Mark 64

From what I can gather, it seems to be the fact that the majority of the seven minutes is spent building up to the drop. And then said drop disappointing people.It is early days though, and in a way I'm glad it's not getting fantastic reviews because when I do ride it, hopefully it'll surprise me.

Also, enough of Stealth! They showed it going up and down like a hundred times. You'd think that Thorpe don't have any other rides if you just watched that show (apart from Saw I guess).Actually I'm probably just jealous that I'm not watching it go up and down like a hundred times while stood in the queueline rather than on TV a hundred miles away from the park.

I was thinking of it as kind of like the Guy Fawkes motif of the Occupy Wall Street movement.Lez Cougan was always more than one person (shown by the number of actors playing him) and it's just named after the person who kick started it all and found out about the deadly Swarm. The name is now bigger than a single person, it's about letting everyone know the Swarm is coming without fear of individual reprisal.And hey, it gets the general public involved which can only be a good thing when marketing a new ride right!

Surely an on-ride video requires much more time and effort than an on-ride photo does though? I mean, for a start they have to record the off-ride footage including the scenery and surrounding area, which (using Saw's construction as a guide) could be completed just days before opening. Although I'll admit, months later is a bit extreme...Also, it would be good if they could include a copy of that video with the personalised missing wall and shots of your house but mix in shots of your face on the actual ride too. It'd be like your own mini trailer for the ride!

Wow, somebody really loves their on-ride videos!As they have the timelapse footage from the construction site, could they include a little 'making of' montage of some kind? Or yeah, as others have said, some Lez Cougan's videos would be nice.

This is a particularly difficult issue and one that isn't as clear cut as you might initially think. But at least the NHS have taken steps in the right direction now that they're not banning gay people altogether from giving blood. As soon as there's evidence that any limitations on gay people giving blood is a stupid idea (which I'm sure will come in no time now that the ball is rolling), that year time limit will be gone thankfully.

Yeah, I know it was a long shot. I was just wondering if it had happened once when it had been really windy and rainy and maybe just hadn't made it up to the brake run and had then come to settle at the bottom of the vertical drop. Part of me was thinking that it's been around for so many years now with so many circuits each day that it wouldn't be that unreasonable to think that just once it had stalled. On the other hand, speeds of 68mph does make my notion of stalling sound ridiculous.

Woah, you'd never see that happen at any of Merlin's English parks! Here, they'd definitely just leave it to the side and never bother shifting it across. But I suppose when you have actual competition from other theme parks in the same country then you do spend money on these sort of experience-enhancing touches. And that gets my daily dose of cynicism out of the way.

Cheers Neilfever. Ha! That tunnel really doesn't look as impressive when you can actually see the walls. It always amazes me that it travels 120ft underground because it never seems like it has enough space to go that deep and then come back up in time for the stall turn. Even those pictures make the incline look really shallow but I guess there's not much to compare the steepness of the track to.

I hope they keep up the photos from the time-lapse camera cos otherwise construction updates are going to be very few and far between once the park closes next weekend...

My housemate last year was a terrible driver and had bouts of extreme road rage. She was telling us about this one time that she was going 100mph on the motorway and a guy started tailgating her. So she reacted by moving into the second lane, allowing him to pass and then moving back into the outside lane to tailgate him at about 110mph. She saw absolutely nothing wrong with this amazingly...It's lucky nothing more serious has happened due to her driving, although she did run someone over.

Thanks for the response guys! I thought it was unlikely but knew there'd be more informed people than me who would know about this sort of thing. I'm guessing they don't have to go down into the pit very often but it must be quite impressive seeing it down there when they do.

Probably a stupid question but it's been bothering me for the past few days. Has Oblivion ever stalled? I appreciate that the track is very short so it doesn't really have time to slow down that much but I was just wondering...And on the same note, does Alton Towers have access to the bottom of the drop? I suppose they must do but I wasn't sure as it is a very deep hole.

I'm not saying that they are wrong or that there's definitely not going to be a 'special promotion' for the Swarm tomorrow but... Even I could have guessed that most of the track should have been up by November.

Yeah, I did think I was kind of clutching at straws there. I hope they don't just chuck the trains away. I know I didn't go on the ride but I still appreciate it as a part of Thorpe's history and would hope something could be done with them (even if they're dulled a bit colourwise and used as part of the destruction in the Swarm area ).

I think you need to have a celebration because the Mania Hub forums are about to experience their 100,000th post soon! Just sayin', it's a pretty impressive milestone! :DAlso, because you guys probably get a lot of negative feedback in this bit, here's some positive from me. I am loving the forums at the moment*. Not just because of all the excitement surrounding the Swarm but also because there is just a high quality of posts here. I've been on a few other forums and I've never seen such a well-informed and friendly bunch of people. There you go, that's your Christmas present early this year. Nah, I'm joking - keep up the good work.*I'm one of those weird long time reader, short time poster folk so you'll have to forgive me for that.

You know, I have never been on CCR but after hearing about it's imminent demise and watching that video with it's sad music, I really feel like I've missed out. It's a shame that I won't be able to make it to the park before the season ends to at least have one ride on it... I don't suppose there's much chance of it coming back is there? Firstly, as someone has already mentioned, they'll probably just leave the track in place and secondly, they brought back the Flying Fish and that hardly fits their thrill/teen target audience.

There are probably more important factors in this decision but could Thorpe have deliberately pushed for these parts to be completed as soon as possible, even if it meant many of the other supports hadn't been put up yet? I mean, from what those who have seen it first hand have been saying, it's possibly the best advertisement for the ride that the park could hope for, direct to their target audience. And we already know how proud Thorpe are of the 'THORPE PARK inversion'...Also, what exactly is this special promotion that's supposed to be happening tomorrow?

I haven't been this excited about a ride since Nemesis Inferno!And I know it's a terrible ride but I did love the drop on G-Force at Drayton Manor, simply for the sheer novelty of starting the first drop upside down. Obviously this should be ten times better but the thought of it having a similar(ish) feeling to G-Force's first drop does get me excited!

Can't really argue with that! I must admit I struggled to relate the drawings that they released with the landscape that I have only seen in pictures (sadly... ). It could work really well with the Eagle theme in that case and could have some brilliant 'natural' head/foot/arm choppers.I still think the drop into a loop pales in comparison to the Swarm's opening drop though.

I was just wondering what it is that makes you think this about Wild Eagle versus the Swarm? All I see, which admittedly isn't much as there is a lot more work to be done on both, is a ride of roughly equal height with a more generic start to the ride (drop to loop) but an admittedly longer overall length. Also, as Coaster XTREME says, I can't see theming being such a major part of the ride due to the eagle theme.* *This is of course based upon the idea that Thorpe will be able to follow through with their plans for theming!

I still can't get past how steep that lift hill is. I think if it broke down and I then had to walk down those stairs at that height I wouldn't be a very happy bunny. Still, maybe it's not as bad as it seems.

As someone who doesn't really understand the business of rollercoaster construction, that seems pretty weird to me that they'd build it just to take it down again. =/ Wonder why that is...

Well it gets an extra two points for the headlights that appear from nowhere but loses a mark for being white - bet it gets dirty very quickly. Always thinking practically me. :P7/10

I must admit I've never thought of wooden rollercoasters as being easy on the eye, they normally just look too 'messy' for me (my pseudo-OCDness coming out here). But I take it all back after having seen this drop. Wow. That looks insane. Germany is a very lucky girl.