Mark9

As a comparative to the new look Falls. As a theme park fan and Dragon Falls being my favourite log flume.. this makes me sick to my stomach.

You don't quite estimate how bloody good The Crash Pad is. Bell Rock, rubbish, Colosseo, crap, Grand Floridian, get out of here. Sleeping in a shipping container? GET IN!!!!!!!!!!

I think it is slightly different situations here. Germany as an economy is doing better then the Uk or Italian economies. Germany is also to me, a theme park juggernaught. Heide Park has far more to compete with. I also think comparatively, Krake was a successful ride for Heide whereas Raptor did not do well for Gardaland (that darn Italian economy) and The Swarm had more outside factors to take on so whilst the ride itself did well for those that rode it, gate figures weren't as hoped. There's so much more to this theme park stuff then just "it wasn't good"

AND I'M A DEEPER SHADE OF BLUE!

That's the point of the mist filled tunnel.

First I played the game Gay or European, then I saw the Tower of Terror uniform and now I'm off to Disneyland Paris for a spot of sightseeing.

This isn't true actually. Saw is variable, sometimes you get really good rides, the next day you won't. If the ground work was so bad it would be every car giving you the awful rides but it isn't.

Looks amazing. It always astounds me that Paris Disney always gets sort of downtalked on Disney discussion boards and yet when looking through your pictures, the same sort of fun and escapism is all evident and present. Big Thunder Mountain 5 minute queue joy

I feel for Fury and Vampire, well and truly. Good work Chessington though, the park with the longest closed season of all our parks is unable to open five of its biggest rides. Ludicrous.

The work on Falls and Runaway goes way beyond losing some rocks. In a year that I thought Chessington would lead the way, it's going backwards at every step. It's even more gaulling that Zufari isn't open at all considering its been doing previews and staff have been able to ride it since.

"thank you for checking my bar, please take this £50 note" Davina McCall is also a chessie regular and happily queues whereas Jordan likes the world to stop when taking her seat on rides.

I'm sure the phrase "They aren't small, they are comfortable" will be banded out at some point.

I don't wish to censor you Rideaddict so I am choosing not to delete your posts. However I severely disapprove of your racist and biggoted attitudes to other races. The United Kingdom is an algamation of the various countries that have invaded and ruled us over the centuries (the Romans, the Danes, the Germans) so by referring to parts of Europe as the 'plague' you're essentially insulting yourself and everyone you know.

It's easier to say these things after riding them. Speed for example is a sublime ride, crazilty forceful and silky smooth. Rage had a bit more of an edge to it but nowhere near as unridable as Saw can be.

Alton Towers - 17th March Headed to the towers with Benin, Nicky and Dan9 yesterday for trip to the UK's best loved theme park. One thing that made itself clear from the off is that the park is as quiet as the grave. This become more apparent through the day as rides such as Thirteen went down to one train (and even then the queue was only 5 minutes) and Oblivion was only using two of its four ride cars. Every trip I've made to Towers has usually started with a trip to Forbidden Valley for rides on Air and Nemesis. This time, because Dan had never visited Intamin land and we thought the park might be busy, we decided to start the park in a different direction. So off to Thirteen we went where the ride was on two trains. Dan may tell you his own feelings on it in a seperate trip report. I came off slightly bored. Last year I enjoyed my go but I wasn't feeling the love this time around. Later on in the day we returned for a second go and whilst slightly better, it wasn't great, just average. Next ride was Rita with its ridiculous scaffolding. Ride was okay, warned Dan about the launch into a corner and there was a good amount of ejector air time during the ride actually. Don't remember it being that forceful in the past. Again, we returned later in the day where the staff were struggling to fill the two trains with people. A very rare sight. Next rides were Charlie which is looking okay and Hex which is looking stunning. A real kudos to the Towers for their work here, it really shows how far they can stretch a budget in the right places. Off to X-Sector next with the Smiler where pictures really don't do the size of the project justice. It is a huge project and with so much track still left to install from near the car park, its hard to think it will be up and running in May. Oblivion looks absolutely fantastic, in fact the whole of X Sector is looking shiny and new. The trains loook all done up, the black of the track returns Oblivion to its dark and sinister look and its great to see the ride cars with bright orange restraints like back to when it first opened. Marvellous job Towers. I took Dan on a journey on Submission. It wasn't running both sides (dun,dun,dun) but really didn't need to. After some Smiler admiration we had a go on Spinball (10 minute queue), had a go on Squirrel Nutty (no queue) and went on a life changing ride on Riverbank Eye Spy where we witnessed a mallard raping his female friend. Not a great look. With two hours in the park completed and not a view of Nemesis and Air even had, it was time for lunch. We went to the Burger Kitchen in Cloud Cuckoo Land and whilst the food wasn't gourmet quality, it was as I expected it to be, fast food. The sit down out of the cold was nice to have had. We next ventured onto the skyride skyride skyride and off to Forbidden Valley. I'm liking the Smiler adverts, if only for their comic value. Nemesis Sub-Terra. Wow. The last time I'd been on it, back in March 2012, it was a hated attraction which I had really enjoyed. The changes they've made to it have allowed the ride to become a truly immersive experience and one which everyone on the ride genuinely fears. The effects, the videos, the lighting, the story is of such a high quality. In terms of dark rides in the UK, IMO it is only narrowly behind Hex. The only thing that lets it down is the end corridor with the actors needing gas masks. I don't think much of halloween mazes as it is so for me it feels tacked on and in terms of the actual story, is completely unnecessary and confused. The ride for me is enough. Nemesis and Air followed, their usual reliable selfs. Is it me or is Air running very well this year. It felt really smooth, forceful and graceful throughout, something I've never felt that often on it. It was on two trains but they had the third craft ready in the second station in case they needed. Definitly not today where at about 4 o clock, one train was going round with only two people on it. How often can you say you've seen that happen on a Sunday in open season? Nemesis was running as well as ever and we even managed to walk straight onto the front row at 4:20. So good. To complete our first cycle of the park we travelled onto Duel, Runaway Mine Train and Congo River Rapids. They were all their reliable selfs. We decided to have a look around Towers Street shop where the merchandise for the six major rollercoasters on park is really evident. Whilst Smiler has the majority of attention and according to staff is selling almost too well (struggling with demand is what I heard), the other rides are well served. Little resin replicas of Rita trains, Oblivion logo paper-weights, pin badges, ride trophies for Nemesis and Smiler, special edition shot glasses, some actually tasteful ride hoodies and shirts theres a very large selection to buy and I was very tempted. I settled for the Smiler bear which smells like strawberries. And so completes a perfect visit to the Towers. I'll probably never see the place as quiet as that again.

/\ Chinese Fireball

Thanks to Towers Nerd. Looks so good....

Completely blanked that one out. Woops.

Like the look of The Smilers merchandise based on pics from Towers Nerd.

INTO THE DANGER CAVE!!!! Hard to get much about what it feels like to be on it so based on the video I do feel a bit disheartened at the luck of effort to hide the sheds/animal enclosures and on the surface it looks like a little trip through the mud around the Surrey countryside. I wasn't expecting it to be just a radio playing, I thought it would feature the driver doing the talking like on Kilimanjaro Safari. I stopped watching at the cave bit, to avoid spoilers.

Many thanks to Thorpe Park and everyone on TPM for the meet yesterday. Whilst it was short notice it was great to see so many people there and the happiness despite the poor weather. It definitely set a high standard for my own Thorpe trips this year.

So had a few goes on The Swarms back and front rows last night. I am undecided on my preference. Whatever row, it gives you a solid, dependable ride so thats a positive and there is no way that viewing the rides backwards has in anyway ruined the experience. Back is definitely preferable in the rain though, the front is like riding through speeding bullets.

So yeah, went to Thorpe yesterday via South West Trains which I haven't done for a while. Got to Thorpe and was with Ian, Marc, Ricky and Smidget. Nemesis Inferno - They've done a fantastic job this year with, what budget they've got has been used well. Love the light changes and the return of the dispatch music. And then the return of all the mist effects, just brings Inferno above being just a bog-standard inverter and into something special. Easily the most improved ride at Thorpe this year. Saw: The Ride - Not too bad this time around. Didn't notice anything too spectacular. Slammer - Oh Slammer . Best ride of the year by far. Just by being open on the first days of season for the second year in a row. Bravo to Thorpe engineers on all their hard work. Colossus - Enjoyable ride on Colossus. It's second train seems to have returned from its little holiday and was chilling on the break run Lost City - Samurai, Rush, Vortex and Zodiac are all awful these days. Samurai was giving okayish rides but isn't designed for theme park service, Zodiac sounded ill and is alright, Rush was only giving us two high swings. On a quiet day like it was yesterday, would it have killed them for giving us longer rides. Vortex was appalling. If they ever have to decide between Vortex and Slammer, please scrap Vortex. It no longer serves its purpose with one sole top swing. All that build up to nothing. Quantum was amazing as per usual, the ride decided to go mad again. The park looked fresh with several areas repainted such as air gates and stations, buildings and areas. Reliability was also good with only Vortex breaking down whilst we were on it and every ride that was due to open, being open. All in all, a really great day at Thorpe. I just Thorpe they can carry this through the season.

The hell with that. I'd rather queue for the forward facing rows then put up with all the faff.

Unbelievable. It astounds me that someone could live in the 21st century and have such prehistoric viewpoints.