Mark9

I'll just say that's it's very very unlikely for an all out gang war (which spreads from ride to ride throughout the park) to occur at Chessington.He's right though, Cwoa does have a slightly... softer environment then Thorpe. Whether that's an advantage or a disadvantage is completely up to you.

Well you know thats crap, look at the reaction I got the other day.

It's true but you can only really see it at night-time. You can see the lights on Colossus's lift hill and in 2005 you could see the lighting effect they had on Stealth during Halloween.

Fantastic ride, if it wasn't for the look of Blue Thunder, Black Mamba would easily be the best themed rollercoaster in Europe this decade.

We did yeah. We managed to get there for Extra ride time where Oblivion, Rita and Runaway Mine Train open at 9. The other rides tend to open around 9:50.

Because Chessington haven't added any new rides since 2005 people don't care about the place. Fair enough really.

Went to Alton Towers today. Whilst I normally have awesome times at the park, today the trip was slightly marred by tiredness, cold weather and showers. It didn't help that my poor luck with Intamins continue as Rita decided to throw a wobbly on our second go. Nonetheless the park was running awesomely with Air, Oblivion and Nemesis all running to maximum capacity (yes even on a dead day like today).Nemesis was running like a dog on heat. I still cannot put into words just how awesome it continues to be and how much it impresses me even to this day. The new Skyride pods look nice however I didn't really like the facing inwards thing, especially when having to look at strangers, They also didn't seem to be running many gondolas meaning it ended up being our longest queue.The Sea-life centre is also only excellent if you have not been through Chessington's version as they are exactly the same lay-out and same displays. It is much better themed, but well you know.. it wasn't enough.The staff at the park are bloody awesome. Nearly every single one on every ride said hello, enjoy your ride, enjoy the rest of your day which was nice...So yeah.. good day.

Just a short reply to TPDan.Again, you just assume that I never praise Thorpe Park which is complete and utter bull. I have always given my honest opinion on anything Thorpe do (and any park for that matter). Did I not say Saw isn't even the best themed ride at Thorpe Park meaning I'm complimenting the Amity Cove area and saying it is up there with the UK's best. Did I not say in the trip report section that my visits to Thrill Chill were the best visits I've ever had to the park. When I'm at the park with Marc, I always say that the staff in retail are a pride to the Merlin group, they are always exceptional and friendly. The thing is, Billys Whizzer was closed for a day and I agree it should have been on the website as should Nemesis on the Alton Towers site. These are such moot points though because especially with Chessington, it gets nowhere near the gate figures, no where near the press coverage and it's not in the fanboy spotlight. I could have gone into a Cwoa topic, said "Billy's Whizzer was closed all day today" and it would not have been commented on at all. Whereas, as reliability is such a hot potato at Thorpe any kind of ride closure will have a massive effect. This is an interesting point actually. It is actually incredibly nice that the members on here notice the staff at Thorpe in a big way. But the problem is, being a staff member, I know that the majority of the time guests aren't even noticing the effort staff are putting into their work. That is why on one of my visits to Thorpe this year I took the time to make a guest compliment form about one of the medical centre guys when I fell over at Tidal Wave and injured my leg. If I hated Thorpe and disregarded them so badly, why would I take the time to do this.At the end of the day, my only problem with Thorpe is only ever going to be its rides because that is literally the only reason people go there (ignoring the social aspect with friends.) The ride availability is far more crucial to Thorpe then any of the other Merlin parks and why I will continue to bang on about it because its that damn important.

No TpDan, actually the only reason Thorpe will come under attack on this forum is because it is the only park that people ever discuss. If you don't believe me, look at all the other posts made in the Alton Towers, Chessington and Other Park topic sections then go and read all the Thorpe Park praise all over this forum. If anything I am in the minority, and like I am some kind of outsider you and that other guy who I can't remember start saying to me that I shouldn't jump at every small thing that Thorpe does wrong.Tell me, what is so small about Colossus being closed for 6 out of 7 hours? How is them taking the worlds most thrilling flat ride and making it worse then Quantum not worthy of criticism. How is one park having rides closed constantly not worth someone saying something in protest.You visit the park basically every week. If Colossus is closed for one week why should you give a toss, you'll be back the next week and it will probably be open. But I bet for 90% of Thorpes guests, that will be there only trip of the year. Again yes, but nothing will EVER compare to rides being closed. You can have rude staff, you can have bad toilets, you can have poor restraunts, you can have poor car parking, you can have bad weather but nothing EVER will compare to poor ride availability, especially at Thorpe when that is literally all you have to do for 8 or so hours. Count the amount of rides that have so far been unavailable for more then a day at ThorpeThorpe - Colossus, Slammer, Stealth, Samurai, Saw, CCR, Banana Ride, Carousel, RumbaNow count them on the other Merlin parksAlton - NemesisChessington - Billys WhizzerLegoland - None of their rides have been unavailable.You can call me biased against Thorpe Park all you want but you know what I don't care anymore. The park does not respect its guests with its poor ride availability so to be honest defend away.

Haha, as soon as I'm not an admin I get involved in a good debate.Well just to pick you up on a few things Just yesterday I said"What kind of a joke park are they running over in Chertsey because it's absolute worlds away from any other theme park in Europe."So how exactly am I just praising Chessington and Alton Towers then. Besides that's baloney anyway, I've happily praised Thorpe Park in the past and I will happily do so again. I just don't need to post constantly about how great Thorpe is when its rubbish ride reliability is not something I can praise. You can be a fan and not be up the parks arse you know. I like rides which is why TPM is not the only rollercoaster forum I am on. No where have I ever said that. In fact considering I haven't been to Alton Towers this year and haven't seen the Skyride gondolas, there isn't much point in me saying. Good, that was my intention. Instead of the consistent "thorpe is good" stuff being repeated, a little bit of controversy never hurt anyone.

Unfortunately we do live in a society of free speech where I can basically say what I want about Thorpe Park. Now fine, you guys can overlook rides being closed all the time. But seriously. First Samurai, then Slammer, then Rush, then Colossus. What kind of a joke park are they running over in Chertsey because it's absolute worlds away from any other theme park in Europe.The fact that you and TPdan seemed to have jumped at me for my comment does say a lot. Thorpe don't want their rides down, no you are right. And yet somehow, two months on they are still suffering from the same old crap whereas Legoland, Alton and Chessington are not and like some ignorant little kids, you guys just accept it and shout "but Thorpe can't help it" at me like it makes a difference.

Yes, yes we do.

Oh good, todays guests got an hour. Aren't Thorpe generous

It was intense, it was fast, it was worth the 45 minute queue. That is a fundamental difference when you add basically the most thrilling flat ride conceived.

When was I attacking anyone's interest?

You mean slow down the kicking a ball from one side to the other repeatedly for 90 minutes. I think it would provide far more entertainment tbh

I love how they got the more intense flat ride there is and programmed it with the most disastrously rubbish settings ever for five years.

Curse of the park unable to keep it's rides open more like.

Post here if you want to be on the "I rode the good Samurai cool-list"People so farMark9Alex GThat is all!

A girl almost died on Oblivion. She came into the station and she wasn't briefing. Luckily she was resuscitated and it still alive.

What exactly are you basing that on? What is wrong with green.. we don't even know if it's going to be happen or even the shade of green.

I personally think it is PURELY down to the fact that there are loads of little sidetracks at Chessington compared to Thorpe. Cwoa has the zoo and several animal shows at various times whereas Thorpe has.. well answers on a postcard please.When at Thorpe you ride, When at Chessington, you can explore.

Right, this is exactly my point. Saw is just a warehouse. It's a lovely, well designed station and the queueline is lovely but for what is supposed to be a 13 million pound attraction turns into a rollercoaster that is void of any kind of Saw detail. You say that Falls, Rattlesnake and Runaway are peeling away and I agree. However can you seriously argue that the old look takes away so much from the ride that the theme isn't apparent. For instance, take Rattlesnake. You enter through a belltower, the queue takes you around walls with rattlesnakes around, past Mexican animatronics, down into the main pit of the ride, through two shed filled with theming, a guy in a barrel, fire and light effects. You go through a small cave with another Rattlesnake before passing into another Shed with various impliments before entering the shed station. Then on the ride you go above the ride before plunging past a water tower, up and over the ride, through different sheds, over the main station before diving back into the main ride area. On Runaway the queue line is built as a staircase, around a central boiler. The queue-line takes you under the ride up and through the middle of the helix. The ride itself takes you up and through the rockwork.Dragon Falls plunges you between two face walls, into the mouth of a dragon, a beautifully designed station which is the pride of old Tussauds, A Buddha, a well designed ride.All the arguments that Saw looks better at the moment are absolute crap, of course it bloody does, its only been open for two months. When its been open for maybe 20 years, then you can start saying Runaway train looks crap. We're ignore the fact that for instance the indoor bit is completely in the dark so doesn't need as much detail whereas Rattlesnake, as a ride completely out in the open is far more thoroughly themed from top to bottom. We shall ignore the criticism of the lack of theming on Dragon Falls (What the hell is that about anyway). Saw is a nicely themed ride, but there is no way in hell its AMAZINGLY themed.

Fury 35 minsVampire 60 minsRunaway 45 minsRattlesnake 35 minsDragon Falls 35 minsTomb 40 minsThe queue times I saw