Mark9

I'd have been honoured to have my name on a forum with positive feedback. That rule on this forum is stupid, as any positive feedback at Chessie, rarely ever gets back to the host.

I think it gets slammed because people do expect a lot from it before they go and it doesn't really deliver. For instance, you are absolutely right about Stormforce 10's queueline, it is absolutely the best queue line in this country with theming that goes up and beyond what we expect. But then the ride is essentially lots of concrete troughs so the Cornish Fishing Village 'theme' isn't followed through. It's exactly what the outside bit of Saw: the ride is like, just rubbish compared to whats gone before.I've always taken issue with the "amount of trains" on a ride thing. I went during peak summer period five years ago and Shockwave was on one train and half the seats were out of action. Why didn't they bring on the other train or use the other train instead? It doesn't give you absolute confidence in the parks engineering if out of a 24 seater train, you can only use 12 seats which are dotted around the train. It's the same thing with G Force, instead of adding that stupid sound machine in the queueline, why didn't they invest in a second train?Drayton Manor has glimpses of awesome, for instance I adore its Rapids ride for being genuinely wet, Apocalypse is always good for a thrill and I do like Shockwave because of its fantastic zero G roll, despite its rather simplistic RCT layout. But I always come away thinking what problems the park has rather then what an excellent day I had.

Does anyone remember Marcus Sheen and his website Coaster Kingdom? Whilst searching the internet for information on Megafobia I cropped upon his review of Megafobia and I can't believe how similar our views on Theme Parks are. Here's a few chosen quotes for people to muse on... especially when it comes to our "newer" attractions. It's odd to think that review was written in 2002.. and yet it's all true. Parks no longer really seem to care about their guests (well.. aside from Europa Park) and are only interested in overhyped record breakers and PR hits.

As James6 said, they are usually leniant if a majrotiy of people in a group have an Annual Pass.

I'm thinking Italy although Benin should invite me on principle. I have a feeling its a dive machine. It wouldn't make incredible sense for Merlin to throw three of B&M's new type of rides at its parks, it means theres no point in Ap holders (who may travel to each one) although of course the benefits of any B&M to a park are inmeasurable.

Toadies Crazy Cars is actually made by Supercar Leisure UK. Agreed with Benin, GO MACK!

Lol.... Pretty funny troll though to be honest.Anyone who thinks replacing Nemesis with a Rattlesnake type coaster will lead to a great career would certainly make me smile.

You've got troubles, I've got them to. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you!Some other folks may be a little bit smarter then I am. Bigger and stronger to,MaybeBut none of them will ever love you the way I do, it's you and me boy.And as the years go by, our friendship will never die. You gonna see, it's our destiny.You got a friend in me.

Best ride in the world. Without a doubt.

Good question. Sometimes I feel communication to the mods is crappy on this forum. I had no idea the Slippery Serpent topic had been locked and I didn't know members couldn't start new topics in Thorpe Park forum.I shall get onto this and find out exactly whats going on.

I love visiting theme parks that are outside of the Merlin theme park world. You begin to appreciate how other parks cope when money isn't chucked at them willy nilly, and how out of a desire to achieve, the park is better for it. It may be why I prefer Chessington to Legoland, Nemesis to any other post 2000 rollercoaster and why Oakwood impressed me far more then it may have deserved.Oakwood, unlike Alton is quite an easy drive with very little hills through tiny villages, instead its more a journey through fields on the M4. The park reminds me a little bit of Paultons with its over the top entrance colour scheme. The entrance is decked in bright green and orange and invites you to ride THE TOP 4. These are Megafobia, Speed, Bounce and Hydro.Naturally we tried the challenge and headed straight for Megafobia. It was running one train and we queued about five minutes for the back row. Now, a lot of discussion on here goes for woodie as the way to go at thorpe. I disagree, with the amount of criticism Colossus and Saw come under, there is no way the average Thorpe fanboy and guest could take a ride like Megafobia. Now I personally think it is an excellent ride but it certainly doesn't treat you like a king. In fact its bloody violent. It jerks you, shakes you and throws you around for its full 90 second ride. And its pure class. It keeps its pace excellently for the full ride and I can totally see why this was in its day a top ten rollercoaster.We avoided Speed for a little while as there just isn't enough there to over-ride. We went on Treetop Coaster which was very cute, RCT2esque rollercoaster. We had two goes round and had a great laugh. We also rode Bounce, one of the top FOUR. It was a bit forceful and alot of fun to. And finally Speed. It is a far better ride then Saw and Rage and a very decent, well paced intense rollercoaster. It's hard to say why it gets so much right whilst Saw doesn't, but it just feels far smoother and enjoyable. The ride was running one car and we queued about ten minutes for it.We never did get onto Hydro, in fact due to its opening hours we never even saw it move. It is only open from 2-5 pm due to the rides expense but from what I could see its a far more scary ride then Tidal Wave. I'd question whether I'd really ever want to ride it frankly.Megafobia X3Speed X2Treetops Rollercoaster X2Bounce X1Toboggan Ride X1Brer Rabbit X1Spooky 3D X1Tractors X1

Could you do the same as well then please.

Weren't they single riders? Yeah I think they were. Basically, single riders are a bit thick.

Your guess is as good as ours.I don't know why people plan trips for the summer holidays, traditionally the parks second busiest period, if they are so concerned about long queues. Just go and enjoy yourselves!

Hence all the signs and announcements saying Rattlesnake is a bumpy and jerky ride."SIT BACK, HOLD TIGHT, IT'S A BUMPY RIDE"

Smoking is cool, stop ragging on smoking It's those school kids that shout for their teachers for about 10 minutes that are the real theme park nuisance. Someone at Th13teen was shotuing for Mr Williams for ages. She just wouldn't get the hint that Mr Williams COULD NOT HEAR HER.

Blimey.. that is slow.

Alton Towers - 18th July 2010.A visit to the Assylum.People are always very quick to say Thorpe has a chav problem. I'll happilly say it doesn't, it's Alton that has a real bad problem with its clientele. Case in mind. Earlier this year I complained about getting on the AT bus and 13 years old drinkign Fosters at 9:00 in the morning. Well this time walking through Th13teens queueline is a bit like walking through a graffitied alleyway. Every few feet, another message saying Holly and her Hen party had come to Alton on the 15/05/2010. Now, people were very quick to say INFERNO'S EXIT HAS GRAFFITI on it a few years back (it was quickly removed within 12 hours). Alton, clearly don't give a damn and have left it for several months.Secondly, when I went to Europa Park I commented on the amount of costumed characters that quite literally are everywhere. At Alton, despite having a themed ride to a blue, speedy little hedgehog he was nowhere to be seen. Neither was the Mutiny Bay sharks or Pirates. We did see the Alton Bear briefly before he was whisked off as quickly as can be. Is it to much for a family theme park to have a bit of entertainment going on around the place?Finally, what is going on with the effects at Alton at the moment? Something was very wrong with the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's projector.It seemed to be split in half, one was wide screen and the other full and there was a horrible blending between the two creating ghosting. The waterfall wasn't working and the audio seemed to be out of sequence. Nemesis's blood fountains were just... white fountains. Duel was okay though As for the ride sides of things. Th13teen continues to be just about the most average rollercoaster ever created. It's so innoffensive I don't want to compliment or criticise it. We had taken a newbie to Alton and her favourite ride without a doubt was Oblivion. In her words "it's the scariest thing I have ever done."Reliability seemed ok although, does anyone know whats up with Submission. I've seen it down quite often on my trips. Air also opened late.

"X:\ No Way Out retheme"Oh wait..."Rattlesnake - New rollercoaster for 1998""Whats happened to the 5th Dimension?""Why was Dragon River and Smugglers Galleon renamed?"

People don't ask to stay in the middle. When I operated the awful, awful thing all everyone ever bloody wants is the back making it a fricking nightmare to get the ride full.

1) Chessington used to do 10pm close in the 90's at it's Fright Night events. Now-a-days its latest is 8pm during Halloween.2) The queues go down at the end of the day as people start to leave the park.3) 10 rides is good in seven hours if you include lunch and all the wandering around.As for the question being asked, I sort of agree but not about Chessington. Being a park for younger memebers of the family, it's the perfect opening times. It may be frustrating for teenagers but for kids they get so tired after 5-6 hours on park.

Thats the most random birthday message to someone I've ever read.

Without anything like a track layout or theme ideas, I'm still quite excited about this one. B&M haven't really done much recently with their rides, only upgrading the existing equipment. Music systems in headrests are nice but they aren't revolutionary. This will hopefully be a return to form and I will make the effort to get there now on the back of another B&M in Europe.

The only rides at Chessington you should take your glasses off for are Dragons Fury and Rameses Revenge. And I don't think you'll be going on them judging by your other posts. So you have no worries.