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Luke_A

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Everything posted by Luke_A

  1. I'm exactly the same!! So yeah, right handed for writing, left handed for eating. Always hold my fork in the right hand.
  2. Me too Though I'll have to leave between 4 & 5 on the Sunday. Also: if the Waterpark does happen at any time on the Sunday like what Toofpikk said, I'm totally up for that!
  3. Luke_A

    X Playlist

    I'd keep it just as it is right now Mainly because of this: (+ Kernkraft 400 as well, please, ha ha)
  4. Rode Air Race for the first time yesterday. Everywhere needs an Air Race. Fantastic rides. Zamperla have constructed the system perfectly from restraint system to ride motion... The sensation of slowing down upside down rapidly creates a feeling I can only describe as 'ejector hangtime.' Though I must admit it would be cool if they ever decided to make one where you can control the arm spin speed / direction yourself... & Brighton adding a quality DiscoSmash sound system just finishes their Air Race off wonderfully. Love love love it to the point of taking 12 cycles on it on & off throughout the day. Amazing value for £15 unlimited rides wristband!
  5. At the end of June I spent a week in Salou. This of course meant that some trips to PortAventura would be happening! As well as a trip to Barcelona and the somewhat little known park of Tibidabo. First off, Salou is a lively large town situated right on the coast of the Costa Dorada, we stayed in a hotel in Salou and couldn’t fault anything about the place. Right in the centre & 5-10 mins walk to the beach. Loved it. One thing I particularly enjoyed about the stay was on the evening of the 23rd of June, the longest day of the year celebrations took place, aka Summer Solstice aka St. John’s Eve… and a bank holiday follows the day after. Fireworks are on sale at pop up shop shipping containers in the street and they’re going off until the early hours… Fabulous atmosphere all evening! PortAventura We did 2 days at PortAventura, using the Plana bus (every 10 mins from Salou, €2 pp), cheap & very efficient taking you straight to PortAventura in around 10-15 minutes. A land train also operates but takes around 20-30 minutes. The entrance area of the park is fantastic and you immediately have a view of the fountains in the lake with Baco rushing round and Shambhala & Hurakan Condor in the distance. Seeing as the park has staggered ride openings we opted to start at the back of the park at Dragon Khan. Khan opens at 10:00 with the park along with the rapids, Tutuki Splash, Furius Baco, and select other smaller attractions. If this was a UK park it wouldn’t be an acceptable way of operating. But when you consider that the park is open until 8PM, 9PM, 11PM, midnight or 2AM - 4AM, you still have ample time to get everything done more than once without express. I’ll probably mention this again later on… Mediterrania is the area you first enter. This pic was taken from the opposite side on the bridge between Mediterrania and Far West. You enter not far from where Baco's train is in this pic. One of my favourite things was how picturesque PA is. Queue jumping was something that we encountered at various times in our visit. The spanish seem to not care at all if someone jumps over the fence or in front of them. Anyway, except for that, I really liked the general atmosphere around the park, lots of foliage, lakes, extremely well kept garden areas and all queues are at least partially covered from sunlight. The (many) small & large shows dotted around the park also provide nice breaks from the rides for a few minutes here and there. One of the smaller shows... I would recommend purchasing express if you want to get *loads* done as a group. Naturally, most people head to Baco first and it had already racked up 1hr of queue when we passed it. Got to Khan and waited 2 trains and were on. Hurrah! Dragon Khan It's 148ft tall, yet with Shambhala overhead it really doesn't feel that way from the ground. Dragon Khan was operating 2 trains for the entirety of the 2 days we spent at the park. The area that the ride shares with Shambhala is impressive, I’m not usually one to care much for theming but it’s all done to a high standard, the large ‘Shambhala’ area entrance signs and singular theme items as you enter the area are nice. Khan starts off with the classic B&M pre-lift turn, followed by what seems to be a gentle climb to the top due to Shambhala’s domineering steepness from above. Once at the top of the lift, I found the first half of the ride to be taken at quite some speed even early in the morning at 10:30AM, the zero-G being the highlight of this half for me. The second half was ‘good’ but not amazing, I have read on other forums that the ride has new computer settings this year, and the MCBR now trims EVERY TRAIN to this pace, all day, every day: (Not my video) I very much enjoyed Dragon Khan, it isn’t anything which is personally going to go in a top 10, but it was a solid ride. It is quite a ‘generic’ / ‘american’ style layout (+1 loop), I suppose you could say. But the reason things become generic, popular, and cloned a lot is because they are good, no? Colossus still remains my favourite multi-looper, but that’s because I have much love for it’s inlines and non-stop paced ride given. Shambhala opens at 11:00, as does the flume. All other rides (Stampida, Hurakan Condor, El Diablo, Tomahawk, etc) open at 12:00. Templo del Fuego opens at 13:00. Again, this didn’t really bother us, if you plan and make sure you hit up attractions just as they open, you should have a good amount of rides done by mid afternoon. By the time you’ve done the rides open from 10, the 11 ones are open, then the 12… and it goes on. From a logistical side I can understand why they do this. *Hearts in eyes Emoji* Next was a wander round 1/2 the park, taking in the early atmosphere through Mexico & Far West and up to the rapids for a ride, followed by the Flume. We took the first couple of hours easy knowing that queues would die down once everything opens at 12. (we queued 40mins for the rapids), refreshing and got quite wet, surprisingly as some people were coming off quite dry! We took a look in some shops, and for some reason the park has an obsession for selling Betty Boop merch? Lol. The Silver River Flume at PA is built to have fantastic interaction with El Diablo, much waving occurs between boats and El Diablo. A very fun flume overall of nice length and a quickly moving queue thanks to the turntable station. Spinning flat ride thing called Serpiente Emplumada. Like Drayton Manor Sombrero's across between a Polyp... El Diablo, aka Tren de la Mina. It’s Lifthills and coathanger turns. It’s still an enjoyable ride and I prefer the Arrow Dynamics mine trains to the powered Mack ones. The queue on 3 trains moves fast once the express queue dies down. It’s interaction with the flume was a highlight, we had the back row and the drop out of the station provides a wonderful surprise pop of airtime, though when the pre-lift of a ride is one of the best bits it says a lot about the remainder of the layout!! Between lift 1, lift 2, and lift 3 the ride just does a lot of meandering around, until after lift 3 where you get the ‘big swooping drop’ and final dive through the smashed hut over the queue. Cool, but the many other Arrow 3-lift mine trains dotted around the world look to be better. Not bad but a bit odd! Shambhala. There is absolutely nothing I can criticise about this ride in B&M terms, it’s an all round crowd pleaser. My first B&M hyper coaster, it domineers over the entire park with a drop of 256ft. The ride ran 2 trains for the entire day on my first day of visiting, and had a queue of approximately 40 mins - 1hr 20 mins all day. On my second day of visiting it ran 2 trains from 11:00 til 12:00 when the 3rd train was added due to Furius Baco breaking down and Shambhala gaining a 2 hour queue. When running three trains, the single rider queue is nearly always empty. They manage it THAT well that when batching, not one seat goes unfilled. I even got a front row ride from the single rider queue one time!! In the station they have an LED screen which counts down how long they have to dispatch the train. On 3 trains they have 60 seconds from air gates opening to when it needs to be dispatched to prevent stacking. The screen then shows (what must be) the capacity number as a figure like 16:24 (was certainly not the time..!) for 1624PPH, very funky / nerdy & not bad considering it can get 1680PPH! They were running it very well on 3 trains. Onto the ride itself, when leaving the station, if you’re on a happy train you may get some cheering and drumming of the restraints! ha ha. The lift is speedy and if Khan is also climbing it’s lift some waving / interaction below will certainly occur! At the top of the lift the train sends you down the first drop so gracefully, put your hands up and just float down… it’s amazing! In the back seat you get the best airtime over all of the hills, anticipate the hills and you’ll get the best floaty feeling. The ampersand turnaround is a unique touch and looks cool from a distance, below is the view of the park from my hotel! Floaty drop airtime for everyone!! The mini ‘speed hill’ after the ampersand provides some slightly stronger airtime but it’s still not gonna leave you with feeling *omg ejected*. My preference is very strong thigh-pressure ejector airtime, but the B&M style is still an enjoyable feeling. If you’re in an outside seat, reach out to your side and get a refreshing spray through the splashdown, then get prepared for more airtime! The ride just does not let up and has 'floatiness' by the bucketload even in the final hills before the MCBR. (MCBR only has 1 hill after it). Overall, 9/10, most certainly a top 10 ride, it isn’t ‘OMG wow intense’ like I usually like, but it’s very fun and the most re-rideable coaster I have ever ridden. The train design is brilliant. Top ride! Hurakan Condor This was my 3rd Intamin drop tower. Apocalypse floorless was my favourite drop ever, until I rode Hurakan Condor! I rode it only 2 times due to lack of express pass and even a long single rider queue. Got standup both times (cue “yaaaass”). The height alone is quite terrifying (not too much off 300ft?) so when you get tilted forwards at around 20-30ft from the top, your heart rate races and you might just swear once or twice. Take advantage of the amazing view then put your hands out and prepare to drop… The falling feeling is fantastic and beats Apocalypse. My favourite flat ride on the park. 10/10. Stampida. One ride. Blue side. 4 trains running, 2 each side. A CCI wooden coaster which has been rehabilitated / improved by KumbaK with 'new' trains. Take the word ‘improved’ lightly here. The trains look like park benches and they also feel like them. The lap bar is hydraulic and will tighten as you go round the circuit with every jolt that you go over, I couldn’t brace myself against it because you have to take your bag on the ride with you and I didn’t want that to go flying so had to hold onto the bag… The ride could be good… But it’s flawed with track which feels like it’s washboarding so incredibly badly and trains & layout which prevent airtime because the lap bar isn’t moulded in the best of ways. Nonetheless, fun interaction times can be had when the trains separate and duel, the same with Tomahawk which shares the Stampida structure. I need to ride it again really to get a more clarified opinion. Tomahawk. Pretty much a kiddie wooden coaster with dinky trains. It seats one adult per row or one adult and a child. Runs 2 (old) trains and has new in 2007 KumbaK control and braking systems just like Stampida. I should imagine this is an incredibly thrilling attraction for kids as it’s actually quite violent around some corners! It’s also smoother than Stampida and has interaction with Stampida. Alright..! Furius Baco. Before reading this review, bear in mind that my favourite rides are Saw: The Ride, Speed (Oakwood), Mondial Capriolo, KMG Tango, Colossus, Slammer, Stealth and Rita. They are all rides which I enjoy because they are somewhat on the extreme end of the scale… In one aspect or another. First of all, check that speed... I'd love to know just how fast it actually goes thru that inline..! >>>>>>> https://vine.co/v/MtZq1MwKOj5 <<<<<<< From every aspect offride, Baco looks to be an relentless, furious (ha ha ha) ride which throws the riders around it’s speedy course like it can’t get back to the brake run quick enough. And that’s exactly what it does. And I love it. I had 4 rides in total on it, 3 on outside seats and 1 inside seat. The pre-show is weird. The theme is weird. Once at the pre-show, you do some shuffling back and forth as the catch car prepares to engage whilst the naughty monkey comes along and causes havoc. The launch feels INCREDIBLE, especially in the front row. Going at such a speed and having so much of yourself out in the open really enhances the feeling of acceleration. The launch ends with a hill down into the first pit which can deliver some intense airtime. Dropping down into the first pit, slammed around a corner at 80+mph before switching direction briefly and then switching direction again, you take a leap over the launch and a left turn to approach the inline twist. The feeling of speed is again, greater enhanced as you head for the inline twist. This is SO CLOSE to the ground you feel you could almost touch it, the feeling of speed is astounding and the way you don’t go through it as a heartline creates a rather cool twisty feeling... Final turn out of the inline and over the lake, with the final bump onto the brake run and I was totally wowed. Incredible ride. Baco gives you the wow factor in a way that most crazy Intamin creations do… I’m told that Mack mega coasters also have fantastic inline twists so can’t wait to try one out! Back to Baco - Now, there’s no other way of putting it, the ride is ROUGH. But if you can cope with intensity on the scale of Saw, Rita, to some extent Stealth, then you may enjoy Baco. The head banging could be reduced if they didn't have these 'elephant ear' type things on top of the restraints. Though I believe they are there after the incident with a restraint last year... Reminds me of Vekoma SLC restraints. Shame as Intamin's modern bars like on Baco are otherwise very good imo because you are pinned at the thighs. Overall, Baco is a ride which isn’t shy of pushing the limit and provides an intense experience which doesn’t ‘play it safe’ in the comfort department in order to limit intensity. I feel like the ride could probably make it round the circuit with a launch of around ~60mph seeing as it keeps so much speed for the entire circuit, but I’m glad Intamin pushed the boundaries when they built Baco! 9/10. One final thing. I can't not give this a mention. A bird opposite Tomahawk (yes the kiddie coaster) which sings Sex Bomb & an array of ~4-5 other songs all day long. (Not my video) So that’s it for PortAventura… Fantastic park which has a special collection of rides all in areas which have a great feeling of character. It was my first international park and I look forward to visiting the likes of Europa Park, Liseberg and all the other amazing locations on offer to us in Europe over the coming years… Can’t wait to return to PA in the future though! I had an amazing time! One final, signature PA pic! Trip report coming up from Tibidabo, Barcelona soon..!
  6. Very fun meet! Good to see you all again & meet some new members too, sorry I didn't stay for the after events but I drove down for the first time and didn't wanna get back too late after an early start too. I must say our attempt at doing the Macarena on Slammer needs to be improved for next time I didn't even know it was happening until we got to the top. Lol! Roll on Summer Nights (& Blackpool!!) & thanks Peaj for running the day well. Look forward to seeing the report.
  7. Stampida. Less the roughness but more the weird park bench train back design with odd shaped lap bars. Also expect mild tinnitus for 10 minutes or so after you ride it. It's loud.
  8. What exactly has changed on the actual layout? Would be a shame if they are actually removing and not improving one of the drops? Or has nothing actually changed? (basically does anyone have any pics)
  9. Whilst I agree with you that they are likely shooting themselves in the foot by not selling any (possible) tickets left on the day, I feel that the main attraction for visitors (oops I mean fangirls) on the day will just be the Vamps, leading to the park's expectation that they may 'sell out...'
  10. Luke_A

    Oakwood

    I'd ride Drenched whatever the weather, just for that fantastic ejector airtime in the back seats.. Looks like you had a good day Ethan!
  11. Luke_A

    Random

    Minnie Mouse has really let herself go. https://vine.co/v/MXLOYrE3rVl
  12. Interesting. Though every political poll I've taken recently puts me as being Cons / Lib Dem. After much research over the past week or so and my general views... I'd say when it comes to Europe I'd side with Lib Dem views on that. But when it comes to UK Government I'd lean more towards Conservative policies. I'm surprised UKIP got 70% with me... That's a little too high for comfort haha.
  13. yee! Passed 5 months ago
  14. Yup TTD does and I'm sure some others do as well. You can see it from around 1:00 in this video.
  15. Cyclists who can't tell the difference between red and green. And pedestrians who wander into the road without looking and give you the face of horror because you've had to stop because they are in the road. Rant over.
  16. Luke_A

    Music

    Let's be honest. This was the best Eurovision entry of all time.
  17. Chessington was on good form yesterday... In all aspects! A very good day. My first ride on both Zufari & Scorpion Express as it was my first visit in 2 years. Both attractions were enjoyable and Scorpion Express's animatronic Scorpion is a nice centrepiece. Now all we need is a ride that is *new* to appear in the next 2 years or so... (We've all been saying that for so long now..)
  18. I am attending, looking forward to this one!
  19. Luke_A

    X

    Rode X (multiple times) today and it's much improved, a fantastic ride now, seems to be very popular with the GP too. Also this version of 'Confusion' is the one at the start of the on ride / Q line / exterior mix. There are so many different versions of this song now ha.. Also know as Operation Blade soundtrack... 'Ride on a Wave of light and sound' isn't it? That's certainly true now!
  20. Luke_A

    X

    Oooooooh yes. Axwell on X. This has to be some of the best bits of news about Thorpe this year. Do I hear Miami 2 Ibiza at the start? This sounds like a decent playlist.
  21. Luke_A

    Music

    Porter Robinson. Just magical, this track is. Looking forward to his upcoming album.
  22. Seeing as there's already 6 MoS nights planned this year, I thought a topic should be made..! (That's if there isn't one already?? Maybe move this to General Discussion if not) It's great to see these nights becoming an integral part of Thorpe's calendar! Dates this year are: 12th April 10th May 7th June 5th July 27th September 8th November First up, Miami Sessions! Typical for the one that sounds most appealing to be on only a few days before I'm 18 https://twitter.com/THORPEPARK/statuses/439721758900621312 ps.. If someone could embed that tweet that would be cool. Been trying to figure out how to do it but have had no luck!
  23. This coaster looks insane, need to get out there to ride it (who wouldn't?)! Really hoping this does indeed turn out to be as spectacular as it looks, might persuade more parks to go with Mack!
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