Luke_A

Pancakes! With lemon & sugar. om nom nom

The track construction for the Ben10 Vekoma Junior Boomerang is now complete, unlike the usual Boomerang, this one does not have a second lift, instead just a 'bumpy' spike at the other end of the track, Drayton Manor have also confirmed that there will be a pre-show to the ride. Some images.>>Construction Photo's on here!<<Images from UKParkNews :rolleyes:EDIT:changed images to link.

One thing I liked about Chessington... and Zoo was that Annual Pass holders got the Ultimate express pass for only £32, which imo, for someone like me who only visits around twice a year, is really good value, you could get on selected other rides as well as the fastrack ones, along with a few other rides like Monkey Swinger& Rattlesnake with the ultimate pass. I hope they still keep this offer on, even if the prices do go up.

Always get there for opening timeGo on Stealth first, then Nemesis Inferno, then anything after thatAlways go on Rush, Nemesis Inferno and Stealth more than anything elseTry and get on every ride except Zodiac or Mr Monkey's Banana rideAlways eat at Burger king, sometimes KFCHave hands up all the way on Slammer, and legs out and hands up on Rush Wave to people whilst on ridesALWAYS go on Tidal Wave, no matter what the weather is like Give thumbs up to ride hosts when on front seatsGo on depth charge just before leavingOnly go on Colossus once or twice in a day. There's probably more, but I'll stop there

I think X:/ has had it's day now, but I don't think it will be leaving the park until after the 2015 coaster, imo they should remove it at the same time as Storm Surge; this will then leave a nice large plot of land for the possible 2018 coaster if they were to remove it in say...2016. But remember that is just MY opinion, and it could be removed sooner or later than when I think it should be removed. But yes, for this season I think X:/ will be a more popular coaster due to Storm Surge being right in front of it, especially for first time guests, I wonder if they have added any new lights etc this year?

New series of Benidorm is on now

Funny fail...EDIT: Please can a mod/admin tell me why I am unable to upload images, I am using the img tag??

Nice to see the 2011 list out, and Rita being on there is an advantage as that means ERT people wont have to wait for the lengthy queues it gains in the day, also awesome to see Nemesis and Oblivion returning on ERT for 2011! No Spinball this year though

Love this DJ Earworm 2011(2010 hits) Mashup!

It appears that this year, Chessington are re-naming the express pass to make it the same as all other Merlin parks to 'Fast track'. I doubt that the actual system will change though, this could also mean the fastrack rides may be getting new signage this year, along with the Rumours of the old Vampire entrance being used. Parking is also thought to be only being charged at £1, I can see this going up over the years however.Link

Anyone else noticed how that advert has Gerstlauer restraints when the ride is built by B&M... Krake does look like it is going to be a short but powerful dive machine like Oblivion, and if there are going to be 3 B&M's in Europe for 2012 then that is certainly something to look forward too, seeing as Parc Asterix haven't added a new coaster for ages and PortAventura getting another B&M should help compliment Dragon Khan being at the park.

The eurofighter lap bar restraints would be similar to what you would find on a Maurer Sohne X-car coaster, as I have a feeling the ones on rush would not be big and sturdy enough for inverting transitions. Although having said that, some Schwarzkopf coasters that go upside down have lap bars. I highly doubt that Saw will ever get lap bars now.

Gulliver's TravelsWatched this film today, a really good film starring Jack Black as the main character, the transitions from when he is in the real world to when he is in Lilliput and is classed as 'the beast' to all of the citizens there were really good. They consider him to be a threat to them but he turns out to be really helpful when they are under attack. Yes, Catherine Tate & James Corden are in this film too but are not really shown much as they are something to do with the Lilliput place. It also has some flashbacks when the girl that Gulliver has a massive crush on gets stranded in Lilliput too, but this happens while Gulliver is in a Doll's house where he is the tiny person and the girl who owns the dolls house is the giant. Finally, a great film...that's all I have to say! 8/10

I think Cheetah Hunt looks like it is going to be a good coaster and I'm not going to criticize the figure 8 element until I see it actually with a car going through it. But I think the problem with the restraints is the actual lap bar digging into your legs when going through the quicker transitions, not the actual harness, but the ride experience is probably improved by having those 'vest' style of restraints.

Lap bars on Saw would be awesome, it would stop the headbanging on the bump at the bottom of the first drop. I wonder if they would have to fit it with the new trains though to make it possible (the ones with 3 rows and 2 seats per row) I don't think this would happen though as the small block sections at the bottom of the lift and station are probably not big enough for these. If this were to ever happen then I would do it when the Saw contract ends and promote the Eurofighter as being semi-new with the lap bars.

With B&M now using Magnetic fins and also the magnetic brakes that you find on B&M's Hyper coasters like Diamondback, it does make me wonder if this could indicate them possibly thinking about using LSM's in the future, I personally see no reason why they would not although I do know that they don't really like the whole launched concept as a company. However it does make me think if we will ever see another launched B&M like the Hulk, and Mark, how will Starry Night Ripper be painful? It's not like it's a Vekoma!

Don't do either but has to be GeographyPS3 or Xbox 360?

I think this ride would have been viewed better by people if it was the 'worlds first'(dive machine) or 'worlds biggest' or if it had a larger or different layout, although I still think that it will be a great ride and the trains do look awesome too! If Oblivion were to be being built now, people would probably give the same reaction as what Krake is getting and not knowing about the theming, also I think its the fact that X-Raptor or whatever its called now is being built which is B&M's concept design of the wing rider. imo, I think it will have good theming based on what we know already, but I guess we will just have to wait and see on that.

Pop, don't really like rock that much.Mac or PC?

On the note of ride staff, I have never really had a problem with them; as long as they do what they are supposed to and are happy (which they are most of the time I go) then I don't really mind. I think the problem is when someone (GP) sits in a ride seat I.e Inferno or Stealth and takes ages to undo their seat belt until the moment that the air gates have opened (inferno) and you have to undo it for them... Maybe they could make use of the speakers on the brakes of each ride with a message like rage at Adventure island saying 'Please undo your seatbelts' Anyway, lets move on. I agree with most people that Thorpe Park is always clean and tidy. I don't know why so many people hate it so much, it could be alot worse like Six Flags Magic Mountain where it has been heard of for Tatsu to have around 7 minute dispatches I have never actually had a problem with "chavs" at Thorpe Park, however I have at Alton Towers Scarefest this year, they all decided to accumulate around X-Sector for some reason hogging KFC... One of them decided to have a go at us for sitting at an empty table in KFC, then thought it would be funny to keep dragging it out to annoy us and others, we just ignored them in the end. I have had the problem at Thorpe of being sat on Inferno in the station after a ride (on 2 train operation) the hosts decided to stand around the console talking to each other before the restraints were eventually released. But I don't actually have any more suggestions as most people have already said them, and remember that Thorpe only had imo it's forst major coaster in 2002, so it is a growing park unlike Alton which has been about for a while now. Ooh, 1 more thing is that Colossus should have a whole system re-make, I.e. new trains, a new operating system so that Trains can be dispatched before the other is on the brakes etc...

Little FockersWent to see this today, a good film all round but when compared to the older sequels (meet the fockers), it was not as good. Some of the jokes in it were a bit repetetive, however it still did have a good few chunks of funny bits in it, I.e one of the kids is asked to eat all of his food, he does so and then pukes all over the dad...Overall a good film, but I doubt there will be another sequel.Rating 6/10

B&M are currently constructing a Standup in China to open in 2011 at Ocean park!EDIT: It's actually a Floorless, it was only confirmed a few weeks ago.

Here's my favourite 'Funfair' type of ride, it's a Tivoli Re-Mix (an inverting orbiter). Now if any of you know of Vortex at Adventure Island, it is a similar design to that, other than it is more intense and inverts you and has OTSR's. I always ride the one that comes to my local fair a few times or more. You can get 2 different models of it, a 4 arm version or a 6 arm version-this is much more intense. ^_^Here is a video of Stanley Gamble's 'Extreme' Re-Mix orbiter. (the ride starts from about 3:00mins) It is quite hard to walk when you initially get off of one of these things because they pull so many G's-that's why I love them so much!I've not ridden any coasters outside of the U.K yet, so I can't really say any favourites out of them yet