Willy

Slammer and Tidal Wave have been down for a while, and Stealth has been on-off for the past week or so but has been open more than it's been closed. If that's any help at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZfdbxpOdHo

Yeah it was 45 minutes-ish when we went on - we got in the queue around 10.30 I think, but by about 12 the queue time was being advertised as 2 hours. Whether or not that was accurate is a different matter, of course.And I dunno exactly how much longer it makes it but when they made an announcement to say that only one train was running, they said it'd be roughly doubled. I think the queue was just after the second tunnel (under the first corkscrew I think) which is usually around 20 mins(?) so maybe just over doubled.

I've been four times this year and Stealth's only been open for a full day on one of those occasions.In general though I gotta say this season has been a vast improvement on '09. Any rides I've seen down this year have generally been down for less than a day meaning that they haven't been completely unavailable. And there's the fact that the mist/lights are still working on Inferno and all (as far as I can remember) the effects are still working on Saw. I think Thorpe'll find it difficult to shake the reputation of being slapdash with ride upkeep/themeing, but the situation is improving, without doubt.

Was only running on one train yesterday morning (if not all day - only went on once), making the queue 2 hours at times. Not sure exactly why but I guess there must have been some reason 'cos it's the only time I've seen it with just one train.

I've had a few with just me and a friend 'cos I've never been alone. The obvious ones - Depth Charge and Loggers Leap. Pretty sure we've had Mr Monkey's to ourselves as well. Would have had Samurai (not trying to wade into the argument) but because of the 15-person minimum the ride attendant stood at the entrance shouting at people to come and ride so we could go on as it was the last ride of the day I'm including it because the ride wouldn't have had that last run if it weren't for us!

I would hate for Depth Charge to go. I remember going on it as a kid - yes yes I know playing the nostalgia card means absolutely nothing - but to this day it's still my standard first ride of the day every time I visit because it's a nice soft ride to get warmed up, so to speak. However it isn't terribly popular and I suppose it does take up a fair amount of room. Having said that, there were five staff on it today (two at the top, three at the bottom) when there was no queue at all - seemed a bit of a waste (unless it's some kind of minimum staffing for H&S or something?)

Someone was sick on Stealth? It was only open for about an hour! And the lights were most definitely on when I was on X:\.

Oh right, pretty sure I hadn't been on it for almost two years before today!

They're probably more interested in the bins than the plants!

For some reason X:/ was running with lights on today. It was a pretty strange experience, to say the least - gave the opportunity to see how filthy and bare the inside of the pyramid is. Also noticed how rickety the ride is feeling these days; it's showing its age for sure.

Stealth was closed for most of today until about 4.30 when it opened. We had just joined the queue for Saw when the Stealth opening announcement was made so hot-footed it over. They kept it open until 5.30 as well, which I thought was pretty good. It's also the only time I've ever seen the front row queue going all the way down the stairs!

It was definitely running a longer cycle than on Friday, but the swings were very noticeably out-of-sync

This was filming at the park today. Duncan from Blue was there, as was another 'celebrity' I semi-recognised but couldn't quite put my finger on. Detonator was closed to the public for filming this morning, and also spotted them near the exit of Colossus at one point.

Rush was closed for most - if not all (can't remember if it was operating in the morning) - of today, and by about 4.30pm there were people in a cherry-picker doing something to the top of swing B.

Also, both times I've been this year the ride operator has turned off the lights in the station then screamed really loud into the mic - succeeded in making everyone redecorate their pants on both occasions.

I'd like to know what Thorpe do with all the change that people thow on the police car door in the queue line!

As others have commented on, ridiculously short setting today - probably the shortest I've ever seen it, even at peak times. Queues were no more than 15 minutes so didn't see any reason to have it on a cycle where it only reached full swing once or twice.

There was an ambulance parked outside Stealth today and most of the Amity area was out of bounds - anyone know what the deal was? Hope whoever the ambulance was for is okay!