Zappomatic

Fire effects have worked on some days this season.  The explosion noise has always been there, and would normally go off the same time as the fire (not really sure why to be honest!).
 
Water effects haven't been on all season; I've heard they received / are receiving extra work and haven't been signed off yet.

Is it just me or do the Colossus resins look like a diagram of the female reproductive system?

I think Roast and Relish was the best theme park fast food I've ever had. 
It was the location not the food that was the problem, shame they couldn't make it work.

I really do wonder why they don't just replace it, it smells of damp inside and is visibly wonky.

I really do wonder why they don't just replace it, it smells of damp inside and is visibly wonky.

Just a heads up that British Airways have some cheap off-season deals for PortAventura at the moment: flights from Heathrow to Barcelona including luggage, and 3 nights half board at the Hotel PortAventura with park access and 1 day Ferrari Land ticket for £245 based on 2 sharing or £229 based on 4, departing 1 October. Adding a day adds about £60.
 
I've managed to book so that I fly out to Barcelona on the Friday before and stay 3 nights before heading to PortAventura for 3 nights there, total cost £385 per person (plus €8.80 train fare to get from Barcelona to PortAventura, and €16 coach from PortAventura to Barcelona airport). 

Just a heads up that British Airways have some cheap off-season deals for PortAventura at the moment: flights from Heathrow to Barcelona including luggage, and 3 nights half board at the Hotel PortAventura with park access and 1 day Ferrari Land ticket for £245 based on 2 sharing or £229 based on 4, departing 1 October. Adding a day adds about £60.
 
I've managed to book so that I fly out to Barcelona on the Friday before and stay 3 nights before heading to PortAventura for 3 nights there, total cost £385 per person (plus €8.80 train fare to get from Barcelona to PortAventura, and €16 coach from PortAventura to Barcelona airport). 

Been one of them "lurkers" on here since 2006 (!) but wanted to say, love the new park music. Sounded great on park, love the CD.
 
BUT... the removal of the Colossus music is a big loss to the park. Truly iconic, its replacement is far too wishy-washy. Felt it didn't work on park - any intimidation and drama the original had has gone. Works perfectly well as area music around the flat rides but not strong enough as the coaster's theme track. Strange decision..! I just hope the track isn't extended to Vortex which was still using its modified Colossus theme it's been using since 2002. Fits Vortex as perfectly as it does Colossus. 
 
Really hope the park listens and reverts the Colossus theme back, while utilising the new version as part of the wider Lost City area music as the majority seem to suggest, but we'll see!
 
The new Nemesis Inferno track on the other hand is very good! It's essentially the same but extended/embellished. The original track was great, but was always far too short for the queue line.

Was it?
 
I much preferred the collection of dance/techno tracks it had before, in my eyes (ears), it was a case of once again adding that damn island theme to every area and every ride. 

It think it's great they are doing this, but for me the boat has been missed. The original scores for the older rides are 'my' Thorpe Park, and I'd love to have them, but the new ones do nothing for me and mean nothing to me. There's nothing wrong with them I suppose, it's just not of my time, and I don't think on the whole they are an improvement on what went before.

I think both the trains have had some work - have ridden both of them over the last couple of weeks and am sure it is noticeably smoother and a lot quieter too.

Heard the new Colossus area theme on my fateful visit to the park the other day, completely forgot they had changed the theme and found myself standing there questioning "wtf is this", then it dawned on me that this is the new theme alot of you have been raving about, each to his own I suppose but I think it's crap and it really takes alot of the atmosphere (not that there's much left) out of the Colossus area.

Last night the old version of the Colossus music seemed to be playing in the Colossus shop.

DONT CLOWNS OPEN INSIDE

DONT CLOWNS OPEN INSIDE

The DBGT music when you listen in isolation has a lot more subtleties and works better as an instrumental piece of music, sounds creepy and lends to the imagination. Which is all very good, but on the ride however it was one of the worst parts about the experience for me. Over dramamtic music constantly going from quiet to predictably LOUD in your ear, with no actual feeling created by it, largely just generic horror movie soundtrack to fill the space. Once inside, there was ambient music when I went but it worked so little that the room felt dead.

It's a very subjective thing I suppose. Theme park music used to use a lot of melodies and 'themed' instrumentation, being very creative. IMA score do things very differently - not a bad thing. Their idea of themed music (wherever I've heard it largely, other attractions I'm sure are better) is to be really overpowering, create lots of soundscape, with dramatic SFX all racked up like a movie trailer, and no real rhythm or melody.
 
Metallic sci fi sounds, crackling distortion, percussive stabs, etc, all hammering down the point. Then some VERY unimaginative, standard tunes are thrown in.  The combination, to me, is all very fake, so on-the-nose without creating much real fun. And actually quite easy to create that sound with modern music tech.
 
The biggest problem is, it seems, the studios like Merlin who think they don't need to do as much work if they choose IMAscore because their soundtracks are "so good" that it creates the atmosphere for them.  Instead, it comes off like an OTT soundtrack playing to an empty space and it doesn't work. IMAscore are a fantastic studio then, but maybe arent being used in the right way. The recent 'rescoring' of whole parks into IMAscore soundtracks proves this. No changes to the areas, just get IMAscore in for the sake of it to produce the same product over and over, as required. Homogenising the whole park without really improving anything.
 
Such a shame I think, because so much of IMAscore's popularity is through their social media and branding rather than them being the greatest composers on earth. Even so I LOVED The Smiler soundtrack when it first came out, I thought finally music that dares to be out-there, suitably overpowering and powered up for such a ride, and creative soundscape, but even that had the tiresome cliched HA HA HA theme repeating so much it was annoying.

That train is such a terrible design. Have to scramble in head first, the restraints are typical Intamin stiff as hell. The whole track is abandoned and dirty. For goodness sake, Europa Parks rides are kept looking brand new. I still ride it though, because (In my opinion!) it's still smoother than a Gerstlauer Eurofighter / Sore Saw. I don't know how Gerst managed to make such horrible track sections. Back on topic, despite some serious issues with Colossus, I still really enjoy Intamin's rides. Whether it is their own developed technology such as the hydraulic launch, the free fall track section or simply just a good old fun rollercoaster like Colossus.

What's with going round everywhere replacing older tracks with more modern, homogenous pieces? Its not that broken idea of "we're bigger now, we can do better" again is it? Some of the nicest bits about Thorpe Park was the sound design and atmosphere around Colossus and Inferno. Why ruin something that was perfectly fine in the first place? Is it just so you can brag to the enthusiasts about having IMAscore everywhere?
 
I'm all for improving audio where necessary. Why not? But replacing well-suited tracks with cut and paste IMAscore formula is not a good move... Clearly music at theme parks is still gravely misunderstood. 

Wrong park... http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/police-uncover-legoland-windsor-cannabis-farm-a3460616.html

More Chessington on TV, this time it's Wish You Were Here: 
 

They should do a Dragon Falls themed room in there. Completely bare exposed walls with trailing cables etc.
 
Those vinyls are going to get really grubby rather quickly.

Yes! And look what you've done  No just kidding, all commercial cassette recordings sound like that, I didn't mean you recorded it wrongly or anything. It's just so weird that years later it would actually replace the proper version on the ride itself... really bad standards from the park

Not happy about the change I'll be honest. If Lost City & Nemesis Inferno themes are replaced, those are significant 'audible' pieces of history gone, it will be a great shame. Personally I am not a huge fan of IMAScore, the only track I enjoy is DBGT, but most of their compositions sound the same. 
 
WWTP should not be getting changed, so I've been told. So hopefully not to worry. I cannot think of any way they could pull off the Amity theme. 

Nothing like having a total stranger wedged between your legs!

Chessington in 1997/1998 (an early Matt Lucas and Mark Williams show!)