Coaster

EC! I say that I'm not exercising enough but that's for long term plans with my health and fitness. In terms of weight loss I've done enough and yeah some people hate being skinny as well as fat but the size I am currently I am more than happy with. The main aim at the start of this diet was so I could fit in my trousers again without popping the buttons. Getting the summer look is just an extra which yes I would like to have one day but its not my biggest priority
(I like my drink and takeaways too much for me to ever get the 'perfect' look)

Remember those fir trees that used to do a DAMM good job, covering up SAW and providing a FRICKEN AMAZING experience on Samurai? What caused them to be cut down? Some say it's health and safety issues, but I didnt see the problem in those trees being there!

If the theming is replaced then I will take back my moaning at Merlin...
Somehow I doubt it will though - or at least not all of it.

I think this will top any Merlin park log flumes as they stand at the moment. (Well maybe not Tidal Wave!)

When Merlin report profits of £1.3bn it poor they don't spend the money where it is needed.

Fried Chicken Co. is usually a great place to go to, but the Fish and Chips are pretty decent too.
Though, as Coaster Jamie says, don't go to Burger Kitchen, no matter what!

In case anyone's forgotten what the obelisk should look like:

Nothing wrong with a tent of you put in a little bit of effort and disguise it though!

Wow, what a difference audio and lighting makes.
I wish they would restore the sound effects for the various characters that remain in Tomb Blaster. The mummy with the axe, for example, just stands there in silence these days and is unconvincing. The caged jackal is obviously much better if you don't hear him start up 10 seconds before you even see him!

There is a distinct difference in the reactions to the pre-show from audiences you can observe.
In the morning - people (with children) laughing, kids having fun.
In the afternoon - dead silence. People have come for a re-ride and are pretty annoyed to have to sit through the same childish lemur act again...

LOL abit stupid them doing that isnt it haha

Well...
Volcanoes look like this:

Not like this:

I doubt it is Nemesis Inferno's ambition to be a well themed ride, the volcano is just a fun 'setting' for the rollercoaster. But it certainly shouldn't be turning mossy and rotty either.
For a quick comparison, here it is in 2003.

Come across another batch. Unfortunately some ot these are really small, no idea why I had them printed like that and the negatives aren't in the pack.
Another Ramesis in action from what must be about the same time.

Just behind it was the excellent and much missed (by me) rodeo. Who can spot a young thin pluk?

Then off round the park on the less knackered looking Skyride. Easier to spot me this time, I'm the one obeying the no standing rules like a good boy.

No holding on to the crossbars!

What's that in the background, climbing its second lift hill? The original and best Vampire, thats what.

Mmmm, swingy heavy Vampire train

Good ol' days.

One thing I'm quite surprised about this ride is the height restriction, 1.1M seems quite high when you consider X is 1.0m.
For a ride at the more family park, I was quite surprised about this.

I have recently visited the BPB and I have to say that is one of the best days out I have ever had! The park was very quiet but it was a beautiful day. I fell in love with wooden roller coasters when I was at BPB as all of the other ones I have ever ridden really hurt! These ones were like riding around on your grans arm chair! So comfy I may have fallen asleep on the Big Dipper :-p
The thing that stuck out in my mind the most was the fact they opened The Big One for the remaining 30 minutes of the park being open... that's right 30 minutes. It was dead quiet as well so I was astounded to see it roaring around the track. Because of high winds it was shut for most of the day but I was really impressed! Here are a few photos! The rest can be found on my Flickr



I love this place and would most definitely go back!

unfortunately Speed: No Limits is not black

I'm a deep believer of try everything once. My encouragement techniques, tried and tested with various levels of success:
-The wait is usually the problem as tension builds up. Don't mention the 'challenges' until just before you do it and do all you can to avoid queues. Then just spring it very matter of factly that they are going on that with you now. No time for them to talk themselves out of it.
- If there is a queue get them to 'wait with you while you queue so you don't have to wait alone', then again at the last minute lay the challenge.
- Have a plan of order, if you know what they do/don't like and build them up to that. At Thorpe I usually get them on Stealth under the agreement that even if they hate it it is over in a few seconds anyway, but most people enjoy it because it is smooth and comfortable. After that you can tell them they've done the biggest ride in the park so they can do anything, if you start with Colossos or Saw you are unlikely to get them on anything else big so end there!
-If people don't like spinny things then they just don't like them and you might get covered in sick if you trick them on!
Good luck with it, I love being with people enjoying their first experience of rides and seeing their reactions.

Just a shame the queue audio isnt playing. That TOTALLY reved up the atmosphere for the ride!

After doing a full circuit of every ride in the park within 3 hours today, to me it just seems like the park is too small to warrant it. In most scenario's anyway.
Disneyland Paris is open late most nights, yes, but the park is absolutely HUGE. Its not just a case of how many rides, its about transport, fitting in the parades and shows, the general amount of time spent soaking in the atmosphere.
From a cost controlled perspective, its in Thorpe's best interest to invest money into getting ride queues down as short as possible, even on the busiest days. Not extend the amount of time customers get to spend in queulines. Secondly they desperately need to look in to reintroducing a range of season wide shows. To me this is the difference between "We've done everything, lets go home" or "Well we can go see that show at 3pm, meanwhile lets do a bit of shopping/eating/drinking". Going back to Disneyland, why do you think most people decide to stay around until closing rather then go home a few hours earlier if they manages to zoom round the park before close? The huge show they put on, of course. And what to the majority of spectators go and buy when they stood out in the cold waiting? Drinks! Snacks! Toys to shut their little kids up!
Eventually when the park has built up a large arsenal of different entertainment options, then they should look at the possibility of opening later and longer.
As for Fright Nights, I would say the cut to 9pm was completely unjustified. You can now ONLY visit during peak, if this weren't the case then yes I'd agree, but nowadays the park is still heaving at 9pm, and you've only actually gotten a whole 1 hour of pure ride time in the dark.

(Sorry about my lengthy Trip Report just as it was my first meet I thought I would do a special one for the occasion, also I apologise if it is not the best TR, it is my first one )
On Sunday the 21st April 2013 there was a lingering sense of excitement as me and my parents were driving 50 miles to the place that is called, Chessington.
As I got out of the car all I heard from the direction of the entrance was Peaj’s voice, it was like a beacon calling out.
The first thing that I did as soon as the gates opened was to walk through the cattle-pen to collect my first ever MAP, as soon as I had that I was on my way to the meeting point of Hocus Pocus halls, as it was my first ever meet the nerves were building up, but as soon as I saw everyone’s faces I smiled and went to talk to everyone.
As soon as I talked to people I felt really welcomed into the group, it was great, and I knew that I was going to have a great day from that point onwards.
The first attraction that we went to was Hocus Pocus halls, it was great fun, although I do think that Han30 got a bit scared and screamed a bit when a blast of air came from nowhere
We then headed off in the general direction of Mexicana, we waited for about a minute and then we were ready to enter Rattlesnake, in the car we had Peaj and Me in the front and then we had Matt Creek and Mer in the back, it was great fun and I think our car was the loudest
After that we headed over for a relaxing sit down on Safari Skyway, it was great fun having a train full of newbies to the meet (Me, Matt Creek and ThrillseekerAlex)
As I was on the ride I got a few calls and text’s from the later comers of the group (JackStevens217 and EC!) we headed to the main entrance to get Jack and then Peaj went off to Dragons Fury to save EC! From the wrath of the dragon.
After that little fiasco we wasted no time on getting to the back of the park where our next ride was Tomb Blaster (6100 on my first time), I thought that there would be a few parts that made me jump, but apparently not so, I really enjoyed it, pleased with my score but am annoyed with Peaj for getting a score in the 10’s of thousands.
After the ride on Tomb Blaster we decided that we would go and try the new ride that opened this year Zufari, the queue was saying 45 mins, but it was a lot shorter than that, if I say this ride has a lot of potential, the pre-show was entertaining for both the adults and the kiddes alike, the actual ride we got to see all the animals. The finale was a bit of a let-down but it is great fun to do with your friends.
We then headed over to Rameses Revenge where we all went on, I must say I was a bit disappointed that the water jets just about reached my hair and that was it, but it boosted my inversion count so I am happy
We then headed off to wild Asia where we decided to do Monkey Swinger which was great fun but I did get a bit dizzy after the ride We then decided to go over to Kobra, the queue line was taking for ever but we did sing happy birthday a few times to some people on the ride, once we got off we were greeted by the lovely MarkC (who looks older than he is), after that we went to the dodgems where we had hatched a plan to all go for Peaj once we were on the ride, although he knew about it we still carried on and went for him.
We calmed down for about 30 mins after that and split up and got some lunch, but as soon as we had finished it was onto the next ride.
We decided to do bubbleworks to give our food a chance to go down, I really enjoyed it and got a bit wet in the finale room, although I almost got my camera wet But all was fine in the end and I got a few really good photos’ from on the ride, although Mer did look a bit like a demon in one of the photos’.
We then headed over to Vampire where we had a bit of a wait, although we did have great fun in the queue line playing the game of the day, but I will not reveal that, that is down to Peaj, Vampire was running really well and felt less rough than it used to, they must have made some changes to the ride since I went in June last year.
We then headed over to Black Buccaneer where when asked how our large group met we replied on TPM, they then said that there were 4 rules instead of the usual 3, the extra one was that if we were to post anything online that it must be good, so I will stick to that rule and say that the ride was great, we had great fun and everyone managed to hold in their lunch.
The next ride of the day was Dragons Fury, due to the queue line being 45 mins we were expecting it to be the last ride of the day, the ride was great and we got the weight distribution perfect and got the best spin on the ride I have ever had.
After getting off the ride we waited for EC! to get his ORP and had the last group photo of the day before JackStevens217 had to leave us.
Suddenly we found ourselves sprinting across the park towards the last ride of the day Zufari, we had a great pre-show this time, I even got to do my monkey impression, also don’t laugh when Ghozi is telling you about the dangerous cave otherwise you will be told off
After a great day at the park everyone left us apart from those that were going to the meal, although when me and Mr Fish left the park via the Explorer Gate, silly Mr Fish forgot where he parked the car, after a bit of walking round we finally got into the car and he gave me a lift to the Monkey Puzzle (Thanks Mr Fish) we sat down and had a great laugh at the meal, but then it was time for me to depart, so I left them to travel the 50 miles back home, what happened after I left them is un-known.
I had a great day meeting everyone at my first meet, I can’t wait till the next one, will be great fun. Come back later on in the week when I will have the video ready with pics from the day.

I hope someone uploads the music used in x because I quite like them

Judging by the ride so far it already looks ten times better than Storm Surge and even beats Dragon Falls too at the moment.

I like Rameses Revenge. Although not being my favourite ride at Chessington, I always ride it every time I go because it offers me an extreme thrill that none of the other rides at Chessington seem to have currently.
Just because 1 person doesn't like it doesn't automatically mean everyone dislikes it. I like Slammer and X for different reasons and whilst most people on this forum don't like Slammer for it's reliability and ride experience, I have no problem in saying that I enjoy it. I respect people's own opinions for rides like Slammer and RR, but what I don't respect is them assuming that only their opinion is valid and anything different from theirs is wrong.
RR is a ride that to me still needs to be at Chessington because not only does it provide an experience for the more extreme market, but it's also there to introduce the bigger and more extreme rides to the younger audience who are still hesitant about riding those sorts or rides.
My 10 year-old sister for instance a couple of years ago would refuse to go on almost every ride at Thorpe due to the shear size, intensity and speed of them. But as soon as she managed Quantum and RR last year, she loved them and because of that confidence that she had from enjoying the slightly more extreme rides, she moved up to Zodiac, then Vortex, then Rush and then everything else thanks to the variety and choice Thorpe/Chessington has to offer. Now, she rides everything at Thorpe except Detonator still (and I don't blame her frankly)!
Plus, this argument about Rameses not being a "proper" thrill ride is just silly. Guests who visit Chessington, Alton and even Thorpe aren't going to judge from appearance whether this ride is classed as a thrill ride or a family ride from the manufacturers website are they? Just because the manufacturer thinks the ride is aimed at families doesn't mean everyone else who visits will think the same. In fact, I'd go as far to say that Quantum for instance could be classed as an extreme ride by some guests as it surprises a lot of people including myself, my friends and even my sister.
Thorpe Park and some people I know class Rush as a thrill ride, despite on S&S's website it is classed as a "family ride". Detonator as another example is classed as an "extreme" on Thorpe's website (and rightly so because I find it a very extreme ride!), despite being classed as a "spectacular" ride on Fabrri's website.
To put it simply - these classes of rides are there for the manufacturer and buyer, NOT the average guest.
So please can we stop this arguing people? As it's ridiculous and there's no right or wrong way of looking at this. Thank you.

I'm sorry but you have well and truly lost this battle