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And therefore encourage these people to go out and get jobs? Can't see the negatives really. Milk vouchers were in use until just a few years ago, I used to process them in my cash office. There is no stigma if the reasons for getting them are varied; most child benefits go to all, as do a lot of tax credits. No one knows your circumstances just because you have a voucher. I do know what you mean though, when I was at school the teacher called register you went up and either paid him cash or if you were poor you gave them a meal ticket for your school dinner. The kids with the meal tickets got torn apart, obviously, which looking back is clearly horrible. It does not have to be like that now, it can all be done electronically.

Nothing yet, I imagine they are reinforcing the excavations and preparing foundations before going vertical. The best place to look at the site at the mo is here rather than me nicking their pics and copying them here.

Mer, if you are working and earning your own money you should spend it how the hell you like and not worry what anyone else thinks. It's non of their business. I would like to specifically add Sky TV packages to the things other people shouldn't spend my money on in the form of their benefits. In fact, benefits should be paid in vouchers* (food, clothing etc) with a minimal cash amount for 'treats'. And definitely non that Sky can accept. (*excluding those dependant on DLA)

Today I went to Asterix, I'll do a proper little report when I get home but in summery - a couple of amazing rides and a couple of horrors in a park that mostly looks nice and could easily be good but is run so ineptly that it is a truly hellish place to be. In fact, to say that it is actually 'run' in any meaningful sense of the word would be overstating the effort they put in, they seem to simply open the gates and hope for the best. It is saying something that I have no desire to go back to the place ever again even though it has two of the very best rides I have ever been on.

I went the day before and pretty much agree entirely. An amazing place filled with amazing people doing amazing things. The blind races, with 80,000 watching in total silence so the guides can talk them round were something else. I still have some misgivings about the categorising that takes place, it is clearly necessary to some extent but something doesn't seem quite right about it at the moment. The whole thing gave me a whole new outlook on these games though, which I admit I was a little cold about before seeing it in person. I hope they can make the permanent aspects of the village work in the future, it's such a great place, would be a shame if they just left it to rot now Olympics are done.

Twice. Feels like enough tbh.

These things can be used to scare 'normal' people too though. I'm fine with spiders, but put me in a dark room with spiders everywhere and make it feel like things are crawling on me and I can't escape them then I'm pretty sure I'd be scared / entertained by it. Just has to be done well, that's all. I'm not scared of zombies or ghosts or Jigsaw as they are not real, but I still get a kick out of mazes containing them.

I don't want to stay in a box that small with even my closest friends thanks! So £50pp minimum for a couple not into swinging. I'll drive home.

Same company, same problems. Has there still been no word on the fate of Vengeance? Someone somewhere must be getting it. I hope it's not us, it wouldn't cope.

If they can't afford a few bangers are they really going to find the money for a new attraction? Another year trading off The Swarm I guess, which is probably better then a half arsed/poorly funded effort.

I never want to be anywhere near anything like that, and I doubt anyone standing in a queue like that to pay extra for the privilege of riding what they have already paid for will want to go to Thorpe ever again. That's what is so stupid about it, short term cash in the bank but long term it'll get harder and harder to persuade people to go. Merlin are killing themselves with greed.

If you take that lowest estimate and multiply it by a generous £22 pp average entrance fee they took at least £176,000 that day before anyone has spent a penny on park. There is no way the event runs at a loss then, so why stop it?

Really? I didn't go and was told otherwise. Fair enough then, maybe it did run at a loss? In which case it might be right to cancel it. Still sucks though.

What the hell? Are we saying then that they ran the event last year at a loss? With the park at capacity and a few thousand spent on the bangers I don't see that could be possible. It must surely be another factor then, like the council telling them to keep it down or whatever. If, on the other hand, they've lost the ability to see it's good business to spend a few thousand to make a few tens of thousand then we really are in trouble.

I'd say not, they are stopping the train to launch it backwards, so they are removing a load of potential energy only to add it again by launching backwards and letting it drop. They must be doing it because it will be an unusual and enjoyable thing to do! It will make next to no difference to the throughput, just be the same as if that first section was about 10 seconds longer than it is.

He could do with a slap even without having done this. Bellend.

Miserable bunch, I think it looks excitingly different. The backward launch then drop to forward rolling lunch over the top of the previous loop is inspired. I love the stomach leaving behind feeling that will give, like Thunder Looper used to. Could be enough to get me back out there tbh.

Are you Rob from TST? If not they are not yours to use. EDIT. I've seen you have edited in a credit to make this post not make sense, but Rob has specifically asked in his first post in the construction thread that his photos are not used like this, they are for TST and you should link to that site to share them.

I'd be surprised if it is less than £100 per box per night. Considering how quickly the things go up and down, and that this is a fairly new company with I guess a limited amount of these boxes in circulation, do you think they will be there permanently throughout the time of the deal? Or when they are required elsewhere for big events, like the Silverstone GP where they have been used before, will they be carted away for the week?

Hi! It mainly depends on his girth which is guided for nearly all rides at 52" with both Nemesises and Oblivion having extra wide 54" seats available. But with his height and weight it shouldn't be a problem on anything really. Other than Colossus at Thorpe which is a bit tight on me at 16 and a bit stone (but a member of staf will jump up and down on your restraint until it clicks into place!), and I wouldn't recommend ripsaw at Alton either, he'd probably physically fit but it would be a few minutes of cramped painful hell that followed, that ride is not fun for the bigger build. AIR restraints are big and squidgy, he should be fine! There are test seats at the coaster entrance to try before you queue and avoid ride station embarrassment. Relax and enjoy it, if BPPB and PA have not been a problem Thorpe and Alton should be no different.

I would say that the target market is the defining factor in which park is number 1, but not how well that market receives it but how wide it is. As long as the offering is a decent reflection of what that target market wants the widest draw will remain number 1. As a massive generalisation, but I think quite an accurate one, for Merlin parks: -Legoland is for kids -Chessington is for young families -Thorpe is for teens and adults -Alton is for all of the above All the time the development plans conform to these demographics (which for a whole range of reasons is likely to be for the foreseeable) Alton will remain number 1, as it will appeal to most people. A lot of people here won't have it as their number 1 though, as TPM closer match the demographic for Thorpe. Also, because of the structure of parks Merlin have, I think the only challenge to become the UK's number 1 can come from outside the group. Some might say BPPB already do, I wish someone like Drayton would step up and really challenge Merlin with some quality competition.

Oh, grow up. It is not what I think of the target market as a whole but it simply can not be denied that with advertising like 'blows*it up' they are not going for class, they are now actively encouraging people to stay late, get drunk and party. It is the 'target market' who actually turn up, and for one reason or another Thorpe attract more troublesome members of society than most/all other parks, hence the massive security compared to the others. If you can't see that you're quite ignorant to reality and if you're offended by that you're too fragile for the internet. I'm almost certain that Alton openly said recently they don't want to build a budget hotel as they don't want to attract the wrong people and the problems they bring, but I can't find the link. It is just logical that they won't want their investment trashed and as far as I can make out it won't actually be owned by Thorpe anyway, these things are rented out so the owning company will want to protect their property. The point is, they are designed as a premium alternative to budget (camping) accommodation but are being touted here as a budget alternative to premium (a real hotel) accommodation, so the concept doesn't match the use. The owners won't want scum bags staying in and breaking their shiny new boxes. What is it about that you're offended by?

I don't think these are even suited to or aimed at the Thorpe target market. They are supposed to be a premium product in an environment you can't normally get a room, ie where everyone around you is camping you get a room (and that is where the premium pricing comes from), not as a cheap room where a proper hotel should be. The owners won't want them trashed by Thorpes drunken 'target market' paying a few quid a night, they will want to price out the rough. If these are under £100 a night I'll be quite shocked, but I wouldn't be willing to pay anything like that.

Yes. In fact I have just eaten a rather large bowl of them!

Cherry Coke is the best flavour drink for me, but Diet Cherry Coke is foul. I don't know why they've done it, it is not even trying to be the same flavour. They used to do a Diet Cherry Coke that tasted like Cherry Coke but dropped it for the horrible version. Fools. The full sugar versions are too sickly. ASDA have started selling Cherry Pepsi Max, which is probably my current favourite. Honourable mentions go to Cherry Dr Pepper, Cherry 7up and Terry Chango, but all are lacking diet versions.