saiyanhajime

No, It's not normal. Especially because Thorpe have been hardcore about the t-shirt rule every time I've visited in the heat. But I guess like most parks, they change the strictness of their rules with the wind. Thorpe's guests are primarily the UK equivalent of white trash, though. So anything that classy can be expected. I like that area of the park the best too. And it's nice to see someone note that Thorpe Park is themed, considerably well in some areas. --- I've never been to a Wagamama. Now I'm intrigued. --- On the discussion of rest stops. One thing I've noticed about the US is that you don't really have rest stops... You don't need them because there's an exit every 5 inches with every food chain you could possibly want on it. UK rest stops or service stations always have the same thing and are more expensive than elsewhere by quite a lot, because you cannot just exit the motorway and stop at a random McDonalds... Because there isn't one until you get into major places, which would take an hour out of your journey just to get to and where you'd have trouble finding a place to park up anyway. You guys certainly have it better, even if our rest stops may look inviting, they are all exactly the same and if you've had them from the start you'd realise how the American way in this department is clearly superior.

huh no one was hurt in 1997 when Sicorro did just that Come on now, it's a miracle no one was hurt. Those people were holding on for their lives. Awesome photos though, thanks for the link. Actually, I experienced a bit of neck-chopping on Storm Runner. Not sure why, when I read about other people's rides on it. Same! I didn't even get the neck chopping on I305... The only Intamin where it was a problem was Rita, possibly because it's just so awful a ride in general that I couldn't ignore it. I'm assuming it's a height thing. On different people of different heights, the restraints "chop" a different area

I've heard the same thing about Vekoma's upstops not hugging the track... but I get plenty of headbanging on B&M's! It's not the same as the constant shuddering on a Vekoma and some Arrows, but I cannot stand B&M flyovers because my earss get a beating. I seem to be the only person who gets this though. Because Intamin lapbars kill people. Thats why.

I think Patriot is a really pretty coaster and you took some awesome shots of it. Nice stuff.

I don't think a coaster can do inversions other than loops with a Schwarz style lapbar. But, I am a huge fan of Flight of Fear and it's awesome lapbars. Would it work on the Arrow and Vekoma loopers? I dunno, not without an entire train redesign, which may change the rides beyond recognition - Like Vekoma's trains on the swinging Arrow, Vampire. Many Vekoma and even more Arrow loopers aren't that rough and do not require changes. Lapbars provide a freedom of movement which may not be suitable on many rides. I think changes like the new trains on Carrowind's Boomerang are awesome and lapbars are not needed... They need to design a similar train/restraint system for SLCs. Having lapbars creates safety issues. OSTRs never fail... Is there even one incident of it happening? Seatbelts on lapbar coasters are a pain and they slow down dispatching horribly. You've also got to consider what the public perception of a lapbar is. How many people won't ride a classic schwarz because of what they perceive as insufficient restraints?

Great topic, it's really nice to hear your opinions. Sea Life Centres are all pretty meh and the same. But London's wasn't a Sea Life till very recently and prior to being a Sea Life it really was really dire. Free (on the Merlin Pass) aquariums are always good though, as they have a horrible habit of being overpriced. Also nice to hear that you liked 13, because I thought it was decent too!

Terra Mitica is so weird. I've never known anyone visit and when it's been busy. I visited around Christmas time in ....2001? and it was so dead that a ride op was literally following us around the smaller attractions. The park is really nicely kept, the themeing is spot on, the dark rides are pretty good and their major rides aren't THAT bad. They certainly aren't so bad that the GP would think they were bad... So why does it fail to attract any visitors? Benidorm certainly attracts enough holiday makers from the UK and Germany that you'd think foreigners alone would make the park heaving, but no. Mystery. Nice photos!

Thanks for the info. Still not convinced that it's necessary for reasons I've already explained. When I went to KI it was miserable weather all morning and everything ran just fine, like you said. KD certainly don't close things until there's a storm present. Might be because these parks are still managed by the same people as they were when they were Paramount, I guess? Certainly a possibility.

Ah, thanks. So why have CP always been so funny about the rain then? And why isn't the one train operation policy present at all CF parks? If it was a real concern, it would be in place at all CF parks. In fact, if it was a real concern, it would be national if not international law. Still makes no sense to close rides when there is nothing but a grey sky.

I'm pretty sure there was lightning in the area, though. 15 miles is pretty big and I saw no rain or lightning, heard no thunder, but they shut the park down for like 30 minutes. I may be wrong though, what are the new weather policies? Whilst there may well have been lightning in the area, I sure didn't see any. Or hear thunder. For the entire 2 days I was there. But that isn't relevant. The coasters aren't closing due to storms in the area. How do I know? Because firstly, their S&S towers were running. If you're concerned about lightning striking your rides, or causing power surges, then you close everything, especially tall rides. The second reason I know they weren't closed because of local storms is that many coasters operate in "rain" with one train operation. But obviously they can't really take all the trains bar one off Maverick, so that just closes down full stop. The reason for it is post Magnum's accident on Maverick's opening day, I've since learnt. It rained all day and Mav operated fine, but when Magnum had the accident they've since enforced these new ridiculous rules. I bet Magnum's accident had nothing to do with the wet weather, since Big One had nearly the exact same accident (only worse, and they don't enforce this stupid policy at Blackpool) one should assume it's down to ride type. What's mind boggling is that if Cedar Fair were really concerned about crashes like Mgnum's being down to rain, or lightning hitting their rides, or rain causing other problemsthatdon'texist, they'd enforce this rule at all their parks. They don't. I understand that parks out here in the US do need to be wary of storms that the UK doesn't get, but rain alone is no reason to shut a ride. Especially when there is no rain.

It's no where near as good as Beast, of course, but it's good at night for the same reasons Beast is good at night. Grizzly ain't a bad woodie. I like the tunnel. As for Volcano's reliability - not had any issues with wanting to ride it and it being broken down in the 8 weeks I've been here... It's queue is a bit nightmarish, though, and a B&M's throughput would be nice. But still... Every large park has a B&M invert and I think one of KDs best features is that they don't!

I went before schools broke up on a Monday/Tuesday and it was what I'd call busy (for an American Park not in Orlando, anyway. TBF it was like any major British park gets.) I asked several staff why it was so busy and they were like "lol this isn't busy". So I conclude that CP, like Orlando, is just permanently busy. It's also crap. EDIT: When they bother to open their rides, the queues move steadily because the one thing they rock at is throughput... But the queue will still be long. Even longer if it's raining anywhere closer than Australia, because there will only be one train, if it's open at all. The place is a joke. I queued well over an hour for Maverick when it wasn't suffering intermittent closures due to magical invisible rain... We only really rode everything once over 2 days because the rides are too poor to want to queue more than 40 mins for, which is what you have to queue for, at least, for anything "major".

Tbf, Blackpool doesn't ever add anything new. I don't think IOA not adding things is an issue. Universal Studios is insanely outdated and people still flock there.

Personally, I think Knoebels is quite overrated. Phoenix is very, very good... But I'd rather ride Storm Runner personally and Hershey also has other great coasters, Knoebels does not. It's carousel and other unusual charms are nice, it's quiet and carefree. Both parks are unusual and unique spaces and deserve a visit. Personally, I think you could do them both in the same day. Everyone seems to leave Hershey early and the park becomes dead. It would just be quite an expensive day. It's worth mentioning that Knoebels will charge you depending on how long you stay at the park. There is a price for until 4,6 or 9. I stayed till 6 and it was $20, so it must be even less to stay only until 4. There MAY have been an until 2 option, actually, but I can't remember.

I collect theme park ephemera too, but I'm more concerned with maps, leaflets and brochures. I have a few postcards. Great collection here. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for that! Makes sense, just a bummer we hit the park when they'd closed Raven. Though why it was so unplanned they couldn't put it on the site the night before is beyond me. Oh well. EDIT: Or maybe it doesn't make sense, since Voyage had two trains when I went, I'm sure? So why was Raven still down? When did putting the train on voyage happen?

The Disney way? I thought that was just the standard American Pretending They Care way? I dunno If I like it, either. It's false and cheesey and I don't like strangers talking to me simply because it's polite. But I guess that's just The British Way? I think a minority of people go to Orlando and not Disney due to the extortionate cost of the Disney Parks, but you're right that few go for any reason other than Disney. I don't think it has anything to do with charm, though. It's predominantly to do with reputation and brand. Disney is a brand in itself. Universal not so much. I suspect that most people can identify Disney movies, but fewer can identify what's made by Universal and fewer still for other companies (who's parks do worse on the scale still). So you go to a Disney park with no knowledge of their rides, but an expectance that it's going to be about Micky and Cinderella... even if when you get there, it's actually far more varied. Islands of Adventure? It just sounds like the theme for most theme parks, doesn't it?

I like so many of them! Mummy, Kingda Ka, Top Thrill Dragster, Storm Runner, Furious Baco... (Yes, I like Baco. Rare breed I know.) I'm going to give Flight of Fear (KD version) a mention because this thing is so underrated. The launch is forceful and it's followed by a fantastic layout. I bet it was death before it had lapbars, though. I wish they had built more of these style rides, in various layouts.

Well, there were no giant umbreallas, water jugs, shelves to put bags or sprinklers when I went in June... so maybe they jumped right on the ball with that one? Good job. I actually sent them a message about Raven, they told me it wasn't a planned closure... But I heard some enthusiasts the day I was there who seemed to be saying something about them using it's trains for Voyage? Also heard some GP saying what sounded like it had stalled. But yeah, they are ace at replying on FB. Their customer service is ace for a non-Disney American park. Seems impossible to get ANYTHING out of CF or SF. It's a quality little park and it seems a shame we had a... kinda bad experience there. It was also the last park of 10 days of parks, it was so blisteringly hot and an 11 hour drive home after, so maybe that didn't help... Free soda rocks. As do violent woodies.

I don't understand why people seem to hate this park. It's kinda been my homepark for the last 8 weeks as I've spent a rather long holiday here. Intimidator is pretty rubbish, but Volcano and Flight of Fear are really awesome. Grizzly at night is like a mini Beast. I like Anaconda too. I think it's a decent park with a good and varied lineup. Too many parks have the same things.... B&M inverts are everywhere, and there's people in here wishing Volcano was removed for one? Seriously? I like having the tower to go up and catch a breeze in this heat, they really add a lot to KD and KI. It's also nice that KD couldn't be more different from BGE if it tried. I think those living in VA are lucky to have two very different, but very good in their own ways, parks locally. But, yeah, Intimidator isn't very good. The whole blacking out thing is a nuisance and the drop is possibly the worst drop on any coaster I've been on. Of course, I never rode it before the trims were added. The turns towards the end of the ride are the highlight and the new restraints enhance this.

When I go to a park with some friends, I kinda wanna enjoy the rides with them too. Besides, Wildebeest is an awkward ride to single ride on... I don't wanna have my legs spread for some randomer to lay between. Still, there's no excuse for that queue line being right in the sun with no where to put bags. No excuse what so ever.

Hm, that's interesting. I got wafts of it over by Wildebeest too... Kinda made the park look bad. I had assumed there were stables somewhere nearby. Speaking of Wildebeest, it was awesome, but it's queue needs to die. Why is only a small section of the queue covered? Parks make a big deal out of H&S on their rides but couldn't care less about people standing in the blistering heat whilst waiting for them. Doesn't help that you can't really have a bag in that queue as there's no where to leave them, so you can't have water with you.

The fact that most people think the Harry Potter area is a separate theme park is a bit of an eye-opener into the public perception of IOA. Why people visit what attraction fascinates me. I can never work out why families who clearly couldn't care less about fish, for example, visit aquariums with children so tiny they barely can say more than DORY. I've been to Georgia and Baltimore aquariums recently, and I feel like the only person who came to see the fish... Theme parks, along with zoos, museums and other various attractions, are one of those places that people go for an easy answer for something to do. And they go with the expectance that it's going to be amazing and they won't have to do anything other than be there to have a great time. The fact that these places get busy, are exhausting, that your enjoyment is often dependent on weather conditions and require you to engage with your surroundings to have a good time is beyond the average visitor. Islands of Adventure is an amazing park with some fantastic rides. I enjoyed SeaWorld more, personally, but that's because I really like aquariums too... lol. If I was going to recommend one park in the world that everyone should visit, it would be IOA. Perhaps it is perceived that IOA is aimed at young adults (which I guess it primarily is) and few families, who are most of the holiday makers to Orlando, have young adults going on holiday with them. I mean, I certainly stopped holidaying with my family like 5 years ago.

Voyage is awesome. It goes on, and on, and on, and on and gives you no time to breath. Fantastic ride. As for it being un-reridable, out of the 3 of us who went I think the other two seemed to find it a bid too aggressive and uncomfortable and one of us was somewhat unimpressed by it. It's just one of those love or hate rides, I guess. I'm glad we went out of the way to get to Holiday World, but I was pretty angry that Raven was down. Still don't know why it was down? This was early-mid June. I can't see me going back any time in the vaguely near future. Had it said on their website that Raven was down I'd have probably waited till another trip as we had to drive back to Virginia that night. Also, why does the park smell like shit in certain places? Especially the tunnels on Voyage?