Mark9

I agree..So Vortex... it's still at Thorpe then. Thats a turn up for the books.

I query this whole world class rollercoaster debate to be honest. Quality of a ride, as has already been discussed is completely subjective. However, a truely world class ride is one that is recognised the world over almost in spite of the ride itself.And I would argue the UK has only ever had four of these kinds of rides.Nemesis is pretty self explanatory. But despite my absolute hate for it's shocking tedium and general crapness, the Big One at Blackpool is a world class ride. It bought the height record to the UK for such a short time but its impact is felt 10/15/20 years later. The other two coasters are Air and Oblivion. The Dive Machine and the Flyer are taking off now and taking their designs to new limits.... but it was Oblivion and Air that started it all.The Thorpe one, if it is what it is rumoured to be, will be a world class ride almost by default.

Crossing the border from Surrey to Kent makes Saw Alive look pathetic...

It must have been god awful for Dreamworks to be embarressed. The film content of Shrek 2 and 3 was the film equivalent of going on a luxury cruise and finding out the ship is called the Titanic..

We'll all follow you then. From the joy of rollercoasters, imagination, fun, enjoyment, fantasy, storytelling to the dull dismal world of work, getting the bus to school/work, pay freezes, unemployment, recession, death, rape, torture.Gee, I love having a life sometimes.

Now now, not everyone is so innocent. I accidently broke the petrol pump at Stealth once and many a fanboy has run round Thorpe stealing illaminated signs. He broke it out of nerves, not out of spite..

They sell those pens that give you a kind of shock as well. It's not like they're forcing people to die from electrocution.

It's fun before you're held for any responsibility. And then those troublesome guests will start thinking Fury's lift hill is its exit and that the Jumbos exit is via falling into the pit, smacking their head against a speaker and giving themselves brain damage.It tends to lose its appeal after that.

Ah well, it's had it for a very long time so really it's not that bad a thing. The inversion record is really the only one a ride can hold onto for any great length of time to be honest. Dragon Khan held it for 7 years and Colossus could hold it for at least another 3.

What I don't get with big rollercoasters is that the theme is always so depressing. Stealth became my most enjoyed rollercoaster at Thorpe because it doesn't take itself to seriously.So far Thorpe have errupting volcanos,a tackily themed horror euro fighter, a lost mayan city , crazy computers and now for all intents and purposes the end of the world (or Thorpe park anyway). Maybe hoping you die is the only way Thorpe are able to prompt discussion these days.

I'm going in May, should be fun. I'll bring you all home ice cream.

Maybe they should employ a real actor to stand there and pretend to be Abdab. Then it could be an interactive experience to!

Err... thats really not a good idea..

It's with some slight regret that I'm leaving Thorpe Park Mania. (For good this time to ). Laters people, I'm sure I'll keep in contact with some of you still via other means.

Thats the cruz of the matter. £175 isn't that bad all by itself for the amount of attractions and benefits you get. But when you compare it to last year, actually is is rather sneaky of them. It was inevitable that eventually the standard pass would become a bit rubbish though. I'm not bothering because real life is more important then a few days at theme parks. Considering I love theme parks (and I bet many are in the same position), it says a lot that Merlin have put a bad taste in the mouth.

Such a clever buisiness tactic there. Sorry Merlin, I'm not paying £25 more for your pass. You can shove it to be honest, especially when this year most of your new attractions open in September anyway and your theme parks are only adding one worthwhile ride (if that).I'd rather not waste the money frankly.

The annual pass has been good value, I don't think anyone denies that. The problem is the extra little bonuses are becoming less and less. When they start taking away park time from one of the attractions then it's only a matter of time before Alton, Thorpe and Chessington start to get hit by the same thing. The terms and conditions change on a regular basis with Merlin it seems and I won't be running the risk of getting a standard pass and then can't get into any of the parks until 2pm. Theme Parks are traditionally days out. Merlin really do seem to want to work against their biggest fans here...

This wouldn't actually surprise me although in saying that Chessie seems to rely far more on Annual Pass holders then the other three parks.

Thats me done I'm afraid. I've been an Annual pass holder since 2003 now and I cannot justify spending the money anymore when there are so little perks. I do feel a bit cheated on. I've saved a lot of money over the years, true. but every year its such a jump and when you account petrol costs, add on a whole heap of car parking costs and losing the right to visit theme parks during the whole day just means I can't be bothered with a company that doesn't actually care about its customers anymore.People are actually defending the car parking charge saying they don't use it. Crazy.

Interesting move though. The pepsi max is iconic. Are they just calling it.. "the Big one"?

Money almost doesn't come into it when it comes to the quality of an attraction. For instance, thorpe has had millions thrown at it and every year it opens the new biggest thing. And yet none of them have that wonderful nature of being "a ride that only Thorpe could do". That for me is so much more important then boring, generic, unthemed attrctions that are two the dozen the world over.For all of RMC's criticisms they did try very hard building expensive rides like Loggers Leap and Thunder River and trying something very ambitious with No Way out. There's no doubt that NWO no-way meets its proper potential. But you will rarely see parks in the UK attempting to do something with the little money that they have, to try and push boundaries.The way I see it is any park could have done Saw, Stealth or Colossus. Only the truely exceptional can make a Cobra, a 5th Dimension, a Loggers Leap.

I am SO bored of people just declaring something as crap when they don't like it. If it helps, Paultons is the Coronation Street of the theme park world. Rarely amazing

Benin 'I suck the fun out of 3D glasses'

I don't think Janice shouting "LEEE" was supposed to be in it. Corrie has been fantastic this week. Really emotional. When they heard Ashleys voicemessage....

Lets think about this, Ashley had a rubbish life really. His uncle turned out to be his father, he had slow swimmers, his first child wasn't actually his, his wife got brutally murdered by a serial killer, got blackmailed into an affair and then finally gets crushed by a viaduct.I sometimes wonder why he ever got up at all in the morning frankly.