Mark9

:lol: AND NO ONE SAW THAT COMING.

And now I just feel sorry for Air.

1. Nemesis. One of the best rides in the world. 2. The Swarm. Fantastic ride and so much fun 3. Oblivion. Amazing ride. Deserves far more credit then it gets 4. Nemesis Inferno. A sequel rarely beats the original. Great ride in its own right though. 5, Air. Good ride but fundamentally flawed.

I do love Oakwood and I'd hate for them to get something like a B&M. That kind of ride just doesn't seem right for a park like Oakwood. I personally think a small Intamin mini-mega coaster would work, especially darting through the trees at speed like Treetops Coaster.

I definitly think that out of the five rollecoasters at Thorpe, Inferno and Colossus are the most workmanlike, substantial rides at the park and now that they have settled are both incredibly reliable and important rides at the park. To be frank it's a hard one for me. Inferno is one of the worst B&M's I've ridden whilst Colossus is one of the best Intamins I've ridden. I think at a push, it has to be Inferno because it is the more consistent and reliable rides there. I always know I am going to get a good ride (if not outstanding) whilst Colossus can be hit and miss.

A TOP SPIN A HUSS JUMP 2 ANOTHER TOP SPIN

I have to admit that doing the Colossus ERT, really changed my perception of the ride and what its done as a whole. When I wrote the feature on TPM, I was doing it from quite a factual basis but riding it last week did bring up a slightly emotional response. It was quite clear from our talk that the park is proud of Colossus, regardless of it's frequently described roughness and the ride looking like it has had better days. Standing in the station with no guests around or at the top of the lift hill really highlights the impact Colossus has had on the Uk industry. It begun a sea change of investment; never before had so many rollercoasters been built in such a small amount of time (Inferno, Fury, Spinball, Jungle Coaster, Rita, Speed. Velocity, G-Force, Cobra, Stealth, Kumali to name a few in a three year period) Always loved Colossus's nose

Everyone has different opinions Ste. For instance, Alex's idea would be okay if it wasn't for Apocalypse at Drayton or the fact Intamin drop towers aren't that intense. Hurakan Condor was nice but not forceful in the slightest and thats 300 feet.

It is bad for a B&M to be on one train and have seats not in operation on that only train but a bit of perspective is needed. Saw decided to commit suicide on its first day of public operation followed by a lengthy stint on reduced capacity. Stealth spent the whole of its first summer in 2006 closed by order of the king. The Swarm having problems isn't uncommon. It's a ride in its first season and whilst the company has experience with a B&M wing rider, Thorpe does not. The Swarm will settle, it is just unfortunate that its chosen the parks second busiest period to do so. Fastrack on the other hand is appaulling. The biggest aspect I hate is sellers at the rides entrance. There was one outside Inferno the other day. The queue wasn't even 30 minutes long but the little kids ran up to her with pride buying the one shot pass.

Disagree on the basis that both Rock'n'roller and Rita are launch rollercoasters and start with the letter R. It would be like comparing The Swarm with Furius Baco. Both very different rides, but both comparable.

Happy 25th Anniversary to Chessington. Which also means.. Happy 25th Birthday to Safari Skyway, Dragon Falls, Runaway Train and the Flying Jumbos which are the only original rides left at the park. (Unless you want to count Tomb Blaster but it isn't really the same in the slightest these days)

The weather and the recession is also playing a part.

Isn't Nemesis Inferno running well at the moment?! It's just a joy to ride all year round. Really has improved with age

Whatever they've done to Saw.. I love it. The ride felt like it did back in 2009, fast and intense but not rough in the slightest. Really enjoyed my ride actually.

A huge thank you to Thorpe Park for hosting the event and treating us with real warmth and kindness. The lift-hill walk was quite scary if you don't like heights, however it really was a unique way of seeing the park.. even if the whole lift wobbles quite a lot in the wind. Very impressed at the turn out, particularly when you consider how short notice the event was planned. Had a great time and really nice to see everyone again and only managed 10 of the 11 goes on the ride, reaffirmed to me that I am ratehr fond of the old-timer still.

Unfortunately you are wrong although this being the first week of July, it won't be as bad as the next two weeks. The thing with school groups is they all follow the same pattern so at certain points, a particular ride will be packed. For instance, I went to Chessington last week and for the majority of the day Rattlesnake was empty. However once the school groups all found it, the queue shot up to 45 minutes. You just need to be smart and not follow everyone else, maybe do the park in the opposite direction.

I want that game.

http://mark2262.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/dragon-khan/ A smallish, slightly more emotional piece on Dragon Khan. Comments welcome and much appreciated.

HES ONE OF US MAN!

Disagree with Liam here. Love the way the Nemesis train disappears up the lift and only appears as it rockets through the trees and into the first corkscrew, before diving underground. Theme park theatre at its best.

Count me in for this one =)

Getting really bored of this now. It makes Towers management look ridiculous and ineffectual if everytime they make a cut they reverse it 5 days later.

Mid way through the season, my top ten rollercoasters. 1. Expedition Everest. (2011) Seems odd to have a Vekoma as my number one rollercoaster but it's the perfect ride in my opinion. Fun, themed, interesting queueline, mildly thrilling, good interaction with scenery and surroundings, effects. 2. Superman de Acero. (2007) Has been my top B&M for five years now and I think thats mainly due to the excellent of its layout. From g-force to air time, giant inversions to ground hugging helixes. It's the perfect combination of everything I love about a rollercoaster. it loses out on Everest because its theme only extends to the rides queue line. 3. Katun. (2011) Simply awesome. A ride with class, thrills and all that old school B&M G-Force. It was enough to cement Miribilandia as a truly classic park in my head and I can't wait to go back out to Italy for another ride. 4. Nemesis (2004). Everyone knows Nemesis and why you should love it too. 5. Oz'Iris (2012). Completing the B&M inverter triumvirate is Oz'Iris. The only reason this doesn't beat the others is purely it's layout as a teeny weeny bit less pace to it then the other two. It's a very strong rollercoaster though and has the best B&M queueline I've encountered. 6. Manta (2011). As only my second flyer it didn't have to do too much to beat Air. The fact it did it in such style impressed me a lot. It's such a nice ride and quite bizarre thanks to the pretzel loop and its amazing aquarium queueline. 7. Blue Fire (2010). What I think most impressed me about Blue Fire (and what continues to impress me) is how Mack outdid Intamin's efforts with its first attempt. iSpeed, Baco, Stealth and Rita can't hold a candle to Blue Fire. It's fantastic. 8. Shambhala (2012). Fantastic ride that is an utter joy to ride. For me, if its queueline hadn't been so soul destroying, I think it would be my number one ride. 9. Oblivion (2004). I never understand why this makes it into my own top ten until I reride it and then I remember how excellent and polished the ride experience is. It never loses its kick, no matter how many times I ride it. 10. Black Mamba (2006). It's been a while since I've been on the German B&M so its testament to its quality that I remember the ride so vividly. Love its station, love its queueline. Suffers from a lack of pacing towards the end. Nonetheless, worth a visit to Phantasialand for.

Thanks to PA community. Shambhala's queue yesterday, 2 and a half hour queue. Thats with all three trains running as well.