MG

Only Thorpe Park ..and Rush was closed

WOW Considering how old the Matterhorn is it is amazing how complicated it is, and how much you can retrofit a ride. Great thread, I think more threads like this would be great

I found Psyclone at SFMM the worst i've been on. Corkscrew at Alton Towers was close behind though. It was better the last time I rode it though...

You can find most things about Alton Towers either from their official website www.altontowers.com or from the Alton Towers fan site, Towers Times www.towerstimes.co.uk Hope this helps for the Alton Towers part

Definately skiing! So much faster. I've skiied in Colorado at Breckenridge but in recent years at Whistler in Canada. The only problem I have with snowboarders is when they try to kill me while I am skiing

Piano Flute: Play in school's symphony orchestra

Well, in fact Americans drive on the right since they copied the FRENCH!! Napoleon instructed his troops to march on the right hand side of roads. Most of the world followed. We drive on the left due to a historical reason, where our soldiers won a battle by striking from their left hand side instead of their right.

Great photos, usual park Don't know the point of Tidal Wave being open, but Oh well!

3 hours and 30 minutes for Air in its opening year at Alton Towers. Breakdown after breakdown. Sounds like X has won the most people for longest queue, maybe we should turn this into a poll. Crazily, I rode Colossus at Thorpe Park on its opening day and there was NO queue. Strange, considering on a fairly quiet day now it can manage to rack up 45 minutes.

Rock'n Rollercoaster @ MGM studios florida. I loved it so much that my parents had to endure another 4 rides. I was about ten

A bit off topic, but some parks seem to be doing stuff just like that! You can always be hopeful! Thorpe Park Special Opening By the way, I don't know if you have the same thing there in the states, but in the UK it is tradition that on the 29th of February, women can ask men to marry them.

If you are referring to SFMM I completely agree. I've heard its improving now but when I went 3 years ago I was shocked at the state a theme park could be-this was when Thorpe was still clean and tidy. Recently Thorpe has not focused on customer service, and it shows. When they don't even increase the number of trains on a ride despite it being busy it shows one of two things - either the other trains are not ready for the new season, in which case Thorpe should have just opened later in the year when they are actually ready to open, or the person deciding how many trains the rides should run is incompetent. Even though some parks stay open continuously throughout the year and don't have major trouble, I don't think Thorpe should open early. It is never ready. Considering Disney World charges $71 per daily entry I think it is pretty shocking that Thorpe charges in the summer £32 ($64) per entry. I know Thorpe is a very different experience, aimed at thrillseekers, but Thorpe does not spend $100,000,000 on a ride (Expedition Everest). Which experience seems better value?

This disability guide taken from the Thorpe Park website shows an attraction called "Time Voyager" in Calypso Quay which appears to have replaced Pirates 4D. There were rumours of a retheme for Pirates 4D but it was largely expected not to happen. This is the excerpt from the Disability Guide Interestingly Time Voyager was apparently a show at Gardaland last year, another Merlin Park. Bad news for all those who loved Pirates 4D

Actually, Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios has a backwards section in the dark. Oops, i'll have to check what is says on X's sign, maybe I should have said world's first backwards coaster in the dark or something similar. It is however still the only backwards rollercoaster in the dark for the full circuit

It often gets busy on quiet days since Thorpe reduce the no. of trains to one, considerably extending the queue time. It does suffer from quite a few breakdowns but so does every ride at Thorpe Park. It is best to ride when the park is busy enough to warrant two trains but quiet enough so there isn't a queue

I can see what you are getting at but doesn't slightly depend on the method of launch. If it is an LIM/LSM launch then I agree. Wouldn't it be different though if it was a hydraulic launch, not in terms of the trains increase in speed, but in terms of the machinery required to do the launch, the winches etc at the ends of the launch track. Could a wooden structure feasibly hold the machinery. That was the stresses I meant. Sorry if it is still wrong, only speculating. The best option would simply be to have a steel launch track

Depending which train you get and where you sit it can be a fairly rough or smooth ride. Apart from one little bunny hop there is not much airtime. It can feel like the inversions are crammed in but that can also make it fun-the twists at the end. There are also some head choppy bits after the bunny hop, along the twists and especially the final twist just above the ground at the end. There is a lot of hangtime in the ride, the themeing is pretty good but it can feel a bit slow at times, as if it hasn't got the energy to make it through. Needs a paint now though, its starting to look dirty and faded. Twisted Pleasure

That was my point, the launch track would be ripped apart if made of wood by the forces exerted on it during launch. Agreed a woodie can be designed for a normal course to absorb forces, maybe Psyclone was a bad example to use. If the launch track was made of steel it would be possible

I like the idea of a launched flyer, not so sure about the woodie. It would probably tear itself apart. Some of them do it without even trying. Psyclone at sfmm was a prime example of a woodie litterally tearing itself apart. The coaster i'd like to see would be a variation on the 4D design by instead of having a set track to change the seat tilt instead a programmed computer controlled sequence using motors and an electric feed through a conducting rail on the track. This way the sequence of seat tilting could be changed every so often, unlike current 4D coasters, but without the total loss of control that is ball coasters

Sorry I should learn to read Again sorry, someone has to say the most ridiculous coaster first X:/ NO WAY OUT at Thorpe Park is the world's first and only backwards roller coaster in the dark. I wonder why

First dive coaster in the world: Oblivion at Alton Towers First tubular steel roller-coaster in the world: Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland, probably one of the biggest innovations in steel coaster engineering. First 'modern' vertical loop: Revolution at sfmm, Schwarzkopf perfected the design of the loop and made it possible to ride without suffering 12 g or other problems

Agreed, Merlin does often produce good results. My only annoyance with Merlin was they stopped the plan for the flyer Hopefully it turns out well

Yes it could be amazing, recently though Thorpe Park creations never turn out as good as their concepts; Stealth queline grandstand for one. Also their lack of imagination in choosing names for rides recently. Stealth (yes very stealthy, better than The Edge i suppose), Rush (very lost city), Slammer (another), and Nemesis Inferno (don't get me started). I have also heard that the project is called "Project Dylan". Considering "project Rita" became reality lets just hope for the best. Admittedly if this project is executed well it could be one of Thorpe's best themed rides.[/code]

While I love Thorpe to get a new coaster, especially if it is themed well, i am slightly dissapointed that the rumoured B&M flyer never materialised. It could have been amazing. Thorpe should keep improving, expanding into areas where they are currently wasting space, ie: the old Treasure Island site. You never know, Thorpe could easily be the British Cedar Point of the future, its even got the right location. As much as i look forward to this project I think it is a shame because if Thorpe had wanted to they could have probably built a hyper on the same site. That is because that side of the park is closest to open land and the motorway, least likely to be refused by British planning authorities. Well done Thorpe this time, as long as it is well themed. Just remember, next time try something largely undone in the UK, try building a Hyper

While i've never been on an E-stop, i have seen Stealth at Thorpe Park actually E-stop mid launch. I didn't realise that intamin rockets could actually stop like that. Maybe it was just a miscatch or something. As to getting stuck on rides i've got stuck on Air at Alton towers in the break run for about half an hour. It really started to strain my neck, always staring at the ground. I also got stuck on Samurai (Mondial Top Scan) at Thorpe Park after the ride had finished. It sort of just tried to move into the zero position but just kept twisting back and forth for about ten minutes. The funniest thing i've seen was a thunderstorm at Thorpe Park. The rain was so heavy that nearly every ride E-stopped. Stealth e-stopped, Colosuss e-stopped, Nemesis Inferno e-stopped. The only coaster to remain open was X:\WTF. Loads of the flats stopped as well