Charlesberg

Do you mean difficult to get to by car or difficult to get to by public transport?

My family and I are considering doing a trip to Cedar Point and Canada (maybe Canada’s wonderland if I can convince them to go). The intention is to spend 2 days at cedar point, stay in the Hotel Breakers, get fast lane plus for both days and a maybe sunrise tour on one of the days then spend some time in Canada. There’s just a few things I want to know about: What’s the chance of Cedar Point getting a new large scale coaster in 2020 considering it’ll be their 150th anniversary?/Is it worth waiting till 2020 to go as opposed to 2019? When in the summer (between late July and the end of August) is the weather going to be ideal so that there is a smaller chance of downtime for their coasters? I’m not too worried about busyness as I intend on getting fast lane plus. What’s the best way to get to Cedar Point from the UK flights wise? We will definitely get a hire car. Is Canada’s Wonderland worth it? And if I only go for 1 day (which is likely if I manage convince my family to go in the first place) is it worth getting fast lane plus? Is there anything else I should know in advance before going to Cedar Point? (Or even Canada’s Wonderland?)

Saw’s drop feels more intense than normal drops due to being one car so it accelerates quicker, but it’s not something that will freak you out and make you puke the moment you go over. Plus the beyond vertical descent is such a small angle from the vertical so you won’t notice the track going inwards. It’s sort of comparable to the first drop on dragon’s fury as that has quite an intense first drop compared to coasters with long trains.

The drop on Stealth is probably the least intimidating drop in the park imo. You’ve gone so fast at the beginning that it only feels natural to gently fall down at the top. The holding brake on Oblivion’s drop actually makes it so much less frightening as it allows your body to adapt to the steep position (this is why I find the drop on Falcon’s fury less intimidating than most drop towers), then it just feels like a large straight drop after that. I remember you saying you’ve ridden Th13teen, that drop track is scarier than a vertical drop imo.

@ChessingtonSam I’m so glad you’ve finally managed to get on inverting coasters! I’m also surprised you went to Smiler first, it’s quite something to say that your first looping coaster was the inversion record holder! (That reminds me, my first looping coaster was Colossus back when it was the record holder but it’s not quite the Smiler.) If you get the chance, you should try out abroad parks as some differ hugely from UK parks with their rides, the way they operate and loads more. You'll get to a point eventually where if there’s something new (like a new ride/coaster type) at a theme park you haven’t done before, you’re much more excited than you are nervous. ... Oh, and after a while it’s possible you might not see Chessington the same way as you once saw it...

I’m only just starting uni so I have no idea about what my schedule is then. I would like to come and if I’m free that weekend I might try to make the effort to come down on the basis that I haven’t made myself broke by then.

That couldn’t be any more true, as long as you’ve got into some sort of sixth form or college and have a pass in English and maths you’re fine. Aside from that GCSEs kinda don’t really affect anything. It is always possible to prove your school wrong at A level. E.g. I got a B at GCSE DT which I was upset with but then I got an A at AS (where I then dropped it).

Was the A^ in aqa certificate further maths? I didn’t do it when I did GCSEs but probably would’ve done it if my school offered it at the time.

I got my A level results today, and I’m so relieved! Especially with physics which was a killer of a subject ? Maths - A* Further Maths - A Physics - B As a result of this I will now be going on to study Civil and Structural Engineering at the University of Leeds!

I think a few others may agree with me on this one, but it has to be Slammer. It was the best flat ride in the park especially when you’re rotating forwards and under and one of the most unique in the world, well it was one of only 2 in the world (then 1 after catapult closed). But I as sad as it was for it to close, it makes sense why. Now they just need to physically remove the thing ?

This park have just announced what appears to be one killer coaster named the Steel Curtain! https://youtu.be/g9RST-tnYLs It will be 220ft tall, have a 197ft high inversion and have 9 inversions (the most on any US coaster)!

I just found out I got a pass in grade 7 piano with 112/150. It's the lowest I've ever got in a music exam but considering how insanely difficult I find piano compared to trombone, I'm actually really glad about the score! ?

I got to meet Taylor and Harry from Coaster Studios and Coaster Bot today!

I had made a B&M list a while back, but after a few rides on Nemesis not too long ago and many rides on Swarm I do prefer Swarm to Nemesis (hence why I bumped up Swarm a few spots). Unpopular I know but I do think Nemesis is far too overhyped.

I did hear in a vlog that dispatches can sometimes take about 15 minutes so on a day where the park is virtually dead you could still be waiting about an hour or two.

However, in anywhere but Germany people will somehow manage to find a way to accidentally get run over by a theme park train.

I had a great time yesterday, it was nice to finally reunite with members I hadn’t seen for over a year. That was also the first time I went on Tidal Wave since 2015, worth it ?

Probably just me...

I’ll be able to attend the Thorpe Park part of the trip, not the Chessington part though.

Probably that huge gap to make room for the overbank.

I would recommend going into the park at opening and being one of the first (if not the first) to ride a ride. At least that way you can more or less guarantee no queue and therefore less tension beforehand. Plus it will set you up for the rest of the day. Also if this helps, because of the centripetal force on inversions like vertical loops, Immelmanns, corkscrews (anything remotely circular you travel through at a high speed) your body will remain in your seat. Any inversions involving hangtime, well every major coaster at TP has OTSRs so you will feel incredibly secure, it’s just a case of the weight on your body acting in a different directions amongst the seat.

When conquering fear on a ride you will start to realise that the stuff you’re afraid of is the reason you ride the ride. As scary as it may be, that’s only a small part of it, the other part will be your body taking in the amazement of the experience. Over time that fear will become excitement and you will look forward to a ride which could be terrifying. You won’t need to think “well a ride I’ve ridden is more terrifying than this ride so I think I’ll be fine” and instead you’ll be thinking “now that’s a step up from anything I’ve ever done, sign me up!”. You will also get to a point where you embrace intensity, so rather than opting for the inside seat and least intense row, you end up going for a more adventurous row (back or front) and shotgunning the outside seat. That’s basically the main goal which even took me plenty of fear conquering. A way to maybe conquer your fear is to really think about the end result and how much more exciting your life as an enthusiast will be. At that point you can then go further, to theme parks in exotic places (gives a good excuse to travel the world) to rides in unusual locations.

@ChessingtonSam Honestly the drop track on Th13teen is more terrifying and tense than pretty much anything else there is at Alton Towers. Not to mention the burst of speed at the brake run which is a decent stepping stone towards launches. Comparing it to Obilvion, it is similar in the sense that you’re falling downwards however it feels much more gradual and natural on Oblivion. The holding brake actually makes it much less terrifying as it allows your body to quickly adjust to the steepness. Also, I remember you saying you had ridden Dragon’s Fury. In my opinion DF is “scarier” than most of Alton Towers’ rides as the transitions on DF are much quicker and snappy whereas they’re gradual on the “thrill” coasters. I’ve known people to enjoy riding the Swarm but also to absolutely freak out on DF. - I’ve just realised this is the second time I’ve mentioned this Again, I would suggest jumping straight to a biggie like I did with Silver Star back in 2011 (that story has been mentioned in various places amongst the forum) as that will then make you feel unstoppable afterwards but I think Oblivion would act as a good step up for now.

I did originally post this in the park operations topic, but then I noticed everyone was talking about the pre season event in this topic so this post has been put here instead (and of course deleted from the other topic). My visit yesterday was rather eventful... I made a last minute decision to go to Thorpe Park for the annual pass event so on arrival I headed and waited for Stealth. I went in the front row queue but then about two pairs before my turn the ride broke down. Engineers came but this was taking ages so they told us all to leave and gave us priority passes. This took probably about an hour in total. I then decided to try out Colossus (to test whether it wasn’t only good in the front row) and I was able to get a ride on it. Except, it then got stuck on the brake run for about 10-15 minutes. Fun. I thought the eXpo:\2018 was brilliant with the two distinct talks on the current and former lives of X. Plus many aspects of the original versions such as the old trains, signs and on ride photos were highly fascinating. After the expo, I headed back to Stealth as I was kinda desperate to get a ride on it (it’s my favourite ride at the park), this was a chance for me to use my priority pass. This time it was dark so I went in the front row queue again and managed to actually get onto the train, but to really troll me it broke down for a second time and I had to leave my seat and go behind the gate. At this point there was no way I was leaving the queue because I was getting my front row night ride on Stealth no matter what. So the same engineers returned to fix what was likely the same problem. After about 40 minutes of waiting (by this time there was only about 6 people in the queue) the ride was finally fixed and I got my front row night ride plus 3 more rides in other seats. There was now about 20 minutes left which gave just enough time to finish with Saw and Swarm. Now, this is a tad ridiculous. 3 breakdowns right in front of me is just bizarre. Even worse, there were more long term breakdowns that day (not effecting me directly) such as Inferno, WD, I think DBGT and possibly more. I hope this was a one off because if it wasn’t, TP and Merlin really need to get their act together, I think that has been said enough.

Snap! That’s the same mark I got when I did mine