exmouse

At Six Flags Marine World on V2 the main ride operator was doing her makeup and hair, then sent a few text messages. Meanwhile the other ride op was jumping over the barriers in and out of the ride area. Dread to think what would have happened had he tripped. At Alton Towers on Spinball Whizzer the ride ops were just chatting and didn't check or push down lap abrs including my own. I'd only pulled it down a couple of clicks to prove a point that they weren't doing their jobs properly. As soon as they walked away I pulled it down myself. At Cedar Point whilst crouching to lift up the lap bar to get on Gemini the ride op shut the air gates without warning and it caught my leg, trapping it. It took a lot of shouting to get any ride op to notice and release the air gates. No appology was made. I had some nasty bruising and couldn't put much weight on it. Even guest services made no apology. I'd expected more from Cedar Fair. I regularly see ride ops playing with their mobile phones or just not watching the ride at all. I know the majority of ride ops are sensible and take their job seriously but you only need a few bad ones to cause problems.

This was one of the main reasons I had laser eye corrective surgery so I wouldn't have this problem. In the RCCGB a lot of glasses wearers have straps that do a good job of keepng them on. I have a strap which I bought from Cedar Point that I use for my sunglasses and they have kept them safe on everything from TTD to Expedition G Force to X to Balder. If you go for the glasses strap make sure you get the ones that actually wrap across the back of your head.

Indeed, be dull if everyone agreed. For me to highly rate a coaster it either has to be fun and highly re-rideable or extremely thrilling and re-rideable. The only coaster in the park that fits either of those is Flying Fish. NI in just Meh. Stealth comes close to being extremely thrilling but after many rides on TTD it lacks that certain something. I think it's good that they are finally adding something new ish for the families as since becoming a thrill seeker park Thorpe has become Chav central, a few family attractions may bring back better clientele.

Nope I was being serious. Colossus is just plain rough and painful. The inline twists are nothing short of tediously dull. NI not a bad B&M inverter but nothing special. The Flying Fish on the other hand had something magical about it. It was great fun and so much more rerideable than the other coasters on offer. It was the hedge choppers that made it so I only hope it still has those or it will indeed be just a basic powered family coaster.

It was the best and most fun coaster in the park. And soon it will return to be the best coaster in the park, that is assuming it still has lots of hedge choppers. If it is just out exposed then it will be rubbish and we'll have to settle for Stealth as the only half decent coaster in the park.

Looks extremely cheap to me. Why would they use a seller with a rating of zero from Nashville? Surely SFMM would use a major company to sell their old equipment. I smell a rat.

I assume this is Thomas the Tank Engine as we know him in the UK. I also assume Sir Toppam Hat is the American name for the character the Fat Controller, the original name obviously isn't PC enough. My brother is a huge Thomas the Tank Engine fan so be interested to know what the play area will consist of.

Wonder if Pandoras box has anything to do with Vekoma Rides Pandoras Box. If it is could be very interesting.

Millennium Force is fantastic in the rain, apart from it gaining a bit of speed your face gets a wonderful exfoliation treatment. 2 years ago I was at Cedar Point with the RCCGB and our ERS on TTD was cancelled due to the rain so instead we got one on MF. Of course that 30mph makes all the difference when being pounded in the face by the rain. It was such a laugh with most people putting their hands in front of their faces to stop the sand blasting effect. Still I had very smooth skin afterwards. I always find it odd how so many parks in the US close their coasters in the rain, if they did that here in the UK they'd never be open.

Really? That contradicts what the guys told me when I interviewed them for a magazine article back at the opening of the Voyage. They said they very much hoped to build a coaster in Europe soon and had already spoken to a few parks.

If it means my shares in Euro Disney SCA go up then I'm happy. Although I'd be happier with a few more new rides, didn't want yet another ToT wanted something more original and bigger than Crush.

As a inaugural crew member of the Disney Wonder I'm gonna be bias and say it's a must do. I also did a 3 day cruise with them last year for my honeymoon and it was fantastic. In recent years they've added a lot more adult stuff and a whole new sports bar area. I think I'm right in saying the ship has just been in dry dock and had further modifications done to, from what I was told by my old boss said a lot of it is to add more adult orientated stuff although due to Disney policy they certainly won't add a casino. If you do go for the Disney Cruise book the romance package add on. This gets you a gift, we got a photo frame, champagne and chocolates, it gets you a couples massage, guaranteed meal in Palos and a romantic turn down service. Castaway Cay is amazing and the adult beach is very romantic. You could go for a couples massage on the beach. The shows on the ship are superb, only Disney set off fireworks from the ship, as Elissa says the cabins are immaculate and the staff top notch. Whilst working for DCL I regularly came across other ships and got the impression that Carnival was cheap and cheerful attracting Club 18-30 type guests. DCL is family orientated but despite this my wife and I still had an amazing and romantic honeymoon. We very rarely saw kids as they have their own private areas and we did so many excursions that we missed out on too much family entertainment.

Although attendance has been down, a lot of exhibitors have said that the quality of the attendees has been higher. ie. less people going for a mooch round and more people going to spend money. Plus without other distractions around like Disney parks people are spending more time on the shop floor. I believe the Screaming Swing on show is actually a travelling version designed for carnivals/ fun fairs. Not sure if this is the first one that was at the State Fair of Texas back in October of it is another one off the production line. Not sure why B&M need to come up with a new concept in coasters. They seem to be doing pretty well with their current offerings. They built 6 new coasters this year, only 2002 was a better year with 7 new coasters. OK Vekoma and the like sell more coasters than B&M but Ford sell more cars than Mercedes.

And 4th.

Does it not depend on what the average number of laps is over a whole season. So busy days it might go round once, quiet days 10 times. So might be an average of 3. So 5 laps is not quite enough to get 2 credits. And if you go on a busy day and only get 1 lap hten you don't get that credit at all.

I still have my advanced Project 2000 ticket that I bought back in 1998. Didn't know what the ride was but thought I'd buy an advanced ticket anyway as I also got a T Shirt. Figured I'd keep the ticket and sell it on Ebay in years to come, obviously back in 1998 I hadn't heard of Ebay but knew it would come eventually.

So how many bags full of loot did you walk away with. One day I'm gonna get stung with excess baggage flying back to the UK with all the brochures, t-shirts, pin badges, leaflets for merchandise, leaflets for vending machines, leaflets for pizza franchises, leaflets for insurance, leaflets for bouncy castles, leaflets for redemption prizes. Don't know why I bother as never read any of it. Sadly missing it this year due to other commitments but should be going to EAS for the first time next year.

That 4D coaster on the Chance Morgan stand is actually the UniCoaster. It is designed by Bill Kitchen, the guy behind the Sky Coaster, and he recently joined partnership with Chance Morgan to market the ride. Riders will have some control of the spinning of the car using a hand brake system. Here is the website for it http://www.unicoaster.com/

That version of POV music was at one stage the theme tune for the Saturday afternoon sports show called Grandstand that has run on the BBC since 1958. If you go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_radio/grandstand/3745967.stm and click on watch opening credits you'll see we still use it today although modernised a tad. At one stage it was completely changed and the public outcry lead to it's return.

Here is the quote from the Mack Newsletter Not only Paris Hilton convinced herself by the quality of MACK Rides during her visit of Munich’s Oktoberfest. The well-known coaster country USA will surprise through a new innovation next year. MACK Rides builds the first modern free spinning coaster with trains instead of single cars at Knott’s Berry Farm to guarantee the requested, high capacity. A patent will give the truly new twist.

If building lots of coasters hasn't significantly boosted attendance and increased profits then the other option is to keep those who do come there for longer and increase the secondary spend. If people are staying in the park for longer then they will buy more food and drinks. If a park offers a show that is like a night out then people watching the show might buy bags of popcorn and cotton candy etc. Why do you think Disney have evening shows. OK it's not likely to be a big crowd puller BUT SFOT already has good attendance so I can't see it dropping significantly and if those who do go spend more money then it's a winner. If the park is seen to be even more profitable then it'll get a new ride we all want as a reward. Who knows people might find the idea of going to the park after dark attractive, I love the different experience of riding coasters after dark. Perhaps parents will finish work and say to the kids lets go to SFOT for the evening, take in a few rides and see a great show. So an amusment park isn't just about a day out, it's a family night out.

The only rough and unpleasant B&M I've come across is Scream at Magic Mountain. Admittedly it's not nasty rough but for a B&M it's not good. The other problem with B&Ms is some of the latest examples that I've ridden have been Boring and Mundane with unimaginative layouts. As for Intamin that's a tough one as they've made so many bad coasters, for various reasons. I guess the worst is Collosus at Thorpe Park. I don't go near it any more as it is nasty rough and you take too many head shots. Their new over head restraint style has also seriously affected the ride quality on their coasters. I don't like Storm Runner, Kanonen or Rita because of the chops to the neck, different over heads and they might be better coasters. The other big mark down for Intamin is reliability. There is nothing more disappointing than going to a park to find their Intamin coaster is broken (unless it's Collosus). With regards GCI Gwazi has in the long run become a big disappointment. Good job you didn't ask about Vekoma don't think it would be possible to narrow it down to 1 bad coaster as most of them are bad, especially SLCs. B&M - Scream Intamin - Collosus GCI - Gwazi

Didn't this guy use to be Beech Bends legal advisor. If so would he not have been responsible for ensuring the building of the park was all legal and above board. If it now turns out that wasn't the case could the park sue him for negligence? Likewise isn't the guy using insider information to turn against the park.?

There has been some research in the UK about 3D ultra sounds and there is some risk of harm to the baby. Not sure what but you may want to check things out first.

Reload didn't work for me. This is the only photo TR I can't see the photos in.