Fred

I think airport scanners shouldn't be the norm, they can keep their one for those they feel is suspect. However, bag searches for all, like they do in a fair few parks abroad, is completely acceptable and if anything will help reassure and add to a family or a calmer image.

Just need a better entrance area to be able to accomodate that.. maybe that'll come with a refit or restructure soon.

As long as it happens to everyone, ala Disney style, that is the best way possible.

Spinballs life was extended with Sonic sponsorship. The family area removes Adventureland next year, so that'll be gone. Although spinball is very much still there for next year it seems. However beyond that, it may change. It should change. It's an awful ride.

Does anyone throw up on X now it's forwards?

The rooms look way better than I originally thought. That's pretty damn cool really!

Cos its crap

Good blog post. Isn't air longer than Nemesis? Or do we discount it because it's crap?

Yes. Hence why I said the beginning of the holidays, not the end. As mark says - noone visits right at the beginning, everyone visits at the end as they are in the UK/realise they said they were gonna take them/bored of other things to do. Infact it's pretty much the same of any school holiday - the parks are busier towards the end of the holidays compared to the beginning, weather permitting of course.

I'd say, if you're on park before 10.. join the queue then. Unlike any new ride opening, the ride is just not getting quieter during the day. If anything, it gets busier particularly with school trips. Then at the end of the day, the queue gets even bigger as everyone else joins it. Essentially, there just is no best time to visit. Go as early as possible, buy fastrack, use single riders imo. Don't bother with middle of day, you'll waste your time (I joined queue just after 2, it was my last ride the other week.)

Does that include the people who paid the "full price" of a BOGOF offer?!

Yeah. They spent a lot over winter though. Then they broke it.

Definitely need photos in the categories of sexiest male/female this year. It'll be fun.

Banned for being able to watch Despicable Me 2 yesterday. Not jealous, in any shape or form.

Good way to boost the gate figures, however another sign to show they're struggling this year!

It's queue season until the first week or two of the summer holidays. Then it's as quiet as an offpeak day, like september. Oh, I just cannot wait to be visiting.

I used to have it direct from soundcard. Not very useful, as I no longer have it anymore. Someone may have uploaded it though?

They won't lose any money - Oblivion's just there now so it doesn't affect too many people if it's open or not. People won't go out of their way just to ride it anymore. However, rumour is beginning of this week. Let's hope so!

Really glad you added Rita to the poll, I would've kicked up a big fuss otherwise. Voted Nemesis though. Smiler is good, really really good on front row.. but Nemesis beats it.

Apparently so. See, I looked at those photos and thought.. Ooh scaffolding. Scaffolding coming off from the burnt stub mansion I presume. Which it's in the right location for. Otherwise it'd be the same as parking a truck at tomb blaster to do routine maintenance to Vampire.

The manual extraction of riders, as you put it, more than likely would've worked. However, the ride was not in the position for them to allow them to do it. I'd much rather cut through each harness, than have all 40 open (rather slowly albeit) and people potentially putting themselves in danger due to position of the ride.

Doesn't make sense. But it's good. Don't complain. Have enough rides having rising height restrictions, the lower the better.

I imagine it'll be covered over, like it is during it's winter maintenance.

I'm kind of bored of trying to defend the park (which shouldn't need defending - it's obvious there's someone not doing their job properly here). Rides teams are not linked financially to fastrack. They receive sod all revenue from it, they don't sell it themselves and the staff will more than likely hate the fastrack system. Then again, it's down to them to ensure they're relaying accurate queue times to control, who in turn should relay accurate queue times to the boards and over the radio. They might have an issue with the connections (they always used to fail to update on the system at Chessington due to lack of signal anyway). The best way would be having the ride entrance queue times linked to the rides themselves to update, as towers has on the ride entrances that have queue boards.

It's interesting what might've happened to Rameses - interesting to see that they didn't pump the harnesses open manually. Interesting that they couldn't manually move it down. Not being able to move it suggests an issue with backup/manual method. The ride seems to have locked itself so power was on. All speculation of course, either way it'll be a while til it's open as they'll need to get themselves quite a few restraints!