Benin

There's something inside me telling me that maybe a typo occurred... And that we'll see that bit of text removed before long...

Bless those Stokies...I was too engrossed in Pokemon to notice Mark... You should've followed my lead

Doubt that could happen, as there are no blocks for Colossus between the lift and brakes... Hence why usually the train is usually dispatched when the other hits them, for safety reasons...I think 2005 was when my feelings of Thorpe went down... Unreliable, major punch-ups going on... Remember seeing someone bleeding outside Teacups... It had the entire thing tarnished from that day... Chavs at Towers is a weird thing... They are most definitely there (as is the weed), but I don't notice them as much... Probably because they are much more easier to avoid due to the large nature of Towers... And that I don't eat at Towers KFC... Although maybe it's just the Southerners judging those strange Northern people with their strange language of "Duck" and accents...

Ahem... £1 fee is... Well quite frankly pointless... Not that I'll be worrying about that due to the ease of trains, but that could cause a lot of despair regarding them (trains) in the future should people start electing to get on them more...

Ridge? As in the ergnomic shape of the thing to suit the average back of people? The seats vary... It does depend on how you sit tbh... After so many times of riding it though just get used to it...Probs could do with some head padding though, but that won't happen... Good old Vekoma... Only thing we could ever dream of is getting the new Vekoma trains with new restraints (still the two across, 4 will NEVER happen)... But I highly doubt that will ever ever happen...

Ever heard of giving a park an actual chance? Of course you haven't... Considering what Mark was saying about Thorpe I went... Didn't cost me anything at all... Probably was the choice of day, but it was quite frankly crap... Adding a shark to your KFC isn't exactly perfection is it?I went again in September and had a better day... But again, the lack of shade provide little comfort on a boiling hot day... More queue-line shading should be top billing for the park... I say the same of Fury at Chessie... It needs shade in it's queue...Jack also posted whilst I was typing my very long and well justified post... There is a massive difference between enthusiasts and general public yes... That much is obvious... But enthusiasts noticing little things that the public may not notice (like operations, dodgy fencing, etc), can often help the park improve those little things...And it's ALWAYS the little things that prevent perfection...

Football is awesome...Least you've escaped Merlin eh?

How long do you have?For me, a good park has the full lot of things I mark off, rides, theming, atmosphere, greenery, etc... Thorpe only really fulfills the rides part (and even then my ride counts in recent years have been extremely low because I just can't be arsed to queue 45-60 minutes for Vortex)... Plus the ride quality isn't as amazing as everyone says... The best coaster is Inferno... One of the least best B&M inverts in the world, Colossus and Saw are rough, and Stealth is just boring to me now... TTD it most certainly isn't... There is also not enough non-spinny rides... Sometimes I may just want to sit down on a ride and relax for a bit... There's not enough rides that let me do that at Thorpe... In my opinion there's about... 5 rides that would allow me to do that... Not good enough for a park that apparently has the best ride selection in the country...The theming is extremely sparse... When Saw opened everyone was going on about how amazing the indoor queue and ride section were... I was unimpressed to find a metal corridor and staircase... Colossus's theming looks dire now, Amity Cove hasn't been the same since they plonked Stealth in... Inferno's front end is good but the back is horrid...It's all jumbled about and the randomly changing level of theming is just, well pointless and makes the park look sporadic...Greenery... Thorpe is becoming a poor attempt at Cedar Point in more ways than one... The amount of greenery in the park is lowering yearly... And when you're stuck in a 45 minute Samurai queue which has NO shade (same for Saw, Det, Vortex) I would rather not queue than risk really ill before I get on the ride... And atmosphere... Where do I begin... This links in with the theming issue... There's minimal escapism in the park, not exactly helped by the clientele endured at every turn... As a friend described the look of the Saw queueline, "It's looking more and more like Guantanamo Bay every year"... Quite often I agree with it...And you're certainly right that busyness doesn't equal a good park to be at... That day of the meet was HORRIBLE... Thorpe crowded is never fun because of the small space it has... And there's nowhere really to get away from the crowds apart from maybe the 5 feet of pathway in Sunken Garden... You talk of popularity as if it's people being jealous of the park... It quite simply isn't the case... Enthusiasts don't enjoy it for their own reasons, but generally it is to do with the park being how it is... Why should I travel an hour to Thorpe when I have Chessie 45 minutes away by car? Or if by train, why should I pay 10 pounds return to go to Thorpe (and then endure the 950), when I could just use my Oyster to go Chessie?Enthusiasts have been slagging it off because it deserves it quite frankly... No park is EVER perfect... I can accept Chessie limitations but always think of ways to improve the park...Plus, I don't think a second hand Raft Ride can be considered an improvement...

Oh Jack Dammit... What have you been up to?

Think I just saw a pig fly past my window...

Blow it up and start again?

Personally I feel that the soundtrack is weak, and the story gets extremely lost in the middle... Some of the shots whilst good don't work well within the film...Too high a rating tbh...And thanks to that, I have Goldfrapp in my head... Git...

This forum doesn't seem to have a place to review films and crap... So... I'm making one...And I'll start off with District 9...Rather interesting film tbh... Starting off all documentary but then changing genre as the film carried onto it's main central plot... Fairly interesting take on the state South Africa was in not too long ago and was certainly something that I really did enjoy...The aliens themselves looked excellent... And the general direction and behaviour exhibited by them was brilliantly done... I felt very sorry for them which was most likely the point of the film, so it certainly worked...Aside from the accents, a rather enjoyable, though-provoking excellent film... With a fun actiony climax and very nice ending...8/10

Didn't even notice that...For shame TPM...

PAULTONS WORST UK THEME PARK?!!!Seriously guys, I thought better of you all... I'm actually upset... Paultons is amazing and tons better than some of the other offerings... But yay Best Newbie... Woot...

Mysterious post of mysteriousness...I do hope this happens... Would love to see proper gothic fencing around the queueline... And actual theming of the shop... And putting a facade on the building... And......

New EDF London Eye Website...

They do still have the 3 train signs... But people just don't know/don't pay attention/are stupid... (delete where applicable)...Times change unfortunately in regards to the rest of your post... But nice to hear the views from an older person... And I would say certainly 3 of the 5 suggestions are doable...

I think that's B&M rather than Europa... But that's because B&M are generally better than Intamin... Plus also Silver Star doesn't particularly have the shadow of people falling out of it's train hanging over it like EGF does... Personally I didn't see anything wrong when I went... The queue wasn't exactly long enough for even me to give a damn...And of course the Matterhorn Blitz gets 950 an hour, it has what, 2 in station, 2 in lifts, probably around 3/4 on track? It's beyond ridiculous how Europa run things...

^Were you even 'dissing' her in the first place?There's a lot to be said for staying in the rock/metal genre... There's a lot more talent and originality there...

^Considering Europa don't exactly have much to say in the way of major recorded accidents, I wouldn't say it's that...Having been to the park, I would say some people are slightly putting it out of proportion... Mark's image is of an empty seat... Because of their efficiency and view on throughputs, it makes perfect sense if they don't have to put it down and check it, saves a lot of time doing so...Effectively they just wanna get you on the ride more quickly... Nothing wrong with that imo...Also the Central Europeans are obviously much more lax on their H&S, just look at some of their park playgrounds and you can just tell the massive difference in between us and them...

Edited for Accuracy...And yes, it's entirely like that, when I went on the Mine Train they put a bar does as the train was leaving... I found it simply hilarious, and it does show how they treat their guests with an ounce of common sense, maybe because that's something the Germans retain when entering a park, rather than losing the majority of their IQ once through the turnstyles...Europa's getting new stuff this year as well... Looking forward to going personally woo...

It says it, but they don't bloody tell the arrogant sods that they're not entitled to immeadiate riding do they?Sales people...

I never said I didn't get caught up in queues... Not buying fast-track DOES NOT mean the parks weren't busy... Just not busy enough for me to a) worry about not getting on rides, or wanting to pay silly amounts of money to skip queues...Visiting parks to me is not getting a high ride count, it's about taking in the experience and culture from an international side... Going on say TTD 5 times in a day would not be on my list of things to do...Neither did I visit 10-12 parks... That's just a silly idea...