Mark9

Good point. But I'm not convinced that putting a charge on it will reduce the queues for it, considering a trip to Thorpe during Fright Nights turns into a "pay for fastrack or only do two things all night" scenario, essentially pay per attraction anyway. Thing is, I'm not a scare maze expert, I'm not paid to come up with new concepts for Thorpe and Alton to use. Experiment 10 was a step in the right direction, despite turning into actors running at you towards the end. But to me Thorpe are not addressing the issues of capacity with the mazes at Fright Nights.

Thats it really. We've lost Bear Hunt, we've lost Samurai, we've potentially lost Slammer for the whole event and we've lost a free maze for a lower throughput, up charge attraction all the while the park cuts the hours and will probably rise the prices for its fastrack offering and entry fee. Screw em.

It's been a long seven years since I last visited the Pleasure Beach. Back when I was a 17 year old I hurt my back viciously on the Big One, got thrilled within an inch of my life on a rainy Grand National, spun on Spin Doctor, Dazzled by Bling and thrown into another galaxy on Space Invader. But how had the park changed since 2005? Compared to my 2005 trip, the weather was beautiful. Sure it was dark and gloomy compared to the sunny South but it wasn't raining which really helped the atmosphere. One thing though, the park was very busy but thanks to the huge amounts of rides, shows and attractions queues were kept on the lowish side. So where to start? Oh yeah The Big One - Sponsored by Pepsi Max Back when my park experience extended to Alton Towers, Drayton, Chessington and Thorpe Park, the Big One was a ride to be admired but after riding it, it quickly became my least favourite rollercoaster. A first drop that felt like my back had been shattered to pieces and air time hills which made rolling down a hill look intense, the Big One was pants. But.. since then I've been on some truly diabolical rollercoasters. Furius Baco, Sequoia Adventure, Shamu Express, Saw the ride have all helped me develop my coasters interests to the point where you know what, The Big One ain't half bad. Sure, it still retains many problems such as the stupidly long drawn out hills or the helix fresh from RCT2. But I really feared that Shambhala would make Big One look worse and it didn't. I came off happy and fulfilled that I enjoyed it because thats what rollercoasters are all about. And plus.. I love its new livery. Big Dipper Last time I visited Blackpool, The Big Dipper was closed all day. This made me upset because it was a ride that I had always known about and I had read the reviews on Coaster Kingdom. My appetite for it remain disappointed. This time though, the ride was up and running and I can confirm my love for this classic attraction. By todays standards it is completely medieval. Tonnerre de Zeus and Megafobia leave it for dust, even Grand National and Nickelodeon Streak make it look a bit old fashioned. But I don't care for that because when seeing that blue train turning around behind the Big Dipper sign, the thought of generations of thrill seekers enjoying a roller coaster by the sea, in the sun, through the ages bought along some real nostalgia. Thats the thing with the Pleasure Beach, you can feel the history eminating from every attraction. Whether its the Derby Racer or the 70's shine of Steeplechase. Big Dipper is little to write home about in that respect. It's a beautiful wooden rollercoaster with gentle air time and roughness. But I love it and would be very upset if the Pleasure Beach ever decided to dismantle it. Grand National Back in 2005 this was easily my favourite attraction at Blackpool and quickly made it into my top five rollercoasters. It was the one I was most worried about riding as memories can cheat. Would it be able to retain its relentlessness and its simple element of racing? Of course it could. For all those that were so desperate for a wooden rollercoaster at Alton or Thorpe, well you could just go to Oakwood or Blackpool for some of the finest wooden roller-coasters invented. Grand National is an absolute wonder of an attraction. Unlike Stampeda which cheats its riders, Grand National keeps the trains together through each turn, every moment, one train pulls ahead of the other before the other makes its presence felt on the next turn around. It's sheer beauty is that the ride is so simple and yet so much fun to ride. The double dip is inspired and I truly love this attraction. Irn Bru Revolution Back in the days when this was orange and blue I really enjoyed the relatively simpleness of the ride. A hill, a vertical loop then all again in reverse. Now in 2012, the ride has had a rather tasteful refurbishment and looks all the better for it. Really fun attraction too actually. More air time in that drop then the whole of some German Intamin and B&M mega coasters. Infusion Compared to our European brothers, we've managed to escape the curse of SLC's quite well. Infusion's only real comparison for me is Blue Tornado at Gardaland. They are both the same ride and well.. To be honest you get what you pay for. Infusion, despite its misgivings is a well paced, fast, action packed rollercoaster and it only really got un-pleasent at the double corkscrew. The rest of it is all pretty manageable with a tightly packed layout showcasing the best of Vekoma ( ). (My JoshC tribute. ) Nickelodeon Streak and Blue Flyer I'd just like to say I'm not a fan of the new colour scheme for Streak. It looks garish in bright orange and green. Rollercoaster is good though if unremarkable. Straddling the perimeter of the back of the park, it is probably the roughest of the larger wooden roller coasters with bruising moments on the first and second drops. The final air time hills towards the end of the layout are very fun. The Blue Flyer (Or as I prefer to call it, Zipper Dipper) is a great starting rollercoaster for children. Nickelodeon land on the whole was very popular on our visit and the park had certainly done the company justice with a large bustling, brightly coloured area. Steeplechase and Wild Mouse I'm really not sure about Steeplechase.It just seems so unwieldy compared to the other Blackpool roller coasters. That being said the concept of danger is probably part of the attractions appeal because it doesn't do much that is particularly remarkable. The same can be said of WIld Mouse which is the perfect small roller coaster. It says a lot for a ride when you can feel the wheels coming off the tracks as it flies around corners at break neck speeds. Definitely should be ridden even if it will probably bruise you. Flying Machines and Derby Racer I love these attractions. They are another example of days gone by and that is why I love them. It may just be me but on Time Machines, I felt like I could hear the screams of thrill seekers 100 years gone by. No other park has given me that feeling of nostalgia and pride, atmosphere and love by a family for their attraction. Whilst other parks may pride themselves by being at the forefront of technology or the best in the country, the Pleasure Beach sits there with rides that bruise you, hurt you, throw you from side to side in their rawness. It astounds me that rides today like Perilous Plunge, Slammer, Big Bad Wolf, even Nemesis are seen as ancient but rides like Big Dipper, Grand National, Flying Machines have been going since before World War 2 and still bring smiles to the faces of many a visitor. And long may that continue.

Was it seriously worth making that post EC?

Yeah, forget it Thorpe. First you reduce the time you get in the park for Fright Nights and then you start to charge for the mazes. Saw: Alive and The Curse are hardly amazing either so coming to your event, queuing ages for everything and paying for the new maze. No thanks.

I'd say get rid and not replace. Whats the point of bringing in a new one which will begin to suffer the same problems after five years. Just yearly occurances for theme parks although having Slammer and Samurai being bad bad rides must put question over to how long they both have left.

Why do you keep saying Thorpe in capital letters?

Best way of taking out a ride ever.

What I love most about Nemesis is that the ride itself doesn't look almost 20 years old. The theming is one thing but the track and trains themselves are timeless. Vekoma and Arrow rides 10 years younger look ancient.

All credit to him. One ride on that would be enough for me.

Which one? As for Perilous Plunge, well we have Hydro Drench if you really feel the need. I do wonder about a B&M though, Silver Bullet wasn't exactly a hit and isn't Knotts a small park and very close residents.. Benin?

Can't believe its all over. Maybe we should just make our own events up, The British Games just so fill up that beautiful stadium

Intamin problems.

Dragons Fury didn't save Chessington. Monster didn't save Walygator Parc. The Swarm has hardly attracted a record number at Thorpe. There is more to getting people in then dropping a rollercoaster on a plot of land.

I love your photos.

???

So I went to Thorpe Park yesterday. Despite queueing for an hour at the entrance to get in we were full of spirit and ready to take on the rides! Our first port of call was Colossus, the worlds 1st ten looping roller coaster and new for 2002! Previously, my most intense ride had been either Mystery Castle at Phantasialand or Corkscrew at Alton Towers so I was nervous to say the least! So we entered the queue. My friends had all ridden it and all I can recall of it was all the shots of the ride from Blue Peter or that science programme. The queue seemed to go on forever, but once we got to the station, my nerves jumped massively. I was scared, especially of the sounds of the music and the atmosphere. So we boarded the train and started our ascent. Once we left the lift, my fears went ten fold as we fell into all the loops. The first five were okay but the last five were horrible, falling into my restraint. . After an hours queue, Colossus was amazing. Love the freedom of the restraints in particular and the way the ride runs around the area. Virtual Q was running, I kind of wish I'd picked one up but I'm sure I shall ride Colossus again in the future. So after Colossus we wondered over to Vortex, another ride that looked terrifying. My main memory was seeing it being built in 2001, the ride there but not open. It had featured on Watchdog twice. Compared to Black Bucaneer this is a completely different kind of ride. It seemed to last forever and we got the top swing, very worth it after a 45 minute queue. We then decided to ride Zodiac. I'd never ridden an Enterprise wheel before and Zodiac impresses with its baby blue cars swinging in tune with its dark blue and yellow structure. I also like the name. It doesn't last long though and after a 30 minute queue you are left wanting a bit more from it. Next was onto lunch at KFC and then onto Tidal Wave. I'd already been on this last year but it was the perfect ride for the boiling sun. We ended up queuing an hour which seemed about right. We could see Detonator through the trees, my friend wanted to ride but I didn't feel ready for something like that. Our final ride of the day was X:/ No Way out. Really random and I don't really like going backwards very much. We tried to grab a go on Loggers Leap, Calgary Stampede, Rumba Rapids and Banana Ride but the queues were way too long so we decided to grab some donuts (which ruined my map!) and head off home. Despite only going on five rides we had an awesome time at Thorpe Park and I cannot wait to go again next year for a ride on the brand new ride, Nemesis Inferno. September 2nd 2002 Colossus x1 Vortex x1 Zodiac x1 X:/ No Way Out x1 Tidal Wave x1

Another day, another Intamin related incident.

Amen to that. The irony of course being (and I am aware you know this ) that Europa Park is the one park that doesn't have fastrack so doesn't have any problems with first class guests and secondly, its park can handle 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 guests because its rides are built to take the load and the ride staff take no prisoners. Our parks crumble apart at 15,000. It's embarrassing being a UK enthusiast sometimes.

Benin also used to be an attendent on Dragons Fury Besides 550, you mean you guys aren't going for the 800 anymore?!

I hate the UK and what its theme parks now stand for.

When I see a picture like this it makes me realise how criminal Thorpe really are with the fastrack systems. They're marketing geniuses for convincing people that the only way to have a good day is with a nice expensive fastrack. And people just act like sheep and jump on the chance to fund the system. Wish there was a way around it but aside from visiting on quiet days, Thorpe has just become a place to avoid and a trip report like yours just shows me why I've avoided Summer for the last three years.

I believe Channel four got the Paralympics because one broadcaster isn't allowed a monopoly on all Olympic/Paralympic events. And it's a shame really, the BBC done a fantastic job of making every part of the Olympics available. Whereas with Channel Four, I feel like with the exception of Claire Balding, that none of them have a clue what they are talking about. Plus, they are bumping Paralympic events to More4, keeping Hollyoaks and the news on the main channel. I think thats tragic as the Paralympian competitors deserve the main channel. And don't mention the advert breaks every 10 minutes. It's put me off watching frankly. Anywho, 7 Golds and a total of 25 medals. Our guys are doing a fantastic job.

What relevance does that have for this topic Marc?

Rumours are afoot that the 2014 roller coaster will be a B&M wing rider. http://www.trips-n-pics.com/news/#parc40