Merlin Mania Forum - All Forums

MM meet poll

Sun, 20 May 2012 18:26:02 +0000

Simple when do you want a meet and when can you make a meet.

2014

Sun, 20 May 2012 14:30:38 +0000

It has been confirmed that the park is intending on using 2014 as a family year, with two new attractions, and probably an area re-theme?

What do you think we'll see at the park for 2014?

I reckon that that Adventure land and Storybook land will get combined, into a larger Storybook land. Sonic Spinball will be removed from the park, possibly to be sold off, or retained for use in the evening entertainments area (If that plan pans out). The park will then use this land (including Beastie) for a small family rollercoaster, well themed, but minimal, and a larger adventure play-ground. The Ice tent would be replaced by a new family walkthrough, telling some family storybook tales. Similar to the Enchanted Forest at Efteling. I reckon we'll also see the CCL theatre's 4D film updated.

Weekly news show!

Sat, 19 May 2012 21:16:56 +0000

Yup, that's right! We're planning the return of the weekly news series. This season it'll be presented by yours truly, as Sam hasn't got the time.

So here's the deal:
-The series will begin in around a month.
-It'll be every friday, to begin the weekends.
-Running time of around 5-10 minutes.

I've got a few ideas for features in the show, so vote for your favourite, and we'll plan it from there.

Thanks!

Sun Scream 2012

Sat, 19 May 2012 13:20:40 +0000

Well as its coming up to the summer months, will this see the return of thorpe parks sun scream event. Thoughts/ideas below.

All Day Dining

Mon, 14 May 2012 22:31:24 +0000

Here's somthing I saw promoted on park a few weeks ago and finaly they have uploaded a page on the website: http://www.altontowers.com/events/food-a...ay-dining/

It's a great idea but over £22? I don't think I have spent that much on theme park food this year let alone in a day!

What do you think on this?

Skyride

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:33:38 +0000

It seems, due to cost cutting measures, that the Sky Ride will only operate on Peak days from now on this season. This means that a major artery across the park has been severed.

If I'm honest, if this is the sort of move management are likely to make, I'm extremely concerned. Without Skyride, the day can be a lot less enjoyable, and easy. Disabled guests will now have to go through mutiny bay to get from Nemesis to Cloud Cuckoo land, a trip which would have otherwise taken a maximum of 10 minutes.

All this move is going to impact on is guest satisfaction, I know from friends, and family, that Skyride being down when they are there really impacts on the perception of their day.

These cost cutting measures are hindering every merlin park in the UK this year. Every park has reduced ride opening times on off peak days.

I'm a little sad in the end that the park decided to re-think their plans on Submission and Enterprise being closed this year. If I'm honest I'd rather the park had these, admittedly small rides closed, than the skyride. In my eyes guest satisfaction is absolutely paramount.

The park should get Skyride open, and close Submission and Enterprise when SW7 construction kicks in full. There's a good cover-up, and I seriously doubt people will mind that much that two overlooked rides are closed.

In my eyes I'll always prefer the park which has a handful of great rides, but great guest services, over the park with poor guest services, but great rides. It's things like having to trek from one side of the park to another which can really alter your perception on a day.

What do you all think? Am I over-reacting?

Gardaland - Raptor Genetix

Wed, 09 May 2012 16:08:52 +0000

What is Raptor: Genetix!? I suppose we'll found out more on the 16th!

Man gets into the Oblivion Tunnel

Tue, 08 May 2012 21:39:49 +0000

bbc Wrote:Man rescued from Oblivion ride at Alton Towers

Riders on Oblivion drop into a vertical tunnel
The Oblivion ride at Alton Towers had to be closed after a man entered a prohibited area and needed rescuing.

A spokesperson for the Staffordshire theme park said a young man managed to get into the ride's tunnel at about 14:20 BST.

The ride was stopped and the surrounding area cordoned off while three fire crews rescued the man.

He was safely removed and taken to University Hospital North Staffordshire as a precaution.

The spokesperson said: "As with all our rides the area surrounding the Oblivion track is securely fenced off and ride operators reacted immediately in line with our well rehearsed safety procedures.

"A full investigation will now be carried out."

The Oblivion ride remained closed following the incident but is due to reopen again as normal on Wednesday.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sto...e-17999937

I'm not entirely sure what this guy was doing, but I'm extremely glad the park acted in the manner that they have.

Rumba Rapids Repaint

Sun, 06 May 2012 19:30:19 +0000

It was at thorpe park today 6th May and noticed that a lot of the surfaces in the rumba rapids queue line had been sandpapered down or repainted. They have gone kind of a grey colour?

Thoughts, answers?

Alton again... (May 19th 2012)

Sat, 05 May 2012 22:58:09 +0000

haha, lets just get this TR over with!

First we arrived at the park at just gone 9am, the box office was open and had no queue so my mum got her new AP and then it was on to the rides... well sort of, now the park lets everyone one in before 10am, the queues for ERT are about 20mins compared to the old walk on, people must be seeing that they can get on the rides early where as before, they had no idea they where intitled to ERT.

We did Rita ERT (Rita was running very smoothly today, almost felt like a B&M... almost.) TH13TEEN opened 10min early so I had my first every TH13TEEN ERT, there was a 20min queue but not too bad.

My Mum hadn't been on Ice Age yet so we did that followed by Charlie (she doesn't like 'big' rides)

We got the SkyRide over to Forbiden Valley to ride Nemesis which was also running smothly. We then got the SkyRide back to Towers Street for a early lunch at the Towers Faimly Restraunt. Nom!

We let our dinners settle while we walked around Towers Trading, I finaly got round to buying a Nemesis T-Shirt. We then strolled over to X-Sector.

SW7 Update: Blackhole tent fully removed bar a few posts. The queue and entrence sign still in exsitance. Sites a bit of a mess. No shipping containers yet!

Oblivion was walk on so we did it twice, the mist hurt but it was fun. Sonic was the longest queue of the day, 40mins (would have been shorter if it didn't start raining in the queue.

We then went back to Forbiden Valley to do Sub-Terra but it had just broke down and it stayed closed for the rest of the day so instread we did Nemesis again followed by Ripsaw where it was the first time I actually got wet on it. (only a few drips but still.) Then we did Air which is quickly shrinking in my expections, I find it very boring nowdays.

We then did Duel and The Runaway Mine Train for my mum.

I was the last hour of operation so we 'ran' back to Nemesis for another go before catching the Skyride over to the Dark Forest, we did Rita and TH13TEEN (both walk on) and then we just made it onto the SkyRide in time to take us back to Towers Street.

Very good day all round, thats the second bank holiday weekend I have been to the park this year and the second time the queues have been bareable, whats happening

Ride Count

Nemesis x3
Air x1
Ripsaw x1
Duel x1
RMT x1
Sonic x1
Oblivion x2
Ice Age x1
Charlie x1
Rita x2
TH13TEEN x2

TOTAL = 16 :O

Thanks for reading!

Thorpe Park to go green?

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 22:07:58 +0000

Thorpe Park have teamed up with Green Redeem, a company selling Interactive Recycling kiosks. 3 of these bins will be installed in the park in the near future. Green Redeem makes it easier to recycle correctly, using a video screen and speakers. Guests who recycle will also be able to redeem points from the bins, which offer discounts off a variety of things, including days out. More information can be found here - http://www.greenredeem.co.uk/news_item.p...2d7fbc5650

Pretty neat idea in my eyes. With a backing from merlin, I can see this going far.

Bucket List!

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 20:15:36 +0000

Which coasters, and parks in the world, do you really want to visit!?

Coasters
-Oziris
-Intimidator 304
-iSpeed
-Kingda Ka
-Expedition GeForce
-Tatsu
-X2

Parks
-Disneyland & Disney sea Tokyo
-Knott's Berry Farm
-Parc Asterix
-Dollywood
-Europa Park
-Grona lund
-Legoland Billund
-Busch Gardens Williamsburg
-Toverland

Billboards in Windows 7

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 15:53:06 +0000

Hello!
I'm currently in the process of making a brand new theme park in RCT3.
But I'm stuck. Due to me running RCT3 on Windows 7, the photos/billboards feature doesn't work. Does anyone know how to fix this, without going into the cmd files. If CS didn't take so long to make, I would do them as CS.
Please help!

best days to go to thorpe?

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:41:55 +0000

disscus the best (and worst days) to go thorpe park

Information on the spambots on this site.

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:59:00 +0000

Right the last two days you would have noticed the birthdays are spambots.

1. So why are there so many but no post?
Because if you click their profile you will find its links they want. So where every account allows to to put a website they are putting spam sites in them.

2. Must take you ages to delete them all?
Nope all done on its own. When you make an account you have to accept a email form the website to activate the account. if this is not done in 3 days, the account is deleted. Also if you do actiate it but dont post for 30 days, the account is removed.

3. Why dont the image on sign up stop them?
Because every single one of them that has been made for forums has been cracked :/ meaning none of them stop them anyone. sadly.

Also they fail to post because mybb has a way to making them not be able to post quite well so for that reason they only ever go for the links thats why the User Pruning works so well.

Also you may have noticed numbers have drop a lot latly to currently 84 members.
The reason is the system is still getting rid of them but i have added a new system which as using a massive database of known spammers for millions of forums and stopping them when they hit here.

So hopfully that will clear it up that the spambots on here are well undercontrol and there is no need to worry.
Ryan.

Fright night idea 2012 (NOT OFFICIAL)

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 19:22:26 +0000

Watch this space for my idea on thorpes new maze at fright night this year. This shall most likely be done as a show and i shall give you a clue to what the theme of this attraction is:

Beware the curse of.........
She had no children, only.......

Nemesis Sub-Terra (recreation)

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:20:46 +0000

You'll never get it

Please note, very WIP.

First children's slide was built in Northamptonshire

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:25:10 +0000

It's hard to imagine that Wicksteed Park in Kettering was the birthplace of the children's slide.

But an historian has told the park, it's likely that Charles Wicksteed's claim that he popularised the slide at the beginning of the last century is true.

Engineer Charles Wicksteed started buying land in 1914 to create an open space for local people. Historian Linden Groves says her study of children's play equipment, backs up Wicksteed's claim.

She said: "I can't really think of other slides before then I can think of other climbing frames and swings and that kind of thing they were called gymnasiums generally but I can't think of slides so maybe he wasn't stretching the truth he is the inventor of the slide "

These days theme parks like Alton Towers in Staffordshire offer an array of sophisticated rides.

From itv anglia

A Really WOOD Weekend! Blackpool 14th and 15th April 2012

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:35:06 +0000

It was time for a trip to the UK's best Amusement Park, PB,B! I was attending the annual RCCGB Blackpool Bash and it was a fantastic trip.

After arriving at our hotel on the Friday night, we where amazed at the view out of our window. It over looked Pleasure Beach. The only problem is that we got woke up by Ice Blast testing. Hats one noise ride! The RCCGB had put on some amazing entertainment for the night so we watched that. It was actually very good!!!

Saturday started with exclusive riding on The Big One and Steeple Chase for an hour. Apart from the odd member of the public finding a way into the queues it was a great hour. I managed 4 rides on The Big One and 2 Rides on Steeple Chase! The Big One has grown on me a lot since my last visit, it was running really well and was actually quite smooth. Steeple Chase was as amazing as ever. I lost every time though.

We where then aloud free time before the free 12:30 lunch. In this free time I rode Nickelodeon Streak. (Don't let the happy slappyness of this ride keep you from riding. There is some seriously messed up amount of airtime in the back!) We then did Big Dipper, Wild Mouse, Derby Racer and Infusion (which was running pretty smooth today aswell.) We then just had time to do may favorite rollercoaster ever. The Grand National. It wasn't until afterwards I realised that it was actually the day of the really Grand National.

The lunch was abit disappointing. It was chicken with chips. Better then the normal theme park food but nowhere near as nice as Pizza and Pasta Buffet!

After getting back into the park we did Impossible since we had not done it before. It was good but nothing to special. It ended with The haunted Swing which is an very old ride at Pleasure Beach. It is like the first over madhouse (like Hex) but on this one, you don't move at all. Obviously Vokoma's are better (wow, didn't think I would ever say that).

After Impossible we did Wild Mouse again because I love that ride so much, I'm not sure how it's legal though! Then we did Infusion again but this time it hurt more. We then queued for the Grand Prix as I have not done it before. I drove but wasn't the best at it lol. we then met up with the RCCGB again to do an hour of exclusive riding on the Grand National. They wasted half an hour of the hour session adding another train but they let it run over by an half hour so that still alright, I managed 6 rides.

We then had 2 and a half more hours to explore the park even more. We did Avalanche with has some impressive G's, Especially round the final helixes. We then did The Big One again. Big Dipper again (to buy the photo) and Wild Mouse again. We then did River Caves as it's a really good dark ride. Shame it doesn't get enough attention.

We had one final ride on The Grand National as I love it before ending the day on Ice Blast which is the most powerless launch tower I have ever been on.

After some more night time entertainment put on by the club it was time to call it a day.

Sunday started with an hour of exclusive riding on Infusion and Nickelodeon Streak. Big Dipper was suppose to be included aswell but wasn't working. I managed 1 ride on Infusion as it was back to it's usual 'I'M GONNA RIP YOUR EARS, NECK AND HEAD OFF' way. and 4 rides on Nickelodeon Streak.

We then packed our bags and left Blackpool

Photos!

Valhalla facade from our hotel room.

Welcome to Blackpooooooool!

This is how they add the spare train to Grand National.

Grand National from our room!

New desktop background?

This is some history and stuff about Wild Mouse. Wild is an understatement!

This shot has far too much blue in it for Blackpool.

Wild Mouse again.

Ride Count

Sat:

Big One x5
Steeple Chase x2
Nick Streak x1
Infusion x2
Big Dipper x2
Grand National x8 (Front x1)
Derby Racer x1
Wild Mouse x3
River Caves x1
Impossible x1
Grand Prix x1
Ice Blast x1
Avelanch x1

Sun:

Infusion x1
Nick Streak x4

WEEKEND TOTAL x34!

Thanks for reading!

Thorpe Park 22nd April Trip Plan & Trip Report.

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 19:54:40 +0000

Thorpe Park Day Plan:
I will post my trip report in this thread aswell.

9:00am
-Bus Stop, bus should come at 9:00am or 9:15am.

9:55am
-Should arrive at the park, go across to the queue.

10:10am
-Should be at the ticket desks, usually some trouble at these.

10:20am
-Finally in, through the turnstiles and across the bridge, and through the dome.

10:30am
-In the queue for Vortex, 20 mins plus 5 minutes for restraints and cycle.

10:55am
-Zodiac queue, 15 minutes plus 5 minutes for restraints and cycle.

11:10am
-Saw Alive queue, 15 minutes plus 5 minutes for walk through.

11:30am
-Saw The Ride queue, 45 minutes plus 5 minutes for ride and restraints.

12:15am
-Loggers Leap queue, 20 mins plus 5 for ride.

12:40am
-Slammer queue, 25 minutes and 10 minutes for cycle and restraints.

1:15pm
-KFC lunch in Amity Cove, 45 minutes for lunch.

2:00pm
-Storm Surge queue, 20 minutes plus 5 minutes for ride.

2:25pm
-X:/ No Way Out queue, 20 minutes, plus 5 minutes for ride and restraints.

2:50pm
-The Swarm queue, 1 hour plus 5 for restraints and ride.

3:55pm
-Stealth queue, 45 minutes plus 5 minutes for ride and restraints.

4:40pm
-Rumba Rapids queue, 10 minutes plus 5 minutes for the ride.

4:55pm
-Detonator queue, 25 minutes plus 5 for the ride and restraints.

5:25pm
-Nemesis Inferno, 35 minutes plus 5 for the ride and restraints.

6:00pm
-Leg it to Tidal Wave as soon as we get off Nemesis Inferno.
Then leave the park and go home by bus.

I know its not going to go anything like this but I do this to contain my excitement. I think you can tell I don't go to parks THAT often so it is quite a big thing