General Discussion

With the Halloween season now in full swing, I thought it'd be a good time to create this topic. What is, or was, your favourite scare maze of all time?

I have sadly yet to do a 'proper' inverted coaster as I did Air (now Galactica) but whether you count it going upside down or not is a completely different question. Rita nearly scared me the first time and to make the ride worse, my head in the wrong position so my head banged from side to side of the OTSR. Th13teen meanwhile did not scare much as it didn't have inversions. This logic has made me wonder what is exactly the thing that scares people. Is it speed/ height (like Stealth) that scares people? Is it inversions (like me) that frightens people? Or is it something else? This thread will be about what exactly scares you on the ride and then tips for how to overcome…

Hi Guys! Next week I’m off to Florida for a couple of weeks and will be doing all of the theme parks (Disney, Universal, Busch Gardens, etc.). I’ve not been before so very excited but wondered if anyone has any quick tips or things to be aware of? Done a lot of research but just realised that here is probably one of the best places to ask!

These two factors are what divide theme park enthusiasts, there will be people who prefer roller coasters to dark rides or vice versa or maybe even both. As you may know by my signature as of November 2016, I prefer the physical feeling you get at amusement parks as opposed to the theme given. I'm not saying I don't like theme because when it's done with a good physical experience, I absolutely love it (e.g. Space Mountain: Mission 2 or Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror). To summarise, my top 15 isn't made by the theme of the roller coasters but instead the actual force by them. So my questions to you all: Do you prefer the feeling of being out …

What is your opinion on Ghost Trains? Personally I love them! My favourites are Hinzen's haunted mansion that is from holland but comes to winter wonderland and Horror Hotel at Brighton pier. I think a ride like the haunted mansion would be good to replace SAW alive cause it's a unique ghost train in the fact that it's suspended

As I am a funfair lover as well as a theme park lover I wondered what is everyone's favourite funfair ride?

Hello there everyone, My inspiration for this thread came from Thorpe Park's Park Music Thread. As that one is for discussion on Thorpe Park's music only, I decided that I would set one up for every other park (Disney, Six Flags, Busch Gardens etc).The first thing that I wuod like to know is:Is there anywhere I can find the park music from Busch Gardens Tampa or not?Welsh

Whilst browsing Facebook, I came across a video of some creepy stories from Disneyland California, and I was wondering if anyone else has a creepy ghost story or two from any theme parks? I've read some stories about the ruins at Towers, but not specifically about rides. If this isn't in the right place, please move it to wherever it belongs!

Simulator Theme Park Plunge Kills Six Death on Maurer Sohne Spinning Coaster1 dead in major accident at Tibidabo, Barcelona.All in under a month. This is worrying :PCould theme park bosses possibly be making cut-backs due to the recession, resulting in less thorough checks taking place?

Starting a conversation for the best ride documentaries you’ve seen. Great to discover new info on rides you even think you already know and great to watch when there’s nothing on tv! I’ll start off with this Documentary on probably the greatest Huss Top Spin ever built:

I've just had several great days at Alton Towers.Yet I've been blacking out on Nemesis. I've been on it 5 times.Is it something I should worry about? I've come back from the park a little worried about this and and worried whether this will harm or affect me long-term in my life.The blackouts usually occur as halfway through the helix (or Zero G roll?), after the first corkscrew, and although I "see" white, not black, my vision is usually back as we exit the second corkscrew over the station. This means the ride photo you see of me is during a blackout.The only other ride I get blackouts on is Colossus, it happens as we exit the loop, meaning I miss half the bunnyhop.Is t…

Hi guys. I was curious to know; have any of you ever had any theme park related dreams? I only ask because I had a very weird theme park dream last night that I couldn’t not share… Basically, it revolved around my first day at Europa Park, which is coming up in real life in 6 days’ time. And it was one of those dreams where every little thing was stopping me from getting into the park and riding any rides… but far from a regular one. Buckle up, because this dream is weird… Things got off to a good start after a wonderful sleep in Hotel Castillo Alcazar (actually, I’m not sure what hotel it even was… it certainly didn’t look like Castillo Al…

Hi guys. Of all the things that can happen at a park, a spite is probably the most gutting. I'm sure we've all had an occasion where a ride has been closed for the day, or it's broken down, that means we haven't been able to ride it. But sometimes, some might voluntarily choose not to ride something for whatever reason. Whether it's through fear or just plainly forgetting it exists, we might sometimes choose not to go on a coaster. With this in mind, I'd be interested to know: have you ever self-spited yourself out of a major roller coaster? Have you ever voluntarily not ridden something for whatever reason? For purposes of limitation, I'm going to keep this t…

Back when Tussauds were operating the annual pass, I'm fairly sure Heide Park was included on the list of attractions you got in to for free, but now that Merlin are in charge is that still the case?I can't find any mention of Heide Park on the UK annual pass site and it seems that a German Merlin Pass exists so it doesn't seem likely but I figured I'd check.Thanks in advance.

Home haunts, yay or nay, have you ever been in one, worked in one, share videos, pictures and experiences here!

Hey, guys.We're having John back on The Season Pass Podcast, so please leave any question you may have for him here, or email me at nick@seasonpasspodcast.comThis is a great opportunity, so I really urge you to take good chance of it!Looking forward to hearing from all of you!

Not sure why I felt the need to post this tbh. The thought suddenly hit me. I lurk a here lot for some bizarre reason but the last time I actually visited a theme park was ~5 years ago, that being Thorpe Park. I have not visited Chessington for almost 10 years and Alton in over a decade. I live a bus ride away from london winter wonder land but can never be bothered to visit. I got into theme parks around 15 years ago. As a child, my parents would take me at least once a year to one of the tussauds parks and enjoyed those times very much. Nowadays, with the rising admission prices and crucially, what you get for that price. I just cannot justify going to …

So IAAPA is upon us and there are some great new rides on display! All photos are coutesy of TPR New El Loco Trains! Model of Thunderbolt by Zamperla, now in red. Mack's new Drop 'N' Splash Train of the New junior GCI woodie going to LEGOLAND FLORIDA! The Lightning Run train of the reopening Kentucky Kingdom! Firechaser Express Train. Goliath Woodie train! Video footage of the just announced tallest, fastest, longest GCI woodie ever, Viper at Wanda Park, Nanching, China! The Smiler, Now an off the shelf gerst model! Just announced the future worlds supposed tallest coaster a Polercoaster 525ft tall. vine of the mack Drop 'N' Splas…

I'm sure one was done last year, let's have a generic one anyways to bump it annually... So IAAPA is off once again, so far the most interesting things to come out of it is Maurer Sohne announcing a Wing-Coaster concept and Mack testing spinning cars on Blue Fire... Who knows what might come up the next two days... Seriously, a spinning car on Blue Fire?!

I am currently a final year student and would appreciate any information that helps me complete my dissertation. All information provided will remain anonymous and confidential. So I am trying to find out what is it about the newness of rides that excites you and how important do you think it is for TPs to tell a story through each ride? Finally I would like to know if there are some rides that you go on that give you the same amount of enjoyment no matter how many times you go on them and why do you think that is?

Twenty people have been injured in an accident involving a ride at Blackpool’s Pleasure Beach.They were treated by paramedics, with some suffering suspected broken bones and neck injuries in the incident on Tuesday evening.A spokesman for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said they had received a call at 7.54pm reporting that two cars had crashed on the Big Dipper. At 9pm, firefighters, including the urban search and rescue team and specialist rope rescue team, were still working to rescue one person trapped on the ride.Source: Lancashire Evening Post

What do you mean we don't have an Intamin thread?! Oh well, here goes... Intamin last year announced several new ride types to their offering. They've now uploaded some videos... Ultra Splash: A take on Mack's PowerSplash (aka Pulsar) model Giga Splash A take on Mack's SuperSplash model (see SuperSplash at Plopsaland) Vertical LSM coaster: A take on Premier's Sky Rocket II model Hot Racer: A take on RMC's single rail (Raptor) concept. Unlike RMC Raptors, a specific focus on launches (something RMC have said they wish to avoid with the Raptors altogether)…

This is the product of 2 former GCI employees. GCI being a company whom makes insane woodies, I am very interested to see what they bring to the coaster community! source: http://skylineattractions.com/

Are other British Theme Parks going down the drain?Alton: The place is supposed to be number 1 and they cant even get half the things they want right. The Flume, Enterprise and Submission are crap, Gloomy Wood and Katanga Canyon haven't seen development in ages. Adventure Land is crap and UG Land have major theme clashes. Oblivion, Nemesis and AIR are the only things they got right.I love Alton Towers, so this is heartbreaking that they had effin locals being so damn out of order - don't they realise that they are keeping the local town from going bust.Other Merlin Parks:CWoA: No new ride or coaster since 2004 - 6 years (assuming 2010 is our year) But I love the 2009 deve…

Hi guys, I'm Ellie and I'm an undergraduate student in my final year of study at Edinburgh Napier University. As part of my final year I need to write a dissertation and mines is focusing on challenges facing the UK theme park industry either currently or in the near future. As a result of this I'm undertaking primary research in terms of a survey in order to gain perspective on how UK theme park visitors perceive their visits. I need as many responses as possible and hence, would like to ask you all to take a couple of minutes to participate.The survey can be found here: https://survey.napier.ac.uk/n/zz4p6.aspx Any response is greatly appreciated.Thanks in advance!