Mark9

Furius Baco as 2nd best international coaster, Cheetah Hunt up there too and not a sign of Blue Fire. Now I really have seen everything.

Looks like that kind of area. Regardless of the damage to the rides, I hope any person/animal is safe and well. As for the rides, if it was Bubbleworks then there's potential for Vampire to be critically damaged too.

Seen a few films recently for some reason.. Frozen - 10/10. Just awesome, the best Disney film made for a long long time. Saving Mr Banks - 8/10. Fun film, made me want to go and get drunk afterwards though. Desolation of Smaug - 9/10. I am a dragon with lots to say but how can I talk for I am a dragon. Better then the first Hobbit film, more fun.

£14 million is more like it. I'm kind of glad that Runaway Train is going to be a little bit different and from the sounds of it, I'm relieved it won't be just a giant Scorpion train and will remain an old style train like its current form. Maybe, Creepy Caves which is currently down by Sealion Bay should be relocated over towards Mexicana to complete the experience. Still.. it needs to become fruition for me to be actually impressed.

This must be the most boring closed season for years.

Didn't Lightwater Valley go after Alton's car parking charges for a while a few years back. I seem to remember one status saying "AND our parkings free too!"

Depends on when you go. When I went last year we didn't queue at all for Nemesis or Air, it was even walk on for Sonic Spinball. Baring in mind though, that was an exception as we went on the last day of the event and the previous days had seen long queue for the other attractions.

Only 80 for me, only really boosted by the animated classics and the Pixar films.

The event was advertised as having zero queues which I am sure the majority would agree with, it did. The park realised that for its trial that it was never going to be amazingly busy. It must have done something right for it to return next year. Therefore we can probably conclude there will be changes to the way the event is organised and run.

Yeah so it's only one of those things, but the one in Tivoli scared the bejesus out of me. Maybe it was the wind or the rain or the fact I am scared of heights. The other, also at Tivoli I wouldn't go on. Just didn't look much fun.

Classic.

I'm nailing the Worst UK ride award to Storm Surge. Maybe we could give it to the ride itself come 2014 open day?

There are various reasons. Whilst it made a lot of money, a lot of that is BBC Worldwide and not the BBC itself. BBC Worldwide is the commercial arm and some profit it makes goes back into the Beeb but a lot is retained by Worldwide. You then get people who don't like Doctor Who asking why THEIR license fee is going on a programme they don't like ignoring the wealth of programming they get for a very small £145 a year. Throw in the license fee freeze forced upon them by the Tories and suddenly more episodes of what is a very expensive show to produce is less likely. Shame, because as it stands, Day of the Doctor is the most successful single episode in the history of the programme and whilst it lacked in any real peril throughout, I really enjoyed it and thought it layer the foundations for what will hopefully be a fantastic Capaldi era.

Best thing you can do Ellie is first, ask him one last time to keep the noise down. After that, keep a log of every time his music has become unacceptable. How long it goes on for, what times and how it affects you at each time. This way you can proof that it is having a major effect on your work/sleeping pattern. They may say 11pm, but you have a right to peace and quiet therefore have to act.

Would be the icing on the cake for that sham of a theme park. On the plus side, it would mean I'd never have to waste money on travel visiting there again.

I would personally never use the facebook page to contact the parks with an actual querey. The page always feels geared to very general things and when someone gets on their soap box, every comment looks like rambling. Twitter is the better method of speaking to the parks as the 140 character limit forces you to get your point across, the same with when the parks reply to you.

You mean like Lloreal ask 127 people whether they like a product, 94 like it, therefore the product must be loved by everyone. Has anyone on here been asked whether they want to see a woodie or not? If the majority are asked, it figures that some TPM members must have given there opinion at some point. Anyone, anyone at all? Fact of the matter is Merlin won't build one until a gimmick rears its ugly head. A Crying shame but if it helps, going to mainland Europe isn't that expensive and Zeus, Troy and Wodan are not that far away.

It could work at Thorpe. They have a ride themed around a film franchise that involves extreme torture and horrendous ways of dying in Saw, so teenagers killing each other is completely appropriate.

We'll send the mental health tweeters Heide Park's way. If there's anything bad they can find with this ride, they'll be all over it.

Our theme parks only do the new ride every year thing because that is generally what the UK public require to have interest in visiting a park. We're hardly far behind the rest of the world. 2012 may have been the eye opener for all three of the parks, particularly Thorpe and it can't be a coincidence that the year after Swarm's perceived failure, special events were at the forefront and focusing on more then just the ride hardware equaled better guest numbers and more positivity from the public.

We could do what we did this year and just stand around laughing whilst everyone does the rides.

4000th post coming right up.. I'm going to put money on it. This ride is going to be the best ride in Europe by a country mile. I put so much faith into a Mack product and knowing Blue Fire, Helix is just going to be utterly sublime.

2013 has not been the grandest years for theme parks in the country, more like a cheap table wine that you pick up for cheap at Tescos. From obvious budget cuts and rides standing but not operating for an entire year at Chessington too The Smiler trying to throw everything and the kitchen sink at passers by, it is clear that the Uk industry has stagnated somewhat in 2013. And yet, shockingly and surprisingly, despite not adding anything substantial, Thorpe Park has come out as the clear winner by a long shot. From much better reliability park wide, to improvement in effects up-keep and new events, the park has clearly embraced social media and openly interacts with guests more frequently. This all in turn with a slight shift in target audience, Thorpe has the potential to be the park of 2014 as well if it can keep the ball rolling with ideas that are fresh and innovative. So where did this begin? Ah, I know, March time. I had booked a whole week off of work so that I could visit Thorpe for its opening weekend, take a look at how The Smiler construction was going and have a go on Zufari whilst enjoying old family favourites such as Runaway Train, Dragon Falls and Vampire. It wasn't to be. A refurbishment list made itself apparent, a lot of these rides were not to be open due to the park not able to maintain rides for a quarter of a century and Zufari was postponed by a week. No matter. As temperatures continued to drop, three successive trips to Thorpe occurred, one for the Swarm media photo day with Thorpe Park Mania, one before a meet weekend and another on what was to be the coldest trip of the season. On all three days, somehow, Slammer worked continuously, we even had a ride in the snow which is pretty surreal, I'm sure not many could say they've done that. Despite the freezing temperatures, the only rides closed all day were Colossus and Saw. A Trip to Chessington could have given you a ride on Bubbleworks and Tomb Blaster if you were really lucky. Alton also impressed during March, the emptiest I had ever seen it. Surprising sights such as only two people on Air at 4 in the afternoon is very different to the usual sights. May New Coasters - 142. Wodan - Europa Park With the sun out, birds singing and all but one ride open at Chessington (for now), it was back with my theme park shoes and off on holiday. Instead of staying with the UK, it was back off the Europe for my favourite theme park so far. Europa Park is an utter joy to be had. Even though we spent three and a half days there it just isn't enough to fully embrace the joy of a theme park that is run professionally and efficiently with show after show, ride after ride and a park that has full pride in everything it provides for its guests. Ride highlights included Blue Fire being as good if not better then I remembered, the wonderful Euro-Mir and the very impressive, relentless Wodan. We stayed in the sublime Bell Rock resort and scored Eurovision one night, toured the hotel the other and had a delicious cocktail on our final night. Thursday night it was back off to England for a days rest and then onto the next trip, Denmark. New Coasters:- Dæmonen - Tivoli Gardens Odin Express - Tivoli Gardens The Caravan - Tivoli Gardens Rustcherbanan - Tivoli Gardens Vandorm - Bon Bon Land Vild Svinet - Bon Bon Land Hunderprutterutchebane - Bon Bon Land Tornado - Bakken Rustchebanan - Bakken Mine Train Ulven - Bakken Racing - Bakken Vilde Maus - Bakken Mairehønen - Bakken Piraten - Djurs Sommerland Skatteøen - Djurs Sommerland Karlo’s Taxi - Djurs Sommerland Thors Hammer - Djurs Sommerland Juvelen - Djurs Sommerland Jungle X-Plorer - Legoland Billund X-Treme Racers - Legoland Billund Dragen - Legoland Billund Timber Ride - Legoland Billund Lynet - Farup Sommerland Mine Expressen - Farup Sommerland Flagermusen - Farup Sommerland Pindsvinet - Farup Sommlernad Falken - Farup Sommerland On our arrival it was a sweltering 16 degrees (hot for Denmark) but throughout the week, the weather would fly up and down. It is a very odd climate indeed. We spent the first night celebrating Denmark's win of Eurovision and throughout the week we would hear that music blasting out of car windows. We even got to see the winning act perform live at Tivoli. The major highlights off the trip were the first Rustcherbanan at Tivoli Gardens, which is a truly wonderful attraction and deserves to be appreciated for its sheer beauty and smoothness, Piraten and Juvelen at Djurs Sommerland which were equal in the fun and thrill stakes, Polar XPlorer at Legoland Billund was a very fun ride, as was Lynet at Farup Sommerland. With the good comes the bad and Bakken was truly atrocious with the diabolical Tornado symbolising everything I think wrong with the modern day Intamin company. Not enough refining, too much trying to please a park on a sub-standard product. The Rustcherbanan at Bakken had also been seriously ruined by KumbaK with magnetic breaks destroying any element of momentum that the ride tries to build. I left Denmark feeling very sad, it is a wonderful country, if not for its coasters then for its feeling of freedom, liberty and forward thinking Danes. June New Coasters - 170: The Smiler - Alton Towers And after what felt like a life time of waiting, The Smiler finally got itself going and very swiftly, a trip was planned with my non coaster friend. The Smiler is a great ride. Ok, so it can't upstage Nemesis or Oblivion but I still maintain it is a great ride with a bit of a kick in it especially towards the end. You could say I've been lucky, every time I've visited, it has been open and whilst seeing break downs galore whenever I enter the queue, I've always been fortunate enough to ride. Even with it throwing bits off quite frequently. For my 25th birthday, it was off to Thorpe where I got my last ride on Slammer before its annual four month closure. It was a beautifully sunny day with minimal queues. And still it wasn't my best trip to Thorpe this season.. but that is coming. Shortly after my birthday, spent a weekend at Towers for some Smiler loving. The end of the month saw the Inferno ERT even for TPM members where we got to walk through some of the ride area and some lucky pups got to have a little walk up the lift hill. July This was a relatively quiet month with a solitary trip to Alton Towers where yet again a substantial ride count was halted by the troublesome Smiler eating up so much of the day. August Now this was the trip of the season. Thorpe hosting its summer late night events. I know some got rained on and the organisation is not as strong as it could be. But during my trip I can safely say I had the best Thorpe I've had for some time. The park was busy enough during the day but with the later hours, I got a chance to properly relax and appreciate my time there. With the joyous hot weather as well, it didn't feel like a theme park in the UK with rubbish weather and even worse opening hours. It felt like I was in sunny Florida or Italy with some great friends from TPM. I came away pretty blown away by how great the trip was, testament to how much Thorpe has grown and increased in confidence during the season. September New Coasters - Space Mountain: Mission 2 - Disneyland Parc Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - Disneyland Parc Indianna Jone et le Temple du Perile - Dienyland Parc Casey Jr - Disneyland Paris Crushs Coaster - Disneyland Paris Rock ‘N’ Rollercoaster - Disneyland Paris RC Racer - Disneyland Paris Tami Tami - PortAventura And so with the weather starting to deteriorate it was off to Disneyland Paris, a place I have never been before. I did enjoy it and found it far more relaxing and stress free then the pressure kitchen that is Disney World. It helped that the parks were very quiet with 5 minute queues on Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Tower of Terror being seen throughout the visit. Dreams was a real highlight, seriously great entertainment and needs to be seen by as many as possible. The final trip, two weeks later was PortAventura which unbeknown to me was the start of its Halloween events. Now, I really don't like Halloween events. I know they are extremely popular but I don't find them scary in the slightest despite the actors best efforts. For me, the important thing for the trip was to get my ride on Tami Tami and to fully enjoy Shambhala and Dragon Khan. Which I certainly did, getting more then my fill on both these coasters. Baco, lived up to its awful reputation, set last year but maintained fully in 2013. Is it worse then Tornado? They are both awful and nasty. My year was finished off with a Fright Night finish at Thorpe. I don't do mazes but with it being quiet during night, it was nice to get a few night rides on Inferno, Stealth and front row Colossus. ​And with that the year off theme parks is over. 2013 was not a great year for the UK admittedly. So much potential completely left untapped with Smiler not being as reliable as required and Chessington letting down every single guest that walked through its doors with its sheer incompetence. I used to be a major Chessington fan but frankly its no longer worth the effort. Full of low capacity rides that are either falling apart, closed or so low on staff that it takes five minutes to load a boat. Hence my lack of visit in 2013. Here's to a full on 2014 for everyone and thanks for reading (if you did).

15,243 people exactly Queue times for the top five rides are as follows. Stealth - Minumum queue time - 5 minutes. Maximum queue time = 83 minutes and 25 seconds The Swarm - Minimum queue time - 5 minutes. Maximum queue time = 120 minutes and 41 seconds Nemesis Inferno - Minimum queue time - 5 Minutes. Maximum queue time = 100 minutes and 29.4 seconds Colossus - Minimum queue time - 5 minutes. Maximum queue time = 72 minutes and 57 seconds Saw The Ride - Minimum queue time - 5 minutes. Maximum queue time = Infinity. Exact enough for you?

Lets be realistic here, the only people who are ever going to cotton on to them being the same design are enthusiasts and people who may have ridden The Swarm. Compared to the brand new ground hugging, unique designed roller coaster, having the same train facade doesn't really bother me that much.