Mark9

Cause getting off with someone is so important these days.

Nemesis has two trains only.

It only runs one train when there's a problem with the other one.

They must be thick, they could have two quick rides in succession. That is proper derpy.

I think his parents are being unacceptable personally. The things I was doing at 16, well lets just say punishing someone for three months would make me rebel and lie to them more as the punishment in no way fits the crime.

I was thinking zero train operation myself, perfect for increasing fastrack sales.

One of the many reasons that queuing at Liseberg or Tivoli Gardens is a joy, why I'd take a 30 minute queue for Kanonen over a 30 minute queue for Stealth and why I've always enjoyed my trips to Adventure Island. Great place to visit.

Had an iPhone 4 for three and a half years and was more or less trouble free. Never cracked it and if I hadn't got water into it, it would still be alive today. I've been on a 5C (In beautiful yellow) since March and it's the best phone I've had so far in my short little life. Works perfectly and has given me no grief. I'm not a fan of Samsung and HTC's. Sure they may be ahead in technology but it doesn't necessarily mean they are the best. I'll definitely be getting an Apple Watch on release, that Mickey fascia.

There's a brief delay on the fountains (2/3 seconds) hence why the front sometimes gets away with it and the back gets a full soaking. Bit concerned to hear operator leaves control briefly..

I call upon Rita: Queen of Speed and The Smiler to take the stand in the witness box.

Interesting. When I rode Riddlers at Magic Mountain, I thought it would be a much better sit down roller coaster then a stand up coaster. I'm sure this won't create a precedent for stand ups being converted with the Mantis change but it is kind of weird to see one take on the change.

If I remember correctly (and bare in mind it's been years since I went in Rammy's control box), there were 9 different settings possible for the ride to run, but most were either not programmed in or used during public opening hours.

I'm going with my gut here, as it's the only obvious answer! LORD INTAMIN DECREED! ##vote J.S217

Happier guests (and not ones stuck in endless queue lines) = More spending in the shops = More money for replacement parts for the worn out bits.

I always take the 5 minute queue thing as the walking through the queue line and the ride itself.

No more new roller coasters to be ridden this year so the top ten; 1. Superman la/Attaccion de Acero. I've found new favour with floor less rides, for this reason my memory sparked of my love for the Spanish ride. Back in 1st place after a few seasons in second. 2. Katun. My favourite B&M inverter by not very much to be honest. Proove that an American style ride can work wonders in Europe. 3. Nemesis. How could this not be in the top five. A superb roller coaster that to this day continues to be a revolution. Truly on the world stage. 4. Expedition Everest. I think this was excelled to the top thanks to its theming and throughput more then its ride quality. Nonetheless, it's a fantastic roller coaster. 5. Blue Fire. One of the best rides in the world. Fun more then thrilling and absolute Europa Park perfection. 6. Helix. Between this and Blue Fire was the closest of my top ten. Can't help feeling that six is too low for this ride but I can't see it being higher then the rest. 7. Juvelen. How can a family ride like this be so high? Easy, I think its perfect. During my rides it bought me so much joy and has helped numb my Intamin dislike which has allowed me to enjoy rides like Green Lantern and Kanonen in ways I wouldn't have previously. 8. Oz'Iris. Need to ride this more. Fantastically themed Inverter which has fallen through the ranks slightly. 9. Tatsu. Wonderful flying coaster. The only one I've ridden so far that does the flying coaster justice. 10. Kumba. The trend setter for dozens of similar layouts. The finale helix is a great ending to a superb ride. Just outside the top ten lies Scream, Medusa, Wodan, Black Mamba and Grand National. Falling out the top ten was Manta and Shambhala. My bottom five remains the same with Tornado, Furius Baco, Sequioa Adventure, Shamu Express and Primevil Whirl taking worst ride ever honours.

And I'd come with you too Cornflakes, if it wasn't for the fact that the only Intamin at Europa Park is a rapids. This makes Marc very sad. Thank god for Thorpe Park. I think we need a town meeting.

I just fear for the LC post really. That's more frightening then any Fright Night maze or event.

A way of thinking about it is the biggest effect on queues is guests. If staff are working fast and show urgency, this tends to follow through to the guests. For example, people normally run pretty quickly onto Dragons Fury because of the way the cars continually move through the station (the same happens on Rapids and Log Flumes). However go over to Rattlesnake and because the cars stop four times through the station, there is no urgency to guests, they take their time getting on, make themselves comfortable, faff around with bags and your throughput goes down the pot, queues spiral out of control, operator closes the window in anger etc. I don't really see the point of Swarm operators dispatching a train super early as there is more chance of the other one playing catch up, giving one train more time to load then the other, however I don't see the harm in it if the staff are good enough for the trains to never stack. It reduces queue time is ultimately the aim so I can only see it as a benefit to everyone.

Hasn't changed much in the eight years since I went then. Shame as Heisee faht is a pretty good gerstlauer.

Chessington has certainly turned up the juice this year, when I went in April it was by far the more enjoyable Merlin visit of the three and all the little repaints and refurbishments have definitely given it the lease of life it deserves.

To break up the flow of Benin Germany trip reports ( ), I've written a little something about my trip to Liseberg. Anyone who follows me on twitter or Facebook, probably knows what's coming. Alas, this will be a more detailed account of my trip. So I'm just going to start with, great park. It features a good selection of flat rides, a well paced fun rapids ride and a very peculiar log flume. There's not many parks which have four very re-rideable roller coasters and Liseberg arguably has three that you can ride over and over again. Well what about the fourth? Well this is where my report begins, Kanonen, an Intamin launch coaster that I know many on here don't like. In theory I shouldn't either. It demonstrates everything I don't like about the majority of Intamin rides such as those horrible restraints, lowish throughput, an attempt at a ride that should never got off the ground. And yet after the first ride I thought it was fine. The more I rode it the more I really liked it. I can't put my finger on why either. The launch for example feels like there's a trim at the end as the train loses speed very quickly. The top hat isn't anything to write home about. I like the vertical loop which has a lot of hang time as the train pretty much struggles to get round it. The stengel turn contorts the train horrifically and ironically, the ground hugging turn kills any momentum the ride previously had. And the inline which is fitted into a tight corner, barely making it before slamming into the breaks. It shouldn't be enjoyable, in fact most don't like it I'm rather fond of its unassumingness. So to put into perspective, this is nowhere near a top ten ride. That's okay though, as it's never going to pretend to be one, it never had an ambition to be fighting it out with Katun and Nemesis. No this is a take it or leave it launch ride. I'll take it but I know most will ignore and never return. With that little bit of awkward out the way, lets now go onto the big guns, Balder a big player in the Mitch Hawker poll and the 2nd most popular (queue wise) ride at Liseberg. I want to put it out there that ironically, whilst being quite tolerant of rough rides, when it comes to woodies I expect a bit of the old shaky. These are rides that feel more organic then constructed, the wood flexing and creaking as a train rushes through its circuit, I expect a bit of activity, I'm fond of being thrown about a bit. Balder is not that ride. Balder is more concerned with treating you nicely, chucking you into forceful ejector hill at every hill but never pushing it too far. I think that's more a failing then a positive actually. Every hill chucks you into the same thrilling sensation and when it does 7/8 of the same type of hill it does get a bit predictable. With that being said, it is a top tier ride. There isn't another woodie that I've previously been on that delivers such constant air time as this. Even the stunning Tonnerre de Zeus does lose a bit of momentum 3/4's of the way through. Here Balder delivers a thrilling and fast ride from first drop to break run. The little humps in particular are the rides highlight. One of the better woodies in Europe certainly but as relentless and out of control as Wodan? Not a chance. [interestingly, my partner Chris, said Balder was boring and was so predictable that he found it hard to enjoy] Onto a more classic attraction and a ride whose name I can't say without adding more ananana, it's Lisebergbanan, a classic if I ever did see one. This if you like is Schwarzkopfs crowning glory, a testament to the awesomeness of their rides, a people eating machine that is much loved by all that visit the theme park. One I thing I'm a big fan of is how it utilises the natural hillside to create a pacey, well designed attraction. Whilst never truly leaving its ground hugging nature, it uses the energy of the train in neat ways and never needs an extra kick like a second lift hill or launch area to get the train going again. We could use more rides like this in the modern era, too many parks concern themselves with gimmicks or tag lines and forget that getting through people should matter more then anything else. A fond favourite and very good in the dark. And now, finally; Helix. Instead of going through a full analysis of why Helix is so awesome, I'm just going to cover a few basis. I don't want to give too much away here for those who haven't been yet. 1. The drop out of the station into the corkscrew is a sublime way to start the ride. 2. The two air time hills are absolutely fabulous. By the end of my two days, the tops of my legs were aching from the sheer amount of air time. 3. The turn after the first air time hill is incredible. Think Nemesis's first helix and then add a lap bar, it's an incredible moment. 4. The middle half of the ride is sublime, seriously sublime. I cannot think of a ride out there that is as well paced and relentless as this. A perfect combination of layout, ride train and intensity. 5. The second launch into the largest inversion on the ride is brilliant. Look out over the park on your ride and just enjoy.\ 6. The second air time hill. So good, it deserves a second mention. Utterly deceptive and yet awesome. 7. A fast moving queue line is always a good thing. If the queue is out the door, it's only an hour long. Worth the wait and then some. So the real question when it comes to it is.. is it better then Blue Fire? I'm going to be controversial and say no. Blue Fire is far more fun and likeable then Helix but don't let that be a criticism. It's like saying do you want a million pounds or a million and one pounds. Both rides are so sublime and top of the field that it becomes irrelevant. And unfortunately in this age of lists and top tens, one has to be slightly better then the other. When it comes to the criticisms of Helix being it's throughput is slightly lower or its theming isn't quite as consistent as Blue Fire, thats just picking at straws. What we are seeing with these two rides is a demonstration of Mack's perfection. Intamin hasn't a hope of catching them now, even if their new lap bar is any good, it's too late for them to catch up with the diversity and perfection of the Mack model. All I ask is that the UK gets one soon, don't let this concept get away from us. Because if we got one, I'd have no doubt that Nemesis would be toppled from the top of the roost..

So they need a certain element to happen for them to be popular. And what we're saying is that the amount of time taken to get on them means they are popular. Well lets build a clone of Tiny Truckers at Thorpe then if we're more interested in raw queuing numbers then actual ride quality. The obsession with top spins really baffles me.

True. But then, how many parks are building Huss pirate ships these days.. When it comes to a new attraction and if Thorpe was to get one it would've subject to the same ridiculous rules that buccaneer and the legoland one are.

They are all theoretical capacities, particularly in funfairs where bums on seats and the ride in action attracting people to it is the name of the game. In a theme park environment, that isn't the case and the best you can get is Rush around the 700pph mark. I know for a fact Ramses and Ripsaw don't get anywhere near 1000 an hour.