mash80

Again, thanks for all the replies. Boo to the Gooners (ok, i'll admit they do play a beautiful game ). At least there is one fellow red devil in here, yay for IloveRitalin! Hoping for big things from Berba, he's certainly a class act, just hope he does it for us. ^^ It's a Sony Ericsson K800i, quite an old model really. The camera on it is 3.2MP. ^ Cool, enjoy your visit!

Wow, this is a real toughie, from those listed and many others I could name. Out of those listed I was torn between Freddie Mercury and Robert Plant but gave the nod to Freddie in the end.

Thanks for the nice replies guys! Hahaha, anything beats watching Forest, I'm a Man Utd fan myself though I did used to have a Forest season ticket and kinda support them as my local team, but yea, they suck. As far as G-Force goes, unfortunately it looks a lot better than it actually is and I have to agree with Gisco.

My first photo TR, so please be gentle Pictures were taken with my camera phone so not the best quality but they turned out a lot better than I expected! Having not visited the park for 20 years despite living only 90 minutes away, I decided it would be worth spending half a day there as I was going to be in the area, especially as there were credits to be had. I arrived around noon on a really cloudy Saturday, but fortunately it cleared up dramatically later on. The park was absolutely packed and I only just managed to get a parking spot, I was expecting it to be dead to be honest so this was quite a surprise. Thankfully the majority of visitors seemed to be families with young children visiting the new Thomas Land area. I didn't plan on taking many rides, which I'm glad of as the operations were pretty bad. Both coasters were only running one train so although queues didn't look too bad they ended up taking longer than expected - seriously, Shockwave was taking 5 minutes plus for each dispatch and all the flats seemed to be taking an age between cycles. The ride Ops on G-Force were pushing the riders through quick though so I'll give them credit. Also, Apocalypse was a walk on all day, what a bonus! Overall I really enjoyed my day, I had arrived with very low expectations after hearing nothing good about the park, so I'm sure that helped. It was a lot cleaner than I expected and thankfully they seem to have gotten rid of the negative signs that were there for TPR's trip in '06 (no screaming, no spitting etc). The new Thomas Land area in particular was really impressive and as I said earlier it seemed very popular. They could certainly use some more stand out thrill rides though (ie. better coasters). Now onto what I rode... Shockwave (x2) - My first stand up coaster so I enjoyed it because it was different. Certainly nothing special though and surprisingly rough in parts, it had one hell of a rattle. G-Force (x2) - Very...meh. Some good airtime over the first hill but all in all it kind of felt like a Pinfari death machine or something. I did like the restraints though! Preferred the front seat to the back. Apocalypse (x4) - I've only been on a few drop towers but this was the best by far, the saving grace of the park. I did stand up floored twice and stand up floorless twice. I give floorless the nod, probably the most scared I've even been on a ride and it didn't hurt too much either! Maelstrom (x1) - Fun spinning disc flat ride, would be more fun if it span a bit more though. Enough of the rambling, onto the pictures! Hope you enjoyed my first TR! Crazy Bertie Bus! Cool looking kiddie flat Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth bound misfit, I Basically a 'frog hopper' type of ride Mini Apocalypse, aka Cranky's Drop Tower New credit! This was as much as I could see though sorry and didn't ride coz I'm no whore! ...baby, right round... You spin me right round... No offence Percy but was kinda hoping for Thomas And now, what you've all been waiting for...Thomas Land!!! Jolly, jolly, jolly! Entrance to the zoo, no animal photos though due to phone memory restrictions I'm afraid "I can't take it any more, I'm going over the edge. Hey Bob, tell my wife I love her!" Would have been the boat across the lake but due to how long it takes my phone to switch into camera mode and then actually take a picture, I give you....boat a$$! Really dark, crappy photo of Flying Dutchman Totally PC flat ride...Sombrero! Wow, those bucaneers must really smell!! Random pirate themed flat ride Ahoy there me heartys! Woohoo, lets go shoot some Hillbillys! Oh, it's a boat ride, sounded quite exciting (guess it could be, I didn't actually ride it) Excalibur - A dragon's tale! Across the lake... Damn clouds, this could have come out quite nice... Pandamonium... I'm pleased to see you too Mr Apocalypse! Stand up, and to the right, the mighty stand up floorless Yeah baby, now we're talkin'... Don't want you ferris wheel guys to feel left out.... Shout out to all the carousel lovers And again...you lucky people! One for you train enthusiasts Hi RapidsNerd! Yup, Maelstrom swings both ways :o Maelstrom.... OMG, get your hands up! At least TRY to look like you're having fun Airtime! Hangtime! Inverted lift hill madness Seriosly twisted.... G-Spo...erm...Force! Change of angle + change in weather = Result! (My fave shot of the day) Grrrrr, stupid camera phone, a nightmare to time shots with. Loop-de-looooooop - Taken earlier in the day, you can see how the weather cleared up. Corkscrew goodness! (or not, as the case may be) Shockwave.... Splosh! Just in case you forgot where we were! (Yes, I forgot to take an entrance shot)

Drayton Manor it is

Indeed 100% sure it is so here's my pic.

^ Looks like Alton Towers

About 7 years for me. In 2001 i managed to get to Blackpool, Alton Towers and American Adventure (now closed) but then my next park wasn't until August 1st this year when i again visited AT. The main reason for this was moving house and growing apart from all the friends I used to go with when I was young or them having settled down with a wife and kids and not being interested anymore. I don't really enjoy going to parks on my own although I will be braving Drayton Manor Park for a few hours this weekend to get a few long awaited credits. I've also managed to talk a friend into joining me at Goose Fair in Nottingham this October which I believe will have a coaster or two. I will certainly never go that long again, finding this site and my AT trip have reawakened the coaster nerd in me! I plan to get to a lot of parks next season.

It is indeed Alton Towers

^Oki, thanks Unfortunately due to not owning a decent digital camera I don't have many park pics but here's one I took with a friends camera. Rather easy to guess though I'm afraid Where on earth could this possibly be??

If it isn't Walibi Belguim, the picture name was a great decoy!

Great updates, awesome pictures and captions as always! Thanks for taking the time out to do these Robb, it is really appreciated. Especially for parks like these which I'm sure many of us have never seen/ heard of before. Looks like you're having a great time so far and riding some great coasters. I think my favourite part about all of your far east TR's has to be the translations, they are almost 'Orgiastic'! Also, as others have said, Kidtums is so photogenic. The two pictures of her on the kiddie ride at Pearl Land are my favourite pictures of her yet, just love her expressions, sooo cute. Hope the awesomeness continues for you all out there and I look forward to the future updates.

Damn, when I saw the topic title I had visions of myself swimming around in a huge lake full of sticky orange pop - maybe a sign I should get to bed Sounds like fun, would love to get over to the states one year to try some of the many awesome halloween events your parks have.

Saw this on the local news tonight. Apparently it happened shortly after the park closed, the coach (a double decker) was going downhill, through S-bends in driving rain. After losing control and hitting a car heavily the coach clipped a few other cars before falling 45ft (though another report I heard said 20ft) into a garden. The passengers on the coach were a group of foreign workers on a day trip to the park and there were very few that actually spoke any English which I can only imagine added to the mayhem. The news report said they were still trying to get translators in to understand fully what happened. Last I heard, the 2 people who were airlifted out were in 'serious' condition, there was 1 death and around 60 people with minor injuries. ^Yea the roads around Alton must be a nightmare for coach drivers, especially a double decker.

Usain Bolt...just WOW. New 100m world record of 9.69 seconds and he was showboating the last 10 metres! Never seen anything like it, truly amazing. Also a great day for us Brits

Sounds like a great idea BeemerBoy, I will check out PokerStars and make an account. Can't afford to put lots of cash onto it but that wouldn't be necassary once I started taking all the other TPR members cash!! (joking ) Only problem for me would maybe be the time difference. I'm sure it would be workable with East coast players but more difficult with any West coast players. I guess weekends would be the best time for a game with people from many different time zones.

I started playing poker about two years ago and have come to love the game. No Limit Texas Hold 'Em is my game of choice although once I feel more comfortable with that I would like to learn the other variations. I started playing online at FullTilt, low stakes to start but gradually rising and to be honest I find the higher the stakes the easier it is to play a 'proper game' as people are less inclined to go with a bad hand and 'suck out'. Eight months ago the largest poker room in the UK, Dusk 'Till Dawn, opened 20 minutes drive away from me and that has given me a whole new experience of live poker, in fact I rarely play online at all now. They offer a wide range of tournaments as well as cash tables with varying stakes and also sit and go's. I prefer to play the cash tables and have done reasonably well there. My best hand came a couple of months ago in a live cash game - my one and only Royal Flush (hearts). Luckily for me there was another guy with a flush too so it paid out rather well I would love to play in the main event at the WSOP someday but it certainly won't happen for a few years at least. Although I must have played countless hands over the past two years I still feel like I'm learning more in every game I play, especially in live poker.

Great photos thanks Norman, sure is nice to get an insight into how they set this massive site up. Would definitely like to get over there one year for it. That Olympia Looping looks awesome and some what crazy. I bet it would be even crazier after drinking Weissbier all day and night!

Here's a link to the new Harry Potter trailer; Harry Potter 6 new trailer I'm not really a fan of the movies (although I love the books), but I'm quite excited about this one

Grats CoasterLover Yay, can go to bed now lol!!! 2.45am here and up for work in 5 hours What were the three words out of curiosity? I tried everything I could think of lol.

My favourites... Steel: Nemesis Wood: Big Dipper (not rode Megafobia)

Not seen any notable new films recently but watched some of my older favourites recently; Goodfellas (1990) 10/10 - Based on the true story of Henry Hill, directed brilliantly by Scorsese. De Niro is great as always, Ray Liotta in his best career performance (imo) and who could forgot Joe Pesci who got an Oscar for his role. Probably my fave film of all time. Scarface (1983) 9.5/10 - Brian De Palma's classic portrayal of Tony Montana's (Al Pacino) rise to the top of Miami's criminal underworld. Powerful, violent stuff. Say hello to my little friend!!!! Office Space (1999) 9/10 - Gets better everytime I watch it! Maybe it helps if you've worked in an office before but I feel I'd enjoy it regardless. Top comedy from Mike Judge. Stand By Me (1986) 9/10 - Hadn't seen this since I was a kid but still really enjoyed it. Really took me back to being a kid too lol. This coming of age story is based on the Stephen King novella The Body and stars River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Kiefer Sutherland among others. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) 9.5/10 - Prison drama which follows Andy Dufresne's two decades in Shawshank State prison for a crime he didn't commit. Awesome performances from Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman in particular. Bad Taste (1987) 8/10 - Really low budget, crappy special effects, really cheesy acting but soooo funny and sooo entertaining Peter Jackson showing his brilliance a long time before he went mainstream.

Missed this thread before, so here we go.... Hi all, my name is Matt, I'm 28 and live in Nottinghamshire, UK. Having loved coasters and theme parks as a child/teenager it became a forgotten passion as I started working. Then recently we arranged for a group of online friends from all over Europe (my World of Warcraft guild) to have a meet up at Alton Towers, which will be next Friday. Since this arrangement I've been like a little kid at christmas, I honestly haven't been this excited for a long long time! Because of this I decided to try and get into it again, maybe find somewhere online where I can meet like minded people and I ended up here! I've been glued to this site now for the past week, reading TR's etc and got to say it's a great community you have here. My coaster experience isn't that extensive (as you can see from my sig). American Adventure was my local park until it shut so I now count AT as my local park, which was always my favourite park anyway (I don't count Drayton Manor though it's technically closer ). I am still to experience Air and Rita though, it's been that long! I was lucky enough to get to Florida with my school in 1994, getting to ride the awesome Kumba aswell as visiting WDW/Epcot/US etc, and on a family trip to Spain in 1996 I rode Dragon Kahn 28 times which was even more awesome. Oh yea....did i mention I'm an Intamin coaster virgin (until next week at least ). Other interests include music - all kinds but Pink Floyd if I had to choose one band, football - I'm a big Manchester United fan, and occasionally gaming when I have time. I also like a good game of Poker. Enough from me, sorry for the long post lol. Hope to get to know some of you better and maybe meet up in the future! I certainly intend to get a TPR trip in asap, they look unbelievable. Matt

Although I can't deny it can give one hell of a rough ride, Corkscrew will always have a place in my heart, being the 1st coaster with an invert I rode. I also miss Black Hole and Thunder Looper but like others I see Corkscrew somewhat iconic of Alton Towers so it will be a sad day although I fully understand why they're doing it. Would be great if they did keep a piece of track as a 'memorial'. Oh well, will be visiting the park next week, for the first time in a good few years, so I'll be sure to get a ride or two in.

First time poster (and only been lurking for a week), so hi all, great community you have here! Just wanted to say that some of these German parks look awesome, I really had no idea. I'm gonna have to get myself over to mainland Europe to check them out, with maybe a quick visit to Toverland too. Oh well, am already saving for my first TPR trip, so maybe in the next couple of years Thanks for all the updates and TR's. Some of the captions from this tour (and all the others for that matter) really make me lol