stretchy

NEVER BELIEVE MARKETING - Whenever I see any marketing I think back to Thirteens campaign. "Ride into the Unknown" and "Surrender in March 2010" were both used on banners around the area. Sounds scary. It was also 'leaked' that the ride was so intense that people would have to sign waivers before riding. even on WIKI it states Compare that with what we actually got, which was a really fun family coaster that gets most of the train lauging and regularly gets applause from members of the public. OK 13 was an extreme deviation and the park (or more particularly Morwena) got quite a strong backlash from fans for the disparity between reality and expectation, but it does serve to proove that what marketing say and what is real is often not even in the same themepark.

Most unique? obviously IKEA the ride is now confirmed.

What is the swimming pool like Altitude? Does it serve Guinness in the bar? I'm not staying there unless it has a nice pool and serves Guinness. (It if serves Guinness in the atcual pool then I'm sold on staying in your virtual hotel.)

NDA (Non Disclosure Agreements) are normal with Merlin. In fact I am often supprised when people like "scruffy dog" posts on twitter the pictures of things they are doing for fright nights.

Mind the gap is on the floor in most tube stations

Rootbeer by choice but in the uk I have always gone for Corrange since I was a teen (Half coke, half orange)

IKEA the ride. Well its a worlds first, I think

Ok a year late, but Pluk asked what that first picture was. It is a dragon made out of wheel hubs that was like a huge drum and breathed fire. There is an art group in Stoke that used it quite a bit. Some more pics of it on 2 different days at https://goo.gl/photos/PYKsSNPkgnH9oFF7A and https://goo.gl/photos/TyrxUoi3M4cH2nzy8 I thought I would post a few more of the pics I quite like of mine to revive this a bit. With Frightnights and Scarefest coming up, its a perfect time to get some cool sunset and night pics. None of the following have been photoshoped. Lets start with The Big One at Blackpool, sunset makes coasters look wiked. You get a sense of speed mixed with total chillness. This was taken a couple of weeks ago when Mr Fish and myself decided to go an buy a wheel for Matt. But at night you can play with long exposure, e.g. Ripsaw at Towers - Yes those are some of the nerds on that you can just about make out sitting on Ripsaw. My camera isnt that good at night shots though, it gets too grainy even at lower iso values with long exposures. And a tree on the lawn at Alton Towers after the fireworks diplay last year.

how about answering this with some pics. These are my 2013 pics from the opening night of frightnights https://goo.gl/photos/zT3eugTzChymppKH6 and a couple of shameless plugs to the lives we tend to do over at TN, They will give you quite an idea of the lighting of the areas and also what the mazes were like. Last years TN live http://live.towersnerd.com/?event=47 2013 TN Live http://live.towersnerd.com/?event=42

Couple of pics from yesterday lighting mounts in the moat A look inside the misplaced door A workman taking what looked like metal cable frames into the towers. (either that or doing the birdy song) A closeup and less blurred look at the metal cable framing A couple around the crates with some horrendous lens flairs but I was uber hungover so this was how the world looked on Sunday.

regarding most intense ending of all uk parks

Tbh when Broome had towers there weren't that many big rides. It was only after selling did the biggies get put in.

regarding the photoshopping: I think I am with ElectricBill on this but slightly more insensed. Minor rant ahead. The main problem, that I can see with not only Merlin but possably the british attitude to a lot of things is the statement 'ohh that will do'. It is the acceptance of poor-medeocre as being of merit (only way is essex for example). Merlin has, supposedly, a world leading team of designers and creators, designing and creating every aspect of your theme park experience. If something is released as a publicity image then it should be at least good if not exceptional. It should convey the whole attraction. If this were a cartoon based attraction where the style was badly cut out birds then this would be fine. It is a horror maze and meant to be forboding. So when I saw that image, all I saw was the badly cut out and scaled birds, and not a moody and tantalising tit bit. So what went through my head was 'oh come on, if this is the standard the maze is going to take then I am not sure I can be bothered to go." So in summery I wil just shout - Oy Merlin... Alton Towers is meant to be the UK's Premier Theme park. Come on, start acting like you are advertising it as such and not your mates back garden BBQ.

that is the worst Photoshopping I have seen in a while (the towers one not the excellent Hitchcock film screen cap ).

Towers and particularly Nemesis back in 94. Before that I was like, "meh, theme parks are a fun distraction" but I can take them or leave them. Nemesis made it personal.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/dismaland-bemusement-park-3-each-under-5s-free-2267719 there is a £1off entry voucher on there if anyone is near and fancies going. Edit Dismaland website is down I wonder if this is part of the thing Edit 2 Below is some pics and talk from the "attraction" http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/08/dismaland/

Alton have done a 2 hour - 5 room escape room for scarefest, so no reason why Thorpe couldn't, even though Saw might be a bit of a common sense nightmare with people trying to cut into themselves in search of a misunderstood clue.

YourDay was a terrable implementaion. It simply didn't work, but yes, I think YourDay for 2015 was at the back of my mind

Did you realise that artist Banksey was opening up his own theme park and take on Disneyland this weekend in Weston Super Mare. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/17/inside-dismaland-banksy-s-sinister-disney-trolling-theme-park-reportedly-opening-this-weekend.html

I personally think that ALL rides should have the ability to get on ride imagery (even T cups). I think DVD is the wrong format. What the industry needs is someone to take a fresh approoach. The problem with dvd's is that suppliers seem to think that you need to have an edited experience, when most people I know want simply 2 views, one looking at them, one looking where they are looking. OK put an intro at the start and at the end but simply show the ride, in it's entirity, from the point where you board the car to the point when you leave the car. DVD as a medium, though, is so 1990's. How it should work? option 1, at the park 1) I ride a ride 2) As I leave a ride I tap my phone against something. It detects my face and then searches the last few rides footage for me, (including any footage in the queue and station). It then compiles all this footage into a video list for me and puts them on a web page. It processes my purchase for the video using apple pay or android pay and then sends an email link to my apple/android account to the list of videos. 3) I watch at my leasure option 2. at home 1) I get home, upload a photo of myself and it scans for me in all video of the selected rides and gives me a list of times. I can purchase vids of any of those, or maybe my whole day. The rest works like above. OK the data behind this is huge, but storage is cheep. The privacy issue it creates are also immense(the park and any of thier affiliates can basically track which rides you have ridden), but this kind of tech is already in opperation at music festivals so why not at theme parks. The thing is, if this is done cleverly, the whole park can be video'd and it can not only be used for this but also for crime prevention.( Bag thefts would be a thing of the past )

Had a fun time on the trip. Excellent seeing you all again. My pics at the link below https://plus.google.com/photos/106418309379254557984/albums/6183891601407588721?authkey=CIXQtsL6r6jkrAE Group Pic - Oakwood Favorite Expression of the trip Dr Who Group Photo

There isn't much information ChessingtonSam at the moment. Ride staff think the ride will be open till the end of the season, so they are expecting everything to happen close season. I would expect some teasers around scarefest time, but not much else till then.

She seems a really nice person. And what really surprised me is how well she seems to be coping with the whole situation. I am not sure I would be any where near as grounded and rational as she is. Respect!

Double post sorry, but time has passed.. Some construction happened today whilst I was on park. not sure what to make of it, it looks like something is getting a new entrance or exit or maybe emergency exit.

WHAT!!! Booooooooo (re Tours sold out) 10-10:30 entry is good for our car. (assuming we can find parking for the day.