89James89

Replies: Ace Of Spades: Thanks, glad your enjoying the park. I can't imagine the park getting really big in the future as it doesn't have the space but I hope I can keep you interested as it grows (provided of course that I don't go bankrupt!) Season 2 So, season 2 was a bit of a slow one for us with not a lot happening as we tried to sort out the books a bit and get some profit back into the park. Firstly we switched to a fixed entry price and then free rides which, somehow worked despite charging £25 for two flat rides and a tiny coaster! We also chose to up the price of our food a little bit to try and scrape more income that way. As you can see from the spreadsheet below though (please don't show this to the bank manager, we keep telling him we've lost it!) we haven't quite got there yet, though encouragingly it is a lot closer charging for park entry rather than ride entry. Meanwhile we still had to add a ride for season tow to actually encourage more guests to come visit the park so we bought and very lightly dressed up this teacup ride! Still that's all we have for season 2. apparently though, the marketing team and design team (which just happen to be the same person) have a brilliant, though expensive idea to help out with season 3 so I'm waiting with fear and curiosity to see if that actually helps us get somewhere near a profit! Till next time! (OOC: sorry about the short season, I really did spend a lot of it trying to get the park to actually run near a profit before we used up all of our loan! Also ignore the fact that I took the finance screenshot partly into season 3 lol.)

Little Lakes Family Park So, I picked up parkitect a little while back and didn't really play it much up until the other day when the theme park bug bit me for some unknown reason and I decided to give Parkitect a go. Now I don't really have a whole lot of free time to actually spend playing the game and making a park so I choose to go small (also one of the reason I choose Parkitect over Planet Coaster (the other being that I love the RCT2 vibe and that I don't actually own Planet Coaster)) in the form of the 60x60 map that I hope to make into a small family park. Anyway enough random chatting let's get on with introducing you all to the actual park. Firstly however a couple of points: I won't be using any custom objects or mods as per usual I will be using the money and simulation part of the game as well so will have to try and make that work out for me (this could mean that our little park goes bankrupt at some point in time but let's hope not). Little Lake Family Park So, lets get on with introducing you to my new little park. Built on this lovely plot of land that my family own, my parents gave me the deed and a small sum of money and sent me on my way (well, so much as you can when the plot of land is attached to your Mansion and grounds). Now, as you can see from the next couple of images you can see how the plot of land is laid out and why the area is named what it's named, with the fishing lake in the middle. The gate to the right leads off to my parents estate. So, anyway I got to work quickly on getting something to actually start bringing some money in so we can afford to expand this place, starting pretty small with one coaster and some flat rides just to wet the locals appetites with things to (hopefully come) Rather annoyingly however, apparently as the year went on we came to the conclusion that this money thing is hard to do (OOC: I also had to remove the path around the park to stop people getting bored and tired wandering around randomly). Don't worry though guys and girls! We did the super sensible thing and took out a loan, not really reading the small print about paying it back and may now be in a bit more of a problem. Still optimism is a brilliant thing right and I'm sure we'll get through this! Oh crap.. the pictures, should probably actually get round to showing you them shouldn't I as I'm sure that's what your here for. Prepare to be amazed! So, lets start with this carousel, happily spinning round in the rain. Moving on we come across this Twister ride, totally not here just to get guests into the park! Finally for the ride line up (I ran out of money alright!) we have Lakeside Coaster, this small family offering (OOC: I think the nausea may be broken though as its at like 56% and high but nevermind) as far as coasters go bought dirt cheap off a travelling fair. Anyway, as you can probably see in the Twister image we also have some basic amenities in the park with the afore seen toilets and this small burger and chip joint near the entrance. And that is basically it, I'll have to leave you now with this overview of our tiny park while I go and see if I can grow a magic money tree to help us out a bit! See you next year! (OOC: Pretty short first entry but there's not a lot to show. My plan going forward is to try not to go bankrupt and also to post a entry for each in game year as I think it'll be an interesting way , along with the money aspect to keep a park blog.) Till next time!

Entry 10: Concept art? Hey guys just a quick update today. I came into work and found these lying on my desk with permission to show you guys. Now as you can clearly see the first drawing is definitely the Gargoyle ride but I'm not sure what the second is. It seems to be concept art for an area called Harrington Hollow but without a park name this could be obsolete concept art from before this park started or scrapped stuff. Mind you it could also be this park I suppose, we'll just have to see. Anyway as I said a short update though there has been some progress as you can see from these two images. Anyway that is all I have for you today, sorry for it being so short, just wanted to show you the artwork. Hopefully next time I'll have some more solid information for you all. Till then. DTC Spokesperson

Probably the airtime hills on Rita for me. They were much worse than the one on Stealth. Cheers James

I thought they submitted the planning application for a coaster no higher than 35 metres for 2016? Unless its a coaster dark ride which would be cool plus, if it was Dr Who themed then I'd have very very little trouble convincing my wife that we need to go to Thorpe Park again. Cheers James

Replies: Schawarziland: Thanks and you are indeed correct. I screwed up a bit their but oh well (as I did with the sky also) but hey you learn from your mistakes right. DoinItForTheFame: Thanks and here's some more for you plus I'm sure you could draw like it. Just takes some practice lol. GCI Wooden: Thanks and yes Swarm is a rather nice looking coaster (pity I screwed up the train length a bit lol). Yep I'm only drawing coasters I've been on but don't worry there's been a fair few to keep me going for now. YoshiCraftt2011: Thanks and yep they are simple. Just something for me to pick up and do quickly when I have a few minutes spare (mainly I'm using it so I don't get too rusty at sketching). Nemesis Inferno and Stealth Just a update to show that I am still drawing these. Here we can see Nemesis Inferno and Stealth and this time their both accurate so yay lol. Two more down, two more to go till Thorpe Park is done! Cheers James (EDIT: Apologies for the lighting its a bit dark in here at the moment so I had to take them with the light on.)

Entry 9: Phase 2: new area? Well, today is all good news, or at least looks like it! Firstly though I'm happy to announce that the improvements to Leaky Creek have been completed and the ride is open again with a greatly improved ride experience for all. I can also reveal that over several days the same treatment was given tot he underground turnaround of Gargoyle to bring it in-line with the new standard of the water ride. Anyway that's all brilliant news but not as exciting as what appears to be a expansion to the park. There's not a lot that I can tell you at the moment (trust me Merlin is rather indecisive. He changes his plan's from one day to the next, it's a nightmare for the local council's planning department.) however Merlin has said this at a press release. 'Following on from the success of the first few phase, DTC Park's is keen to continue to improve the park to compete with the other large UK parks such as HS Designs: Kingdom Of Legend, Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Blackpool etc.... With this in mind I can reveal that for the next phase we will have an entire new area. I want to reveal as little as I can at this moment in time but I can say that it will hopefully cater mainly to a demographic widely ignor.... I mean forgotten by us so far.' Not a lot to go on but at this point we felt it was best to stop Merlin before he said something that may later come back to haunt us. Anyway what I can show you are these images taken and sent in by a guest to the park. As you can see the construction seems to be happening next to the current entrance and behind what was a simple dead end (some of you may have seen this and been wondering why the dead-end was there). As can just about be seen the new expansion will contain at least one new ride. Anyway that is quite literally all anyone but Merlin knows about the area so I'm afraid I don't have nay more news so to make up for it we'll finish this entry with some nice night shots of the Harpy area of the park. Rocky Grill serves flamed grill burgers fresh form the fire pits! It's also one of two licensed eateries in the park. As seen from this angle, the main drop on Harpy is small but still rather intense and the highlight of the ride! Anyway that's all for now. Hopefully next time I will have some more news on the expansion for you all. Till then DTC Spokesperson

Alton Towers Trip Report 23rd Oct 2014 Me and my wife visited Alton Towers several days ago as a birthday treat for her and I just wanted to write up some of my thought on the place. Now unfortunately I kind of forgot to take any photo's of the place so it'll just a be a written account but anyway let's get on with it. So this is the first time I've visited Alton Towers in probably around 10 years (last time I visited it still had Black Hole and Corkscrew and I think Oblivion was the newest ride there). I was also less of a coaster fanatic at that point and although I (luckily) rode Corkscrew and Black Hole before they were removed I didn't have the courage to do any of the other coasters (accept the Runaway Minetrain) so I had a lot of catching up to do. Also we were lucky with my wife's birthday being around this time of year as it meant that we also got to go when the park was in Halloween mode and had the scare mazes up. Anyway what will follow will be a review of the park and the rides/scare mazes we visited during the day. The Park itself Given that I've visited Thorpe park a fair few times I was expecting the theming to be on par if not better in Merlin's flagship park and I was not disappointed, The areas were themed well in respects to the ideas behind them without being over the top and the integration of the towers itself and the grounds were well done in a way that they didn't disrupt any of the theme areas. As for the day itself we were pretty lucky. As well as it being Halloween we also managed to miss half term crowds so queue times were pretty much non existent (in fact the only ride we really did have to queue for was The Smiler but that was expected). So with it being pretty empty and the extended opening times coupled with arriving at around 10:15 we had a pretty packed day starting with...... The Runaway Minetrain Our plan was to work our way up the coasters starting with the most tame and then going upwards (not that this actually happened but hey plans and first contact and all that). So we started with this one. Now being powered I didn't really expect much from it but it seemed to actually travel pretty quickly around the course and I swear there was airtime in some of the parts of it. I mean it didn't warrant a second ride, but it was still much better than I expected and a pleasant way to start the day. Nemesis Now, as I reviewing these in the order that we rode them in I'm pretty sure you can see why our plan failed miserably. Anyway this was the coaster I was most looking forward to from the trip and it definitely ended up being my joint favourite coaster in the park. We rode this twice (both walk ons which was awesome!) and I loved both of them (though I swear when we rode it at dusk it pulled a lot more forces during the first drop into the corkscrew and the zero-g-roll but I may have just imagined it). Anyway the ride was brilliant and well worth the hype. Nicely themed and definitely trumping its sister Nemesis Inferno at Thorpe with a lot more forces through its inversions though I would argue that its not as intense as I imagined it would be from the hype surrounding it. Air As we had decided to work our way around the park this was next up. Being my first flying coaster this was a pretty cool experience though it did feel a little bit tame with the only real forces being when your flipped onto your back. We rode this twice and it was my wife's joint favourite coaster due to how relaxing it was for her (plus she's a bit short and the whole extra foam harness on this and the newer B&M coasters helps make the rides more comfortable for her, as usually her ears are right at the support level and she gets thrown around a bit). As for me I wouldn't go mad over it. I do however want to see what the forces are like on the other flyers, (especially at the bottom of the Pretzels) plus I found that the leg harnesses were a little bit painful on my shins. Sonic Spinball Now despite trying to make our way to the Dark Forest next we kind of screwed up and took the skyride (Although I won't deny that it made travelling a hell of a lot quicker, travelling over the valley in one of these was a pretty nerve racking experience for me, especially when the ride op didn't close the door completely). Anyway with our amazing sense of direction we ended up in Tower Street rather than the planned Cloud Cuckoo Land so we just thought screw it and headed to Sonic next. This was a pretty fun coaster (and I'm pretty sure the lifthill was the quickest I've ever been on). It seemed to spin quite a lot too, though I don't really have that many spinners to compare it too so it may not spin much at all. Thirteen Skipping Smiler because of the 60 minute queue (this turned out to be a good move), Oblivion (more on this later) and Rita (due to it being a typical launched Intamin and therefore down), we headed off to Thirteen. Now I've obviously seen what this coaster does but my wife hadn't so imagine how funny it was when we got to the drop and she was like 'is that it?' moments before it dropped, scaring the crap out of her! Mind you given that I'd heard that the ride didn't amount to much I have to say that the first drop was a pretty big surprise. Much steeper and longer than I expected and took me completely by surprise. My wife's other favourite coaster and one I have to say I enjoyed too. Although as a tip don't put your arms up during the drop. It's pretty painful smacking your arm on the edge of the car when the drop finishes. Rita Having opened while we queued for Thirteen this was our next stop and my joint favourite coaster in the park, though due to the OTSR on Intamin coasters, definitely not my wifes lol. The launch was fun and the amount of G's through the corners were pretty intense. This coaster also confirmed that it's airtime that is the funnest part of a coaster for me with some crazy airtime on the hills during this ride. A great ride though I'm not all that sure I understand the idea behind the theme and do all Intamin Launched coasters have exactly the same station or is it just Merlin? The Smiler Ah, The Smiler. Quite possibly the most annoying soundtrack for any ride ever, anywhere (though I suppose that is the idea). This was a bit of a mixed bag for me. While I understand the whole record breaking thing I just found the ride boring. I mean I genuinely think it would be better with a few less inversions it just seemed to repeat itself over and over again (which again might be the idea, but it just didn't work for me). Plus, for a coaster that's only a year old, it felt pretty rough. I'm pretty sure SAW is a lot more smoother than this despite being older. We did ride it twice, though I didn't enjoy the second time. Duel Having just had lunch at a place that looks and tasted fairly similar to the Pizza Hut at Thorpe we decided to let our stomachs settle down a bit and do some gentle rides starting with Duel which was a fun little shooter dark ride. It was pretty damn long too to be honest and more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Ice Age 4D God this was hands down the worst ride in the park. Now I know it's meant to be a cinema but the seats were just rows of benches that were pretty uncomfortable as opposed to every other 4D Cinema I've been in where there actually seats. The film itself was just a chopped up version of a Ice Age film rather than a new one for the park and the effects were more annoying than effective. Added to the fact that the volume was unbearably loud it just didn't make for an enjoyable experience. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Now despite the rather mundane start to the ride (couldn't they have at least put in a little drop for the water part?) the glass elevator bit was actually a really enjoyable and fun simulator ride which surprised me. Hex Another fun flat though I did think trying to fill a pitch black room with around 40 people was a bit stupid lol. Out of wonder does anyone know how high the seats actually swing? Nemesis Sub Terra Despite the pre show taking about 20 minutes to actually start this was again a well themed ride with a couple of bits that annoyed me. One of them was the fact that it was again so loud. I mean I know they want to create a atmosphere but it was just too loud and hurt more than scared you. Also the scare maze bit seemed a bit lack lustre though given that your taken through it so quickly I suppose it doesn't really matter. It did however absolutely terrify a little girl that was in our group so it must be doing something right. Blade No, just no. Given me rollercoasters any day and I'm fine. Give me a repetitive flat and I have to do everything I can to hold onto my stomach starting half way through the ride. Still my wife loves them so I have to make some sacrifices. Oblivion Ahhh Oblivion, the one coaster in the park that genuinely terrified me. Now I have no idea why I should be fine riding SAW at Thorpe and scared of Oblivion but I was. I think in all honesty it probably had to do with the old hype surrounding it and the fact that its one of the only rides that actually look tall in a park where everything seems to hug the ground. No matter what the reason was it took us till 8pm to actually build up the courage to ride this and boy am I glad that we did. Mainly due to the fact that it would be annoying as hell to leave it as the only unridden coaster but also because for a coaster that only does one thing, it does it pretty well. A really fun coaster to end the day on, or at least the coaster riding part of it. The Scare Mazes! (spoilers included) Zombies Now somehow, at some point I managed to convince my wife without actually trying to go through the scare mazes with me. First up was the less scary zombies one which wasn't all that bad. I mean it was probably due tot he fact that we did it while it was still a bit light and there was also a person in a wheel chair going through with us so the actors probably cut us a bit of slack but parts of it still scared my wife. NOTE: If you are scared of these scare mazes my best advice is to try and not show it. I know it sounds hard but the more scared you seem the more they go for you. The Sanctuary Probably my favourite out of the two main mazes but then again I have a soft spot for horror that isn't too far-fecthed. The maze itself ties in fairly well with the ride and its themes and help explain it a bit more while also providing a well themed walk-through with plenty of jump scares. There also not joking when they say the mazes aren't for people with claustrophobia or epilepsy as there's some pretty small spaces in this maze which is fun, especially when your trying to keep your hands on the person in front. We also had to laugh in this as we'd spent the whole day trying not to get wet, only to end up getting soaked in this as we were stopped under the inoculation spray jets lol. Terror of the Towers Another fun scare maze and this time with a smaller group that I was at the back of. Although still fun and with plenty of scares I not sure some of the scenes made a hell of a lot of sense in this one (why was there kitchen scene in it?). I also learnt that the scare actors get annoyed when you stare at them as you walk by (luckily he never got my eyes out with a rusty spoon as threatened.) The end was pretty sketchy as well as it was continuous strobe lighting which really disorientated you (in fact I got one of the biggest jumps out the attraction when a imprinted outline of my wife appeared behind me thanks to the strobe lighting). All in all I thought the scare mazes were worth the extra charge to get into them as they were fun and seeing as we had a two for one entry voucher didn't really coast anything. Probably not something that I'd do twice but a fun experience anyway. Conclusion A brilliant day out and well worth the 5 hour journey to get there (we stayed in a lovely guest house around 20 minutes away from the park). The coasters were all a nice experience and the other ride we rode were for the most part good. We lucked out slightly by the time of the year that we visited (was completely unplanned) and that we visited on a day when everything was working. So yeah, congratulations and thank you for anyone who managed to actually get to the end of the review. I hope it wasn't too tedious or boring. Cheers James

Thorpe Park as well. Despite living in Devon its definitely the park that I've been too most. Probably around once a year for the last like 8 years (my old girlfreind used to go to uni in London) and then I just kept going there. (Though I suppose you could count Crealy Adventure park as the most visited but its not really what I'd call a proper park.) Cheers James

NOTE: This is my thread for my current park. I'm just going to start off from where were at over at SGW. The rest of the thread can be found here http://www.shyguysworld.com/index.php/topic,16499.0.html As you may notice in the thread linked above there is a download to Phase 1 already up. Now given that not all of you probably have accounts on the SGW site needed to download the file I've uploaded it here too. SO just click below and download to enjoy your day at the park! www.themeparkreview.com/game_exchange/track.php?id=3198 Anyway let's get on with it shall we, here you join us as we start Phase 2 of the park (oh yeah and just to mention in case you were wondering it is NCS as per usual with my work). Entry 8: Phase 2 begins! Hey guys and girls I've got some good news. That lovely bank manager said yes to us having the loan so together with the money that we've been taking in from the park being open were able to go ahead with Phase 2: Codename: Hollow. Anyway even though we have the go ahead, we've yet to make a start on the actual phase two yet so we don't have anything to show you on that front. We haven't however been totally idle as currently this is what Leaky Creek looks like. Now despite the look of it this is actually a very good thing. See with the ride closed we could commence on some much needed interior improvements to the ride. See although the guests weren't too bothered by the lack of any interior details other than dirt Merlin was. So the ride was closed and the landscaping team's holiday cut short to come back in and rework the interior (and some of the exterior) of the ride. Here are some of the images of the work currently being carried out. Firstly what the first area of the ride, just outside the station used to look like. Lots of dirt. Anyway several frantic work days later and the landscaping team have finished reworking the area. Apparently they found some random skulls while digging so incorporated them into the theming. Re-cycling and all that jazz. As mentioned above work also happened on the outside of the ride like this extra overhang underneath Gargoyles steeply swooping helix. Anyway that's all the rework images I've got so far, still its nice to have some images showing that we've started to put some of that hard earned (and grovelled for) money to use. Finishing this entry is this shot of Cauldron blasting unfortunate guests into the air! Till next time DTC Spokesperson

Now here's something that I thought some of you may be interested in. Basically I've recently started drawing/painting (my deviantart page in case anyone wants to see more of my stuff http://89james89.deviantart.com/) my coaster credits. Anyway here's the first three. Hopefully you'll be able to tell which coasters they are (one is slightly obvious) without actually reading the page notes but hey, I hope you enjoy them anyways. PS. Coaster Enthusiasts may notice a error that may annoy them but shouldn't affect people that don't know the coasters. Kudos to whoever spots it first. Cheers James

Update 2: Working towards Christmas! hey guys just a small update as to show you where I'm at with my Christmas gift park (in case your wondering what I'm on about with the whole gift thing, basically I aim to have this park finished by Christmas and a download up a couple of days before Christmas as a early gift for you all. Providing of course you have RCT 3, RCT 3 Soaked! and RCT 3 Wild!). Anyway here's some more images of the work on the park. Again not much to say about them but that it's progressing nicely. As for the mountain park I'm still chipping away at it so expect to see some more images of that soon as well but as said earlier, focus at the moment is on the Christmas park. Cheers James

Replies: yay101: Thanks and I don't really know. I kind of liked the red but I'll change it back and see what I think. the ghost: Thanks and no offense taken lol. I have a tendency to post for a while then disappear so its all good. Glad your liking it though as, as you said it can be hard working with NCSO RCT3 at times but hey, I enjoy it and that's what matters in the long run. Update: Its that time of the year again! Right first an apology as the mountain park has taken a back seat in light of a new project that I'm working on. Meant as a sort of seasonal gift for you all, here's my attempt at a certain seasonal theme that's actually turning out better than I thought it would. Anyway I don't have much to share just yet so you'll have to put up with these two teaser images for now. Hope you all enjoy these teasers all the same! Cheers James

Update: Right I'm back with some more work done on the random mountain top castle park. Now firstly I should probably apologise for the long gap between updates but I do tend to get easily distracted with random things so this got pushed to the side for a while but just like in the past, I picked it back up a few days ago and have a renewed sense of purpose for the park (and for another smaller side project related to something else which you will hopefully see soon). As an aside for anyone interested in the RCT2 project that is also progressing nicely and my plans are to release it to NE when its done. Anyway on with the actual updates and what you all came for, the pictures, shwoing mostly parts of the progressing coaster work. As usual its all WIP so please ignore the empty parts (trying to terraform one block at a time is time consuming but rewarding lol). This first image shows the 2nd and 3rd inversions, together with the rides interaction with both the paths and the rapids ride below. This image below shows the first drop (far right) and the 3rd and 4th inversion. Again emphasis was put on trying to incorporate the paths and other rides into the main coaster (which I'm thinking of calling Hydra or something like that). This is the same area but from the top of the mountain looking down. Finally the last rct3 image for this update shows the finished castle/station on top of the mountain. I may try adding a couple of more spooky details but then again I may leave it as it is. Right that's all for the mountain top park. Just randomly though here's another image from my RCT2 park showing the supposed children's water ride Candy Mountain. It's kind of themed after the youtube episodes tough so yer..... may not be the most child friendly ride. Anyway that's all for now. Hope you like the small update and I hope I'm able to give you all more frequent update from now on. Cheers James

^ Thanks and don't worry I plan on sending it into NE if I think it'll get anything at the end so it will definitely be available at some point for download. Cheers James EDIT: There is also some more screens in my work shed thread from this project if you wanted to see more.