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I can't help you with trains I'm afraid, but I'll try and give you some general tips for the rest of the park. With regard to opening; the park may open at 9:30, but then one land will open at 10, then the next land at 11, then the whole park opens at 12. When I went in September, Polynesia opened at 10 and China at 11. Bear that in mind when you go. Closing time - in September, it was 8pm. Not sure about November. I don't think it'll be too busy, but locals tend to go on the weekend, so it may be busier than you'd expect. If it's ridiculously busy, it's probably worth shelling out for the FastPass/Express ticket they have, considering you're only going for one day. Capacity-wise, the rides are all ok, but they did tend to run one train on the coasters, which sucked. The only ride which has a problem with capacity is the drop tower, Hurakan Condor. However, they do have a single rider queue which is very good. The only problem with Hurakan Condor is that they don't allow you to choose where to sit. Considering there are 3 different ride experiences, this is a problem. Each different ride experience is worth doing, but the stand-up floorless tilting version (Platform Number 3 I think), is the best. Numbers 1-2 are normal sit-downs, Numbers 4-5 are sit-down tilters. You can try to plead with staff to go on a particular side, but the only sure-fire way to get on every side is to marathon the ride, using single rider queue. In fact, you can't choose specific seats for any of the rides at PA, which is a real shame. If you do get the chance, a front seat on Dragon Khan is great for views, back seat for forces (both are worth doing), and on Stampida, the racing woodies, back seats are slightly rougher, but you get a faster, more airtime-filled ride. The coaster has a few slow spots, so sitting on the back row stops them ruining the ride! Main rides are: Polynesia - Tutuki Splash (splash boats), Sea Odyssey (simulator/cinema show - easy to miss, but well worth doing), Tami Tami (kiddie coaster, credit!) China - Dragon Khan (big B&M) Mexico - Hurakan Condor (big Drop Tower), Templo Del Fuego (special effects walk-through - easy to miss, but a MUST-DO), El Diablo (mine-train). Far West - Stampida (racing woodies - do both sides), Tomahawk (smaller family woodie), Silver River Flume (log flume), Grand Canyon Rapids (rapids). You could get away with skipping a few of these rides, but all are worth doing. The absolute must-dos are Dragon Khan, Hurakan Condor and Templo Del Fuego, and to a degree, Stampida. In terms of park strategy, you'll be hindered by how they open the lands (provided they haven't changed the system). Start at Polynesia, then to China, then to Mexico. Be at China at 11, when they open it, and at Mexico at 12, when they open it, to stay ahead of the crowds. Go to Hurakan Condor asap. Park transport's not great - you're best bet is just to continually walk round the park in a loop, til you've done everything you want! You could take some time out to see some shows, but as I've gathered, you like taking photos, and PA is one of the most photogenic parks out there, so that might take up a bit of your time! Finally, doing the trip alone will be fine. I did Port Aventura for a second day by myself, when my mates didn't want to go, but it was actually really fun. You can do exactly what you want, when you want, as many times as you want. And you can make use of the single rider on Hurakan Condor! Hope all that's helpful, if you've got anymore questions, let me know!

It's pretty much confirmed that Alton will not be getting a major new ride in 2007 - ie. not a coaster or water ride etc. Whether there'll be a new flat or kiddie/family attraction, I don't know. Apparently 2008 will see something 'major' coming to the park, although the woodie is not currently part of the park's future plans. I don't think Thorpe are planning another major coaster until 2008/9, although that's not definite. 2007 sees the return of Flying Fish though, a small powered family coaster that used to be where Stealth is. And, although it's rumoured every year, it seems a retheme / revamp of X No Way Out is on the cards. This will include making the trains run forwards again. Something's going on at Blackpool at 2007, and there are rumours of a coaster, but no one really knows what's happening. Drayton aren't getting anything big. Chessington are opening a hotel. Oakwood won't be getting anything big either.

Went to Madrid for a couple of days, to see the city and hit the two parks. Both parks are very different, but are both well worth a visit (although neither is up there with Port Aventura). I come from the UK, but I'll do my best not to make a lot of comparisons with UK parks! Here are a few of my thoughts regarding the trip - sorry, no photos except the Abismo one below - most of the photos are just family ones... General Both parks were good value for money, with a fair amount to do at each park, and even inside the park, food was reasonably priced. Lines were non-existent – didn’t wait more than 5mins for anything. This could be because we visited on weekdays, or because Spaniards tend to get up late / go to bed late, and thus tend to visit the parks in the evenings. Either way, it was great for us! Weather was ridiculously hot (over 40 degrees apparently)! Parks opened late (11am/midday) and sometimes rides did not open with the park itself, but opened later. Parque Warner This park is located on the outskirts of Madrid. It’s not heavily advertised, except at the railway station, where you can get a train to the park. It’s pretty easy to get to (if you know where you’re going – it was a little confusing as you had to change lines once). The train takes about 40mins, including the change, and if you buy your park entry tickets at the railway station, you get a return train journey free. They run every 60-90mins – so if you want to get to the park for opening, get to the railway station early, so as not to miss the train. Parque Warner is basically in the middle of nowhere, a desert-like area on Madrid’s outskirts. It suffers a little because of this – there are no trees at all and there is little shade in the park. Even though (most) rides opened at 11am, they let you into the park beforehand and put on some entertainment which was greatly appreciated. They also seemed to cater well for English-speaking people, with English park maps available. Theming-wise, the park is very good, kind of 8/10 . It’s no Disney or Universal, and there were a few lapses which let it down – for example, Batman’s queue is really well themed, taking you through an asylum, but the stairs up to the station are completely unthemed, thus ruining the atmosphere the rest of the queue set. Another example was the Haunted-House/Mad House style ride, where the pre-show was let down by daylight coming in from an emergency exit door, which ruined the experience. Basically, the theming was excellent and much appreciated, but failed to completely envelope you in the experience/storyline of a ride. All coasters ran one train, but there was no need to run more, the park was so empty. However, a positive was that if there was no one waiting for your row when your coaster train returned to the station, they let you stay on for another lap. Superman was a little disappointing. It’s an excellent looping coaster no doubt, but it just isn’t as smooth as most B&Ms and was quite shaky at high-speed points. Not rough, but a few excess vibrations. It also had a couple of trim brakes which slowed the train – it crawled through the zero-g roll. The ride’s highlight was probably it’s unique ending – an airtime filled bunnyhop instead of a mid-course brake run and a couple of ground-hugging helixes (7.5/10). Batman is good, but perhaps too intense. It’s no Nemesis for sure, and doesn’t utilise the inverted coaster concept as well as others – no ‘ground-scrapes’ unfortunately (7/10). Stuntfall was surprisingly good (8/10). Despite many technical problems, I got a couple of goes on it, and really enjoyed it. Not too rough, and one of the only coasters to get me gripping the restraint the whole ride. Hanging vertically from your restraint 150ft up is pretty scary. I've been on Deja Vu, and though this ride is a clone, it seemed to ride much better. Coaster-Express wasn’t as rough as I’d heard (5/10). The trains are cool, but the ride jolts you around a fair bit. But its real crime is that if it wasn’t rough, it’d be quite boring. The layout is very dull, with lots of turns and no bunnyhops. Tom & Jerry was a standard kiddie coaster (but a coaster credit nonetheless). Rio Bravo, a flume ride looks really spectacular from the outside, and was pretty fun, but there were a few ‘dead spots’ on the ride where nothing happened, so it ended up feeling pretty average. There was a surprise backwards drop and airtime hill though (6.5/10). The Rapids were short but sweet – you get a mild soaking. The boats move very quickly through the circuit and ours spun a lot too (7/10). Riddler’s Revenge (S&S Towers) look a lot better than they are. At 300ft tall, they’re very dominating, but don’t deliver that big a thrill, and aren’t that forceful. A few moments of airtime and the view save it though (6.5/10). The Batman Simulators were a nice surprise – there was a lot of build-up for a simple simulator ride, but (even in Spanish) this was enjoyable, and was one of the few attractions that really immersed the rider. The simulator itself was also pretty fun – an easy attraction to miss, make sure you do it (8/10). Scooby-Doo is also easy to miss – it’s a shoot-em-up trackless ride. Good fun, but pretty short, and the things you shoot at are mostly 2D (6.5/10). Hotel Embrujado (or something like that) was a Haunted House style ride, with a Mad House-style ending (like Hex at Alton Towers). I’m not really a fan of these, as the finale never does it for me. When the storyline’s in Spanish too, it’s harder to enjoy it. Still, the outside of the attraction and queue-line theming looked great (4/10). Shows – unfortunately some of the shows are scheduled later on in the day, so I only saw a couple. The two I saw were terrible. One was a really corny Police Academy Show which lacked any special effects, and the other was a Hollywood Special Effects show which was basically a 2-minute 3D show, with about 20mins of filler. Both were abysmal (1/10). Would have liked to have seen the Batman Show (at 8pm) and left just before the Lethal Weapon Jet Ski show. Anyway, stayed at the park from 10:30 to 4:30, managed to do everything we wanted and got 20+ rides in, before heat/tiredness took over. Trains also only ran back every 2 and a half hours, so we decided to head back at 5 instead of staying on into the evening. Overall, an enjoyable park, perhaps lacking one really amazing attraction. However, it’s easily one of Spain’s best parks, and coasters such as Superman are amazing compared to the majority of the ones Spain has on offer. Probably wouldn’t have been as fun had the park been busy, as the extreme heat coupled with crowds wouldn’t have been pleasant. Incidentally, if you go to the park and it’s busy, you can buy a Fastrack ticket for all of the main rides except Superman, and at only 9 euros, it’d be pretty good value for money. Parque de Atracciones (PDA) The originally titled ‘Amusement Park’ was also easy to get to, via Madrid’s Metro. As its name suggests, it’s much more amusement-park-style than the themed Parque Warner. That said, there are a few themed rides, and the park is much more scenic, with more trees, greenery and water. Thankfully, this provided a lot of shade against the intense heat/sun. I read Robb/Elissa's review of the park, and thankfully my visit was not plagued by many ride closures. Some rides opened after the midday opening time, but all of them did open eventually. Most of the park’s good rides are in the ‘Thrill Zone’. New for 2006 is Abismo (the Abyss), a Maurer X-Car, like Drayton Manor’s G-Force. G-Force is quite terrible in my opinion, so I had very low expectations for Abismo. I say Abismo's like G-Force, but that would be doing Abismo a great injustice. Although Abismo shares G-Force’s cars, ‘lift loop’ (although Abismo’s is much higher), short ride duration, and terrible capacity, it has a barrel roll, dive loop, followed by hyper-coaster style overbanks and some great pops of airtime. The lift loop is very intense, particularly after a couple of goes, because you’re suspended upside down for a fairly long time, so the blood rushes to your head. From here, the track swivels, so you’re the right way up before spiralling upside down and plunging towards the ground in a ‘dive loop’. This portion is as much as a release from the intensity/near-black-out of the lift loop as it is thrilling. Reaching ground level, you then speed upwards into an overbanked turn, before flying over a bunnyhop and hitting another extremely overbanked turn. The train then dips, providing a lot of airtime, then flies back through the station and up into the lift loop again. The chain engages with a massive jolt, then you are lowered back into the station. (See the photo below for the layout) Abismo is great – it’s very unique, very fast, very intense and very thrilling. It has high positive Gs, lots of airtime, unique inversions and manages to pack a lot of different types of coaster into its short circuit – it feels like a hypercoaster, looping coaster, shuttle coaster and launched coaster all merged together. It also fits into a small footprint, which is great for a small park like PDA. It does have negatives- the ride’s over quite quickly, the lift-loop is perhaps too intense, the capacity’s poor (this didn’t affect me as the park was empty) and the car's restraints, like G-Force’s, have the habit of tightening during the ride. Nonetheless, all its positives, and the fact that it was so surprisingly good, earns it high marks in my book. Not the best coaster ever, but this could easily fit into a park of Thorpe Park's calibre – 8.5/10. Contrastingly, Tornado sucks. This Intamin inverted coaster is isolated from the rest of the park, and what you find when you get there is the worst coaster station ever – it’s completely dilapidated, grafittied and looks awful. The ride isn’t much better. It’s not too rough, but the layout is really uninspiring – loop, turn, loop, turn, corkscrew followed by the most boring, forceless helix of all time. Yawn. For a small park, I suppose it’s a decentish looping coaster, but otherwise, it has no merits – 5/10. Tarantula, the Maurer Spinner, is a mixture of Dragon’s Fury (Chessington) and Spinball Whizzer (Alton Towers). It’s pretty good, with a couple of really excellent bits, but several dead spots. It lacks an Immelman turn, and a first drop like Dragon’s Fury, but has a very surprising big drop through a cave mid-circuit. However, the ending is pretty dull, with the car apparently just cruising toward the station. A good family coaster, but nothing that special – if you’ve done Spinball and DF, this isn’t really a must-do – 7/10. Underneath Tarantula is a shoot-em-up ride, called Cave of the Tarantulas. This is a converted suspended ride (think Suspended Monorail from RCT) with laser-guns. You shoot at targets, each of which triggers a special effect, whether it’s lights, sounds, water sprays, or animatronic spiders. Much more impressive than Scooby Doo – the guns are a little cumbersome, but the ride was much more fun. It’s easy to miss to – make sure you ride it – 8/10. The log flume has some surprisingly steep drops and was quite wet (7/10) and the drop tower was very average (5/10). Away from ‘Thrill Zone’, there were several attractions which had much more theming in them. The Rapids were mildly wet, varied and good fun- an example of what a rapids ride should be like- 8/10. There were a few transport/observational rides and some Disney-rip-offs, which were based on Jungle Cruise and It’s A Small World. Overall, PDA doesn’t have tons to do, but it’s worth it for the 2 Maurer coasters, and if you like a good (but fairly standard) selection of flat rides and water rides, it’s well worth a visit. Just a few other points about Madrid in general - Lots of good shopping in the centre. The Metro is cheap, quick and is really useful for getting around. Visit to Bernabeu (Real Madrid’s stadium, for all you lacking football/soccer knowledge!) was awesome, and really cheap. Only 9 euros, you get to go in the stadium, the dug-outs, dressing rooms and museum. Recommended to any football fan. Right, that’s it, that’s all I have to say. Hope my opinions / report’s been bearable (or maybe even interesting) – any questions / comments etc, please reply! Abismo!

There's a Days Inn I stayed in in Wrightstown, which is just off the 537. Wasn't a great motel, was very noisy due to the nearby air base, but was cheap and convenient - drive to SFGAdv took about 15mins...

Sorry forgot to say, it does NOT require any expansion packs, so you should be able to run it!

Hi, I'm a long time reader of the boards, don't post much, but I entered the old RCT2 competitions that used to run a few months back. Just thought some of you might want to check out my new RCT2 project, Bramble Lake Resort. Click here for screens: http://community.webshots.com/album/547695389tfwwGD The resort includes Bramble Lake Amusement Park, with over 45 attractions, and 11 roller coasters, Calypso Springs Water Park and Bramble Hills Hotel. Hope you enjoy it, any comments / questions would be appreciated! Thanks Alex Bramble Lake Resort.zip Bramble Lake Resort - RCT2 Saved Game

Typhoon at SFNE is awesome, and I still think Zoombabwe is a top, top water slide. Both are better than many roller coasters! I also love the Tornadoes... But as for the most amazing water slide, it's got to be 'Twin Peaks' at Aqua Paradise, part of the Canevaworld complex in Italy. Aqua Paradise is next to Movie Studios, which is 5 mins from Gardaland. The water park is excellent, with loads of unique attractions, including an underground, pitch black rubber ring ride, some slides which 'sling' you outwards, but by far the most crazy is Twin Peaks. Imagine a speed-slide, with a bunnyhop at the end. And then imagine riding it in a 2-person raft. It's CRAZY! The first drop is terrifyingly thrilling, and you can get a ton of air on the bunnyhop. Incredible ride. I did my best to take a video of it, but it's kind of hard to convey exactly what the ride does: Twin Peaks.zip Twin Peaks Water Slide

Stealth is awesome. Ok, it breaks no boundaries, but it does what it's supposed to do very well, and is exactly what Thorpe Park and the UK needed. It rides very similarly to Xcelerator's launch/top hat. The launch packs a punch and the top hat segment is great - a quick twist up and an incredible free-fall down. Great view at the top too, as well as a nice pop of air (at the front especially!). The bunnyhop is surprisingly excellent too - the brakes don't really have a bad effect on the ride. You get a great sensation of speed on exiting the top hat and going up and over the bunnyhop, as well as another crazy second or two of airtime. You then come to a brisk but smooth stop. Other points: - Thorpe have done a great job on the Amity Speedway area. - Stealth is soooo smooth - I didn't even notice the OTSRs. (Whether it stays this way remains to be seen). - They've got an excellent way for riders to leave their loose articles - you hand them over to a counter at the station, in exchange for a numbered wristband. After your ride, you hand in your wristband and get back your possessions. It's a great system and ensures you can ride in peace of mind! All in all, yes, Stealth is nothing 'revolutionary' and is very short but for Thorpe Park and the UK it's everything that was needed. 15 seconds of pure unparalled adrenaline. I give it two thumbs up, and it's certainly a Top 3 UK coaster (behind good ol' Nemmy and Megafobia!).

Hi I know a few people here have done the ol' Paris theme park trip and just wondered if anyone could give me a hand... My plan is to fly into CDG airport from Bristol, UK, in the last week of August (28th-ish ; probably the least busy time I can make). Things I want to fit into the trip: Disneyland Paris - 2 days Parc Asterix - 1 day Day in Paris - 1 day I'm going to be doing this whole trip by public transport - no rental car! Since I have no rental car, I'd like to stay in Disneyland Resort, probably at one of these hotels: http://www.quickhotels.com/france/ile-de-france/magny-le-hongre-hotels-1.html and use their free shuttle buses to get to the parks. Any ideas if these are good options, or if I can get them any cheaper? Incidentally, is it easy to get from CDG to Disneyland Paris? There's an easy service isn't there? I'd probably spend 2 nights in Disneyland, and after my 2nd day on park, get a bus / train back to Paris and stay the night there. Any suggestions on accomodation? I need it relatively cheap, but in a good location that allows me to easiy get to Parc Asterix and back... From Parc Asterix's website, it seems I can easily use the metro/train system to get to the park... Is it all really easy to do? I want to spend the final day in Paris, before returning home in the evening. Sorry all my questions are a bit vague, but I just want to check that my plan is at least feasible... does it sound workable? Finally any tips / suggestions / money-saving hints would be most welcome! Thanks!

Nemesis is just incredible. I've been on 200+ coasters, and IMO, it's a Top 5 ride. I find that a lot of B&M inverters get 'samey' or kinda boring; I rode Alpengeist last year, and it just didn't do it for me. It's a good ride, but it's nowhere near as good as Nemmy. Nemesis really does use the Inverted coaster concept to its advantage, by building the ride in tunnels, so that the rider experiences 'ground scrapes'. It's this landscaping and unique design that really sets Nemesis apart from all the other coasters in the world. Add an equally unique layout, with an amazing order of forceful elements, including an awesome helix, and some great theming, and you've got a world-beater. Even though it lacks a big drop, the way the speed gradually increases throughout the ride is amazing, and being so close to the ground, the sense of speed is amplified. Nemesis is intense and exhilirating, a true 10/10 ride. Tip to TPR members coming to ride it on the upcoming trip: RIDE IN THE FRONT ROW. Whatever you do, however long the wait, get a go in the front seats. It's more forceful at the back, but for the amazing visuals, make sure you have a go in the front. I cannot stress this enough!

I live in the UK, visited So.Cal for a couple of weeks in Summer 2004. I spent a full day at Knotts, plus an extra evening. IT'S A MUST-VISIT. I can pick holes in a park like Alton Towers, or Thorpe Park, but at the end of the day, if you come over to the UK from the USA, you should still visit those parks! I personally really enjoyed Knotts. Ghost Rider was disappointing, but other than that, it's great. A nice selection of water rides, a few decent flats, plus the incredible Xcelerator. It's a certain-visit if you're in So.Cal!

Extra help: > Definitely get the Annual Pass! > Using buses, trains etc will be quite difficult, and will certainly be expensive. I've tried on many occasions to use it to get to parks, but it's hard work; it takes a lot of time and money to do it. But it IS possible- but needs careful planning... :? > Blackpool doesn't have much theming; it is just a Pleasure Beach. The rides are really fun though. It might be easier to get to on public transport than Drayton... again, it depends on what you want :? > Single Rider Lines-- all the Tussauds parks have them, on most major rides. They can work really well sometimes, others, they fail miserably. They tend to work pretty well on all the coasters though Those dates to avoid are fairly accurate; however, most of June will be busy. The reason is that a lot of teens and students will have finished exams or be on exam leave- they all go to the parks, assuming it'll be empty. The parks aren't horrendously busy, but don't go assuming that everything will be 5min lines. They'll be nearer 30mins. Try to avoid end of June / early July- lots of school trips go to the parks. Coupled with all the teens/students, lines can be massive. You CAN do Alton in a day, but it is hard to get to by public transport, so to maximise your time there, I'd still go with 2 days, especially if the park is busy. You want to do everything (and re-ride Nemesis 50 times). You COULD do a day and a half at Alton, and the other half day at Drayton... When are you thinking of going, cos that dictates how busy the parks are going to be and how much time you need to spend at each...?

I live in the UK and visited these 2 parks in peak-times this summer-- however, our 'park strategies' worked pretty well! BGW- as you said, it's fairly easy to hit the 4 coasters. Make sure you get to Curse of Darkastle first- this ride is popular with everybody and quickly gets 1hr+ lines. Afterwards, you can hit off some of the rides toward the back of the park, with minimal waits (eg Alpengeist, Big Bad Wolf). The water rides all had fairly big waits as it was a hot day-- make sure you hit Pompeii though, it's fun. Apollo's Chariot has great capacity, so you'll have no problems there. BGW doesn't have a lot of attractions, so there aren't really any 'hidden gems'. The essentials are the 4 coasters, Darkastle and Pompeii! PKD - BEST TIP EVER: Get to Hypersonic XLC first! It's essential! This thing has a crap capacity, but is very popular, so hit this first. Arrive early and be on the first train or two. Personally, I didn't think HXLC was great, but I'm glad I did it; but get there first! Everyone who's gone to the back of the park will hit H:XLC, so the three woodies, Shockwave, Ricochet, Drop Zone etc all have tiny waits. Hit all of these before going to the front of the park. Unfortunately, you will have to wait for VolcanoTBC, but the ride is well-worth the wait-- likewise, wait extra for the front seats- they make the ride much more fun. Hit off all the remaining coasters and flats and do any rerides. Scooby-Doo's coaster and dark ride are often missed, but are q fun! The Eiffel Tower also provides good views of the park! Obviously, next year, Italian Job will be there-- this most likely will have long waits, and I don't know how to alter your park strategy accordingly. My advice is if you want to hit H:XLC and the other coasters at the back of the park, then go to H:XLC FIRST. You WILL have to wait for Volcano later, but Volcano is worth the wait! Essential rides to hit: H:XLC (unique coaster), Volcano, Drop Zone-- and I enjoyed all the woodies.

Ticket prices: each park is about £30 per day (just over $50 if my Maths is up to scratch!). Considering you'll be hitting those 3 parks for 4 days, it'd probably be cheaper to buy a Tussauds Annual Pass at £80. This will cover all the entry to those parks. As for other parks... well, I LOVE Oakwood, but that's well out of the way. Drayton Manor is fairly near Alton- it's got a Stand-Up coaster, an X-Car coaster, a couple of decent flats and water rides. That could be worth a look, but it's not amazing. Blackpool is 1hr-90min drive from Alton. Also worth a look perhaps. I'd suggest Drayton over Blackpool, purely because it's on the way between Thorpe and Alton. You have a rental car I presume? (Chessington hasn't got many thrill-rides, but as it's close to Thorpe, you could just do half a day at Chessie and do an extra half day at Thorpe -- especially if you have the Annual Pass). Cheap places to stay. There's Travel-Lodges / Travel Inns-- there's one right outside Chessie I know of. They're fairly cheap. There's Alton's hotel- it's not cheap, but it's convenient and there's an on-site water park, early entry to the park plus many line-cutting bonuses for staying there. Might make your life easier! Or there are small Bed&Breakfasts in Alton Village which are nice-- and you get a quality English Breakfast. Any other questions, gimme a shout!

Thanks for that... I think the only week I'll be able to do is the last week of August-- what do you reckon? :?

Right, quick question, don't know if anyone can help me! I desperately want to go back to Orlando this summer, before I go to University next September. I last went 5 years ago, and was able to go in November both times. Realistically, this Summer, I can only go between early-July and early-September. I'm well aware that it'll be busy, but what would be the best time to go to avoid as many of the crowds as possible? Are there any particular days or weeks to avoid? What's the weather like at that time too / when's hurricane season? Please just suggest when's the best time to go in my date-range! Thanks a lot

Sorry to hijack this topic, but does anyone know how easy it is to get to European parks by public transport? I'd like to go to Europa, Phantasialand and/or Holiday Park, or Walibi World. However, I won't be able to rent a car (I'll only be 18). Any ideas?

It's nowhere near as good as Spider-Man, but it's the only ride in the world which is similar to Spider-Man. It was a lot of fun, I enjoyed it, one of the best dark rides out there-- well themed and v exciting. Just not as good as Spidey is! Certainly worth a visit.

Sorry, forgot to mention this... You need to change the 'Operating Mode' of the Giga Coaster to something that will allow an incomplete circuit. The most obvious one is Powered Launch Mode (set it to a very low launch speed). However, this means you can only run 1 train. There are other modes that work-- I think Normal Mode is one. Basically, just Save Game, then keep retrying the hack to see which one gives the effect you want. There are ways to get round this problem, but it's very complicated-- you have to make (in your case, the Giga) track a complete circuit.

Nah, that's right, it does alter the lift hill speed for the whole ride; there's no way round it, not even by merging tracks, or anything. My best advice is to do what you've said, put 3 or 4 piece chains at the start of the hill, OR what you could do is put 1 piece, then build several pieces without chains, then another with a chain and so on... that could work?

Right, for track merging, here's a tutorial: http://www.geocities.com/jmanderson_2000/trainers/tutorial_rlmerge.htm This gives you the rough guide to how to do it, but bear in mind that different copies of the game behave in different ways with the trainer. To merge tracks on my RCT2, I have to raise the 'source' track first. Try that tutorial and if you have problems, let me know, and I'll try and explain my method for doing it... Right to sort out the LIM Train problem: You could use 8cars to change the Operating Mode (Rides > Edit Ride Stats > Select ride from drop down menu > Change Operating Mode to Continuous Circuit Mode). That should work, and should prevent the train from launching from the station. An alternative method, which would even avoid track merging is to build the layout of your coaster, using the Looping Roller Coaster track. Then go to Rides > Edit Ride Stats > Select ride from drop down menu > Change Train Type to LIM Launch Coaster. To get the launch, you'd need to build track with the chain-lift, and then in 8cars, alter the lift hill speed to the desired launch speed. It's all difficult to explain online-- I hope that all makes sense... but if you want, I could make a little version of the ride-- it might be easier to make sense of it? Let me know, hope that helps tho :?

I just can't stand RCT3, period. I bought it, and my PC's a decent spec (runs Half Life 2 flawlessly), but it just couldn't take RCT3. As soon as I started to build a park up, adding scenery, rides and opening it to peeps, the game crawled to a standstill, the lagging made the game unplayable. For me, RCT has always been about trying to make awesome, themed coasters -- to make your own theme park. RCT2 allows me to do this, RCT3 does not-- as soon as I start to build my park up, it crawls to a stop. The 3D looks nice, but if the game can't function properly because of it, then I much prefer RCT2. And don't get me started on how buggy RCT3 is, and how awful the actual gameplay is... I traded my copy of RCT3 in for £10 and am happily playing RCT2.

I don't like the OTSRs on the Rockets, to be honest. With a bit more padding, yeh, they might be decent, but at the moment, they just make the ride uncomfortable. I've been on 4 rockets- I absolutely LOVE TTD and Xcelerator- both are in my Top 5. However, Storm Runner really disappointed me; mainly because I felt that the restraints did not suit SR's inversions, and quick transitions... the ending of Storm Runner really hurts as you twist up into the brakes. Then there's Rita. Like Storm Runner, Rita is by no means a 'painful' ride, it's just uncomfortable. Your collarbones/shoulder-blades smack into the restraints... I have no doubt that SR and Rita would be much MUCH better with lap-bars, or at least padded restraints...

I voted for Calamity Canyon Blaster, I thought it looked the most fun to ride. Really nice, varied layout. I liked how it interacted with the terrain and trees. I didn't think the theming was the best, but that was the only negative; it still looked like the most fun coaster to ride, and kept a good degree of realism. My other faves were: > Fall of Atlantis - good layout and theming... > Giga Monster - great layout, but lacked a bit in other areas for me... > Quake - really liked how this was a 'terrain' gigacoaster! > Romulus & Remus - I thought the theming was the best of all coasters, and the stats were great; the only negative for me was that the layout was overly twisty and unrealistic. But loads of great entries! Thanks to all those who've run the contest once again (and an extra special thanks to those who've voted for INCA ).

Here's my entry: INCA "On an expedition deep into the South American jungle, you stumble across an ancient Inca settlement. Mysteriously, the beacon of the massive Inca Tower is still alight. Deciding to investigate the civilization further, you discover a temple, deeper into the jungle. Inside, the walls are still covered with depictions of Inca gods and goddesses. As you venture into the 'Vault of Vichama', the doors suddenly shut - the ancient Inca God of Death has been awoken! You begin to flee, as the temple begins to crumble, when a carriage appears. Marked with depictions of 'Manco Capac' - the Inca God of Fire - the carriage appears to be your only method of escape... INCA takes guests on a heart-pounding journey through deep jungles and Inca ruins, in a thrilling battle between two ancient Gods. Combining the elements of some of the world's best coasters, INCA features a top speed of over 60mph, over 4000ft of track and 17 different drops. Coupled with incredible theming and an involved storyline (including a pre-show), INCA is the ultimate roller coaster experience." There's the spiel! Hope you enjoy the ride - I put a lot of effort into this one, particularly the scenery and theming. It's probably worth downloading, there's a few surprises in the game too! Thanks to all running the contest, this one's been great fun and has been the best yet! Here's the file and a couple of screens (would upload a few more, but haven't got much time!): INCA - Layout INCA - Stats and layout INCA.SV6 INCA - Saved Game File