Mark9

Depends if you rode it in its first season or not. When I first rode it in 2012 I loved the ride but it wasn't intense as such. Now it's got much more of an edge to it. Most B&M's go through this kind of life cycle. Love it, thanks for that Ben

The amount of times this happens on Peeking Heights and Safari Skyway. Such a none story.

Ouch.

Creature presumably comes from the ground (Nemesis), flies away then returns forty years later through a wormhole and decides to attack theme park. (The Swarm). Along the way decides to borrow a logo from a sister dive machine (Oblivion). I wonder what Raptor has to say about this, maybe they could link the two roller coasters together story wise. Still, I approve of using Lake Garda as a reference point in the video. Love dat lake.

Every single time I try to get my head in a brace position for that drop and each time my head feels like it's been knocked down by a bowling ball. It could be my height and slim frame that means I get thrown about but then again, I never feel violated or abused after Speed and Rage and I don't feel the roughness on rides like Colossus, Viper or The Smiler. So what is it that makes Saw such a pain too ride for me? The only 'nact' for me on Saw is to not bother riding. See, I think this (and similar posts like this) are rubbish. No park would design a ride to be rough and jolty. If that was the case, why aren't we criticising Inferno for being too smooth when it's supposed to represent surviving a volcanic eruption. That wouldn't be a smooth experience.

DAT THEME

Don't listen to the haters, concrete coasters are fine. Loved Scream, Goliath and Medusa.

How about you go underground into the old Rangers cavern. All of them have become crazy animals, angry at their banishment from Thorpe Park so they lay a curse on you that every time Slammer breaks down, a member of your family suddenly and mysteriously dies.

Tommy, your avatar

Some cracking ideas there Th13teen. I don't know about the feasibility of doing these things but it would be a very unique angle for the park to cover and certainly one that Thorpe (out of all the Merlin parks) could utilise. I like.

I couldn't take the three minute ride I had when I was out there. 36 hours is overkill to the extreme

Having sent many kids crying off of ride platforms after height checking them, I've never once laughed. You should know me better then that. No my laughter is directed at Alvey for publicly putting a picture of his upset child on the internet. I wonder how much money the park made from rejecting her from Viper...

Back when I worked there during throughput challenge days, their target was 1000 people per hour.

At Klotten in Germany. This deceptive ferris wheel type ride has just a lap bar and on board is a panel where you choose to either loop or stay stationary. Once you're off what entails is four minutes of absolute insanity. Definitley the craziest ride I've done. (thanks to TPR for the pics)

I'm planning a trip to Great America as we speak to congratulate them. The wrath of Alvey is indeed a thing of pure beauty.

Good point. Maybe you should consider that when you aren't able to achieve more then 35 rides at a Thorpe Park Summer nights event.

I'd expect it to be working properly Coaster Dude.

Two months later, with the dust settled on my trip I already look back with great fondness. I've talked about the theme parks but what about the culture of California. How different is it to the humid and tourist trap that is Florida. Many UK enthusiasts don't venture past the state with all the oranges for obvious reasons. First thing is people in California are thinner then the East side. Disney World is full of ECV's, California has very few. Florida theme parking is one big bubble of tourists, California is far more about making your own way around without the aid of specially put on buses and taxis. The first thing that struck me about San Francisco is the hills and the beautiful scenery of the downtown area. It looks fantastic from afar, with the golden gate bridge a particular highlight (although Chris said it doesn't look any better the the Humber bridge; spoilsport). As is the culture we had a lot of Starbucks on the trip. It doesn't help that on every block lies a Starbucks or a Chipotle or a Starbucks. San Francisco is also incredibly hilly, we took a walk around the outer ring and some of the hills are murderous. We wandered over to the Castro, the gay area of San Fran and where history was made. Anyone interested should read up on Harvey Milk, the first gay politician elected into office and subsequently murdered a few months later. The area has an ease about it and is an excellent place to watch an Austrian drag act win Eurovision. On day three, our adventures took us over to the Golden Gate Bridge, an iconic American landmark. It is a beautiful sight to behold and even though we accidentally drove over it, I had a real appreciation for its significance. Our destination was actually the Walt Disney Museum, an essential place to visit for any Disney park or film fan. Fantastic place where you see the history of a man who changed the world we live in. From his early days creating Oswold and Mickey to designing the worlds first true theme park. This was a man ahead of his time in more ways then one. Essential viewing. And then next was Pier 39, home for a bunch of sealions who make a lot of noise and have a lot of fights. Quite smelly too. But this was where we had an American sized lunch which was impossible to finish. We gave it our best shot. And after four days of Touring this wonderful place, it was time to pack our bags and head to Magic Mountain and onto Los Angeles. Tune in next time. If you want too.

Could you stop with that, most here don't argue, we discuss the pros and cons of an idea or what is going on in the parks. I agree with your idea. I don't think 4am is a good idea as we just don't have the warm climate for it (and Thorpe doesn't have the facilities to properly accommodate it) but a 9am-midnight closure is a great idea.

It may be because of the weight of the train. Factor in majority of launch rides have shorter trains then other roller coasters, a five rowed B&M makes sense here.

Highly emotive language. First of all, Toby wasn't slated for his comment. One reply was a no and one saying don't go on a water ride if you don't want to get wet. Secondly, where is this belief that enthusiasts aren't average people? I've seen enthusiasts ride Tidal Wave in the snow (oh March 2013, I shall remember you so well) and I've seen enthusiasts refuse to ride Tidal Wave in blistering heat. There is no such thing as an average enthusiast in the same way that there is no average person. Thirdly, Tidal Wave isn't open in the winter. Your guess of 10% of the year is sunny goes against the grain of the past few seasons where from May-August has seen extraordinarily hot weather and a very busy Tidal Wave. During this time people go on Tidal Wave to get wet. They aren't riding because of the 80 foot drop or the lengthy lift hill, thats for sure. I'm not sure reducing throughput by a third for a covered boat during summer months is a good idea when Tidal wave gets 80 minute plus queues to be honest.

Current entry to Europa Park currently works out at £28.54. Just thought I'd throw a bit of price perspective in there for everyone.

Cool name, nice colours (Orange ) and whilst the layout doesn't look all that, the prospect of B&M's first proper launch coaster is pretty exciting. One to watch me thinks.

My fears aren't based on anything happening right now, more what could happen if an over confident company decides competition is irrelevant. I don't for one minute believe a Paramount Park would open and immediately unsettle a dominant Merlin but equally I wouldn't want to see our parks suffer because of being unprepared (although some would say our parks have already gone down the drain but thats a discussion for another time).