Finally got around to writing some things. Amazing two days, big thanks to everyone who helped make it so (especially Mark as always). And I've finally broken my 3 year break from GF events.
Thorpe
After South West rail had finished messing about with my trains, I endured the chav bus and arrived at Thorpe, greeted by CF. Jordan made delicious cupcakes so I just had to feed my sugar addiction (the first of many sugary treats provided).
Stealth had been either closed, or missed due to long queues in my previous 4 visits to Thorpe, so I was happy to be able to ride my favourite coaster at Thorpe again. Unfortunately, I became burdenous afterwards by leaving my bag in the Stealth area, which was not retrieved until after rapids. I'm very impressed that the Thorpe clientele let it sit there for so long. Pro-tip... if you're bad at remembering things, only bring one bag. I came off Stealth completely convinced my camera bag was my only possession.
There were other rides... Inferno was done, Saw (with queueline of death... also I seem to be the only one that likes this ride), Samurai (Gavin wins for best costume related moment), other stuff. There was a lot of waiting while most of CF didn't want to go on Vortex. After Vortex, the correct decision was made to do Det. Det is still fantastic! Finally, the double ride of Swarm. I still don't feel the enthusiasm for it that others do (it's good, but not best in the park or anything), but it was running pretty sweet Monday night.
Thanks to Ian for doing lifts to and from Tolworth. It's not great, but it's better than last time I tried to stay there and ended up double booked and moved to Guildford.
Chessington
I always feel that the CF Lives with a major park and a smaller neighbour have the smaller park as the better day. Chessington did not disappoint.
Rattlesnake was first. Sue mentioned that her knee had touched some vom, thus Mitt Vom-knee was born and she spend the rest of the queue trying not to die from uncontrollable laughter. Rattlesnake is meh, but the queue was tremendously funnier.
Mushroom delighted the crowd with an obscene amount of sugar and e-numbers that got passed around (and thrown and almost dropped off the side of the Tomb Blaster queue) during the next few hours. The sweet throwing was a bit too much, but the queues were at least entertaining. Mine Train and Tomb Blaster are as meh as ever...
We had lunch at the pasta/pizza place which was very nom! Tim disappeared afterwards to get a costume that later turned out to be a fantastically accurate and detailed cardboard restraint. Who cares about faff when you have a restraint to play with! Sue wearing it on the flume was amazing. It looked so natural. It also made it onto Bubbleworks later, and the red boats made a perfect colour match. Tim needs to come to every Live, his antics are hilarious.
While everyone was waiting for the few burdens that decided Cobra was a good idea, CF played "how many CFers can fit in a tuk-tuk." Then the glowsticks came out. We headed over to the pirate ship where we played the traditional shouting competition, during which there were cries of "JIMMY... SAVILLE" and "MITT... *confused mumble*." Bubbleworks (avec Mexican wave) and Vampire finished off what is one of the most fun days I've ever had with CF. We didn't manage Dragon's Fury, but there's always other years. Great company, great rides. See you all next year!
Also yes, there will be a video.