Mitchada04

When I went in Science Week the lady from Ents said they were looking into getting some meet and greet costumes but they weren't sure if the money was available for it so I'm glad they will be doing it. Kids love meet and greets, and can you actually meet an Angry Bird anywhere else?

I'm so glad Stealth has regained position as the icon ride within the adverts! And the promo images as well. Go Stealth! "An Island like no other" is a much better tag line and is a real selling point. Look at the families having fun in the advert, and the showing of more rides than just the "new for that year" adverts we used to get. What I think I like most is, it doesn't shout at you to "BUY TICKETS NOW AT THORPEPARK.COM" Very good

http://www.rbwm.gov.uk/pam/view.jsp?ID=14%2F01251%2FFULL It's a legit planning application!

I doubt Lionsgate will cut it off as such. While Thorpe or Merlin even are willing to pay Lionsgate the fees to use their IPs then they will. Saw is immensely popular because of the "Saw" name. I think I heard 3 years for the Lionsgate usage (so next year being the last if I haven't made that up from no where ) but the odds are it'll continue. Merlin are moving towards IPs for most investments and the Lionsgate one seems a good relationship (the market research regarding Hunger Games last year shows that they might expand it further). And even if or when Lionsgate and Thorpe go their own ways it's not like they've never done a Fright Nights without IPs.

I believe it was due to the wind being strong and in the wrong direction.

Well the "Laugh Harder Scream Louder" (although I'm still not sure the local residents will like this signs instructions) looks much nicer on the Dome entrance now they've finished painting the frame and supports of it blue. The LED entrance thing (although just metal beams at the moment) looks marginally better in person and once it has the screens on it should fully detract from the old entrance behind it so I guess it's not an awful temporary solution. It all depends on what this screen shows really.

Does it really matter how long it takes them to build the dodgems? No, as long as they open on time. Why not go for the record of slowest dodgems construction while you're at it.

Love how you can set your ride preferences to ones with Fastrack. YAY! It seems to work for Stealth (which I didn't know had a 1.96 max height restriction) but not the others with that rule. Strange. It's a bit hard work to find stuff out. Opening times for a start (they're closed on the 20, 21, and 22nd June apparently?) and it seems to have been designed with just mobile devices in mind. I do live the FB/Twitter thing they've integrated into it though. If Thorpe are good at one thing it's utilising social media.

I'd love to see a maze that uses suspense and atmosphere to scare you rather than just actors. I know jump scares don't scare me but put me in a room with suspense and effects where you literally have no idea what is going to happen next and I'm a shivering wreck (when it's done well ) Given the popularity of those mazes I'm not surprised they're returning this year. They have the scope to build a new one within The Asylum building and perfect the others (like making My Bloody Valentine scary to some extent!) I think a show wouldn't go a miss either, maybe in "The Hideaway" as it's now called as that had a lighting rig and so on set up for Brainiac. There's nothing to say they can't put one on the beach again. I know they said they wanted to move away from tents but I'm sure they could get some more shipping containers or cheaply do a tent up and make it look like something from one of the films. I would definitely like to see more focus on park wide theming this year. Music is sorted pretty much, mazes are solid. Apart from outside the mazes and those really bad You're Next actors you wouldn't know it was Fright Nights. They could do this by setting up a few more horror film sets (if they follow the movie theme route across the park which I'm assuming they are) and give the ride teams a bit of money again to go and do stuff to them. When hell froze over on Inferno was brilliant and the stuff they did in the Colossus station fab. Or they could just have Angry Birds running at you with axes. That would be more scary than anything they've done before.

I was looking at doing Oakwood this summer anyway so I'll put down for that one but I could actually do any of them I'm curious as to what could be popping up over the next few months though...

Banned for giving two reasons to ban!

As long as the date is the 28th & 29th and my car feels up for it it all should be good. I'll discuss lifts and possible room sharing with people once the date is confirmed

That really annoys me! They could easily have it on two trains and not dispatch the train in the station till the train out on the circuit hits the final brakes!

This ERT for AP holders is great! Got on Swarm and Stealth in the 15 minutes provided today. I think if the park is to open at 9:30 (weekends and school holidays) ERT is at 9:15, for actual 10am opening days it is between 9:30/9:45. Still great to get in and go on any ride that is ready (all rides opened on full capacity today for the 9:15 ERT. Something I did find odd though, once the gates did open, lots of people ran to the Fastrack kiosk. Whilst I'm not against this as it keeps ride queues at a minimum for the first 30 minutes and it's at peoples free will, it just shows how the perception of Fastrack is. Those queueing could have gone to the ride/rides they were buying tickets for and done them in the first 30 minutes. And then buy Fastrack for when there really is a queue. I was there from 9:15-10:30 (to test my new car out really) and did Swarm, Stealth, Nemesis Inferno, Saw, Colossus, Rush, X, Detonator and Samurai. All the big coasters and 2 large flat rides done in just over an hour. This is how this part of the park looked at 9:45. You'd have thought it was a term time weekday to begin with!

The first dodgems car has arrived! This is going to be good

After his ride on Vampire Jack wanted some new clothes. And after some stormy effects.. He was transformed! The Pritchard's were impressed but the poor fashion ball thing was scarred for life.

Banned for not going 0-ban in under 2 seconds.

I seem to be going to Adventure Island according to the list I guess I should be able to Thorpe will be fine for certain though!

Banned.

Didn't Disney say that it would sit between Big Thunder Mountain and Barnstormer on thrill level because it fits perfectly between the two. I agree the rocking carts seem a bit pointless due to the banking of the turns but I'm sure the imagineers will have some way of making them swing more. It's also a huge step for Disney's animatromics with the projection onto the Dwarves making them seem even more realistic. Setting looks great, dark ride fab and roller coaster fun. Will fit perfectly into the new Fantasyland.

Thorpe can't build lots of buildings due to the flooding risk. They have a very limited roofing allowance. Why do you think Swarm has no roof. And all the shops are made of shipping containers because they don't count to the roofing allowance. As the new islands are at a higher flood risk (I believe) they would really struggle to get permission for a huge building on them. After all the islands were built with roller coasters in mind (and maybe the odd flat ride). Logistically the only way they could build a large building would be replace the X building and extend over into the arena. But yeah the new islands will be coasters most likely and a dark ride in the centre of the park if we were to get one.

They drawings on the MTDP were just to show to the council where the station, maintenance and high point were likely to be as well as showing how it may use the island. Other than that I don't think they had any meaning in to what the coaster layout would actually turn out like.

Love how I'm judging you in Mer's picture as per usual Jack

Matt, although you may have won empire I did a capture Peaj who was last man standing into our empire allowing you to win so technically I made you win so in reality I'm the winner (I'm not a sore loser, promise ) Was great how we were all beaten by a Wacky Worm. What a ride to win it with

Brilliant day! Queues were short and almost non existent, Empire got quite heated at times and I was chased by a penguin from Madagascar. Don't offer to take one home, they will accept this offer The rain held off as well which was an added bonus! Great way to spend my last weekend before hardcore exam preparation