Fallen Heretic

Did anyone else try the water-squirting Bumper boats? We jumped on those, and the Op didn't look like he was too bothered about how long we took. He just let us run and run. He even wandered off and left us to it for a while. lol. We got very wet. Much fun was had. Awesome Job by the guys to get Avalanche running though. Stellar stuff.

Im gonna have to be really obvious and say X:/No Way Out. Or, its full spoken title, X-colon-backslash-wtf?

Its good to see this place actually growing again after watching it sink for so many years. I hope the new boys can make success of it.

Yeah, that really was an insane time. I guess us Brits are just naturally good at queuing for things. But would someone please, please remind me why I had to go and be "double hardcore" and refuse to wear a poncho? My T-Shirt almost tripled in weight with all the water it took on. I suppose insanity had already crept in by that point. Strange thing is, it didn't really feel like 8 hours at the time.

^ Thats just whats left from an old building. A shop I think, Im not sure. I cant quite remember. If you look closely, you can still see parts of the drain pipes that ran down from the guttering still on the uprights.

I seem to remember one in Birmingham making the news a few years ago. Ok, some figures pulled from Torro... The average number of Tornadoes reported each year in the UK is 33, but this varies alot from year to year and is a 30 year average. Many are only reported because they have done actual physical damage. The largest outbreak was in 1981, where 105 tornadoes spawned in a little under 5 and a half hours. I have seen a few funnels myself, but never a full Tornado. Though I do hope a Tordano (weather) hits Tornado (coaster at M&Ds) to rid us of that devils torture device.

There is a Bouncy Bouncy in a travelling fair which stops near my village two or three times a year, but its dialed down quite a bit. This one has a frog on top. There used to be a rather evil one across from the Pleasure Beach, outside the Sandcastle. Much shreiking was done. I havent seen it there for a while though. I wonder if its the very same one at Southport? I will be sure and visit this next time Im down south. Most trips take me down the M6 anyway, so its not a big detour.

So many going concerns are changing hands these days. I guess its just how business works n general these days. If they want a reasonably sized woodie, they would have to dig a bloody big hole to put it in. Alton Towers generaly have to build downwards. Still, it did Nemesis no harm at all. Would be nice to have a good woodie there. A hyper would be pushing it though. I actually sympathise with the ropers, but only a little. Very, very little. Still, I think they are complaining out of principal now, rather than genuine need. Its not like they cant afford to move somewhere else quiet if they really cant stand it.

The gap between the wheels actually has little effect on whether a ride is rough or not, compaired to other factors. If an SLC is running properly, the safty wheels should never really touch the track. Thats why they are often smaller, they are never meant to bear the weight unless the train slows for some reason. Roughness mostly has to do with the condition of the rail surface, the wheel surface and the transition ferocity. Also most old Arrows and Vekomas use single guide and safety wheels, which is a little less stable in slower loops and fast direction changes. Sure springed or clamping wheels do make the ride a little smoother, but it doesnt make as much difference as you would think. Damn, Im such a geek. lol.

^wow, that Aurora picture is just breathtaking. I saw this and had to stick it in here. Wheeeeeee.

I added myself in as well. There are alot more Scots lurking around the site than I realised, but so few on the map. The location it decided to put my pin makes it look like I live in a field rather than the village.

Nemesis, Yesterday evening. It had been raining heavily all day before and right into the early hours of the morning. So she was running damn fast. It wasnt all that busy either. I never waited more than a couple of minutes in the single rider line. Early in the day, you could get off the train, run out the exit and back to the single rider line, and get on the same train again next time it entered the station. re-ride-tatsic.

Nice pictures. Its amazingly hard to get a good picture of an F1 car at speed. I watched that on TV, and as Martin Brundle did his gridwalk, he interviewed on of the pit girls. HE asked he what she was doing, what her role was and who she was rooting for. She replied something along the lines of... "I dont know many of the drivers or anything, so i dont know who to root for. But we are all just standing here, looking pretty and gorgeous, to give the guys something to look at other than the cars." I found that really funny at the time. lol.

To get around the BBFCs reasoning, they would have to completely rework the game plotline and tone. That would be a massive undertaking. The BBFC have already said they would like to have been able to recomend cuts and edits like they do with other similar games to allow a rating, but as the issue with Manhunt 2 is so fundamental to the games structure and plot (or lack thereof) they could not make any cuts that would change the tone. To get a rating from the BBFC, they would have to completely alter the tone of the game, rather than the level of violence. Im not sure if thats something Take two would be prepared to do. Getting round the AO rating however may just be a case of censoring the violence. I have spoken to a few of the Rockstar North guys in a bar years ago, and they hold their right to express violence in games very close to heart. Its a matter of principal for them. They feel they should have the right to create adult entertainment for adult gamers, without some large body telling them what the customers can and cant handle. I agree with this viewpoint, but also see the other side of the argument as well. Thing is, the people who are really at fualt are the people who allow these games to get into the hands of minors. And if someone is influenced by a game, that type of person is just as easily influenced by movies, comics, books, TV and music. It takes a certain kind of nut to be unable to draw the line between fantasy and reality. Taking away the influences will not solve that problem, they will just find it somewhere else.

^Hot Fuzz. Awesome movie, that. "What are those things coming out her nose?"

Manhunt 2 has already been effectively banned in the UK anyway, as the BBFC have refused to give it a rating, meaning it cant be legally sold in the UK. From what I have heard, I can see why they made that decision. Its not the gore filled content which I heard isn't much worse that the first game, but the casual attitude towards it. Manhunt had you doing all these things for a reason, you were being coerced into it. It also had something to say, making social statements that made you question your actions. They say Manhunt 2 feels more like killing just for the sake of killing. For nothing other than the fun of it, and asks no questions about it. However, the issue with the AO rating is much more severe. I understand people worried about games affecting impressionable minds, but surely there should still be a right to play the more adult or gruesome games? Of course, that would be with controls to prevent them getting into the hands of minors. That said, some people don't understand that games can be so extreme. I've seen parents buying 18 rated games for their 9 year old kids. "Its just a game" they say. That right there is a big part of the problem I reckon. And when people do stupid things, the powers that be will tend to take steps to protect them from their own stupidity. Sadly, that can screw things up for the rest of us.

Sadly the Lottery funding doesnt really work that way. lol. I wouldnt say Blackpool is a UK hotspot at the moment either. Its pretty much been in decline for the last 20 or 30 years. Its nothing like as popular as it used to be. London, Newcastle and York seem to attract way more people. Mostly cos Blackpool cant shake off its tacky, cheap image. The Pleasure beach and stag/hen parties are the main reason people go to the town now.

I had already booked into Alton Towers Splash Landings for Friday night with park tickets to use Saturday. I guess now I have an excuse to use my second free tickets on Friday. Oddly, I was also playing with the idea of going to Blackpool as I havent been yet this year. Decided on AT cos my U.S. friend who is coming with me has never been there before and may not get another chance. Besides, I will be at pleasure beach for my birthday in October and maybe also in September or the weekend I come home from the Midwest. Rain. Great for making coasters run a little faster. Rubbish for building them in the first place. lol.

Strange, I was just thinking the other week how I would like to see an amusement park museum with classic rides of yesteryear. I do hope this gets off the ground. It could be like a living history museum, they could get the staff to wear period clothing. That would be fun, and something a little bit different to visit rather than the usual theme and amusement parks.

Information is only coming in teeny tiny pieces, but Im still getting excited. I read in an interview that the plan is to stick with the original "what you can't see is scarier than what you can" ethos. Alien War was a new concept when it started, I wonder if it will hold the level of fear it had now that we are more used to live walk throughs? I really hope it does. You could really let yourself believe you were in the Alien universe. Even with all the new attractions around these days, Alien War was still the most absorbing, and for that reason, the most frightening thing I have experienced. If this show lives up to its history, the U.S. is in for a treat when the show gets there. How many horror attractions are there in the states where the monsters can abduct the guests?

I always believed in evolution. I used to believe in creation. Now Im not so sure. I agree that you can believe in both together.

There is no need to get fighty about this. I like these boards because I could have a discussion, disagree with someone, and not have it degenerate into a fight. Lets keep it that way. There are signs up on pretty much all the coasters showing you cant take cameras onto the rides. Its is also true that staff at Pleasure Beach don't often enforce this rule. Just like they don't often enforce the seatbelts on Rollercoaster that much. I guess that leaves it up to you whether your trust yourself enough to not drop the camera. If it has a hand strap to secure it to your hand, fair enough. If its being held freely, I would be too scared of dropping it. Personally I don't take cameras on rides. Still, its at least polite to ask if you can film, just like its polite to ask if you can line up at the back seat instead of going all the way to the front. Most Ops will let you if you ask, but tell you to move down if you don't. The Copyright thing...well, you cant copyright a rollercoaster. You can Patent it, but not copyright it. And the Patents for infusion will be owned by Vekoma, not Pleasure beach. If anything, the copyright for any images taken of Infusion are owned by the person who took the images. The only copyright Blackpool likely own is for the Infusion Logo and its associated imagery. And think about it, why in the name of blue hell would Pleasure Beach want to stop images of their nice shiny coaster getting into the public domain? Thats free advertising.

^ I agree with pretty much everything you have said, but you might want to tone the language down a bit. I think alot of people forget that alot of Blackpools 6 million visitors are walk arounds. They come into the park for free, dont actually ride anything (alot of mums do this) so dont pay any money. Plus with so many classic rides needing maintenance, and Valhallas huge gas bill eating away at the finances, there is ALOT of outgoing cash at Blackpool. Not to mention the downturn in the UK tourism in general with cheap flights abroad. Also remember the rather flamible park having to recover from several fires over the decades. The lastest requiring new Nash trains, rebuilding some of the station and fixing up the damadge to Alice as well. Thats not cheap. Blackpool do a great job with very limited funds, and they have to make some very tough decisions to stay alive. I applaud them. It will never be Cedar Point but they do great with what they have. And personaly Im looking forward to riding Infusuion when I next go later in the summer.

Yeah, it been answered already. The 'rocking' can be a result of several things on different coasters. The block issue tends not to cause it. Yes they slow the train down, but they tend to do it only once, until they don't need to anymore, and stop it if they have to, rather than slow down and speed up repeatedly. The counterweight/piston/springed tension wheels do sometimes bounce and this can cause the effect your talking about. the rocking is usually pretty quick, depending on how much movement is in the tensioner. It can range from a small vibration, to the train almost coming to a halt, then hitting a fast speed repeatedly. How varied the effect is depends on the individual tensioner and how well it has been maintained. Old wooden coasters with an old spring tensioner that should have been replaced do this alot. Motors being put under a very sudden load (such as suddenly having the train's weight to deal with) can also cause a very similar feeling effect, although the surges will usually be further apart and feel a little smoother (if you get my meaning). Think of a learner driver pulling away and letting the clutch out too fast. It puts the engine under too much load to quickly at too low a power level, and it will bounce or 'kangaroo' along the road. The same can happen with electric motors to a degree.

I think waiting in line can actually add something to a ride. As long as the line isn't long enough that you spend half of your day waiting in the one line. Anything over 2 hours and it starts to get too much for me. I like waiting in a line, getting slowly closer and closer to the ride while the butterflies start to jump in my stomach. Its great to have a walk on of course, but that just doesn't have the same excitement and apprehension as that moment where you've been waiting in line for a while, and you pass the point of no return. No turning back now. Your trapped, and you almost feel your bladder getting a little weaker. In my opinion, that fear is as much a part of the experience as the Gs are.