Mark9

Just can't help thinking if that was an Intamin it would be whacking right into both sides of that support.

Fun fair rides are taken down and put up again so often that they are probably a teeny bit safer then theme parks, they are always checked over when rebuilt. Theme Parks are just that little bit better at covering up minor ride incidents.

What so there could be more people claiming for benefit?

Yes you should Sids and Mer

Have managed to get the forum stuck in Thorpe Park Mania 2.0 skin. Won't give me an option to change back either

The only ride I've seen Single rider work well on is Testrack and that is because of the three across seating. Take for example Thirteen at Alton, every time I've been on it the single ride queue is double the waiting time of the main queue. People think they are being incredibly clever, skipping the queue to ride by themselves. What they don't seem to grasp is if all four members of the party do it, the waiting time in that queue jumps. Add four or five groups doing it and the queue is ridiculous. Thorpe sees the same thing on Stealth and it certainly happened a lot on Colossus, Inferno and Fury when they had SRQ's.

For TPGG

Yeah, trust me by the time someone starts the inevitable Chessington and Alton Towers one we'll be sick to the back teeth of it.

I believe the Big One starred in one of the Saw films. It was one of the torture devices, am I right?

WHITE KIDS FIREBOMBED IT.LEAVE THE GIRL... ITS THE MAN I WANT

BUT THE SEISMIC SHIFTS FROM OBLIVION CAUSE THEIR HOUSE AND GARDEN TO RUMBLE (ignoring the mile between the house and Oblivion that rather oddly never shakes)

is the master of doing three full stops in a row.

I feel like these people are stuck in the 70's

Thanks for that Dan. God, Europa really is the park that doesn't stop. What a park.

It's not in the cinema but I still watched it so there.PinocchioIt's genius. I do love looking back at the oldest Disney films and see the innocence that runs through the centre of the film. Pinocchio questions everything like a young boy would, his innocence and the way he responds to things is so beautiful. The animation is just so good and the morals that run through the film are so subtle that as a kid you see a big whale trying to eat our leads but as an adult you see Pinocchio in bravery, selflessness and truth. And that scene with the donkeys. I think I enjoy it more that, having not seen the film since before going to a Disney park, it makes me happy that the main song "when you wish upon a star" still echoes in the parks to this day.Pinocchio - 10/10 I cried.

I'd concentrate on the others but I haven't been. So I can't.

Ooh I dunno Merlin have done well so far. I hear watching Jonathon Ross riding Thirteen for nearly an hour was an experience people would die for.Although.. remember when that priest opened Stealth. God that was bad.

Yeah.. what was that about. Still, I've always liked the song so nice to see it being released but... Gaga started moving a little to lately for me.

I think the thing is, if you watch any of the Disney firework displays, they are shows with a clear message or story running right through it. Whether it's 'Illuminations' and the story of our civilisations or 'Wishes' where if you wish upon a star your dream will come true. It comes with the family territory, they want you to have the best time of your life and the fireworks reflect the emotiveness of the occasion.Thorpe fireworks aren't designed to do that. They want you to have a bangin' time with WKD tracks and fun. I personally don't have a problem with that, the majority of members on TPM who went to the fireworks spoke very highly of the display the park put on and the same with Alton's firework display. Ultimately, parks like Disney will survive regardless because it's the strongest theme park brand in existance. Merlin has to consistently publicise its brand through gimmicks and cheap tricks and Swarm publicity to keep people interested.

Thing is, they do all this we are not a theme park stuff and then add things like Swarm which is relying on theming and story to sell the attraction. Maybe its a Valhalla thing all over again.

Bit of both, more nature for me though. I grew up with some very masculine role models as a child, very competitive as well. Football and Steam trains stand out as quite consistent things I saw regularly.

I'm posting this as someone who is yet to visit Port Aventura and will be doing so next year but..I feel that your post isn't so much praising Spain's effort but more a rant at UK theme parks. I think we'd be the first to admit that our parks aren't perfect but anyway I'm going to attempt a reply.When you say Port Aventura is the best in Europe. That is rather a large claim, rather brave actually. I wouldn't dare to say it isn't but considering how strong the competition is in Europe (Europa Park, Miribilandia and Phantasialand spring to mind) I'll take your praise with a pinch of salt.So onto Stampidia and Dragon Khan. Both rides approaching 20 years of age and built under a completely different era of the park. Sounds famililar to some UK parks actually.. Riding is quite subjective as it is. I don't doubt that Khan could be better then Nemesis actually, I certainly prefer the more American style B&M's like Katun and Superman / la Atracción de Acero over Nemesis. But that being said, Nemesis is still a classic B&M without a shadow of doubt regardless of whether the record breaking Khan is better then it.As for Furius Baco. If you have to ride a ride at a certain time, certain train, certain seat then I'll almost certainly hate it. To overcome so much just to get a decent ride is an effort I can't be bothered to put in when it comes to rollercoasters.I've certainly found European parks like their own theme tunes. Gardaland has the "Welcome to Gardaland" theme tune as you enter the park and Miribilandia has a 'We will rock you' remix when the park opens and closes. Certainly agree on this. Europeans just get theme parks right. When we were in Rainbow Magicland, a freshly opened theme park, it's hours were 10am-11pm along with fireworks and the gate figure was an outstanding 17,000 guests. Few years back went to Europa Park and due to the parks business that day, park hours were extended by an extra three hours. You're lucky to get an extra half an hour out of our parks (In fact, it's only Chessington that do this regularly)You've certainly set my appetite up for some Spanish goodness though RobD, can't wait till my birthday now.

Of course, you could always telephone the Oblivion help-line.But unfortunately I do not have the number. God. I bloody love Oblivion.