Matt 236

I'm really liking the colour scheme here, the blood red colour looks beautiful.

Tbh like most coasters (at the Merlin parks), the coaster doesn't look as fresh,new or awesome as it used to be, plus the ride's red supports are fading as well as the track getting more brown marks and could perhaps do with a paint job in the next years (not that it probably will).

For me, Worst roller coaster/ Go Gator Worst water ride Storm Surge

Judging by that phrase on Thorpe's face book, I think it may mean one of the following. 1/ scare actors riding Saw 2/ Actors placed around Saw 3/ Saw will have trains. Going backwards (which may be a lengthily, random and perhaps pointless exercise) 4/ absolutely nothing and just more advertising for the event

Well this is definitely worse than last years summer at Chessington and last years was pretty manic too. Although two rides are down, the staff aren't managing everything properly too, over selling fast tracks and laid back attitudes and this is coming from one of the uk'smain parks. The impact of Vampire's closure sus up how badly chessie need a new coaster as when three major rides are down, the queues go berserk where even hocus Pocus receives a hefty queue. I personally don't hold much hope for 2014 at the park, there's no mention of new rides and rides are now running on ridiculous capacities. At the way they're going, maybe they should open the zoo only next year and rebuild most of the park.

Comparing Summer nights to after dark at Oakwood, the queues are better and faster plus there's more time for night rides and for £5, I consider the slight extra pay worthwhile as you're getting small queues and night rides which are two brilliant things. Also the rides usually stay open until closing whilst when I did after dark, Megafobia closed an hour before closing meaning we couldn't do any night rides on it. Tbh the park only need 1 train for these events (providing queues stay short) and also trains need inspecting too so they can run properly for next day operations.

Having ridden some more impressive coasters recently, I think it's time I update my top 10 coasters, 1/ Nemesis, still love the force of the ride and how it speeds up throughout its circuit. 2/ Megafobia, words can't describe how amazing this ride is, the airtime, the sheer speed of the coaster, I love it. 3/ The Smiler, great layout and good inversions, shame about the jolt. 4/ The Swarm, I love the drop, theming and overall interaction of this ride. 5/ Speed, brilliant layout with great airtime hill, amazing helix and nicely paced. 6/ Oblivion, brilliant drop and airtime too. 7/ Stealth, great launch and enjoyable top hat too. 8/ Nemesis Inferno, definitely improved through age, runs really powerfully now. 9/ Dragons Fury, great fun layout and very exciting ride. 10/ Thirteen, I love the drop trick on this ride. Having just visited Oakwood I was very impressed with Megafobia & Speed and both are brilliant rides as well as the fact I've ridden my first woodie coaster.

Just come back from my trip to Oakwood which I shall write a full report on eventually but for now here's what I've got to say. Megafobia/ absolutely amazing ride and loved this. The overall airtime and speed of the ride is just amazing as well as being my first woodie. Speed/ power, amazing layout really liked this ride, genuinely smooth & better than Saw. Never Land/ brilliant theming and nicely layout with a good selection of rides and grassy areas. The walk through was nice touch, Tinks flying school was great fun and Crocodile Coaster was nicely themed despite being an average ride. The log flume however disappointing as it pretty much was just a flume that went in to a warehouse that went past a few models and up a boring lift hill before splashing. However Oakwood is a brilliant park and well worth visiting even just for Speed & Megafobia.

X Storm Surge or Octopus Garden

Calvin Klein. Runaway Train pre2013 or Flying Fish pre2005

In terms of a new coaster, a small hyper I think would make a great addition to Thorpe and would give the park a new addition thT would improve the lineup sufficiently. In terms of the next coaster (assuming its a steel) the following manufacturers can built it, B&M Intamin Gerst. Mack (probably least likely but would be nice) Vekoma (least preferable)

I think it looks interesting adding a drop tower as an add on to a tall coaster like Lex Luther, but it does look less impressive and also a little bit random that its connected to the same structure. In terms if Stealth getting one, not very likely as they may not have any way of adding them on with the current space within the area and also I doubt it will have a brilliant throughput and plus, they have Detty which I still think is a pretty good drop tower 12 years on.

I'd say its more staff operations that's causing this, in addition to two major rides being SBNO and rides being run to fewer cars. In Chessington's current state, there will even be lengthy queues on quiet weekends at the park. Even Legoland is better at throughputs now with high capacity rides like Atlantis, Viking Rapids, spinning spider, jolly rocker and the Dragon (which takes around 900 on 3 trains (which it often runs weekends & busy times)).

Thanks for this Josh, I find it very interesting of these plans of Colossus and how these plans turned out to be. I'm certainly pleased about the way the ride has turned out after all these plans considered.

Getting three rides in an 8 hour day is ridiculous, especially as two of those aren't major rides and none of them are coasters. Chessington has really gone to the dumps this year. Theming, staffing and the overall experience and 2 hours for Vampire? I queued up an hour for the Swarm at Thorpe on one of its busiest days of the year (where even the grass car park is almost full). Chessington need to build newer higher capacity rides and personally they should remove toadies, truckers and replace them.

Looking a brilliant coaster so far and that track is going nice and fast (unlike some rides). I can't wait to see the new trains and theming appear when it's finished, it really does look like its a great wing rider and I expect better than Swarm in Thorpe. In terms of the log flume that was removed, it was apparently the better of the 2 (or at least seemed to be) which featured quite a lot of brilliant theming in the ride and big final drop and was made by Schwarzkopf (sp). The remaining log flume is ok but doesn't seem as good as there is less theming and the big drop doesn't seem as high too and is made by Mack. However seeing how exciting this coaster is looking, that should make for a great replacement to wildwasserbahn 2.

This ride looks as if it has the layout of a typical steel one. Just because its the highest ad steepest woodie definitely doesn't make it the worlds best one.

I very much doubt a maze would go in Sunken Gardens, this is because the area is to small to house a maze as the paths are not that wide and long plus also the noise of nearby Stealth may also detract from factors as well.

Tbh, though depth charge isn't perfect, I like it where it is now and as long as they keep it painted in aquatic colours, then I don't see a problem with it and also hope they keep the ride for a while longer due to its history in the park. I don't want depth charge and the beach replaced until we at least see the next 2 big coasters appear and if it does get replaced, I'd like to see a decent Atlantis themed coaster.

It's great to see Thorpe finally restore opening hours as well as increase operation days (Chessington take note).

Must admit Skullrock does look quite bland/unfinished at the moment and almost as if it was done in a rush job. I hope they consider concealing the warehouse with rock works and the addition of more enhancements to the drop as it looks not near as good as I was expecting and could potentially be a very good little flume ride if these medium scale changes are fulfilled.

Tbh, the day Thorpe get a top spin is the day Chessington get a topple tower .

Wow, Legoland seems to be very busy this year (although it usually is in summer months). Apparently they've also stopped selling online tickets too between now and the 2nd September due to high demand as well although tickets can still be brought on the day. I can see them hitting capacity at least one more time before the school holidays finish. Legoland may be best avoided before September.

Summer nights is well worth the money whether you do or do not have an annual pass. The atmosphere is a different one from the day with quite a calm one plus it should be very quiet as well. In some cases, you may even be able to re-ride on the following cycle too. Night rides on the coasters are amazing (even on Flying Fish).

Even so, but another thing to consider with the Swarm is not just is it smooth (like almost every B&M) and in terms of breakdowns, they were quite a rare occurrence whilst the Smiler seems to break down so many times you have a higher chance of being evacuated off the Smiler than a stealth rollback almost. In 10 years time, the Smiler could potentially be a rough ride whilst Swarm will likely still be beautifully smooth.