Mark9

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.

Why is it on the Market Square compass?

Really enjoyed Inferno last night. I love it so much and it really comes into its own in darkness.

Have to say that even with the terrible reliability yesterday, the park operations were awesome. The ride crews were working their backsides off even with the short queues. Particularly on Swarm, Vortex, Colossus, Inferno and Detonator. Was mucho impressed. For all the crap we give Thorpe, the staff were awesome yesterday. Friendly, engaging and damn hard working.

So Disney announced lots of stuff yesterday, particularly with Hollywood Studios in mind http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2015/08/live-updates-from-walt-disney-parks-and-resorts-presentation-at-2015-d23-expo/ In a nutshell we have:- Toy Story Playland which will feature a Slinky Dog rollercoaster and an Alien UFO ride and a third track added to Toy Story Mania Star Wars 'land' which will feature a Millennium Falcon attraction Upgrade to Star Tours at Hollywood Studios and Disneyland, a new scene featuring parts from Star Wars 7 Animal Kingdom Pandora - the world of Avatar will be the official name for the area Avatar Flight of Passage is our Soaring type E ticket for the area.You fly on a banshee over an alien world. Rivers of Light is the name for the new night time show at Animal Kingdom Kilimanjaro Safari wil start sunset rides with the addition of Hyenas and African wild dogs. Soarin' will be updated to a new film, 'Soarin around the world' Yay, investment.

You say all this stuff like it's a bad thing. If it takes an IP and someone else to bring Merlin product to a higher standard, whats the problem. I don't really mind if Merlin don't sign something off personally.

Thats where my sympathies lie, not with the man who died I'm afraid. If high fences and danger signs all round aren't enough of a deterrent and you think an item is worth more then your own life then unfortunately this is nearly always the outcome.

I almost had someone try and get a hat at Fury on the first drop. He then threatened to punch me and my colleague for trying to stop him.

It happened on the one in Georgia, in fact two people have died via that Batman. Each time, the people have jumped fences to get personal items.

That looks stunning.

Of course you don't and I thank my lucky stars you aren't an operator making the decision. And having operated many rides, I can tell you thats baloney. Rides do break down more in the rain. To answer the second question, a few years back I was stuck on Detonator for 15 minutes with Marc during thrill chill and we got free return tickets for the inconvenience to our day. Sometimes its express pass/exit passes, sometimes they give out free day return tickets.

Ah those internet warriors. Lets face it if they aren't moaning how Towers should be shut down they'd be moaning about something else more trivial like queue times or price to get in.

So say you're an operator on.. well we're say Colossus but what whatever and you see torrential rain outside and you decide, well we're keep it open because even though standing in the rain and travelling through the rain at speed on basically an open top car are completely different things, you're a stubborn operator and it looks nice on a queue time website to have everything running. And then your ride breaks down. And it can't be resolved. And because you've taken a decision to keep it open in spite of seeing the rainy conditions, you've essentially sent 28 people out into the rain, stranded on the lift hill where it takes 40 minutes to an hour to be evacuated. There's no cover up there so it's just the train and the elements. So because of you, not only have you got 28 people soaked to the bone, you need to get all the managers over, the guest service team to distribute free tickets (maybe even annual passes), warm blankets, hot coffee and potentially hold the ride up further once the rain goes causing even more annoyance because you thought the running of a ride was more important then guest comfort. Lets face it, our parks are good at running their rides in the rain anyway so most of it is a moot point, but on rides like Storm Surge (which it turns out wasn't guest comfort anyway, just my suggestion) that lift hill is long and sitting on a boat that's filling more and more with rain water can't be much fun.

No. Guests are... odd creatures and will tolerate waiting but when they get to the seat 'oh the seats wet.' Trust me on this, Storm Surge being closed is for the guests own good.. in fact.. no don't do the obvious joke Mark.

Isn't it more guest comfort on Storm Surge. You do spend a long time on Storm Surge going up the lift hill.

It's only half the story. When people go to Florida, people tend to do everything. Very few just go and do Universal or just do Disney, hence why Disney will still growth in spite of what looks like smaller additions. I agree with others that Epcot and Hollywood Studios need something, Animal Kingdom ironically enough is my favourite of the four and a lot of the stuff there is in preparation for Pandora and the new night time show. New dining places, new toilet facilities, relocating Festival of the Lion King. And Magic Kingdom wasn't expecting that kind of growth. Although Seven Drawfs Mine train was never conceived as the next big thing, the guests are seeing it as a major addition. I think come Frozens opening at Epcot, a lot of that will change.

I don't think we're anywhere near the same ball park as Seaworld. The way Towers dealt with the Smiler incident straight away has meant that there is quite a lot of good will towards them. People are returning, even the injured have been pretty open in saying that they don't blame the park and just want to know what happened. It's not the same as people watching Blackfish and assuming Seaworld just kill whales for fun. I think people will still ride whatever the Smiler becomes. Maybe not at first, but over time it will return to normal levels.