Mark9

I thought I'd post an obligatory Storm Surge post. To be honest it was as bad as expected. The ride itself isn't awful but the fact its completely hidden No Way out, has support structure all over the place and the queue was astronomical left me with a sour taste in the mouth.As we got to the front of the queue the operator decided to announce that the queue was an hour. This prompted the majority of the front of the queue to shout "we've queued for 2 and a half hours you C words, and there was some F##k off shouted to.. well that was crowd opinion. At the front they decided to tip all the boats over on the loading platform to remove the water from the bottom of the boat. I can see this process being an utter pain throughout the season because unlike hoovering Loggers or Dragon Falls boats, it means the ride completey stacks up as two ride hosts awkwardly roll a boat around on the conveyor. Fastrack was being sold which probably didn't do the park any favours.The ride itself, well I love the lift hill. You could have a nice cup of coffee as you go up and the view of better rides such as Tidal Wave and Rush is rather splendid. Rather reminded me of Eclipse.. except Eclipse was faster. Eventually you reach the top and as IanNem described it, it's rather like going down a plug hole. I was intrigued that the spinning is basically forced by bits of velcro along the bottom of the trough and it does spin rather nicely. You reach the bottom and without any sensation you hit the bottom, sending water everywhere but the boat and thats your lot. Luckily for you Thorpe remembered this was supposed to be a water ride and added lots of jets for the queueline to soak you. For a few minures you amble back to the loading area, depending on how many boats have been de-waterfied, you may be sitting there for a good ten minutes, before re-emerging.It's a waste of a good opportunity and like Sonic Spinball, is totally in the wrong place in the park. Unless you get to the park early and get on Storm Surge first, avoid like the plague. As for the hillbillies, well instead of standing at the ride exit having a chat, how about you entertain the poor sods who have been queueing for 2 hours. Would be nice.3/10

Double post whatever. I've been following the events of the nuclear plants out there. The cooling system on reactor 3 has failed and a chance of a possible meltdown. The other thing is the strength of the earthquake has been revised to 9.0 on the richter scale, the 5th most extreme earthquake ever recorded.

Stop smoking?

It truely is horrific, it's one of those things that will be with me for the rest of my life like September 11th. Seeing that wave rush through Japan, seeing houses, cars, boats, trains just being pushed aside and knowing people are being wiped out instantly, It's awful and I think people should do whatever they can to help the Japanese.

This is an attrocious day to be honest. There's reports of over 200 bodies washed up on a Japanese beach and at this point in time an entire train is completely missing. A ship with over 100 people on board is also missing.That body count is just going to rise and rise to.

Can people who can't walk ride things like Colossus and Saw? If you can't walk or are blind then thats the only situation where you'd need two carers. I wouldn't have thought rides staff would be allowed to manhandle people as they aren't even allowed to lift people into ride cars or seats.

A volcano in Indonesia has also begun to erupt following the earthquake.http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/03/11/general-as-indonesia-volcano_8350822.html

Triple post whammy!How's everyones Pokemon games going so far? I've just finished the league and to celebrate getting the national dex I caught Kangaskhan. Whoo!Current Team:-

Some extremely scary things are happening right now with any countries with a Pacific coastline currently on Tsunami alert after an earthquake just off the coast of Japan. If you go onto BBC's news website you can see videos of the wave that hit Japan, devastating, like a wall of destruction slamming through the countryside.Japan's biggest earthquake and the 5th biggest earthquake in the world since 1900.

This. The cars were just as part of the experience as the music, the theme, the area.

Thank you for sharing that Benin. I don't know why I justify my fondness for the park really. All I'd have to show is that video and say no more.Wonderful wonderful place

I'd hate to be a Thorpe Park/Chessington ride host this year. One helper on rides, fastrack on baby rides.*puts bread in oven.Now thats a career

Thats my main memory of the old Vampire, more so then riding it.Seeing the old Bats swoop over MCDonalds and off round the tower. That's what theme parks are about.

Someone once called me a Chessington fanboy. That made me mad because I'm not. If they do something crap I'll say it. For instance adding fastrack to jumbos, toadies and truckers. I called that the worst decision Chessington could possibly make. A fanboy, surely would spout rubbish like "they are a business, they're allowed to do what they want, who cares about a few annoyed people."

true that. You'd think the Mine Train ran under Nemesis if you used that map.

CUTE! That lift hill is so speedy.

No it doesn't. Vampire looks disguting, Colossus just looks faded.

God.. that event really makes me think actually. I'm not going to it obviously, but I mean Vampire in UK theme park terms is ancient now.It's been ten years since it was closed for a whole year.. ten years without the bat trains. I might cry.

In other news Pokemon White has outsold Pokemon Black.Coincidence?!

Yes but for reasons other then the restraint system on it.

Most members here never rode Corkscrew and a lot ride Colossus begrudgingly. Rita's okay, I mean my main problem with it is the slightly blase layout more then any roughness.

You could say that about every single game to be honest, just an improvement on the genre on whatever has happened before.They have added a hell of a lot since the red and blue days, the games have completely changed. But people only see that theres another 150 pokemon added and use that against the game, ignoring that a lot of these new guys are very good. (There never was a Zebra pokemon before Treeis )

My team at just after the second gymLevel 19Level 16Level 18Level 18Level 17Level 18I'm taking my time on this play and experimenting. I'm trying out different typings and getting away from the formulas I was using for the other four gens. So far so good.