Coaster

Are you into other thrill based activities than theme parks? Maybe you'd like to try a Go Ape style ropes course, or climbing Snowdon? Do you have free time? Enough time to maybe moderate a new non theme park based forum? I am about to set sail on a new idea and am initially looking for people who would be interested in helping.
Interested? Read on.
A bit of history.
As some of you may know, I'm one of the team over at Towers Nerd, mainly responsible for organising trips and live blogging. Saying that, I tend to post all my construction updates on a fair number of sites, Thorpe Mania being one of them, with the lofty goal of trying to bring the community together a bit more. Over the last year, every single weekend except one of season I was at one park or another and that kind of over exposure to a subject starts to wane your interest. So I started to re-evaluate what I was actually interested in and realised that basically it is good memories. It is doing something at the weekend that you will look back on when times are hard with a smile. I then realised that theme parks are just one form of memory creation (ohh god I'm slipping into the Alton Towers fireworks show). Last year I went Caving and that was wonderful. The year before I went Go Ape, that was equally fun. I've climbed Ben Nevis and Snowden. All brilliant experiences. I realised that I wanted more experiences and probably not as many Theme Park ones.
The problem is, that doesn't fit in with the TowersNerd or TPM umbrella and being non theme park related it doesn't fit into any of the sites I regularly visit. So I have/am in the process of creating a new site who's main goal is to be a resource of, to organise trips to and to review, non theme park related 'things to do at the weekend'.
Ok so what's its status?
We started work on it 02 Jan 2014, so it is in its really early stages. We currently have a nearly empty but fully operational forum and a place holder of a website (which won't be looked at until after the forum launches).
What am I looking for?
I aim to launch the forum part first in a couple of weeks time as soon as we have enough basic content so that the forum isn't totally empty and there is something for people to join in with. So I am looking for a literate person who has time on their hands who wants to help moderate and create forum based content. Someone who is excited to try new activities and fancies organising or helping to organise trips. Also someone who will bring a friend base with them to the new forum. One final requirement. You need to be 16 or over. A number of these activities have a minimum age of 16 so it would be cruel for a moderator not to be able to participate in the trips.
How do I find out more?
P.M me. Or grab me on chat. I expect to get 4/5 interested people so in the PM tell me who you are and give me an inkling of what you would like to bring to the new site.
Interested in being a member, not a moderator?
In about 2 weeks time, I will post a comment on this thread containing an advert for the new site. By then we will have enough there to get people started. Hopefully it will take off and hopefully, we will give you adrenalin junkies something new to try. Tune back in a couple of weeks.
Important note.
I really really really don't want someone to defect from this site to join mine. Both sites have nearly no cross over, apart from a similar base of adrenalin junkies, so I wholly hope you will stay an active member of this forum as well as being a mod/member on the new site. TPM is a wonderful forum filled with wonderful people and run by a wonderful team who have kindly agreed to let me post this here.

The Wild Mouse at BPB is brilliant, never mind it's history, it's such a clever design; short wheel base makes the corners spin further than the chassis and pushes one physically through extreme turns.

I really would like to see better speakers put in place, as spending two hours in that queueline with most of the speakers broken (and making a horrible noise) really wasn't fun.
I agree though that there are much more urgent matters which should be looked at first.

About 4-5 years ago A website called Merlin Media(http://www.tussaudsmedia.co.uk/teaser/) was started but never fully released and seemed to be abandoned, It also had a few errors. This troubled me so I am working to finish the website. I am hosting it on http://www.Merlin-Media.net It is under construction and the files are still hosted on the old website but I will be updating it very quickly by the end of this weekend. Hope people enjoy

Updates:
03/01/14: Chessington Audio Section. All audio is Hosted on the website and available to download.

04/01/14: Alton Towers Audio Section. I am yet to upload Toyland Tours and the Haunted House Full tracks as I am obtaining the original Cassette tapes for them. All audio is Hosted on the website and available to download.

05/01/14: Thorpe Park Audio Section. All audio is Hosted on the website and available to download. Added Magic Mill - Interior Audio.

06/01/14: Development for Mobile website started. Mobile Website Ready to use. Click here to use the Mobile site.

07/01/14: Domain and Hosting paid for, URL is now www.Merlin-Media.net

Without being rude, I don't think that any of those are realistic.
Theme park rides can, if looked after properly, last for years (much longer than what you have predicted).

Incorrect. Try again
Definitely:
Loads of Thorpe Park (Fright Nights for certain)
Loads of Alton Towers (Scarefest for certain)
Little bit of Chessie
Hopefully:
Blackpool
Oakwood

Thanks for the review and pictures on the previous page! My gf isn't a coaster fan at all HOWEVER, she wants to go this year purely because a Wallace & Gromit ride exists there. Winner... I've always wanted to go to BPB!

After a period of RCT3 not working and general computer problems, the video is finally here.

Enjoy

I would like to see Merlin in the UK's rides being maintained instead of all being destroyed and replaced after a while. I don't like how theme parks tend to fight over 'steepest drop' or some tacky record and I would rather have a quality ride with good themeing and working effects instead of a poor ride with a record which really does not do much to improve the parks satisfaction rate. My views on Merlin's parks in the UK have changed recently, instead of them just trying to go round beating other parks I would like to see them make the most of their abilities. I see in other parks around the world, a nice, well maintained park with good themeing and decent rides. It seems to me that the smaller parks tend to do a better job of this as they cannot afford to go for the big records like the other parks can. Whilst the take on the themeing has been increased, the quality of the themeing isn't great and is sometimes unecessary and can come across as rushed. I am not saying that Merlin don't do well on themeing I just think the quality could be much better. I think thorpe park have certainly improved on their whole appearance and I hope they continue to as this is what I think makes a better park. My point is...? Well, if the rides are replaced, it means that merlin are trying to win over the guests with big rides and records etc. which could well work but therefore means the quality of the rides and the appearance goes downhill. I would rather see rides being kept, improved and better themed throughout the years. So what if the ride is old? It doesn't mean it has a bad experience... Some of the oldest rides still existing to date are some of the best, in vienna at the prater they have a Ferris wheel from 1897 still running well! Just because there is a record to be beaten, it doesn't mean it has to be beaten, the money could be used to improve on the exisiting rides instead of buying new ones altogether. Yes of course, it is good to invest in new rides every so often but instead of buying new rides all the time and expanding, I would rather see Improvements across the parks which have actually seemed to be happening more this year(with the exception of chessington which I hope picks up for next year). My hope is that for the future, the rides at thorpe park and for all the other parks infact last and get most use out of them, with changes being made if necessary. I would like to see improvements on the themeing and appearance instead of replacing with new rides altogether. I think thorpe park seem to have realised that new rides aren't everything and that maintaining the rides is a much better option. Of course, at the end of the day they may have to be replaced if it costs too much to maintain but if they can maintain it as long as possible then it will make the most of its ride life. This is what thorpe are trying to do with slammer, keep it going and I congratulate them for that! I see william wilsons superbowl running still from the 1980s and still looks amazing and still run relatively well so I don't see why thorpe's rides can't last that long. I hope the rides have as long a life as possible and appearance etc. is improved over the years!

The park have confirmed that there will be a "new investment" in the place of Brer Rabbit. Apart from that, nobody knows anything else. It could be anything from a re-theme to a new ride!

The park have confirmed that there will be a "new investment" in the place of Brer Rabbit. Apart from that, nobody knows anything else. It could be anything from a re-theme to a new ride!

Presuming that it was like this -
That's not how it's meant to be.
I have heard that it is getting some internal work over closed season so hopefully they are going to sort this - I'm not sure how it's got into this state though because it was perfectly fine when I rode it in April.

Organising iTunes library - standard drills...

I swear iTunes and iCloud both hate me.

It was a few years ago I know, but I used to get a Tussauds annual pass for about £60, it included all UK attractions (inc London Eye etc), all European attractions (Heide Park etc), parking was free for all and the fastrack system was free to all ala Disney.
The closest package to have something like the same experience now costs £500. Progress eh? If it was just in line inflation it wouldn't have touched £100.

http://www.merlinannualpass.co.uk/terms.aspx - Section 9 here.
After a bit of thought, I'll be getting a Premium Pass this year (first time ever; quite a significant decision for me actually!). From what I've got planned, the perks of the Premium over the Standard (specifically the London attractions during August, Warwick Castle stuff and free parking) are actually of use to me now, so it makes sense. The 'Birthday Club' and free entry to FN is all the better as well.
Little concerned about the priority entrance to the park thing though. Does that mean Standard holders will now how to join the masses? Doesn't feel right to me; if people are giving their loyalty to the parks, they should get the privilege of having a dedicated entrance. Seems to me like this is the solution they've come up with to the slow moving AP queues for getting into the park - rather than make AP entrances better / quicker, let's just be more picky about who gets in...
As for the VIP Pass, I think it's a nice idea. The Exclusive Experiences (lift hill walks anyone?) and Behind the Scenes tours seem like a great idea (I wonder if Thorpe was a test run for Merlin for these sorta things, and if there'll become more widespread across the Merlin parks sometime soon?), and little things like the free unlimited drinks and global entry sounds good. Certainly there is a market for that, even if it is a very small one. Not gonna lie, if I was going to be travelling around the world one year (like I plan to in the near-ish future), I'd probably go for one. Admittedly, it is very steep - baring in mind it is an INTRODUCTORY price too - but for the convenience it would bring, as well as the extra incentive to visit more of the attractions, why not...

I just found some footage shot by CoasterForce of the "World's Oldest Operating Steel Coaster" and wow, it even further proves the point that an attraction doesn't have to have a 'highest' or 'fastest' or 'loopiest' record attached to it for it to be a good ride.
I just thought that there should be a topic where people could share rides like these that are brilliant but not massive or well known attractions. Enjoy

It still is the best themed coaster there in my opinion. It's just a shame that they've let it rot because with a little upkeep it could still look fantastic.

I'd actually do that!

NEW?

What on earth?

How on earth can they claim this is some sort of 'new' development!? It's basically a replacement for what was there last season (which, by the way, I haven't stayed in nor do I ever plan to).
Why have Thorpe sort of 'forgotten' how to add rides on any years other than major coaster years?

We can't make judgements yet, but if that does turn out to be the case (which is 99% likely to happen) then that is very poor - "Crash Pad" immediately tells you that it is not a classy type of accommodation, whereas "waterfront hotel" makes you think of a posh hotel on the edge of a lake.

I will actually burst into tears if they take away The Asylum.
Such a great maze, the strongest out of them all

We can't make judgements yet, but if that does turn out to be the case (which is 99% likely to happen) then that is very poor - "Crash Pad" immediately tells you that it is not a classy type of accommodation, whereas "waterfront hotel" makes you think of a posh hotel on the edge of a lake.

New for 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2016 The crash pad with a new name every year. And no other new attractions.

It has been saying so on the website's "Ride Status" for months, but it has changed now to "currently closed" rather than "re-opening in 2014," so let's hope that they haven't given up on that as well otherwise I really won't have any time for them!