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Fair enough if that's the case, but do you know this to be fact or is it just presumption? It just seems a bit odd to me - too much noise pollution from little clickers, rush booming and people screaming on Colossus a few yards away. Every other log flume type that I can remember riding (and I'm sure Thorpe used to) has them out all the time, so they don't require any power or sensor control and are therefore totally fail safe. I know the boats don't move when the belt stops, I'm talking belt breaking (which can happen, I've seen it myself on dragon falls).

I've always wondered - why do only 2 or 3 (or sometimes none) of the clicky clacky backstops on the main lifthill work? Can I presume that Thrope have worked out a super high tec invisible way of stopping the boats flying down backwards in the event of a belt snapping? Or will they just wait until it happens and a few people are killed before they bother spending a few quid repairing them?

It actually is the same site, but if you log into coastercounter instead of ridecounter it only shows you your coasters. I never knew the ride part existed, so thanks for that!

Looking at that coaster count site - water coasters - yes, water chute/log flumes - no. Dark rides only if they house a coaster. There seem to be a million ways of doing it, a lot of people don't seem to like counting powered coasters, like mine trains.

I've never thought about this before, just spent 20 mins on coaster count and it's amazing how it adds up. 105 steel, 16 wood and that's without really thinking about it, sure there are quite a few more. They do count racers and duel tracks multiple times though (space mountain, steeplechase, grand national etc), which I'm not sure I agree with.

oooo, like this idea

That's exactly what I mean!!The thing with woodies in this country is they are all so old (except the Welsh one in the arse end of nowhere). The modern ones I've riden elsewhere are something else. GhostRider is comfortably in my top 5, Terminator not far behind, and I'm reliably informed there are even better ones out there. Something on that scale would be a modern icon for the park.

Yes! This country needs a modern woodie, and AT is the place for it. Stick a loop in it and what have you got? A worlds only attraction (although not first), an obvious hole in the worlds first/only stats that needs filling. But it does not have to have a gimmick like that, if whatever they build is done well enough it will sell itself. Not sure about a floorless though, I've never ridden one on that's really blown my socks off.

Disco crisps have half price vouchers on the back at the mo. Quite unusual and very handy if your going in an odd numbered group.

Both true, but a few signs could do it. And if they were really hidden away they could have other 'adult' entertainment on offer. Now that would make a revisit well worth while!

Thanks for that Sheepie, think I understand the picture thing now.Vampire was only on 1 train op, so it was the sitting in the middle that was causing the problem, feels like the couplings need to be tighter so the train moves as one. It is their most iconic ride, but when I got off the first time I was so disappointed by the overall experience I thought they may as well tear it down if that's the best it can do, and I never ever thought I'd think that. I warmed to it after better rides, but it kills me that quick wins to put it right are so cheap and easy (around the station I mean) but just not done.One thing I forgot to mention in the report are the smoking areas. I do not mind at all that we have to be segregated in some way, but I hate the way it is done. Behind the rope of shame you feel like an exhibit in the zoo, and they are put in such prominent positions. I'm sure it would have been easy to tuck them away somewhere, which would also have been better in achieving their aim of not letting the suggestible little kiddies or easily offended adults see or smell it.

Just this Monday I went round Dragon Falls 4 times in a row, just swapping groups of other peoples kids in our boat as they didn't have enough adults to supervise a coach load.The same thing happened on Buccaneer, with the ride op begging adults to stay on again and again to occupy edge seats as the coach loads of kids had not enough adults with them. We only bothered to stay on once extra because it was taking them an age to load the damn thing with the new seating arrangements.At Thorpe I'm pretty sure I've had multiple rides on everything other than Saw, Stealth and X/WTF. The only one of note was 3x on Colossus, which I loved but my wife thinks she fully lost consciousness on the last time round and then felt like crap for the rest of the day.

Nice report, oh it takes me back. A very weird and wonderful place. And I spy a hidden Mickey in your photos! Yay!!

Ah, that makes sense, thanks for that. Fortunately there were no queues so it didn't matter to us really, I bet they hate it when that happens on busy days!

On Monday two cars were going round empty. The ride op said to me this was because they were showing an "anti still warning on the lift hill". What does this mean? Surely nothing could stall on the lift hill without the chain breaking? If they just mean a stall warning on the track, ie it would not complete its circuit, what could make that happen? Doesn't make sense to me.

My first ever trip report…. A Bit lot heavy on text and light on pics as I forgot to charge my camera (idiot), but I’ll give it a go.Decided to go to Chessington for the first time in 6 years. I hadn’t realised it had been that long but they’ve given me no reason to go in that time, what with it being aimed at young families (I don’t have one) and there being a grand total of one ride introduced in that time (which I’ve been on elsewhere anyway), but me and wife thought we’d give it a go anyway.Arrived bang on opening and joined the first and only queue of the day. As it was quiet the little huts with a sensible queue line were not in use so instead it was a bundle at what I presume are usually the pre book windows. The hard of understanding kept trying to queue at the sides for the edge windows, what they thought the rest of us were doing queuing in the middle I don’t know, so they had to be re-educated. Only took 15 mins or so, but they should have separate windows for coach load ticket pickups as it kept grinding to a halt.The place was basically empty. The only other people that seemed to be there were every single 10 year old with a skull cap from the south of England, with about 1 adult per 50 children. More on them later. Every ride was walk on, even Vampire front row.Into the park it immediately felt so green, clean, well-kept and just a nice place to be compared to the grey and run down feeling of Thorpe. Straight to Transylvania of course, to relive my childhood on what is one of my fondest memories, and Vampire when it was in its original state. I had forgotten just how beautifully themed the area is, it looks and feels the same as it did all those years ago. Loved the little touches added, like the headstones of past characters and the ghost of Rodeo (shame he is hidden behind caricature man). But then the ride itself just seemed to hit me with waves of disappointment. The horrible bright purple metal queue line, the over lit tunnel into the station (I used to have to feel my way along the walls, now I could safely navigate it in sunglasses), the lifeless organist, the wonderful theme being played too quietly peppered with a shouting ride op so loud it actually hurt and I had to cover my ears, the shiny metal barrier splitting the exit line and worst of all the crazy amount of light coming into the building washing out any possibility of atmosphere. How hard can it be to hang up some light blocking sheeting or something? We took a seat in the middle of the train for what was an uncomfortable jerky flight, it felt like we were constantly shunting back and forth into the surrounding carriages, nothing like the smooth and exciting rides I remember. I got off thinking the trip was a bad idea where I would slowly spoil all my fond memories. Oh my gosh, I've only covered the first 10 minutes in the park and just realised how much I’ve written. It feels like some sort of therapy. Keeping it brief from now. Promise. Then on to bubbleworks. I don’t need to go through all the problems that make this a travesty of its former self, just a soulless, humourless mainly statically themed bore but if they could do one thing just sort out the ‘finale’. The new lights are so bright and constant, and just make the whole thing look cheap and dull. How much did they cost compared to a couple of strobe lights? Without strobes this ride is nothing.To break this up here is an unflattering picture of me taking more pleasure from the bubbleworks than it was ever trying to give me.From then on, though, I pretty much loved everything else. Fury is amazing, so much better than Spinball. Dragon river, with the exception of the horrible cheap great wall thing, was very pleasant and as I remember it. New sponsorship not too bad or intrusive, we’ll never get the full rocks back and the ones that are there have worn down to show the wire mesh underneath. It does need a bit of TLC and was probably the most run down looking of the attractions.Theming in wild Asia is stunning. Kobra is not the best example I’ve ridden by a long way, it’s so jerky and feels like it has some weird vibration issues but a bit of fun none the less.Mine train is what it is, I still like it. Had forgotten how nice the theming on Rattlesnake is, and it’s a whole bunch of fun to ride. Ramesis feels like it is trying to shake itself to bits and I can’t believe it has much life left in it.Big surprise of the day was Tomb Blaster, so much better than I remember it. All the theming seemed fresh and interesting (still strikes me that with the laser guns the fifth dimension would fit a whole lot better), the only thing missing was dry ice which I think would give it a lot more atmosphere.Loved the zoo, seems a lot of effort has been put in to these areas and it shows. Impressed with sealife too, which does not feel temporary on the inside like it looks on the outside.Rode Vampire again later at the front and back which proved much smoother and more enjoyable rides, but it is still a long way from where it should be.So, the kids. It was empty but still the new restrictions on buccaneer and Dragon River were causing chaos, I dread to think what it’ll be like when it’s busy. A lot more effort needs to be put into communicating the adult to child ratios required at the queue line entrance. We even took two boatloads of children round to try and help out. Probably need to increase the adult to child ratios on the school coach trips too.Overall the place is looks stunning in most places, all the staff were great and we loved it. But at some point they need to invest in something new and substantial to make it worth our while to revisit.Sorry for the rambling and length, I’ll get better at this at some point!!EDIT - can one of you clever people tell me how I get pics to show in the text, instead of as a link? Thanks.

If it's 10 years since you've seen it I'm afraid the only changes are ones you will not want to be looking forward to!

Quite. It's that there are a lot of individual parts that make up a ride, any one of which can fail, not that each of those parts is complex.I would asume that parts would be less likely to fail unexpectedly if they were more regularly checked for wear and tear.

To be fair, I think most people will be well aware of both of those things. That's not the point, of course there is a lot to go wrong and things will break down. It does seem to me though that something is not right when three major rides are down at once and that is not thought of as out of the ordinary. There must be a reason for this.Thorpe just seems to have more downtime problems than most parks. I have no facts to back that up other than my own experience, but my own experience is all I'm concerned with!! This thread on the whole is not about moaning though, it is just useful to know what is open and not to plan visits. I'm grateful to those who let us know here.

Visited today and saw the rodeo ghost cowboy thing. I think it's nicely done and looks great where it is, or would do if they didn't have the caricature man with his big brollys, posters and himself sat smack infront of it. Why bother with so much effort and then hide it behind crap, there are a tonne of out of the way but high throughput places that guy could set up camp. (I know the 'statue' is not an actual atraction or important or anything, but that caricature guy real ruins the feel of the place and spoils the clasic view of vampires second drop too).As I hadn't been for a number of years so it was also the first time I had seen the ex ride character tomb stones tucked away round the back and the old terror tomb guy in the queue line, both of which I thought were rather nice touches.

I suspect it's fake, but if it is real and these 'recruits' end up being invited to be the first riders I'd be mighty pissed I'd ignored it. Unlikely, but think I'll do some joining in just in case!

I thought it was just me, but this was my favourite Disney attraction there too. I was just captivated by it and I don't really know why. We were lucky to go when it was absolutly dead and I watched it again and again and really don't think I'd have ever got bored of it. It's touches like pumping out the smell of apple pie as the apple pies go passed on screen, as well as the theatre detail, that make it unmistakably Disney and put other parks to shame.Glad you seem to have enjoyed your trip, wish I could go back to see all that's chaned in the last 6 years!

That is true, that sort of thing makes me very happy. If I'd been there it would have meant a lot to me, it shows they are there to keep the punters happy and don't just have the "we've already got their money, so screw them" sort of mentality that Ive seen before (and the car park charges make me feel every time).

Thats great. I might go now then.But I did get that info from the website this morning and it was still there after park opening. They need to be more on the ball updating that or it'll cost them business, I can't be the only one who saw that this morning and changed their plans.

Stealth, Colossus, storm surge and Alive are all unavailable. WTF?Alive, fair enough. But the other three, all at once, unbelievable. Anyone have any ideas whats up / expected timescale for repair? Was considering a trip this week but don't think I'll bother.