Mark9

Wasn't Wild Mouse rumoured to go three years ago but nothing came of it. Has something happened recently for these rumours to surface?

Chessington in 1998 was the park that threw me into the throes of enthusiast culture, particularly the old Vampire trains falling from the second lift hill into Transylvania and Dragon River boats going into the dragon mouth. I'd visited the park a couple of times previously and at that time had fond memories of Fifth Dimension, Runaway Mine Train and Jumbos in Circus World so knew that I loved the place. But 1998 was when I truly fell in love with the escapism and whimsy of a theme park. That time was particularly special with the introduction of Rattlesnake and then Samurai in 1999.

Truckers queue is the biggest oddity in the park, it springs from 5mins to 40 mins with one cycle of the carousel. A lot of guests do the two rides together so the queue for Trucks goes from very few people to the 70 people from Carousel. Flipping nightmare to keep that queue board updated I can tell you and it doesn't help that the queue-line for Trucks was extended a few years back.

Queue time reduced by 30 minutes.

Were you comparing Paultons to Haunted Mansion in Florida where you can see the ride building behind the facade?!

Because we need to make digs at Thorpe at every opportunity no matter how unrelated it may be.

I know it's your opinion. That's all TPM is, a place of opinions and viewpoints. I'm throwing out the opposite view which is based in fact. Thorpe has had massive rollercoaster investment since 2000 and even though you've jumped into rides since 2009, you've still had massive rollercoaster investment compared to anything else. Would another rollercoaster be the answer to all of Thorpes problems?

If it helps Dean, you've had 15 years of Thorpe building things purely for a thrill basis, maybe now is the time to try something a little different. Still I like the word spited, as if five major rollercoasters in ten years was the industry norm.

Go and spend a lot more money I suggest, might encourage them to open longer hours. Five years ago we didn't even have Tues/Weds/Thurs opening.

Mainly because the block system that rollercoasters employ is infallible. Block breaks automatically close until the next part of the track is clear and this is what happened at The Smiler because we know from witness reports that the train was stopped on the lift hill. What shouldn't be possible is that you can just over-ride the safety systems particularly in the event of a stalled train.

Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland.

I don't even see why Chessington has to open weekdays through September and October. It's guest numbers barely reach 500 at that point.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3207431/Two-workers-quizzed-human-error-Alton-Towers-horror-Engineer-turned-automatic-safety-lock-operator-let-truck-slam-stalled-carriage.html Looks like the Daily Mail is the first to run with the story; human error.

Josh C linked to the artwork on the previous page of the kind of thing we should be expecting.

That's hilarious. Imagine if Bubbleworks, Tomb Blaster or Haunted House had been built with that level of disregard for aesthetics. It's like they couldn't give a toss.

I've got a feeling that it's operations. It, as a ride is far more primitive a ride system then Fury and Spinball and it's very very easy to make the cars bump into each other. It can also easily be toggled from manual to automatic, part of its close down procedures for example is to have five cars in the station.

Done!

Thanks for the find Mattg, that video is awesome.

The effects I've listed have pretty much been working on every trip I've been on since 2013.

Dare I say it, could Chessington not be a little bit more ambitious perhaps. Magic Carpet was great for 1987 and Samurai was great in 1999 but that was over 15 years ago. It's the same thought pattern that wants Bubbleworks to return to its Professor Burp days, it's not pushing the park forward, just keeping it in the past. I accept that the period between 1995-2000 was the parks greatest days but if the place is to have any future it needs to strive to lead, not keep relying on the rides that made it what it was. Chessington.

I've put out the special TPM balloons in Benin's honour.

You mean like the fireball or the red lights on the train or the water spraying from the fire engine or the helicopter propellor or the Swarm sound effects as the train goes through the top of the church or the crashed ambulance light or the blinking lights on the advertisement board or the all the queue line TV's. The only effects I couldn't see working was the water skim and the smoke in the plane. That's not too shabby for a company renowned for poor upkeep on effects.

Not many bright sparks left I'm afraid.

Back on Thorpe Park Guide forums I wanted to be called Mark, but that was taken. So I added a 9. Another member joined and then called himself Mark9w. SO yeah, Mark9w.