Han30

Banned for being harsh dude - poor SCB! Also, since when did you become The Extremist? Banned for confusing me eeeeek

Thanks for posting

It's always best not to soil yourself in queues - especially in this weather = smelly and loads of flies about - but seriously, I have anxiety problems and if I'm in a queue and feel nervous I just distract myself which usually helps a lot Regarding Detonator - for me personally I hate it - only because I hate the feeling of dropping but I know lots here that absolutely love it. I did it 4 times in 2013 then vowed never again. I would definitely give it a try though because you never know if you will like it or not. Regarding queuing for it - well, it is a short ride, but then so is Stealth - I would see how the queues are and decide accordingly (especially in this hot weather). Detonator is one of those rides that doesn't look that bad - it doesn't look too high until you are on it (but saying that, I am petrified of heights) - it's sort of the reverse of Slammer - as in, Slammer I think looks a heck of a lot worse than it actually is (I used to nearly mess my pants just waching it!) yet Detonator looks fairly tame but is pretty intense. I would definitely say give it a go - took me a long time but I've finally ridden everything at Thorpe Park. With regards to school trips - you should notice that come 3-4pm the park becomes a lot quieter - advice would be to have either an early or late lunch to avoid huge queues at the food outlets - oh, and drink plenty of fluids, especially in this heat we've been having. Have a great trip!

Kind of cheeses me off, the amount of comments I've seen on the web about how Alton Towers should be shut down - yes the incident with the Smiler was horrific and shouldn't have happened which Merlin have acknowledged and handled brilliantly. The press are just picking up on the tiniest pointless things which happen and hapoen regularly at theme parks - I've stopped on the lift hill on Air before as well as being evacuated from Rumba Rapids(!), a slight stuck moment on The Vampire ride and had to be released from Smiler by battery pack thing inside the station - I'm a naturally nervous person but none of those things made alarm bells ring - are members of the GP really that daft or maybe I am being harsh. When people say they will never go to a park again I just think - well that's less people in a queue. But I do feel for Alton Towers because they are getting so much grief over recent non newsworthy events (not including Smiler here). And unfortunately it appears a lot of people will buy into the scaremongering

The media really do seem to have it in for Towers - they should be reporting proper news stories not scaremongering dammit

Oh Lord if I got stuck at the top I genuinely don't know what I would do - but it doesn't stop me riding as the chances of that are incredibly slim. The views probably would be amazing but I think I would be too scared to open my eyes - yes I'm a wimp!

Regarding rollbacks - I think I would possibly soil myself if I ever had one! I'm petrified of heights and the thought of the train teetering for a bit scares me a tad - hence why I like to sit at the back. I know the chances of a rollback these days are slim but in my mind if I sit near the back and a roll back happens, it is less far to travel! Oh my goodness- poor pigeon getting hit by the train! Good that it didn't hit a person as I would imagine face + bird + 80mph would hurt.....a lot! So, Planenut - how many rides on Stealth did you get done?

Haha yes! They have a gallery on their website with dogs at different places with captions. One of them is something along the lines of "sausages at sunset"

I would love a sausage dog or pug - got a bit obsessed with sausage dogs when I discovered that there is a sausage dog hotel!

That new Poltergeist film - serious question here.....was it meant to be funny? I literally laughed out loud pretty much throughout it and I am quite a wuss with those sorts of things (first time I watched Most Haunted on my own I had to sleep with all my lights on). Anyone know when Sinister 2 is coming out? Ta!

Really sad news - she had gone through a lot to try and save the leg to no avail, poor girl. As I've said before, I can't even begin to imagine what it must feel like to lose a limb but I wish her and all the others injured that day the best possible future after what they have been through

Got a steam cleaner yesterday - my life is complete! But seriously, many people have posted things they want to achieve by the time they are 30. Um well I'm past that age so hmmm, in the next few years I want to: 1) continue to improve mentally and work on my fitness 2) quit smoking 3) following on from 1, get a job 4) until I reach 3, volunteer work (looking into cat fostering at the moment) 5) get on a plane 6) get on a plane that is going to actually go somewhere 7) once of meds, learn to drive or at the very least have a couple of lessons 8) campaign for causes I am passionate about 9) I can't sleep so my brain is switching off - maybe sort out my insomnia by reducing caffeine intake

Saw had cars going round the track yesterday - not sure how long for but on 2 seperate occasions when I was in that area I saw trains going round. At one point while walking towards Samurai one went really slowly I though it was going to stall but it didn't. The trains were sat outside the station for a little while then went round again while I was on Samurai. They also had the area up to the ride closed (so you weren't able to walk past Saw Alive or get closer to Saw)

say whaaaaaa?

I thought it said "sported" but wasn't 100% sure - this post has made me laugh though....what delightful sounding articles mentioned

I saw this somewhere a couple of days ago and literally smacked myself round the head. The media are doing anything and everything they can to pull Alton Towers to pieces - they really should focus on more important "news" So, a man was offended when he saw the shirts? Christ on a bike, is there a need to start a fricking campaign? Perhaps he needs a hobby.....

Fab pics

After reading this, I had a look on their FB page - aaaand I have tears in my eyes

^^ This.... If The Smiler reopens under the same name Alton Towers will no doubt be criticized and called insensitive, if they rename it then they will still get criticism - probably accusations of trying to cover something up etc

My first job back in 1998 paid a whopping £3.25 an hour (although bearing in mind this was way back in 1998!) Yes of course staff members are going to get stressed/grumpy - totally understandable considering that some members of the general public are park guests are idiots (to put it mildly) - in general I've found Thorpe Park staff to be happy and enjoying what they do.

I've never been a huge fan of the name "The Smiler" although it did grow on me a bit. I think the advertising they did for it was fantastic and worked well - however, I wouldn't be at all shocked if they were to rename it/rebrand it when it opens again Ah nuts!

This is something I may be interested in if ok? Oh and - why the name change?

I was going to mention about him - that was an absolute p**s take and bragging on social media about getting "free fastrack" #facepalm - you have to love Thorpe Parks response though! The only problem is, how many people saw that and thought they would try it? Now THAT is where the system is flawed - the guy obviously got his disabled band pretty easy from what I could tell - made me angry when I first saw it - the fact he did it, bragged about it....and to top it off, can't spell

Without sounding harsh, if the dude isn't happy in his job, perhaps he should look elsewhere.....in general the staff at Thorpe Park are pretty chirpy though I've had the odd one or two who have come across a bit meh, they might have been having a bad day but in any job where you are in contact with the general public, grumpiness doesn't tend to go down well

I admire his enthusiasm - rather see that than miserable staff. A few weeks back I was lobbed a wrist band from the swarm bag shop - the dude behind the counter didn't even make eye contact with me