Mark9

Anyway... I'm starting to feel a bit weird at my job. I've got to the point where I have become one of the most respected and liked partners (as well as one of the hardest workers) and I sort of feel that if I don't get any further very soon, my interest may start to wane. I've been recommended by a few colleagues for the management scheme so I'm hoping that may go somewhere.

Sounds like real life to me."And we hope to be better then Disney.. by adding a safari themed restraunt, cancelling our rethemes and continuing to live off a decaying, 21 year old rollercoaster"

HMV thought the same.... not looking so hot at the moment. Why spend £20.00 on a dvd when you can look around and get it for £4.00. Merlin have it lucky that they own most of the market. Problem is, it will get to a point when all the costs and little "extras" will come and bite them in the arse and people may start to look elsewhere. £6.00 is a heck of a lot of money for one ride.. ok it's a pretty iconic and good ride but asking for 20% of the parks own entrance fee for one ride is a bit.. well... odd. People keep comparing to the train thing; thing is the parks run express pass like they are the absolute priority and whilst that is sort of the point, they sell the things like hot cakes, with seemingly no restraint on numbers so instead of fastrackers being able to waltz onto the ride, they often end up queuing 10/20 minutes as well. This results in trains and trains worth of fastrackers whilst the main queue look on miserably wondering if they may as well buy a second home in Colossus's queueline. Trains do offer first class seats as has been noted but the difference is for instance, Southern, South West and Southeastern don't make 9/10's of the train first class so the rest of the third class citizens are kept at the back of the train or left on the station. And realistically, unless you plan to use the trains in rush hour, you will always get a seat. With Thorpe's current mentatlity, unless you are a fastracker, you're practically worthless.

I'm not sure if this will mean a lot to people who've only joined TPM in the last two years but for ex South Parks members this will ring quite hard..Last night Cjw passed away. For anyone who knew him very well he was an incredibly prolific, kind and agreeable person and the world does feel a little emptier without him. I wouldn't normally start a topic about somebody passing away however it felt only right to open this topic.

Two years ago this would be such an exciting project, the first dive machine in Europe since Oblivion...But ever since X raptor and its sheer beauty and class emerged and was finished first... it's like I want to care about Krake but the Italian influence has taken over.Which is a shame, because Krake does look rather beautiful, especially it's baby dive machine cars.. aww.

Know any parks with closed Intamins? I'm just saying.. maybe Thorpe could get some second hand ones in... Maybe Monte Makaya!

Is Chessington getting busier?I remember visiting during peak summer and halloween periods and queueing 5 minutes for Kobra and Vampire at around 5pm.If the park isn't able to keep its audience for the full 8 hours then it's a waste of time in the park extending its hours if only a minority will feel the benefit.

Marc was to busy going to KFC to think about forum awards. Maybe next year ey.

Thats hardly that different....

Who doesn't?

So...Pretty much the same hours its had for the last ten years then. Move along people, nothing to see here...

:P

I second this notion. As was said in a great film once..God creates Dinosaurs, God destroys Dinosaurs, God creates Men, Men creates Dinosaurs.Dinosaurs eat men... women inherit the earth.I for one, bow down to our new Women overlords.

Point Nailed.When I was 15 I wanted to work at Chessington a hell of a lot.When I got the job when I was 16, that was a very happy time for me. Sure, I was juggling Chessington, working at Tesco and finishing A Levels but the Chessington job was magic and I was proud to work somewhere that I loved as a child. These days I know how corrupt the place is, but fair does, its all good

There's a lot of hate on TPM isn't there?

Glee is fun.

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.