matt_g

Reports that some kids broke in and operated Blue Flyer for half an hour in the middle of the night before being caught: http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/crime/teens-4am-joyride-on-blackpool-pleasure-beach-rollercoaster-1-7975556#ixzz4CHknq6AD I'm surprising they got it working at all.

1. DVD 2. Netflix 3. 6 4. Chromecast 5. Far more videos on YouTube

Does this event come well recommended? We've got a night free in the area and I'm trying to decide whether it's worth buying tickets for this, vs. doing 'general sightseeing' in Hollywood (or the LA area generally). We're already doing SFMM Fright Fest the previous night, so just a bit nervous that they might be too similar...

Thanks, I was worried it was worse than that!

Does anyone have up-to-date information on which rides at SFMM have a mandatory fluffy medicine-filled bunny policy? We're visiting in October. I don't usually carry stuff around, but my girlfriend wears glasses and takes them off before going on most rides. At most parks we leave them in a bag at the station. Where there are mandatory locker policies, we'd need to get a locker before entering the line. That means she is 'blind' while lining up, so we only want to do this when we have to!

It's down for me too, on several different internet connections. Think it's a UK thing.

I went to the party on Wednesday and we also had a great time. Little touches like the free chocolate on the way out makes you feel looked-after.

Not sure what you're smoking. Google maps says London to PortAventura is 986 miles, London to Europa Park is 534 miles - case closed.

This is quite sad - several of us went to see it during the Tokyo tour and it was absolutely spectacular. I also saw Kooza (a CDS touring show that happened to be in Tokyo while we were there) and it wasn't nearly so impressive as Zed. I struggle to believe it's because of the earthquake. Tokyo Disneyland was absolutely heaving (60 minute line for Philharmagic) but the show had plenty of empty seats. The ticket prices for Zed were insanely high though - I think my seat was 14,000 yen, and for that price you can buy a 3-day ticket to Tokyo Disneyland.

This is an insanely good deal and I have completely taken advantage of it! Thank you!

Does anyone know if the 'new island' is being built up specifically for this coaster? Or does 'new' just mean 'previously undeveloped'?

Downloading now and looking forward to it - thanks!

These Merlin marketing gimmicks are getting quite strange. I think it's pretty obvious that Thirteen will be open on Friday 13th (short of actual maintenance being required), just like they haven't banned people under 16 or over 50 from riding or limited people to 1 ride a day. I guess they've calculated that the associated publicity makes it worth it.

Thorpe Park, Legoland and Chessington are all fairly accessible on public transport from London - the journey time from central London for each of them is (very roughly) about 30 minutes on the train. You can easily get there and back in a day - no need to stay nearby overnight unless you want to. You can walk to Chessington from the train station, for the others you need to get a bus which takes another 15 minutes or so. Do you know where abouts in London you're going to be living? The actual journey time will obviously vary massively depending on how far away you are. Alton Towers is possible to get to on train and bus, but it takes forever from London and can't really be done in a day - for that one I'd recommend booking a hotel or B&B nearby and staying there for a night or two. The only major restriction on the London Eye is that you can't use your pass on it in August. I think the same applies to the other central London attractions (Madame Tussauds, the London Dungeon, the Aquarium) - frankly I think all of these (except the London Eye) are rubbish anyway, there are much better things to do as a tourist in central London. The actual train stations you want to get to are: Staines for Thorpe Park (then 10-15 minutes on a bus) Windsor and Eton Riverside for Legoland (then 10-15 minutes on a bus) Chessington South for Chessington (10 minutes walk) Stoke on Trent or Uttoxeter for Alton Towers (then 30 minutes on a bus from Uttoxeter, or about an hour from Stoke on Trent) For train times and prices, go to http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ and tell it where you're planning to go from and to. One thing to remember before buying a Merlin pass is that you can pretty easily get "2 for the price of 1" vouchers for all of the Merlin parks, so if you're going with someone you'll need to go about 7 times for it to be worth the price.

I guess they've had complaints that the signs were inaccurate - but just giving up and saying "0 to 30 minutes" isn't any better! Not to mention that the stuck-on sign looks incredibly cheap and tacky, and not something that a major park should be doing. Now they'll get complaints when the paper falls off and the sign underneath tells people that there's a 1 minute wait...