AstroDan

Yet I added the reason why Stealth is not painful to ride in any way.Apologies.

Maybe we just differ in our perception is what "rough" is. You could have a smooth as silk coaster that may be somewhat uncomfortable for certain riders, due to the restraint system. This, for me, doesn't make the coaster "rough" - more, badly designed.A rough coaster would be along the lines of Stampida, or Goudurix (which, by the way I agree with Benin that it's roughness is somewhat overrated - although it is bad) - which results in the wheels coming off and on the rails.I do not believe this is the case with Rita.EDIT - Stealth won't hurt because it has no corners taken at speed, therefore your body is not thrown within the restraint at all. Cheetah Hunt is going to be an awful ride for some of you guys then by the looks of it! Same restraints as Rita and Stealth, but with inversions and way more corners!

I said the only reason it would hurt is because of the restraint design.I then said the ride is not rough because of a restraint, because there's a difference.A ride being classified as rough is different to a poor restraint design. At least, I thought it was!My god. I feel like I am under threat from the Gestapo.

A ride is not rough because of a restraint.Rough is when a coaster shakes/jolts on the track. If you have a problem with the restraints, it makes it uncomfortable, not rough.

Absolutely! Slag it off on the basis of what it "could" have been, sure. But rough, nah!

Rita is not rough...! My god, how did you all cope when you rode Corkscrew? How do you manage on Colossus? Or Space Mountain M2? Or indeed most old Vekoma coasters? Rita has ONE jolt on the far helix. Apart from that, it is not rough.The only reason it would hurt is due to your height and Intamin's restraint system.People have such short memories if they're starting to call Rita a rough coaster. You obviously don't know the meaning of the word. For a definition,try riding Stampida or Goudurix.

As above, although please bare in mind that the online rate is often slightly discounted already - so you will not (usually) get 20% off the online price. It's always worth checking the online price beforehand though, because on rare occasions the AP Price quoted is often higher than the cheapest rate online.Usually though, I expect to save between 10 and 20% off the online rate.

Err... it's a B&M Dive Machine... this was confirmed many months ago now!

It's for The Sun offer, and therefore is typical of the sort of advert they would want - it's a direct repeat of the one used 12 months ago for the same offer in 2010. The nationwide Alton Towers TV advert for the 2011 season was being filmed over the last week and will be released in the next couple of weeks.

Just a note, EP are getting one of these babies to add to their Food and Beverage line up in 2011, replacing the Historama Restaurant with a 190 seat Rollercoaster Restaurant!!http://www.heinemack.com/en/rollercoasterrestaurant.html:unsure:

Geisterschloss is a great dark ride, although I prefer the Duel (Haunted House) ride system to the Omnimover no end. Geisterschloss has had refurb after refurb over the years, with more added every year.It's a shame WWH burnt down at Thorpe - I would have loved to have gone on it. These kinds of rides are all over Europe, but in the UK we don't have any Omnimovers now!

Europa-Park is a multi day resort with absolutely LOADS to do. I would suggest starting with Matterhorn Blitz, as it's the lowest throughput coaster on park (about 960pph). However, if it's not school holiday periods nor a weekend, I would quite literally just tour the park and take rides as you get to them! If it's a hot day, Poseidon is best done before lunch. Don't be put off by queue's that may look long. Europa-Park is the capital of throughputs - there's quite literally nowhere on Earth that operates rides with the haste of Europa. Thus a queue to the entrance on Silver Star will never be more than 35 minutes. Similarly, Eurosat to the entrance is 30 minutes. On busy days, they'll often advertise queues as double what they are (case in point: 46000 on park in August 2009, Euro Mir queue said 90 - we waited 45). Every ride is worth going on - even the smaller rides. They all have their quirky points!Try to experience the Englishness of Crazy Taxi - the ride hosts usually love it if you make a scene that you're English - and check out Columbus in Spain - a fun Seastorm ride that goes backwards, too. It's also worth viewing the Historama for some EP History, and the Mack Museum in there aswell. Geek heaven, so to speak! The Mini Monorail that runs from there offers a great view of parts of the park, and the Milka Shop has some great buys on chocolate - I always end up spending a fortune! My favourite rides at Europa-Park are Silver Star, Blue Fire, Fjord Rafting (don't quite know why), Piraten in Batavia, Abenteuer Atlantis (again, don't know why!), Pegasus (for a kiddie coaster, it's great), Eurosat and Kassandra (assrape central, although in reality it's pants compared to Hex!).Make sure you check out some shows -there are many every day. Usually, based on the past few years, the best shows have taken place at the Teatro dell'Arte in Italy (Variety Show) and the Spanish Arena (Gladiator Show). However, check the programme - the Ice Show is often really good, too.There are 66 food outlets across the resort, over 50 of which are on park itself. My favourites are the Rock Café by the main entrance (burgers, ribs etc.), Pizzeria Venezia in Italy (pizza, pasta), Tarte Flambée in France (regional speciality), Bamboo Bay in Holland (wok restaurant, amazing theming) and Kaffi Hus in Iceland (coffees, bagels and cakes). Avoid the burger bars and classic theme park style places - there's so much choice at EP it's a shame not to give it a go. The best restaurants on resort are the Silver Lake Salloon at Tipi Village - there's usually entertainment on, too - amazing steaks, lamb, pork, chicken and salads. Antica Roma Buffet is also excellent, at Colosseo! The bars in the hotels too, can get expensive if you go for co**tails - but the service and ambience is second to none and they're open (at least, Bar Colosseo is) until 2 or 3am.The hotels are all worth a walk around, the Camp Resort too. Make sure you set aside some time! I don't know how long you have, but 2 days is the minimum - in 1 day you will do the coasters and big water rides but simply won't experience everything EP has to offer and, with 57 rides from 2011 - there's a heck of a lot to pack in!I am back at EP in August - but wish I was going sooner. The lift hill raves, the theming, the entertainment, the food, the hotels - there's nowhere quite like it!

Wild Asia for me!

Quite simply - the theming will not be more important than the ride. If that were to be the case, they wouldn't have gone all out back to B&M again. We'd have seen further Saw - The Ride's.

Rides always run over budget - at any park, even with contingency. Some theming will get cut, but I am sure there'll be enough remaining to create a great experience.

Popped to Alton today, for the final day of park opening before main season on March 26th. Was pretty quiet compared to most of the week, perhaps the weather put people off. Was nice to say "good riddance" to the park in this state - as much as I like getting a few rides in at this time of year, the park lacks the soul of the main season.Arrived on park 10:15am, left park 4:15pm.Ride CountAir x 2Nemesis x 5Duel x 1RMT x 1Sharkbait Reef x 1Sonic Spinball x 2Oblivion x 2Hex x 1Twirling Toadstool x 1Had lunch at Explorers, was really good - although note price rise to £8.95 this year. Bring on March!

During 2005 and 2006 I recall it was entirely Forbidden Valley ERT from 9-9.30 - and the park used to open to all guests at 9.30am. In the 2007 season, they rotated ERT three times during the season. At first, it was Air, Nemesis and Blade. Then it switched to Spinball Whizzer, Oblivion and one of Enterprise/Submission. Then it went to Corkscrew, Rita and Ug Swinger during September and October before Scarefest. Arguably, the ERT is better these days - as there is more on offer, and it's more diverse - not just thrill rides - the aquarium, for example- open from 9am is brilliant to walk around when quiet - and you can often get almost private run through's on Hex during ERT! And in 2011 there will be 4 coasters open for ERT, pretty impressive really.That said, rides are more spread out. I reckon my 2011 pattern will be something along the lines of Oblivion then Rita (maybe 2 or 3 goes if its quiet) then to Th13teen for opening. Nemesis is just too out of the way sadly, and with the Skyride not available until 10am it's a bit of a pain!

And after today... Nemesis Nemesis Nemesis Nemesis Nemesis!After all these years it keeps offering intense, fast rides with great, terrain hugs. Awesome coaster!

Hopefully Alton can have Quantum off Thorpe as a Dark Forest flat ride!Would suit it nicely!

£15.90? £17.50? I don't spend that per day to be honest.Pizza Buffet is about £7 with discount, say a couple of bottled drinks on top and a small snack, extra £4? Max. £11 spent all day.

It does make sense... but I miss the old days of the Woodland Walk open from 8:30am, and being outside Nemesis at 8:45am. Nemesis would often then open early, around 8:55am along with Air, Ripsaw and Blade - giving you almost a whole 40-45 minutes of peace and privacy in the Valley before the masses arrived! That certainly was a wake up!

Spinball is odd to miss out. However, I have a theory...I reckon Spinball WILL open early most of the time. However, in order to get ERT guests away from the main entrance and dispersed around the park - I reckon they're going to state than Spinball is closed for ERT. Yet, it surely will open before 10am so that it's ready and waiting for the stampede!!Rita was definitely not on ERT last year. However, like many rides, it usually opened early (9.30am quite a lot) to appease those waiting in the often horrific line for Th13teen!

Early Ride Time (ERT) available for Standard and Premium Merlin/Alton Towers Pass Holders, Hotel Resort Guests and Advance Ticket Holders from altontowers.com. Rides available from 9.00am - the park opens to the general public at 10.00am.Rides for 2011 include:NemesisRunaway Mine TrainSharkbait Reef by SEA LIFEHeave Ho!Marauders MayhemOblivionHexRitaOther rides may open early subject to season and availability. The Monorail is open from 8.30am.There is no ERT during February nor from October 15th until the end of the season.

From a Spinball Op:Average throughput in dry weather is 700 people per hour. Some hours it gets slightly less, some hours slightly more. On wet weather this is reduced by 25% as only 3 per car.

Fury only allows 3-adults per car... so Spinball surely has a considerably higher throughput as it allows 4 adults per car.I shall veryify the actual throughputs as soon as I can - as a good friend of mine is working on it this very week.