Mark9

All this gun crime is really depressing. I hate that some members of government think its because Teenagers are bored so find ways to amuse themselves. Rubbish. When I was 14 and bored I didn't think "I know I'll kill Timmy down the road because I need entertainment" so how can they use that as an excuse.

Stop smoking?

I'd hate to be a Thorpe Park/Chessington ride host this year. One helper on rides, fastrack on baby rides.*puts bread in oven.Now thats a career

I'd hate to be a Thorpe Park/Chessington ride host this year. One helper on rides, fastrack on baby rides.*puts bread in oven.Now thats a career

I was petrified of the bat cars as a child! Partly the reason why it took so long for me to finally go on it when I saw they had gone

Double post, but meh, thought people would like to see this video someone sent to me of the park from 1990...

Lots of emotions from this... Makes me wish I could go back to my first visit...

Thats my main memory of the old Vampire, more so then riding it.Seeing the old Bats swoop over MCDonalds and off round the tower. That's what theme parks are about.

What a beautiful rollercoaster. There's some really note worthy rides opening this year actually, very impressed.As for your Merlin comment Benin, I get the feeling they already know how stupid the UK's GP are, look at fastrack or the countless haunted attractions they seem to have...

Hey we're Intamin, we will build whatever ride you want, wherever you want because we love pushing boundaries and being daring and experimental!
Although this is in no way confirmed but if it is true.. well... all I'm going to say is this is what happen when you don't go B&M

Yes but for reasons other then the restraint system on it.

(Long Trip report)It's trips like this which make you see how pitiful the effort is in the UK. Yes, Wild Asia for British standards is pretty good and Alton Towers even bothering to do a single 30th birthday event is pretty commendable. But all of it falls down when Europa do this on a daily basis. I haven't been to Europa Park since 2006 and back then I was far more into rides then the experience. I've been known to say Europa doesn't have a signature ride, what it has is loads of really solid rides that come together to create a complete day out. Well now, in Blue fire they have a ride that is an icon ride, it is single handedly more enjoyable then any B&M or Intamin rollercoaster.During my visit they were only running three trains. Now if this was any other park that would be full capacity but oh no, not at Europa. This thing can run 4 trains and has a spare train to boot. The throughput of this thing on three is astonishing and to have one train come in just as another goes out makes you feel like you never stop moving. Blue Fire is in the Iceland area of the park and is themed around escaping gas pressure which launches through the volcanic ruins of the area. If this thing was an Intamin rocket it would shakle you to hell, be painful and would cut your neck to pieces. Instead, this being Mack brilliance, the restraint is more like a lap bar. In some respects, it's simialr to Maurer Sohnes lapbar, except works better because you aren't crushed to death. Blue Fire is incredibly smooth and very fast. The inline twist near the end of the ride is a particular highlight, I had a smile beeming from ear to ear. I can't believe this is Mack's first upside down, with this model they deserve to sell and sell as Blue Fire for me, is a pure 10/10 ride.And yet, we're stuck with Stealth and Rita. Fabulous.The new ride for 2010 is Whale Adventure. It's essentially a Splash Battle where the effects all work, as do the guns, the theming and water effects are all top notch. It has an amazingly long queueline and hanging from the top is a huge whale. It's an amazing piece of work and I believe is the same layout as Battle Galleons.Now.. if you can tell me whats wrong in this picture you win a prize.Yes thats right, there's no need for checking bars (or even having bars down in some cases). Germans have theme parks so much more sussed then we do. They don't rely so much on Health and Safety as we do so when that MikeyT bought up the Tomb Blaster thing in the other topic I facepalmed so much. Alpine Express, for those that don't know, is an amazing powered coaster which journeys into a diamond mine, up and over the log flume and past a giant robot dragon. This ride opened in 1984 and yet it still looks brand new.So to take a break from the rides, we stayed in Hotel Colosseo. The park has four hotels which are all themed immacuately. The main attraction at Colosseo is the water feature in the centre of the circle. Water shows occur regularly and are very impressive and worth a watch. Our room overlooked the circle.So back into the park we go and to celebrate 35 years of Europa Park, a new show for year has appeared in Greece. It's basically an ice show. At the end a huge champagne bottle is wheeled out, lifted to the top of the tent and out comes Euro Maus. This was such a magical experience and just another element of Europa Parks charm. Their themed characters do more then get wheeled out on busy days, they are constantly in the area.Another part of the celebration is a small museum in the Italy section of the park showing some of the past rides and elements that are still in the park to this day.A few other park facts. The park runs Early ride time for Hotel guests, this starts at 8:25 and features Alpine Express, the Spanish spinning rides, the Log Flume, Atlantica Supersplash and the Whizzer ride. The park then opens at 9-6 pm every day (unless hours are extended). During our visit we only saw one ride not available. Considering Europa Park nearly has 50 attractions this is incredibly impressive. If all rollercoasters at peak capacity there hourly throughput is 15,000 people. That's Chessingtons max capacity and Thorpe nearly at capacity. Considering the coasters are 1/5 of the park that is incredible, so when you go you will always be able to get at least ten rides.I won't list all the rides we rode, I'll just show how many rides we got in during the day.Day One - 36 ridesDay Two - 27 ridesDay Three - 23 ridesIt's an awesome park, anyone that has even a small interest in theme parks needs to go because its an incredible, magical park.

Several posts to late with that comment I'm afraid

Well ive gone back to my Stealth, I suppose I should finish a coaster before moving to the next! I touched up the bunker this morning so it looks a lot better prior.

I am in the middle of wondering whether I have completely lost my boyfriend to Pokemon. It may be quite possible.

Europa-Park is a multi day resort with absolutely LOADS to do. I would suggest starting with Matterhorn Blitz, as it's the lowest throughput coaster on park (about 960pph). However, if it's not school holiday periods nor a weekend, I would quite literally just tour the park and take rides as you get to them! If it's a hot day, Poseidon is best done before lunch. Don't be put off by queue's that may look long. Europa-Park is the capital of throughputs - there's quite literally nowhere on Earth that operates rides with the haste of Europa. Thus a queue to the entrance on Silver Star will never be more than 35 minutes. Similarly, Eurosat to the entrance is 30 minutes. On busy days, they'll often advertise queues as double what they are (case in point: 46000 on park in August 2009, Euro Mir queue said 90 - we waited 45). Every ride is worth going on - even the smaller rides. They all have their quirky points!Try to experience the Englishness of Crazy Taxi - the ride hosts usually love it if you make a scene that you're English - and check out Columbus in Spain - a fun Seastorm ride that goes backwards, too. It's also worth viewing the Historama for some EP History, and the Mack Museum in there aswell. Geek heaven, so to speak! The Mini Monorail that runs from there offers a great view of parts of the park, and the Milka Shop has some great buys on chocolate - I always end up spending a fortune! My favourite rides at Europa-Park are Silver Star, Blue Fire, Fjord Rafting (don't quite know why), Piraten in Batavia, Abenteuer Atlantis (again, don't know why!), Pegasus (for a kiddie coaster, it's great), Eurosat and Kassandra (assrape central, although in reality it's pants compared to Hex!).Make sure you check out some shows -there are many every day. Usually, based on the past few years, the best shows have taken place at the Teatro dell'Arte in Italy (Variety Show) and the Spanish Arena (Gladiator Show). However, check the programme - the Ice Show is often really good, too.There are 66 food outlets across the resort, over 50 of which are on park itself. My favourites are the Rock Café by the main entrance (burgers, ribs etc.), Pizzeria Venezia in Italy (pizza, pasta), Tarte Flambée in France (regional speciality), Bamboo Bay in Holland (wok restaurant, amazing theming) and Kaffi Hus in Iceland (coffees, bagels and cakes). Avoid the burger bars and classic theme park style places - there's so much choice at EP it's a shame not to give it a go. The best restaurants on resort are the Silver Lake Salloon at Tipi Village - there's usually entertainment on, too - amazing steaks, lamb, pork, chicken and salads. Antica Roma Buffet is also excellent, at Colosseo! The bars in the hotels too, can get expensive if you go for co**tails - but the service and ambience is second to none and they're open (at least, Bar Colosseo is) until 2 or 3am.The hotels are all worth a walk around, the Camp Resort too. Make sure you set aside some time! I don't know how long you have, but 2 days is the minimum - in 1 day you will do the coasters and big water rides but simply won't experience everything EP has to offer and, with 57 rides from 2011 - there's a heck of a lot to pack in!I am back at EP in August - but wish I was going sooner. The lift hill raves, the theming, the entertainment, the food, the hotels - there's nowhere quite like it!

THIS IS A TEPIG APPRECIATION POST.

So what we're basically saying here is that rides with excellent layouts, decent themes are unnecessary, all we need is a crayon and a piece of paper, draw the shortest layout imaginable and that will get ride enthusiasts and general public foaming at the mouth.I think I might become a ride designer, this ****s easy.

Hmm.. Actually feeling a bit less impressed with Krake now. KRAKE (and its short layoutNot that the project has no merit just with the layout being so incredibly short, a hell of a lot is now riding on the theming. And with Merlin it can either be outstanding (Wild Asia) or to basic (Saw/Th13teen).I'm hoping they pull out the stops on this.