NathP

I've ridden 77 of 101 B&Ms, missing most of the Asian ones!

Sad this park is closing, I had a great time there on the 2011 trip! Hopefully it gets bought out or the rides relocated.

Great report Hanno, looks like a nice park. Interesting how lap bars work just fine on a Colossus clone, I think Thorpe Park really need to get these trains

Nice trip report, covering some of the more unknown UK parks, some even I haven't been to

Rode The Smiler at Alton Towers which will probably be my last coaster this year!

Other then ERT I once did Stealth at Thorpe Park 56 times in a day in September 2010. The park was totally dead and the single rider line back then was a big help since its near the exit, sometimes they would even leave the gate open where the baggage claim is

I didn't start going to Alton until 2005 so its very interesting to see how the park was way before, nice report

Nice trip report Divv Whoa you were lucky to get on Shambhala at the end! When I went many of the rides were on staggered opening times, Shambhala for example didn't open until 12 noon. Great theming around the park as usual, seems like PortAventura really do put in a lot of effort on it compared to our parks!

Almost certain it will be SW7 "The Smiler" at Alton Towers

Just saw this on my local news, very interesting, this is just 5 miles from me so I thought I'll share it here http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2012-10-08/plans-revealed-for-disney-style-theme-park-in-kent/

I went on Thursday 9th August and it was very empty then. Everything a walk on apart from the dark ride and spinning frisbee which had no more then a 10 minute line. It is a nice park with great theming but it feels like something is missing, I noticed many unused buildings, the queue lines I found very odd too. The Roma area was like ghost town as Iberia area is closed, no one in sight! Aqualandia on the other hand which is their water park was PACKED!

Great update Divv! After going to Universal Florida last month this has made me realize how badly I miss the Japan one lol!

Yeah I noticed that too, I'm not that big and there wasn't much slack left on the belt after I put my restraint down!

I also attended The Swarm opening day yesterday with Robin, I didn't know you were there Craig! The Swarm area is themed much better then other areas in the park but its a shame they use that same block paving everywhere now lol! Anyway there is only one way to get to the Swarm Island which is behind Depth Charge so its well tucked away from the rest of the park. If you come out of the Dome and go right then thats the quickest way! The queue line is very compact and most of it is under the inline twist, it takes a good 5 minutes to walk through if its fully open like today! My first ride was on the left hand side which I thought was very forceless. It really feels slow over the zero-g rolls. I went on again but on the right hand side and it felt like completely different ride, much more forcefull. It might of been that it was warming up as I got there just after opening. I rode it a good 10 times today in different seats, it seems to feel faster the further back you sit, the different seats make it very re-rideable. Out of left and right I prefer the right because you flip over at the top of the lift hill and you get really close to the near misses and the water around the helicopter helix! The Swarm might not be the sort of coaster that makes you go "WOW" when coming off and its quite short but its a quality addition to the park and far better then some of the gimmicky rides Merlin have put in over the last few years. The Swarm is easily the most smooth and most quietest B&M I've been on, its night and day if you compare it to the Furius Baco trains On walking around the park I noticed they have removed the Stealth single rider queue and turned it into a Disabled access instead Few photos of the day below, enjoy! I'm here at Thorpe Park for The Swarm opening day! The Swarm is tucked away in its own island so you have to walk behind Depth Charge to get to it quickly! Live music was playing all day plus there was quite a few scarey actors walking about Ride entrance. Queues were walk on to 15 minutes for the whole day! The queue line is huge and it can take a whole 5 minutes to walk it all! This is where they tell you to go left or right. There is also a front row queue before this point. Station is like a bombed church! 582 rollercoasters done There is a few near misses! The Swarm had a Manta type water effect but it didn't really work that well. No fire yet. The Swarm area. New skyline. View from Stealth.

Great Report! I really like how they have cleaned up Coney Island and put in alot of new rides since I went, nice one