Luke_A

Nice pics, looks like you had a great time so far! New York is one of those places I just really want to visit... The whole city life / atmosphere of any large city amazes me every time no matter how many times I visit. Looking forward to part 4.

Small-ish review of The Crash Pad here: http://www.itchycity.co.uk/london/article.cfm/11/10301/London-City-Guide/article/The-Crash-Pad-at-Thorpe-Park

^ It is indeed, it's the brake run coming out of the corkscrew and into the second lift. These 2 above pics are from TowersTimes. http://www.towerstimes.co.uk/sw7/construction/ Another pic below from TowersNerd Live yesterday when the brake section was being lifted into place. http://live.towersnerd.com

It's quite incredible really when you're in X-Sector and you look from where the 'knot' element is right up to the top of the site, this ride really is huge and has so much packed into it already from what has been constructed. It's totally gonna be my type of ride. Here's a little Vine I took showing The Smiler's site today. Link:>>>>> http://vine.co/v/bdExrvlP9A7 <<<<< Today a few more supports and track pieces went up as pics show... Also saw the construction workers lift one of the lifthill motors / assemblies onto site, which looked quite big. Looks like groundworks for where lift 2 is going is now also starting to progress a bit more. The 'Marmaliser' does seem to have screens on it. Something odd I noticed about the support structure going over the toilets, one of the supports actually partly cuts through the top of the roof, I do wonder if this was planned to have happened or not! (first pics below show this) Here's some other photo's from today that I got, I know most of the angles have already been seen haha but I thought I'd post these anyway. PS... There's a few noticeable large scratches on supports near the top of the site, let's hope these get touched up before it opens, which I'm sure they will; just saying.

As if travel wasn't bad enough when getting to Towers for those who can't yet drive, this year they've decided to cut even more services. No more Uttoxeter buses run by Alton and no more Derby service either. I used the Stoke bus once last year but it took almost an hour, which is annoying when it only takes me 55 mins on the train anyway with Virgin from Milton Keynes to Stoke! First still run their 32A service between Uttoxeter railway station / Hanley / Alton Towers though which is ok. Can anyone who's used this '32A' service before shed any light on where it drops off & picks up? It says 'opposite farley gates' which I presume is on the main road outside the resort gates judging by Google Maps? What an annoyance, can't see the reasoning for cutting the services this dramatically as they are always rammed with staff and visitors whenever I've used them before...

Swarm backwards is great, love how everything sort of catches you off guard, the first drop is brilliant backwards. As others have said though, the near misses all go slightly unnoticed. Backwards didn't make me feel ill like some have said, although I did only do it once. Backwards Swarm has its uniqueness and forwards Swarm provides the near misses... Good addition for 2013 though this is in my opinion!

This is one of those songs to me which you can listen to no matter if you're happy, sad, whatever. I've loved this since day one and I think I always will. Porter..

Mehh slogan sounds alright... Don't think it matters too much whatever it says as long as it's in some way suited. Should be a nice extra touch going through that billboard. Also... That picture is awful quality, surely they can't be taking pics with a BlackBerry..

A selection of some of the best complaints received by Thomas Cook.

So TowersTimes say Alton have confirmed SW7 will have a different layout to what was submitted in the plans... I'm going on the whole thing of there being no 1st lift hill and it being a rolling launch instead. Takabisha style with the vertical lift mid ride... Hmm Just my guess

I really do wonder why they wanted to keep them toilets... They're a bit outdated as it is so why keep them, hopefully they will have modernised them anyway. Surely if they ever need any roof work doing on the building it's going to be a nightmare having the supports for the coaster so close to the roof!? That support assembly looks like it's gonna be one funky piece of engineering though when complete...

Oh dear, the clothing chain Republic may be set to go into administration soon, reported to have already appointed Ernst & Young to be the administrators if it does go. I quite like the stuff in there, not good for the high street again! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21431753

Ahh yes I do love the atmosphere in Hollister, always good loud music. Yeah I think you'd be right that they use the 251's in some stores, although I never have known if it's them or the Panaray 302 A, seeing as they both look very similar! I also noticed some FreeSpace 203's in the changing rooms in my local store haha. http://worldwide.bose.com/pro/en_us/web/fs_203_loudspeaker/page.html The Bass modules they use in Hollister are the Bose MB4 range, just put on their sides and sometimes with the logo taken off - http://worldwide.bose.com/pro/en_us/web/panaray_mb4_modular_bass_loudspeaker/page.html?term=faq&view=tree You can listen to the current playlist played in all stores nationwide here! The playlist changes every few weeks. http://www.hollisterco.com/hol/flash/music/music.html

It's not often I complain about disliking music because everyone has their own opinions of different stuff, but Dizzee Rascal's new song is quite awful. Heard it on Radio1 for the first time today and everyone in the car had the same reaction of 'wtf is this', I understand how he was popular in 2010/ early 2011 but really... This? And it's currently no.10 in the iTunes UK chart.

I agree with this. At Chessington especially from my experience the Merlin outlets (mainly Rameses Chicken Co.) have been ridiculously slow with queues, and somewhat over polite if that makes sense? When I'm getting fast food I wanna be in, say what I want, get given my food and be done; no faff. And at BK you get the same food everywhere... I suppose it's the advantages of a franchise, knowing what they serve and knowing it'll be what you want wherever you order. Maybe target market at Thorpe too, I think the franchises are a bit more of an important asset to Thorpe than they are at Towers or Chessington, teens / young adults on a one off trip will probably think BK or Pizza Hut before the Noodle Bar or Roast n Relish. Only problem with BK is them only having 1 card reader, although that may change this season?

Horse meat returns and this time in Findus ready meals... More than 60% horse meat content found. Makes me think just how many more beef products are there out there from the lesser known suppliers which contain this too!? http://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/news/2013/feb/findus#.URPqzKVR9S8 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21375594

This debate happens time and time again... "When will Slammer leave.. Oh it must be soon it's had loads of downtime.. etc" I love the thing, and the only similar experience I have ever had is on a Booster where the seats decided not to rotate. Would be a shame if it went but I don't think they'll hold onto it if they do find something suitable as a replacement. Colossus only has several kicker wheels in the station which are powered by electric motors? They are also on the brake run but pop up and down with the use of compressed air in the same way as Stealth does to prevent the train from wearing over the tyres at speed..? The ride has Eddy-Current inducing fixed magnetic brakes on the brake run. As Mia-Louise & Benin explained, there are no LIM's or LSM's on the ride.

Currently got the same problem although in no work at all at the mo. Quite frustrating being as nearly all of my friends at Sixth Form now have jobs but a few had advantages where I didn't from having family in certain jobs where they can get somewhere easier or by having qualifications such as lifeguarding at the pool after training for it over the summer holidays for 1 whole week... I had 1 interview at WHSmith but wasn't successful. I think it's my hours, having Sixth Form 5 days a week and not being able to do evenings unless it's in my town (which is small and has very few shops etc, they're all really fussy as to who they employ because they get flooded with applications whenever anything comes up). So I can do weekends and maybe 1 or 2 evenings but would have to rely on parents getting me there because there is only 1 major bus service and the railway station is 9 miles away where I live which isn't too good either. Just that annoying feeling of applying and never hearing back from the majority. Currently waiting on 2 more I applied for at the end of last week though so hopefully I might hear something back.

*Blows dust off topic from a year ago* A new social networking platform was launched by Twitter today, even though it is separate to Twitter itself. And when it gets properly known it's probably going to join that list of well known social media sites such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Keek, Snapchat; etc. It's called Vine. It's a completely new idea where you take 6-second snippets of looping video, either in parts or as one continuous strip. It's relatable to Gifboom, except what would have been the gif is now an actual film which results in better quality as well as the option to have sound. The app runs in the similar way to Instagram & Twitter, where it shows number of Vines, Following, Followers and you can like and comment on posts. Vine is iOS only at the moment although it is expected to be out on Android in the future too. It's a cool free app, supported by iPhone 3GS and upwards if running iOS5 and higher. Also optimised for iPhone 5 & iOS6. Go and check it out! https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/vine-make-a-scene/id592447445

I don't like the name. I just can't imagine saying 'Let's go ride The Smiler.' Anyway, with the May opening, does this mean Oblivion and the rest of X-Sector will not be opening until then too? Being as the construction fences and vehicles and everything else seem to be taking up quite a lot of the space in the open areas of X-Sector... Would be nice if they could confirm something nearer the time.

Latest image on Alton Towers Twitter: Random guess: The Inoculator? Definition: "A medical practitioner who inoculates people against diseases" from Google definitions. Also: "Inoculate means to implant in a person, animal, or plant to produce a disease for study or to stimulate disease resistance" from http://www.chacha.com/question/what-is-an-inoculator And: "To introduce an idea or attitude into the mind of" Random guess but could be a number of different words... That one just seems to sound the most relatable...

"Called a repairman to fix the sink. The sink is still broken." Oops.

I can do any Saturday and be there on time, I could do a Sunday but would be at the park a bit later due to trains starting later, should be there around around 11-11:30 if it is a Sunday.