Fallen Heretic

Emma Watson was on a chat show here about an hour ago. She said the cast were filming some extra scenes for, as she put it, the ride which is interactive. Of course she didnt let slip any hints as to which ride/experience she could talking about.

I know where the Fudgester is in that last pic. I can see him. I knew where to look right away. Do I get a prize?

I dont know if this has been mentioned yet, apologies if it has. There is a mistake on the initial run of Manta t-shirts (the one with the stats on) They were pulled and reprinted around a week or two into soft opening. Anyway, if you got one of those first shirts, the word Length is mis-spelled as lenght. Since they were pulled, Im going to reckon these are pretty rare. So I should hang on to mine and keep it in good condition, right? Oh, I havent been on Manta yet, but my Bride-to-be has and she got one of the shirts just as they pulled them.

I just found this out today. The Royal Mint are often producing limited edition collectable coins, but this one is not deliberate. All you UK folks, or anyone who has visited the UK this year and still has change, check your 20p coins carefully, it could be worth much more than 20p. This effects only a small number of the new designs produced last year. See the designs here . The new back means they had to move the date stamp from the 'tail' side to the 'head' side. however, a mistake meant a run of coins went out with the old dateless head side, and new dateless tail side. Coins with no date are very rare indeed. Now, if you have any new 20p with no date on them, you can register it with the royal mint, and they will give you a £50 reward for returning it to them (if you pre-register it at their website). But it gets better than that. Due to the rarity of these, coin collectors are going nuts for them. Some have been getting as much as £250 at coin auctions. So seriously, check your change. You could be sitting on a lot of cash.

The UFO, my guess is weird air physics type phenomononomonon. Especialy when I see this other video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47C6m5yyUwI And this one... And mostly this one from Burning Man EDITED to remove a dumb question that was answered like 4 pages ago, cos I couldnt be bothered to read it all, lazy ass that I am. .

Grrrr....Im jealous beyond words. I should so be there. I had originaly planned to be there. Stupid expensive summer wedding. Ok, Im happy about the wedding but I still feel like Im missing all the fun. I may have to join the anti-scandi crew where I can be all bitter and jealous.

I was just given shares at Bonnet Creek as a present. I havent stayed there yet. Im hoping it works out well.

Almost forgot to add this in here. Haunted attractions have reported that a second Alien War will open in Liverpool this summer. This will open while the Glasgow version is still running. Also good news for those Brits who are further south, They are still looking to open in London. Currently they are talking with County Hall. They have re-entered talks with Fox, regarding bringing back the Alien theme with the movies for a hopeful opening in the USA, maybe LA or Vegas.

Ive just been sent one of those email ride pic things from my lady. She looks like she is enjoying it. Her friend not so much (Manta is her first ever coaster ride). Havent spoken to her yet so I dont know what she thinks of it. Given the expression on her face though, I think she loves it. Im so jealous.

I think the Splash Battle at Indiana Beach needs a quarter to use the spectator water cannons. I seem to remember Divv and I desperately fumbling for quarters when we spotted someone on it who deserved to spend the rest of the evening soggy.

Rollercoaster was planned to be down this season. It was only running in Feb because the Nash was down. Im not convinced they are going to close it for good. Im guessing its a maintenance thing. Either working on the ride, or not running it so they dont have to pay the maintainance on it. I have it in my head that it eats alot of lift chains for some reason. Ive seen the chain break a few times myself over the years. I reckon folks are jumping to the 'OMG they are going to pull it down' conclusion because so many other things have gone recently. The Whip, all those kiddie roundabouts, the clown coaster, Space Invader, the restraunt (which I didnt like anyway) to name but a few. But the park has invested in new things too. Whether or not you agree on the decisions, its got to be a positive sign. The dancing water is new, Noahs Ark and trauma Towers are both getting redeveloped (both were closed in Feb), and Gold Mine is down for a refurb (the link doesnt appear on the PB site, just like rollercoaster, but it was open in Feb too). Rumours also abound that the Space Invaders area will be turned into an exhibition with old ride cars, and rumblings of something called Project Sahara in the steeplechase area (where the go kart track and chinese maze are, perhaps). Personally I think the rumours arent to be trusted, cos BPB have been selling their old ride cars on ebay, and project sahara likely jumped straight out of someones butt onto a forum somewhere.

Seriously, Where is that picture of Steve and his epic restraint fail? It deserves to be in here. That one picture sums up so many things about the park.

Scottish Steve is not old enough to have stubble yet. Scarey hot-dog monster is invading my dreams. Make it stop.

Something to remember is that Rollercoaster now runs (or did run) old Big Dipper trains. The rollercoasters own trains (the ones on ebay) had not been used for a while. So even if the ride was remaining open, those cars would have shown up there anyway. They were running Rollercoaster when I was last there (feb), but thats only because Grand National was being worked on. I think its closed because its such a high maintenance ride and the visitor numbers to blackpool are way down. The park has been quietly struggling for a while. Eclispe (which was awesome) was replaced by Forbidden (which isnt). Hot Ice isnt showing this season. Even Devere isnt doing Mystique anymore. They need to save money, and an old ride which Ive seen break many lift chains is not helpful to them right now. Whether its a permanent move or not may depend on how the UK economy does or doesnt recover. One more thing... As the other ride which is SNBO is the space invader, they could fit something else in if they removed them both. The area of the space invader plus the turnaround of the Rollercoaster next to it could surely fit some sort of ride? Wow, thats an awfully big post for someone who should be working right now.

I had forgotten to post this here when I first found out, but the Alien Wars run in glasgow has been extended to August. They have also added a couple of new scares, or so they tell me.

Well, Ive only visited the BPBGuide a few times, and here is what I got from it... First time around it seemed a really childish community, so I didnt bother signing up for it. I had heard a couple of years later it had 'grown up' so i went back to see. There were lots up to date pictures on construction, removals, rehabs and the like, which was good. There was also some good mature discussion to be found. Unfortunately this seemed to be outnumbered by complaints and an apparent "we hate Amanda" theme (or the bitch as she seemed to be called alot). They dont seem to get that the woman is just trying to keep the park afloat in very difficult times. Seems everyone thought they could run it better. Remember that Valhalla removal rumour a while ago? the one with the fake news story? I first saw that on BPBguide. Whether it originated there Im not sure, but they seemed to use it as an excuse to bash the management. At least places like Screamscape make it clear which stories are rumour and which are confimred. Im probably making it sound worse than it actually is. That said, I got the impression that there was more nagative than positive on the site. Sure, its easy to be negative about BPB (or PBB, whatever) but there didnt seem to be enough people highlighting the positive things. I can see why BPB would not be keen on that site. And I wonder if the letters sent really were that bad compared to some of the things that were posted on that site.

Just wanted to quickly say that Ive now been to this, and although it is rather short for your £10, its also great, and builds tension really well. Due to breaking ties with Fox, there is no alien queen or alien egg chamber. Feels like maybe they couldnt fit all of the new set in the venue anyway, perhaps the show may be longer in london when it opens there. Its still definately worth a visit, in my opinion. If you havent done it before, then you have to do it. Also, it seems the Aliens are no longer as hands-on as they used to be. Didnt get near us. Perhaps we had a good marine. They say that they change the show frequently so I will be going back to check how different a second run through will be. Oh, they also have T-shirts for you souvineer whores.

Seems it has now slipped to the 6th December. Auditions have already passed, so maybe they are having set or technology issues. Either way, its only an extra week to wait.

I dont have many personal experiences with q-jumping but there was an awesome incident at HHN in Universal Orlando. We were in one of those (highly recommended) RIP tours, and were waiting at the front of the vip line to get into Bill n Ted. Suddenly we noticed a bunch of probably half-cut people pushing through the line, saying "VIP, VIP" over and over. As if it was that easy. Now I was a little way back from the front so missed what actually was said, but they were made to wait at the side, while the VIP line, then the whole of the regular line, filed in. All I really heard was our beyond-awesome guide Karyn shouting "Serves you right!". It was just so brilliant to see them get their come-uppance. There was much rubbing-in as we passed them being held at the side, holding up our glowy sticks of privelage and saying VIP! as we went by. If anyone in the group reading this was near the front an can elabourate a bit, that would be cool.

Looks like a fun time, sorry I missed it. I should have gone, my halloween party here got cancelled.

Yeah, they had it at the Carnival, but the set was pertty basic, and it wasnt quite as cool as when it was in the Arches (I never visited it in london). Im not sure if that was an 'official' show at the Carnival, or just the old Glasgow staff doing their own version off their own backs. It was fun either way though. So, who thinks a TPR meetup of interested brits should be on the cards?

Thanks to Andrews for pointing out this excellent peice of news. I was too busy and didnt catch it the day it was released. Alien War has an official opening date. YES! From the myspace page (also noted on screamscape and Hauntedattractions): So, who wants to go get scared?

Well, given I was in Orlando, I havent paid much attention to whats been happening in Blackpool so I only just found out the info Im about to post from a workmate and confirmed it on the BPB site. The paid entry system has taken what I think might be an unpopular turn for non-riding parents and the like. For the whole of October, they have been charging a flat fee of £20 for all park entrants rides included. This is whether or not you actually ride (no £5 freedom pass). If your accompanying someone under 16 (who is paying the £20) and your not riding, you can get in for £10. Disabled people who are unable to ride can get a free entry pass. I had heard, but cant confirm, that they had already started trialing the £5 entry system, but perhaps concluded it wasnt giving enough returns for the park. Either way, I know this £20 entry has resulted in two families who have gone down to blackpool on holiday to decide to skip it altogether, and just visit the Sandcastle and the piers. Yes, its cheaper than the all day wristbands were, but I can see alot of families turning away like the ones I have spoken two. Im slightly worried about the fate of our beloved little seaside park.

I did fail at representing Hooters, even if it is just a tradition for me. Im just happy I managed to represent the Irons. Im sure having two mostly naked chicks on your t-shirt could be against the dress code.

One of the first CG things Pixar did (if I remember correctly) were animations with little desk lamps. I cant remember what it was called, but they got alot of character out of those little lamps, and I think their methods over the years have followed on from the techniques they started with there. If you can find information on that, it may also discuss how they used what they had learned to developed their later characters.