yeah

So I've just come back from Chessington, where I had three goes on Tiger Rock. Here are my thoughts: Area As many have said, "Land of the Tiger" features many high fences. To be honest, though, it wasn't all too noticeable, as the Tiger Rock itself draws most of your attention. The area around the drop and main entrance to the area, is themed around a conservation site, with the wooden fences decorated as large supply crates. There's some nice theming around the enclosures near the drop (I didn't go too far down where Peeking Heights was), with some crates, shovels, binoculars, all that stuff. The bridge going over the flume itself has a new bridge running alongside it for the tigers (although, I personally didn't see any of the tigers on any of the bridges, one came close but walked off). The area where the Buddha is has all sorts of signs, about some festival, and also signs directing you to "Tiger Cave" "Tiger Pool" and of course, "Tiger Rock". The sign pointing to Tiger Rock is pointing to the theming feature, and not the ride, which could cause confusion. The panning for gold thing has been changed to a doughnuts and churros stand. Now, as you've probably seen, unfortunately, the dragon has been covered up and honestly, it looks awful in person, you can easily see where it was the dragon and some of the green paint remains. The ride entrance is pretty much the same, but painted up in a tiger pattern and with a new sign. Finally, the music is absolutely fantastic, really atmospheric and honestly makes the area. It doesn't sound like anything Chessington have done before. Ride Experience The queue in the station remains, there's some signs explaining the story, how you're in the "Tiger Temple", you're travelling down the "Amur River" and you're "Connecting with the Spirit of the Tiger". There's also a scene up on the wall, and a show sequence plays every so often with a tiger over your head. The ride is mostly the same until you get to the former Dragon tunnel. As you exit the tunnel, you catch your first glimpse of the tiger rock on the ride. You pass by the old Chan's Cycles and Lee's Laundry, which are now painted all red and completely bare which I think is a shame. There's some nice audio as you go up the lift and when you're on the top. As you go through the tiger head you're sprayed with mist, like Wicker Man, which means you get wetter than on Dragon Falls. The old photo kiosk is now a tiny gift shop selling mostly just generic tiger stuff, some Tiger Rock bears, cups and pin badges. The old food kiosk is now the photo kiosk. Overall This review is getting long so I'll keep this short: Overall, I thought Tiger Rock and Land of the Tiger was alright. Not much has changed to be honest, and I was disappointed with some of the theming being removed. I am happy that the ride is back as I felt a part of Chessie was missing without Dragon Falls, without it it was just repeat rides on Fury, Vampire and Rattlesnake.

Okay so here's where we are right now: - I'm feeling very intimidated by the height of the rides at Thorpe, as well as the drops. - I'm not scared of Smiler, like, at all, I just don't know when I'll next be going to Towers. - I'm thinking of going on Rameses with a friend on Saturday

I was expecting the eyes or something to fall off due to the forces, and it turns out it's an advert for how intense it is or something. But no, it is literally a video of a leek riding a rollercoaster.

Maybe the most unobservant, everyone I saw who would have found it too scary knew they could skip - the biggest problem here was one mum with a small kid who didn't know how, whereas most stayed behind (and, second time round, we were taken through another path next to the exit), they literally just pushed the exit doors open, meaning nobody got to experience it and there were only four people on our train.

I'm sort of 50/50 on this. On the one hand, my sister was in tears in the station and she wasn't even going on the ride. On the other hand, the pre show is skippable, and I think there are some signs and such that make it clear it's pretty scary, (idk as I didn't pay too much attention to those signs), the staff are also really good with scared children - my sister was given free earplugs and water - and not to mention I can't see too many 6-8 year olds who will want to ride it. Maybe that's just me though.

Enthusiasts who think they're above the "GP" because they know who built Nemesis or whatever.

Can't blame you tbh - he's only made 13 odd professional appearances, broke into our first team this year from the B side, and in that time he's become easily our best defender, basically completely reinvented Andreas Bjelland next to him, who'll be at the World Cup with Denmark in the Summer, and made his senior Wales debut not long ago. He's got such a bright future ahead of him, hope we keep him for as long as possible.

I'll just be calling it Ghost - don't see why they didn't name it that instead of giving us an entire paragraph for the name...

Sorry for the double post, but I've just remembered, @Benin you're Palace right? Couple of games ago against Sheffield United saw Roy Hodgson over to my right. Probably watching Chris Mepham as a few clubs have been after him, and he left with a smile on his face after Meps scored.

I know most here would be well aware of that, but thanks for saying it nonetheless. With ASD, most of the time you really can't tell from the outside and the amount of dirty looks I'll get sometimes are ridiculous. Couple of times people have said stuff, too, one guy at Chessington tried to get a refund for his fastrack because I got the RAP without paying money. You'd think grown adults would realise this but maybe not. Regarding changes to the RAP system, I don't really know what they could do. In fairness the waits have been alot shorter at Chessie lately, I haven't seen Vampire out in Trail for a while now, and Fury barely ever has a queue now.

Oh for god sakes

@Whatever Interesting that your brother doesn't get the RAP when I do, and we have the same condition. They seem to be really inconsistent with their rules with RAP. This checks out quite alot actually, I don't think I've waited more than five minutes for Fury all season whereas last year it was awful.

NEAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL MAUUUUUPAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY YOUUUUUUUUUUUUU BEEEEEEAAAAAAAATIFUUUUUUUUUUUUUL MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Just remembered I never really shared my thoughts on Wicker Man, so here goes: As some of you will know I get R.A.P so I didnt get to experience the main queue. From the disabled access queue, though, the ride looks amazing, and very intimidating (I was absolutely bricking it looking at the second drop haha). The audio is absolutely fantastic here, I assume it was the third track throughout the queue I've been hearing about, and I wish it was on the Internet. The audio in the baggage hold area is great also however with my ASD I'm fairly sensitive to loud noises and I didnt appreciate the sudden loud music when the doors open, I guess it fulfilled its purpose though haha. Now, I wasn't going to experience the pre show anyway, but it's not like that mattered because someone with a small child who had already experienced it just walked right through and shoved open the doors to the station, so nobody got to see it anyway. I think they should put up some signage and such to prevent this from happening in the future. This also messed everything else up, there were 4 people on our train, and nobody waiting for the next train when ours dispatched (the pre show operator's reaction was priceless though haha). The station, while great, imo is too scary for younger kids. My nine year old sister was in tears just because of the audio (she didnt go on the ride). Now, the actual ride. Probably worth mentioning this was my first wooden coaster altogether. First time round, I was pretty scared and also pulled the restraint down far too tight, and I think I was sat wrong, so my, ahem, Illacus felt like it was being torn to absolute shreds on the ride (something which I think was actually caused on Dragon's Fury). The second time round though, I loved it, for pretty much the same reasons as everyone else. For those reasons, at least until I ride some other bigger coasters, Wicker Man sits at #1 for me, joint with Galactica. Also shoutout to the staff on the ride, they are absolutely brilliant, especially the one who went out of his way to take care of my little sister, even giving her earplugs and offering her water and the like. Another standout was the guy who took me and my dad out of the baggage hold and through a "restricted access" door straight on to the ride, so we could avoid the pre show. I realise this was a wall of text and I wish I had a whole load of nice photos to share - but, I don't. So here's a photo of the statue and also a game - spot me.

Yeah that's my point, if only there was a clone of the Smiler with ten less inversions Yeah if all goes well Ill be getting to Thorpe with at least one friend pretty soon.

I think the hardest part is finding the right ride - as people have said throw yourself in at the deep end but I dont really want to go on Smiler because if I go on and happen to hate inversions, I still have 13 more to do, its also a very intimidating ride. Ive also heard Nemesis is really really intense, how does that compare to Dragons Fury or Wicker Man?

Back in this thread again haha - got on Wicker Man which I was absolutely terrified of in the disabled queue so thats a step. Also got back on Thirteen which I didnt go on all last year, and I am no longer scared of Galactica either. Doubt I will get on Smiler or anything else, mainly due to time constraints, but its progress.

The rock is built and is being painted - I hope it isn't finished as the back is completely bare framework and it looks awful. The ride was actually testing aswell on Wednesday, couldn't take any photos or anything because my phone is broken and my replacement wasn't good enough.

I'm not doubting that, it just sounds funny

"The best part of the experience was the exit corridor"

LOL those are the signs from X with some rust or something on top aren't they?

https://twitter.com/THORPEPARK/status/978708239725551617 Decent advert, shame the investment is less than decent however.

The funniest thing about this is, I told my friends (who would, actually go on TWD) and not one of them reacted positively. Most said they'd prefer X and two thought it was yet another Derren Brown retheme

For the same reasons as NST, that theming probably won't be suitable for little kids. Or me.

Welp, looks like I won't be visiting Thorpe for some time.