Mark9

It's like its TPM polling day. Besides not enough options.

Well apart from only giving us two options, I'm going to go with Stealth. Out of any Intamin launch I'd go for iSpeed and for any launching rollercoaster its between Blue Fire and Shock.

How bout a deeper shade of blue?

More talk about the blue pipe, by order of Mark9

You've given me some inspiration here Sids. Lovely stuff.

In 2012, Thorpe Park is a maelstrom. It is a giant, it is a behemoth it is, put it simply a hit. Seated within its small grounds lies coaster after coaster and some of the most well known flat rides around. Top scans, Afterburners, giant swings, drop towers, sky swats. It even has some pretty nifty water rides in Loggers Leap and Tidal Wave. The Swarm surely secures Thorpe Park at the very top of the theme park tree. And yet, a part of me always harkens back to the days where Colossus and Nemesis Inferno ruled the roost, where the top five rides were of real variety, where you could rest away at Thorpe Farm or relax in Sunken Gardens. There are some that must think I'm mad, "Surely Mark, you're into top flight thrills, not boring, meandering train rides to a dull, down trodden farm, a past echo, an area that doesn't deserve its place in a technological forest." Sir you couldn't be more wrong and here is why. A theme park is more then just the rides that it contains. Sure you can throw ride upon ride upon ride at a place and charge to the hilt. But, particularly in Thorpe Parks case everything becomes samey. It says it all when Stealth, the parks only major roller coaster without inversions, is about the only ride that breaks the mould at Thorpe. The majority of rides at Thorpe spin you in some direction or invert you repeatedly. Many rides do both. Rides like Mr Monkeys Banana Ride and Depth Charge are becoming more scarce in a park that increasingly tries to intimidate you silly. Be it beyond me to criticise Thorpe Park and the way it sells its park. I do not have a degree in market research or target audiences and I will never pretend that I do. But I do personally think Thorpe have a problem. There is really, very little entry level rides left at the place and they are the rides that are increasingly being targeted for removal. It's questionable how long Depth Charge or Mr Monkeys or Chief Rangers Carousel have left before they are replaced by another fast, inverting, spinning flat ride. And part of me thinks this is sad. I never ride them and judging by Thorpe blindly ignoring them, I bet very few people still do. And this is why my favourite Thorpe Park era was 2003. A varirty of rides of all shapes and sizes, areas where you can rest, a time where every staff member genuinely cared about customer services and the appearance of the attractions and a time where there was real optimism about the direction of the park. Remember these were the days that Samurai still span in Mystic East, Eclipse was brand new and we had only just heard rumours about a possible Xcelerator clone coming to Thorpe Park. Exciting days indeed.

This promises to be an extraordinary construction. There is a BLUE pipe!

Or go to Thorpe in the summer holidays.

I think the winner should get your new car personally.

Bet the majority of riders go towards Swarm, Stealth, Inferno, Colossus or Saw. Which means the majority of people get affected by a one train operation (I don't think this really affects Saw does it). I'd prefer it the other way actually, at least if a ride is totally closed whilst they get a train ready, you at least have the choice to do something else. Getting in a queue, almost about to get on and then it stops operation to get another train on isn't much fun especially as that second train doesn't even start loading immediately. Which means it can add another 15/20 minutes to your waiting time, pretty much voiding the early opening.

It comes down to something Thorpe is doing wrong if it cannot get its rollercoasters on two trains from the word go.

I predict more diving in one football match then an entire Olympic diving competition.

Tip of the iceberg Mr Jones, tip of the iceberg.

A fantastic two weeks of events. London has done us proud with superb organisation, superb sport and spectatular venues and performances. It says it all when even Australian media calls this the best Olympics of the last twenty years. Considering how incredible Sydney 2000 was, we've done a grand job.

Apart from the absolutely naff (but appropriate) name, that looks lovely. Not much can be told but I can tell you it will be smooth and fun just by past experience. (Love that first drop)

Very good point. Chessington do seem to be very on the effects at the moment. Tomb is one example, but I can think of many like Dragon Falls, Rattlesnake, Runaway Train and even Vampire where effects are working when for a long time they were broken or off. Runaway Trains boiler for example was off for years and now is back and working. It's impressive for a park that gets little to no investment, that the park does try where it can.

Actually, I prefer the quiet optimism of this woodie on TPM compared to the "it will murder" that Towers Street are saying.

From the effects on Valhalla to the mist on Inferno, I really do put it down to the low standards in the UK when it comes to effect based attraction.

And here is the problem with effect based rides in the UK..

I think ride by ride basis. Stealth is an exception to me as its such a large plaza and many a time I've seen guests just run at the ride and staff running after them and yeah amusing. If its Inferno then surely two of the staff at the entrance, the others doing basic tasks like cleaning the station of cobwebs etc etc. Part of the problem is the roles though, ride staff are expected to be at an attraction but they rarely have the pride that a more permanent member of staff will have. Standing around talking would be more fun then grabbing a litter picker and cleaning Dragons Furys final turn for example..

Gotta love how a park gets a woodie with an inversion and the main hope is that Thorpe are watching.

Don't read the comments underneath the article if you wish to keep your sanity. Still very sad for the woman's family, can't imagine the pain they must be going through.

Yesterday was the best day in British sport ever. We nailed it.