General Discussion

A bit of a weird question… but one I’ve thought of a few times over the years. When a ride unexpectedly goes down for a few weeks, for example Wicker Man at the moment due to the fire, that suddenly leaves a team of staff stranded. I assume it must take a team of around 15ish people to staff a ride like Wicker Man permanently, considering shifts, days off, etc. that’s quite a few people knocking about all of a sudden with no ride to operate! For those who have worked at the parks, what happens to these staff during the time their ride is closed? I assume they are seconded to other rides, although surely they are then over-staffed on tho…

MOD EDIT: Moved to new topic for polls in general as they come round frequently and generate a bit of discussion... So In the Mitch Hawker Polls Nemesis and The Smiler were voted the UK's best coasters rating at #9 and #38 respectively, here was the rest of the UK chart... see if you agree!

Hi guys. You may remember the other day that I created a thread about parks you like more than most and parks you like less than most, and as a follow-up to that one, I thought it might also be fun to tackle that topic from the perspective of roller coasters; so, what are some roller coasters you like more than most and roller coasters you like less than most? I’ll get the ball rolling with some of my choices for each category… I could pull up quite a few nominees in both categories for this, but to keep it fairly short, I’ll stick to 5 coasters for each category. Coasters you like more than most Wicker Man, Alton Towers - To most, this is seemingl…

Wasn't sure where to put this thread but if anyone has any pictures of any ride control panels... post them here to make fanboys go "ooooooh"

With the recent announcement of the Universal theme park for the UK, I’ve been wondering about the prospect of other similar mega-parks opening up in this country. There was of course the proposal for the Swanscombe Peninsula theme park, but this has been kicked into the long grass. Then I had an idea. Many British theme parks aren’t really themed around British culture, and with the rise in popularity of immersive experiences and living museums, I think this would be a good opportunity to trial a combined theme park and living museum attraction, that educates the British public on their country’s history through rides and experiences. I’m not expecting this to b…

Can anyone tell me the rules for coaster credits because I really want to do mine, thanks in advance!

So there's no denying that some are cred chasers. So here's the cred thread. Talk about any cred aims here and stuff. I'll start by asking, whats your coaster credit that you think no one else will have? Mine are Gebirgsbahn(12) and Grand Canyon Bahn(13) which burnt down at Phantasialand in 2001. I rode them in 2000 on a school trip. (RCDB) Burn baby burn.

I was just wondering how everyone else feels about the current state of the theme park industry in the UK? My thoughts are that with the majority of theme parks and attractions including the top 3 theme parks in the UK there is a distinct lack of competition in the UK's theme park industry that would find in other countries say for example in Europe or America, I feel like if they were under different ownership things would be much better for theme park industry in the country as currently in honesty I am not entirely satisfied with how they have run the three parks, the key points that make me feel it would be better for the countries theme park industry if the parks we…

choose which one is better

Which of these famous Orlando resorts do you prefer?Although I love both, I have gone for Disney because of its charm.

Hi guys. With Thorpe Park Mania being a Thorpe Park fansite, many of the site's discussions centre heavily around attractions operated by Merlin Entertainments. One of Merlin's key products designed to appeal to people who visit Merlin attractions more frequently is the Merlin Annual Pass, which gains you entry to all of Merlin's UK attractions for a whole year, amongst other privileges. I'd wager that some on here visit Merlin attractions pretty often, but at the same time, some hold great disdain towards Merlin and want to give the company as little of their money as possible. With this in mind, I'd be interested to know; do you currently have a Merlin Annual Pass, and …

hello pals, to cut a long story short but still quite long as this is me, I'm currently carrying out a research project that's basically looking at motion sickness on theme park rides (as well as how and why any treatments work by looking at how they react with the body on a molecular level... did you know the nhs suggests antihistamines to help?? ok I'll stop, I wont bore you with that nonsense) and before I can begin even thinking about trying to write up the dissertation, I need to do my research. for the whole cause and effect aspect of it I need to be able to ramble on about what triggers such adverse symptoms and I'm hoping to contact some parks and pote…

Hi, I'm thinking of visiting Drayton Manor soon. Does anybody know of any current promotions on entry prices or Buy one get one frees etc?

As a regular theme park visitor for 9 years now, I've had many dreams. Usually nothing adds up and the layout is always different Anyone else had a crazy or normal dream about a park or ride or attraction?

Mods - if this is better placed elsewhere, please move! I'm fascinated by what people will pay for on eBay that's theme park related so thought I'd start a topic to discuss/share odd items etc. relating to our beloved Merlin Theme Parks. Some recent auctions I've found - these are "Sold" items, not unsold items with high start prices - real life money changed hands! I've omitted some listings for genuine old-skool memorabilia (Thorpe Rangers etc) as I can see there is actual value in that... I do know that everything has a price depending on how much people want it! Air Pin badge: £82.00 Thirteen Staff badge: £72.00 Alton Towers 2016 & DBGT Staff Ba…

Us enthusiasts are commonly labelled as 'stupid' and 'weirdos', so I thought it'd be cool to see how everybody did at school as I know a lot of you guys are probably actually extremely clever! I myself got 6 A*s, 3 As and a B at GCSE and just found out today that I got 3 As at A levels! Not trying to brag but I am definitely not 'stupid'... the 'weirdo' one is debatable though!

right I didn't know what topic to put this in so just thought I'd put it in this one since it's not at a theme park but it's an attraction! a new trend of attraction called Escape rooms are popping up all over the world and there is one in London! two games with one hour to escape the rooms! what does everyone think of this? cool or not?http://www.escaperooms.co.uk/thegames.html

Hi guys. In recent memory, two (as far as I'm aware) theme parks have won the Golden Ticket Award for Best Theme Park in the World. They're two pretty different theme parks, but they share the award in common, and they are Europa Park in Germany and Cedar Point in the USA (or Ohio, to be more precise). So my question to you today is; which of these two GTA winners do you prefer? I obviously can't pass judgement, having never visited Cedar Point. For what it's worth, though, I have visited Europa Park, and I have to say that I think the park is more than deserving of its high reputation; it's unbelievably versatile! You have awesome coasters (for me at least; S…

Hi guys. Europa Park and Phantasialand are Germany’s biggest, and arguably most revered, theme parks, and both of them get a high amount of praise from enthusiasts. But I’d be intrigued to know; which of the two do you personally prefer? I’ve visited neither, although I am rectifying that in April with my first visit to Europa Park, which I’m very excited about! But which park do you prefer? A similar thread done on another forum I’m on is currently seeing Phantasialand emerge victorious, but I’m intrigued to see how things play out on here!

Not 100% sure if this is the right place to ask for advice on this so feel free to move if needed. Hi everyone, I'm currently in the stages of planning a theme park trip round Europe for the summer next year to celebrate finishing my A-levels with some of my friends. This is the first big theme park trip that I've planned so I'm not fully sure on how to do things and was thinking that people on here might have some advice for me! Currently we're thinking that the trip will be 3 weeks long, beginning after the last contingency day in the last week of June, and are planning to visit 9 parks (10 if you count Portaventura and Ferrari Land as seperate)…

Well heres a place to discuss the wonderful fairs we have!Earlier this evening was at a fair, didnt have that much but 2 rides stood out, firstly the orbiter was a totally amazing very fun and very forcfull! But secondly a Fabbri Top Spin, I thought this totaly amazing, especially compared to ripsaw/ramesis! Whist the fabbri one is smaller it is alot more comfortable and intense, I can honestly say for 99% of the ride I was not touching the seat, totally awesome!

Everyone has that emotion, that plus 1 attraction you've queued an hour for expecting a dull or boring experience, when suddenly mid ride a moment of pure excitement erupts for a few seconds before the ride resumes it's rather bland affair with life... What are your standout moments of awful/dull/average rides? This could be any part of any ride... To start off, the tunnel dive on Vampire and Runaway Train are both memorable moments on bang average rides... Baco's awfulness is at odds with the launch sequence... Most Intamin coasters have that fantastic first drop then meander for ages... Let's try and have some proper discussion eh?

I've decided to steal a topic I saw on another forum because I think it's quite interesting and I'd like to know what you guys reckon. What is your favourite drop (including lift if you want) that you have experienced? Mine would be no questioned asked Karnan. The insane, intense, amazing stuff that happens on the lift is only the beginning. When the actual drop comes it's one of the most intense moments I've ever experienced on a coaster. Back row, left seat, ejected so forcefully it hurts as you are twisted to the right and it feels like mere inches from you crashing into the tower structure, life altering! Honorable mentions would go…

It was rather interesting to see your replies to favourite Coaster drops so I'm back to ask about the other way of kicking coasters into gear (or keeping them rolling). What is your favourite Coaster launch section? I reluctantly have to award this one to Taron's second launch section. The sound, the sudden and intense kick of acceleration and the way the train shakes like it's falling apart, it's fantastic. I can't really think of any runners up at the moment, however I'll be riding Dodonpa and at least 1 of the Chinese S&S launchers next year so I hope that will change things. Over to you!

Recently I visited Warwick Castle and with it The Castle Dungeon which now leaves me only needing to visit York to complete the full set of UK Dungeons and as I left, I was asked what my favourite of the Dungeons is. So I'm going to ask you all your opinions as to what your favourite one is!! For me its 1st Edinburgh 2nd London 3rd Blackpool 4th Warwick Castle I will squeeze York into that list if I ever get round to it!!