AstroDan

I would stick my head on the line here and say the average wait times at Alton Towers are, overall, less than those at Thorpe Park.

Thorpe Park like a southern european holidayspot? On a more serious note, as much as Alton isn't having its best ever season, I am very disappointed to read your remarks. I personally find Alton superior to the other parks in Britain. It is a shame though that they appear to have lost your custom and you think that the rides are all pretty poor. I think the park has had issues thus far in 2011, although things are already turning round. The upselling on Towers Street has massively reduced and they've a great marketing campaign underway to galvanize staff and visitors alike. This Halloween, the park will hold its biggest ever Scarefest and the brilliant Fireworks are also making a welcome return.I must question your "fleeced for food" comments. Food at the London Merlin attractions is actually fractionally more expensive.

Apparently every one of the 5 rides has such things! And ride teams are actively involved with promoting their own ride.I can't wait to see all of it on Sunday!

Nemesis 5/5 - one of the top coasters in the world, and my personal number 2 in the world (that I have been on)Oblivion 4/5 - extremely good at creating the effect, even to this day - the drop is better than the more modern equivalents like SheiKra and Krake.Rita 3/5 - underrated and gets a bit of a slating which I feel is, to a degree, undeserved. Pretty forceful and some good airtime, shame about the theme and the vibration of the train in places though. Not as good as Stealth but decent nonetheless.Air 3/5 - lacking in punch, but a beautiful ride on a blue sky day. It does exactly what was expected of it and is smooth to boot. Could do with a bit more zip mind you.Th13teen 2.5/5 - a great ambience and nice trick. But the outdoor bit is a joke, even for a family coaster.

I have voted Nemesis. It is the greatest ride at Alton Towers. However, as long as either of the 1990's B&Ms win, I will be fairly happy!The website is excellent for this - loads of geeky facts, concept arts and such!

Can't wait to see this. Hopefully it's the perfect mid season pick-me-up for the park. Definitely an excellent advert!

I can't say I would comprehend CWOA being better than Alton. If you're a family, probably yes. But as someone who wants thrills and spills in equal measure, Alton is superior.The Waterpark is just a cash cow. It's very well themed but has had nil investment in nigh on 9 years.

Are you saying that the park is maintaining the visitor figures of last year? I am not quite sure if you're agreeing or disagreeing that it's quieter than last season.

Alton Towers is categorically having a poor season (thus far). I can't realy go into detail, but there are sufficient sources knocking about that comfirm this! This isn't to say there haven't been busy days, there have - but not as busy as their budgets were expecting.

Silver Star is a good coaster within the context of Europa-Park, but it does not have much of a reputation to speak of - and so informed people tend to go on with low expectations as it is. The new magnetic brakes have improved it somewhat.ERT in July and August also includes Blue Fire.

The very gorgeous looking new suspended pedal car ride, Volo da Vinci, opens on Saturday!http://www.epfans.info/?id=3393〈=&

It's because they were concerned of noise, and as Silver Star had a noise barrier down the 1st drop added 4 years ago (to stop screams going into the village), so they added supports to Blue Fire in case they needed to do the same. They don't, thank god.

Good review, but I too disagree with the majority of your opinions I find Baco awful, Stampida truly terrible (although I do hear it has been smoothed out somewhat this year, can anyone confirm this?) and El Diablo in no way themed just like Big Thunder Mountain! It was dire through and through. I find it astnoshing anyone can laud ANY praise on it when we have the likes of Big Thunder Mountain, Colorado Adventure, Calamity Mine and Mammut all in Europe.I do like Hurakan Condor, though. And DK is pretty awesome, too.

It's not Downtown Disney, but then again - there are several attractions, and I think it'll be good for guests. It also will look nice in large size in a wall somewhere...

You may be aware of TowersTimes' recent letter and petition (of near-200 signatures/comments) to Merlin Entertainments regarding several issues arising at Alton Towers, including the Fanta sponsorship on Oblivion. To my knowledge, a few people off here signed it and made comments as did others off the likes of Coasterforce and other AT/park related fansites.A lengthly letter has now been received from Merlin, and will be posted this evening!

The Haunting is hilarious. It's a MUST RIDE at DMP, although throughput is terrible.

Merlin may be second, but let's be honest. Their developments and effort is far inferior to many, many single parks below.

When searching on National Rail... click "INCLUDE SLOWER TRAINS". The London Midland services to/from London to Stoke are FAR cheaper at peak times, than Virgin.

Perhaps a MCBR? No seatbelts? Longer trains?

Indeed. Specs:Name: Top SecretConstruction Period: 9 months from todayArea: 1.6 hecLength: 1050metresHeight: 35 Meter (115')Speed: 100 km/h (63mph)Max G Force: 3.5GMin Height: 1.20 MetreManufacturer: Great Coasters International, Inc (GCI)Capacity: 18,000 guests a day (circa 1,800 per hour) - how is this possible I am asking, given that Troy gets less than 1,000.The second tallest and second fastest GCI built.

OMG!I am so excited! This is TOTALLY out of the blue! Quite literally, the most unexpected announcement I can recall. I was - and I think I speak for most EP Fans - expecting some form of tower drop ride. This blows this out the water!The hotel for 2012 is €35m (£30m)Rides expense for 2012 + 2013 is €50m (£43m)Gotta love EP. Way to go!

I have to say, with regards to Th13teen Live - I did it 3 or 4 times. On 2 occasions, there was nothing going on with regards to actors. There was smoke and lights, but that was all. Very hit and miss.

I think there's a bit of over-harsh on Alton - I mean the difference in the effort Alton put into theming is vastly superior to THORPE, whilst not as much as CWOA.Alton spent a lot of money on new lighting for 2010. Oblivion was fantastic, and so were several other rides. Towers Street is also impressively themed, and rides do have halloween additions - such as Oblivion and Rapids skeletons. Some areas are not improved, but the darkness and eeriness of Alton is second to none. It is the best time of year to visit Alton (mind you, with fireworks now back on the agenda, that is running this event close).THORPE's mazes aren't any better than Alton's, indeed I would say TOTT is the best halloween maze in the UK, and although Chessington is well themed - Alton are catering for everyone and for me Scarefest is the best event of the three parks.

Until now! I presume TSMM was an external ride system for Disney, then.

Looks like GREAT fun, which is what these rides should be. Nice to get our own version of TSMM here in Europe!Can't wait to ride this in the summer. About time the park had a decent dark ride. Some of their others are mind-numbingly boring.