Mark9

What is the current Fright nights cap on numbers/ What would be an acceptable cap? Is it just a case of a freak day where it was pretty nice weather after a horrible Saturday and everyone came out for a visit. Queues today are pretty reasonable (It's 7:20PM and the longest queue is Saw at 115 minutes for example, the flats are all around 30 minutes which is pretty standard).

It's why it needs to be designed like Twister Timbers or Wildcats Revenge where the lockers and metal detectors are just before the loading station. The rotating baggage stores aren't going to stop people taking their phones out on the ride.

I would like to think that everyone on here secures their loose articles. I think with Hyperia opening and the amount of air time and whatever on that ride, that Thorpe should seriously think of a locker system similar to a lot of the RMC's in America. Having phones and whatever else flying around is unacceptable and whilst it is all about personal responsibility, Thorpe need to mitigate any potential danger going forward.

Seems as that I'm not going anywhere else new this year, its my favourite time of year.. the top ten 2023. And my oh my there's a lot of newness out there. With Nemesis closed it has reached golden status as my 0. 0. Nemesis - I think this will remain my favourite ride of all time. But as it doesn't exist anymore it wouldn't be fair to rank it against other rides. 1. Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point - Naturally moves up to the top spot. A sheer tour de force of an attraction and I'm looking forward to getting back on it next year. It was the second RMC I'd ever done but with 8 more added to the list, I wonder if it's really as good as I remember. 2. Ride to Happiness. Plopsaland - A revelation of a rollercoaster and one of the most reridable attractions Mack have ever made. I cannot put into words the sheer joy and excitement each ride gave me. It's ease of getting to from London makes it an easy must do for anyone wanting to ride one of the best rides in the world. 3. Toutatis, Parc Asterix. People absolutely fall head over heels for Intamin and I never really have. Juvelen came close but that was a decade ago. No, it was Toutatis the ride that made me fall for this company. That launch section alone with some of the most aggressive air time out there really impressed me and I wanted more. This year I got to ride its close brother Pantheon and whilst good, the theming and story of Toutatis really pushes it all the way to third. 4. Wildcats Revenge, Hershey Park. This was completely out of the blew for me, really unexpected. I did not expect this to be the RMC that I would be placing so high in my top ten. But it was something else. Fantastically designed, well operated, efficient and brilliantly paced. There is not a bad seat on this fantastic ride. 5. Untamed, Walibi Holland. I don't want to be an RMC obsessed toad, but the reality is that RMC do not make bad rides. And Untamed is another excellent example of a well designed, well paced, breath-taking ride. I need to get back over to ride it as I've done several of similar size now and I'd be interested to see if its as good as I remember. 6. Blue Fire, Europa Park. This is a bit of an oddity as there are clearly rides that are better. But for me, an excellent ride is more than the ride experience. Ease of riding, efficiency and operations are equally if not more important. Blue Fire is this ride and to watch it on four trains, running flawlessly is something to behold. Blue Fire is the resurgence of rollercoasters as I think, without its revolutionary train, we would not see the outstanding Intamins, Vekomas and (hopefully) Zamperlas we are seeing today. 7. El Toro, Six Flags Great Adventure. I wouldn't say I completely enjoyed El Toro. Some of the roughness in there is borderline unridable. But, and this is a big but, I swear to god El Toro is one of the finest rollercoasters in the world with a pacing that no other wooden coaster can match. It evokes fear in me quite unlike any other in the top ten. It's not a passive experience and fully takes your breathe away. A ride that pushes you to your limits. Its outstanding even if it needs more work done to one of the downward turns. 8. Alpengeist, Busch Gardens Williamsburg. A B&M invert that is so massive, so dominant, there was no way I couldn't love it. I loved that sheer speed and scale of Alpengeist and how well paced that first half of the ride is. The second half is trimmed to severely to be as enjoyable but it is an absolutely fantastic old-school B&M Inverter. 9. Batman: Gotham City Escape, Parque Warner Madrid. It's odd to describe this ride and I think it needs to be ridden because it is so unique. I was surprised by how much I like it, but its one of those rides that is full of surprises and variety. 10. Helix, Liseberg. A masterclass in building to the terrain with such aggressive air time that it begins to hurt your legs. With the advent of Taron and Intamins far faster launches, its always fun to return to Liseberg and remember just how good the Mack trains are and how great Helix is. The following rides were so close but just not good enough to be in the top ten. Iron Grawzi, Velocicoaster. Nitro, Twisted Timbers, Dominator, Superman de Acero, Abyssus, Zadra, Hyperion, Katun, Oz'Iris, Wildfire, Wodan

I think I've been sleeping on Hyperia, the more I think about it the more I'm coming round to it potentially being the best ride in the country. Nemesis I'm excited about but I'm concerned they might nerf it with a pre show and I don't think it will be running at the originals standard for a few years. Don't know enough about Drayton's at the point to have any excitement.

Colossus would have been absolutely slated if it was being built now.

And if they had used the same name you'd be just as critical. Name is fine, fits in well at Thorpe. Can't wait x

If Universal has done a toymaker character then they copied Doctor Who as well

Looks familiar. Just so glad it's the normal B&M restraints and not the awful vests. And its definitely the old trains refurbished as you can see the bar connecting the seats underneath the row.

I'm with Benin here, stats seem to correlate very little with rides I enjoy versus ones I don't. 1. Imagination. This covers a lot of different things but basically, I prefer a well themed, well designed, well paced rollercoaster compared to an off the shelf, generic model. I like to be surprised, taken aback, shown different things. Things like Ride to Happiness, Taron, Toutatis, Nemesis are perfect examples. 2. High capacity/Reliable. I think there's a lot to be said for excellent operations and a lot of enthuisiasts forgive broken down rides and shoddy operations way too easily. My most recent example is Iron Grawzi. It doesn't matter how excellent it is, if you spend 5 minutes in the break run because of shoddy operations, everyone is going to look and feel bored out of their minds when they get off of the thing. Rides that I love because of their ease of riding are Nemesis, Blue Fire, El Toro. 3. Fun. Ultimately I want to get off a ride and be overwhelmed and want to run back round and do it all again. Toutatis, El Toro, Nemesis, Ride to Happiness fit those bills and I will just ride and ride and never get bored.

I love theoretical throughputs, even on 8 cars there is absolutely no way it could get 950 people per hour. Its absolute maximum was 750 on 8 cars which it last did in 2005.

I imagine they want to have to reopen on the 19th March but anything could happen to stop that.

We worked in a golden age compared to what they put up with now.

They struggle to employ and retain because the pay is garbage and the working conditions are awful. They've got a management team who think sitting in an office and claiming how great they are is an acceptable way to run a team of people. They would rather run the park like it's closing down.

Can I just throw out there, that back on 3 trains it was so much fun to get those trains in and out in 30 seconds. Everyone from area managers to ride platformers just put their all into running Vampire to its maximum. Yes it was hard work but it was truly rewarding and it was something that everyone aspired to do well. In this age of hour long RAP queues and everyone just adding so many levels of faff to what is actually a really easy to run ride, Vampire more then most shows the downfall in standards on a lot of UK rides. Back then, missing 1000 an hour was a disappointment. Now, hitting 400 is seen as an achievement.

I think the counting down thing is just operator specific. When I was at Thorpe back in April, the operator was counting down on Inferno and they were dispatching incredibly quickly, no waiting outside the station, straight in.

I don't think you can blame the public for misunderstanding this one, Thorpe Park themselves market it as one of the most terrifying experiences out there.

'We could have made a donation to charity for each sale but we chose pure profit instead'

Quick run down of my trip to Florida last time. My last trip in February 2022 saw me lose a lot of trust in the Disney company, their parks were an absolute hassle. Magic Kingdom - Much better this time around. Even without Splash Mountain, the queues were just a lot shorter. Genie+ is relatively strong here and with a lot more rides, the spread across the rides is good. I really like Tron Lightcycle Run. I acknowledge that it is way too short but the strong launch and the excellent soundtrack make this an enjoyable ride. The outside area gives the ride a great visual and the lighting package is beautiful. Animal Kingdom - Now 6 years since investment, this has become the quietest park and as a consequence, remains the most enjoyable and relaxed of the four parks. It also for me has the most consistent rides with the only weak link being Kali River Rapids. Everything else is Disney's best. The park has the best food across the parks and remains strong to its central theme of conservation. Epcot - Meh. Just a one and done park for me. Each ride is fine but not worth going on more then once. Didn't even get on Testrack due to reliability issues. Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind is fine but it's a lot of faff to get on and I just find the eight minutes of pre-show beyond tedious and completely self indulgent. The ride is really fun with good air time. But we are essentially have a vekoma family spinning rollercoaster with hours of queuing that goes with it. The two songs we got were good but they completely drown out the commentary from the Guardians as you're riding. Hollywood Studios - This day was tough. Started out with no Rise of the Resistance, Rock 'N' Rollercoaster and Slinky Dog and that caused massive backlogs everywhere. The only ride that worked all day was Runaway Railroad and Star Tours, everything else was an hour wait or more with multiple bouts of downtime. This was the toughest day at Disney, Hollywood Studios just needs more filler rides. Everything is top tier but nothing is there to soak up the people. Genie+ is strongest here but if you're in stand by, it is a miserable day out. Seaworld - This park opens at 10 but the only ride open by 11 was Kraken. Dismal start to the day and it was unbearably hot waiting outside Pipeline with no cover. Pipeline is the worst B&M I have been on, a rare misfire for me. For some reason the vest restraints dug into my shoulders the entire time. Yuck. The ride itself, the seats clunk up and down and for a ride that is relatively full of air time, the seats thud up and down over the hills. I found the whole thing just really uncomfortable but I do realise this could just be me. Manta, Kraken and Mako were excellent as per usual. Ice Breaker was weird with awful restraints. The ride starts off fairly good but the restraint does keep getting tighter and tighter as it goes on. Busch Gardens - Williamsburg is far better. The ride line up is just a tad stronger. Iron Grawzi is well hyped and it is good. but best rollercoaster in the world I'm not so sure. For one the operations absolutely suck. 5 minute dispatches every single time. The ride is also.. for me.. too short. You race into the break run at full speed so it feels like it has a lot more to give. There are some great elements though such as the first drop which made me grey out each time. Some of the air time is pretty good, others is excellent. It has some of the odd transitions that Twisted Timbers and Wildcats Revenge has which are actually more painful than enjoyable. So yeah, I'm undecided on where I sit with it. Montu was fine, Sheikra didn't seem as impressive after Griffon, I liked Cheetah Hunt this time around. Tigris has vile restraints and Scorpion is excellent. Galatic Starcruiser - The soon to be closed hotel experience was by far one of the finest things I've ever completed in my life. It was so engaging, full of great plot twists and excitement and there's a part of me that thinks if it had been just a little bit cheaper, it could have succeeded. Thanks for reading. 😃

I would sell my soul for Exodus to open tomorrow just so we never have to listen to this nonsense ever again.

Is there a particular reason people are angry about a non compulsory add on? It's not even fastrack which actively impacts everybody's visit. It's literally a 'you have too much money' tax. So why is this angering so many?

Just wanted to say something really positive about Nemesis Inferno. it's lack of dead spots. I was just thinking about rides of similar sizes like Talon, Flight Deck, the Batman clones and Great Bear and they all have really boring bits in them where the train is just repositioning. Inferno doesn't have that. Even the upper turn after the last inversion, it has some nice power to it. All hail our volcano themed queen.

Icon, Speed and Megafobia are up there. I like Shockwave but it isn't a favourite. I'll go with Icon just because its fun and accessible to a lot of people. I like the directions that Paultons and Drayton are heading in, if they could add something like Juvelen that could easily become my favourite non Merlin rollercoaster.

What is currently relevant but won't be in a years time. Thats probably the best clue if Angry Birds was to be rethemed.

Don't forget our dearly beloved. I'm not really buying what they're saying to be honest. I think its to do with staffing. The way Hex miraculously reopened last year when Duel closed says to me they have recruitment holes that they can't fill.