daboywunda

But Thorpe have already announced that Samurai won't be back for this season...

The news channel was still playing uninterrupted and in it's full glory every time I was there today (we did her 5 times throughout the day)... However, slightly off topic, the far-too sped up music from the entrance plaza is now infiltrating Vortex, Quantum and Rush, ruining their ride experiences!!

Was there for Ministry (also during the day)... Was lucky enough to be on a train where the fire effects went off.. It was mental to look at! In terms of effects - Fire was present.. In a way.. Sound effects working, heli-blades rotating with splashdown there working but not the one by the fire engine. There seems to have been a new fountain added since my last visit, that spurts water up vertically by the helicopter. It also seems like the fire isn't meant to trigger every time the train passes, only seemingly attempting to trigger completely randomly on between 1 in 3 to 1 in 7 times. With varying degrees of success. The area is looking amazing in terms of themeing now that the ambulance and telephone box are in.. But I can't help but think that there should be something more by the entrance... So, hopefully future development of the island will address this..

What's to say that a person has done this? (Even though it's the most likely explanation)

Yeah, I was there on Wednesday... They had problems with Row 4 on 1 train and 6 on the other train (on the right hand side). Didn't notice any LED problems, but the effects were either off or out of sync all day..

Sorry if it's been posted already, but the thorpe park website now says " Rumba Rapids is available for family groups and adults (aged 18+) only " So, it would seem that they have lifted some restriction to now just ban half of the park rather than the majority!

To be fair, if it was done properly, I wouldn't be adverse to having a Sub-Terra style ride for Swarm.. They did a pretty good job of the final ride at Alton (after the changes I hasten to add) - and something similar might work for Swarm - BUT, it would also annoy the fanboys who have been on Sub-Terra - but the GP in London that may not get to go to Alton? Could work. I'd hate to see another maze that would just close after a year - what a waste of a concept! Failing that, a Talocan style ride near NI would work.. Or even near Swarm (in the same manner that Ripsaw is to Nemesis) so that they can include fire effects a few months after the ride opens. BTW, I wasn't privy to the behind the scenes day to see the woodie plans, but was is a CGI Big Fun? Also, what ever happened to the Canada Creek B&M Flyer?!

I can't find a sample from Charlie to explain what I mean. Even thought the end product can sound entirely different, the beginning sound can be the exact same. I work in music and sound production & as part of some of the commercially released tracks I've written, I've done this before. I've used a base sample and applied different effects to get 2 completely different "end sounds" - The Charlie sound could be the original one and the Swarm sound could be that sound with distortion, bit crushing, octave bender and some kind of pitch alter to make the sound we recognise as the Swarm sound. However, I will hold my hands up and say that even though I know the characteristics to recognise with these techniques, I've not heard the 2 sounds simultaneously to be able to tell for sure. So maybe some-one can help out?

Just to go a little off track here, but still on topic.. I rode Charlie & The Chocolate Factory at Alton Towers the other week (stay with me!) and during the start of the ride, you go through the factory gates.... The sound that the gates make sound uncannily the same as the Swarm Sound (just without the effects, distortion and delay added to the end)... Have Merlin reused ANOTHER sound for a ride like they did for Depth Charge / The Flume?

lol, love the "We have teased the geeks" element of the What We Have Already Done..... Slightly rude, but also true!

Thanks Jonny, that information is spot on!! I actually can't wait for the fire to be working.. It's going to look epic!! I'm surprised that the fire and LED's are considered a similar risk.. Or could it be that the paperwork was submitted after every-thing else, meaning that it was held up that way?

Sorry if this has already been posted, but any more developments on the fire effects? Last I heard was that H&S was holding it all up..

You Me At Six "The Swarm" goes in at 23... But shocking that Radio 1 didn't mention any connection to the ride...

It's definitely a "Don't Look At Me" Fence.. That's for sure. They were planning on extending the shop of Inferno for a fast food place, but I can't picture whether the fence goes along far enough to suggest this.. It's possible..

Ben, you make a very good point. That has just as much logic than to erect a seemingly permanently fence for a temporary construction site (unless they're planning for it to last a while). However, by using the Merlin / Tusauds mentality, didn't they use a "temporary" around the site of the Black Hole that stood empty and unused for 6 years... Nothing is really more worthy of a permanent fence really.. I've also seen a similar fence around building sites, so it's still possible.Not sure what to make to be fair. If it was just to hide the cosmetic side of an SBNO ride, then why would they also stretch that fence around the back of Nemesis Inferno and up the lake too? Seems a little extreme to hide it where no-one can see it anyway...

I'm a little confused at how the 2006 Scott Project remix of the Braveheart theme be the theme for XNWO...I LOVE this track and play it in my sets all the time, even more so now I know it's part of the Thorpe Park line-up!!

So.. I was there on Thursday and overheard that the fire effects were installed, but not working due to a fault on the gas line, but were planned to be working for this weekend.. ie Saturday. Did they appear?

It could be a permanent queue line I suppose, but the fences were too close to the existing fences. They would need to put the construction fences up to keep people out before commencing work.. And this was what it looked like.

Just seen a Swarm advert on Channel 4 saying "Channel 4 Premier - A Channel 4 first - Sunday 10:20pm" - It was the start of the Swarm advert with the Swarm noise and the woman turning around to face the camera with 2 people in the background. Have they made a short film to advertise the launch and the arrival of The Swarm?!

A Talocan Top Spin would also definitely fit in with the over-all theme and feel of the Nemesis Inferno area.. Could they make either side double height like Ripsaw to make throughput massive?

I was thinking that while on Detonator. There's not a great deal of space, but if the current pattern of massive investment (Swarm, Saw), medium investment (Saw Alive) and small investment (Storm Surge) continues, we have a medium investment similar in size / appeal to Saw Alive.. In which case, the space there is perfect if they utilise the area behind Nemesis Inferno too (ie for the queue)My initial thoughts: Disk-o or Top Spin sized ride?

I'll agree.. I didn't see the hour shut down for myself, but I just got on to Storm Surge when it stopped on the lift hill and was operational again by the time I got off.. Then, while I was in the front row queue, it went down again while in the station and were advised to try other attractions, but the queue line wasn't evacuated at that point..

Hi allI'm really sorry if this has already been posted, so if so, feel free to move or close me!On park for opening day today and there curiously seems to be a new fence being put up around Miss Fungle's Safari that stretches around the back of Nemesis Inferno and to the Sing Star building. Is this the start of the work for the 2013 ride?I contemplated it being the fence from Fright Nights and that Thorpe had just neglected to take it down... Until I saw workmen putting it up instead..

Also, in case you were wondering (and I forgot to put it above):Maximum queue that I saw advertised for Swarm was 15 mins, max I experienced was 5 (not accounting for the additional front-row queue times).. Throughput is actually impressive. I can only imagine what the queue will be on Saturday though! Arrrgh!Down-time.. Had a few patches of downtime. As far as I know, they didn't evacuate, but did close the queue line and allowed people to continue queuing outside. Although, I overheard the guy who used to work on Stealth (hello!) say "Only Thorpe can break a B&M"... Made me chuckle. Teething problems are expected and it was no-where near what we experienced with Saw.Yes, those of you that were there today DID see 2... um... "ladies" dressed in bikini's running around with their jublies on display for the world to see - not leaving much to the imagination!EDIT:I totally forgot too!! And this is probably bigger than the Swam opening today!!!! There's a new fence being put up around Miss Fungles Safari that will extend around the back of Nemesis Inferno. 2013 maybe?

There's not really a lot I can add to this topic that hasn't already been said. I managed to get on it 7 times today: Outer front seats on both sides, outer back seats on both sides and strangely row 3 on both sides (plus a random placing which was row 4 right side).It's really a fantastic ride. It's like nothing you're ever going to ride (unless you've been on Baco or any of the other Wingriders that happen to be out there of course )... It offers a completely different ride experience in every seat. (sides mentioned are as you look head on at the control booth from the station) - The Left side offers what the right doesn't and vice versa. The left offers all of the views - The lower end of the plane wing, the water near miss, the over-the-top of the track elements and of course the 2 near misses with the wall as you head around to the inline twist. However, the right side offers all of the forces that you associate with the likes of nemesis (and the other water near miss). It's nothing short of a punch in the face (or so I thought any-way).... Both sides offer them "is-it-about-to-stall" moments and when on the back the drag is immense, the toughest being on the right. The station is just beautiful and the actors around the site plus the news reports make it all a little TOO real. It was actually quite unsettling The news reports are just perfect. A woman mocked up to look like the the BBC News 24 woman, in a studio mocked up to look like it with graphics and music that are similar too. It was just amazingly well done. The actors were also fantastic. However, the woman at the start of the day that came right up in my face and told me to move on, left, right, left, right was quite intimidating in all the right ways!A few gripes over the whole day however.... Swarm toilet block wasn't ready, no fire effects (but plenty of steam/smoke. (Rush wasn't open - Non Swarm I know) and the Swarm front row queue system needs a little rethink as currently you queue separately when you get to the front of the main queue, collect a ticket from the queue-line dispatcher then rejoin the main queue and get allocated to row 1 upon second dispatcher. However, they were allocating 8 - 12 tickets per row a time, giving a backlog of these back in the station main queue line. It DOES however, look like there is the infrastructure in place on the left hand side to support an independent front row queue, but not on the right. In all, it is £20 million well spent. The ride is short enough to make you want to ride again.. Many times, but long enough to leave you satisfied with your experience. As it is at the moment, the look and feel of the area is perfect and the actors complete it. However, this is likely to change when the budget for entertainment gets cut AND the news reports are aimed at opening day as it talks about "2 weeks ago", so whether these will be updated will remain to be seen.