Coaster

^ Enjoy it! We basically had an hour on Megafobia from 9pm - 10pm without having to get off much and it was raining, dark and at the end of the day (the best conditions for it!) Much more fun if you have your arms up!

This is very annoying - TOTT should still be the free maze imo.

Oakwood is a park that I really enjoy, but always feel frustrated at in some way or another. This year it had much improved operations and staff wise, but some of the same problems were still there (although this didn't ruin our enjoyment too much). Megafobia was running brilliantly this year, and due to their After Dark event we got some rides on it in the dark! It was running well all day, but in the dark with rain at the end of the day (it runs faster at the end of the day) it was flying round the track! The staff running Megafobia were brilliant. It was only running one train, but dispatch times were very fast and the staff were really friendly, talking through the PA on every dispatch and arrival into the station, even interacting with the guests at times through it. Re-rides were had by all as the park emptied before 10pm but it impressed me that they kept all the rides open until 10pm (unlike last year!) Speed is a great ride, but it really frustrates me operation wise! It was running one car for the whole of Wednesday and most of Tuesday, which is ridiculous for an 8 people per car ride. This causes for very slow moving queues on this ride which really shouldn't be there. What annoyed me even more was that on the Tuesday, at about 4pm (park close 6pm this day) they put the second car on, when there wasn't demand for it! This proves that Speed is capable of running two trains, but they just do it when they feel like it! (I miss the days of 3 car service ) Hydro (I refuse to call it 'Drenched') was as brilliant as ever, operations are still poor but it has it's reasons. Still one of the most forceful drops on any ride I have been on! I wasn't very impressed with their new area Neverland. Skull rock, the 'themed' log flume was basically a trip through a warehouse with no attempt to hide the fact that you were in a warehouse whatsoever. It was also not actually that enjoyable and is over very quickly. I didn't ride anything else in the area so can't comment on it. Oakwood has a lot of hidden gems and unique attractions, the Bobsleigh being one of them. It is great fun, as are the others. I didn't ride Waterfall this year, it is an absolutely ridiculous contraption and I would have almost certainly fallen in! Overall I really enjoyed my visits to Oakwood, but operations could still be improved. I can't remember the ridecount, but we had a lot of rides on Megafobia! I hope that everyone going on the trip has a great time

Throughput looks a nightmare! Is that music their own? Sounds familiar...

Thank you, that's a great help. I don't think I will have Internet access on holiday, of course if I do then I might get a minute to complete them earlier than when I get back (although this is unlikely). EDIT: Sorry for missing this evening's quiz night, I completely forgot as my mind was full with the chaos and panic of getting ready for holiday! I have now sent you the answers, but will be unable to make the next two (as I have said above). Thanks!

Maybe head for Zufari first? It doesn't always open on time, but if it doesn't then there is Tomb Blaster near it that you can go to. Don't head for Hocus Pocus Hall first - even on busy days this rarely ever gets a big queue (apart from during their halloween event in October) so do that once the park has got busier. On an different note, I have just seen this: http://www.chessington.com/plan-your-trip/pop-badges.aspx?mb=1 A bit odd, but fair enough.

I am on holiday for the next two weeks, so will not be able to post my answers until I get back. Can I still take part?

Burger King. Storm Surge or a Pinfari looper?

Wet Wet Wet, never used it but nothing can be as bad as Storm Surge! Nemesis Inferno or Colossus?

Facebook. Thorpe Park or Alton Towers?

It still feels way beyond vertical when you are on it! It's probably one of the best/scariest drops around tbh. Definitely the most forceful!

Yeah, apart from the much worse lighting replacing the strobes and the removal of the mirrors.

Oakwood is never packed, the longest queue I have ever experienced there was an hour for Megafobia and Hydro, but this was a few years back! Last summer I never waited more than 15 minutes for anything. They do frustrate me though - last summer at some points in the day they were only running one train on Speed (bear in mind this is 8 people) but I have heard that operations have improved this year. I will be visiting Oakwood in a few weeks time so will report back to here on how it was etc.

Just like most effects at Thorpe then.

Yes.

Quite like that, it's funny Who is doing the voiceover though? I can't work it out but I'm sure I recognise it.

Megafobia is a brilliant ride, as are the woodies at Blackpool.

Thank you for the updates, glad to hear that Rameses Revenge will be reopening! Was a really bad decision to remove the theming just before the big lift hill on Dragon Falls (Chan's Cycles etc), little touches like that add a lot to an experience! I did see someone's comment on the bikes looking tacky, but it would look like that in real life so it was a good piece of theming.

Park was quite busy throughout today, there was no major drop in queues at any point in the day (I had been told 3pm). Ride operation was fairly good on most, apart from The Swarm which as per usual this year was dismal

Where has all the theming gone that you saw before the largest lift hill? There used to be things like bikes labeled "Chan's Cycles" and a laundry that were really nice touches, but they have gone! You can see for yourself at 2:42 in this pov. Why remove that? They have surely destroyed enough of the park already this year, why remove something that isn't doing any harm?

For an event heavily advertised as having no queues, it would be bad even by Thorpe's standards to sell fastrack!

I would say yes. Whilst it is expensive, you can guarantee that there will be minimal (or no) queues, the rides are great fun (even though not as big as big parks) and they have two brilliant dark rides.Astro Storm and Terror Castle are of a much better quality than you would expect from a park that size, plus Astro Storm is actually a really good coaster (formerly Space Invader at Blackpool Pleasure Beach). Terror Castle is a brilliant ghost train, much scarier than any other I have been on (and reridable due to very good attention to detail). Plus they have a good amount of flat rides which are great fun. There is enough to pass a day easily, with lots of reriding available! The staff are also quite cheery and friendly, not unprofessional but not afraid to have a bit of banter with the guests. So yes, I would recommend it

Fastrack is horrendous, but you can't really blame the guests for it. (Stating that the guests are "too lazy to queue" etc). The park advertise it wrongly, it sounds like something that not many people would buy to be honest. But picture this, you've never been to towers before and you turn up to find the park packed, you probably won't be back there for a really long time! What are you going to do? Buy fastrack. Towers are the ones to blame. They oversell it on rides with awful throughputs anyway (less than or only just 1000pph on a brand new ride is awful!) and guests using it probably don't even realise that they are stuffing up the main queue. In an ideal world fastrack would cease to exist, however I think that as Towers/Merlin would never do this (due to greed for money mostly) they should price them highly and sell little. It is absolutely not fair that the queues get stuffed up, but it really isn't the fault of the guests! (Not from personal experience, I refuse to buy fastrack).

This is much better! Well done Thorpe for listening to guest feedback! (Or does this mean that they will be letting more people in?)

How do you know this? It doesn't say anywhere on the website.