pluk

Suits the market Thorpe are going for, surely?


Themed as a life raft leaving the Swarm Island to escape? Could be stuck in anywhere really.

Suits the market Thorpe are going for, surely?


Themed as a life raft leaving the Swarm Island to escape? Could be stuck in anywhere really.

Suits the market Thorpe are going for, surely?


Themed as a life raft leaving the Swarm Island to escape? Could be stuck in anywhere really.

Hi All,New user but long-time lurker! I am glad you like the plaza audio. I may be known to some old theme park fans. I worked on the Swarm project and did all the audio production for the ride - including creating the plaza mix, which I am very proud of. I also composed the station loop and the NEWS 16 theme tune. (More information on my website!)

So, I am finally getting round to writing this trip report from Saturday 31st!As some of you know, me and Ben went to the ECC trip that day. We met at 9 and entered the park early, being the first to get on Swarm, woop! We did second row, right hand side, love the hangtime!By the time we had got on and off, the park was open to the public. Reer! So we headed over to t'other side of the park, which was of course, dead! Went on XNWO and had the train to ourselves, then we did Colossus, which at that point was only on one train. Slightly annoying as the queue was only starting roughly where the Fastrack merge point is, had it been on 2 trains it would have been pretty much walk-on! Seeing at it was a Saturday and first day of the Easter holidays, I'd like to think that there was a reason why the second train wasn't on, ie it wasn't ready or something, and not just Thorpe being unprepared.Next up was SAW, which was basically walk-on. The jolt at the bottom of the drop wasn't too bad on our car, thank goodness, but that last turn into the brake run is awful!Went on Logger's, again walk-on, and people were even getting to go round again. It also didn't seem as stinky as last time which was nice!Making our round to the other side of the park, we went on Mr Monkey's for te lolz. It actually had a 5 minute queue! It's fun for kids, I know, but Ben was saying how it could be better if it was a bigger pirate ship ride (forgetting the theme), something I have always thought too. But it's not something I really care that much about though.Next up...Detonator! First time on it this season! Loving that the original theme is back and the ride is still as forceful as ever, definitely still one of my favourite flats there.Got some cheeky Fastrack, and our first was Stealth front row, we can't get enough of it! The force in your face, the airtime, I can't help but come off laughing!Next was Inferno, not much to say, it's Inferno! But in a good way of course!After nomming at BK, where else to go but Storm In A Teacup! Didnt have the most spinny cup but was still a laugh.It was then time to meet back with everyone else and go into the Thrills Workshop! It's basically a building full of memoribillia and other geeky things We had a presentation from one of the Rides Managers who was also involved heavily with The Swarm and input lots of ideas into it etc. It was very interesting and we found out a lot of things, I'll list as many as I can remember, although they have been mentioned in chat before but for the benefit of everyone:The LEDs and fire effects are both awaiting a "Final tick in the box" and then they will be on. Not too sure why the LEDs need a final check but at least we know what is happening with them. And it proves those wrong who said "They will only be on at Fright Nights".The reason they decided to swap SRQ for front row was, aside from the fact that it's what the other coasters there have/being consistent, they went to Gardaland and saw chaos with Raptor's lack of front row queueline, people fighting over the front seats, holding up the dispatches etc.The plane wing had to be worked on and had materials and stuff added to it to make it stronger to ensure it was safe enough to be over the track. The blades inside the plane engine are not real, for H&S reasons.The fire engine (on the ride) had been in the staff carpark for a year or so before they decided to use it for Swarm.They are doing great with the throughputs (can't remember the figures, oops), better than Raptor.They may do a follow-up atttraction from it, like they did with Saw. I'm a bit sceptical about it, but then again the Swarm storyline is far better, more original and for me, more appealing than Saw, so if they did do this, hopefully it will be good!They mentioned the possibility of doing a 3 park deal with B&M in the next few years! But as they pointed out, the high quality and reliability comes at a price, so it all depends, but great to hear!There was a lot of other stuff, plus plans for the ride, plans for the woodie, etc. And seeing all the stuff on display in there was pretty awesome too So thank you Thorpe for giving the opportunity and to the managers for taking their time to do the presntation in the workshop :)I feel I should write more about it but like I said there was a lot, and quite a bit of it was from looking at plans etc, and as geeky as this sounds, you had to be there to really appreciate it all. Plus you've probably heard all the stuff from other people over the past few days anyway! I would have posted images along the way to keep people reading but I don't know what ones to post as there are many interesting ones, but I will post the link to them at the end of the report!After the workshop, it was time for Swarm front row. Oh. My. God. It is amazing!! We got the right hand side meaning we got flipped over at the top, very slowly...but then the rest of the ride is so forceul in your face and so eye-watering! I love how you start off going through the elements slowly then as the rest of the train travels through, you suddenly speed off! Or at least that's what it felt like, it was brilliant. It's sometimes easy to think "Oh second row will be pretty much the same for speed/hangtime/airtime apart from the view" on coasters, but on Swarm, due to the large spacing between the cars, it really is different. Like I said, our first ride on Swarm of the day was the row behind but the hangtime at the front and the speed was so much more different. It is definitely worth it, either queue for it or pay for Fastrack, either way, just do it!Luckily our ORP for this came out well with the timing, so we bought it. As I've said before, I love the overlays and the whole photo cover/design on the front and inside.For a bit of light relief, we went flying on the Fish, and this time actually got 3 laps, no people ruining the ride with their phones out!Next up was Vortex. Hmm. Poor thing has had its cycle shortened, I would love to know why as when I operated it, the cycle wasn't exactly long. It only does about 3 swings at full height now, I *think* it used to do 5? It may have been more, I honestly can't remember. Either way, I know they have throughputs and long queues etc but then again, Vortex isn't really a popular ride anymore, so long queues are rarely an issue. So why shorten the ride cycle when it was average enough in the first place? Maybe there's another reason, we don't know, I don't want to slate the park when I don't know the reasons behind something. But it's just a shame to see these things happen.At this point it was getting quite cold, so we wondered around to keep warm and ended up in BK, after I bought the black Swarm hoodie! I wanted to get the green Stealth one but they only had large ones left in the shop in the Dome and the Megastore didn't even have them. Infact, some items of clothing weren't in the Megastore that were in the Dome shop or other shops. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the whole point of the MEGAstore is that everything is in there? It's a bit of a pain/inconsistent when you don't know what shop to go in to find something!At 6pm, it was time to meet back up with the ECC for our Swarm ERT. We managed to get 4 goes on it: back left, back 6th row, right 6th row, then right 3rd row. Each row really is different, but my favourite is still back left followed by front right.The part you have all been waiting for...all my pictures from the day, including loads from the workshop, can be viewed here: http://s100.photobuc...WARM/?start=allI know others have posted from that day but please view them! They took ages to upload because they're in huuuge high quality so yeah, please make the time I took uploading them worthwhile! :blush:And what better way to finish off this trip report than with our ORP from The Swarm!Thanks for reading!

A bit of info on the reasons behind the sad demise:Dan Longley was a Tussauds Studios AV technician when The 5th Dimension was built, and played a major role in the 1988 revamp. Here, he tells us about the ride:I worked on the original Tussauds in-house team that designed and built the 5th Dimension. As an AV technician, I was responsible for many of the special effects on the ride.The ride had great aspirations and design ideas but the storyline was a bit too wordy and the sets were not convincing - you didn't feel as if you were going into another world, it just felt like a load of sets in a metal shed built by humans!Some of the effects were good, though I say it myself! I designed a laser/strobe tunnel (travel through galaxies) which you ascended up through after entering through the computer screen. Steve from the Planetarium designed and built the laser unit which consisted of 20 x 100mW lasers (if my memory serves right) and a massive array of mirrors and servos. These lasers were chosen because they were the only low-powered lasers that you could legally and safely point directly at the public at the time. They also didn't require a massive cooling system which I seem to remember lasers used in those days!Unfortunately, we were installing everything into a cold, dirty industrial environment - not suitable for such delicate equipment! These were pioneering days for us! Needless to say, the laser unit needed nursing and it wasn't clear (certainly to me) how or who had the expertise to undertake the maintenance. This was the same for all the animations, light focussing, etc.A month or so later, a memo went around the studio heads mentioning me in all but name for the ride's failure to meet expectations. It was true that many of the effects needed maintenance (which wasn't happening) but it showed how essential the effects had been.So, I trotted off to see Ray Barrett, who was director responsible for new projects at the time, and said that I would like to go down and sort things out. John Wardley agreed to supervise me, Tussauds put in a further sum of money, and I was very much left to my own devices!I worked very closely with Chessington's resident scenic theming team (who hadn't been involved in the original work). They 'filled' up the scenes to make the sets more encompassing and atmospheric, which I think was successful. We also re-thought through the whole ride, including the script.I cannot stress to you how appalling conditions were working in the cold winter months in a blacked-out unheated barn. It doesn't matter how many floodlights you use in a black box - it's still dark and dangerous!The refurbishments had to be ready for the new season (88?) and we just about completed on time. I kept a small team on to fine-tune the show with the public on the ride, checking timings of all the trains, etc.So. after all the work, was it worth it? The answer, I'm afraid, is probably not really. It was a good ride but in the wrong place at the wrong time and operated by the wrong team! I'll explain:I think we as the designers took short-cuts in creating solutions; unfortunately, we didn't have the resources that Disney would have available for such a dark ride. When you design something new it is always a prototype; ideally the prototype is tested and then re-designed and re-engineered into a final product solution. Unfortunately, we never have that luxury! The problem with the operation of the Fifth Dimension was to do with the fact that it was not really a 'suitable' theme park ride. It was a 'show' and should have been presented as such. As a 'performance artist' I understood this. When I supervised the operation of the re-vamped ride, I would ensure that all visitors were held back and I made sure they listened to the video introduction in the queue area.To assist the operator, the loading bay entrance door, video sequence, trains, special effects were all synchronised to ensure that the visitor's 'experience' was maximised, and a similar experience for each visitor. Under my control, I would insist that every train went into the ride full (try performing to an empty auditorium - it's not fun!). When the trains came out of the ride the visitors would often burst into spontaneous applause!I would train up the operators and explain to them that they were managing a show, a performance, and how important timing and hype was to the 'adventure'. I'd leave them to it and all running to perfection!The next day I would come in and the staff would have changed! Chessington employs 10s of low-paid casual (student) labour over the season, so I realised I had no hope of training them all. Anyway, they didn't work for me and they had other priorities!So, I would come in the next morning and take a test ride. My first observation was that only a few people would be put on the train. The passengers hadn't seen the introduction properly so they had no idea what the ride was about - many thought they were going on a roller coaster (and you couldn't convince them otherwise!). Worse still, the park's ride engineers had been in that morning to inspect the trains, etc, and they would leave a door open somewhere, which would flood a scene with daylight and completely ruin the dramatic effect. [Actually, as a point of interest, it only takes a single LED to ruin the effect of a black-out. Try standing in darkness in a room that has an infrared sensor for the home burglar alarm].And that basically was the problem. It was a theatrical show and should have been conceived and operated as such. And like all shows the balance between brilliance and appallingness is a fine line. The ride part is an irrelevance - it perhaps would have helped to have advertised the 'ride' along the lines of the 'travelling laser theatre show'! Well, the psychology is the hardest part to get right, or perhaps I should say 'communication' is...Dan Longley MBA BA (Hons) MAPMVisiting lecturer in Tourism StudiesBirmingham, UKFrom the depths of archived reride.net. - bring back reride.net !!

'Xplorer Central' have uploaded copious photos of a Behind the Scenes event of Swarm, which was held for the ECC: http://xplorercentra...uk/?page_id=400Here's the cream of the crop (all photos used with permission, and with thanks to XC):Roughly proposed queues, and their lengths. Though cut off, the main queue line is 450m and can hold 90 mins worth of queueing time. Nice shot of the helicopter in the making.By%20the%20looks%20of%20it,%20if%20you%20are%20putting%20your%20arms%20up,%20you%20are%20a%20mere%20couple%20of%20inches%20away%20from%20some%20thematic%20elements.<a%20%20data-cke-saved-href=The accessible rickety jetty was omitted from the plans 3 days before the council accepted them. Could this mean the council weren't too keen on the idea?Love how casual the presenters look in this mock up.. XDInteresting proposal. Very interesting the original concept was 'alien machines', and we've ended up with 'alien life forms'.Comparison between the two.The meaning of LC12 - revealed!More story stuff. Love the teasing 'in the UK... for now' bit. Original plan to have bits of theming in the actual lake.So yeah, all very interesting stuff. Explains a couple of bits and bobs too. Of course, there's more photos in the link above; mostly very good!

I'd heard all the reviews, seen all the pictures and eventually saw it for myself yesterday. I also want to point out there will be spoiler throughout. With sky-high expectations I was amazed to find that they still blown out of the water, the place is quite frankly unbelievable. The only problem is that it highlighted just how lacking in quality Alton/Thorpe/Chessington and other UK attractions really are. We arrived about quarter to 10, with the park having opened at 9 and headed to where else but Black Mamba. "Best Coaster in Europe" and other similar claims surround this ride, and I was glad to hear I wouldn't be disappointed. Unbelievably, for me, it topped Nemesis, something I never thought would happen. (This may be down to my last ride on Nemesis being poor by it's standards, but we'll see) The theming, the layout, the forcefulness, everything was perfection and I loved it. The station was also immense, with it blacking out apart from a few green lights upon dispatch, combined with a brilliant dispatch theme.From here I struggle to remember where we went, our longest queue was for Black Mamba at first of 10 minutes, other than that, everything was a walk on all day. Feng Ju PalaceSome rides seemed to suffer from being in a different language, this was one of them. Whilst the ride building was awe-inspiring, the ride and pre-show itself seemed poor. Not a patch on Hex (when everything is working)Winjas Fear and ForceAs someone who loves Fury and Spinball I was extremely excited about these two, like most rides at Phantasialand they had great reviews. Firstly I'd like to point out that even without the cars automatically moving through the station, dispatches were much MUCH faster than both of our UK examples. Anyway on to the ride, whilst I knew there were track effects I'd managed to prevent finding out what they were. Therefore my first ride the lift, and tilt took me by huge surprise. From there cars span, twisted like you wouldn't believe. Absolutely no braking through any of the block sections (unlike S/F) and was glass smooth (unlike S/F) Then came the track effects. Fear was my definite favourite of the two, and had a "see-saw" effect taking me by surprise. And Force had a strange track effect where the whole thing fell to one side!Maus Au ChocolatAs someone who didn't care for Toy Story Midway Mania, I wasn't particularly excited about this ride, and sadly, whilst it was "good" I just don't like the idea behind these rides. I think they are such cop outs when it comes to shooting rides and was actually bored by the end of it. It was better than TSMM, and the queue theming was beyond belief. WellenflugThis wave swinger at the centre of the park was an incredible centrepiece, with the genius idea of adding fountains which followed the oscillation of the seats. Also showed how poorly run Twirling Toadstool is. Temple of the NighthawkThis ride disappointed me as I thought of the potential of what Phantasialand could do with a ride of this magnitude. Apparently the longest roller coaster in the dark in the world, nothing ever really happens due to the fact it's pitch black the whole way. A shame as there were a couple of forceful sections. Even if it was outside it would be improved.River QuestSurprise Surprise, had heard incredible things and it lived up. Luckily we didn't get too wet which was good as despite the sun, it was freezing. Wasn't going to miss out on it though! Brilliant theming topped up with an outstanding ride system. The drops were huge!TalocanI love Ripsaw, and was therefore itching to give this a go. Whilst the newer Huss restraints are an improvement, they are not exactly the most comfortable. Anyway the ride itself was very long, forceful and again themed within an inch of it's life with an explosion of fire after every inversion. One negative, if your facing away from the front, the ride experience is slightly reduced. Much like the ones in our parks, an awesome spectator attraction.Sieber Mine/Hollywood Tour/ Geister Ricke (Haunted Mansion)Nice dark ride filler attractions, A nice break of chilling with various scenes directly taken from Disney rides. The sheer quantity of animatronics was truly staggering, the same with all of the older dark rides. Mystery CastleMindblowing. I was expecting a bit of a "bounce"What resulted was actually a vertical launch that felt a similar force to Rita, before various drops and other launches. Unbelievably good and the queue was astonishing. One of my all time favourite ridesAnd saving the best till last...COLORADO ADVENTUREThose who I talk to know my love for BTM at DLP, for many reasons. It therefore goes to say that Colorado Adventure blew even that out of the water. I love mine trains, it's a family thing and this was seriously top notch. Seemed the last an age and was actually extremely thrilling with huge drops, in the back there were various pops of airtime! (I managed to complete the hands up challenge in the back ) Words don't describe or convey how good the ride is, never laughed or enjoyed a ride so much. It's just a shame some of the theming had been taken out because of the destruction of the log flumes. What. A. Ride.That about wraps up the park ride wise, although I've probably forgotten a few. On to other aspects, the place was just amazing. No fake "fronts" to buildings or cheap replacements or rusting coasters or failing effects or litter or breakdowns, I could go on and on. The park is impeccable in every way. How places such as Alton can't keep standards to even half the level of Phantasialand is beyond me. There were at least half a dozen shows on throughout the day, we only saw one in the end but would have loved to see more. "Jump" was a new stunt spectacular, and really was awesome and beyond anything I'm used to or expected at a theme park! Makes me even more excited for Europa Park in the summer! I don't really know what else to say as nothing I say explains just how great a day we had. Would put it up there with my favourite days at a park. Other notes- World class theming- Group of Chinese walking round China etc, lots of incredible little touches- People in costume everywhere- Awesome theming- Park seemed packed with people but walk on queue's!- Incredible staff all more than happy to talk in English and find out what we thought, one specifically came over to me after my first ride on Mamba to ask my thoughts- Some of the best theming I've seen- One breakdown on Winjas Force which lasted about, 5 minutes?- A perfectly sized park with a huge number of rides, but small enough where rides are near each other- Unbelievable theming - Most rides being on full capacity, and even those not still were walk on.- Annoyingly, the only people to cause any annoyance all day, was a group of Irish people, shouting out very rude remarks throughout very dark rides. They made it quite embarrassing to be British to be honest as apart from that everyone was just happy and enjoyed there day. - Also I found it very nice that by paying for one day of entry, you got a second day later in the season for free, a nice gesture. Overall, Colorado Adventure and Black Mamba are now two of my favourite coasters, Mystery Castle is my favourite dark ride.(Just a note, Mystery Castle is essentially what I was expecting Sub Terra to be, albeit a LOT smaller. Quite scary with a build up and then a small shooting/dropping dark ride, why it couldn't have been along those lines I don't know )Total ride count (approximately)1x Talocan3 x Mystery Castle3x Black Mamba8/9 x Colorado Adventure1 x River Quest1x Feng Ju Palace1 x Sieber Mine1 x Haunted Mansion1 x Hollywood Tour1x Temple of the Nighthawk1x Wellenflug1x Maus Au Chocolat1x Wurmlimg Express3 x Winjas Fear2 x Winjas Force1x Tower ride in the middle of WinjasWORLD CLASS

Bottom right picture.

And it hit a pigeon!

I AM NOT GONE AWAY! I'M RIGHT HERE!

Is this a coaster or a piece of Art? Oh my

Looks like it could be three for three for the B&M wing-rider. Been reading Theme Park Review, and all the reports for Wild Eagle echo a lot of the reports for Swarm and Raptor. Here's one I took note of"Regarding Wild Eagle, in my honest opinion, B&M, Dollywood and Herschend have knocked one out of the park with the whole package-the ride, the theming, the operations, the details-adding what I feel is a stellar addition to what was already a fantastic park. I thought the coaster itself was flawless, provided a ride with just enough intensity to be satisfying to thrillseekers yet still remain accessible to a wide demographic and extremely re-rideable, and the location just adds to what was an extremely well engineered concept."Considering how good X-Flight is looking, I'm starting to think we could see rather a lot of Wing-riders in the next few years.TPR again. =)
Speaking of which

We do not have a topic for Merlin's second best opening hours theme park?! How is this possible. I;ll start us off.If you know me, you know I hate Legoland. With its branding getting in the way of interesting and original themes, it was never my favourite park to visit. On my first visit, queueing 40 minutes for a Rocky Express clone seemed ludicrous, an hour for a wildmouse that dies after its first drop? Seriously?So we wind round to 2012. Since my last visit to Legoland, I've got a bit older, that bit wiser and was willing to give Legoland another chance. One because its had a few new rides and two, the boyfriend forced me to go.So we rolled up about 11:20.I give em one thing, they've got the best entrance area of the parks. I adore the view over Windsor and the castle. So onto the first ride, the Viking Rapids ride. Like the majority of UK rapids its the little things on the side that get you wet, nothing to do with the actual ride. A shame and Chris wasn't exactly pleased with his level of wetness.Next was the Spinning Spider, not bad! Had some good moment and the staff member was incredibly jolly despite there only being five guests on the ride. Onto the Jolly Rocker, a ride which takes the adult on each side of the boat to the absolute exteme. Who introduced this ridiculous rule? Was it Helath and Safety or the parks own stupidity which has meant what is supposed to be a high throughput flat, has become a five minute nightmate. I despair for the staff who have to use the whole area PA system to beg any adults within a five mile radius to have a ride. Must be an absolute nightmare in school weeks.Next! The Dragon. I love the Dragon and think it is the very best family rollercoaster in the country. Forget Thirteen and its attempts at thrilling you by banking very oddly on a straight bit of track, it's all about The Dragon. That castle theming is exemplary, it's station is gloriously gloomy and its pre lift hill section is inspired. The air time and speed through the rides relatively short coaster section is punchy and perfectly pitched. They were running two trains and it was just great. Legos star attraction.Had a go on the Rocky Express ride (it's name escapes me) and Dragons Apprentice which is very good for a junior coaster. We then headed off to Pirate Falls which consists of that parrot just telling you which way to go, getting you to your destination and then telling you to go back. Just bugger off. The ride is severely lacking in a proper storyline and with only one drop, it feels a bit half hearted. It's a very wet flume though which gives it cred points.Next, after narrowly avoiding a camera disaster it was Laser Raiders. Now apparently this ride is hated with a passion met only by my hate for Saw the Ride. I really liked Laser Raiders. sure, it's just a rip off of Tomb Blaster (with less detail) but at least it had pace and shooting things caused amusing movements in the props around the ride. I found it slightly bizarre that the railway line goes through it's queueline. Must admit that I've never seen that before at a theme park. The final ride of real note at Legoland is that Atlantis Submarine Voyage that is actually just a disguised Sea Life centre. Lets be honest here, the joy of the Sea Life centre is taking your time by looking at the creatues. Legolands doesn't bother with this and encases you in a yellow submarine which literally goes round one corner and thats it. It's a huge waste of time because of how short the ride is. The noises in the submarine also distract you from the fish anyway. Just stupid. Much prefer Chessington's and Alton Towers's sea life centres.So has my thoughts on Legoland changed much? Yes actually but it really is a park you need to go to on a quiet day. Visting on a day with 14,000 other people is an absolute nightmare as the place just doesn't have the rides or throughputs to cope with such a huge weight of people.

This thing was roaming around Towers Street yesterday, must be a replacement for the nun that used to drive round on the piano. So funny, little things like this really add to visits.

Just going to say, I love how when we were on the ERT event everyone that was on the right hand side when we flew past the helicopter, stuck their hands out to try and get the water!Sitting in the back row and watching the arms going out and then the water following was an awesome view!

So, I popped down with the family to Thorpe Park, for what was the fourth time this year. However, with two of those visits being before the park opened, and my visit last week being all about Swarm, today felt like my first 'proper' visit of the season.With a 10 o'clock opening, and the sun shining gloriously, we headed to the park for half 9. We arrived just before, and to what was not really my surprise, the gates were open. It seems as though Thorpe are making a habit out of opening earlier this season, which I have mixed opinions on. Whilst it's great that they're making the effort and helping guests who arrive rather early, those who will be planning on arriving say 10-15 minutes before opening may get a slight sour taste in their mouths (a similar feeling that my friend got last weekend). The decisions are probably for the best and please the majority, but I won't be surprised if some people get a little bit annoyed by it.The glorious sunshine.As the park had opened early, we decided that we may as well go for Swarm. I like this little idea of putting up these signs; it just 'feels' right.Water effects behind the leftover stage. They were working slightly more in sync than before.The queue for Swarm moved incredibly quickly. It was just after the tower, and we never stopped for more than a minute or so it felt; the staff really must be praised for how well they worked on getting the trains through!The Swarm arose to the heavens.One thing which I half like / half hate about Swarm is that the near misses do look much nearer off ride than on ride. I like it because of how visually stunning it is, but dislike as I fear people may be left feeling short changed afterwards. We decided that we may as well try the front row queue out, and see what the system was like. We queued for the pass for a couple of minutes, and then we were in. As a side note, I like how they've added numbers to the split queueing. Probably makes it easier for staff if someone asks 'Can I go on the left hand side of the ride?' for example. Anyways, we were directed to the right hand side of the ride, and were greeted by a massive front row queue; it took up about 2/3 of the length of the bit in the station. I don't mind queueing extra for front row if that's my choice, but I was surprised (and other front row queuers were shocked) at how long it was. I also think there was too many from rowers put on the right hand side as opposed to the left; we had the huge queue, whereas the left was struggling to get people in the front.. Many people were giving up there front row passes just to sit anywhere, seeinghow the queue for it was so long. Sorry Thorpe, the front row queue needs a rethink or getting rid of. The dispatches were running extremely well, and at times they were waiting for the train to finish the circuit to send the next train - much praise should be give to Swarm's team! Also, as ever, the ride was fab.. Yeah, not much else to say. If the only negative point I can really think of for this coaster is the fact the front row queue doesn't work, this just shows how good of a ride it well and truly is!ORP.. :PWe moved our way to Storm Surge, and queued for about 10 minutes. I really don't know what to make of this ride any more; the boats aren't spinning (which, at beginning of season, is not good), but the water squirters were permanently turned on, which left for a good bit of water being splashed upon us. Really and truly, it's an okay ride made out of a hunk of junk.. It was also INCREDIBLY squeaky. With the hot weather and big attentions of the coasters, the water rides didn't have much of a queue, so we ended up on Rumba Rapids. Okay, it's not the longest rapids, or the best looking, but I love this ride so much - the pre tunnel and in tunnel waterfalls are just working so well, and you do get quite wet on the ride. Much love for this ride, and hope it gets a spruce up in the near future.There was also a Dr Pepper event today. The whole idea was to set a Guinness World Record for the most people in a pair of pants (I believe), and there were some games set around pants and stuff. Nice bit of fun for guests I guess. Swarm in the background.The big pants (no, not Stealth...)We headed back over to the dome and decided that we may as well get the new Annual Pass refill a-ma-bob. I really dislike it if I'm honest. It seems smaller (which people may say doesn't matter, as it's unlimited, but a smaller cup = more refills), it looks ugly, and it just doesn't feel right. The only plus I have about it is the fact that the label seems much better. Rant of the day over. We then headed over to Roast and Relish (R&R for short ) for lunch. So, pretty much you choose a gammon baguette or pork baguette (and the baguettes are fresh and are of more than generous size!), have free stuffing, crackling or sauce and that's that. I love the place. At £4.75 a baguette, or 4 for £15, I think it's well priced and you get more than your money's worth. I'd highly recommend the place for anyone who likes their meat.Being close to Swarm, the tables have subtle, yet appropriate, theming.Swarm shadow.We headed all the way to the other size of the park to go on good ol' Loggers Leap. Good solid log flume, not much else that can be said about it. We passed Saw Alive on the way. It had a big queue...I'm disappointed in how 'leftover' Canada Creek feels. There's been so much focus on Swarm side, the other side of the park seems a bit forgotten. If CCR has gone, and isn't returning, get rid of the track, the barriers and open up that space a lot.A fence has now been put up to conceal Miss Hippo's Fungle Safari. Sign of future development, or lack of it?Crazy bikes have been moved next to the Loony Ladders, opening up a nice bit of space.The new Ben and Jerry's unit by the Lost City flats has yet to open. Shame, could've done with one today. :(We threw in quick rides on X:\NWO (which still feels faster than normal, but lacks the extra dimension without the strobe lights) and Quantum (a good fun, ride). A final couple of shots to do with Swarm:By midday, the mist under the plane had conked out. Under the lift hill / drop.How the Swarm area looks now...How the area looked on the 14th April last year.And I'll leave you with that.

It's been in my head since the kids theme tune frenzy in cha the other night, it's only fair it gets in yours to.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mybg0l2Alaw
..... the best kids show ever.

You get a lot of questions answered by reading the small print, but yeah you can use them as a 16 year old and you just give them to the person at the ticket kiosk. And they will charge you for just one ticket. Make sure you carry a couple of other 241s as reserves and remember to bin the ones from last year

The ride was so amazing yesterday that someone threw up in three different places.

Here's an update folks so far for 2012 season:The Revolution is currently been sandblasted back to the original steel work and repainted...The project on the 1979 coaster is costing Pleasure Beach 500kArtist ImpressionOngoing Work-Expected to reopen by JuneValhalla-Frontage has been redone and new effectsUpdate from Sunday 18th MarchThere we go folks...Jonathan

Right, a trip report!
Well, I have never been this excited for a new ride since Stealth, to the point where I over excited the night before and have trouble sleeping! I didn't sleep until 2am before going to Thorpe to ride Stealth, but last night I couldn't sleep until 4am! As a consequence, I overslept. Funnily enough I woke up at 8:03 which is the exact time my train to Clapham departed!
I got to the park at about 11:15 and met up with Maxy, Luke and Ross, and waited for Sheepie and Peaj (went for a walk and went on Depth Charge in the process!), and headed straight to Swarm island once they arrived.The area is just amazing. At first you have the blown up, smoking fire engine by Depth Charge, which is awesome. But entering the actual Swarm island itself; WOW! I was actually lost for words! You can look at the pictures and videos but they are nothing compared to actually being there. As we were nearing the bridge and had the plane wing and drop in front of us, the train was nearing the top of the lift hill and I couldn't resist running over to watch When we walked under the Swarm sign and entered the island I was like Like I said, you'd think it wouldn't be much different from the pics and vids but it really is! I wasn't sure where to look at first but the plane wreckage really grabs your eye. We went and stood by the fence to admire it and then another train was dispatched, the view is great and a great spot to take pictures, although at the time I was too busy spectating to take any!
The actors I think are a great addition and it's a shame they won't be there all the time, they really do add to the atmosphere and it's great to see Thorpe put the effort in. One of them told us to go home, have a hot drink and browse the forums!
The rest of the area and theming is fantastic, love all the details, like the lights on the fire engine and that the sirens go off every now and then. The fire still isn't working but hopefully will be on soon!
So after much drooling and staring, we joined the queue. It was advertised at 70mins and was about that, if not, one hour. I am already thinking it is the best queue in the park, purely because it moves pretty fast and has the queueline TVs and theming to keep you entertained. The tower is probably my favourite part of the queue, although because it moves quite fast you don't get to spend a lot of time in there, but it is enough to get some photos, videos and to marvel the ride and theming. This is also an area where the Swarm sound plays quite loudly, every time the train goes past and into the inline twist. Love it, it made my spine tingle every time!
Next was the "worst" part of the queue. I use inverted commas because it's not awful, it's just cattlepen and you are on the other side of the station which means you can't view as much of the ride, but you still do have the queueline TVs and the overturned lorry theming, plus you can get good footage of the lift hill, and the station from the stairs by the tower.It really didn't feel like we had queued that long and we were back through the tower and at the bag room/first batching point. We started heading towards the bridge over the station to go to the left hand side, but then one of the female soldiers shouted at us pretty scarily to go to the right. I must admit, for a few seconds I forgot about the actors and genuinely felt scared because I thought we had really angered a staff member! This is a great example of how good an effect the actors can have!
So, the station. Let's get to the main point that has often been brought up: the lack of roof I didn't even think about it because it works well with the theme. You do feel like you are in a demolished/attacked church. Yes having a roof can have its positives on rides but giving the theme, it really does work. Plus it was raining today, so I can give the "What about the rain" opinion too. Well...the floor gets wet The trains were fine, it wasn't an issue at all and as I said, it adds to the theme. The only issue I found was puddles, particularly on the bridge that goes over to the left. Having just said that the lack of roof adds to the theme and that the rain didn't cause an issue, in very heavy rain I hope it doesn't get too deep with water, I'm assuming there are drains or whatever although I couldn't see any (but then again I didn't look out for any). But like I said, apart from that it doesn't affect it at all, just tread over the puddles and it's fine lol.
As soon as we entered the station was when I really got excited as we were moments away from finally getting on! It was very effiecent, no waiting around or confusing with where to go, well done to the staff!
By the time we were stood at the air gates I had the giggles from excitement...and some nerves about inverting on that drop! It is a strange feeling getting on the ride as the same level as the track but in a good way of course! We were on row 3 and I was on the inside, and (as I later discovered on my other rides) it doesn't make a difference whether you sit inside or outside when it comes to intensity etc, the only difference is that you can stretch your arms and legs out more. The seats are very comfy, as are the restraints. They're snug and you feel secure, but not uncomfortable. Infact, as I'm typing this I'm thinking "They're the opposite to Colossus' restraints/seats", where they hurt your legs yet you can still come off your seat during the inlines. Yes I know its good for airtime but I'm using it for the sake of the comparison.
Right, the ride experience! Going up that lift hill...! I don't know if anyone else thinks this: that it's quick, but also long to get to the top? I guess maybe because I'm only used to climbing to 100ft and not 127ft (apart from PMBO but in terms of what I go on regularly I'm only used to Thorpe's coasters), I dunno. But yeah, going up I was so excited, oh my word! I must have been grinning and laughing and talking a load of random crap like an idiot!
The drop is just...wow. When you finally get to the top of the lift hill and you see the view...argh! Can't really explain it, you just have to experience it. The actual drop itself is great, depending on where you sit obviously you either start off slowly or get dragged down if you are at the back. I can't decide yet whether I prefer being dragged under on the left or tipping over on the right, but I think I'm possibly preferring the right at the moment.The zero g, whoa! It really got my stomach on the first go!The inclined loop on the right hand side is nothing special tbh, but the turn by the helicopter is good fun, same for the corkscrew.The inline twist is pretty awesome, again better on the left and has the near miss too.
Overall the ride is brilliant fun and has some intense moments, felt more on the left hand side. On my first go I couldn't stop laughing, it's just so fun and awesome haha!
The photos have overlays now which look pretty awesome but they are still trying to get the timing right, our one was perfect but another was way out, had the top of their heads missing and mainly could see their legs!
Had a browse in the shop, loving all the merch and they have a lot of variety, I will go into more detail on that in the merchandise topic.
We ate at Burger King then went to Stealth, which was suffering from breakdowns all day from what I saw and I believe ran on one train for a while. The breakdowns we saw seemed to have something to do with the brake fins, one of them kept popping up and down randomly while the engineers were there so maybe they were doing something with it? Either way, the shutdowns didn't last too long, woo!
Good ride on Stealth, although it was raining but luckily not too heavily. I always end up laughing my head off after the airtime hill, still one of my favourite rides there.Luke had to go leave to get his train, we wondered around for a bit, avoiding Inferno due to it peeing rust on people. Went on XNWO to get out of the rain, it's a shame to see that the indoor queue has so much graffiti, clearly from last year at least. The ride has the rave music and the lights were off and there was lots of banter!
Went on Flying Fish, good laugh as usual, we got sent round about 5 times!
Then we went to Swarm and had two more goes, this time on the left 3rd row, outside seat then left back row, inside seat. As I said earlier the left is definitely more intense, back left - wow! As others have said, the most intense seat on the ride, you really get dragged down the drop and through the inversions! Especially the zero g, you really feel it! And that inline twist!
So, The Swarm: Bloody amazing and easily my favourite ride at Thorpe! Left vs right: left, although the right is currently my fave for the drop and the zero G: my stomach didn't go over on the zero G on the left.
Well done to Thorpe and B&M!So...overall, a great meet, thank you to and well done to Maxy for organising it! It was great to see people again and meet new faces, looking forward to seeing you people again soon!I will upload photos and videos tomorrow evening after work onto Facebook and link them here somewhere, either in this thread or the Swarm thread.Bring on Sunday 25th!!