Luke_A

GCI are really motoring on with this construction now, the 'bents' at the bottom of the first drop are almost complete.

Here's a few of my favourites at the moment: This one by Emeli Sande kinda reminds me of something Katy B would do... but I like it I also love Modestep-Sunlight, but didn't post the video as it's quite well... weird in the sense that it contains old people doing naughty things you wouldn't expect

New video from Europa Park about Mythos! Most of it is in German (yay, Roland!), But there is a part where a guy from GCI is talking through what stage they are currently at with the coaster and how they create the structure with bending the track and pre-assembly.

Cedar Fair is set to add MORE Mondial Windseeker's to a couple of it's parks. Carowinds is confirmed to be getting one for next year and it's also rumoured that another one will either be heading to Kings Dominion, California's Great America, Dorney Park, or any of the other Cedar Fair parks that currently not got a Windseeker all have a chance of getting one. Seems like a bit of a lazy decision to some of us enthusiasts, but it's a great business decision by Cedar Fair, as the GP are sure to love it! For anyone that doesn't know, Windseeker's are currently installed at Cedar Point, Kings Island, Canada's Wonderland and Knott's Berry Farm.

Swinging Seashells is at Weymouth Sea Life as far as I know... I'm down there again next week so will find out for certain then if any of the other OG rides are there, although I think some of them were sold to other small parks around the country, if not were some scrapped?

Oooh didn't notice this topic! I love gadgets and technology and have...Computer: Mid 2010 2.66Ghz Core2Duo MacBook Pro 13", 500GB, 4GB RAM (running OSX Lion)iPod: iPod Nano 5G in the shiny Yellow/Gold colour&Logitech Pure-Fi anywhere2 dock.Phone: Samsung Tocco Lite. It has a horrible touch screen, so hope to get the next release of iPhone when I have saved some money after Christmas... (release is in September with iOS5 probably...)Camera: Fujifilm J37, with Cannon Selphy CP780 Dye Sublimation printer (works the same way the ones do at ride photo booths where it adds one colour to the paper then prints over it again with a different colour)Games consoles: PS3, DS Lite, the old PSP.Speakers: Logitech Z-2300... This speaker set absolutely blew me away when I first got it, didn't expect it to be so good, it goes SO loud and has really thumping bass from the 8" Sub. I also have the smaller Logitech X-230 which I run in unison with the Z-2300. That's about it for major stuff.

The layout for this new Woodie looks brilliant from those model views, wonder if they will make up a virtual pov for it? The other thing I love about it is how it's going (in my opinion) to make Blue Fire and Atlantica's ride experiences better with those headchoppers, as well as it looking great! That's the thing I love about Europa Park, they don't just build a ride and then leave it until it's time comes to go, they constantly add and improve them as much as possible and little things like that all add up to making it one of the worlds best looking theme parks. I'm still left wondering how they are going to hit that massive capacity number though, I can't see a MCBR straight section on any of the models, although there could be one hidden somewhere... But who know's, Mack have probably got some amazing idea up their sleeve of how the capacity is going to work, just like the way they invented the spiral lift etc.

Very sad news for the Red Arrows I saw them perform on Wednesday at Weymouth Carnival&Air Show... They were absolutely brilliant and some of the stunts/formations they were doing were amazing, at the end of the show at Weymouth they flew off over to Bournemouth ready for this air show where the accident happened. Hope it doesn't stop them performing again in the future.

If they don't use this tank on Swarm, they might well save it for a future attraction. It's been done before with the Stealth car which is now outside Storm Surge's entrance...

So far this year I've been to ChessingtonX2, ThorpeX3, Alton once, have also stayed at Holiday Inn Chessington. Then I've been to Paultons and Funland Hayling IslandX2... (I would class this as a permanent funfair, it has a Pinfari single looper which is SO rough. :/ It also has a MoseRides Speed Flip which is almost guaranteed to make you feel sick and a Huss Breakdance as well as your standard flume and kiddie coasters/rides etc.) Drayton Manor is planned for later this season as well as Scarefest or Fright Nights too, maybe HHP at Chessington and possibly Thorpe Blast too. That's one of the main things that I like Merlin for, their events especially Scarefest are always really good, and is something that I can rely on them to do year after year. Fright Nights has it's own difference to the other parks in the way it has all it's awesome mazes, whereas Scarefest is more about giving the park and rides enhanced themes (Nemesis red lighting, Oblivion Spot Lights etc...) Paultons is a really nice little park, and one of the things that I noticed when I visited there in the easter holidays was that with the addition of Peppa Pig World, the rest of the park seemed somewhat very quiet with queues nothing above 15 mins. Although some of the PPW rides did have 40 mins... Cobra is a nice little gem and is a good all rounder ride. I'm quite looking forward to visiting Drayton Manor if I'm honest. Apocalypse stand up floorless side looks... different, as it tilts you too. G-Force looks a bit of a novelty and I'm intrigued to ride Shockwave just to see what a stand-up coaster is really like :PFantasy Island in Ingoldmells near Skegness is a possibility for next year too. The park looks like it's lost quite a few of it's better flat rides over the years but there are still some decent ones there including a Mondial Top Scan which is run on manual mode for about 5 mins each ride As well as a Mondial Ultra Max, it's also home to Jubilee Odyssey; the longest Vekoma SLC in the world :S and Millenium Coaster, which some say is the smoothest Vekoma looping coaster ever... Shame their S&S Catapult got scrapped Would have loved to have been on that!So, overall I'd say that I always try a variation of theme parks every year, with Merlin being my 'staple' attractions with the other privately owned ones on the side, it's nice to go to a park and not have the same Merlin tat everywhere which can get annoying I.e re-ride policy etc on quiet days Having an AP makes you want to visit the parks more to get your 'money's worth' as it is, and getting discounts and stuff in park is good too, can't say I'm too impressed with the so called "pass holder" days though...If I had to choose one park to go to next outside of the U.K it would be Europa Park preferably next season, everything about it looks just so perfect and it just gets better and better, they add more theming to most rides each year I.e Atlantica having the boat mast added and other sailing theming and Blue Fire having more rock-work added at the end and around the launch as well as new lighting in the indoor section. Not to mention the woodie coming next season. <3

Swarm will almost certainly have 2 trains operating. It can't have 3 operating as there aren't enough blocks for that (it would need an MCBR or second lift). And 1 train would just be stupid... it won't happen It might have 3 trains like Stealth so if one needs to go for maintenance for whatever reason then there is another on backup to bring out so the ride isn't forced to run on 1 train. I don't know of any B&M's which have this though, on the other hand Intamin and some other manufacturers do, but at the end of the day it's just up to the attraction/Merlin. Ah well, it will have 2 trains minimum, 3 maximum.

I came across this a few minutes ago...Mouthwash PR Stunt?A PR stunt I presume about riders having bad breath... I do wonder whatever next, but this is just stupid now.

I love that mix, but I love this one too. <3

Here's a new video showcasing the whole of the park really well, now that it has been fully open for a couple of months or so... Rainbow Magicland really does look beautiful, the attention to detail it's been given is amazing.

The Skyride reopened fully today after it's extensive downtime period over the past few weeks. http://riderater.co.uk/?p=796

Ok, I feel really late doing this because I've been on holiday the past week, but I just thought I'd share my opinion on the name/new minsite that has been released. :blink:Swarm in my opinion is a brilliant name for this new development and reflects the ride type well, in the way that the trains will be so big, when they fly past you it will look like a 'Swarm' of people flying through the tracks path. Then there is the new minisite... The video is a great teaser and hopefully there will be more to come showing hints of what the full theme could be. The image of the trains looks wonderful, would be great if the front of it actually lit up like eyes, similarly to how it does in the picture, the silver metallic look is also great! Can't wait to see actual ride parts arriving very soon!

Quite alot of recent theme park developments around the world have Webcams to show what is happening, Cedar Fair put them up at their parks in the closed seasons to see new rides being constructed etc, Cedar point even put one on top of Top Thrill Dragster and a view of the midway in closed season, as well as Windseeker construction cameras. Merlin even have done it, Legoland Florida has/had a construction webcam or two, as did Raptor at Gardaland which is the same ride type as LC12, This is probably why other members are expecting it, as am I very much.

Replacement of the Skyride cable has started...Apparently there is scaffolding over the BBQ and courtyard area, over the 1st lift of the flume, and over the haunted hollow, looks like it could be up and running by the end of the season again then! :DIn the picture below you can see how they have lowered the cable off of the support tower, probably to start the pull-through process.Images from djtruefitt at TowersTimes.

Parc Asterix 2012 B&M Invert Construction Update.There are LOADS of new construction pictures for this new invert, I suggest you check them out... POTIONMAGIX Parc Asterix 2012 B&M Invert Construction pics.This B&M Invert will also have an MCBR and should therefore run 3 trains... I'm sure this new coaster will persuade quite a few to get out to Parc Asterix, as it has sort of been needing something like this for a while. It also really does have some Montu-like features to it too! :DEDIT: I Tried posting some pictures originally, but it wouldn't let me and said "You are not allowed to use that image extension on this board"

When a rollercoaster doesn't have enough momentum to make it up a hill or through an inversion, it is usually caused by something taking potential energy out of the ride car, in the California Screamin' case this would have been the bag which got jammed under the car and slowed it down. It can also be a problem in early testing stages of roller coasters if they don't have the correct mix of Nylon and Polyurethane wheels which change the amount of friction between the track and wheel because they are different compounds, although this is quite a rare thing to happen. In the case of a valley on a rollercoaster, the train will keep moving backwards then forwards until it come to a complete stop in a valley.

Right, so I visited Chessington today and had a great day, wasn't as busy as expected either and got plenty of rides in from being there ready for opening and leaving at about 6:20Didn't take any pictures, sorry. But will do this TR in bullet points for easier reading... Vampire-Only running Train1+3 today, so they haven't got it on a 3 train operation in time for the school holidays yet again… Not really complaining though as they were dispatching very quickly, and out of all my rides today only stacked on the brakes once due to exit pass riders going onto the train in front due to a large number of them being there because of a minor 20 min breakdown earlier in the day. The Operators mic has still NOT been turned down… the music is only playing at full level out of the two rear speakers in the station and very quietly at the front. The new lighting system however does look fantastic, as does the organist. So overall, Vampire was pretty good today =) Dragon's Fury. Fury was also doing well today, and didn't have as much of a big queue as I am usually used to with this ride. Not much else to say about Fury really… Other than it was absolutely awesome as usual! Rameses Revenge. Rameses had no water today Which was just annoying seeing as one of the main rwasons I go on it on a hot-ish day is to cool down This however was compensated by the ride operator making water noises when we started the second cycle and when it ended. LOL Wild Asia. Did everything here except for Jungle Bus and Monkey Swinger, was just waiting ti get on it and it had just started going up, started to spin and then wwwhiiine. It stopped, engineers came and lowered it down, then it didn't open for the rest of the day. Banyan seemed to be asleep today… Sad times Other random points... Food at Pizza&Pasta was nomnom tastyyy. All staff were really friendly and interacted well on rides (not to the point of releasing your inner dragon today though). Vampire needs it's station audio sorting out... I think we all know why. Oh, and one last thing... Fastrack was managed VERY well today, to the point where it wasn't affecting the main queues and it was providing a good service to the ones that had it. Queue Times-Vampire 50 minsDragon's fury 40 minsRattlesnake 40 mins (it was actually less though)Kobra 50 minsTomb Blaster 20 minsRunaway Train 20 minsFastrack queues were empty most of the day and were just the queue on from the split points.Sorry it's just been text, but thanks for reading, and overall what an awesome day it was!

Mountain Flyer looks nothing but amazing <3 Just makes me look forward to seeing the Europa-Park GCI even more next year. The way Mountain Flyer hugs that landscape...

Some new construction pictures...Seems to be a large amount of pre-made footers and Rebar hanging about on site at the moment and still the cement mixer(s) to fill the footers and Rebar in, as well as the big drills still there with lots of diggers and construction machinery.>LC12 Construction images<Images from Go Merlin

So the next step of advertising has started... The ride teams have all made videos to persuade you to vote for them... Here is the one for Oblivion.