General Discussion

Thought this would be an interesting to see peoples opinions so choose your answers via the pole and give your reasons below.

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

I was wondering do Merlin do apprenticeships as I am in my 3rd year at college studdying Electrical installation.

Disclaimer: I apologise in advance, as this post is quite long. There is a TL;DR at the bottom for those who would like one. Hi guys. As many of you probably know, Duel, Alton Towers’ interactive haunted house-style dark ride, recently closed for a retheme and is reopening in 2023. Speculation is rife throughout the UK enthusiast community about what this retheme could entail and what it might be like, but one thing I’ve noticed is that there are a considerable number of people who wish for the park to go down the nostalgia route. These people are clamouring for the ride to be returned brick by brick to exactly how it was when it first opened in 1992, as though the 2…

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 …

Manufactures Ride mechanics love and hate Interesting video by a ride mechanic on their favourite and least favourite ride manufactures to work with. Favourite - B&M, Vekoma, Gerstlauer, GCI Least favourite - Zamperla, Intamin, Larson, Skyline, Undecided - Premier

Hi guys. With all of us being into theme parks, I’m sure most of us know where our nearest theme park is, or our “local park” so to speak. Whether you visit it often or it’s somewhere you don’t really pay much attention to, we all have one. With this in mind, I’d be really interested to know; where is your local park and how often do you visit? Do you pay a lot of attention to your home park, or is it somewhere that you largely ignore? Personally, I live in Gloucestershire, so I’m in the no man’s land of major theme parks better known as the South West of England. As such, my answer might be a tad more complicated than for those of you who are lucky enough to …

S&S have just announced a new coaster concept in time for IAAPA with footage of a working prototype ~ AXIS

So due to boredom I have decided to make a thread to rank the Merlin Parks. This will be by recent investments and just how each park fall in the hierarchy. I think this will be a lot harder than Cedar Fair and Six Flags as Merlin is pretty even with their parks tbh. I'm gonna be ranking all of the abroad parks but I will lump the Legoland's into one category because ranking them individually would take a while. A Tier: Alton Towers Easily the most loved Merlin Park. When this park receives a coaster, its usually very high quality and unique. They usually have good in between years to boot, with constant money being thrown into their hotels, t…

Hey Guys, Just wondering what everyone thinks of theme parks using mobile apps nowadays e.g. Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Legoland etc.. I think a lot of American theme parks use mobile apps as well like Disney and Universal, but anyway.. If anyone has used a theme park mobile app before then let me know, I'm curious to find out how the experience was. Thanks

Hey everyone I'm 17 and I'm planning on trying to get a job at Brighton Pier in the summer time (this year or the next two).and I wondered if anyone knew what it was like to work there (like good pay/nice place to work etc) if anyone could help out many thanks!

Hi guys. We all have our favourite coasters, those rides that we rank really highly; for me, rides that come to mind in this category include phenomenal coasters like Mako, VelociCoaster, Silver Star, Hagrid's and Iron Gwazi, amongst others! Often, there will be a common thread running through our favourite coasters in terms of certain attributes they share to some degree. With this in mind, I'd be interested to know; what do you generally favour in a coaster? What makes a coaster good for you? What kind of coaster elements and attributes really tick your boxes? Personally, I'm going to answer this through both an analytical and instinctive lens. L…

Twenty-five years ago, Thorpe Park was a completely different place to today. It was a much more family-oriented park with no inverting rides, only two roller coasters and more in the way of gentle rides and educational experiences. Chessington on the other hand had more in the way of intense rides at the time with Vampire, Rameses Revenge, Rodeo and the newly opened Rattlesnake. The latter was definitely considered to be the most thrilling of the Surrey theme parks throughout the ‘90s. 1998 was the year Tussauds Group purchased Thorpe, although I have been wondering whether they always had vision to swap the target audiences of Chessington with Thorpe, and wh…

thought id start a topic on knock off rides! here is the latest one! a zamperla knock off

Hi everybody, Has anybody taking up this offer or think its worth it?http://www.capitalfm.com/london/charity/buy-merlin-annual-pass-nearly-half-price/Any thoughts will be much appreciated. ST

I was having a look at buying a MAP and I was wondering if there will be a half price annual pass sale at the begining of 2013? I would like to get it cheaper and still be able to save money Thanks

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?

Genuinely thought we had a Vekoma thread somewhere, but clearly not.. But it's fine, we need one... During this week's IAAPA, Vekoma are revealing 4 new generations of some of their coasters. Flying coaster is one of them (see Phantasialand), another one is the upgraded version of their SLC... Called the Suspended Thrill Coaster (STC), the new off-the-shelf model features two inversions and a significantly different layout. The last "new" SLC is set to open in China sometime over the next year or so I believe. After that, the STC takes over as the only off-the-shelf suspended model Vekoma will sell. Given that Ma…

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/

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!

Trailer for Behind the Attraction Season 2 on Disney Plus. Looks like attractions covered are: Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Indiana Jones Adventure Also firework shows and food Behind the Attraction Season 2

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…

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!

Pick 1/6 for the 3 questions

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!