Mark9

The amount of times I heard on Inferno and Colossus "There is room for two more people on this train, can two people let themselves known" is astonishing. And then the onloader has to end up shouting at the queue in a desperate bid to get people on the ride. Vamp needs it because that station is so long. Is that due to cost or health and safety? Shame really because having worked on three train operation, it was a real adrenalie buzz trying to get those trains out quickly and full. Shame that Chessington see fit to cut their highest throughput coaster by a third. Ironically, that makes Runaway Train the highest throughput coaster on park.

Love these pictures of trees and small grey objects in the background by the way.

Becuase of the sensitive nature of this topic I'm not going to take any actions against posts. But three of you have seriously pissed me off. Being gay, bi or lesbian is one of the most difficult things a person can ever come to terms with. People know me as this jolly, fun loving, jovial and PROUD gay. But I wasn't always like this and I'd appreciate some manners in this topic.Thank you.

Exactly. At Thorpe you can compare Inferno to Saw and Colossus in that respect. Whilst Inferno is fast and forceful you never have to put your head forward or move with the ride as the B&M briliance takes you through its circuit perfectly.With Saw, I even know where the ride wants to kill me but it still didn't prepare me for the headache I had to embrace for the rest of its day. So with that being said Colossus isn't the roughest ride at Thorpe. But its certainly not an easy ride for newbies to brace themselves for.

It gets better.But he killed himself because of homophobic bullying. Feel a bit sick at this world actually.

I will point out that a ride that does get checked in Germany is Expedition Ge Force. And that has one of the strictest restraint checking systems I've seen.Europa is just class though, even when they check on Blue Fire, it's done in the most efficient and fastest way.

When Nemesis was built in 1994 it was almost the surprise hit that Alton Towers never expected. To this day it's still the most unique B&M built, starting off with a casual drop and then exploding into life like no other inverter out there. Even to this day, when we discuss rides like Black Mamba, European Montu and Raptor we call them very "Nemesis" as if thats the greatest badge of honour and hype a ride can recieve.But are there any other in the UK then we can genuinely call the barrier of expectation. Or is everything built since 1994 just trying to live up to Nemesis and failing?

So.. a bit of history. I've had quite a busy year on the theme park front, tackling some of the greatest known parks in the world by some of the most dedicated owners. Disney, Universal, Sea World have been visited as well as three amazing Italian parks. In that time, my visit's to Thorpe, Chessington and Alton have decreased quite a lot due to money, time and lack of pulling power. The last time I went to Thorpe was back in March and since then a lot seems to have changed and all of it for the worse. I just cannot fathom how a park like Thorpe has slipped so quickly in six months. After my four month break from Chessington, the park felt rejuvinated, everything was fun again and exciting and all the new little theming effects enhanced the experience slightly.No such luck with Thorpe. So where do I start?Music is a good one. Back when I was an avid visitor in 2004 every ride had its own soundtrack, dedicated announcements and more importantly, it all worked. These days, chart music blasts out everywhere. Now, I don't mind it at the entrance, because it greets you with something to get into before you enter a different world. But it's not the case anymore and I can't think of much worse then riding Flying Fish with Cheryl Cole being blasted at me. Why am I not launched to Inferno's dispatch music anymore? Why does Colossus now beatbox at me? Why do I get Ashlee Simpson singing about her boots at me in Canada Creek as opposed to the gorgeous, WESTERN sounding Dolly Parton. Even in the restraunts you just get the Box channel playing the top 40 hits. Sex in an elevator? No thanks, not at a theme park.Reliability. Why is it I can visit parks all over the bloody world and yet I return to Thorpe and am immediately greeted with Slammer and Samurai will be closed all day. Last time I visited Samurai was closed all day and on my first visit of the season, Slammer was down all day. Can Thorpe just give up on those two and add something that works. Please.Ride look. Inferno is green, Vortex hasn't seen a tin of paint on its ride structure in ten years. Colossus is brown. Rumba looks attrocious. Wheel covers not on all parts of Inferno, ride seats closed off on Vortex and Detonator (Out of use). The rides at Thorpe have no stories, no real theme to them. With the exception of Tidal Wave, every single ride at Thorpe is a quick blast of thrill and then you move on. There's no atmopshere, no feeling of involvement, no story. It's just a train going through the motions getting people on and off as quickly as possible and with as little feeling as possible.You'd argue that the people at Thorpe don't care abput stories or rides looking like crap or music not being themed. Then why did Thorpe, in the mid 2000's bother to do any of this kind of stuff at all. And why are they insisting on creating a well themed, atmopsheric, story based ride next year. If Swarm is going to have even 10% of the quality of Raptor it's going to make everything else at Thorpe look outdated, tired and dull.And maybe thats the kick up the bum it needs.

Alas no. I went for a rather stunning on ride photo instead. I'm cheap don't you know

So.. to those in the know. Any reason why on the quietest day I've seen at thorpe for a while, why they now give you a Vortex ride in which it only does one high swing and then stops. One top swing?!

So two months on, covers don't seem to be back on. Did they break them, do they think it doesn't need it, do Thorpe think Inferno is superior to every other B&M inverter in the world and that the wheel covers a commodity not worth having?And another question, all those that wanted Colossus re-painted. Well why is Inferno's track more green now then red.

Not much to go on so far on Avatar: the area but it does fit into Animal Kingdom well. It was my second favourite park out there as well so I'm chuffed that some time in the future it will have a major franchise thrown it. I'm intrigued as to why they didn't use something like Poccahontas which runs along similar lines as Avatar but maybe they just needed something more recent to compete with Harry Potter.Woo

Thank you for the compliments I would personally go for Italy, although that depends on whether you want to include Rainbow Magicland in your trip. The problem with Madrid is as good as Parque Warner is, if you've done Kraken or any B&M inverter it isn't going to feel that amazing. Parque de Atracciones de Madrid is quite an odd park to, essentially Rainbow Magicland with less theming.I do feel we take Europe for granted sometimes, we've got so many different cultures and awesomely different ride experiences just a plane ride away.

The rest of GardalandThere is only one issue with Raptor at the park. It highlights just how awful the rest of the park is if I'm honest. Raptor, from a ride stand point, is absolutely perfect. It has the theme, the ride experience, the whole ambience that would make it fit right into Europa Park. The rest of the park just doesn't and it is hard to believe that a year previously would have seen an SLC and a Vekoma looping coaster as the main line up. A good example of a park that attracts an audience purely through location alone.So to carry on the theme, lets start with the SLC called Blue Tornado. Despite all the Beemers and Maurers I've had the pleasure of riding, I'd never been on an SLC before. Sure, I've heard about the pain and the headaches and the bad restraints. Nothing can quite prepare you for what is about to come. So the positives? It keeps its speed very well, its farely compact and it does give a good range of inversions in quite a restrained footprint. It also looks rather pretty.The negatives? Well it wasn't as painful as I thought it would be but it lacks the punchiness of a B&M inverter. My experience wasn't as negative as I thought it could be. But as a star ride to a well known park? Not a chance. Blue Tornado - 5/10Right next door is a Vekoma Mine-Train named Mammut. It was okay, the queue moved very quickly because of two trains being loaded swiftly and it was themed quite well. No where near the standard of a Thunder Mountain or Colorado Adventure but suitably enough. And only a little bit of roughness. Probably the parks second best rollercoaster. Mammut - 6/10The Rapids were again another highlight, themed incredibly well as a lot of the ride takes place in a Volcano with suitable lava effects. I do get on well with a rapids that gets you wet via the ride and not water jets on the side of the trough. And this scored plenty. Was very well themed, very fun and very welcome on a 35 degree day. Jungle Rapids - 8/10A major dissappointment was Fuga Da Atlantide in which you start of well and then drift aimlessly for a while before repeating the same trick and drifting again. I didn't even know this ride existed before the trip so it was a surprise. Even with that it still failed to impress. The main issue with it was the lack of story. It hits you straight away with a fantastic, air-time filled drop and then you just float along for a few minutes. Theming is of AMAZING standard, seriously up to Europa and Disney but because there's nothing to grab your attention you just lose all interest. The ride repeats the same first drop and then its back to drifting back to the station. Such a shame because at its core is a decent ride. It just has no cap in its feather, no finale. Fuga Da Atlantide - 3/10So off round the park we go and gasp, whats this we spot?YAY PIRATES, JUST WHAT EVERY PARK NEEDS. Hidden below the ground of Gardaland is an amazing dark ride which I will only spoil if you read the next few paragraphs. Essentially, this part of the park is close to local houses and so the park have done a Nemesis and hidden a pirate themed dark ride below the surface. It's amazing that you really cannot see the joins, that is how well its hidden. Its a wonderful dark ride to with some great effects and a story thats accessible even if you dont know much Italian. Worth the fee and probably Gardalands second best ride. So off into the park you go and whats this round the corner?Yes, its the combination you never ever wanted to see, a Vekoma looper wrapped around a screaming squirrel. Somewhere, one day, the theme park gods were angry with Merlin. We chose Sequioa Adventure first.This thing is genuinely an actual joke and frankly ridiculous. For instance whilst they may have 5-6 cars on the track, only one can actually be killing its riders at a time. So you just sit in the station as your car moves forwards at a snails pace. First you pass your bag over and sit down. Then you move up a space. Then you move up another and your bar is locked. And then you move up another so you're about to leave. And then in what feels like the time it took for the Roman Empire to rise and fall, you're sent out into what can only be considered a torture device. The car ambles up the lift heads off and tips over the side taking you upside down. It's just ridiculous that this concept even got off the drawing board. It then flips back and as if to tease you, does the same trick again except decides to slow you down to Oblivion top of the drop pace. Swearing and screaming you eventually make it back upright over a small air time dip before tipping over again. The b.................ds decide to take your photo at this point as if its some kind of joke. Thankfully the ride only bothers to offend for three drops. You get off wondering if your brain deserves that much blood rush. You may need to sit down, you may need to call A+E, I dunno. Thank god this concept turned into the El Loco. I've never done it but anything must be better then this piece of crap. It's worth doing once and then avoiding for the rest of your life. *shudders* Sequioa Adventure - 2/10So remember queuing for that damn Squirrel. Well now its time for Fanta the ride. Oh its called Magic Mountain? I'd have never have guessed. Oblivion at least managed to keep its identity during its Fanta spew fest, Magic Mountain's fate is so much crueler. Fanta logos are over the supports, the ride structure, the trains, and all along both sides of the station. No wonder I wanted a fanta afterwards! I have to admit I rather liked Magic Mountain. But then anything would seem half decent after the S&S travesty. Magic Mountain had some good speed, inversions and a bit of much needed air-time. Not world clas by a long shot but not bad either. Magic Mountain - 6/10Two other notable rides was the log flume which managed to get us soaked in such a random place and the dark ride called Ramses in what would be Tomb Blaster if they had kept the rock and roll elements. Wasnt bad actually, very nice. Oh and of course the pervy wizard madhouse. God that was shocking...So to essentially conclude on Gardaland, without Raptor I don't think we would have thought of the park nearly as highly as we eventually did. There just seemed to lack a second star attraction or any noticeable back up attractions for the park. It's water rides were of high quality and its dark rides are of a high standard. But people expect these rides to be there anyway, its the coasters which mainly do the talking. And Gardaland wasn't saying much.

Kingda Ka is apparently down for the rest of the 2011 season.Intamin.

Updated from May1. Expedition Everest - Disneys Animal Kingdom2. Hollywood Tower of Terror -Disneys Hollywood Studios3. Superman de Acero - Parque Warner Madrid4. Katun - Miribilandia5. Nemesis - Alton Towers6. Blue Fire Megacoaster - Europa Park7. Black Mamba - Phantasialand8. Manta - Sea World Orlando9. Space Mountain - WDW Magic Kingdom10. Euro-Mir - Europa ParkAs I probably won't be riding anything more thats new or comparable to those top ten a bit of analysis for fact fans. Disney have three attractions enter my top ten, whilst Swiss company B&M see two of their rollercoasters join up with Nemesis, Black Mamba and Superman de Acero to create B&M rollercoaster dominance. Mack, despite being my 2nd favourite rollercoaster company only have two entries. And with Intamin's only bright spark being I-Speed, it had no chance against the quality of the Beemers, especially with Oblivion bubbling just under the top ten.

A Lift hill? Lad, we don't need no stinking lifthill for our wing-rider. I'm thinking a funky lift from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with lights and lasers and effects. Would be AMAZING. If people cared that much about the updates, they'd go to the park.. or wait for a handy TPM update

Asleep whilst waiting for Mammut. Awww.

Hes hinting at the excellent Raptor announcements declaring THOSE WITH WIDE GIRTH MAY BE UNABLE TO RIDE. And yes, Raptor is pretty restrictive in the large department and just gets tighter as the ride goes on. I'd imagine Swarm will do the same.

Gardaland - The Merlin wonderAfter another morning of getting hopelessly lost, we finally arrived at Gardaland with time to spare. With paying for parking done our first moment of intrigue was not being directed where to park. It was a free for all so I chose near the entrance. From the moment you hit the park there is the sense that this is a sort of prized possession with Merlin. With Alton Towers you get greeted by people trying to sell you photo passes and drink capsules and fastback. At Gardaland you get treated to a show with the parks mascot dancing with some dressed up females.With confetti exploded and the Italian national anthemn played, you're let into the park and it was without a shadow of a doubt which ride we would go to first... and of course the only ride people will really care about as I saw when I entered TPM chat on Friday evening.As you may be aware, Thorpe is getting one next year. With Raptor looking so gorgeous during construction, it became the main reason for the trip, the reason we left Gardaland till last. And so, the first thing you really see of Raptor is the Jurassic Park like fences that try and keep you out. It creates the excellent effect that this really is a caged animal trying to keep you out. Of course, curiosity gets the better and you enter the area. It is just incredible how small and compact the ride area actually is. It looks massive in pictures but actually it zooms back and forth, covering the same area. The only part that leaves the plaza is the first trip and its return over the rides entrance.The queue line is very similar to Saw efforts with barbed wire over the top of chain metal fences. Whereas I always find it a joke at Thorpe, it becomes menacing when you couple it together with Raptors concrete bunker. Loading is very effective with 14 people sent to each side of the station to board the train. It is so easy to get front row on Raptor due to their being no front way queue. I got on it three of my eight rides.Seating is atypical B&M. Seats are comfortable and the restraints are remincisent of Air but slightly different. The jacket that moulds itself around you can become quite tight during the ride, but that is the only flaw with it. It's very strange riding at the same level at the track, particularly as it feels like you could just touch it. You're let off to the sounds of a Raptor roaring, round the corner and up a speedy lift hill. It's very short actually, getting you up in half the time of a normal inverter. The back seats get the wonderful air-time, its in bucket loads on the first drop, whilst the sensation of speed is amazing on the front. Some vibration can be felt in the centre of the train as it turns back on itself and curls into a corkscrew. Some of the supports get so close to the train you can almost feel your feet being taken off.A small air-time hill takes you over the rides entrance plaza, a trim tries to slow the train down to any barely effect before the train helixes over a pond with water effects taking on the right hand side riders. These effects are excellently executed, each one sending a small trickle onto its riders. It always get you by surprise to. The ride eventually enters its swan song by doing an elongated inline twist through some supports, a tree and a small cage to capture the creature. Unfortunately for me these near misses didn't really do anything for me. But the inline twist was absolutely gorgeous. Think Colossus's hang time but take out the pain and add in glorious sensation as you meet with the top of the restraint in an aerial move that is slowly performed but brilliantly executed. Definitly a round of applause moment for a very daring ride. There's a very good reason why the B&M wing-rider has sold four in two seasons whereas the lone Furious Baco continues to attempt mass murder on Port Aventura visitors. Raptor is sheer quality from start to finish and Merlin have done an admirable job and definitely their best large roller coaster to date. There are obvious limitations with the wing-rider, it can't perform its aerial dogfight at fast speeds and it certainly needs near misses and obstacles to maximise the ride position. It also doesn't help that Gardaland have hit every target with a bullseye when building Raptor. It looks the part, it sounds the part and more importantly, It rides the part. It will be interesting to see whether Swarm, Wild Eagle and X-Flight will be able to deliver as satisfying an experience as Raptor has proven to do.Raptor - 8/10I shall cover the rest of Gardaland later.

To be honest thats quite understandable; even though we like all kinds of rides as enthusiasts, there needs to be that starting hook to really get you in the mood to pay a lot of money to do something. Before this year, there was only really Katun and as awesome as that ride is, the cost to do it would not have made the trip worthwhile. With a second B&M and a brand new park, it suddenly become far more worthwhile then just visiting Europa Park again (As much as I love Europa.. even that needs a break sometimes)And with that being said, the next part of the trip. So we had a few more hours in Miribilandia, a quieter day for the park where we found out some rides open up to 2 hours after parks official opening time. Case in example, Reset. Now Reset, is awesomely themed and has its own little area tucked about behind a Depth Charge clone. But it has a major problem in its execution in that the ride story is not made explicit in the ride. Now, even if the story was shouted at us in Italian we would have been no closer to understanding it.. but it wasn't. The queue line videos seemed to imply something with a scientist but we didn't queue, so you miss it. The ride makes no effort with tales of death and destruction. That and the shed is so obvious. Reset - 5/10With Reset done, we had lunch and left the park. The temperature was now at a soaring 39 degrees so I picked up a coffee, we aired out the car and off to Verona we went. The drive was pretty good, despite taking a long detour around Ferrara. Eventually we did find out way and ended up in a rather lovely studentesque hotel room with a balcony. A trip to the shops were had where we stocked up on Kinder goodies, Milka bars, cheese and all those all important beers for me. After a week of sobriety it was time to relax. Long coaster discussions were had overlooking Verona. One of the best parts about being a coaster enthusiast is that it isn't just a geeky hobby we do on the internet, it introduces us to new viewpoints, new people and builds bridges across forums. We're lucky to have a fandom that just loves to have fun whether it be being bashed in the head by a Vekoma SLC, or being inverted beautifully on a B&M wing-rider. After attacking Benin in the night with a Miribilandia duck, we slept and used the next day to rest our feet and chill out whilst watching Total Wipeout and X-Men. We took a trip into Verona the next day to see Juliets windowsill and to try and sneak into the George Micheal concert, to no avail. And then it was sleepy times and ready for the final park, The Merlin wonder that is Gardaland.