planenut

He clearly loves wood and clearly does not hold the purse strings. His comments show that though he understands what the rider wants, it is the commercial side that decides, not necessarily wins. I wonder if there is anybody in the industry within the UK who may follow his footsteps; there is much more liaison between the manufacturing side and individuals, rather than companies.

Still hopeful; they have several items in storage and do have some "listed" rides. It would be good to have that park open again, though it's a long way over there, for little else.

Incidents and accidents are rare and unfortunate, and have been discussed. I have now been to Oakwood three times, I have never seen any testing or movement on Drenched before 1p.m.; probably they use the staff after they have been working elsewhere, earlier in the day.

Really? how come they were all in front of me in every other queue?

Very interesting talk/presentation. How nice to know that so many have benefited from ones own skills, and he loves them. (and for those talking of Oakwood, you can hear Drenched and Speed in the background)

Oakwood is very nice, specifically for families. The fireworks three weeks ago was about 7 to 9 minutes, but very good. I still can't get over there idea of not opening Drenched until 2p.m., "as guests will remain wet for a long time before travelling!", always thought it better to have all day to dry out.

They'd be pretty high odds then.

Quite right, that's the one!

I really hope it is sorted out soon, though my trip is not until October.

Thanks for that Pluk, interesting; great rides, plus great entertainment for the onlookers.

Hmm, it will be interesting to watch this; loads more people in between rides and at others, instead of standing in the SWARM queue. Will this be another queue line at SWARM? I'll watch the "virtual space"!

So, what was their description?

Ah, pity then. The old biogger one had the big perspex screen that one stood behind and all ducked when the water hit it. I believe that was identical to one at Dreamland Margate and, not that any of you would know, when Battersea Park in London had a permanent funfair, the one there.

No, this one...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpRlNYoF9wE

I shan't estimate how many years it is since I was there, do they still have the old water chute?

Try this..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_SuCw5p4a4

Tell the wasps that, they were born with "a chip on their thorax!" at least the one that stung me will die, as it left it's sting and sac in my arm.

Talking of "throughput", TP yesterday had over 13000 in the park again, and Stealth team were working really well, (except for one person who doesn't seem to be able to get into gear), and one hour they were one train short of the 1000 PPH, that was good, the atmosphere was good, even the wasps had "a buzz".

TP today due to it being the best day weather wise for me this week. Lucky for me I had previously met the team who were running my favourite Stealth. Sadly though, it died when I got the harness in place. Off I went to Colossus to stand there for half an hour then they decided to put the second train on, which then made the whole wait one hour. Went back to Stealth and had a brilliant day on that; later someone told me they had waited for two and a half hours to ride SWARM. The weather forecast had said rain after 6p.m., I did not go with my plan to leave at 5, but stayed, and due to the rain starting at 2 minutes to 6, decided after two rides in the rain, with it stinging more than the wasp sting I acquired earlier, time to go home.

and it's dependent on who's monitoring it and for what purposes.

Oh yes, (heartache for me) they have taken Plane Crazy (scooters) and put them in Neverland but decorated them with Tinkerbell, I ask you?

Nice one Coaster Jamie, all parks differ even in their own presentation and service, but Oakwood for me is a great place, though a little distant. I am going next week with a club and we get an ERS on Megaphobia in the dark after public departure, and that normally is phenominal, even in the rain. You do know that you have ridden it several times and everybody has the identical bruises. It's a shame that they only seem to open "Drenched" after 2p.m., which s a shame, as I'd personally prefer to ride it in the morning. The toboggan ride is great if you can resist using the brakes. Speed is a great ride but with no themeing seems a little tame. Now the Pirate Ship, that gives great airtime even to the point of making me grab the handle sometime.

Hi Crafty, I went in January for a birthday celebration, and stayed in Orlando, at the Rodeway Inn on South Kirkham Road, off International Drive (I-drive).If you want cheap, no frills accommodation with disinterested staff then this is the place, though it had and gave me all I needed, except internet access (obtained locally). I thought January would be quiet, though it turned out that it was South America's summer holiday; the richer the country, the more of their people were present. As England never conquered South America none of them spoke much English and knew nothing of queue etiquette so the elbows were used effectively. Really though, the queues weren't too bad. Universal is within walking distance from the top end of I-drive, and there was a free bus service early in the morning to Disney World, returning either 6, 8 or 10p.m.. I was on my own, therefore able to do what I liked and at my own speed, I.e. nutty pace. I hope that helps.

Chill, we all have to work at friendship. Turn it round, you know you make the effort, you know how you like to be treated, move on and be you. Don't allow them to have the same criticism of you, you are obviously better than that; you just have to show them how it's done, and don't waste your brain cells fretting about it. Life is the biggest roller coaster ride, not always comfortable, but wow, what a ride.

Just about sums up "professionalism" in that they've used at least two shots of empty trains - perhaps they never noticed that one train was never occupied. At least it only "snowed" during our session, and not rained.