Henry M

I reckon the limitations of Thorpe Parks new coaster is land rather than height. Think DBGT. They cannot keep creating new land onto the lake, as when they do, they have to remove land from another part of the lake to keep the water table the same. This is both costly and is hard to find where to take the lad from. You may look at Google maps and see that the former location of Thorpe farm has now gone. That was the lifeline for the Swarm island, and I expect if TP still owns some land that has not been removed, it will do for the next coaster. However, I am not sure there is enough, so the next investment will either be on the plot of an existing ride or rides (I am cautious of Colossus and Slammers life, as well as Loggers Leap) or be very small in footprint. A polar coaster is not actually a bad shout, and if the park wanted a unique ride which they could market the hell out of, it would be one of those. Alternatively, a whole regeneration of the area around Loggers leap, Slammer and Colossus could happen, in which case a new family ride might be added and a large coaster where dreams of launched flyers and RMC masterpieces could come true. But this is merlin, most likely their next ride will be an OK wooden family coaster if SW8 goes well or an OK B and M.

Glad you got such a good laugh out of it. I guess you are right, my life is sort of a joke (dying inside)

Coaster enthusiasts? Nah I kinda, not really, hate to bring this back up but why is this the case with a lot of us? I know at least 70% of enthusiasts I have encountered have been kinda "different" in the way that when it comes to things other than coasters they kinda don't know how to blend in. I have met some cool coaster folks who actually do things other than coasters but they are rare. It is hard to blend in, especially when you see people who can rave about football and video games with their friends and yourself being the only person you can talk to about rollercoasters. When you try to get your mum and sister into rollercoasters and they get so bored they eventually start being sarcastic and yell at you. It especially all comes out when they have drunk a bit. Then other people around you call you sad for knowing lodes of rollercoasters. Then you become totally isolated . This is why you then get socially awkward as that is what happens when you have nobody to talk to about the one thing you can confidently talk about. Which could explain your statistic of 70% of coaster enthusiasts being "different" when they talk. Confidence is further lost in one's self when they notice in themselves how badly integrated into 'normal' society they have become, leading them, and who they are, to be backed up into a metaphorical and mental corner of their mind. A dark place. This is why being banned for a month totally sucked.

^ He/she sent me a lovely e-mail as well.

No i did not pervert, i drew the layout. Stop being so dirt minded and get a little innocence. Hi, I am not a pervert, and it was a joke . I meant it to be taken light heatedly but I understand it could offend you. I did say after that it would be really cool if a dynamic coaster like this was made and agreed with your design. What would be good to see is it being low terrain through the woods, straight after the big drop.

I have booked it during the week so is should be better than the weekend. I was going to go the week before people break up, but Holiday Park is not open then and I really like the look of Sky scream and of course Ex-G.

^^^ Agreed, this world needs more 300+ feet coasters and KI could deliver, it is good that B and M's are now getting a more diverse layout.

Never liked the name, the Smiler. I also don't really get the name for Stealth. I would have preferred they stuck with the original name of EDGE. Now if you think I am already BSing you after one day back, look at the image below. Look! Even Stealth himself is trying to call himself EDGE, but Merlin insist of painting over it.

Wow! I always love seeing your photos of Klugheim, so stunning. You are the reason basically that I want to go to this park so much. So I am! How busy is the park at Easter time?

A really bad one. It would have taken about two hours to edit the supports and make the track straight. NL2 is not complex, and by the looks of things someone bothered to put more time into background custom scenery.

Here is a video of one of the rides, XXL:

I might get some hate for this, but that is the worst NL2 recreation of a ride I have ever seen a park OFFICIALLY churn out to show case their coaster. A frankly f**ked up lift hill and a curvy break run and station. Also talk about head choppers...

Hangover drop tower is scary. The free restrains along with about two minutes at the top of a 85m tower makes it an excellent ride which still gets me.

By the way, how big do queues generally get during peak times at this park?

This is the most disturbing thread. Ever.

Wow, Stormrunners elements are taller than I thought. Thanks for sharing, it really brings out the height.

Yeah, I quickly put away the camera though as I looked a little creepy as well to be fair! Thanks for the feed back.

^ yah! I know now.

I saw pictures of six on Saturday? So I don't know really anymore

^ they did not run 7 on Friday, as on Saturday they were only running 6 cars. It was on the Sunday it first ran the 7. Here is my TR: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=72710

This Sunday, I ventured out into London to ride Olympia Looping ... Wait ... I just said that. It still does not feel real that this epic legend had made its way onto the petty little island of England. Firstly though, let me speak about the event, it first came about in 2006 and had a few rides and a big wheel. Over the years, the event had evolved from small, overcrowded muddy paths and animal rights infringements, to a festive, family friendly, fabulous and flipping amazing event, which even though it barely lasts a few months, it feels more permanent that some parks I have been to. Winter Wonderland this year is massive. It is about the size of Thorpe Park, and is mostly made up of log cabins selling food and clothing at an admittedly appalling price however the charm makes handing over £2.50 for a 250ml bottle of water a scratch which can be buffed over with a ride on any of the high quality attractions. I did my best to capture the atmosphere of the place with the pictures, but lets put it this way; I am not festive, especially not at the very start of December, but the whole place made me feel so happy. By the looks on other people's faces, I was not alone. I did go for the rides, and for that reason, I will now commence my in depth reviews about the main attractions: Olympia Looping: Amazing. Some of you may have read my rave reviews about Nemesis, however after my first ride at the front on Olympia Looping, I was seriously considering if it was better, and thus going in as my second best coaster. After my second ride on the back row this time, I concluded it was just about better. I went again on the front, and have to say, it was way better than Nemesis, but not quite Helix. Also, for the first time in the UK, it was running 7 carriages when I went. Woohoo! More intense. I walked up for my first ride and forced my skeptic companion on the front row with me, which was walk on and got in the surprisingly comfortable seat and pulled down the two part harness (which for me did not push down during the ride). A horn, then before I knew it, I was being lifted up into the air, on my first ever Schwarzkopf looping coaster. While I climbed the curved lift hill, to my left I saw the beautiful red track swirling beneath me like a churning ocean. Now onto the proper ride. At the top of the surprisingly tall ride, all you can see is the track disappearing beneath you. The first drop is great and gets the ride going fast. It is a near vertical dive down into smooth swoop onto the black track. Black tack means a loop. It is hard to describe the sensation of a Schwarzkopf loop. The first one is different to the rest and it is essentially a sensation of sticking to the seat the whole way around, while having a range of g-forces acting upon your body. You never seem to loose speed the whole way around, and is more intense than a B&M Invert loop like Nemesis. On the way down there is a funky curve which gives some disorientating lateral G-forces. After that, you hit red again, and blast around a 180 degree helix-ish turn, picking up more speed to hit the second and third loop in quick succession. The forces never let up and the two perfect loops merge together to form a heavenly combo. For anyone yet to experience a proper Schwarzkopf loop, it feels like a defiance of gravity with forces like what are experienced on an aerobatic plane, which for anyone who had not done that, are high. The only difference between the front and back, is that at the front, when you enter the loop, the forces are large, but when you exit, they are big, but on the back, you enter with big forces, get dragged over the top, with ever increasing force to the point where you think it cannot go any further, until you swiftly exit out. I prefer the front as you get the wind in your face and the views, but the back is slightly more intense, but not much more than the front. After those two perfectly shaped loops, you climb back up and get a little boost from some wheels, before a fun and again, forceful swoop down, like the first drop, but you do not enter a loop. It teases you before thundering down another 180 curved drop into the tightest and final two loops, which are probably the most intense of the lot. They are smaller, but taken at speed. The green loop is the most forceful, so much so that you barely recognize the final yellow loop. The only thin that tells you that you have hit another loop is the track colour. After that, there are no more loops, but it is still fun. With tears or joy running down your face, there is a helix, a lateral airtime hill, another beautiful corner, a small airtime hill, and into the breaks. Some coasters are so near perfect. This is one. The lack of theming and the fact it is not on a hill side or anything like that does mean is cannot be the worlds best coaster. However, factor in its age (28!) and the fact it travels, how smooth it is and how compact, it is up there with the best, that even theme parks cannot beat. It may not be the best - how can it be? - but it is the most legendary. It is genuinely sad how nothing like this will ever be made again, and that this ride may soon make its way to the scrap yard. I beg a park like Thorpe Park to add this ride to their line up if it comes to sale. It's throughput could fit any major park, and it is better than DBGT by a long way! I will explain the other rides more briefly as the pictures go by, but this ride is worthy of a full review, and I hope I have allowed those who cannot ride it the power to imagine it. Imagine your favorite loop, then repeat it five times, add some more awesome, and you basically have this travelling ride in your head. Pictures! The entrance There were lodes of these fun shops and stalls around. The wheel and star flyer were placed to make the number 10 to celebrate the events 10th bithday. The Bavarian village was nice and looked really permanent. Pretty This was a large pub type thing which was massive. This guy has to be here. It would not be Winter Wonderland if he was not. I have been on it last year and it was great. If you have never done a ride like this it is worth a try. Obviously this picture was taken to show case the parks massive flat ride selection. Here it is. A recycled entrance from power tower 2. It looked nice but there were the normal ticket booths open right next to it. Going up. First ride in the front. Wilde Mouse XXL is a standard mouse ride with two large drops on either side, and no trim breaks. Really fun. LOOPS!!! Blue Me next to the beast. Classic. A nice sculpture gets you back into the festive mood. This was a standard spinning mouse, but felt completely different. Next up, is Euro Coaster, which was bad. Not painful, just uncomfortable, badly made and strange but not in a good way. I was not amused. mostly it was indoor and had lodes of lighting, laser and music effects, as well as some theming. It worked really well and I even forgot where in the ride I was. Not thrilling, but worth a go. This is a quality ghost train. Last year I went on the massive one, but it was actually quite bad, however this was really good. There were good sets, and the fact your legs hung free meant there were great opportunities for some unique scares. Also there were three live actors. New signs on this ride. Every bulb worked, like on every other ride. No. Just no. Painful and awful. Not worth £7 even to get the cred. Another flat ride. Sorry for the sideways picture, but this was extremely high, and fast. Although it did not swing, it went more in a looping fashion, only unlocking at the very end, but it did mean that I ended up 80m in the air, weightless, really fast and getting some great upside down views of London. If you like fast rides, this is for you! I have not been on a normal booster, but I imagine it would be similar, just a bigger version. At the start though, the seats rotated. Back for more. This is the best travelling ghost train I have been on. It is a suspended ride, which allowed for some cool unique scares and had three live actors inside. It was so well themed, it could fit into a normal park! Munchen looping Do I need captions for these? I will just say loopy from now on, as you must have read the veview and there is not much more to say really. Loopy Loopy! Hangover! This is the best non-stand-up drop tower I have ever been on. It is really fast, long and gives sustained ejector air time. The modified Gerstaluer seats also have a really free and nonrestrictive harness, with only a small bit holding you in. It means you fly our of your seat for the full 4 second free fall. It is like a detonator style feeling, just longer and with better harnesses. Also, another reason to ride is for the views. WOW!! They were incredible. As the gondola rotates as well, you get full panoramic views of Hyde park, London even over to Wembley! XXL is a massive KMG swinging ride. Forceful and spun a lot. Also really fast and gave epic air time. It does not look tall, but it sure does feel it and it goes to a steep angle as well. Not for the weak stomach as it also has a long ride time. I got a hang over! Whooaahh! That song plays when you drop. More German villages. Wait, this is only here for less than two months??? This is theme park style theming. Dodgems. Now, this was a sight to see! How to turn a basic kiddy ride into a massive party with snow, fog and lighting. If you are on drugs, I would recommend a ride on this. There were these large fun houses. Sadly I did not have time to go on one, but there is next year. This. I like this picture OOPS! Forgot to say LOOPY!!! Loopy! The station did seem old, and it was a shame there was zero effort for something Christmassy. Blocked off Olympic rings. Obviously this ride has nothing do do with the olympics... This corner is great, leading up to two loops. Many station attendants. The curved lift has a really clever mechanism. A chain would not work, so they have to use wheels, however if all the wheels worked on a motor each, then if one motor breaks, it would be harder to fix, or if one motor was faster or slower than the rest, it would jolt, making the smooth lift hill rough. All the wheels are powered by one motor at the start, which turns a clever system which moves all the wheels in sync. If you go look at it. It is actually harder to get a station shot of this ride than an action one. That shows how good their system is. Sausage. Getting dark, so the lights showed up well. Night photography. Looks nice. The carousel bar was a bar ... on a carousel. Arches of colour Speed and lights Night photography only really works on fair rides Many rides in motion. For all those who think the Tube is nice, it is not. Lovely Healthy mist of germs form multiple people sneezing on your back. On that note... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! See you again once the off season has gone by.

^ It is a beast. I don't doubt how it is longer than Colossus. It is just so compact!

Olympia Looping is running 7 carriages now at Winter Wonderland. Wow. It is damn intense. Proof. Count them.

^ That link is not found.

Just a question to ride op's of B and M invert coasters, do you know is it normal to pull down on the mechanism ubove the train to release the harness, which is usually hydraulic? I have herd it happening on Batman coasters and saw it for myself recently as well. It just looks sort of dangerous if the ride operator gets his or her hand trapped.