Benin

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh ride announcements "It's just like a bicycle"? Seems that 2010 is a bad year for ride announcements so far...But, it is a very minor thing tbh...Kobra also had a breakdown for about 10 minutes when the platform refused to play ball...

Kobra (and Wild Asia with it) are awesome...The random bouncing is great fun, and all the guests on it were loving it...The station platform needs a bit more... BUT it's a great addition to Chessie...

It's dead...Down all day today and had some issues yesterday...Least it lasted through 5 days before it did this

Just thought I'd mention (in case no-one's checking the website regularly) that this issue is now gone... 6 and 8pm closes are back, starting with tomorrow... No dossy starting weekend for the staff this year...

It looks exceptionally awesome...As long as Michael Gambon is in it as well, that'll give it even more points <3

Not just at the start... It happens throughout the year... Inferno can handle it better than Nemesis though since it's newer...

^My expectations of humanity have been low for many years...I have very little doubt that the park dealt with the situation well, since the parks usually do if emergency services are required... Just some people shouldn't be allowed outside...Argh... Stupid people are stupid...

If you're looking at taxis, you don't want to go from Stoke... It's further away than you might think... There is a bus from Stoke which is about £4/5 return which takes about 50-60 minutes...Alternatively, go to Uttoxeter and get a taxi/bus from there... It might be slightly busy but I'm not 100% sure when the schools up here actually break up... But the uni does on Monday week so you may or may not be lucky...If all else fails you can always fall onto fast-track for some extra... Dunno if they'll have it for Thirteen but that's not a horrendous queue...Another option is ERT time from 9-10 on Nemesis and Oblivion (to name the big two of the line-up)... If you don't have an AP get those tickets in advance and take advantage...

I doubt Chessie come the end of the season will beat Thorpe's total gate figure...But I reckon Chessie will see a bumper year... Bigger than 2008 (Which in turn was the best year for the park since 2000)...

Maybe the marketing are rusty at ad campaigns considering the last one was 6 years ago

^Pah, if I were at home I probs would've gone to Thorpe with my mum for mother's day, bugger all excuse...

Yep, in basically every ride case, a couple of high capacity flats replacing some low capacity ones, and a high capacity coaster and water ride, add in a big safari ride, and Chessie will have a bright future...Let's just hope as you say, it retains the popularity and Merlin see that Chessie has great potential and deserves the investment year in year out... A packed out AP day must show the managers something from the off...

There did seem to be a hell load of people there today from various photos...Hopefully it'll be slightly less next week...Chessie's target market of guests will see this as the third biggest ride at the park, and even with a reasonable capacity, with a really busy day (80 mins for Vampire apparently), of course the new big ride will be busy...Evidently there's a load of AP holders in Kingston...

^Same here Andy, it's always good to bump into people you haven't seen in a while... :)Best part of my day was the second time on Thirteen, with John Wardley operating it... Then it breaking down on him...

Thirteen was really dead after lunch it would seem... For my second go it was about 15 minutes at half 4ish... Amazing...Maybe it was the rain, maybe people left, but it shocked me how non-busy the park was yesterday... Hell after the first hour or so Air got the longest queue with Spinball, it was like Thirteen didn't exist it was so like previous years...Ride Count Thirteen - 2Nemesis - 2Oblivion - 2Rita - 1Duel - 1Congo - 1Mine Train - 1Charlie - 1Blade - 1

The restraints are on all Diskos... They're not bad as long as you tense your back up in preparation...Looking forward to it...

Photo is at the bottom of the first drop (outside)...Depends on how busy it is when you go... A full Thirteen queue with the 3 trains yesterday was only just over the hour mark... So it really depends on when you arrive, how big the queues are, etc...

I'll post my review in this topic as well...

My review...

Trust me, you don't want to... It's awful the new voice...It's been slightly improved in order to fit into the area to a degree now... BUT it's still a poor ride in a poor location...

^Rather random that...Although if Chessie is as busy as it was last year they'll probably end up extending the opening time by an hour anyways But strange that there's no 6pm closes at all on the site... Maybe a problem with the site...

Wasps are at every park not just Alton...At least Alton have the little wasp box thingys... Chessie have none...Learn to live with them, swat them away or ignore them... You can't prevent nature...

They do to my non-enthusiasts friends who have never been on it... I don't want to watch the video, but you were expecting good presenting from an ITV show? Hah... ITV have some of the worst show presenters ever... Never said people can't have a poor opinion, it's just the silly amounts of backlash an unfinished ride has got 3 days before it's due to be open to the public just because of a single report on it featuring the ECC...

Sigh...Rides look rubbish in POVs... Nemesis does, Oblivion does, everything I highly rate looks pretty poor...The people seeming to be jumping in on the whole 'IT'S RUBBISH!' bandwagon after watching a video, please don't go on Saturday, because evidently you won't want to ride it anymore and it means I don't have to queue for long periods...I refuse to watch the video, but people basing an entire ride experience based on watching it in the comfort of your own home is stupid... Simple as...

Stupid GMTV...From that shot though... Looks like the station's interior looks decent... Reasonable hopes have risen on the theming side of things...