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@JoshC. another couple questions comes to mind... Looks like the days I'm going are likely to be very busy/sellout days. From your experience, how long have you queued for mazes and the experiences on average? Also, do you happen to know how the fast track is operated at the park on different days. Do they give you pretty much instant access or still likely to be waiting a while?

Yeah I was thinking the same, I know we have this off peak period every year but it does seem particularly deserted this year. And thats not just Thorpe either, seen videos from the other parks just as deserted. For comparison, here is the queue time calendar from last year in the same 3 week period. And then this years... Obviously not sure gate figure wise, but queue time wise they've definitely been shorter this year on average. Towers is already on 4pm closes, Legos been cut to 4:30 this year, Chessingtons cut hours to 4pm this year, wouldn't surprise me if we see more closed days or some dreaded 4pm closes next year. Especially in the state Merlin seem to be in at the moment. Even this summer the park was really filtering out way before closing at 7pm, wouldn't surprise me if we see cuts across summer too.

So it'll be opening at 12pm every day up until the start of the school holidays. I would hope that these Thursday closures and 12pm openings aren't cost cutting on one of their major coasters? Would be interested to know if any work is actually taking place on it tomorrow and next Thursday.

Ah fair enough. I assume you went when Ferrari Land was open during the day, before they changed the hours? Yeah I agree, unless you’re in the front row it’s really juddery, and that definitely took away from the experience for me. I do find it bizarre that Ferrari land has been open since 2017 and they haven't bothered to add another headline attraction? I agree its just Red Force, and that really doesn't have the capacity to be a main draw. Thoroughly enjoyed it there, PA really exceeded my expectations. Nice all round park. El Paso was very good for the price. Gold River does look like quite an upgrade though and obviously has the perk of being right next to Uncharted so definitely one to consider for next time.

I would say just as forceful if not more than Stealth. Obviously red force does have more speed, and that is noticeable. But I would say Stealth takes the crown for me. I prefer the initial launch, being hydraulic the launch is more forceful. The top hat on Stealth I prefer, Red force was too slow on the top hat but obviously did have much better views up there. And just general comfort. Unless you're front row on red force (assigned seating and no front row queue so its rare) its very rough. Even with just lap bars, the vibrations/shaking isn't pleasant.

Something funky is definitely going on with Stealth. It was on one train on 23rd and 24th September, plus the closures above, and now the below also: Cost cutting? Not running it too much to make sure it survives all of Fright Nights? I don't like it - don't hurt her! 🙃

No visible work on Samurai over the last 2 days, and it all appears in one piece, so who knows what's going on...

We visited yesterday (Wednesday) and Tuesday, staying at the Shark Hole.., I mean, Shark Hotel... absolute bargain at £139 for 2 people all in (Shout out to the Vibes breakfast, it's decent!). As reported by the Youtubers etc. - incredibly quiet yesterday and the day previously, with 5 minute queues for Hyperia often (think the most I ever saw was 20 minutes). Stealth peaked at 30 minutes but only because it was on reduced capacity both days. Even with Stealth on 1 train, no Zodiac, no Rapids, no Samurai, no Ghost Train (and on Wednesday - no 4D Cinema too) - for most of the afternoon, all rides were on 5 minutes. The place was absolutely dead, I've never seen anything like it. As much as 5 minute queues are great for re-rides (finally got a Row 1 on Hyperia - Row 2, 1, 2, 10, 2 and 3 if you're asking) and also not having the pressure of trying to fit everything in - is it not a touch concerning JUST how dead it is considering Hyperia is still "new". I went this time last year too mid-week, and it was definitely considerably busier - there was Oktoberfest last year but I don't think that was a particular draw for people....! We don't want a repeat of Swarm-gate with it being deemed a failure and then not getting a new coaster for 12 years...

I'm not sure I'd prefer working in a HHN maze to a Thorpe maze. The whole acting like an animatronic sequencing of the acting style looks incredibly boring compared to the improvisation you get at typical Thorpe and other events but yes first year certainly. That said out in the scare zones at HHN or working shows would be far better!

Plopsaland de Panne recently rebranded themselves to Plopsaland Belgium. This follows suit of the company rebranding other parks, including Holiday Park to Plopsaland Germany. More interestingly, it has been revealed that in 2027, Plopsaland Belgium is getting a Flying Theatre attraction from Mack, called Airific. It will be located near the entrance plaza of the park: https://www.instagram.com/p/DO8LbZ_jH27/?igsh=YWgwcmR4Nndjdmdn

I only got one ride on Red Farce due to the terrible operations and wanting to get back into the park. Was near the back and it's notably juddery, and the brakes at the end I found very harsh. I find that Ferrari Land is a singular ride (Red Farce), which they stretched out into an area, which they stretched out into a "park". It's nonsense really. Seems like you had a decent trip to PA though. I think everyone I know who's done Hotel Roulette has ended up in Hotel El Paso too, but it's a decent little place

Jack Silkstone has posted his Behind the Scenes documentary for FN 2024... It's much the same as his previous BTS, looking at the creation of the marketing video for Fright Nights 2024. One thing I found interested is how - almost in a throwaway comment - Jack mentions how he had been documenting the build for DeadBeat. I've said this a couple of years now, but it would be neat to see a BTS focusing on the coming together of a new attraction. It's probably not as exciting as people expect, but even a timelapse just showing the interior come together is pretty neat (I think the creators of Big Top did one in 2016/17). Aside from that, this video simply shows the labour of love that KA Creative have for creating the videos. I'd argue the after some point, the amount of effort they put in becomes unnecessary / misplaced energy, but there we go.

Very interesting write-up Cal. How did you rate the upturn gradient on Red Force? I.e. does it have the same G-force as Stealth?

Portaventura Trip Report – Day 1 Travel & Hotel Huge bucket list park for me: PortAventura. I’ve been watching vlogs and reading plenty of reports from PortAventura since a young age, but I’ve just never got around to doing it. They don’t have a huge coaster lineup, and with so many mixed reviews, particularly on operations, it’s never been high up on my list to tick off. I found a great deal on the hotel and flights that worked perfectly, so I booked a solo trip. 3 days and 2 nights, arrive Weds 17th and return on Friday 19th. I bagged return flights from Gatwick for £45, and booked Hotel Roulette for £210 (also got £20 cashback so worked out to £190), which also included 3 days entry at PortAventura and 1 entry for Ferrari Land. Absolute bargain. If it was for 2 people it would’ve been an even better deal as the hotel was the same price. Hotel Roulette is slightly cheaper and allocates you a random hotel - I was allocated El Paso. I got an early flight and arrived in Barcelona at around 11. I arrived at the hotel around 2pm, checked in, dumped my bag and walked straight round to the park. Whats that peeking through the trees. PortAventura First impressions were great. Lovely area of the park with great theme music playing, lots of nice seating and food outlets overlooking the lake. Furious Baco was the first attraction I came across being at the entrance, so I headed straight for the single rider queue. I was sat towards the back on the right side (normally being a single rider you get the left side, but as the group I was allocated with sat there I took the empty seat on the right). The initial launch and pop of airtime at the end of the launch is great. Very unique having the launch on an upwards slant too. But from there, I didn’t enjoy any other part of the layout and it was quite rough. Obviously I needed to ride it more and in different seats to share my thoughts properly. Spoiler: it gets worse. Having just arrived I was pretty eager to get on some more coasters, so I walked past Tutuki Splash then a very long way towards Shambhala and Dragon Khan, B&M land. I had no idea where I was going, just following paths till I found the B&Ms. The views of the 2 B&Ms are stunning. On my approach I noticed Dragon Khan was walk-on, so got straight on. I didn’t know what to expect with this - I love an old B&M but had heard lots about it being rough and showing its age. It looks absolutely stunning with its recent paint job, and I loved the colours of the train. And that roar. You just can’t beat the sound of these old B&Ms. And how did it ride? I absolutely loved it. Thought it rode excellently for an old coaster - I really don’t understand the noise about it being rough. It was very forceful, that zero-g roll in particular was ridiculous. The interlocking corkscrews look great. The cobra roll perfectly placed over the brake run looks stunning. Think I prefer this over Kumba, but hard to say as its now been 10 years since I've been on Kumba. But I don't remember Kumba hitting that hard intensity wise. Went straight back round for another go as I thought it was rude not to with no queue. I was then itching for the big B&M towering above me. I walked round to Shambhala and saw the SRQ was chained off, so joined the main queue which was advertised at 25 minutes, but was on in 20 mins. It wasn’t until I got to the station I realised the SRQ was still in use even though it was chained off - you just had to go over the chain or jump the main queue. That explains why I saw a few people jumping the main queue whilst I was waiting. Anyway. Once again, I didn't know what to expect. Lots of mixed reviews - some love it, some say it’s very overhyped. With all these new Intamins with aggressive airtime, I didn’t know if I was going to like it. I loved this thing. Really loved it. Completely exceeded my expectations. Brilliant first drop, and then floater airtime for pretty much the rest of the layout. The turnaround section is ridiculously forceful, a near grey-out on exit, then straight into a speed hill. My favorite part of the layout. The train design is perfect, I particularly love the ‘outer’ seats which pretty much feel like winged seats. The views from the lift hill are great, and I absolutely love the way the 2 lift hills are placed for this and Khan. So unique, and you get some funny interactions when they’re dispatched at similar times. Lots of waves. The splashdown was off but was randomly turned on midway through Thursday. Good fun on the outer seats and you can touch the water. Pretty much a flawless coaster for me and I decided pretty early on this is my favourite B&M. Nice to have a B&M back in my top 10 😃 After a couple more rides using the ‘closed’ SRQ, I continued to wander round the park and came across Hurakan Condor. I love a drop tower, particularly these Intamin ones. It’s brilliantly themed. I didn’t realize the roof was actually a bit tilted until I saw it in person for the first time. Had to Google if it was meant to be like that 🤣 I entered the queue which was very short, and there was no one waiting in the SRQ so I went for that. I was quite surprised to see all 5 towers operating, after seeing other people report it being on 2–3 in peak summer. I had 3 quick rides using the SRQ, first one being standard sit down and the other 2 being stand up tilt. Great drop tower with great views. I didn’t actually realize how huge this thing is until I was there. Bit of a shame you can’t pick to stand up or sit down, even if you were to go in the main queue. I do love the atmosphere around drop towers - it’s always the one ride at a theme park which scares people. Lots of people getting to the front of the queue and requesting the sit-down tower is quite amusing to watch 🤣 I continued to explore and stumbled into the Wild West area. Beautifully themed. I jumped straight on Stampida (blue side) and had no idea what to expect. I do like that you can choose which side in the queue. Groups together were going separately so they can race. It was not very enjoyable at all unfortunately. Very rough/jolty. Shame as it’s a fantastic layout (John Wardley classic), I particularly like the bit where the 2 trains go towards each other. But yeah, too rough to enjoy any of it really. Next up I wanted to try Uncharted. It was advertised at 50 mins, and unfortunately has no SRQ as that’s been replaced by an express queue. Shame this wasn’t designed with both, seeing as it’s a new ride. Even though it had the highest queue on park (which was a running trend) I just went for it as I know it had a terrible capacity and wasn’t likely to change. I hadn’t actually seen much about this coaster so didn’t know what to expect. The exterior and the indoor queue are both fantastic. Very highly themed. It’s a decent ride. The ride system is absolutely fantastic, really comfy trains and fun launches, and it’s brilliant how the ride vehicle rotates. However the theming on ride is dire. It’s just a dark building with a couple of screens. And I really hate that you can see the track in front of you so you know what’s coming. It’s a fairly short ride too, but the main problem is the theming for me. Big shame as that ride has a lot of potential. Fantastic ride system though so I look forward to seeing what other parks do with them. And that was it for my first day. It was about half 5 so I still had half an hour till queues closed, but Ferrari Land opened at half 4 and Red Force was calling my name. Ferrari Land There was only 1 reason I was bothered about Ferrari Land, Red Force, obviously. Walking into the park, everything looked very new and clean, as you’d expect from a fairly new park. Walking towards Red Force, you can’t help but notice the noise it makes. It’s so loud - love it. Sounds like a plane taking off every couple minutes, very fitting with it being Ferrari Land. I headed straight for the SRQ, walking past huge cattle pens almost backed up to the entrance. Main queue was advertised at 30 minutes which was nonsense. Later on in the evening when the queue was 1/3 of the size it was advertised at 1 hour and 20 mins. Strange as they seemed fairly accurate in Portaventura, most of the time. In Ferrari Land though, they were always wrong. This park seriously needs more capacity though. Queues like that on an 'off peak' day. Amazingly, I only waited 15 minutes in the SRQ, and even more amazingly I lucked out and got allocated the front row on my first ride. Thanks to 2 out of a group of 3 being too scared for the front. Unfortunately you have to wear glasses on the front, similar to Energylandia, but that didn’t take away from the ride too much. It’s a great coaster, the launch is fantastic, particularly at the end of the launch you can really feel the LSMs kick in. I love that there isn’t a pause either — straight out the station into a launch. Amazing views on the top hat. No airtime at the top as it goes over very slowly, but you do get some great views. This is the tallest coaster I’ve done and it feels like it when you’re up there. You then have a brilliant drop, and a nice pop of airtime before going into the brakes. I went round another 4 times all in SRQ and was allocated row 5 the first 3 times, then lucked out and got another front row ride. It is a great coaster, but I couldn’t help but feel a little underwhelmed by it. The launch is great, but it really doesn’t have that same kick to it as the hydraulic launches. Which does make me sad I never got to do TTD or Ka in their original forms 💔 It’s a little rough too. Unless you’re on the front row, it shakes a lot the further you get down that launch track, and it isn’t comfortable. I probably prefer Stealth, purely due to the acceleration and it not being rough, but Red Force is still a fantastic coaster and does create a fantastic atmosphere in Ferrari Land. As I mentioned earlier, the noise that thing makes is incredible. On my 5th ride, whilst I was in the airgate, it had a short breakdown. The train advanced onto the launch track but didn’t launch. But it was dealt with quickly - engineers arrived and reversed it back into the station. They sent the train and it was back in operation, all within 10 mins. After 5 laps, I headed over to the Thrill Towers which were walk-on. This park really filters out as time goes on. It gets really busy at PortAventura park close (6pm), but it seems most people go in the park and have 1 lap on Red Force then leave. Except people like me 🤣 1 of the towers is on the ‘shot’ setting and the other is on the drop setting. You don’t get to choose, you just randomly get allocated one. I had 1 go on each. The shot tower was okay but I’ve definitely done better, the drop one was really good though. Very forceful. There wasn’t long left till park close at 10pm, so I decided to spend the rest of the evening on Red Force. The main queue was empty so I just used that, and managed 3 rides which were all in row 2. This also included another 10 minute breakdown, just a quick reset from engineers. This thing is absolutely incredible at night. There was such a good atmosphere too - the only people left in the park were all lapping it, and the staff on offload were encouraging us to run round to get a last ride in. I was on the 2nd-to-last train and everyone was clapping and cheering. Great fun. I then wandered back over to the hotel, had some fajitas in the restaurant (open till 11) which were nice, and went to sleep ready for a full day in the park tomorrow. Wrap up & Operations What a great first day. I just couldn’t believe how nice the park was and instantly fell in love with it - the pathways, landscaping, music, and views all create such a nice atmosphere. The weather was perfect too. Food was reasonably priced for a theme park, though drinks were very expensive. I wizzed round and got a feel for the park in the short time I had there so was looking forward to spending a full day there on Thursday. And the operations? Honestly, better than I expected. I’d heard horror stories, but on my trip it wasn’t too bad at all. I imagine busy days would be different, but I didn’t see much queue jumping or overuse of express. Furious Baco: 2/2 trains Shambhala & Dragon Khan: 2/3 on each (a third wouldn’t have helped, they were stacking). They had all 3 available as they were swapped throughout the 3 days. Hurakan Condor: 5/5 towers Stampida: 1/2 on each side (but didn’t need more) Uncharted: 3/3 trains Red Force: 2 trains (not sure if it can run 3). Again all 3 were available as they were swapped on Thursday. The big issue is Red Force. It’s the headline attraction and it draws a huge crowd, but dispatches averaged around 90 seconds — only about 480 pph. That’s terrible, especially once you factor in express and disabled access. Stealth dispatches faster, even with more seats and seatbelts to check. Red Force needs a better baggage system if they want to seriously increase throughput. They should also advance trains into the station quicker - waiting for the train to clear the top hat each time kills throughput. I didn't see any breakdowns all day apart from the 2 short breakdowns on Red Force. Will write up Day 2 & 3 soon with thoughts on the rest of the park and thoughts on re-rides.

Close one, I'm going tomorrow and Wednesday!

Stealth is scheduled to be closed the next 2 Thursdays.

I have some throughput timings from my trip to Thorpe Park yesterday that I’d like to report! I managed to grab the following timings in the park yesterday: Colossus (Theoretical: 1,300pph on 2 trains): 717pph (unknown number of trains, average of 3, 20th September 2025) Hyperia (Theoretical: 1,050pph on 2 trains): 833pph (2 trains, average of 10, 20th September 2025) Nemesis Inferno (Theoretical: 1,150pph on 2 trains): 977pph (2 trains, average of 5, 20th September 2025), 1,024pph (2 trains, average of 4, 20th September 2025) Saw: The Ride (Theoretical: 1,000pph on 8 cars/2 stations): 742pph (unknown number of trains/2 stations, average of 10 singular cars, 20th September 2025), 788pph (unknown number of trains/2 stations, average of 4 dual dispatches, 20th September 2025) Stealth (Theoretical: 1,000pph on 2 trains): 975pph (2 trains, average of 10, 20th September 2025) The Swarm (Theoretical: 1,100pph on 2 trains): 1,046pph (2 trains, average of 9, 20th September 2025) In terms of some specific insights: Stealth had possibly the best operations I’ve ever seen on there; these operations were phenomenal! The staff were sprinting down the platform, and they were very frequently outpacing the 40s dispatch timer on the platform, something which I’d largely thought redundant in previous years! 70-75 second dispatch intervals were being hit very consistently, and the slowest I saw was about 80s, which is incredible! The Swarm was also operated very well given that it seems to have been a tad inconsistent as of late. When I was in the area, the ride was consistently achieving minimal to no stacking, the staff were efficient, and I saw some dispatch intervals as quick as 90s or below. Great job! Hyperia was operating well, and seems to have improved compared to its opening year, with 80-90 second dispatch intervals being attained pretty consistently where closer to 100-120 seconds seemed par for the course in 2024. From what I could see, the ride was consistently not stacking and was very often dispatching before the train in front hit the brake run; at its quickest, I saw them dispatch when the train in front was negotiating the final outerbank after the splashdown. I do think the slow brake run on here makes throughputs slower than they could be when the ride isn’t stacking; if the brake run was faster, I think it would shave at least 10 seconds off the dispatch interval! Nemesis Inferno seemed to be operating well, with minimal to no stacking being quite frequent. I noticed the staff were trying to hurry people along on here. Overall, then, I thought operations were broadly very good at Thorpe yesterday! Stealth was phenomenally operated, I also thought The Swarm was particularly well operated, and overall, most things seemed to be doing well! I’ve given up hope of Colossus ever attaining a particularly decent throughput at this point, but even that didn’t appear too slow by Colossus standards.

Very well done, rhat's cramming.

Yes it’s been implemented from today I believe

This must have been a very, very recent change, because it certainly wasn’t the case yesterday!

Seen lots online today that non ambulant guests will no longer be able to ride Hyperia, at least for the moment. I imagine this has come from Mack in response to the Stardust Racers incident. Apparently this was getting announced on the PA throughout the day and lots of RAP guests being turned away. Must be frustrating for people that have been on before, but guess it can't be helped if its come from Mack.

My visit to Thorpe Park yesterday made me oddly reflective about my rankings. Why a visit to a park I’ve been to many times made me feel this way, I’m not too sure, but my rides yesterday, particularly Hyperia, definitely made me think about things and definitely made me reconsider some of my ranking positions! As of today, my new look top 10, with some justifying remarks, is as follows (movements underlined): Jurassic World VelociCoaster - Universal’s Islands of Adventure: I have, for some time, been hesitant to put VelociCoaster on the top of my list. However, having thought about it, I think it’s the ride that really most deserves to be my #1, simply because a ride has never hit me quite like VelociCoaster, with my second ride being a particular standout. I was reduced to fits of laughter and awe after it like no other ride I’ve ever been on, and thinking it through, it is probably the most objectively flawless coaster I’ve ridden and there’s not really anything I would change about it. There is so much that this ride does well; it packs a great sense of speed throughout, with the second section in particular feeling ridiculously fast, there are many sublime moments of ejector airtime that really whip you out of the seat, there are some truly brilliant inversions, and overall, it's just a truly stunning, spectacular coaster, in my view! In terms of some specific highlights; it's hard to pick from the wonderful array of sensations on offer. But if I had to choose a few, the second launch is absolutely obscene, packing a euphoric thrill like few other rides I've ever experienced, the top hat is sublime, packing some breathtaking sustained ejector airtime on the back in particular, and the mosasaurus roll is an absolutely mind-blowing inversion that throws you out of the seat with some sublime sustained negative g-forces and ensures that you fly into the final brakes blown away! Overall, VelociCoaster is a truly stunning coaster, in my opinion; its blend of stunning airtime, impactful elements, fun, comfort and rerideability certainly make it a worthy #1! 10/10 Shambhala - PortAventura Park: As someone who has always loved a B&M Hyper, and held Mako as my #1 for many years, I had very high expectations for Shambhala, and it did not disappoint; it’s an absolutely sublime coaster! As with Mako, the sustained airtime is glorious; the first drop is wonderful, and every single hill had brilliant sustained air! But there were a few little things that pushed it the distance above Mako for me. Unlike Mako, Shambhala keeps the thrills going right to the end, with every hill delivering, and as a result, I think it flows a bit better. The enhanced height and speed also really added to the ride compared to Mako and Silver Star for me, and another aspect I loved on Shambhala was the speed hill, which seemed much more notable in my mind than the similar element on Mako. Overall, though, Shambhala was just wonderful, and I loved every single one of the 7 rides I had on it while in Spain! Mako - SeaWorld Orlando: It may not be top dog anymore, but Mako has held a special place in my heart ever since I first rode it back in 2016, and my 2023 revisit to SeaWorld (where I had 5 rides on it) reinforced my love for it! The sustained airtime is absolutely biblical (particularly in moments like the first drop, first airtime hill and speed hill), the sense of speed is wonderful, it's blissfully smooth, and overall, it's just such a fun, thrilling and rerideable coaster that I could (and indeed tried my darnedest to) sit on all day! I truly love this ride, and on my 2023 revisit to SeaWorld, it didn't disappoint! 10/10 Hyperia - Thorpe Park: Yes, it’s not the longest coaster in the world. Yes, it’s a little rough around the edges presentation-wise, with that splashdown and lake looking ever ugly. But my word, all of that gets put aside when I think about just how spectacular the ride experience of Hyperia is! I loved it last year, but I loved it even more this year! I love a good hyper coaster with height and speed, and I also love rides with lots of sustained negative g-forces, so Hyperia ticks all my boxes, really! For a ride that’s not that long, it packs a huge amount of highlights; that first drop is absolutely unhinged, with phenomenal sustained ejector, the drop out of the junior Immelmann also packs phenomenal sustained ejector, the outerbank packs wild sustained weightlessness, and the zero-g stall is also very potent with huge amounts of sustained weightlessness! Heck, even the final outerbank and hill deliver decent weightlessness; few rides show quite so much dedication to the art of throwing you out of your seat for extended periods of time, and every inch of Hyperia delivers, with the speed throughout also being phenomenal and the weightlessness being both impactful and sustained! Further to that, the ride is also so smooth and comfortable, with those Mack trains making it a delight to sit on and ensuring that the ride is never uncomfortable or too much. Overall, then, I absolutely adore Hyperia and think it’s sublime; it’s grown on me every time I’ve ridden it, it leaves me in fits of laughter at the end every time, and it has been a phenomenal addition to both Thorpe Park and the UK more widely! 10/10 Silver Star - Europa Park: I had quite low expectations for this coaster given that it's not overly well liked, but I have to say that I was blown away; I absolutely adored this coaster! It has wonderful sustained airtime, it's smooth and comfortable, it has an awesome sense of speed, the ending is absolutely brilliant, packing some phenomenal ejector airtime (particularly the MCBR exit), and overall, this is a stunning coaster that I absolutely loved! I do rank this below Mako and Shambhala due to my feeling that its airtime, while stunning, never has quite the same impact as some of Mako or Shambhala’s strongest moments, in my view, with the first drop in particular definitely being weaker than Mako or Shambhala’s. While smooth in its own right, it also isn't quite as blissfully smooth as Mako or Shambhala, and further to this, I felt it to be slightly less consistent, as I did have 1 or 2 slightly weaker rides on it during my trip to Europa. Nonetheless, Silver Star is a stunning coaster with phenomenal sustained airtime, and I love how it is incredibly rerideable and keeps the thrills going right to the end with that awesome post-MCBR section! 10/10 Iron Gwazi - Busch Gardens Tampa: This ride is phenomenal! In terms of some key strengths, it’s absolutely relentless in pacing and has some of the strongest ejector airtime I’ve ever experienced, and some of the big hitters in the layout like the first drop, outerbanked turn, death roll and wave turn are truly sensational elements that are right up there with the best, in my opinion! The first drop in particular is insane; whipping you far out of the seat with ejector airtime for a surprisingly sustained period of time never gets old! There are also some absolutely top-drawer moments of ejector airtime elsewhere in the layout, and the ride is smooth and rerideable! In retrospect, I think I was overly harsh on Iron Gwazi at the time I rode it, fixating on its very tiniest imperfections to try and quantify the slight disappointment of it not quite living up to my wildly high expectations on the very first go. This is going to sound odd, but Iron Gwazi is a coaster where the more I sit back and think about it, the more I actually love it. Thinking back, it grew on me considerably the second and third times I did it once the weight of expectation was off its shoulders, and it is genuinely a top tier ride that is more than deserving of a top 10 placement for me! I do wonder if it would go up a few spots with a future reride. 10/10 Wodan Timbur Coaster - Europa Park: Wodan strikes the perfect balance between pure demented insanity and amazing fun factor and rerideability, in my view! It’s an absolutely relentless coaster, with phenomenal pacing right to the end, and it has quite a few really surprising pops of ejector airtime, including an excellent first drop, but it’s also a really smooth and comfortable wooden coaster, and it just manages to be a ridiculous amount of fun! Overall, Wodan is such a fast, airtime-filled and fun coaster that I absolutely loved on my visit to Europa Park! 10/10 Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure - Universal’s Islands of Adventure: Dismiss this as a “family” coaster all you want, but I think such quick dismissal would be a huge mistake, because this ride is phenomenal, in my view! Of the rides in my top 10, I’ll admit that this one probably has the least tangible reason to be there. However, the key reason why Hagrid’s ranks so highly for me is that purely and simply, it is a phenomenally, impeccably fun roller coaster! In terms of some specifics, the low-to-the-ground turns were a lot more thrilling than I expected and the launches were surprisingly punchy and great fun, but unlike many coasters, my love of Hagrid’s is for a much broader reason than any specific features of the ride layout. It is just so, so fun, and the ride will always leave you laughing hysterically and smiling on the final brake run, and that for me is really important. Riding Hagrid’s taught me a crucial lesson about my taste in coasters; it taught me that a coaster does not necessarily need greatness in the form of tangible elements for me to love it, and that fundamentally, all a coaster needs to be is fun. Hagrid’s is not the most intense ride by any means, but if you want pure fun, I’d struggle to recommend many better coasters than this one! 10/10 Icon - Blackpool Pleasure Beach: Going back to Icon after 6 years, I did wonder whether I’d still love it as much as I did in 2019… but if anything, I only loved it more! Icon is not a massively intense ride, but I just find it a huge amount of fun! There’s a great amount of airtime to be had on the ride, for a start; the top hat at the beginning really shines, but the other great moments like the twisty sequence down into the second launch and the junior Immelmann also stand out, amongst others! There’s also some lovely hangtime, with both the first roll and the junior Immelmann providing just the right amount of floatiness without feeling sickly! The twisty layout also keeps the ride feeling interesting, in my view; I ride Icon feeling like I’m twisting and floating all over the place, and I find it so much fun! It’s also so smooth and rerideable with comfortable restraints, and overall, I just find it an immensely enjoyable coaster that definitely remains deserving of a top 10 spot despite me having previously demoted it out of the top 10! 10/10 Ice Breaker - SeaWorld Orlando: I went into Ice Breaker with low expectations in 2023, but I have to say that these were hugely exceeded; Ice Breaker is ace, in my view! For such a small ride, it packs surprising ejector airtime in numerous places; the swing launch is great fun and has airtime in spades, the top hat is brilliant, the junior scorpion tail has some absolutely lovely floaty airtime, and the main layout is punctuated with other fun ejector pops! As well as this, the ride is really smooth, keeps a good pace throughout, and is generally a really fun and rerideable coaster! 10/10 Ice Breaker was more of a beneficiary of Wicker Man going down slightly than something I actively chose to move up. I’ve also made a few changes to my wider top 30, and it is now as follows (changes in italics): Jurassic World VelociCoaster - Universal’s Islands of Adventure (10/10) Shambhala - PortAventura Park (10/10) Mako - SeaWorld Orlando (10/10) Hyperia - Thorpe Park (10/10) Silver Star - Europa Park (10/10) Iron Gwazi - Busch Gardens Tampa (10/10) Wodan Timbur Coaster - Europa Park (10/10) Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure - Universal’s Islands of Adventure (10/10) Icon - Blackpool Pleasure Beach (10/10) Ice Breaker - SeaWorld Orlando (10/10) Wicker Man - Alton Towers (10/10) (While I will always love Wicker Man, and it still reduces me to fits of laughter every time, I think the weight of some genuinely top-tier rides above it now makes it hard to justify putting Wicker Man much higher than this. I also realised on my most recent visit to Alton Towers that it suffers a little from what I call “magic seat syndrome” in that a ride on the back 3 or 4 rows is quite markedly better than a ride elsewhere on the train. I like a ride to be reasonably consistent and deliver something reasonably close to its best experience in any seat at any time, so this “magic seat syndrome” does lose Wicker Man a few points for me, as much as I love it.) Oblivion - Alton Towers (9/10) (As much as I’ve said for years that I preferred SheiKra to Oblivion, my most recent Alton Towers visit made me realise that Oblivion is absolutely my preference out of the two; while Oblivion is short, the speed in that tunnel is insane!) Stealth - Thorpe Park (9/10) (Short though Stealth is, my recent visit reminded me just how much I can’t get enough of that hydraulic launch! The top hat airtime is also brilliant!) SheiKra - Busch Gardens Tampa (9/10) Nemesis Reborn - Alton Towers (9/10) (Some of my recent rides on Nemesis have made me feel that it deserves to be my highest ranked B&M invert ahead of Montu. The sense of speed is awesome, and the layout design is truly inspired, with that first drop-corkscrew-helix-zero-g roll sequence being absolutely legendary! The front row ride in particular is also absolutely wonderful!) Montu - Busch Gardens Tampa (9/10) The Swarm - Thorpe Park (9/10) (My ride on Swarm yesterday was absolutely excellent; it packed great speed, it had some wonderfully floaty inversions, it had good forces, it was smooth, and the restraints were also a lot less bothersome than they have been on some previous rides. I was certainly reminded why The Swarm spent a 2-year stint as my #1 coaster prior to me riding Mako in 2016!) Red Force - Ferrari Land (9/10) Revenge of the Mummy - Universal Studios Florida (9/10) Mine Blower - Fun Spot Kissimmee (9/10) Megafobia - Oakwood Theme Park (9/10) Blue Fire - Europa Park (9/10) Kumba - Busch Gardens Tampa (8/10) Kraken - SeaWorld Orlando (8/10) Nemesis Inferno - Thorpe Park (8/10) (As much as Nemesis Inferno is a really decent coaster in its own right, with very little not to like about it, it didn’t seem to be hitting quite as much for me on my recent Thorpe visit, and I do think it lacks a certain… special spark that makes the original Nemesis so good compared to other looping B&Ms) Rock’n’Rollercoaster - Disney’s Hollywood Studios (8/10) Cheetah Hunt - Busch Gardens Tampa (8/10) Sik - Flamingo Land (8/10) Thirteen - Alton Towers (8/10) (My most recent visit to Alton Towers made me realise that I enjoy Thirteen more than I often think I do, and that it deserves to be a few spots higher than I previously had it!) Gold Rush - Drayton Manor (8/10) (Gold Rush was such a pleasant surprise when I rode it in 2024, and I’d have it pegged at a similar level to Thirteen, so I decided to move it up a touch as well!) Gringotts and Uncharted were reshuffled out of the top 30. In general, I am a firm believer that intensity is not the sole arbiter of ride quality, and I rate coasters based on how fun, thrilling and rerideable they are, and how much I enjoy them. Interestingly, I make this the first time since at least 2014 that I have not had a B&M as my #1 coaster! Although knowing how indecisive I am, I’m sure I’ll want to reshuffle the list again at some point…

Thanks @planenut! I actually completed my Master’s over the summer just gone (I started in September 2024 and handed in my final dissertation just over 2 weeks ago), and have recently joined the wild world of full-time employment!

Another good report Matt along with good pics. Enjoy your studying, remember, it's not luck but you proving your worth.

They were using empty trains following the strong wind closure. Some of those empty tests were agonising in terms of how slow they were; the ride looked close to stalling in that outerbank! When the ride was initially testing before reopening prior to the strong winds, though, they were using water dummies. They were unscrewed, and water was spilling everywhere!