Ian-S

You mean Fury? Yes it is better than Spinball. If anything Chessington should be getting the new rides, not Thorpe, but that's a conversation for another day.

With Sonic is going from Alton, couldn't they send that to Thorpe. Chessington has a Sonic type ride, but this type of 'family fun' ride is missing from Thorpe, the only coaster type ride they have got that doesn't invert is X and many people I know still refuse to go on a ride that flips (I'm not including Stealth in this since the height puts a lot off of that). My son is 11 and he's done everything, aside from the water rides, his most favourite ride is Fury (and Sonic), with Thorpe's aparant new focus on the family market, wouldn't it makes sense to for the 'one after WC16' to be family orientated? As others have said a woodie, lap bar or sonic type ride and not something super extreme record breaking.

Not until September iirc.

No it's not you, paying £30 extra for the privilege of being a beta tester is, well, f*****g nuts. The only time I ever did beta testing I was paid (with free content) all I had to do was sign an NDA and give my opinion (not that they listened to any of us), I didn't pay anything.

Why would anybody want to pay money to have a character or cornerstone graphic with their name on in the final release of the game? Seems a shade pointless and a total waste of money unless you're a Kardashian.

^^ Some would say these stories are run for that very reason, to deflect attention away from the real news which some would rather was kept under the carpet.

Yeah just stick your old one in and say you got the numbers mixed up if they ask LOL TBH I don't know if they ask for the paid for tickets, this all may be a moot conversation.

I just checked our summer nights tickets and the pass number is printed on the back of the fold (assuming most people fold their tickets in half), I can only relay what happened last time I went to a ticket'd event at thorpe, and the guy at the gate had no interest in checking the personal details printed in the same area, he just scanned the barcode on the front, scanned my annual pass and waved me through. I guess all this depends on what type of annual pass you've got though (I forgot they're only free to Premium/VIP).

The pass previwe ticket page for the 10th doesn't ask for a pass number, but all the other summer nights events do. In your position, I'd be tempted to put in the correct number of characters for an annual pass (18) of xx's only then wing it on the night if the person scanning your ticket notices, and then if you happen to have internet access before the night, go back in and edit the details, or failing that, order another ticket with a legit number and cancel the original.

That wasn't the point, the cost was but you all seemed focused on the hospital part.

It,s not insane, Benin decided to be clever and say there was no point in installing generator backups because they would be rarely used and would lead to logistical problems in operation, I simply said that I'm glad the NHS didn't employ the same principle when building all the hospitals, if you don't understand the reasoning for why I said that, don't comment.

If the queue is short Detonator is worth the go, but if the queue is long don't bother, there are better things to do than wait an hour for a 1.2 second ride. Also bear in mind only (I think) 12 people get on each go, and the queue winds itself around the ride, so if it's anywherein the cattle pen area it's going to be a long wait. Last time we went the queue was halfway around the ride platform when we joined it, and we waited 20 minutes. It's definitely worth it if the queue is non-existant though

Isn't the 10th a proper summer nights/island beats date anyway? Edit: Not anymore it seems (not listed on Island Beats site).

Well thank goodness the NHS doesn't share your opinion Yes, I am aware of the logistics surrounding loading/unloading if a train is already in the station.

The reason I asked is my dad is a 1950's trained sparky (took them 7 years to get their qualifications back then) and well I'll just repeat what he said, 'considering how many millions these rides cost to build it seems a bit silly not to spend a few more grand to have a generator backup that can roll on/free trapped cars so they can return to the station for evac. if the power goes out, rather than having people stuck on lift hills for hours on end'. He doesn't quiet understand how coasters work but I wondered the same too.

Do these rides have backup generators in the event of a power failure?

Tabloids haven't always been stark raving loony level, that was the Sports remit, perhaps they feel the need to fill the void, bet it won't be long until the mail and co recycle the old WW2 bomber found on moon story on a really slow news day.

It's got a lot worse since the internet happened though, I can remember times when some papers wouldn't run stories because sources couldn't be verified.

Not a lot, if they put up a stink the papers will start screaming freedom of the press blah blah blah and if Alton try and get an injunction or something people will just see it as 'oh Merlin mush have something to hide' rather then 'perhaps the papers are not telling the truth'.

STOP PRESS! Altitude and Ian-S agree on something!

Nah they'll just use that as more justification.

Tell the pigeon?

No you're not being harsh, I blame the nanny state telling everybody what to do, people then become susceptible to being easily manipulated and tend to over-react to 'small' events (not including smiler here) and as you say buy into scare mongering. I was quiet surprised by who I got grief off the other week for going.

My son has a terrible habit of pulling down on his restraint durng launch, tightening them up so much that by the time we got back to the station, he can't move at all, I dread to think what would happen circulation-wise if we ever got stuck at the top.

Yes it's easier to write a bunch of BS then say 'oh sorry our source was wrong, we just printed what they told us, not our fault' than it is to do proper research.