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Yeah, I admit both your comments are true. They probably just haven’t built enough modern coasters recently which could have had just a lap bar but then the most recent coasters have been, smiler and saw. In other news, the site for project exodus is flooded and the lake and the site have become one. To create a mega lake!

Oh, that's a shame, I have always said that spring probably means the end of May in the parks mind, but was hoping I might be able to go on it before my exams. I guess they have only been working on the ride for about 4/5 months (I think I cant remeber when they started the work) so it's best they take their time so the attraction is the best it possibly can be.

There haven't been any updates recently. There's no indication of when it might open beyond "Spring". However, I'd say it's looking unlikely it will open this month now.

Do we have anymore updates on how the park are getting on with Ghost Train? I really want to try get down to the park when it opens but I have exams in May and June and probably cannot get to thorpe in that period, does anyone think it will be open before then?

Is it that they've always put OTSRs on their coasters, or that they've chosen coasters which require OTSRs? I think Smiler is the only example where they effectively had a choice between OTSRs and lapbars. You could argue in the past they were consciously choosing coasters with OTSRs in part because they had them. But that's a flimsy argument at best. I'd also so the modern lapbar has only come into fashion fully in the last decade, and Merlin simply haven't added that many coasters in the time frame. So it's less that they've created a culture, it's more that they haven't kept up with culture.

I'll give you the Smiler and Saw and thats it. The only other rides I could think of that could have OTSR are Rita, Stealth & Desert Chase and at the time all Intamin accelerators were getting OTSR because of lap-bar concerns on intamin megas. Colossus also at the time of its construction wouldn't have had the option of OTSR. Otherwise I think it's just British culture. If you've worked on a ride platform in the UK, you know British people must be some of the most neurotic guests in Europe. Icon for example, worked great when it was just the bar but now with the seatbelt, its had a big effect on capacity.

What happened to the Undertaker animatronic that used to be in the Goolish Garden?

I know, it will be so much better with lap bar too!

I love seeing the UKs general reaction to project exodus having a lap bar. The amount of people saying “how’s that safe” or they simply won’t ride it is hilarious. I’m not being funny but it’s because of the way Merlin (and it is just Merlin) have always put otrs on their coasters and this has created this culture because of it.

The theme will 100% be something that is rundown, old and rotting. Anything that the park doesn't need to actively maintain. That's all Merlin comes up with when it comes to themes. Just look at World of Jumanji, they can literally let it overgrow naturally, and it will be completely on brand.

All depends on the theme I guess

On a nice sunny day in the summer it will. I just hope during autumn and rainy days it doesn’t look like a swamp

I visited yesterday and some thoughts and bear in mind Chessington is a rose tinted glasses park for me- This park isn't really ready for Easter. It's going to struggle with one train on Vampire and what looks like to be only four functional cars on Rattlesnake. The second Vampire train is located just behind Scorpion Express at the moment. They also have 12pm opening for Wild Asia, Tiger Rock and Zufari. Which is fine, the park was pretty quiet. But three of the six weren't ready for 12. Scorpion Express's train has returned and was being put back together on the ride. So thats good. It's wonderful that they've done big projects like repainting Fury or the ground work near the Main Entrance. They need to go focus on the small details now. Some of the theming across the park is really aging, worn away and looking pretty shabby. I know, I want the world. The staff were absolutely miserable. The odd smile from a retail staff member was the best we really saw. But I can't help think this is from the top and some of the situations the staff seem to have to deal with. Like on Vampire they don't fill the station anymore. But they don't have someone batching people into rows, instead, the on load platformer has to do it. But on my ride, whilst she was checking bars, the people started batching themselves. Which meant she had to start shouting at all the guests (because the music is loud), the operator had to make an announcement. It was just very disorganised. When the park is this quiet, is it really necessary to stop us at the batching area or still continue to batch people into rows. Breakdowns. Oh boy. Lots of them. We got caught in a Kobra, Rattlesnake and Fury shutdown and we saw many others including being evacuated from Tomb Blaster. To clarify Fury wasn't a breakdown. It was an alignment gate issue. But because of the stupid rules inflicted top down, the attendants can't solve it. An engineer and management has to. So you stand there and wait and three managers turn up. But they cant' do it without the engineer. So you wait for the engineer. But they are probably attending another breakdown. You just wait. It's infuriating that what is a ten second fix becomes a ten minute shutdown. I bet the staff on Spinball, Tarantula, Salama or Winjas don't have to put up with this nonsense. If the issue is mistakes in the past, then have a well experienced platformer there at all times who is trusted to fix the alignment gate. Don't bold up 100's of people. It's so silly. Tomb Blaster evacuation Now, for a company that is obsessed with health and safety and the risk of death, this felt really haphazard and very perculiar. We got stuck in the first show scene and had to walk back to the station area. Yeah that fine. At the time I was slightly amused at the lack of communication from the ride hosts. They didn't tell us to hold onto the handrail or stay away from the big massive drop from the evac stairs to the track trough. This is a ride that 4 year old kids can go on after all, the one in front of us kept veering towards the drop. Towards the station you cross the transfer track and again, massive steps for young kids, no warning signs or communication from the staff. I had a good day and the work in improving the park has made the place look in parts, much better. But it's quite clear that the park is struggling on a lot of fronts. It was nice to see Mandrill but I'm worried that this shiny new ride will only highlight the sharp edges elsewhere.

It’s late and I’m waiting for my meds to kick in so I had a gander - I don’t use tik tok or Snapchat and had no idea who she is. Apparently she’s a 15 year old YouTuber/Tik tok thingy thing - loads of followers, don’t know why - seems you can get famous from not doing a whole lot these days. Wow I sound like a miserable old cow 🤣

Excited to see most of the lake filled in in about 10 years or so like they did with Colossus

Originally was going to be left as is, but plans changed to get planning permission. Most will be re removed and the coaster will be mostly over water. Should be breathtaking

Lake looks tiny, I assume that they’ve started to infill parts of the lake or they will open it back up when construction is finished.

Double post soz - this person is having a Meet and greet at Thorpe. I literally have no idea who she is, and I'm pretty up to speed with the famous instatubers, tikytokers and Snapchaps. Any idea team?

I always thought Sub Terra was good. Fine, it wasn't the best ride in the world, but not everything can be. It was a great bit of fun in between coasters and will be good to have it back again.

Wouldn't it be funny if Merlin ID'ed the person behind the account a gave them a lifetime ban, now that would be fun. They could just say they don't want their custom or provides a threat to other customers....

Gave this a couple of goes yesterday, felt quite underwhelmed when I came off, it does have some nice sets and effects on the ride which are an improvement to previous and the trommel and clock was my favourite part was great to see that all working. But for me overall I found it a bit dull, I gave it another go in the afternoon to see what another run through was like unfortunately it was Dark from the usual spot after the Trommel to just after the old screaming heads which was a shame so missed the spiders and mirror effects 2nd time round. Was walk on both times so didnt see too much of the queue or pre show, The hosts were in their new character in the morning but in the afternoon were just normal and was asking everyone their thoughts on it, John Burton was also outside in the afternoon talking to various people

This is exactly what I was getting at 😁 I don't genuinely think the facility should have a queue, was more a dig at thirsty "me first" and "I want what they've got" nature of the thirsty MAPpers, who will get triggered by not being able to receive a free circular piece of plastic, so one can only begin to imagine the anger at not being able to use "the free spa".

Are they making the lake bigger, by any chance? I only wondered because if that is the lake’s final size, the splashdown is further up the site than I’d imagined…

Sub-Terra fans UNITE! Was a fun for what it was. And most of my rides it seemed that the guests were having fun, which is the important thing. But, like with similar attractions, the budget got slashed and was too staff intensive.

Exactly. An engineer at a rebar factory I used to work in sales for, said to me once he looked into working for Thorpe Park - but the salary wasn't anywhere near where it should be and was a mickey take!