Mark9

My heart bleeds...

You mean like the Swarm which despite being well liked by enthusiasts and the GP who rode it, was not enough to stop a 10% drop in attendance and its gimmick of backwards seats has done nothing to reverse the decline in attendance figures. Rides like The Smiler, Stealth and Saw are proving that what attracts people to UK parks is heights, IP's or record breakers. If thats what the public want then that is what Merlin will give them.

Thanks to Ian on Towers Street Any ideas why Samurai is now sideways? Getting in on the Swarm Backwards hype train maybe?

I'd like to disagree with you and say that a quality ride will shine through but the Swarm proves that the public only care about something that the park can sell to them, a packaged ride with high loops and shiz. A shame because what Thorpe could do if they got onto a ride like Wodan or Tonnerre de Zeus

On all three of my visits with the Smiler, I've left it till last for major coasters and it has always worked. Sure I've queued 2 hours each time for the Smiler (I don't believe in fastrack and as a general rule, ride rides with my friends), but I'd rather queue that time for the new ride then queue an hour a piece for a disappointing ride on Rita and Thirteen.

I never came out to my parents. If straight kids don't need to tell their parents then why should I have to tell them what I am. I can understand why some people feel the need but for me personally, I don't see why I should have to.

http://mark2262.wordpress.com/2013/06/24/smile-always/ Surrender yourself to my review of the Smiler.

The beginning of the school holidays are the sweet period as lots of families fly off in the first week of August. Towards the end of the holidays, the queue times really go up and they don't really go down over the course of the day.

Shambhala by a country mile. Smiler or Saw.

Not sure what rollercoasters you mean. Stealth, Inferno, Swarm and Colossus can only run a maximum of two trains, X can run four trains and Saw can run a maximum of eight cars.

The best part about your game here is that the most useful rides in the game are X, Loggers Leap, Rumba, Slammer, Vortex and Detonator. I like the irony in that some of the more unliked rides at Thorpe are the ones that will win you the game.

What about poor Enterprise? That's been down for three weeks now. At some points yesterday only one arm of Submission was moving and at other times, Smiler was the only alive thing in X Sector.

Banned because I have the power to do so.

Oblivion's still closed. B&M officially worse then Gerstlauer. I hate you B&M and your high throughput, crowd pleasing rides.

It does look horrific but at least they've repainted the supports ey.

Possibly true. Fury runs a lot faster in hot weather and yesterday was scorching.

No order as I get round to the parks as and when I have funds and sometimes language barrier will play a part. So erm.. Disneyland and California Adventure (2014 hopefully) Disneyland Tokyo and Disneysea Cedar Point Efteling Liseberg (2014 hopefully) Six Flags Great America Heide Park Dollywood Kings Dominion Hershey Park That turned out to be more American based then I thought it would.

Saw that yesterday, completely brilliant. Never underestimate a British comedian

May as well rip out and relocate Kanonen now. Helix is gonna knock it for six.

Quite inevitably, here is the ultra super, duper, amazingly cool poll and the choice is simple. What is your favourite (so in other words, the best) rollercoaster at Alton Towers. Make your choice and then you can discuss it if you wish or not. Or whatever. I chose Nemesis because its just pure relentlessness from start to about 2 seconds after the vertical loop. But you may choose differently. And below are some pictures of those rides, just in case you've forgotten what they look like. Edit - I totally forgot Rita. The Smiler - The Worlds first rollercoaster with three different opening dates. Air - So technologically advanced it got superseded by two other flyers a few weeks later. Oblivion - Officially not Sheikra or Griffon Nemesis - 20 seasons old and not rubbish. Vote now.

Just for you, (and this is a Mark9 special)! I am going to predict accurately all the rides queue times from 10am to 6pm. If I am wrong then you will have to blame the spirits, we have a bad connection where I live so occasionally queue times get jumbled with the local Chinese. Saw: The Ride 10am - 10-20 mins. 11am - 30-50 mins 12pm - 60 mins 1pm - 60 mins 2pm - 60 mins 3pm - closed due to technical problems 4pm - closed due to technical problems 5pm - reopens at 5:29 with a 20 minute queue. The Swarm - 10am - 50 mins 11am - 30 mins 12pm - 10 mins 1pm - 10 mins 2pm - 30 mins 3pm - 20 mins 4pm - 5 mins 5pm - 5 mins Colossus - 10am - 30 mins, 11am - 60 mins, 12pm - 60 mins, 1pm - 30 mins, 2pm - 20 mins 3pm - 20 mins, 4pm - 5 mins, 5pm - 5 mins Nemesis Inferno - 10am - 5 mins, 11am - 15 mins, 12pm - 30 mins, 1pm - 30 mins, 2pm - 25 mins, 3pm - 10 mins, 4pm - 5 mins, 5pm - 5 mins Stealth - 10am - 10 mins, 11am - 30 mins, 12pm - 60 mins, 1pm - 40 mins, 2pm - 60 mins (due to a guest being sick), 3pm - 30 mins, 4pm - 15 mins, 5pm - 5 mins I hope this helps.

Sexual trains that have fantastic curves. I want to touch them.. Oh sorry, I don't know what came over me.

You should write the novel fifty shades of coaster curves. It would sell incredibly well to Theme Park Review and the RCCGB.

Yeah, Thorpe never ever run two trains on anything ever. Worse then Six Flags everytime.

And I thought Download was on the 21st (for some reason). Ah well, was there any burning of things?