Mitchada04

I think Thorpe gets far too much stick sometimes! Stuff like this (yes it was already happening but who actually knows about it?) shows that they keep there eye on the ball and are willing to give guests a better experience. Quite a few times this year they've let guests who have left and are queuing throughout the car park re enter for a drink in the Dome. They also extend opening times when it's needed. I also like how they take the stick on FB and respond to it unlike other parks! Once again, a great move Thorpe!

I have joined with the team Cheat-a-lot I know nothing about football so this should be very interesting

Thanks for doing this Sidders! It was great fun! Really hope another quiz happens and grows upon the success of this one I'm very impressed with my 3rd place, didn't expect to do that well That multiple choice round really did make it quite close! Well done to Dan9 for winning and everyone else

No. Yes I'd like to try it once (maybe) but the queuing is already dire! To work in terms of queue it would either have to be all turned backwards so there's no separation of queuing or not messed with. Turning the last two rows would mess everything up. The capacity would be worst than Swarm backwards, the best rows on Vampire would be ruined, and where would the disabled queue be seated because having to make them move a further two rows down would be awful. Maybe they could turn it backwards for Halloween? I know a few Six Flags parks turn their wooden coasters around but I don't know how long it would take. Best solution is no. Don't waste the money.

Finally got round to seeing Monsters University today and am pleased to say it was great! I was worried that I may be disappointed by it as I'm such a huge Monsters Inc. fan but I wasn't! First of all a bit of history. I remember seeing Monsters Inc. when it first came out in the cinema in 2001. At this time I was only 4 and it was the first film I went to see on the big screen. I remember sitting there with loads of people around me whilst these huge, magnificent, colourful monsters made everyone's day. It was and still is such a heart warming film with the right mix of everything; friendship, adventure, humour, love and so on. Monsters Inc. even made me cry when Boo's door was shredded (the only film I've ever cried at) and that wonderful ending where Mike has fixed the door, Sulley opens it and you just hear Boo. Perfection! It was my favourite film for years and is still very high up today. When I heard that they were making a prequel I was both excited and nervous as to how it would compare to the original. Many film companies just make sequels for the sake of it with no idea for a storyline. Monsters University doesn't feel this way though, it wasn't needed but fills an empty space in the story of Mike and Sulley. The beginning offers a lovely backstory to how Mike wanted to become a scarer. The audience is made to feel sorry for this little monster who is ignored by the others and pushed to the back so he can't see. But after a current scarer gives Mike a Monsters University hat he has the dream and drive to go to the school of scaring. His childhood life then flashes by in photos and suddenly he is embarking on his university adventure. We first meet Randall who is Mike's room mate and he is a shy, nerdy monster who wants to be with the cool kids, not the Randall we know from Monsters Inc. In lesson, we meet Sulley who is this arrogant monster who believes he doesn't need to work for anything as his dad is a famous scarer. To begin with Mike and Sulley are enemies as they don't like each others attitude, until they fail there test (Mike for not being scary and Sulley for not working out how to scare the child properly from there description) where they have to team up to try and win the Scare Awards. They work together and win the tournament against all of the odds. But, we find out Sulley changed the settings on the scare simulator to help them win. Mike is devastated that Sulley didn't think he could do it so goes to prove himself through a real door. Trouble occurs, Sulley goes in to try and save him where they have to work as a team (using Mike's mind to create physiological fear and Sulley to finish it off). Everyone ends up fine, the two get expelled and go to work in the mailroom and Monsters Inc. To end the film we see inside Mike's locker where he has photos of there progression through the ranks until they work on the scare floor. The film ends with the two walking onto the scare floor for there first day. Of course that's very summarised with humour, rivalries, friendships etc. occurring throughout the whole film. Overall, a great film that gives a great backstory to Monsters Inc. I could nit pick at how Mike and Sulley are meant to have been best friends from a very young age etc. but it really doesn't matter or affect the film. I still prefer Monsters Inc. and always will but that's helped by the sentimental value it has to me. I give Monsters University an 8.5

I don't know if anyone else has noticed but the ticket price has gone up recently (probably beginning of summer) to £45.60 from £43.20 earlier in the season. There are loads of deals around though and until Friday Thorpe are offering tickets brought online for only £20!

Couldn't agree more Matt! Having a separate queue is just a mess and both queues move so slowly now! It would be better just to all queue together then decide in the station where you want to sit, much like front row systems. I also think they should just do away with the bag room (I know they won't but still). At Summer Nights it worked so well just plonking your bag down next to the air gate in the station. If they were to put two of those coffin style boxes they have on Rush, Slammer and so on by each air gate it would be so easy. And there'd be no delay getting your bag like on Colossus as it'd only be 2 people going to each box. Then you could leave the station and maybe get to view your on ride photo and spend more money. Simple.

Slammer update and yes, it is still closed. It has also vanished from the two queue line boards completely and the website has been updated on the Slammer page to say One positive though, it still has all of its signage up which is a good sign that it will re open.

I didn't know I was holding the lead at one point so it's nice to find out I was It's very close near the top so this should indeed be very interesting! It was great fun to do and I hope another quiz happens Thanks very much for doing this Sidders

The park was very busy today but I still had fun (probably helped by the people I was with). Longest queues were 120 minutes for The Swarm (either way) and Storm Surge (?!) Saw and Colossus reached 90 but wouldn't be surprised if that was nearer 120 with Stealth and Inferno hovering around the hour mark. Even the family rides were busy with a 20/30 minute queue for Fish, 10 minute queue for Teacups and Banana Boat. There were definitely a lot more families on park which was great to see and Fastrack was reasonable with no on the entrance sellers trying to force you to buy it. Overall not a bad day and great to see the park busy.

http://www.parkworld-online.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/2503/The_story_of_The_Smiler.html Great interview here with Ben Dowson (creative lead of Resort Theme Parks for Merlin Entertainments) about The Smiler.

Banned because if I don't do it the 'banning king' will.

I'm glad to see that Hocus Pocus Bewitched is getting re done. It was good but getting very repetitive and the fact it's been created by the team who did Haunting in The Hollows excites me as that was brilliant (for its target audience). It had a solid story line, high capacity, great simple effects, and the fog maze at the end showed they weren't scared of doing something more scary. From the press release Haunting in The Hollows has a 3 bat rating (scary) and The Mystery of Hocus Pocus Hall has 2. There is so much potential with Hocus Pocus Hall due to its size so a great story line could be created and stick a load of fog in the mirror maze will lead to a great potential ending. All of this is very exciting as I love Chessie's Halloween event, the atmosphere is superb with the great lighting (as DeanGaryCox said) and simple park wide theming. Also the full poster for The Mystery of Hocus Pocus Hall has been revealed by ScareTOUR

I didn't miss that part, it had already been mentioned

Other than summer nights and MoS it says every day in August so I'd guess so

From Thorpe's website (the opening times part). This is just what the UK needs! Plus it's nice to see them working with the fact there is major roadworks going on on the Twynersh roundabout (Chertsey end) leading to a 4 way traffic light control which is causing chaos at peak times. I'm curious as to what the rides will be but this is still great news!

All of this sounds very exciting and I'm looking forward to what the park do! A tiny bit of speculation here but from this part of the 'Job Description' Is Fright Nights going to start a weekend earlier as at the moment the first Friday, Saturday, Sunday (4th,5th, and 6th) is usual operating hours (10-5/6). And will the 10-8 close on the 3rd (and 4th) which I guess was for the possibility of fireworks become a 10-9 close for Fright Nights. If this does indeed mean more Fright Nights dates then yay

Adventure World is a small theme park in Perth Australia that is getting something rather large for November this year. A Gerstlauer Eurofighter which will be almost identical in layout to Saw. The guy from Adventure World clearly loves Saw as he has ridden it a few times and feels it will offer a great thrilling experience. A little video on the new ride, some nice clips of Saw plus the music, and a look at the manufacturing process at Gerstlauer. The indoor section (I'm guessing it will be enclosed) is already complete and does replicate Saw's (pictures from Adventure World's FB page). All very interesting and if they can make it so that there is no jolt this will be a great ride (which I'm beginning to find with Saw). The theme is unknown but going by this piece of promo I'd say it will be a dark theme of some sorts. I am looking forward to see how this project progresses.

This morning wasn't too bad but that's just because of the way we did the park. Swarm, Inferno, and Colossus were all on one train at opening with Stealth and Saw at full capacity. At 11 Inferno was still on one car with the first extension queue nearly needed and from how frequent Swarm was going I'd say that was still on one train. Colossus was on two by 10:30 but the damage had already been done and a 45 minute queue reached. Saw was only 10 minutes at this point though a long with X, the water rides, and most flats being walk on. Storm Surge was dead a long with Slammer. Can't report on how bad it was this afternoon but I doubt queues exceeded an hour (if Swarm and Inferno finally put a second train on).

Theoretically this (and last week) is the quiet week. Can't say for sure though as the weather is looking lovely on Thursday! I'm there tomorrow morning so shall report back on how busy it was

Detonator was open and walk on around 5 so naturally we rode it twice in a row. Couldn't agree more about The Swarm Han, had forgotten how amazing it is in the dark!

This is all Intamin's fault. Had Rita's cable not snapped we wouldn't have got 13 as a replacement. Had 13 not had a stupid rule about the number of riders and being down the last few days it would have been a good replacement. Wretched Intamin! Fingers crossed they return Oblivion to the list for next year.

I was hoping to have something on the Ice Cream thing as well but that didn't seem to materialise so these two pictures of the only 'snowy' thing they had shall have to do. Max and Jack are excited for Stealth to set of the snow... But they are unimpressed when it doesn't happen and Max takes it out on poor Mr Snowman After our wonderful picnic provided by Jack (no pictures because it was so amazing) we waited for Styles. Max was going for the creepy look and doing it very well And Jack's going for the "hey I'm Jack, please be my friend" look In an attempt to not have to look at the Crash Pad Max uses his super cool shades and the backwards walk And it worked so he celebrates. And hey Detty Storm Surge ruining yet another picture to be taken at Thorpe. But Stealth knows how to get out of its way The Swarm in darkness And how the queue looked (and was on all the rides) And here's a nice group shot of Styles, Jack, and Max enjoying their free ponchos, towels, and hot chocolate. It was a great afternoon/night with great people! Thanks for reading

I loved the event last night! Yes the gap between park close and re open was a bit sketchy but this won't happen next week as it's a 7pm close. We got a great ride count for the 3 hours even with a long delay on Saw. Definitely worth the £5. All of the staff were brilliant and cheerful even in the rain. Especially the staff on Inferno who would turn of the lights in the station with the platformers waving torches to make it like a night club! Loved The Noise playing throughout the park as it gave the feeling of a party atmosphere which is what I wanted. Credit to the park for also offering a variety of free options to return (either a ticket for next weekend or an open ended ticket) due to the rain which apparently led to the rides shutting down. If anything they were down for 15 minutes at most. Great event and would love to do it again, just a shame that they are struggling to sell tickets. Ride count was: Saw- 1.5 Colossus- 2 X- 2 Inferno- 3 Stealth- 3 The Swarm- 6 (1 backwards)

Had a very enjoyable 1.5 rides on Saw during Summer Nights. The first ride was really smooth, it only hurt because of the heavy rain. Our second go was even better, we got the best part of the ride (the inside section) then had to be evaced through maintenance. We got stuck on the transfer track with a car in front of us stuck under the TV screens. Because of this, they couldn't get a ladder to us to get down without having to move the train. So, we were the first ever people to go backwards on Saw Then the maintenance building is amazing! 2 cars were sitting in there as only 6 were in use. They have loads of designs on the walls for the brakes, wheel assemblies etc. plus loads of wheels. For nerds like we were it was very exciting and made up for the fact we were stuck in the pouring rain for 30 minutes! Of course I took some photos (which the staff knew I was doing and didn't stop me). Jack enjoying the rain The car in front It really looks quite tall from this perspective Max enjoying his free poncho, towel and standing so close to a Saw car Some wheels that are actually round! The staff were also great at keeping everyone calm (especially the people in the car in front who were quite scared) and us entertained whilst we were waiting for the engineers to work out how to get us of. They were very efficient in trying to keep us dry and even made it so that we got a free hot drink each and asking us how we were when they saw us around the park. Yes it wasted nearly 50 minutes of our night but it was great fun!