Cat

Brilliant! Thanks for that!!

Hi, I'll be taking my 6 year old on her 1st trip to Chessington on Friday, can't wait to get her on Vampire! Shame she's not quite tall enough for some of the bigger rides, but there's always next time! Anyway... I was wondering, is there a pick up / drop off point in the car park does anyone know? I haven't been for several years and I'm used to going by train, but we're lucky enough to be getting a lift this time. If not, will getting out of the car park be a problem or will we need to be dropped off down the road somewhere? From what I remember Leatherhead Road wasn't suitable for being dropped off on! Thanks!!

Just a thought on this, and I could be totally wrong since all I know about this is from the article, but there's a possibility that they went to GS stating they wanted a refund and were told they would have to leave if they wanted one, in which case they would have to be escorted off the premises to prevent them pulling a fast one by staying in the park while claiming a refund - does that make sense? It would be stupid to give them a refund then send them back into the park unsupervised really, especially if they were angry or upset and likely to cause a scene. Saying they were escorted off the park is a bit ambiguous really, they could have been dragged kicking and screaming by security, or the staff may have wanted to see them safely out as a gesture of goodwill if they were upset by what they saw.While I think what they saw is horrible and should have been avoided, it seems as though they hung around long enough to watch everything and have a chat to the keepers. As usual the press have only given enough information so that the worst possible scenario comes to mind without them actually having to write it. I could be totally wrong, but it sounds like someone trying to milk it for all it's worth.

When I was there on monday it still looked like an island of dirt to me! I didn't see anything exciting, but to be fair, I didn't look too hard!

Thanks for the layout pic, it's nice to see where you're going (Or not, in the case of X) When I went on on monday (it was only the second time I'd ever been on, the first time was 1999 or something) I loved the way the lap bar didn't stay down and the bloke checking it gave it a wiggle, said 'meh, it'll do', I understand why now, with the track being so simple! My mate wasn't so happy about it though

Interesting question. I'd like to see a layout of the track, there's a good recreation on youtube, but I couldn't find a layout.On the subject of X, why does it keep stopping? I'm sure it stopped about four times round the track yesterday, is that normal? I haven't been on it since I was about 14 so I can't remember!

Here is my first ever TR, Sorry it’s so long, but I enjoyed writing it!!We got to the park just before opeining time and joined to the queue for the turnstiles and within seconds were queue jumped by the strangest looking family of... well, they behaved like chavs but were dressed like they’d travelled in time from the 80’s, dodgy half shaved hairstyles included. I don’t know what the 80’s equivalent of a chav is, so I decided they were ‘retro chavs’ and hoped we wouldn’t come across them again in the park. Who would queue jump the queue for the turnstiles anyway? It disappears within seconds of opening! Once we’d safely stashed our stuff in the lockers and wasted several quid since my mate couldn’t decide which essentials she needed with her and what could stay in the locker, we headed to our first ride wich was Rush. There was no queue whatsoever and many thanks were due to the operators who made it a really good ride. As usual, only one swing was operating (the one closest to the operator) and it was going very high indeed, much higher than my last visit to the park.Next up were Vortex , Colossus and Saw the ride. We walked straight on to all these rides which was brilliant. It was my first time on Vortex, which although didn’t find as thrilling as Rush, I was surprised at how much it took my breath away, I’d never bothered with it before, preferring to head straight for the coasters, but I’ll certainly got on it again next time. Colossus was as head-banging as ever and Saw the ride as great as ever. Next up was Nemesis Inferno, my second favourite ride in the park. The area music was much louder than last year, but unfortunately no dispatch music, which would have been great. Again, we walked straight on. By now it was only 11am and we’d been on 5 pretty intense rides in an hour so we decided to go for a gentle ride on the Rhumba Rapids which I’m sure gets shorter every time I visit!! We went for lunch at Pizza Hut, which I must say I think is pretty good value considering it’s £7.99 for an all you can eat buffet. It would be nice if they actually made their potato salad and coleslaw etc, which definitely tastes cheap and bought in. Nice pizza though. No tips for the staff though since they chose to stand and glare at us during our meal.Back to the rides and onto Detonator, we waited about 5 minutes and I love that the countdown is back. However cheeky operator girl wasn’t always waiting until zero before dropping the riders, on ours we didn’t even get a countdown which nearly resulted in the return of my lunch! Unfortunately we met retro chav family again, and I was amused to see retro chav mummy’s harness was stuck shut which had her shouting her head off while her retro offspring ran round either trying to free her or were laughing at her. It was time for the wet rides next, Tidal wave (5 minutes queue) was the same as ever and then the not-so-shiney new Storm Surge. It took around 20 minutes to get through the queue and as we got to the batching area the ride decided to misbehave. As far as I could work out, there was a problem with a sensor (I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong) as staff frantically waved their legs infront of something to get the conveyor belts moving again, either that or they were doing some kind of regional dance only seen in Chertsey. In the end they called in a Rhys Ifans look alike who pressed a couple of buttons and the ride was once again operating. Good old Rhys Ifans. The ride however, was a little disappointing. Once you reach the top of the hill (I would reccomend taking a book to while the time away as it takes ages) the journey back down is not as fun as it looks, unless you like spinning around - alot. I did think however, it would be quite fun to slide down it without the boat. Loggers leap was the next ride with a wait of about 5 minutes and then onto X:/WTF which had no queue at all and broke down before it even left the station. We couldn’t be bothered to wait for them to fix it, so onto Stealth. Queue time was about 5-10 minutes. Fantastic ride. No Stealth DJ though.From Stealth we re-visited Saw (20 minutes), then X:/WTF, which is a truly terrible ride, hence the lack of queue and back to Stealth for a front row seat (AMAZING) which made the queue time 15 minutes, although I vow to never ride on anything but the front seat from now on. Also much love to the extremely happy guy working on Stealth!Then it was time for one last go on Loggers (straight on) and Colossal Ear-Ache (5 mins), and by that point I was done in. Another go on Inferno would have been nice, but I’m not sure my brain could have handled anymore so we went home.My only complaints were as always the price of lockers (grrrrr...) and the price of pretty much everything else too (food drink and sweets especially).All in all a fantastic day, amazing ride count, all rides open, staff were happy and friendly and lack of queues was the big fat cherry on top.Rush x 1Vortex x 1Colossus x 2Saw x 2Nemesis x 1Rhumba rapids x 1Detonator x 1Tidal wave x 1Storm surge x 1Loggers leap x 2Stealth x 2X:/ WTF x 1= 17 rides in total.

I've never doubted how complex the rides are, infact I've always enjoyed observing the mechanics and pondering the immense amount of work and technology that goes into them. But, as I said in another post, when you pay nearly £30 to get in the park, then nearly £50 on travelling costs, then add to that some of the extortionate prices for food, drink and merchandise around the park (I'm not even going to start on the £1 per entry lockers) you don't expect to arrive to find four major attractions out on one day, it's a huge let down to say the least, especially if it's one of your favourite rides. Having said that, I will be writing up my first ever TR shortly and it's not all doom and gloom, so I'd like to know what you guys think.

Thanks for that Marc, made me alot happier!!You're right pluk, I got that info from the site this morning too and if I hadn't already got the tickets I probably wouldn't have bothered going Monday. Definitely not good for business

Nice one, thanks Luke! Hope you have a good day, regardless of which rides are open/closed, fingers crossed they're open though!

oooh I didn't see this thread, I've been moaning about this in the planned trips thread! Would love to hear any info about why the rides are closed and whats happening.Edit: Also, is it just me or is the scrolling text on the website that tells you which rides are unavailable reeeeeeeeeeaaaaly slow?? Makes it even more annoying.

I agree Luke, with the prices of tickets being what they are, you don't expect so many rides to be down do you? It's especially annoying when you've booked the tickets in advance, booked the day off work and you have to travel 70 miles to get there and then you get told that 'there's still plenty of thrills' Yes, there's still some rides open but the queues will be twice as long. Hmph. Sorry for the rant.Luke, can you update us tomorrow and let us know the situation please?

I'm going on the 23rd (monday) and I just checked the rides that are currently out : stealth, Colossus and storm surge. anyone got any ideas why? Hoping they're back open by monday because stealth is nearly always closed when I'm there and it's one of my favourites and I was hoping to try out storm surge! I know things change all the time, but I assumed if there's a major problem with a ride someone here would probably know about it!!

I love dragon falls, much more than loggers leap. The themeing is what always made it so great for me. I haven't been on it for about 10 years now, but I'm planning on going to Chessie this summer so I'll look forward to seeing any changes.My favourite memory of it is the time we turned around in the boat and went down backwards - it was funny seeing all the ORP screens and there was ours, with the 4 of us the wrong way round! I'm surprised we didn't get told off for that!! Also the time we all pretended to be asleep, but I'm sure everyone's done that!!

I'm a bit confused about Saw Alive... I went on it last year (June I think) and all I saw was some strobe lights and not much else. Occasionally an actor said 'boo' in an entirely unscary way but it was so dark I didn't see them. I was at the front of the group so I should have had a good view of everything going on around me, but I honestly didn't see any of the themeing I've seen in pictures (like the bloke sat by the toilet screaming or whatever he's doing) it was just pitch black!I've read a few pages on here of what people saw in there and some people have said it was genuinely scary, but for me it was just like trying to find the toilet in the middle of the night!So what happened there then? Did anyone else have the same experience as me, or did there just happen to be a power cut when I was in there??

Woohoo!! Thanks for that!! It's a bank holiday that week and they're off from the 27th to the 6th. I checked a few places and it's the same in Surrey, Hampshire and Wiltshire. Some schools might have inset days on the 27th though. I'm going to sound old saying this, but they've only just had easter off, my daughter's still eating her easter eggs lol! Plus it was extended becasue of the royal wedding. Lucky kids!!!

Harry, I think the schools break up that day, my daughters does anyway, but it can vary from county to county. I wouldn't be surprised if some people bunk the last day of school, it's one of the main days people bunk isn't it?I couldn't tell you how busy it will be though, I'm going on the 23rd and was wondering if anyone had any idea what mondays are like??

They are expensive, but then if everyone bought them, there would be no point in them.I do slightly resent buying them when I've paid so much to get in the park, but I also resent paying nearly £30 per person to stand in queues all day. I only get to go to TP once a year or so since train fare is also expensive (£45 return) so I want to make the most out of the day and make sure I'll get on everything. I'm not quite sure what point I'm trying to make here, but I suppose fast track is good for people who really need to make the most of their day, but I wouldn't bother with it if I could get there cheaply and easily.

I always assumed it refers to the days of DOS when a drive was selected using the :/ command. Saying that, 'Drive X' doesn't make much sense.However in todays text speak, :/ is still relevant because it's the face I pull if I've been on it... kind of like 'WTF was that all about?' I think X:/ WTF is much better.

Wow, that was quick, nice one, thanks!!

Hey,I was just wondering if the prices of the fast track tickets are the same at the park as they are online? I didn't think of buying any when I bought my tickets online and now it's too late.Thanks,Cat

Thanks for the quick answers!!I think for the sake of £3 I'll just jump on the shuttle bus since it's usually there when I jump off the train! It's not worth losing time in the park waiting for a free bus!Thanks again!

Hi everyone,I didn't want to start a new thread about this, so I hope this gets seen! I was wondering if anyone knows if the shuttle bus is run independently from Thorpe Park, as in, is it owned by a bus company and not TP? Basically, can I use my concessionary bus pass and not pay for it? Thanks,Cat P.s. Nice to meet you all by the way!