pluk

Could I get a number in my inbox aswell please, I might be a little late.

That's my plan too. I'm guessing the M25 may have made alternative arrangements for me though.Please note I may look a little bit like a tramp tomorrow. This is not because I'm a tramp, it's because I don't wear nice stuff to a themepark because it gets ruined.Can't wait!!

...again.

#19 on the official midweek chart. If sales continue the same it'll be a top 20 hit. Impressive!

From the voice of expensive experience, this is the best advice ever.

If you manage to make it out of the Airport without someone throwing some at you you'll be doing well!! WH Smith, Pizza Hut, Tesco, Sainsburys, Walkers Crisps and many more dish them out on pack or with a small purchase. You really won't have trouble finding them!

As I found on a crazy cycle at the end of last season, Samurai is still more than capable of being amazing and run properly. I've since been told they don't run it properly purely to keep the stresses and therefore maintenance costs down.If that's the case I think the ride is perfectly fine and does not need replacing, as if they did replace it they'd run it just as his one anyway for the same cost reasons. Unless Mondial make a super strong version for park use? In which case buy! Because as it is on one of the 'normal' cycles it's not really worth bothering with.

Dumb question time, but what is wrong with it? Is it the same thing going wrong over and over, or is there a long list of issues with new ones occurring all the time?Surely S+S must be held financially responsible for issues which have never been resolved since installation?

That's never stopped them before!

Hi, Australia!I would say not to buy until the day - it's a lot of money to blow if the park is dead anyway and you can pick it up when you get there if it is busy enough to warrant it. There are no local school holidays at that time so if you are going mid week you probably won't need it really. You are also incredibly lucky that fast track hasn't invaded Oz yet!If your only experience of UK parks is Alton it's probably only fair to warn you that Thorpe couldn't be more different. It is packed full of great rides but it is tiny in comparison - there's no escaping the fact you are in a disused quarry pit and not the grounds of a stately home.I'm a bit bigger than you and have had no problems with any Thorpe restraints other than being a bit snug on Colossus, sure you'll be fine. Have a great time!

Twas a different one I saw earlier. Shorter, but with different things in. I love them, can't wait for this.

And what was that reason? It was superb.Just seen the TV ad for N:ST - it still gives nothing away!

From that I am now even more sure this will be Lilo and Stitch Alien Encounter with added drop. Which is awesome.

I'm not being Swarmed until next week and am enjoying reading all the reviews, good and bad, so thanks for them.This ranting at Rob, however, is just stupid. I've not seen the island in person yet but peoples opinion of these things is exactly that, their opinion. No one is right or wrong.You all know exactly what he means with something like a big corporate marquee on the outskirts of an area, it'll annoy some people and not others but surely anyone could agree it is not exactly ideal for the immersiveness of an area. The pathetic over reaction to criticism of The Swarm appears to support his fanboy theory, strengthened further by the 'it's Merlin, not Disney' mentality. It should still be the best. Again, thanks for the reviews, but I think it would be much more constructive to give the reasons for having your own opinion than trying to attack others for having theirs.

Things don't have to be new and unique to be great. With the loss over the years of Dynamo, Rodeo and Calgary we have no old traditional spin and spew rides at our big parks. They can be massively forceful, generally reliable, can churn through the numbers at quite a rate and were always quite popular, especially with me.My top choice at the moment for a flat would be a proper European style free-for-all Tagada. I love those things and would suit Thorpes style. Or a round up/hearts and diamonds. Not that I believe either of those things will happen, I just want them to.

Bloody hell, I was joking!!You're not offensive, but please excuse me if I find you hilarious.

Oh, why not. I'm ill, stuck on the sofa and bored......2012- The SWARM happens and all goes well.- Ground is broken on the hotel construction.- Barry and Stuart do a summer season show in Pirates (their comedy gross out stuff can suit any time, not just Halloween).- Someone with more imagination with me arranges a show for the arena.2013- Hotel opens on the old farm site, it includes: * lots of small rooms so couples don't have to pay for a family room.* a waterfront boardwalk with variety of dining and drinking opportunities (with a much high capacity than just hotel guests).* a return of the boats to get to the guests across.* free coach transport to and from Chessington.- Park has nothing new, but is properly tarted up. Like a medium year investment spend on all the knackered stuff, including the entrance and dome.- Pricing structure is changed entirely. Massive ad campaign that they've slashed the ticket price to £25 (or about that, whatever it needs to be to make money), no more of this voucher nonsense. Car park charge stopped, fastrack remains and as a paid for service, but operates like the old days where a time is given to manage demand at a reasonable level. No one feels ripped off, everyone has a better day.2014- Music, laser and firework show opens on the lake. Park opens late to accommodate this but it pays for itself as a lot of people are stating for an evening meal at the boardwalk.- Work starts on the woodie.....2015- The new GCI monster opens. It's a proper length beast of a thing.- Includes a wooden kiddie coaster as Thorpe heads back towards the family market, becoming more of a resort in conjunction with Chessington.The future- Storm surge, X, arena and the Mega Store go for a huge new area which includes a major coaster, a couple of flats and dark ride in the style of Spiderman.

So, they have rethemed jumbos after all.... No, of course not really. Shows what can be done with a simple little ride though.

Is Garry Williams back?

Ah, back to normal. Except 'view new content button' doesn't work any more. My favourite button too.

Arrrrgh, it's all broken!!!!Mostly get an error message, then if I keep refreshing and occasionally (one in 10 times?) I actually get to see a page.Just me, or everyone?

So this one was not a fault with the ride it seems, instead it is the park operations which have failed. How the ride op could not be aware a seat that had been out of use for 10 years should not remain out of use and was not clearly marked as closed is beyond me. I'd like to think the same wouldn't be allowed to happen here.... UPDATE (3/4/12): According to park officials, the victim's seat should not have been occupied because it did not have a functioning restraint system. The seat was not used -- along with at least one other seat on a different car -- because it was possible that taller riders sitting in these outer seats could bump their feet onto the decorative metal structure surrounding the bottom portion of the ride. The seat had been out of service for ten years.A statement from Hopi Hari faulted maintenance workers for failing to designate the seat as being out of service on the day of the accident. They also acknowledged that each rider's restraints should have been checked manually by ride operators.In 2002, the ride's manufacturer called for the installation of seat belts on all of its drop tower models as a backup restraint device. The seat belts were designed to connect the shoulder harness to the seat at a point between the rider's legs. The belt was never installed onto the victim's seat, because the seat was not in service in 2002, and park officials intended that the seat would never be used.The park has been ordered closed for at least ten days while each ride is inspected and all procedures, maintenance logs, and training practices are reviewed.

Unbelievably, they've actually started building this thing!!!And a peak of it assembled in the workshopPics from en Mower on AIG.Intriguing, I call it some sort of seated round-up/hearts&diamonds/whateveryoucallitroundyourparts, based on what appears to be a lifting arm with a rotating roundish platform on it. Possibly with a canopy to make it dark? Hopefully they'll manage to open it this year....

May be you could have, but now you've written it on here it has become a substantially less good idea!!