Flipper

Couldn't help but be concerned when it was down for weeks into the open season!Nice to know its had a bit of a paint TLC on the platform though

Back in June last year, Storm Surge was just the right kind of ride; a light splash and a bit of a breeze - making it perfect for Summer months; but I agree the water issue has got worse and worse.What actually lets that much water into the boats? Is it the "waterfall" at the end that I've never seen work?

Hi Johnny, yes we do! We hold various trip to different places all over the UK throughout the year. All the official trips information can be found HEREHope that helps

I went to Southend on it's opening day this year and whilst the seats and some metalwork for I guess Time Machine is under the pier, it's in no way even started to be constructed yet. So I'd doubt it will be anytime this side of Easter.

They have recommended housing in Kington, Staines, and Slough for the Southern Parks. Nothing to the level of the flats at Towers though, and it's quite hit and miss to get them.

I've always found Chessington often amongst the worst, simply because most of the time you either talk to the staff and don't get much back; or they're most preoccupied to hurry you past and talk to the kids; because their priorities are the kids.Alton's staff are always bound to be a good bunch. Not only are a lot local, but because they employ from all over the UK and have people move to the staff housing to work for them, and also get more applicants every year than anywhere else, they will always be able to pick out the best of the best.I've had exceptional experiences with Guest Services at Thorpe, but I've also had bad ones with Ride Staff. So all-for-all, I think it's hit and miss. But staff are only as good as they want to be; they all get trained the same!

It is, because it's from SAW 1, hence why the barrel roll is set to look like the bathroom (I know its hard to notice when you're being flipped upside down, but it is the bathroom). Just like the guns are in a SAW film (I've forgotten which, which is bad of me), the Blades are from SAW 6, and the spikes are from SAW 7. The outdoor traps have no relevance to the actual films as far as I recall, but I might be mistaken. But the interior is entirely SAW. Everything down to the PC Screens in the middle of the air gates and the posters on the wall (SAW 2), the guy entangled in barbed wire (SAW 1, or is it 3?) and again, the overhead guns which is quite a common trap in SAW.Hence why I'd put my money to say that everything on the interior comes with the IP as it is all to do with SAW. And hence why I say the theming inside is fairly heavy

My point was that the branding of SAW probably has more to it than you think. Everything you see in and around the ride is directly related to the films; even the axes. So I'm guessing they'd have to start from scratch as every little detail, right down to the station interior is related to SAW, and could possibly be copyright to Lionsgate, meaning when the brand goes, the theming goes.Yes they could redo it all to a new theme, but it'd be a fair bit of work. Plus they'd lose the "Horrorcoaster" idea and also the title of it being the "World's First Horrorcoaster" so in my eyes, it'd be an all round win situation to keep the brand on it. The films might be over, but they won't ever be forgotten. They're still one of (if not the?) biggest horror franchise on sales and profit.

They could, but then it'd leave a ride with random block brakes (as the Billy Puppet would go, as would the guns) in the dark; in a warehouse. All the traps would have to go, and the TV footage, and the signage; I think too much would go. It would either need to be: - Renewed - Replaced with a new theme (somehow) - Ripped outNot easy options now they've started IMO

So that would make next year the last optional year of SAW if Thorpe choose?*thinks*2009 - 2010 - 2011 - 2012 *current* - 2013, so yeah. Next year last operational season under the name SAW if not renewed?

I'm so hopeful of SWARM now, seeing the effort with the water splash and the further addition of the vehicles. I think until the Plants have made home I still believe it'll look a tad bare, but I'm so hopeful this will prove all of Pleasure Beach Experience wrong, and will be nothing like AIR; and also make them all look like twonks in the process

Samurai appears to be needing a lot of closed-season maintenance again.Drove round Thorpe down the M4 (or is it the M3) yesterday and it was parked concerningly, with the "claw" vertically into the air, and by the look of it a scissor-lift going up next to it. Such a shame. I do hope it makes opening this year, was such a shame it didn't in 2011 :(But yeah, I felt it was something obvious to mention. Samurai is having work done on it still. Deterred from the brick-paving argument in the SWARM topic.

Its basically as Ricky said, adjustable so trains sit for longer or shorter on the brakes. I think the idea of it is so that you can slow down the ride as an overall factor because you lose points if trains sit for too long on the brake runs; so by giving them a longer brake timer, if you're a slow operator, you don't lose points if you follow what I mean.Glad you're all enjoying the site! Credit to John Burton from TowersNerd for creating the site!

Bling has gone, yes. It got removed earlier this month. I don't think it was down to reliability though; although it was one of the worst for reliability on park, but the maintenance cost on the ride was extortionate.But yeah, it has gone. To be replaced by a Starbucks coffee outlet I believe.

There really comes a point and I think everyone's more or less made the thoughts I have. I stand by what I said; if they had the lake and a few other bits cleaned up around Colossus it'd make a difference. Period.But on the flip side of that, would it really do harm to paint some bits a year? I mean, Pleasure Beach Blackpool have currently painted everything on the prom-side of the Big One so it looks good from the outside. Why can't Merlin (if they wanted to be lazy) pain the barrel rolls, maybe the loop, and cobra. You know, the major bits you stare at on the bridges.*sigh* The less said about Oblivion the better. I mean, Oblivion's just shocking. It's like the RITA argument, wasn't RITA meant to be green by now?

Nobody knows as of yet, as nothing has been released regarding it. There might not even be one

If that is seriously why the water is dirty, then I'd actually volunteer my time once and month to go and clean it because it's such a horrid appearance for it. I mean, like HAJiME said, why wasn't it foreseen? And with Merlin Studio's team behind the entirety of every Merlin attraction, why have they not made the small move of replacing it with something different?I could happily ignore the repaint, and oversee it, if the rest of the ride was glamorous once again to take the attention away.

How did it go Tree?

Glad your liking it! It may have been TTF you we're playing it on, but don't forget that (sticking more site advertising in here) you have more Sims, that are slightly older still on TowersNerd.. http://towersnerd.com/features/games/The current old list is: Rita - Queen of Speed (Old style, pre-Dark Forest) Runaway Mine Train Duel Duel Live (So, like it was at Scarefest) Oblivion Air Spinball Whizzer (Before the Sonic theme) The Field of 1000 Screams (The past Scarefest maze) Thirteen Ultimate Fireworks Nemesis They are all made to the same standard as RideSims too, and you can still points-score on them. I believe he's redoing some or all of those sims to a new standard and with the new points system slowly, for RideSims but I may be wrong. Just adds to your line up, but note all the ones on TowersNerd are Towers ones

Hi there!It's something that I've been thinking long and hard about, and that is Colossus. Having never seen the glorious Colossus before this year, I don't know what it was like upon opening (apart from pictures), or what it had with fountains and water, and colours and all that. But I'm sure people would agree with me that, well, it's looking horrendous.So this is just for speculation and debate; does Colossus need cleaning? And when?Personally, I'd love to see the water bed underneath the Cobra-roll refreshed. Pull out the weeds and rubbish, and clean it. Black shallow water is really unattractive.I'd also like to see the small fountains I've seen in pictures used again. I believe (again in the Cobra-pit) there was small water features on the walls, that let out a small bit of water?Then there's the big element of painting it. I like the idea of a light turquoise colour; as seeing what it was like upon opening it was very striking, but it's gone too faint in my eyes.I will safely put my hands up and say whilst I'm not a big fan of the ride, it is a beautiful coaster (or has potential to be) and Tussauds really did do well fitting it in with the bridges and path / scenery interaction, in contrast to say Inferno (very well portrayed but doesn't have the same level of interaction as Colossus). Knowing clearly that given the factor of it's build, it isn't something that would be removed unless Thorpe had no choice. So would it be much to clean it up? I'd love to see Colossus as the loud, empowering 10-looper that boomed in its own tunnels, and dazzled the sun in its water beds again, just like I've seen it do in it's young-age photos. It's a gem of a ride, but in its current state it doesn't look attractive.You might all completely disagree with me, but I'd like to see your opinions?In my eyes, Colossus needs cleaning; and I mean in the 12/13 off-season, if they haven't secretly done it this year. It should have been done in time for SAW!

As far as I'm aware there isn't at the moment, on certain rides however (RITA, X and Sonic Spinball come to mind) you can zoom in to the overview of the station by clicking a little 'plus' in the bottom right corner, so you only see the overview of the station rather than the whole ride.On SAW, Jaws, Rush etc. you can't at present.In regards to Benin and Nicky's comments, yes some of them are quite complex (designed to reflect the complexity of the ride), hence why they are rated Easy, Medium, and Hard. I don't play Jaws myself as I find it too complicated, and I also agree I fail to understand some people's patience to get the high scores. They're fun for fifteen minute blows in my view, but I couldn't get addicted for hours on end.TP1979, don't forget there is forums set up on Towers Nerd at present for Ride Sims feedback, which your Ride Sims log-in is useable for, so if you'd like to see Control Box view then put it on there; you're not the only person who's been asking!

Hi guys!Haven't seen anyone talking about it so I'll throw it up!RideSims.com got launched at the beginning of 2012. It's a site ran by TowersNerd, and features numerous ride simulations from around the UK and worldwide.It includes three Thorpe Park classics: - X:/ No Way Out - Rush - SAW: The RideAs well as some other popular rides including: - Steeplechase, Pleasure Beach Blackpool - RITA, Alton Towers - Sonic Spinball, Alton Towers - Tower of Terror, Disney - Test Track, Ferarri World?Just to name a few!It's well worth going over, signing up and playing. They're forever adding Sims to the line-up, and with three Thorpe rides; we'd be silly not to.www.ridesims.com

Oh fair enough! I'd just never noticed it in the past, so I was questioning it :PThanks

Fantastic! And that's really put my mind at ease regarding the ride having got a rough idea of that drop