TPDave

That night was amazing!! I hope all the locals had as much fun as everyone on the tour, this should be an epic update!! Dave

Don't know how I ended up in the bus that evening. And pee-stop? What pee-stop they never woke me up! Ohh man I was K.O. after all that german beer! Ladies and gentlemen, I present Erik's evening: 1 litre of beer... 2 litres of beer... I've lost count!!

Awesome TR Eric!! Great pictures of a great park! Dave

^ Oblivions train design is very different though. Basically, the stiffness of the train is far greater on dive machines (and I believe the trains are heavier as a result). Dive machines also transition a lot slower and they use a much wider gauge track. The wing walker trains from Intamin can negotiate tighter curves at the cost of being more flexible (hence the outer seats vibrating more). I'm very interested to see how this pans out Dave

ARE YOU AMERICAN?!?!?!

^ Thorpe clientele are classy like that. I'm still loving this thread Elissa, thanks for doing it Dave

Ha! Ring racer definitely has more fundamental flaws, but Kingda Ka hasn't been completely untainted...

Yeah, I doubt that...

I don't think you can compare the smoothness of riding outside seats on a dive machine to what this will feel like because the DM train will be a hell of a lot stiffer than these ones. You'll probably feel vibrations a lot more but being a B&M it should be smoother than the S&S attempts (and hopefully smoother than the wing walker trains too!) Dave

Why would they change the current restraints? It's entirely possible they will have some kind of Manta style water feature, but given the train type I would have thought it would be very difficult to make a scoop (like Griffon or Dominator) work well. Dave

^^ Nah, there's one at Lightwater valley and I'm sure countless others. I'm not sure Air really counts as underground. And for those speculating about Thorpe, apparently this is the exact thing that they are getting in 2012. Only time will tell... Dave

While on the Europe trip we were told it's going to be a B&M Dave

Looks interesting! I can't wait to find out more... Dave

Aesthetically, I prefer the F50. I know it's bigger and less focussed but I just adore the styling! You can't go wrong with outrageous scoops and a massive fender!

Elissa, this thread is AWESOME!! It's really great to see the trip from the perspective of one of the organisers and look at what went well and not so well. I want one of these for ever trip (even retrospective ones!!) I'm telling you, that slide must have got us one or two more games in, especially running up it Dave "surprised I didn't pass out after using that shortcut about 50 times!" Wilson

Please tell me you're using the word "loo" now you've returned to the states! Great update Robb, I've yet to whore this place but I'm sure i'll get round to it eventually Dave

Yes it does. As I understand it, this was a standard Vekoma model with an extra section bolted onto it. We certainly do, it's currently only cost me a glass of wine which seems awfully cheap. If only Gardaland sold Jagerbombs Piers would have been paid in full!!

I think that's a pretty good shout Jon. I also actually read the website (it's amazing how useful that is) and it says the announcement will be on the 9th August. So on 9/8 we'll find out about 7!

Ha! Way too cryptic for me! Do we have a vague idea of when "soon" is? Oh, I like how that was your 7th post too Dave

Nice TR Divv, I can't wait to see the rest! Dave

Sure, here you go...

Yeah, as far as I can remember it's always changed around a bit. It always seems to be on days when there's actually a queue for the ride they hold it for less long. I'm not sure how much it would really increase capacity to hold it for a shorter time though :S Dave

Since when did Divv hold the keys to the Brit Crew?! Dave

I know! For such a 'cool' element, it doesn't do much and doesn't travel a long distance. It would be good as a lift hill or something, but it just does nothing very exiting on the ride and doesn't travel very far, so it doesn't really look like it's worth it to me. And your word confirms it. Have you actually ridden th13teen? You talk about it like you've been on it but you live in the states don't you? I disagree that the ride does "nothing very exciting", it's a nice little drop and since it was travelling way faster on the outside section that when I rode it in March it actually went up in my estimations on monday. I put it in the "great family ride" category, the problem being it's a 1.2m height restriction which limits family appeal. I could go on for a while but this isn't the thread for that. I'm glad Drayton has improved, the Thomas Town looked really nice! Dave

I'm not sure that it's confirmed to be a B&M, I thought the picture was just a rendering to give an idea of what the area will be like, I could be wrong though. Either way I can't wait for the new area, I'd love to head back over when it's built (or possibly before!) Dave