well be appearing on Swarm as well... Good to know...