Koolkid

^^^ ... So now when people state an opinion you personally don't understand you laugh at them? Unbelieveable. People aren't always going to have the same opinion as you, and just because they don't doesn't mean they should be singled out for it. I personally love Intamin and there my favourite manufacturer BUT they have made some pretty poor mistakes. Just look at Thirteen's 20 second coaster section to see what a mess that is. An extremely short, runaway train like section, and it's had to have trims added. Not even 100ft+ in height or 50mph+ in speed and a manufacturer like Intamin has got it so horribly wrong. Honestly can't believe the ambassador for this site and someone who a lot of the parks themselves respect, has just taken the p*** out of someone because they didn't agree with there opinion. Sometimes it is hard to get things to come across as you mean them when on forums such as this. Typing is different to talking.

^^ Indeed and that is why Chessington and Alton are getting so many visits from me

^^ Ha yes, I also remember that, during construction I remember an interview with one of the project managers and hearing "We will have 3 trains for Stealth so that it will always be able to run at full capacity" But yes, like you say, it is often on just 1. Quite funny really, whilst also being frustrating.

I tell you, one train operations are one of the most annoying things, if there's a queue the ride "should" be running at a decent enough capacity to cope with it. Thorpe Park occasionally likes to do this and it's just bizarre really e.g. Colossus had a 45 minute queue on 1 train and the reply when I asked a host why only 1 train was working was... "Because we don't need to run the other one" now in my opinion, if there is a queue, all that can possibly done to make this as short as possible should be done. It does annoy me when your waiting and that wait could very easily be shorter.

^ If it really was just one ride then I think they would, but the area and detail is absolutely huge, incredible, unbelievable etc etc I don't see how anyone could be dissappointed, even if you are imagining a new park.

www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=389445878914&ref=mf Video also now released, looks better and better , with OTSR doesn't look like this is going to be a tame ride

^ See, I find that a really annoying comment, people aren't now saying the ride sucks and they would rather not have it, they're saying that the ride is not as good as it was/could be, that is what is annoying people. Guh...

From what I hear the trims are similar to Thirteen's just on a bigger scale and I tell you, 13's first drop seriously sucks purely because of those trims At least some of you guys got to ride it without the trims! And so that now makes 2 rides from Intamin this year which are/is running a heck of a lot faster than expected or designed...

Pfft 45 seconds, they have it easy If Vampire at Chessington is on 3 trains, they have 20-25 seconds to get everyone off, open airgates, load, check, and then dispatch and to be fair to them, they regularly do it

To be honest, in the UK very few rides have trims, probably down to our lack of hypers/airtime rides. The first major one is Thirteen and I tell you, as much as I love Thirteen it hurts me inside every time you do the outside section. You would get such fantastic airtime over those hills and it would bring the coaster section up to the standard of the rest of the ride. And to be honest in this case, it was, without doubt bad design. ^ That's also a good point about trims and their positioning, Thirteen's main trim is pretty much the whole way down the first drop and really does "hold" it back and noticeably too, there are then 2 less noticeable ones over the 2 following hills. So yeah, I'm definitely not a fan and surely there must be other ways to ensure the rides run as they can whilst still being safe/cost effective.

See I'm going to be one of those that goes against the trend here, and not have an opinion about something purely because Mr Robb Alvey has that opinion. If anything, being a big corporate business such as Cedar Fair there should be more responsibility for getting a ride open on time. I hate how at parks a ride not opening on it's opening date is becoming the norm rather than the exception. That is why I praise Alton so much for this years opening, even 2/3 days before opening Thirteen's area and the ride itself was an absolute tip and yet they managed to get it open on time. I know there's nothing "mechanical" that slowed up proceedings in that case like there seems to be with STR but surely these things should be accounted for. (I still don't understand how such an amazing manufacturer like Intamin can make a mistake like the ones that have been reported, but that's another story.) I think someone mentioned how it doesn't affect the ride/ridership years after opening, and yeah while that's true, it does tarnish the whole opening ceremony of the ride and it's first year in terms of appeal and park/ride reputation This is just an opinion from someone who has knowledge of but not a particular opinion about parks/companies in the states due to not visiting them etc. This therefore means I can't be accused of the whole "jumping on CP's back." I also think the reason why people are being less irritated by the whole Holiday World hold up is how the ride is still open, there is the alternative of riding the ride as it has been for years and managed to be the Worlds Number 1 woodie. Just wanted to add my opinion.

And who says that animal/conservation parks/zoo are always a bad thing... Guh Looks like a great success for the park being able to breed such a rare species. Also can't wait to see how this new coaster turns out, should be nice and ready for next years Florida trip, well at least I hope it's ready

Awesome pictures, thank you very much Dollywood is one of my must visit parks Thanks again.

^ I am one of those people that would also disagree

Magnetic ones will have the same affect whatever. Mechanical ones are adjustable depending on speed or weight of the train and it's possible that they are less strong in there trimming, one would hope You are right however that magnetic ones have less wear and tear.

About the capacity, you must be joking! The ride has been having a few issues but is regularly getting 1200-1400 and when it's all running well, expected to top even that. Capacity is definitely not an issue, reliability at the moment yes, but not capacity. I do agree a little about the family friendly nature of the ride, but even with this thrill seekers are still amazed by the drop and then final section. The reason for the back car being left empty is simply that there is currently a weight issue. Considering how badly the ride was running for a while, by leaving a car empty, this seems to have been sorted, temporarily at least. There isn't really a story attached to the ride as explained by one of its designers John Wardley in a podcast. It's basically just the forest taking over the area and the ride and that things are not right, hence the Thirteen name and whole bad luck concept. To be honest I think this closed season the ride will improve, reduce the trims so more airtime, that will improve the ride. In fact it's reported that at the moment when the park is closed their replacing the magnetic trims with mechanical ones. I honestly love the ride but agree that at the moment the outdoor section is a little tame. Like I say, hopefully when the ride's issues are fixed, this can be addressed.

Maybe you guys will be getting the first Vekoma Kneeling Coaster

Agreed, but to be honest you wouldn't see a lot anyway. It's not my POV by the way, thought I'd make that clear. It's a fantastic ride, but it's unbelievable how much better it'd be without those trims, or even if they weren't so powerful. Would mean that it's not only the back car that gets airtime.

Exactly, a little variety is always good, and they do both cover different areas of coasters. From what I've seen of Cedar Point it looks like that is a fair similarity to make, very concrete-y with good rides but poor atmosphere, poor theming and always huge queue's. Although a difference is that Thorpe doesn't have the space and therefore the rides are literally crammed in wherever possible.

Awesome POV of Thirteen, really does make the coaster section look seriously slow though. Stupid trims ADMIN EDIT: I went ahead and embedded the video so others could view it from the thread.

Nemesis' queue is my favourite, you wrap around the ride and under and over and through the pit that the ride is in. Plus there's the blood waterfalls to You can just about make out some of the queue in this picture.

I agree, everything is so crammed in, which seems to amplify the uncomfortable atmosphere the park has at the moment, which is a shame as a lot of the rides are very good. Also with Thorpe, it can be a not very busy day, but the queue's will still all be huge, and if it is busy then there is absolutely nothing else to do, you either prepare for 2 hour long queue's or do nothing, and that is another reason why I struggle to enjoy Thorpe. Whereas for example at Chessington, there's the zoo, the shows, the general park atmosphere and there's always something to do or rides that don't get huge queue's. And about Intamin Vs B&M, I am undecided and just enjoy both manufacturer's pretty equally. Intamin hasn't done any particular masterpieces over here though such as Nemesis, and I do find it disappointing how there most recent coasters don't have the same feel to them.

^ Really? I would say Colossus is, by far actually. I find Nemesis Inferno a good ride, it just doesn't really seem to "do" anything, I find it hard to explain why it feels so average. Would give it a 7/10 if I was rating it. But yes Chessington is definitely much better themed and overall, if you want a better day out, the better park by far At least in my opinion.

You seem to get more "swing" nearer to the front, I've only ever tried the back a couple of times as it is almost always used for those that are disabled and Exit Passes. I did enjoy the back and it is strange how much of a difference there is from it and the front but I do definitely prefer the front Rattlesnake and Dragon's Fury are both better though, only a little ^ And yes Just stumbled across this picture of Vampire, one of my favourite's from Halloween Hocus Pocus

Ah right, (for those who haven't ridden) the ride seems to have a strange kind of roughness, not where you bash your head on the restraint, more where the train seems to shuffle a bit and your body is moved within the seat, it does seem to be only in a few spots throughout the ride. I never had a ride where it's been so rough I couldn't ride again. I think I read somewhere that the correct term for it is "Shunting."