pluk

I don't mean to be rude, but this response to someone's rather poor day out actually angers me with its stupidity. - It's not 'your choice' to wait in line twice as long as you should do because other people have purchased farcetrack. That many people should not be allowed to purchase, that is the point and the problem. -£2 for parking is a lot more than it is worth, regardless of what you compare it to elsewhere. If they are not doing even basic maintenance with the insane amount of income this unnecessary charge is generating it is frankly disgusting. -Disney don't have any magical unlimited budget, they run with a huge amount of debt. What they have done though is realise you have to speculate to accumulate, to deliver quality attractions, operations and ultimately day out and then visitors will return with a smile on their face and an open wallet year after year. Merlin want to bleed you dry and leave you with a bad taste in your mouth with all round lack of value, then bribe you back with a deal or poorly delivered new attraction next time. It is a depressing short term view and is killing our parks, but we shouldn't moan, eh? Some people say 'enthusiast' views are worth less some how than 'the public'. That our expectations are too high and we look at too much detail. I see the opposite. If even an enthusiast cannot enjoy a day out at a park, someone who is a self confessed obsessive and wants to be there more than pretty much anywhere else, if even they can't enjoy it things must be pretty damn bad. And they are pretty damn bad right now, all round.

Thing is, I've been looking forward to having a hotel at Thorpe for a long time as it's quite a trek back home for me. But I don't want to stay in one of those, and my wife won't stay in one of those, we want to stay in a hotel room with usual hotel standards and entertainment. I'm gonna guess we will be far from the only ones who would think that. If they use this as some sort of feasibility study into investing in a proper hotel we may end up never getting one.

Pathetic. The theme park world must laugh at us.

I generally don't like being pessimistic and would rather wait until it is complete before writing it off, but I'm not so excited for Zufari. I think it is exactly the sort of thing the park needs but unless I'm missing something on the plans they are not doing it big enough. DWAK Kilimanjaro is a truly superb experience with its 36 (according to wikipedia) animals. Listed on the plans of Chessington are 3. I appreciate they Disney parks are always going to be on a different scale to what we get, and there may be some things like birds within the 3 main areas to boost the numbers, but it looks to me like a missed opportunity to do something a bit special. Coaster wise, Chessington is lacking. Something like Cheetah Hunt without the areal flying fish element would be ideal. I fear though that nothing on the scale I think the park deserves and needs will ever happen.

I am really quite excited by some of the old rides they have in storage ready for referb and a new lease of life. http://www.dreamlandmargate.com/the_rides.html

Probably Salvation at 6fmm for me, smooth and thrilling. It might be a bit much over and over but I'm sure I could handle it! In the UK, probably Th13teen. Nice and relaxing but with an enjoyable drop and backwards section to look forward to each time.

If it had risen in line with inflation it would now be just under £50, so quite bad really! There is a lot more there now though.

BUMP - I recommend new members have a read of this from the start, just ignore the various bitch fights halfway through. As my jokey post regarding regarding polls was deemed unworthy and deleted I'll post it here as a sensible suggestion from myself. If you want to discuss a ride and it's relative merits to another at Thorpe or other parks or whatever it is, why not just go to the relevant forum that nearly always already exist and discuss it there? You don't need to create a topic and poll every time you have a thought, especially not one in txt spk AND CAPS. Ta muchly.

I remember those first two so clearly. Good old days.

^ In an unforeseeable emergency situation it would be entirely free. If it kept happening police may look at imposing conditions on their operating licence such as alcohol restrictions and security staff, but Thorpe are actually pretty hot on this stuff now and trouble is fairly rare. The cost would be zero. Planned special events where large scale disorder is relatively likely are different, and the private company would have to pay towards those costs for a dedicate policing team. It wouldn't surprise me if a paid for police presence was needed for the evening club events they are running at the mo? Someone who's been might be able to confirm if this is the case as they would be high vis officers in an attempt to prevent trouble. Glad Mondays severe downtime issues appear to have been a one off.

I've done it. I know absolutely crap all about football, so if I manage to beat any of you you should be truly ashamed.

But.. without fastrack existing in the first place the queue would be a somewhat less burdenous half of what was listed. Meaning it is still the root of all evil. Don't go to the dark side.

I would suggest it is not about the country - it is about the park operator. Trying isn't really good enough, they should succeed as well.

^It hasn't got to be all of them or none of them though, has it? Of course 1 or 2 to explain things are necessary, I think it is when a gang of them are standing there people have a bit of a problem with it. It is the inside of the station that has been filth, just look up while you're in there. I'm not suggesting they whip up some scaffolding to the exterior and get the paintbrushes out. And again, of course they shouldn't go off elsewhere - I'm talking of presenting the ride they are operating anyway, it would take them no longer at all.

Well we agree then?! They should be doing these things and if they are now then excellent, things must have changed as they certainly never used to. I look forward to seeing Inferno's shiny station.

Agree with that, they should not be wandering off elsewhere - they need to be ready for ride reopening. But I disagree with that massively. This time last year you could write your name in the grime on Inferno's walls. Stealth's queueline greenery is always covered in crap. If the people safely launching me on these things aren't capable of being trained on the litter picker, j cloth and duster I'm quite concerned! There is just a lack of overall pride in in presentation which should be driven by someone in each area. Appear to have wandered off topic. Yay, Stealth is open!

Well they shouldn't be. That is a stupidly rigid remit and a daft way to run anything. Reinforces my opinion (of a complete outsider who has no idea exactly how the staffing works) that from a management point of view Merlin are pretty hopeless. Across all the parks it always seems to me that things are not under the direct control of anyone, the presentation of specific areas of the park seems to be no one in particulars responsibility which allows standards to drop bellow what I consider acceptable.

http://www.leaderpos...1085/story.html http://www.cbc.ca/pl.../ID/2265750099/ Is this 'our' old Calgary Stampede? An unusual name for a scorpion ride so it could be? Good job it went then! EDIT - Dumb me, it was at the event 'Calgary Stampede' - the ride was not called that. So I guess it is unlikely to have been our one.

Is Neilfever OK? Nothing on twitter since May and not logged on here since mid June, which is a bit odd for a mod. Shame if he's packed this stuff in after being such a prolific and knowledgeable poster for so long, but mostly just hoping he's alright?!

There are plenty of things within the ride area that can be done while there is downtime though. One or two max at the queue line to advise guests the rest can do something constructive without going anywhere, mostly things like cleaning. With the amount of downtime Thorpes rides have they should be spotless but many of them are filthy and hardly any seem to get even a wipe down mid season. When there's nothing else to do why aren't the Stealth lot fishing the piles of crap out the ponds in the queue lines?

I disagree, that fence is not necessary. It is a sledgehammer to a nut. There are many more aesthetically pleasing solutions that I'm sure would cost less, I can't imagine would have taken more time and I'd say would be safer than such a climbing frame like structure, the obvious one being cross bracing on the outside of the queue line. It has been done without any thought or consideration for what the experience of being there will be like, the whole point of a theme park is to be somewhere it is nice to be.

But if that was how all design was thought of everything would be on ground level and not move. The theme park would then not exist. We've not seen the full investigation reports but one or more thing (in terms of design, build, maintenance and use) must have failed for the accident to have happened in the first place, and could have been changed to avoid repeat. I would also strongly query whether this is safer, it looks like a great big climbing frame now, how long till one goes over the top? Other less intrusive, probably cheaper and probably safer options could have and should have happened. Safety does not has to be at the expense of aesthetics. They are not mutually exclusive, both can happen in harmony. Who wants to queue in a prison? The people that allow things like this to happen are clearly not 'show' men in any way and should not be in a position to ruin things like this.

The fence.... http://www.towersstreet.com/talk/merlin-parks-and-attractions/chessington-world-of-adventures-resort/msg16513/ Linked as these pics are not allowed for some reason? is hideous. Truly hideous.

It would appear so. Take a look at the bottom right hand corner of this construction pic It looks to me like the inside of the metal track overhangs the wooden frame the track is sitting on. I would presume this is so the wheel assembly can have a set above and a set bellow the metal part of the track keeping the carriages on there in case of inverted stall.