Mysterio Ka

Same...

where in the ride area.

I've heard that the only change thats happening at chessington is the operators are getting a little more training and refreshes just to make try and absolutely minimise these freak events. As for the vampire thing, you're wrong Ian. The second train can, and is (witnessed on saturday and on monday) sent when the first simply clears the second lift hill. At the start of the season they did have to wait until it reached the station blocks but they are running it as you described it should be now.

Already started. You'll seriously be hitting the crowds now too, after year 11 exams all of them just hit the theme parks, and you may well see queues on week days longer then weekends.

Well if it's not best to leave them rested, every off season of 5 months must be terrible! They've probably been doing computer tests throughout the day, of which only a certain amount needed physical ride checks.

They're losing alot of money, but it has only been reported for £500,000 a day for the alton towers theme park, not resort. (I think). But also, guests will not attend other theme parks due to their closure of rides, and also the lack of theme park for AT hotel guests will make them lose money further. However, I'm not sure if it's included in these costs, but the park will be saving a little on running costs too.

Inversion? Inversion? Where? It does look really cool. Timberliners are renowned for their ability to maintain a high level of consistent speed, but until recently they were always pocket sized coasters. This looks really fun though, looking forward to riding it.

My mum asked me today 'are you going to ride the smiler when you next go to alton towers?' I replied 'no, it's probably closed for a little while'. She replied 'oh, good. I wouldn't want you to get hurt.' So, I replied: 'Well then you shouldnt let me in a car, walk to school, go in fields of cows, or stand outside in a thunder storm.' She replied 'oh. Have you been on it before?' I said 'yes...' She gasped. It's surprising how even those who hear the back of all your nerdiness can still be consumed by all this negative coverage. It's also very disappointing too.

Went into college today and we spent a PSHE form time watching the traumatising videos with girls at the back of the class yelling 'thas ***ked up!' and people gasping. By the end of it though, they came to the conclusion that the ride stopped at the top of the first bat wing inversion, then the emergency breaks that were on the carriage were released and that allowed the guests to smash into the empty car. They also concluded that one person died, and there have been amputees. Seriously? I mean, seriously? I knew the media hyped stuff up but the amount of BS just from what the class talked about is ridiculous. It's truly disgusting what some newspapers do to get the top story, and it just shows how disrespectful they are.

Here's another report on gerstlauer. Interesting, not necessarily very related to this specific incident. http://www.looopings.nl/weblog/3854/Foutje-bedankt-nieuwe-mega-achtbaan-past-niet-in-elkaar.html

The e-stop was 100% engaged, or there was an automatic system shut down, or the train wouldn't have sat at the top of the lift hill like it does in some videos. It would've had to have been over ridden by either gerstlauer or maintenance, but it's not gerstlauer as they didn't even know the incident had happened, so it can therefore be concluded, from the information at hand, that it was a human error.

The batwing/cobra roll is the main element of the ride. It's unlikely that'll be a blind spot, especially seeing as proximity sensors are littered about the ride to alert the operator of the trains status on the layout. If it was something on gerstlauers side, then they'd have known almost immediately. I assume computers are set up so that they can be alerted of a major malfunction, it's likely to be a human error to do something as tragically terrible as this.

Not true. I visit chessington regularly and can say I've seen VIP holders turned away for walking up the exit (bubbles and vampire). I've also seen people told they can't choose their seats (on vampire (unless they want front row)) and the amount of times I've seen arguements on bubbles for them wanting to reride from the queueline is too large... The VIP holders always lose. So no. They don't do all these things. It;s unfortunate to think they can squash the rules they are set because they have paid loads of money though. As paul said, most of them seem to be ok. I've even seen VIP holders queue up normally and when I asked why, they simply said it was too stupid to use the fastpass with a reasonable queue (it was 15 minutes on bubbles).

Can I just ask when did people suddenly rule out it ever going back onto 3 trains? Sometimes han the back row is reserved for priority riders. They queue up on the other side of the platform and it makes sense for them to go to the back incase they aren't able to walk any amount of distances so they only have to take a few steps. It's very annoying for some when your train is being delayed because people don't listen to the announcements. From what I can remember the ride now stops the music during the announcements and they're moderately loud so its not hard to miss them. But it's still frustrating for both guests, and I guess workers when people completely ignore them. When I last visited they were training staff still. I imagine the rides throughput could be low because they may still be training staff for whatever reason. Otherwise it's pretty unacceptable to be that slow but I hope theres a justifiable reason.

It depends. I guess, if the people are large and their restraint has been done up tightly it can be hard for them to wiggle out bags, especially if the bags are big, it is just a case of releasing the bars. I'm not sure how they manual release but I think they have to use handle pole things for them, and it may just be easier to quickly check all bars again then go and get these poles and undo said restraint.

Bubbles looked back to normal yesterday, water levels were definitely normal and there were no gaps on the conveyor so I guess they had a good amount of tubs on too.

Legoland is just as bad, it's new developments aren't exactly great and all the new additions are just boxes with fancy signs. Laser raiders never looked like pyramids, river splash still looks so ugly and bare and most of the areas look so insignificant, detached or too old to look good anyway. Out of all the parks Legoland has become the most IP orientated and recently it hasn't done them any favours. Now, what's the chances of getting back on topic?

speculation has already started for the ride after WC. Personally I absolutely love the idea of a ride like this coming to the new island at thorpe, but at the same time I couldn't see it happening...

I suspect it's that, all 4 (or 5) were still in the maintenance bay by the switch track when I last visited, and the holes in the roof are still left open for the chandeliers to be put back up. Now I know thorpe have a habit of holding onto things but Chessington, when they clean up, seem to dump it. Surely this would be the same? Gonna expect they're keeping them for now.

Having said that, their recent feat with Gardaland has kindled a potential fire for theming we can expect. They obviously put a nice slice of money into the theming and it really paid off. Fingers are quadruplet-y crossed that they can do something of a similar visual appeal for a dark ride. You say merlin don't have the money but isn't this supposed to be the biggest investment they've made into a single ride/attraction (over park or ticketed attraction) yet? It wouldn't surprise me if they were looking at finer details like this and considering it properly. Anyway, it was just a rumour I think I saw somewhere on youtube, nothing to panic about. Yet.

Heard someone on some website somewhere say that it;s likely to be a magnetic track. Like mystic manor and such? (bloody yes.)

I don't think so, the wires were hanging out the back if thats what you mean.

Vampire was testing today! Around 3:30 ish? It completed a good couple laps but otherwise I didn't see much. But it doesnt seem stuck anymore.

I saw alot of the writing inside the queueline was Italian. You also have to remember that English is the most popular second language in Europe and would be more recognized by international guests, and most guests from the country will speak English anyway. Hopefully. Anyone else getting the van messing with their eyes? I look at it and have to blink a good bit before I can look at it again, and have to repeat. It looks so photoshopped but so cool. I need to visit, I've been to lake Garda before but never Gardaland. It certainly looks like it's a pretty nice park, especially by the way it's being treated.

Thats pretty cool haha. Which one are you?