fretboardpyro
Mega Poster
Anyone during theses days will have noticed a random neanderthal with missus in tow wearing a variety of hideously brutal death metal T-Shirts. That was me! I'm not hard to spot at thorpe to be honest!
On with the trip report then. Less chavvy than normal on both days, which was nice. They seem to have paid a little bit of attention to polishing some of the theming and painting and generally trying to improve the park to be in.
Arriving at thorpe in the morning of the 19th with a wonky neck and a massive bruise on my noggin, through the chaos that was an amazing death metal gig in liverpool and then hammerfest over the weekend. My body was already shot to bits so this visit was particualrly interesting just for that reason, as my neck had been proplleing my head at a pretty much 3.5g hair whip for the previous days!
On seeing The B&M lovelyness that was swarm on my arrival, I rushed through the stiles to be greeted by the security perv's who demanded that they touched me all over. Which gave me a semi on. I promptly used this extra amount of blood pumping to run like a madman towards Swarm!
On arriving in the area I marvelled at the fulfilling yet sparse theming. Don't get me wrong, I love the theming and started to drool at bits of aeroplane and random burnt looking things and other exciting stuff, but more would have been nice if i'm honest.
So we hopped into the none existant Q. We walked to the front line and handed over of luggage at the not to different to Th13teen luggage stop. What we did notice is that if you want to go on the front, once you are past the luggage stop there is no separate front pen. WHICH IS HUGELY ANNOYING. You end up being called for the front and barging past people with a floppy bit of laminated paper! You go to the expense of a new coaster and have a slight oversight for the front!
Anyhow, My thoughts on swarm are: It should not be judged in the way that Nemesis at AT is. Its not that, It's certainly not air, and its not as slow as it looks. The things that strike me about it are there is an awesome amount of weightlessness which is amplified even further on the rear left seats! Its launch off the loop and through the plane wing head chopper is eyewatering. What has annoyed me slightly is that all the elements are raised, I would have liked the feeling of a terra-coaster in parts. As it passes back over the station, the barrel roll is good fun, it allows you to shout cooooo-eeeee or or something to suit your mood ie "I've dropped me cat" etc.
All in all, I can't say that Swarm is an Important installation like that of Nemesis, Oblivion or Air. However I do think it is the most Exciting B&M istallation to ride on in Britain since Nemesis at AT. As the missus happily pointed out, we aren't bothered about inferno, but swarm is different as it demands repeat rides and offers more depending on the side of the train and how far you are down it. Its a very good installation, with a decent amount of speed, some good elements and well conceived theming. The ride is slick and smooth as well as being quiet and unlike the inverts there is no bunching and pulling of cars at the back as you slowdown or speed up through the elements.
We got on saw on the monday, I have to say. This coaster is not aging well at all. I'm not sure if a few of the bogeys are in need of replacemnt as the ride was alot rougher than normal, to the point it was unpleasant in places!
We did all the rest of the usual suspects in the park, but to be honest, how do you compare them against something shiney and new? I have to say, its a very welcome return for B&M and with any luck we will see another in the not too distant future being installed somewhere.
On with the trip report then. Less chavvy than normal on both days, which was nice. They seem to have paid a little bit of attention to polishing some of the theming and painting and generally trying to improve the park to be in.
Arriving at thorpe in the morning of the 19th with a wonky neck and a massive bruise on my noggin, through the chaos that was an amazing death metal gig in liverpool and then hammerfest over the weekend. My body was already shot to bits so this visit was particualrly interesting just for that reason, as my neck had been proplleing my head at a pretty much 3.5g hair whip for the previous days!
On seeing The B&M lovelyness that was swarm on my arrival, I rushed through the stiles to be greeted by the security perv's who demanded that they touched me all over. Which gave me a semi on. I promptly used this extra amount of blood pumping to run like a madman towards Swarm!
On arriving in the area I marvelled at the fulfilling yet sparse theming. Don't get me wrong, I love the theming and started to drool at bits of aeroplane and random burnt looking things and other exciting stuff, but more would have been nice if i'm honest.
So we hopped into the none existant Q. We walked to the front line and handed over of luggage at the not to different to Th13teen luggage stop. What we did notice is that if you want to go on the front, once you are past the luggage stop there is no separate front pen. WHICH IS HUGELY ANNOYING. You end up being called for the front and barging past people with a floppy bit of laminated paper! You go to the expense of a new coaster and have a slight oversight for the front!
Anyhow, My thoughts on swarm are: It should not be judged in the way that Nemesis at AT is. Its not that, It's certainly not air, and its not as slow as it looks. The things that strike me about it are there is an awesome amount of weightlessness which is amplified even further on the rear left seats! Its launch off the loop and through the plane wing head chopper is eyewatering. What has annoyed me slightly is that all the elements are raised, I would have liked the feeling of a terra-coaster in parts. As it passes back over the station, the barrel roll is good fun, it allows you to shout cooooo-eeeee or or something to suit your mood ie "I've dropped me cat" etc.
All in all, I can't say that Swarm is an Important installation like that of Nemesis, Oblivion or Air. However I do think it is the most Exciting B&M istallation to ride on in Britain since Nemesis at AT. As the missus happily pointed out, we aren't bothered about inferno, but swarm is different as it demands repeat rides and offers more depending on the side of the train and how far you are down it. Its a very good installation, with a decent amount of speed, some good elements and well conceived theming. The ride is slick and smooth as well as being quiet and unlike the inverts there is no bunching and pulling of cars at the back as you slowdown or speed up through the elements.
We got on saw on the monday, I have to say. This coaster is not aging well at all. I'm not sure if a few of the bogeys are in need of replacemnt as the ride was alot rougher than normal, to the point it was unpleasant in places!
We did all the rest of the usual suspects in the park, but to be honest, how do you compare them against something shiney and new? I have to say, its a very welcome return for B&M and with any luck we will see another in the not too distant future being installed somewhere.