Cornflakes

The font used in the logo has a very B-Movie horror style to it, which suggests to me that FN isn't trying to be as scary as it used to pretend to be, instead its seems there going for a more light hearted scariness for the event itself, whether this carries over to the mazes remains to be seen, personally I'd love a silly B-Movie style maze, but that's just me.

The reason many people prefer the Scarefest mazes is because Alton put a lot of effort into theming and immersion with their mazes, rather than at Thorpe were its just a load of drama students in a tent (Although it seems like things will be different at FN this year )

Looks like Futura Extra Bold Condensed to me, which has flat peaks on capital M's & N's instead of the pointed peaks used in most other derivatives of Futura. Seems to match up pretty well with the font used in the teaser image.

"I had a feeling of trepidation when I entered The Smiler’s queue line, in the 2 months between The Smiler’s opening day and the day that I finally rode it, I’d heard some good things and some bad things. I’d heard horror stories of a ride more painful than Saw and a ride that was falling apart only 2 months after opening. I’m happy to say that The Smiler is a fantastic ride, its the best ride Alton have installed since Oblivion – It’s that good." Read the full review here - http://coastergeek.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/the-smiler-review/

The roughness seems to be very much train dependant, I managed to get on the same train for both my rides yesterday (Train 3, Row 2) the outer seats were a little rattly, but nothing too serious. The inside seats were remarkably smooth. It was a pleasant surprise after hearing so many bad things about roughness.

Finally got my first ride on The Smiler yesterday, its a great ride, not as good as Nemesis, but the best thing Towers have built in a long time.

I'm a massive fan of the work done by Merlin Studios, its clear that their are some very intelligent and creative people that have come up with some very interesting ideas and concepts, the consisntent quality output from Merlin Studios has proven this to me, and as they do more attractions, they just get better and better. Merlin let themselves down on the business side of things. They value profit over guest experience, they also make some incredibly short sited desicions, they seem to prefer having an instant profit rather than letting things develop to give them more money in the long run, which means they end up doing things on the cheap to make money faster, rather than splashing out on larger investments which would probably return more in the long run. Some aspects of the Theme Parks have certainly improved under Merlin though, food quality and merch has gone up massively, while still being relatively affordable (its not cheap by any means, but most of the stuff they produce in the fields of dining and merchandise offers a suprising value for money, especially with an Annual Pass) but as Benin said it really is one step forward and two steps back with Merlin. In short, Merlin really needs to up there game and try and provide the best experience they can, rather than cutting corners and relying on instant profit .

My guess is that the Wingrider/Flying Coaster style restraints are going to become the norm on modern B&Ms. As for the coaster itself, it looks boring, drawn out and forceless, obviously though you can't really tell from an animated POV. It certainly looks interesting though, and its always nice to see a new Inverter.

People were saying the same things when David Tennant left, I wouldn't judge the person from the moment they're announced, reserve your judgement until he's actually in an episode. Personally I think Peter Capaldi is a fantastic choice, he's a fantastic actor who has a great acting range, I'm sure he'll be a great Doctor.

I'm not surprised over the advert still being on TV tbh, I imagine that advertising schedules are pretty much set in stone weeks in advance, and that it would be pretty difficult to remove an ad from TV unless it got banned.

I must say, Saw was running remarkably smooth yesterday, I get the feeling I was just lucky though, lots of cars seemed to be getting some really bad jolts when I was watching the ride.

Probably not, it's most likely just a regular breakdown.

Source?

They really are quite lovely, sort of thing I wish didn't go out of fashion in theme park marketing. Filled to the brim with charm and character.

Massive thanks for that picture ElectricBill, I always love seeing old marketing, and it looks great as a desktop wallpaper

A lot of those changes were necessary, Retheming and Revamping can breather new life into rides that, over the years have gotten old and drab. I'm glad that Chessington are refurbishing Dragon Falls & Runaway train, Can't say I'm a fan of how they're carrying out the refurb, though.

When you were born, you were the:5,934,688,022ndperson alive on Earth81,397,580,392ndperson to have lived since history began Cool.

Would love a Slenderman based maze, especially one utilizing the CCR space. If there ever was a Slender maze they'd have to get a few key aspects right, as Sidders said, it would have to stay still and silent, this would really be something unique among Thorpe's maze lineup, as most of there mazes (bar nearly all of Ex10) rely on people yelling at you, that doesn't build atmosphere, it just gives you a headache. If a Slender maze was ever done, they would have to get the height of Slenderman right, part of what makes the idea so terrifying for me is the height of Slender man, it gives the illusion that Slenderman is utterly unstoppable, and that there's nothing you can do to save yourself. Would love Thorpe to do something like this, if they ever did it - and got it right, it would easily be Thorpe's best maze.

Yes.

Uh oh.

I used to love this branding, it had a cool look, but didn't try to alienate families, I hope we see a return to this kind of stuff with the rebrand (and a return of the entrance music )

The Sonic theming is pretty much non existant tbh, plus Adventure Lands just a load of nothingness anyway, no character or charm to the area whatsoever. Personally I'd like to see Storybook Land expanded into the Adventure Land area, and Spinball to be rethemed accordingly.

I seriously doubt that any part of the ride is designed to be intentionally painful.

Had a great time at the meet, was nice seeing some people again

I'd totally recommend Gimp, its a great program. Also, Love the Monopoly board Josh, real stroke of genius putting Storm Surge as Jail