Ian-S

If it's Top Gear will it have an authentic punch at the ride exit?

Next to the toilet block at the main entrance, dunno about the second entrance...
 
As for Towers' opening times, I've always wondered how much of that is down to the locals not particularly being enthralled with the idea of thousands of cars trudging through Alton village at dinner time...

I just ate my wife's last pack of Rolos...

I just ate my wife's last pack of Rolos...

A couple of years back, I was in the Dome toilets at the sink, and someone else came up. This was back before there were signs saying to push the foot pedal (or maybe there were some old signs or something - I don't know). Anyway, this guy was waving his hands around under the tap trying to get it to turn on. 
 
 
I told him it was voice activated. I said "tap" as I pushed my foot pedal...

Just a few from me

Cheetah Hunt - Busch Gardens Africa - Tampa



Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit - Universal Studios - Orlando. I just love the multiple expressions of the riders.



Manhatten Express - New York New York Hotel and Casino - Las Vegas. Managed to catch it going round the loop alongside the Statue of Liberty!



The Swarm - Fright Nights 2014 - Thorpe Park



The Swarm - Fright Nights 2014 - Thorpe Park. Definitely my favourite shot. I love the Swarm circling around the broken church tower that form part of Tidal Wave's scenery. It links the two rides together in their theme of destruction in my opinion.

Helix at night:
 

 
Shambhala at night:
 

 
Joris en de Draak:
 

 
Top Thrill Dragster:
 

 
 
And my favourite of my faves, Oblivion:
 

Good and good for you Jamie, last time I had a queue confrontation it was with a French kid at Tussaurds who started ranting at me for not moving fast enough into the Marvel movie, so I told him to stop shoving it won't get him in any faster, to which he replied with a load of abuse, luckily I recognised a few words and simply said if I was a pig I'd be walking on all fours, he soon shut up after that, but then promptly pushed over a tiny girl (probably about 8) and the last I saw of him was him and his family being dragged off by security.
Some people just have no respect or decency.

I wasn't with my dad at the time... But we got loads of photos of the mess they left and the trouble they caused with the lack of notice and when my mum goes into work tomorrow, she will complain (she works in the council offices)

Chavs in queues! Urgh!
Today in the queue for Saw, me and my friend were walking through the first section of the queue (just past the entrance sign), there was no need to walk particularly fast as we are going to get to the end of the queue and have to wait anyway, and these two obnoxious girls shouted at us "do you want to walk any slower?"
Then I replied with "okay then, we are going to get to the end of the queue anyway so there's no hurry" and then they started calling me all sorts of insults such as "fat, ugly" etc - I wont post the rest on here but some were really quite nasty, and this went on for the entire duration of the queue.
Then they were trying to get in my bag, fiddling with the zip etc so asked them to stop, 2 minutes later one of them starts kicking me!
I must give credit to Thorpe for their handling of this, I reported it at the baggage hold (and by now they had also managed to push in front of us) and they were swiftly removed from the airgates and marched off the ride by security, if I could remember the name of the ride op I spoke to then I'd give him some credit, as lots of staff wouldn't do anything.
The question is, why do people feel the need to be rude just for the sake of it? The first comment they made was very rude, but insulting someone over and over again for half an hour is just ridiculous, do they not have any respect? And are they so obnoxious that they really cant see the queue ahead of them? Its lucky I let insults and mean remarks go over my head, some people would have been really upset by some of the things they were saying. Some people really are horrible and a disgrace to everyone else just trying to enjoy their day! Theme parks are supposed to be a break from stress and having to put up with horrible people, but this isn't the first time I've had a bad experience at Thorpe (or seen other people suffering).
Rant over.

Forums would be pretty boring places if we all agreed on things.

There goes a flying pig... 
 
Vampire certainly sounds like some sort of big problem/fault - but the other rides, not so much...

Wow. I think it's time to dust off that old Chessington Zoo signage, it's more apt at the moment.
They simply shouldn't have opened yet, this will be pretty brand damaging to anyone who is there, more so than delaying the start of the season would have been.

Ooohhhh, could see some paid for vip's come up against some actually celebrity vip's and have some sort of 'important off'. There's gonna be some self entitlement carnage, I tells ya.

As a side note, all these vlog people just seem obnoxious to me. 

Hey on the bright side at least Saw is finally open!

On the upside looks like Saw if finally open.....

It offers a view of Blackpool...
 
Automatically makes that view worse than any other ride's lift hill in the UK...

Hey guys,

After months of work, I finished my project: a 3D on-ride of Baron 1898.

So, do you want to experience what it’s like to ride Baron 1898?
Check out this video: http://youtu.be/h9LmgNDF3_4
 



Greetings, Gijs de Groot (15 years old)
PS I got permission from the Efteling to publish this video.

@Ian, everything ran one. Inferno, Colossus, Swarm, Stealth all on one. X loaded one and eventually started loading two.

LOL at the VIP hate.
The worst behaviour I saw over the weekend came from a Standard MAP holder.

There has been a couple of posts here that I would like to address, but for some reason I cant quote the actual post... Good old internet explorer !!!
 
James commented: The way they are treated to normal guests is infuriating. The staff treat guests like they are celebirites; they get escorted in first with their own meeting point, unlimited fastrack on rides, choosing where they sit from the line exit and unlimited re-rides
 
To address these point, this doesn't happen to me (apart from one visit where I have been asked what row I want to sit on and that was Thorpe Park on Sunday).
 
Fastrack on rides which don't have fastrack. 
Yes its there, there is no denying that fact.  Have I personally ever used it?  No.  To be perfectly honest, I have never set foot inside CBeebies land let alone go on any rides.  Doesn't interest me whatsoever, but yes there is no denying that the option is there if I wanted too.
 
Treating guests like celebrities
I have never been treated like a celebrity. I have had a few questions from staff asking how I am finding it, but I have had no special treatment whatsoever.
 
Escorted into their own meeting point
At Alton I have been met at the gate once and that was to pick my pass up as I didn't have a ticket to get into the park then.  The other visits I made my way to guest services to pick up my wristband.  At Chessington, you are supposed to go to the hotel and wait for someone to walk from the entrance or guest services to meet you, put your wristband on and then take you into the park, which to me is a complete waste of time.  I did this once and now just scan my ticket and go to guest services.  At Thorpe, you are normally made to wait in reception for someone to give you your wristband.  It has only been at the annual pass weekend where there was any meet and greet outside the park and finally at Legoland, I just walked up scanned my ticket and ticket even bother getting a wristband as the park was dead.
 
Choosing where to sit.
As mentioned, this has only happened to me at Thorpe Park on Sunday.  The rest of the time, when the fastrack queue is open you filter in, so for example on Rita, you enter the fastrack queue and then wait 10 mins to get to the platform where they don't know I have a vip pass.  Same on Nemesis, Nemesis Inferno, Colossus, Air.  You name it, the merge points are nearly always before the station, so unless people are demanding a certain row, then it doesn't happen.  Maybe it doesn't happen to me as I don't wear a lanyard.
 
Unlimited re-rides. 
I have never been given the option to have a re-ride because I am a vip pass holder other than the ert we had on Swarm, which was after the park closed.  The times I have had re-rides is not because I have a vip pass, but because Thorpe Park was dead and they let all riders either stay on or use a short cut.  Obviously Alton have the weird policy of not allowing re-rides at all so it doesn't happen there, but I have had it at Chessington as well on Vampire and Dragons Fury.  not because I have vip, but because the park was dead.
 
I will tell you now, I wish I had this pass which non-pass holders think I have, because in reality, its not like that at all.  Maybe its because I use the pass how its intended and don't ask for things.    For me, this pass is just like the Premium but with express parking at Alton and Legoland and fastrack.  That's it.  Anything above that offered by the parks like the ert on Swarm at pass holder day is a bonus.
 
On a final note, to address Paul when he said "But youre right, for CBeebies fastrack shouldn't be an option as it then impacts the kids 'mummy why are they going before us' 'they have more money' ".  If I had a kid and was in that position, I would say "because they have chosen to spend their money differently to us".  I am not rich.  I work extremely hard, don't have kids and I choose to spend my money in different ways. Doesn't mean to say I am richer than anyone as I am not by any stretch of the imagination  

LOL that's what the guy was doing at Brighton one summer, running the ride up until the point where the track was missing.
H&S wasn't very pleased...

If Merlin really want to push fast track and VIP then they should considering adjusting their popular rides to account for it by doing what the operators on Inferno and Colossus were doing over the weekend and having a section of the cattle pen blocked off so that this row of seats is where the Fast trackers and VIP's sit, it was working quiet well, if there was no-one waiting they'd let an extra two/four through from the cattle pen to fill in the vacant seats.
I only saw this system fail once when some spotty teenager decided to remove the plank blocking off the pen and 'queue' in the closed access hole, but one of the ride operators was on the ball and stopped him barging his way onto the ride in place of some poor sod more deserving (I actually mean that with sincerity, there was this really big, obviously physically disabled guy waiting patiently and the kid obviously had no intention of waiting his turn).
What I mean is though, that there is is a specific queue seperate from the main queue feeding only those seats on the train, on most rides I saw the fast track queue feeds into the main one at some point in the process, they should keep the two systems totally separate with the flexibility built in that if there's FT/VIP waiting, the ride operator can let other on, it would mean rebuilding all the queuing systems though, and probably wouldn't be too popular with the folk who think fast track / VIP means instant access.
I've never understood the obsession of front row riding, best place is always the back lol, only advantage of the front is you get a nice view for a few seconds at thtop lol.

Personally, I think the reason a lot of people dont post about being vip pass holders is because most arent coaster or theme park geeks.  I have no idea how many vip pass holders were on park at Thorpe on Sunday, but by the end of the 30min ert on Swarm there were only about 4 of us left riding (I think).  Its the first ers I have been on where there was hardly anyone riding by the end.
 
Anyway, I am not ashamed to have one of these passes.  It has made me enjoy Merlin parks more, but I am not a pass holder who is at a Merlin park every week, or indeed wants to be at a Merlin park every week.  I am a theme park fan and try and visit all the major (and some minor) UK parks at least once a year, as well as getting to Europe as much as I can.
 
Since I got my pass in late June I have been to Alton and Thorpe both 4 times, Chessington twice and Legoland once, so thats hardly using it to the extreme. Its like when I go to the USA or other parks that I know will be busy, I will use their version of fastrack.  Is that wrong?  Well no, not really, so why is it wrong to use a system in the UK parks.  Have any of you guys ever bought an unlimited fastrack system at any non Merlin park?  If so, how different is it to this pass that I have?
 
When the pass was announced I actually sat down and worked out the cost of it to see if it would be beneficial to me.  I wasnt like "ooh its a vip thing, I have to have it".  That couldnt be further from the truth.  I knew that I was going to be visiting Heide Park for two days in 2015, so that was my starting point.  Then the celebration tickets to get my wife into a merlin park for two days was another reason.  Then there was the "golden ticket" experiences, which were a grey area.  So things added up and it was more economic for me to buy this pass than a premium.  it wasnt a decision I made hastilly, I weighed up the pros against the price and decided to go for it.
 
But as mentioned in my previous post, I have never abused the pass and never will.  If there is no queue, I wont go in the fastrack queue or use the exit, I will use the main queue.  I dont demand to be sat at a certain seat and I only use the exit when the fastrack queue is closed.  As for re-rides, the only time this has happened is at Thorpe when the park was empty and there wasnt a queue for Stealth, so they were letting all people through the gate.  Same on Inferno, no queue, so everyone was re-riding. 
 
I can understand some peoples frustration at vip holders, but please do not tarnish us all with the same brush.  I have seen some truly horrid behaviour by some pass holders and felt sorry for the staff involved, because ultimately we who use it correctly are also deemed to be arrogant and ignorant a-holes when we are not.
 
Believe me, there has been a lot of frustration in the eyes of vip holders.  As Paul mentioned we were only told the procedure for each ride in early October, thats four months after the pass was released.  Those issues could have been sorted from day 1, but alas they werent.  At times, it has also seemed as though they have been making it up as they go along and indeed restrictions are being imposed on it for the waterpark usage at Alton (not that I have ever used it for that).
 
At the end of the day I am a down to earth coaster and park enthusiast who wanted to treat myself to a pass which made my days enjoyable at Merlin parks.  Is that so wrong?  
 
Peace !!