Coaster

Hmmm I actually really liked the advert. I didn't want it to be too sinister as that's not what this ride's about, it's a sort of quirky fun sinister advert. I agree with Josh in the sense that they should have used the laughing version of the Towers theme, but I can see why they stuck with the original. Most people don't watch adverts and they're looking down at their phones etc, so continuously using a well known track for a brand is good marketing as people will hear that and think "OH ALTON TOWERS" and look up at the screen. Very good advert though!
One other little thing about this, us enthusiasts know it's all about the marmalisation etc but I wonder how many of the general public will get the story line? Let's just hope they go down the Oblivion route and use very very very good queue-line videos to get the story line out there!

I'm not keen on Legoland - far too overpriced and the throughputs of most of the rides is dire, and there is need there for a big throughput.
Never seen The Dragon running three trains though, is this new this year?

Just finished that episode, SO confused.

One word from today's thorpe park trip, WOW
Today I was totally expecting it to be really busy as yesterday was apparently packed. We arrived at 10am to go straight in and went straight to swarm. It was a 10 minute queue, which in reality was 5, however we had a great ride on it and got the fire! After swarm we headed towards saw and decided to do rush. This was walk on and we suspected that the queues would get longer as the day went on. Great ride but not as good as I remember it to be. We then decided to do the new X. the ride itself is really good now and the fact that it doesnt stop on the block breaks makes it even better. It was walk on and I have to say that it is a big improvement. Next, it was over to saw. A 10 minute queue was in reality 5 minutes but the ride itself was good. We sat on the front row and when we were going up the lift I was so scared! After a good ride on that, we were suprised the queues weren't getting longer. We did samurai which had a 5 minute queue and got a suprisiling bad spin. Shame. We then did slammer which was a 5 minute queue. We decided to 'freefall' on it and although it was really scary it was a great ride. Off to loggers leap next, we got straight on and the ride is good, I didn't get wet but my friend got soaked! After that we headed towards nemesis inferno, the queue was 5 minutes and we had finally decided that today was an empty day. We were really suprised as we thought it would have been really busy. Nemesis inferno is great but makes me really dizzy. After nemmy inferno, we decided to head over to the detonator. Once again, a 5 minute queue was ahead of us. We deicded to repeat it again as we loved it. Detonator is really scary but a great experience! We then went over to stealth, it had a 15 minute queue but in reality this was 5 minutes. I haven't been on stealth in ages and I loved it! After that we decided to head over to lunch, we had a quick game of battle beam on the way I was really bad and lost 3-0 to my friend! We ate lunch at Burger King and then decided to do rumba rapids. We waited 10 minutes for this but I love the ride and they finally had the water jets back on! After that we headed over to Colossus, this had a 5 minute queue and we were extremely pleased. After a quick spin on Colossus we headed over to saw. Unfortunately it was broken so we decided to do samurai again! The wait was 5 minutes and this time we had a much better ride. I really do love samurai. Saw was reopened so we deicded to head back and wait 10 minutes for it. Once again it was really good! We then decided that we would go down into the lost city. We rode rush again. This time it seemed much worse than the first. I don't think it was swinging as high. We then did quantum twice as there was no queue and he let us stay on! We then did zodiac which I was regretting as I felt really sick after!' Vortex awaited us next with no queue. This was not a good idea after zodiac as I came off feeling even more sick than before! We decided to then head over to stealth and do it again. This time we waited about 10 minutes for the front row seats. The front row is much better than any of the rows and I highly reccomend it! We then did tidal wave which I really did not like as I got drenched! Afterwards we decided to do detonator as the final ride of the day.
Time in park:
10-4:30(we left really early but did not matter as we had done everything)
Key points:
Saw broke for a period of time
Saw queue being advertised as 45 minutes when in reality it was 5 minutes.
No mist or lights in inferno tunnel
All rides on 2 trains and great quick dispatching made queues short
Tidal wave is a stupid ride to do
Ride count:
Detonator X3
Stealth X2
Saw X2
Nemesis inferno X1
Colossus X1
Samurai X2
Slammer X1
Rush X2
Quantum X2
Loggers leap X1
Tidal wave X1
x X1
Swarm X1
Vortex X1
Rumba rapids X1
Total ride count:21

The track looks great, but that framework is hideous!

Back to the future is my favourite film by far (all three).

I'm hoping that the indoor section of the queueline (if there is one) will look similar to The Sanctuary and have the music playing that was used in the queueline of The Sanctuary.

I'm hoping that the indoor section of the queueline (if there is one) will look similar to The Sanctuary and have the music playing that was used in the queueline of The Sanctuary.

The Smiler Blue Peter bit...

God that preshow is absolutely bloody awful. Can't believe chessie is ranting and raving about that technology. It's awful.

Stafford towers Altonshire OMG I'm crying

It can't there is none although it bugged me that it was a mirror image.

I found the inspiration for The Smiler building, the back of my local McDonalds.

Probably living in la-la land when suggesting this, but why on earth haven't entry prices been reduced, even by a couple of quid?
I 'get' that it's a business and all that, but we have three major rides which will look and feel significantly less 'good' isn't a good service. It's all well and good saying 'We're improving your experience, we're sorry for the inconvenience', but is that good enough for seeing naked rides and construction sites across the park?
As I say, I know it's probably living in la-la land, but personally, seeing the state the park is in more and more, I don't think that a few notices here and there apologising is enough for what guests will experience this season...

They need to improve operations on Vampire, it's not acceptable to have it this awful when it is one of two coasters trying to support a high amount of guests on some days.
(I didn't count Rattlesnake because it's height restriction is quite high so families can't ride it - they go straight for Fury or Vampire in terms of coasters).

Hell with it. I don't think there's any point in visiting the park this season. Zufari won't be enough of a reason to go if I have to see Tomb, Runaway Train and Dragon Falls in these naked, dilapidated state. I go to a theme park to see rides and stories, not construction (or more correctly, demolition sites) and Chessington is not delivering at all.
Whilst the theming may return and they may be better then the previous versions, it isn't what I grew up with and it won't be the same for me. The park, instead of looking to the future, is having to revisit the past and this could have detrimental effects. I truly hope this is a wake up call for the rest of the Merlin establishments that if you don't start to look after your rides, theming and areas they will end up like Chessington's 2013 season. An utter shambles.

Well Chessington had not the B team on the Vampire today. We got there first thing.
1st train went out full
2nd train one empty row
3rd train one empty row
They were letting enough people into the station, but the person at the end of the ramp was so painfully slow to get people to the air gates, that the train was sat in the station with only 6 or 7 rows filled and then the train was waiting on batching....
Common sense would be that if this is happening, let more people through and aim for 4 people per air gate so any delay in batching does not hold up the train.
We got to the air gates and the ride went down people had to be released from the ride.
They really need to take the microphone away from the staff, the guy in the control booth, Craig was stressy and in my opinion took away the atmosphere. Give me a pre-recorded message any day.

Compared to how it rides now, yes it was.

DIS PHOTO!!!

The best solution would be to remove the piece of crap in the area, and then there won't be a need for the scaffolding...

Please! No more stupid ride ops shouting down the PA to annoy guests...

How long until Jonathon Ross is on to tell us it goes 100mph and goes upside down 20 times?

Okay so, it's very busy today swarm is around 100 minutes for both back an forwards. Anyway, X is considerably better with the no stopping situation with other addons with music no audible all the way through the queue!

It really is silly. Opening times are an important factor for most and I think that extra hour would make more people who think twice about going actually go!