Luke_A

Then...

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After groundwork starting in early March, and the Ride gondola's being delivered a couple of weeks ago, Lex Luthor: Drop of Doom has finally started to have some of it's parts airlifted and fitted into place! This double-sided Intamin drop tower is going to be the world's largest drop tower at 415ft, on the sides of the Superman tower; and will have a 1.22M << height restriction. The ride is scheduled to open on May 28th.

Banned for copying my signature idea.

Banned for pretending to be me and changing his picture and name on Skype.

^ The first KMG XLR8 (Not to be confused with some Booster's also with the same name ) also opened last week, a very cool ride design I think, the main point in it is the experience of being accelerated and decelerated from high to low speeds multiple times. The ride footprint is also small, so it will probably be popular in the UK over the coming years. For anyone who didn't know... The little known park Hopi Hari are due to be opening their new Intamin 10 inversion coaster in May. "Hopi Hari has announced that they will install a “new version” of an Intamin 10 inversion steel coaster for 2012. The park will have a name the ride contest in the near future, but it will be located in their Wild West section, feature two new open style trains. It will have a track length of 875 meters (2870 ft) and a first drop of 33 meters (108 ft) taken at a 45º angle." So that's a little longer than Colossus... Here's some pictures of it before construction and a bit of concept art (lap bars?), it's pretty hard to find any pictures of it so I'm unsure as to how much of it is actually constructed now. Nice to see I-Beams being used on the lift to eliminate the need for masses of supports. It's going to be interesting to see how this coaster turns out, the layout is a bit of a mystery at the moment even though it has the same elements as Colossus. I'm intrigued to find out what the trains are like... Length: 2870' 9" Height: 108' 3" Inversions: 10 Speed: 52.8 mph Elements: - Vertical Loop, Cobra Roll, Double Corkscrew, Quad Heartline Roll, Heartline Roll. The ride will also feature a cable lift which will lift the cars 4X faster than existing 10-looping coasters.

So, from 2-6 April I spent a week in Blackpool with family and friends, this was my first visit to Blackpool, and we had a great time. We didn't really anticipate that there would be so much to do in Blackpool, we ended up doing something every day with stuff still left to do, a great excuse to go back again next year or sooner! Revolution is looking very nice in it's new colours, they were painting continuously throughout the week, removing the scaffolding quickly too. On the Monday I went into PBB for an hour or so just to do the Big One... You can read my review of that in the main PB topic. On Tuesday we did as many Merlin attractions as possible, and did all of them except the dungeons as we simply didn't have enough time in the day, although we did get the 4D Eye Experience done; Blackpool Tower; Madame Tussaud's; Blackpool Tower Circus (This is free for AP holders and lasted just over 2 hours!) and the Sedgwick owned funfair on the Pier by the Tower. Wednesday was a full day on park (PMBO was down due to winds, no big loss at all). Thursday we did the Sandcastle Water Park which is right opposite the Pleasure Beach on the seafront, highly recommended to anyone who spends a few days in the Blackpool area, spent 8 hours here! Then Friday I spent another day on Pleasure Beach while others did some other Blackpool attractions such as Ripley's. Blackpool Merlin Attractions Now, I'm not usually a fan of 4D experiences, but the Blackpool Tower one I quite liked... It's very similar to the London Eye one with scenes & landmarks of Blackpool instead of London, and was actually quite enjoyable. After the 4D show you get sent into an area where you wait for the lift to the top of the Blackpool Tower. Scaffolding is covering a large amount of the tower at the moment because of it having some of the metalwork repainted and worked on, so it's not the best view at all times on the way up... But when at the top you exit the lift right by the glass floor which is pretty much the same of that on the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, great views of Blackpool from the top of the tower, and you can go up onto a second level which is open, and very windy! So yeah, the Tower was good, and wasn't very busy either. Next we did the Blackpool Tower Circus. This was free for AP holders and the show lasted just over 2 hours, Wow. It was a really great show, everything from tightrope walkers to the water finale, it was really worth doing especially on what was a cold and windy day... Madame Tussaud's in Blackpool is about a 5 minute walk south down the promenade. It's got some things different and some things the same as London MT's. Worth doing even if you've done London MT's! Me and Brucey! Sandcastle Water Park I didn't really know much about what this water park had to offer, they have a Master Blaster launch slide (Very awesome!) Your typical family slides, Two swimming pools all themed to a Caribbean island or something... They also have a couple of speed slides, A slide called Montazooma where you lay on your front on a mat, and fly down a tube taking corners at high speeds with lighting and sound effects as you go through. They also have a Space Bowl slide called Aztec Falls where you can either go as a pair or on your own. This was great fun, and 3 of the slides are partially outside too (Aztec Falls, Montazooma and Master Blaster.) There is also a SideWinder 'U' shape slide with a near vertical drop. My favourite slide was Master Blaster, it features 5/6? 'launch' sections, which you could end up going up backwards or forwards, or just spinning around in some crazy manner. The last drop is awesome, you come down it at some great speed, takes you by surprise if you end up going down backwards! Water Park ride count. Master Blaster - 8 Montazooma - 1 Aztec Falls - 3 Duelling Dragon's - 3 Thunder Falls - 2 Pleasure Beach, Blackpool! The main reason I came to Blackpool was for the Pleasure Beach. I spent 2 full days on park as well as going in to ride the Big One on Monday. Overall, I really enjoyed all of my visits, the park seems to be heading in a nice direction, I absolutely love the way everything feels so modern and the way attention isn't going into investing in new rides, but making existing ones look better and more appealing. It's a shame Valhalla and Revolution were down, but I look forward to riding them next time! Pleasure beach do something which I have always wondered why Thorpe don't do. If a ride is going to run 2 trains later in the day, it will open with 2 trains on the track but one will be locked off. This then makes it much easier and reduces the need for waiting for another train to be put on when needed. Valhalla should be open by the end of April they hope, as I was told by the member of staff on admissions, the ticket centre is run very well and efficiently! Certainly started the day off well as staff were efficient and helpful... As at PB you enter the park using a barcoded ticket just like at any Merlin park. Then you have your wristband which you scan on a turnstile at the entrance to every ride. My favourite rides turned out to be Grand National & Wild Mouse. Two very fun rides which provide unique rides, Nash in the back seat is awesome, ok it's a little rough but the airtime on the double-down's is really good, even my 12 year old sister enjoyed the ride, so it's certainly good for families as well as your thrill seekers. Wild Mouse is brilliant, you only have a seatbelt barely holding you in around your chest which creates great freedom for your body to lift off of the seat when going down drops and over the airtime hill... Absolutely brilliant ride, love it so much! Shame I only got on it on Wednesday, it was down most of Friday for essential maintenance on it's lift hill chain, and Nash didn't open til 12:30 either. Infusuion... The less said about this ride the better. Awful ride, great location. (I really did like the whole water thing.) The double inline twist is a killer on your ears. Ouch. Empty Avalanche station most of the time on both days! wooo great little ride, it did have a few busy times. Big One was running 1 and a half trains on Friday, cars 1,2 and 3 were being used but 4 and 5 were filled with sandbags. It had no more than 15-20 mins all day so I think this was so that they didn't have to have trains waiting in the station for more riders. (It needs a full train of riders or sandbags to run.) Steeplechase was a little ride which I was looking forward to, but didn't really know what to expect. It was running 2 lanes on all days, 3 lanes at points where it had a queue, but as soon as that queue was gone they would knock it back down to 2 lanes. I found the red lane to be a little rough but the other 2 were really fun, it's a really good ride, and the fact that it's the only one of it's type left in the world makes it even more special. We ate in Big Pizza kitchen in Nickelodeon Land, nice pizza, good value too! Ride Count over 2 days +1 ride on Big One on Monday. Avalanche - 4 Big Dipper - 2 Blue Flyer - 1 Grand National - 4 Infusion - 2 (this was MORE than enough) Nickelodeon Streak - 1 Steeplechase - 7 Wild Mouse - 2 PMBO - 4 River Caves - 2 Alice Ride - 1 Ghost Train - 1 Ice Blast - 3 Avatar Airbender - 1 Overall, what an awesome week I had in Blackpool. Thanks for reading!

Banned for banning TWO trolls.

I'm up at Blackpool until Friday, and visited the park for about an hour today, seeing as it was almost a 4 hour drive up here we're planning on spending a full day at the Pleasure Beach on Wednesday, and I will be returning again on friday. Today, as I knew I didn't have long on park I just gained entry with a special deal which costs £10, giving you entry to the park with a Pleasure Beach Pass which has some rides and attractions valid on it, and with this deal you get a token to use on 1 ride of your choice. Seeing as this was my first visit to PBB I went for the Big One.The Pleasure Beach was VERY quiet today, so quiet that The Big One was running one train, and only had approximately a 2-train wait which worked out to be around 5 mins waiting time. So... The air gates open and you take your seat, fasten your seat belt and pull down the lap bar. The lap bars are really tiny, and don't come down right onto your body, there was about a 5-10cm gap between my waist and the lap bar, which could be beneficial IF the ride had any airtime. On the way up the lift the trains feel nice and exposed, the floor isn't recessed, so you feel pretty open to the elements. The ride has a nice height... And the first drop has some spots of roughness, this is the good part of the ride (the drop, not the roughness) The 'airtime hills' which follow have no airtime at all in the middle of the train at least. The roughness isn't major, it's just your typical Arrow rattle. The MCBR shaved a little speed off the train, and the helixes after this were pretty fun.Overall I rate The Big One with 4/10. The coaster could have had potential if those hills weren't as high following the lift. I like the ride, I didn't find it thrilling but it is an "ok" ride. I look forward to riding it in the front row to see if it's any different. (sorry no pictures just yet as I typed this up on my iPhone, I will do a full PTR of Wednesday and Friday's next Saturday.)

Rush has opened for the first time this season today.

Watch this in 1080P, Full screen. Ahh.

I think what Mer said outlines what the problems were in this accident, especially the fact that the seatbelt wasn't being worn and that the smallest person sits on the inside at all times, whereas in this video they were on the outside... Strange, seeing as whenever I've been on these rides they are very strict about rules like that, and on some models they don't even allow single riders depending on the seating arrangement.These 'Jump&Smile' rides, as they are known, have two manufacturer's. The ride in this video is a Sartori ride, Sartori are probably the less popular manufacturer in this ride area, and their 'Techno Jump' model (same as the video and Galaxia at Brighton) is the one in the video.The other manufacturer is Safeco rides. http://www.safeco-ri...s/adultos04.htm These are more commonly found on UK fairs, and offer their rides with either a lapbar or an OTSR, personally I think they are the better ride type, even if they have OTSR's in some cases. Below are the 2 Safeco models.

I strongly recommend that everyone checks out some pictures from the Wodan media day over at TPR via the link below. My god... This ride looks 10/10 in every aspect possible, definitely looks the best new ride of 2012 in my opinion. It looks so wonderfully themed, I really don't know how else to describe it, Wow. http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=62114

This thing was roaming around Towers Street yesterday, must be a replacement for the nun that used to drive round on the piano. So funny, little things like this really add to visits.

So today we saw the opening of Nemesis: Sub-Terra at Alton Towers Resort.Now from the day that I found out what the ride was going to be (or be similar to) I haven't really been that excited. But with it being Towers nobody really knew much about what would go on inside the ride, which still left a bit of excitement in me to try out this new attraction.So hit the spoiler button to hear my views of what goes on in the ride... Ratings Theming: 7/10 - The interior theming is absolutely brilliant, the queue line video's are nice and the overall LOOK of the attraction is just right. I like the theme of Sub-Terra very much. Main Section of ride: 2/10 - The drop is weak. Especially for the sheer amount of tension that gets built up beforehand, you can't help but feel let down by this part of the ride. Overall experience: 4/10 - Nemesis: Sub-Terra is an average addition in my opinion. It's got a mild thrill element to it in the ride although the build up before may leave you disappointed, but I don't think it's terrible, it's an "Ok" ride.

Brilliant idea! 30 pages in the whole booklet and it's actually a really great read. Interested me that the Weymouth observation tower which is due to be owned by Merlin is now being named the "SeaLife Tower, Weymouth" which I suppose is to tie in with the Sea Life centre in Weymouth, even though they're at complete opposite sides of the town. But as I said, it's a nice little extra for passholders, I do wonder how often these magazines will be issued.

Rode The Swarm once today at the TPM unofficial meet, in row 2 on the right hand side in the outer seat, very impressed with the ride, queued approximately 60 minutes for it even though it was advertised as 70. The actors really were a great touch to the area, for instance there was a woman by the split point for left/right hand side. She was dressed as some sort of army commander and was literally shouting at us to go down the right hand side of the train, really effective and quite scary! :unsure:I will post a full review of my opinions on The Swarm after I have ridden it again tomorrow hopefully in a few different seats too, really want to try the front row and the back left outer seat as others have recommended.

Rush was being worked on today, it had no restraints fitted at the start of the day; but then by about 11am, 4 or 5 lap bars were fitted on swing A. The cable entrance covers on the towers were also not yet fitted and it looks like some of the metal from the crown piece isn't fitted either. Something also to note is that the restraints and headrests which were being fitted were NOT new ones, they were clearly old ones because they were faded with marks all over them still.

A new video of The Swarm's media party, uploaded on Thorpe Park's official YouTube channel. :)EDIT: pfft, Cooolie beat me to it by 1 minute

Good point, GCI are using rubber wheels on the Europa Park coaster they are currently constructing, which should reduce noise considerably compared to the steel ones used on other typical wooden coasters. I don't get what Merlin have against wooden coasters, the safety on a GCI has just the same standards as a steel coaster. And as Benin said, something like Mountain Flyer could do wonders for Alton...

Wow! they really do look awesome, looks like there is so much room for freedom, and I'm liking the new style over head lapbar system, reminds me very much of the Blue Fire and Manta trains. Yay for Intamin going back to lapbars though!

Yeeep I'm attending. I should be on park for opening, unless the 950 has a queue from Staines station... I'll probably be at Staines station from around 9:20 if anyone wants to meet there as well. See ya'll there! :DEDIT: forgot to say, I will have to leave the park at about 4:30 on this day ah well, should still be a good day.