TPDave

Since starting to do TPR trips my tolerance for queueing has gone right down. Partly because after going to so many parks you don't tend to be "desperate" to ride something and partly because of the ERT and fastpass options that you get I just can't justify waiting a huge amount of time for a ride! Fast moving queues help though. Disney parks are the only places that I can vaguely tolerate waiting longer and it's mainly because the line is always moving. I don't mind waiting so much if I'm convinced that the staff are doing their absolute best to get me on the ride.

I recently had to bake some cakes for a "red" themed event at work and decided that it was time to marry two of my favourite things - bacon and chocolate!! I found the recipe online (I can post the link if anyone is interested) so I claim no creative credit here. As a long time lover of Brandy's food thread I thought I would do my own unique version, will there be fire? Will I leave the kitchen with all my fingers? Can I use a camera and cook at the same time (I'll give you a heads up, it's a no). And while we're at it do bacon cupcakes even taste nice? All of that and more to follow... The key ingredient in any Bacon dish... Fry it up nice and good. The crispier the better!! The second of the major flavours that will evolve in this dish. It helps if your chocolate is slightly out of focus like mine. Remember to remove the chocolate from the packaging before melting (that was a messy error) CHOCOLATE BACON ACTION DRIZZLE!!!! Todays mystery ingredient is coffee. I couldn't taste it in the final cake. I'm pretty sure they just put it in the recipe to see if stupid people would actually make a cup of coffee while baking. Now for the batter. Again the flour is better if it's out of focus - it helps to blend the ingredients. I don't have any scales so 50g of cocoa powder is handily measured as two shot glasses kinda full. This is the magic stuff that separates cakes from congealed pans of goo. MIX MIX MIX! This was when I discovered that when the recipe says "sift the flower into the bowl" the correct reply is not "f*ck that, pass me another beer" Onto another bowl for the liquidy stuff. I'd like to say I can crack an egg with one hand while taking a photo with the other but if you look closely you can see I'm basically crushing it while hoping I finally found the focus button. I didn't. This was apparently supposed to be a picture of a plastic bag but a blurry tub of soured cream got in the way. I like to think the reason that nothing in focus is because I was moving at 1,000mph but it took me 2 hours to make these. Anyway this is oil, I think. A couple of shots of coffee. I probably should have cleaned the shot glass out after the cocoa... This is by far the coolest whisk I have ever seen. My camera liked it so much it got a non blurry picture of it. MIX MIX MIX!! Perfectly captured action shot there. I might have had help to take this one. Mix and add the bacon bits that we made about 5 hours ago. This was the moment I discovered that cupcake batter smells terrible. OCD case filling almost went OK. Eventually I will defeat side drippings!! They look less terrible than I thought they would. That's a good thing right?!? butter and sugar for the stuff on the top. I'm sure there's a name for it. BRANDY?? Help me out here!! Mix it together and add melted chocolate. Mmmmmm Decorative topping bacon frying up! After spending 15 minutes trying to stop the frosting (that's it!! Brandy - false alarm) looking like poop I kind of embraced it and made each one a steaming pile of joy. The finished product!! So - how did they taste? Well I made two batches and the first was actually pretty good but when it came to the second I decided they needed more bacon. The didn't. It was terrible. Here's a lesson kids - unless you know what you're doing follow the damn recipe to a tee!! Thanks for reading!! Let me know below if you've ever cooked up some crazy stuff!

I've got a soft spot for Space Mountain (Not Paris though!!)

^^^ I think we can give them three days off! Looking good - this is probably my most anticipated UK coaster since Stealth.

Didn't this place close? I remember we weren't there for long but it certainly wasn't the worst boomerang I've been on!

Is the old "magic kingdom is one level up" too obvious. Something about launch coaster rollbacks could be quite cool. Along the lines of "if the ride doesn't launch fast enough it can roll back or get stuck at the top". Obvious to us but could be fun to test! I remember when Thorpe opened Stealth there was talk that they weighed the trains and factored for wind speed/direction before each launch to get the right speed and the first five launches every day were made even faster to compensate for cold track. I *think* I had a chat with one of the SFGAdv engineers on a who told me there was some truth in this.

1. Maverick 2. Raptor Everything else

Hmm - make them remove the ride at a park that generates a lot of cash for the local economy? Yeah I don't think so. Might hold it up by a few weeks but it sounds a bit sensationalist right now.

I'd probably say something like Jack Rabbit at Kennywood, but then I'm odd like that...

Is there enough clearance for that? I haven't had a detailed look at the pictures but I wouldn't have though you'd be able to fit an arm inside the envelope.

I think it must have Been Nemesis Inferno. Shame!

Bear in mind in high season you might find it a challenge getting one on the day!

I have a feeling it's a very painful one!

^ I'm not sure you can compare the parks as they offer such different experiences. Yes the soda is free at holiday world but you pay $45 to get into a smaller park - you'll pay the same money over the course of the day as if you went to a similar park but they just take more of your money at the door and then give you stuff for free once inside...

^^ That's odd but I always considered the single rider line a privilege rather than a right so I don't get pissed off if it doesn't work out. Bizarre though, I've never been turned away from one.

^ I think that's true for some guests - but some people (no names!!) seem to get terrified by the concept of the ride even if they might be OK riding a drop tower. Confusing.

Wow, this looks like a genuinely good effort by Alton Towers to do something viral. I haven't seen anything on TV though - I assume they're saving that for the very end (and the money for a week of TV ads probably paid for all the stuff above!)

The front of it has more than a little in common with the 458!

This is what I take issue with. Yes I like coasters, but I'm much more of a "Theme park fan" than a "roller coaster fan" and Six Flags on the whole has sum-standard theme parks. I could write a huge essay about what they're doing well and not so well but I'm sure they're aware or their shortcomings. Let just put it this way - I'd rather spend a day at the MAgic Kingdom than 70% of SF parks.

Wow, you can't fix crazy!!

Finally, common sense wins something!! I'm a big advocate of personal responsibility - It's nice to see that some judges agree

^ I don't think distance would be an issue - the whole point of the park is to have different lands that your transition through. Maybe I'm reading you wrong. I'm not really a fan of the franchise (I've seen the films but couldn't tell you too much about them!) but I think this could be a good move for the park. It won't be as big as potter but if it's even half as successful they'll be onto a winner. There's also potential new life to breathe into the franchise in the future unlike Potter which can only date from this point onwards.

Sushi Erasers?!? WTF? Sounds Awesome!

Each run actually counts as a different credit as the sled carves a slightly different path each time.

I guess Disney were on to something with that type of waterslide then! I wonder if this will become a consistent feature of new/upgraded ships in the future