JackR

Not sure if I've mentioned it before, but there is a ride operator called James who has been there for the last two years and he is incredible! First time I saw him was on Saw: The Ride where he was singing Justin Bieber and High School Musical for us, the second time I saw him was on Storm Surge and he was dancing around. Although I did not see him on my last visit to Fright Nights, my friends did and they said that James shook their hands exclaiming that 'meeting them again had been an emotional roller coaster.' If a few more ride ops were like this then every bodies day would be massively improved and I really hope James stays at Thorpe for the 2012 season!

http://seaworldparks...bcams/Shamu-CamNot sure if any of you have seen this? The quality is pretty poor but it's kinda like the Asylum Camera, just under water and filming a whale roll around.

Some official information and an rcdb page have emerged for Mirabilandia's new Water Coaster for 2012. (I found the information on Coaster Force so credit to them and RCDB)Roller Coaster: DiverticalAmusement Park: Mirabilandia (Savio, Emilia-Romagna, Italy)Classification: Roller CoasterType: Steel - Sit DownStatus: Under Construction opening 2012Builder: Intamin AG (there we go)Categories: Water CoasterInversions: 0 (What a surpise!)http://www.rcdb.com/10393.htmSomebody on Coaster Force said this would be 55' and the tallest in the world? I'd hope he meant 55m because Pilgrim's Plunge is over double the height of that. It also said it would reach over 60mph so I think this will have some pretty pacey drop!Also, I'm hoping the splash is pretty huge. This video shows an abnormally large splash on Pilgrim's Plunge so providing the design for DiVerticle has been reconsidered, the splash should be nice and big too.

I recently saw a video on YouTube which has shaken me up quite a bit. I won't post it on here, it will become obvious why in a second.It is a bit graphic so don't read on if you are not too good with blood and stuff.There is an Asian boy who looks about 17 walking down a road in the snow and about seven other who look about his age all jump out from behind the large trash containers they have in America. They kick the boy, punch him, spit in his face and throw him against the wall until he cannot stand up without support. One boy then proceeds to taking the Asian boys bag and taking out a pair of studded football boots, which he uses as a weapon to hit the Asian's face until he starts bleeding and his skin is pierced. The video is about 7 minutes long and I watched the whole thing just to see what happens. The whole time, the poor boy is having racial abuse thrown at him and he seems so helpless and vulnerable to the others who are ganging up on him. The boy eventually escaped and ran as fast as he could away from the boys. They all chased him and the video was stopped.It sickens me to think somebody could stand there and film this poor boy getting beaten up for 7 minutes and not do anything about it. It wound me up a lot to think that this sort of thing happens all over the world all the time. In fact, this is probably happening to somebody as you read this. It's kind of made me aware of not only how sick and twisted some people can be, but also how lucky some of us are for not having to deal with this sort of thing.EDIT: Save me double posting.... I was just brushing my retainer (keeps my teeth in place after 2 years of braces) and it just snaps! £60 for a piece of plastic that lines my bottom teeth? I'm good thanks

Wow, this is pretty damn amazing... If you focus on one seat and follow it as it twists around, you will see just how pacey this twist is taken. This will be like the Colossus twists, just with more of a flip over rather than a twist. I really can't begin to imagine how amazing this is going to feel when I get to ride it.

From what the video showed us earlier, this ride is definitely not slow. Have you seen the speed it has passing under the plane wing? The thing I am worried about the most is the length. If Neilfever's post is anything to go by then it should be fine, and nobody can judge until they have ridden The Swarm. I sincerely hope my current presumptions are wrong, but from what the video tells us, this ride will be too short. Also, great to see the plane has been painted. This really will be up there with my favorite coasters if I am proved wrong by the length side of things.

Looks amazing, even if you was to ride at this speed I think the experience would be remarkable but that doesn't cater for the excuse that this is SHORT! After a good 2 hour queue I know I will be unsatisfied after this ride. The ride experience will be great, but I always enjoy the experience on Saw more than Nemesis Inferno which has a longer ride time than The Swarm despite the fact I prefer the latter. Don't get me wrong, the ride looks amazing and the area isn't even fully themed yet. The experience also seems phenomenal if this video is anything to judge by, I just feel myself, and some of the GP will be disappointed knowing that they had just queued well over an hour (most busy times in the next few years) for a ride experience that lasts not much longer than a minute on it's first test, which is usually the slowest. I know Nemesis Inferno is shorter, but at least it runs the course at a slower pace, and is broken in to two main parts: Before and after the lift hill. I don't think the ride is too short (with the exception of the zero G and corkscrew) and if it speeds up it will complete the course in an even quicker time. This will be a great ride, but I feel the ride time is only main negative of this ride as of yet.

Thorpe have made their website all Swarm themed. Looks great IMO!http://www.thorpepark.com/On the other side of the pond, The new promotional website for Oz' Iris is looking great. Not sure if it's as good as The Swarms however:http://parc.parcaste.on/lecteur.html,Theming is also being erected pretty quickly. This really does look like an interesting installment and I can't wait to see a POV of the finished product! (Credit to CoasterForce for the picture)

Oh right, my mistake. Sorry Iron Irishman. :PI think it would be cool to see rotating blades as well, It will really add to that post apocalyptic feel. How realistic it would be is controversial, but I think it will reaqlly give of the vibe that the destruction has just taken place and your in a fresh disaster zone. This is all going to be so over whelming! I think the riders view will also be extraordinary. Swooping overhead as everybody looks up and zipping in and out of close scenery will be an astonishing feeling.

I'm awfully sorry but I still don't understand. Why would you feel the wind from the rotor blades? Maybe you would when the blades are rotating at full speed but after a crash the blades are going to be moving slowly or they will be stationary. There would be no wind felt from the rotor blades by riders or spectators because:1) They will not have enough momentum to generate a noticeable wind force.2) You would not be near enough to the blades to feel the wind from a rider or spectators position.Regardless of how fast the rotor blades are rotating, if you are a rider or spectator or how close you are to the helicopter's blades, you would defiantly not feel the wind. The only wind you will feel is that from the fast moving carriage you are sitting in as you travel around the helix so I don't think there will be any wind clashing from helicopter motors. :PI also doubt the helicopter will be mentioned in a Dev's Diary update. Not many people have actually browsed the plans and acknowledged that there will be a helicopter will be in the lake. I think it would be a nice surprise for the majority of the GP if they were to turn up at The Swarm island to see a crashed helicopter they did't actually know about.Also, wouldn't the helicopter have to have been installed by now if this 'rickety jetty' is to be installed? If anything, I am most looking forward to seeing the jetty, helicopter and ride entrance now. Seems strange that roughly this time last year the plans for this ride had just been submitted, and now we are 2 months away from being able to ride it!

If anything, I am just looking forward to the small elements of this ride now. I can't wait to see the overturned truck and queue entrance. That is going to be themed as well by the looks of things (bottom right): Have Thorpe actually acted on our hatred for Shipping containers, and adjusted them to look even cooler, or is it just part of the theme?

I was supposed to go out a little while ago, I'm glad I didn't now because otherwise I would not have seen these pictures <3 Looking forward to seeing a video sooner or later as well, hopefully the Developers Diary will post one from onsite. If they did we would be able to see if the helicopter is defiantly there too I guess...

On the subject of Soundsystems, the YouTube National Anthem has always been a favorite of mine

God, that must be infuriating. Especially as a car plays a large part in a lot of peoples lives and the fault of a careless driver could potentially be a huge disruption for you. I remember my mum picking me up from school when I was in Year 3 or 4 and we walked down the road to get to the car. It became apparent to us that something bad had happened, because the back or our car was in a crumpled mess after a removal truck had backed into it. The boot was extremely dented and the car was certainly not safe to drive, but at least the truck driver waited and offered to help us transport the car home and pay the repairs (the car was written off and covered by insurance) so the truck driver had nothing to pay really

Sorry, looking back I realize that preview days should be for everyone. I have no idea why I jumped to the conclusion that they are for Annual Pass holders only. Well in that case I have another query, are Preview Events usually only for AP holders?

Two of my friends got Annual Passes recently, do preview days usually cost? I know AP day didn't so if the possible preview day doesn't coast anything either, I will be willing to brave the possible mobs of people who will be riding The Swarm. Providing it is held on a day off that is...

Sorry to bring this back up again, but here is what I think will happen. I would imagine the lift hill is roughly the same speed as most B&M's, and if Inferno is anything to go by then it could be pretty speedy. The first car of the train will depart the lift hill and be pushed forward with support from the chain (which is pushing the back of the carriage forwards as it is). By the time the back car is off the lift hill and has gained a bit of momentum from the small slope leading towards the inline, the front of the train should be fully inverted or maybe even ready to descend. The force of gravity on the front few carriages will be much stronger than the weight of the back few carriages, thus the front part of the train will pull the back part through the inversion and down the drop. It's pretty hard to explain, and I'm not engineer or B&M genius, but that is how I would imagine the carriage will make it to the descent without the need of a abnormally fast lift hill. This first inversion is supposed to be very tense and, controversially it may even be the climax of the ride experience so maybe a slow pull through will do the ride justice.

True they are quite similar in the sense that they are both a roll of some sort, but looking at them in a bit more detail you will see that the first inversion on The Swarm is very different to the one on The Incredible Hulk. As you can see, the first inversion on The Hulk is very fluent, and follows on from the launched incline. It almost looks like a Zero G in a way. The Swarm's first inversion is more of a 'in line twist' as it's called on RCT3 if I'm remembering correctly? You can see the lift hill levels out, and even though it is not clear on the above picture, there is also a small downwards gradient to pick up a bit more momentum before the plummet.I can see where your coming from, but the inversion on The Hulk is a lot more flowing and doesn't level out before the descent. I'm pretty sure there was also a picture from the peak of the lift hill with the POV of looking down towards the station in which you could see the anti roll-backs on the hill (at least that's what I thought they were...) I'll see if I can dig it up.EDIT: After finding the picture, I relaised you couldn't actually see the ridges I was going on about. You can on this one though: Of course, this may not mean anything because as far as I'm concerned, most roller coaster inclines have these launched or not. You tend to see them on B&Ms all the time though, and apart from The Hulk none of them are launched.

In a month exactly I will be in Magic Kingdom, Florida. I'm too excited now!

Can't wait to see a POV for this one, the underwater section and rocky walls will hopefully make this a great ride. I can imagine what the TPR POV will look like right now...

Just found out I will be spending the day here on my Theme Park endeavours during the weeks of February. We arrive at opening time and leave after the Wishes fireworks display is finished so I will have a pretty long day ahead of me. It's worth it for Frontier Land though ;)I've been told by the trip organizer (My Head of Year) we are issued 'Dinner Passes' that allow us to eat anywhere in the park? I'd imagine that is in reason of course and we can't all spend hundreds of dollars in Chef Mickey, but if anybody knows anything about them some information would be greatly appreciated

Has anybody ever played the game 'Rock of Ages'? For those who haven't, the main character in the game is this dude:Anyways, my dream was about that big round rock rolling around after me. It followed me everywhere I went in an attempt to crush me, and the only places it couldn't do so was:1) If I was to hide in a small gap the rock couldn't fit in.2) If I hid was to in a house in which all the windows were shut. If they were open the rock would get in, if all the windows were shut however, it could not.Unfortunately, if I was to do either of the above I would be trapped and unable to escape from my hiding spot so I had to run around as fast as I could. The rock chased me up hill and down hill and I run to a local pub to find a neihgbour of mine having a pint. Everybody else was aware of this rock, but really didn't care if I got crushed by it because I was the only person the rock was targeting. I had to ask my neighbour if I could have the keys of his car so I could clean its interior, and after he gave my the keys, I drove off with his car. My dream ended after I rode-raged all the way to the M25 and the rock was nowhere to be seen, and I have no idea what happened after that because I played Doodle Jump and listened to Skrillex on my iPod.I also once had a dream that the Absorbaloff from Dr Who:Was playing hide and seek with my mates. I hid on my roof and watched it 'absorb' all of my helpless friends and as soon as it ran to my local Cooperative, I legged it to the local Bowling Alley.I'm starting to notice that my dreams tend to be about things chasing me around my local area in an attempt to kill me, and if it carries on then I may need some more help than Lauren does with her Nazi dreams

I quite want to watch that as well. Hopefully I will keep watching it though, unlike that other show Wilfred...Tracy Beaker is also a quality show. I'm watching the first episode now and I love it. It brings back old memories and now I'm a bit older, I can appreciate the characters a bit more. Defiantly one of my favorite shows and I'm not afraid to admit it

I didn't mean to joke about it, I'm being serious. I would actually be so down in the dumps! I know I can be a proper little geek, but I'm only hoping for the best I found out you can get disqualified for picking up a dropped item without permission, it's all so serious compared to before. We was doing a mock lat year for practice and one boy stood up and launched a rubber at another boys head! This is the same boy who got excluded for doing a wee in the playground though so I don't think it bothered him too much

Hahaha, every night in chat I've left or been absent so I can revise a bit. If things go wrong I will be depressed...