Mark9

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Good Night was it Harry?

Any posts against Lady Gaga will now result in a warn.Beg for forgiveness you haters.

Any posts against Lady Gaga will now result in a warn.Beg for forgiveness you haters.

Happy now

Happy now

The bears have it!

Happy now

Happy now

An ancient prochecy details the events when 9 seperate entities become one.A time when life bounces between freezing cold to blistering sun, when two rides of awesome majesty, based around the legends of the Raptor and the giant Kraken emerge victorious.Beware the signs of fire and water, beware tragic sponsoring. Beware a single pathway.Beware, Nine.

Agree with Mark, was a brilliant day!Trip report for Alton Towers Tuesday 19th AprilSo, had a lovely 4am start, although I didn't actually get out of bed until Mark called me saying he and Ian were on their way to pick me up! Had a lot of food and sweets and energy drinks for the journey, fun times! We picked Tommy up from Watford and the journey up to Alton was fine, got there nice and early for the early rides.The monorail was quite amusing, we had the "Celebration train" with random bubble noises playing!First we headed to X Sector for Oblivion, which was walk on. Great first ride, very refreshing and a good wake-up! Sausage surprise on the drop too!Then we headed over to RITA (to get it out the way lol), the trick is to keep your head forward to avoid the pain of that first, silly corner! Next was Nemesis, still my favourite ride at Towers and probably my favourite ride overall. We got the back row which gave a pretty intense ride! No matter how many times I go on it (and regardless of where I sit), the intensity of it always gets me, especially the first corkscrew and that corner, the photo section...aaah!Then we headed to Duel, which I was quite excited about, not sure why, I just was! Was a fantastic ride, definitely better than Tomb due to the faster pace, although it does make it more challenging and for people like me who don't have much experience on these rides, it's not always a good thing! Although I did get a better score than I did on Tomb at the Chessie meet. Also the effects were brilliant, I jumped so much! I probably jumped more in there than all the times I've been in all the Thorpe mazes put together! Absolutely love it!Next up was Runaway Mine Train, great, fun ride, great interacting staff.The others were starting to get hungry but I wasn't, so we decided to do the Flume, as we thought the long ride time may give me more time to become hungry =P Not much to say, a good laugh but it's so bumpy!Then I was feeling hungry! Success! So we headed to the Coutyard and all ended up having Lattice Fries, om nom nom.Headed towards the Dark Forest and did Hex. We were in a good group of people, most of them interesting in the storyline which was good, and they loved the ride! Then we did Th13teen which was about a 30 minute queue. This was my second time ever on it, and we sat at the front, which obviously gives better views but makes the first drop pretty dull (the last time I went on was near the back and my stomach did go over a bit at the bottom of the drop!). The drop in the tunnel didn't get me as much either. The best bit is clearly the launch into the station ;)Headed back to Forbidden Valley for more Nemesis action, but riding Blade beforehand. Bumpy, wobbly Blade. Lol.This time we rode Nemesis at the front, which was a fab view and in some ways felt more intense than the back row. After the first corkscrew, up unti after the photo, I was greying out pretty badly! And my legs...aah! So crazy. Aaaah love love love it! :DRode Duel again, this time I sat on the left which didn't seem as jumpy as the right hand side, and the trigger on my blaster was really stiff so I got a naff score, grr! And very painful fingers/wrist.It was warming up, the sun was shining, so obviously it was time for Congo River Rapids! The queue looked long but was very fast moving and pleasant in the sunshine. The ride was brilliant! We were sat with a mum and her son and daughter, which was nice, and the ride was such a laugh. Lots of big waves, which mainly got Ian, though I had a lot down my back! Then an enormous wave hit the mum, which we could all see coming, it was like it was in slow motion! But she and her children were laughing and really enjoying it, we all couldn't stop laughing...brilliant!Then we did RMT again, bit of a bigger queue but again, not too bad, can't remember exactly but definitely no more than 30 mins. Had a great ride, random poking going on, random photo, higih fiving staff as we went through the station, and the interaction between Congo in the tunnel, everyone waving and cheering at each other! We then headed over to Mutiny Bay for Marauders Mayhem, which Ian sat out. The spin on this ride is far superior to Thorpe's Storm In A Teacup. We had such a laugh on this ride, I could hardly breathe!Met up with Ian at the Courtyard and the Golden Parrot pirate show was just finishing. What we saw looked good for its target audience, and had some good fire and water effects. I think it's great that Alton does these shows, the small bit I saw I found enjoyable, because I know the children and families will enjoy it, and I love how the park puts the effort in :DUnfortunately this good mood soon dissolved, when we queued for Th13teen. The pre-recorded breakdown announcement played in the queueline, and we were expecting the operator to make one, as it was barely audible and as others said, is ambiguous. But no, we didn't hear anything, just more pre-recorded announcements. No staff communication whatsoever. Grr! Eventually the ride started again, and we eventually got on. No batching in the station, lol. And as Mark said, his lapbar was for some odd reason, not checked, but the attendant went to check it. Strange indeed. We all tried to look moody on the photo but none of really looked it, I know I was trying not to laugh!So we headed over to Sonic Spinball and saw the ridiculously big queue, which prompted us to go to Guest Services and have a good old moan! Well, we mentioned the abysmal staff at Th13teen and added at the end that we really wanted to ride Sonic but due to Th13teen (if we'd had announcements from the op we would have left the queue), we wouldn't have time...so got ourselves a priority pass. I hate saying it like that, but why should I feel bad? Staff failed to do their job, which made us unhappy and caused us to waste time, so it's only fair we get compensated tbh.Luckily our ride on Spinball was good! We got to the top of the lift hill when Ian said "I hope this spins" (and there's me going "Sausage Surprise!")...and the moment we drop, wow, we DID spin! Woop! Still, Fury is better.Jumped on the Monorail, this time in a Splash Landings themed train. I was in fits of laughter at the Caribbean guy who talks! We went to the Splash Landings bar for a drink and a well-earned chill, it was a shame we couldn't stay over. I love that hotel, the Caribbean atmosphere, the music, the view of Cariba Creek...eee! Definitely my best ever Alton Towers trip! Lots of laughs and wasn't actually that busy, our second ride on Nemesis was a 20 minute queue!Then, sadly, it was time to leave. Stopped off for McDonalds, which was pretty busy, probably Alton guests! Journey back was fine, just all very tired. Once again, thank you to Mark for picking me up and driving to and from Towers, and to Ian for dropping me off home =)Infact, thank you to all three of you for such an awesome, brilliant, fantastic, fun, hilarious time! I have been feeling so happy recently, it may just be the anti-depressants, but seeing you TPM peeps cheers me up so much, and I hate leaving you all! Hopefully will see people again soon!

Alton Towers - 19th April 2011Awesome trip today, one of the best for a very long time. Shared many of the hallmarks of the epic Chessington trip from last week. Excellent staff, Great people, Great weather and low queues. Only one bug bear which I will get to in a moment.Firstly, I've got to say I've had some of the best rides I've had for ages today on many of Alton's rides. Nemesis was stunning, absolutely stunning. I know its the old cliche that it gets faster every year, but my god! I came off with numb legs, I was blown away, it was fast, thrilling intense and B&M beauty all mixed into one grubby little alien in a hole package. Wonderful stuff. The Florida Dragons and Katun have a lot to live up to at this rate. Inferno had no chance, epic stuff.Air was okay, they seemed to be working bloody fast on their dispatches. Both stations were running and they were well ahead of themselves with trains ready to go as soon as possible. Duel was wonderful with many effects back and some sound effects returning. Had a great time.Two of the most memorable rides were Mine Train and Congo. The interactivity between these two rides is second to none and everyone comes off both rides with huge grins and a real sense of pleasure. I don't care if Mine Train's got slower, it has atmosphere in bucket-loads and was a favourite of everyone on todays trip. Onto Oblivion, it's sponsorship isn't as horrific as first thought to be honest. Can be easily ignored and un-noticed if you weren't looking for it. Now for the bug bear. Thirteen. Considering the awesome work seen on Air, RMT, Congo, Maurauders Mayhem and Oblivion, Thirteen staff could have really put a small black cloud over our day if guest services had not been able to pick up the pieces of their frankly rubbish operation.Firstly, if your ride breakdowns you do not play an announcement four times in around 40 minutes of downtime. Considering how quiet the speakers are for Thirteen and considering how ambigious the breakdown announcement actually is, it was no surprise that, actually no one in the queue knew what was going on. "Mystical disturbances" yeah, whatever.Secondly apart from the announcment of uselessness, there was no communication from Thirteen staff about anything that was going on or the situation. Was the ride going to open again? were they testing it? Were they taking trains off? The staff at their baggage point seemed more concerned with talking to each other, rather then actually talking to the queueline. Finally, when Thirteen did eventually reopen there was again no communication from the ride team. We only knew it was testing because some people in the queue started applauding. So we get to the merge point with fastrack, staff member has no completely abandoned his post. Great. We get into the station, staff don't seem particularly bothered about batching people properly instead just double, triple batching us all at rows. We get onto the ride and the staff member can't even be bothered to check my restraint. He instead moves his arm towards it then moves it away quickly away from it. I know my restraint is safe but that isn't the point at all. According to guest services a fire alarm went off. Did it burn the third train then because that had dissapeared to. It was just a rather bizarre thing to say as every other Alton Towers staff member had been excellent, efficient, hard working and more importantly friendly. So apart from the Thirteen situation, Alton provided an excellent day out with I'd say 95% of its rides really delivering the goods. Vastly superior trip to any from last year.

Business as usual really.

It's good but it's no Storm Surge.

My very easy guide to getting the best out of Thorpe ParkGo to Stealth first, then Rumba and Nemesis Inferno. Make your way back through the park hitting Detonator, Tidal Wave, Flying Fish and the Lost City four. Then go back round towards Colossus, Saw and Samurai. Thats the best way to go round Thorpe.

HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY VAMPIRE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbUqywUDXSsJust back from Gardaland.Raptor is EPIC. Its big, everything about it is big. The track, the 'creature', the music and it's surroundings!As we all knew, it was never going to be a huge thrill machine, but it is thrilling. Some pops of airtime thrown in too. The ride rides best at the back (first drop is cool), although the front is awesome, just because it's the 'front'. I was suprised to get so wet, with fog effects and water spashes. Add it being walk on for both days I were there and = a happy Fever!Ive added some pics to my Facebok page, of a pretty cool and very well themed park!

Fantastic trip report Merky. Made me all warm and fuzzy inside. :(Now I've had some time to recover from the meet, I thought I'd post some highlights from the trip!The Monkey Puzzle Meal:
The meal was awesome, including Chris' comment about liking potatoes after Ian complaining that his weren't up to standard.... made me giggle at least. Chicken Paprika at the meal was awesome. Many photos taken including this beaut: Hotel Times:Bubbleworks Finale tribute (awesome strobes). Alcohol. Sausage Surprise! Merky wearing her awesome skirt. Mark9's amazing shadow projections! CWoA!Seeing new members attend their first meet. Managing to keep the group together for the day. Pizza Pasta!! Wild Asia. Group rides on everything. Spending time with everyone at the best southern theme park with beautiful weather! Ellie and Ratlesnake. Ellie and Fury. LowlightsHalf of the group wandering off after Rameses, causing me to have to round people up to keep the group together. Tiredness at the end of the day. Going back to my house alone after spending two days surrounded by people. Saying bye to people. Let's round off this awesome meet with some great group photos:Group pic in front of Tomb Waterfall:The NinesRandom Group Shot:Bubbleworks Tribute VideoMeet PhotosThanks again for an awesome trip everyone.

Those hoovers are useless to be honest. It would take about 20 minutes to clean Sea Dragons with those sodding hoovers so in all honesty I'm not surprised they've gone for tipping the boats instead.

So, trip report...Sunday 10th AprilIan picked me up at 1 and off we went to Chessie! Met up with some ex-Thorpies, had a good time on park. Said farewell to them, then we met up with Mark9, sorted hotel room out, etc (where we could hear Vampire!) and gradually met up with everyone for the meal.The meal overall was good, although there were a few cock ups with food orders/quality, but it was all fine in the end. As Ellie posted, the thing with the ribs/rib-eye steak! Facepalm for sure!Then came the drunk times at the hotel. Not much to say about that, just had a lot of laughs, and everyone who tasted my apple vodka was like "OMG that's so strong, no wonder you're so drunk!" Nice. Me, Ian and Mark made our own TPM Top Trumps as someone forgot to bring them, but it was a good laugh! Played lots of random videos, along with (obviously) "SAUSAGE SURPRIIIIISE!" I also wore some bed throw as a skirt, and we re-created the Bubbleworks fountains without the fountains, but we had the strobes from various iPhone apps! Lots of hilarious photos taken, including some very flattering ones of Mark9! Monday 11th AprilNot too hungover, but very thirsty and felt dizzy/out of it for a bit at the start. Met up with everyone at the park entrance, great to see so many people again and to meet a new member! :(Me, Mark9, Benin and Rich went on Vampire while the others went to the meet-up point. Good ride to start the day with, and on its birthday!Met the others at the meetup point, had photos, introductions etc then went on the mighty Tomb Blaster...where I forgot to say "It is now safe to remove your bladders!" Blast!Went on Kobra, first time on it for me, it's good fun...and yeah.Had lots of nommage at Pizza Pasta, although it took a while to get our plates and pay, dam card machines! But yum yum nice food and refreshing cold Coca Cola! And some BRILLIANT photos!We were heading for Dragon Falls but ended up doing Monkey Swinger and the dodgems in WIld Asia, great group rides and the dodgems were brilliant fun!Went on Falls, etc, then some people went on Rameses and we met up with Marc and Rickaaaaaay.Next we did Runaway Train, again a good fun group ride!Headed over to Bucanneer, where Ian, Mark and Marc had to go on to sit with children, then again with the rest of us. Ian didn't feel too great and had to run to the loo...then we headed to Vampire, where on the way I found some theming spider legs!Headed to Fury, saw some great staff interaction Didn't get the best spin but was still great fun, love that ride! :PLast but not least was Rattlesnake, good laugh as always, although bracing myself against the brakes appears to have hurt my neck!Bought photos, said our farewells and popped to the Chessington shop for people to buy Vampire bears! Unfortunately, thanks to work being slow at paying me, I didn't have enough to buy one, but they'll still be there next time (well they better be!) and hopefully it won't be long before I visit again! Oh and also the big cuddly tiger with the cub in its mouth. Deffo getting one of those too! I didn't want to let it go!Rushed out of the park due to big grey scary clouds, and chilled for a bit at the Monkey Puzzle with Ian, Mark and Daniel9, before leaving and going home.This was definitely one of, if not, the best TPM meet. It was so nice going to a different park, and I have to say, I do actually prefer Chessie to Thorpe, it makes people feel so happy and excited and for a lot of us, it's a park we grew up with. It has an atmosphere which Thorpe lacks, lots of interactive/group rides, and, apart from Rameses, there aren't really any rides nobody wants to go on, which is also something that often happens at Thorpe and causes the group to split/delays. And there's less pressure, it just feels so much more relaxed and enjoyable, and I love seeing all the happy families/children :DIt was so exciting when we arrived on Sunday and a real shame to leave, it felt like a holiday!Thank you to everyone for such an enjoyable time, we really have to do this more often and have more Chessie meets. I don't know how much easier or harder it is for people to get to, but I know for some, myself included, it is much nearer and cheaper than Thorpe, plus there is the bonus of the station being in walking distance from the park, unlike Thorpe and it's overpriced, chavvy 950 transport option!I love you guys so much, you make me so happy when I see you all, I miss you all so much, hopefully see you again soon!RER! My photos on Facebook