General Discussion

When talking about theme parks, most people have one park which got them into rides before they started visiting more parks. For me, my first park was Paulton's, however I started to get into slightly bigger rides at Funland, Hayling Island (where they had a Pinfari Zyklon coaster which I thought was amazing ), however BPB really turned me into a theme/amusement park fan when I first visited the park in 2004. Which was your first theme park, or the one that started your enjoyment of rides?

OK, which worldwide ride do you want to go on the most. Mine is proberly kingda ka as it is the WORLDS tallest and fastest coaster and I bet theres nothing like accelarating from 0-128mph in 3.5 seconds!

Hey, so I LOVE the Halloween event at Thorpe Park, I have been to theirs now for a couple of years but have never tried out any other parks Halloween events. Which UK Theme Park is the best for Halloween events? I think Thorpe Parks event is amazing and I love how they smoke the park out in the evening and the horror mazes, but can another park out do them? Love to hear your thoughts and opinions :lol:Many thanks, TomW

Now all the wing riders are fully in action I have re-started this topic again! Which wing rider train looks better? Furius Baco Raptor Wild Eagle Or X-Flight I did not add The Swarm this time because I wanted people to choose the other section of wing-riders other than our own

Hi guys. Queues are a fact of life at theme parks; the attractions only have a finite throughput, and demand can often outstrip supply at a given moment. Therefore, queues formed on a first-come-first-served basis are a necessity to ensure order within theme parks and to ensure that everyone is treated fairly when trying to experience an attraction. One increasing school of thought within the theme park industry is to incorporate virtual queueing instead of a physical queue, where guests can go off and do other things, such as eating, drinking, shopping and watching shows, whilst “queueing” for an attraction. Many theme parks have incorporated this principle i…

Hi guys. In a Thorpe Park trip report thread I was just reading over on CoasterForce, Serena from CoasterForce made this really interesting post: “Okay, I'll bite. Families with young children who go to Thorpe Park simply don't do their research. It's not the parks fault if they have a disappointing day. It's like going to a vegan restaurant and moaning there's no meat options. If you look at their marketing, Thorpe don't bill themselves as a family park. It's almost always groups of young adults / teens in their photos. That's their target demographic, clearly. When talking about "what is there to do for families…

I am currently a final year university student undertaking a dissertation on whether innovation can cause repeat visitation to the same theme park. I am trying to find out how significant an impact innovation has on potential visitors when deciding to visit theme parks. If you have visited two different theme parks I would like to know why you chose to visit a different theme park instead of returning to the first one you visited? Do you think that innovation such as new rides, shows, new areas of the park or improvements to existing rides, shows and the use of mobile applications and devices could have caused you to return to the first park instead of visiting a differen…

Since Nemesis open in 1994 the UK has not produced a world class coaster. Will any UK park ever produce another world class coaster?

I'm currently writing an extended project regarding the future of roller coasters - and I need a bit of help! My dissertation discusses whether or not there will be a place for roller coasters in the leisure industries of the future - and I require some primary data from which I can draw a conclusion. Hence, I would be delighted if you took a minute out of your day to fill in this short survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfSNAgCTe2izI_j_HA691SdR1xNQJ2s5XyaVR3fx3t5oXpZPA/viewform?usp=sf_link I need as many responses as possible - so please forward this link to anyone else you know who would be happy to complete it! …

Hi guys. Disney and Universal are arguably the two biggest names in the theme park industry, and their brand of park is quite a different product to any others on Earth. While many parks seem to have the big coasters as their main selling point, the big 2 aim for a more holistic experience, with the coasters often being sidelined in favour of a greater emphasis on different elements, such as dark rides, shows, and immersive themed environments. As such, these premium parks often don’t tend to build especially extreme coasters, particularly in the case of Disney and particularly in more recent years. Don’t get me wrong, the big players have built thrill rides, but they oft…

Great article posted by Theme Park Tourist with details of a park planned by Tussaurds before they took on Alton instead. Really worth a read through, one thing particularly worth mentioning though... What's that? It's a racing woodie, that's what. Shame the local authority were so adamant they wouldn't allow any of this development, I'm sure in the long run it would have been great for the local area. Planning really is the scourge of theme parks in this country.

Hi guys. I don’t know about any of you, but one thing I personally like doing at theme parks is timing ride throughputs and observing the operations on rides. With this in mind, I decided to make a thread for like-minded people who are interested in throughputs and operations to share their throughput timings and operational insights from parks around the world. Whether your timings and operational insights are from Chessington, Europa Park, Six Flags, Cedar Fair, Oakwood or anywhere else in the world, I’d love to hear about them and I’m sure many others would too! My reason for deciding to create this thread is because I have some throughput timings and opera…

What's the worst funfair ride you have ever been on?! Mine is Bugg's oblivion (KMG freakout) it has the same jingles over and over and does not go on for long!

I have seen other forums do this when I have snooped over, and I have seen top 10 best coasters on here, so lets talk about the worst coasters we have been on. It doesn't have to be a top 10 as per say, just one particular coaster you hate with a passion and say why you hate it. The one coaster I hate is Space Mountain in DLP, the last time I went on it I felt like my head had been violated and I had a bad migraine for about 3 hours afterwards. Yeah its not one I'm going to go on again. SO what's yours!

what's the worst thing that has happened to you or seen at a theme park? eg. stuck on ride for a long time, no rides open, injuries, waiting in queue because something has happened any thing like that. I have had a couple!

Hi everyone, I have decided to start a series of polls where you can do a series of votes being: Would you ever ride it? Would it fit in at an UK theme park? Would you put it in Thorpe Park? As we all know, the 2013 season has begun and the 2014 season will be here before we know it. People look for 'new' rides at theme parks not just gimmicks **cough** the swarm backwards **cough** so I am basically seeing what you guys would think would be a good new ride at a UK theme park. The rides I put in these polls will all be 'intense' and will be suited for the more extreme parks of the country mainly focusing at thorpe park. The first ride in the series of polls is flying ci…

Sorry guys for this being late, once again, but I just completely forgot about it! Anyway, lets get down to business You vote on these three questions: Would you ever ride it? Would it fit in at a UK theme park? Would you put it in thorpe park? The ride up this week is.... ROLLOVER! This is a ride designed by mondial and seats 40 people. As I said in the last topic, this ride is like a topspin. Except, it flips you sideways! The reason I have put this on instead of some zamperla windshear etc. is because we already have topspins at thorpe and this is like a topspin(for all those all wanted one) but it is on a new dimension And as mondial have said: 'The design of…

What is Your Favorite and why

What is your favourite coaster maker and favourite flat ride maker? Mine is Gersaulter, B&M and Maurer Sohne and my favourite flat ride makers are KMG, mondial, Fabbri and Tivoli

This topic is about your favourite ride photos. Not On Ride photos, I mean photos of the actual ride it'self.Mine are some photos I took of Thorpe at sunset. EDIT: Can you try and keep it to a minimum of 3 photos please, I don't want this topic to have about 200 photos a page

After the brief discussion about DBGT's entrance sign a while back, I've been thinking about what my favourite ride signs / logos / entrances are. A couple of mine that spring immediately to mind... Challenge of Tutankhamon, Walibi Belgium. My personal favourite. Chiapas, Phantasialand Tidal Wave Huracan, Bellewaerde DBGT's is pretty decent too So share; what's your favourite?!

I was just wondering what all your favourite theme park soundtracks/Theme Music is? Like for example I love this roller coaster soundtrack on Euro Mir: and I love Samurai's soundtrack too! So what are your favourite theme park soundtracks, they can be a general theme park track like the one they play at towers street or one off a flat or coaster, you could even say which one you hate! I just want to know because I feel a soundtrack really sets the mood and atmosphere for the ride!

Hi guys. As of late, I've noticed that roller coaster names seem to have become a lot more divisive than they used to be. From tongue twisters like Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure to nods to modern slang like Sik, enthusiasts are increasingly beginning to question some of the decision making that goes into naming roller coasters at times. So the question I ask you today is; if the names that parks are churning out are sub-par, then what unused roller coaster names do you feel would be better? What are some of your favourite potential roller coaster names that haven't been used? What names do you think would sound really cool if applied to a ride? …

Hi guys. Ever since Disneyland first opened in 1955, the idea of "magic" has been a cornerstone of much of the theme park industry, and over the years, theme parks have become almost intrinsically linked with the concept of "magic", particularly in the case of parks that err more on the family-friendly and/or heavily-themed sides. Nowadays, "magic" is quite possibly one of the biggest marketing clichés in the theme park industry; many, many theme parks use magic as a key selling device within their advertising and propaganda. Building upon this, my question to you today is; what are some of the most magical theme park moments you've ever experienced? What are some of thos…

Hi guys. I don’t know about any of you, but as a theme park enthusiast, I find that every theme park day is pleasurable in its own way. However, the pleasurability of these days does vary, so with that in mind; I’d be intrigued to know; what have been some of your most and least pleasurable theme park days? These don’t necessarily have to equate with your most and least favourite parks; you might have had a terrible day at a park you love, and equally, you might have had a great day at a park you don’t rate that highly! I’ll get the ball rolling with some of mine… Most Pleasurable Europa Park (29th April 2022) - I loved all 3 days at E…