Mark9

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.

Add Loggers into that as well... actually Quantum is rather air-timey.Or does it need to be an air-time monster rollercoaster in which case we are lacking in this country.

Or it's fantastic that finally things that have been off for over 6 years are finally coming back to life.

Dragon Falls used to be the best of its kind in this country but I think that by getting rid of the rockwork in 2005 (no matter how essential it was) took a lot away from the ride and it's not as good as it once was. Lets face it, the ride itself is pretty rubbish but the theming really made the experience.

Are Merlin going a bit B&M mad after the Intamin binge?

On some rides it makes sense though, I'd say Slammer is one of them. You wouldn't say "Welcome to Runaway Train" for instance.

We get it now guys, please just drop the issue. MikeyT and Ryan have already asked people politely to get back onto Chessington discussion.

The unthemed metal roof was still there during the old Vampire days but it was better hidden when you were on the ride. Ever since then. the clearance issues have meant the rockwork was removed.

Lets see two viewpoints then shall we."Oh my life is so bad, I can't go on holiday. Why is life so harsh""My wife has alzheimers. Even though I can smile and pretend everything is ok, I can go into work and do my job I have to face a reality that one day, the woman I have been married to for 38 years, will not remember who I am, who she is and know nothing about the life she once led"Now, I know very well that people can only use their own experience to judge what is good and bad. But a lot of the problems pale in comparison to something genuinely distressing which is why I made my post, I get a bit fed up of trivial ranting about not going on holiday or not being able to afford something. That isn't a problem, thats something solveable.As for Outfit going for Gemma... Don't do it again

Dont approve of this at all. You may see it as bit of a fun, but it would severely piss me off.