crankydadchris

Loving this report. Chris.

It's a bit bumpy all the way round unfortunately. It was like this when I rode it last year and it was only a few months old. It doesn't bode well but at the moment it's not bumpy enough to spoil the experience.

On the recent Bank Holiday Sunday and Monday, my family and I ventured to Alton Towers for a couple of days. I was expecting it to be rammed but the forecast of wet weather had clearly made an impact and we found ourselves with short queues for most of the rides The predicted weather was fairly accurate but fortunately it only seemed to rain when moving between rides and on only one occassion did it force the stop of a ride I was waiting for (and that was only for ten minutes or so.) With the short queues, we managed lots of rides and most of my favourites had hardly any queue at all. On the Monday, I managed three rides on Nemesis in ten minutes, including one of them being on the front row Here are some photos from the trip. Please forgive the quality as they were taken on my camera phone but in all fairness, it captured the action quite well. Entrance. Ice Age 4D - Very disappointing with sparse 4D effects and clips from Ice Age 3 One of the pirates from Mutiny Bay. He was clearly enjoying himself, being cheeky to the visitors! There's a great viewing area in front of Air's Lift Hill. My favourite part of Air's experience is captured here. Flipped on to your back and dropping down. Sublime. Twisty! My son,Ben, approves of the Runaway Mine Train. I haven't ridden it for a while and we enjoyed riding it again. He also liked having his picture taken with Sonic. Sealife Centres are always a great way of slowing down the pace (and getting out of the rain ) Oblivion. Not much too it compared to newer rides today but it's still a great experience. My favourite steel coaster, Nemesis. A thrilling and breath taking experience, every time you ride it. I hate paying extra but The Smiler is worth getting a Fast Track for. Despite all it's technical woes, it really is a joy to ride and it's a triumph of design and themeing. It's a fantastic, final design by John Wardley. Smiler Looping De Loop It was a great visit to Alton Towers. Mostly short queues and a great ride count. This weekend, we head off to Chessington World Of Adventures. I hope to get a report up, for that as well. Chris.

I absolutely loved this report. I have been to about three of the parks you visited and think Paulton's Park is just superb. Cobra is indeed lots of fun. Your report was insightful and a joy to read, Sir. Chris.

I absolutely loved this film. It was so different and quirky. It's intelligently written and wonderfully acted. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Ralph Fiennes losing his cool. The language he came out with had me in stitches! Chris.

That's a great selection, there! I really didn't think I would like the remake of Robocop but I thought it an excellent alternative. I completely agree that the original is best but like you, I felt the character in the remake was much more developed and I particularly liked the modern day setting. Chris.

I took my son to see The Amazing Spiderman 2, yesterday. He is only 7 (almost 8) and he really liked it. He did find a couple of moments scary, though. I thought it was excellent and a marked improvement on the previous one. As much as I love the old Raimi ones (1 and 2 especially,) I felt the latest one is a better Spiderman. I particularly enjoyed the mature approach of the movie, to the emotional struggles of Peter Parker and the action sequences were nothing short of breath taking. The visual effects also deserve a lot of praise. They are truly exceptional and there are some terrific photography sequences that really show them off. Loved it. Really looking forward to Godzilla and Xmen:DOFP next. Chris.

Yes, that's true. Maybe it didn't like the warm, dry weather?! Chris.

Thanks _Koppen! I do agree with you. Some TLC is all it needs but it never happens Chris.

Twist Of Cain - Danzig. I've played it a lot recently. Chris.

In that case, I don't know! Chris.

Colossus - Thorpe Park. Truly awful. The only other coaster that came close (for me personally) was Corkscrew at Alton Towers. Fortunately, it's gone now! Chris.

I think there's only one other multi looping Intamin, in the U.K. and that's Shockwave at Drayton Manor. I last rode it in 2009 and it was still a really fun ride. Chris.

Very pleased to say that due to getting Premium Merlin Passes this year (I'm in the U.K.) the family and I will be doing quite a bit. We have already visited Legoland, I went to Thorpe Park earlier this week and future visits will include Alton Towers, Chessington World Of Adventures, Warwick Castle, Lego Discovery Centre and Blackpool. It's all good! Chris.

I have to say that this is a truly inspiring activity. I wish one of the park's (or all of them) here, in the U.K. would take part. I'd love to do it! Well done, Team TPR! Chris.

Every year or two, I meet up with some good friends of mine at Thorpe Park. We always arrange an early season, term time date, as to ensure low queues and lots of coaster abuse. This year's meet was no exception and the most we queued was around 20-25 minutes for Swarm and Nemesis Inferno. Everything else was around 5 minutes. Saw was practically walk on! The weather was dry all day and we had lots of laughs, as we always do. The high point of the day was undoubtedly Stealth. We just love this ride and after eight years, it's condition has not altered one bit. It's still incredibly smooth and exhilarating and we rode it four times. The Swarm was another highlight of the day. I enjoyed the new keyhole addition since my last visit and I even tried the ride backwards. That however, I didn't enjoy and I felt nauseous for some time afterwards. The only low point of the day was Colossus. We suffer it every meet up, as we feel it has to be done, but after this year's visit we agreed that we could no longer ride it. It has become just unbearable and we felt very rough afterwards. It's such a shame that Thorpe has neglected this iconic ride but it's rusty condition has made it a terrible experience. Overall, we had a fantastic day out. I only took a handful of photos on my camera phone but they came out pretty well. Stealth launching. Go! Go! Go! Richard and Sarah on Stealth. Trying to catch the ickle Stealth riders. Almost! Part of The Swarm's theming. Without a doubt, it's superb. I just had to get a photo showing how Richard and I felt after riding the awful Colossus. The rusty, piece of crap offender. Thorpe need to remove it...Now! ...and finally, the Loggers Leap silly photo Thanks for reading. Chris.

Hi everyone. I'm Chris and I'm a theme park/coaster enthusiast. I live in the U.K. and my family and I regularly visit the major parks, here. I've been following the adventures of TPR on Facebook and You Tube for a long time and thought it about time that I join up and get chatting with like minded individuals. I call myself crankydadchris because of obvious reasons (i'm a dad and I get cranky a lot!) Nice to meet you all! Chris.