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I'm glad people are liking the new (ish) WWTP around Stealth and I'd like to thank tech for getting it up. Stealth is a bit of a personal project of mine, having painted the poles on the station last year, US flag replacement, White-wall tyres, cleaning the buildings/stairs, helped with the new banners, offload announcement and the soundtrack. Hopefully more to come. Having listened to it through while operating the ride, I have noticed a few volume issues that can be corrected in the editing. It was made it 2015 when I had less experience. I've actually re-edited it already to the point the audio wave form is perfectly balanced (thanks Audacity!). I have had a play at doing the Tidal one as well, as currently how its been edited sounds terrible. I've been all around the 50 speakers that are on Stealth and plan to put together a plan of what is wrong over there. In a nutshell, 4 802's (PLAZA area) are dead/missing as well as 6 queue speakers so it will be a bit quiet compared to before. I'll try and get them submitted when I'm back in. For now, sit by teacups enjoy some of the commercials and segments that haven't been heard for years. Go Go Go with... constipo!

What's with going round everywhere replacing older tracks with more modern, homogenous pieces? Its not that broken idea of "we're bigger now, we can do better" again is it? Some of the nicest bits about Thorpe Park was the sound design and atmosphere around Colossus and Inferno. Why ruin something that was perfectly fine in the first place? Is it just so you can brag to the enthusiasts about having IMAscore everywhere? I'm all for improving audio where necessary. Why not? But replacing well-suited tracks with cut and paste IMAscore formula is not a good move... Clearly music at theme parks is still gravely misunderstood.

So Chessington do some low key theming and advertising outside one of their mazes and get slated. Thorpe and Towers do nothing but fencing and shipping containers outside and that's cool. Never happy are enthusiasts..

no.

Prater Trip Report So I recently went to Vienna and had some spare time so went to visit Prater. It's basically a permanent fairground with all rides being operated independently. This makes it quite an expensive experience and the rides aren't the best with quite a few Wild Mouses (should that be Wild Mice?!) but that said it was a good way to kill a few hours... So arriving at the park you're met with the Big Wheel, which is why most people come to Prater. The entrance plaza is quite nice. The map is pretty confusing. Unless you know the names of the ride you wont really know where to go. So I wondered down the right hand path and found a Wild Mouse, which I avoid like the plague, and this: a Pinfari called "Super 8er Bahn" and it is fairly decent. I remember the days of Drayton Manor's sombrero ride....and therefore decided not to give this a go. Below is Maskerade - a Gerstlauer Spinning Ride with "themeing". It starts with a vertical lift which makes the experience quite unique. It span quite a bit. When I got off the ride I realised the cashier/ride operator had decided to bugger off. Which was...reassuring. Is a Boomerang really a Boomerang if it gets lifted up both sides? I didn't ride this as I was being careful with my funds so moved on to Hollenblitz. This was by far the most expensive ride at €7! But it was also the craziest. I had to wait a while in the station whilst they waited for move people to board. The inside is best described as a drug-induced trip. The carriages free spin which provides for a really interesting ride and means you to be hand rotated as it comes into the station. So then we move onto this monstrosity...A Zamperla flyer called Volare. First you have to climb into the "seats" which isn't comfortable as you have you actually apply pressure on your feet. The spiral lift his is interesting but because of the loose nature of the restraints every inversion is ridiculously painful. I would never ride this again. Ever. Worse than an SLC. IMG_6934.MOV < - Here is a video of the lift hill if this works at all? I don't know. There are lots of "Ghost Train" style rides. I didn't ride any as I don't think they're always worth the money and I was by myself. I think they're less fun alone. Quite often I was the only one on the coasters. Like this inside Maurer spinner. This was again pretty fun. There are many other flat rides to enjoy too...like the classic Tagada. The rides have weird opening times (not labelled) and seem to just open when they want. So there were a couple of rides I wanted to do that were already closed and therefore I went back the next day. First thing I saw was this...which was closed...but still better than Storm Surge. So now it was time for what I was really here for...Hochschaubahn (catchy name!) my first wooden coaster with an on board brakeman. I got a bit photo happy so enjoy a few shots of the beautiful mountain countryside... They also have a nice looking little train that actually has a few stops, so I took a round trip. They had a lot of kiddy rides...like these plane and car rides. In which the cars go higher than the planes...alright then. Then it was on to the weirdest ride I've ever been on. Blue Plant. It's....difficult to explain and if you don't want the entire experience spoilt then don't click the spoiler! After all that I decided to round off my trip with a go on the Big Wheel. You can see quite a bit and they do pack them in. I'd say it was probably worth the money. You can get combined tickets with other things which makes it better value. And that's pretty much it. Thanks for reading!

The team who designed and built it all had background in theatre and worked on the project the entire season, whilst additionally working on The Vampire/Hollows attraction. After the fire hit creaky cafe, the original team left and the entertainments department didn't have anyone creative, or with the technical experience to pull it off. It's 2nd year was out sourced to the studios to rebuild, using a theming guide left from the original team and the new technical guy didn't have the experience to recreate the different zones of audio/triggered lighting effects, or scenes that were cued by an actor. It was pretty upsetting to see the standard slip so steeply during it's second year and the attraction really suffered. It was pretty shocking that only one of the IMAscore tracks were used and the whole attraction felt static as lights weren't programmed and were just 'on'. It was a poor state and I guess the difficulty was too much for them, hence why Scruffy Dog came in to create something new, as the entertainments team weren't up to it themselves.

I'll start off by saying I'm reserving full judgement until hearing the extended version of Lost City's audio playing on Colossus now, BUT... Out of all the attractions that should receive an audio makeover this year, Colossus should be right at the very bottom of that list along with Nemesis Inferno. I understand they are trying to merge Colossus better with the rest of the other rides in Lost City by playing the same audio, but to take away what many would regard the defining music of Thorpe Park as a whole and to give the ride less of a unique, dominant and intimidating feel to what it was before? That does not sit right by me. That's like taking away The Smiler's theme and replacing the whole ride with The Sanctuary's theme instead, or worse, Nemesis being changed for good (not temporarily like in 2007) if that day ever dares to arrive. As I said, full judgement will be reserved until I hear it, but it's sad to know Alton's Corkscrew of Thorpe Park; the ride which started it all; the ride which put Thorpe on the map; the ride which Thorpe said they wouldn't change back in March is now likely never going to sound the same again.

Just to update on this, I've just sent this to Thorpe Park's PR team so looking forward to seeing all the ex Big Brother and Only Way Is Essex zelebs on the 28th!

@Han30 and myself have booked for the 12th. This is our first time doing Tulley's, so hopefully it will be good fun!

I think to add in some extra line about the new gates or a new rule theyve introduced. Instead of the hissy internet download they're playing now, the station music used to have the organ part (solo) playing from the actual organ, in sync with the rest the music (the original mix) coming in for the chorus through the rest the station. All that setup is gone now. Today the downloaded station music is now played all through the queue from cheap speakers too, so you are long since bored of it before you even reach the station anyway! When guests are paying this much, this completely amateaur approach to themed audio takes a very jaded & clueless attitude, same with what happened to Tomb Blaster in 2016. It's criminal how pathetic Vampire is now when it used to be brilliant. Terribly lit, stripped back scenery, wobbly organist and the once cool music now feels token and lame. But they will never spend the money to professionally restore the ride, even thought 80% of it is there and Merlin can easily afford it. So it'll carry on feeling DIY, homemade props in the queue here and flashing LEDs on demo mode there.

Well we did get Platform last year..

Heard it yesterday too and like Matt, I'm not a fan of this new audio playing around Colossus either. It simply doesn't suit the ride, but it does however work very well with all the flats. The dominating and intimidating feel Colossus once had is now gone and this change has made it lose some of it's character in all honesty, especially with the tingly, high note sections of the track (couldn't think of a better explanation) and the overuse of the island's new theme eliminates any originality. It should stay just for use around all of Lost City's flats as it works great there, not the world's first 10 looping coaster. Sorry Thorpe, but this to me was a wrong decision to make. Please bring back what it was before. Also, some things will age worse than the paint work on Colossus, this tweet being one of them: Here are snippets of those sections I am referring to: Clip 1.mp3 Clip 2.mp3

Stealth, so good it makes the list twice

Nice try - you’re used to the tracks playing at high speed so normal speed may now sound a bit slower to you!

Hi all! Just a quick update regarding Fright Nights meet, I've been desperate to release details for it for a while now but we are having to wait for a few things unfortunately. The provisional date for the meet will be Saturday 7th October, but 1st, 8th and 15th October will also be in the vote. As soon as I can release more details about it I will, but it's going to be exciting (hopefully)!

I like the new bridge music - real nice mix of different sounds from across the park, and music that could fit in areas of the park too. I really like the Ghost Train remix it has!

Happy Birthday to @Cian The "oldest" member of TPM

Today was my first visit since the update to the lost city soundtrack, and despite my initial feelings of 'nothing can improve that music' and 'I'm never visiting any Merlin park ever again', the new music seems to breathe new life into the area and makes it feel much more alive. It seemed refreshed and lively compared to past experiences. Colossus on the other hand...

The biggest frustration with Vampire is the ride still has the foundations of a really good attraction. You wouldn't get any new Merlin-built coaster doing anything as exciting as the fly over the village, or dropping into the tunnel at such high speed. And you'd DEFINITLEY not get the drama and atmosphere in the station. If they would just hurry up and sell the parks to a firm that cares (or at least one that functions properly), then I'm sure something could be done before it's too late. I doubt you'd even need to have tire dive lifts (maybe to please the locals) but all it would really take to have less stressful 3 train operation would be a reworking of the braking structure around the end of the ride. That way it wouldn't need to stop on lift two. Still, Vampire still has far more obvious flaws than crappy block structure.

Who remembers this. I used to be obsessed with this as a kid in the 90s.

I don't understand the hate towards this new attraction tbh. Trick Or Treat Woods and Curse Of The Tomb still return, and the lineup still has free attractions. Its not that expensive either and if they put some work into it, it could easily become a nice addition to there lineup.

Don't you say that about everything Merlin do?

8 people per train at a Six Flags park?

Hey, Like last time we don't condone the actions of the group of people who trespassed onto the park, and as such we do not want to generate traffic and attention towards their social media. If anyone had any questions or concerns about us hiding content, please contact one of the team. If not, let's try and move on and not give these people any more attention. Thanks!

Amazing graphic design work lads, 9/10 - only way it could be improved is if they used Comic Sans.

For those interested, the rotational operation on the Old Town rides has been scrapped. Currently Rocky Express opens at park opening, Timber Tug at 11 and Lumber Jump at 12. The area is reasonably lively, with all rides having smallish queues - the demand is there!

I'd say that The Walking Dead has pretty much been confirmed...

I love watching people running to catch the Jubilee line at Stratford. I especially love it when they miss the train. I'm a horrible person.

Rant: Airplane edition. The fact that you have to get to the airport really early just to make sure that you clear security without problems. After that, the plane is always delayed anyway so you just end up in the airport for four hours wasting your life. You arrive at your gate, they announce boarding. Everyone stands up and waits in a line even though everyone has an assigned seat No matter how organised you are, everyone around you faffs around when getting on the plane. They block the entire aisle trying to work out where their seats are or where to put their luggage. You find your seat, get down. Staff announce boarding complete. You sit around for another half an hour waiting for the plane to do something. Plane was supposed to leave at 14:20 but its now 16:50 and you're wondering if you are ever going to leave Gatwick. The baby/young child behind you (there's always a young child behind you) decides to either cry or kick your seat. This will go on for the entire flight. Plane leaves but now you are in an enormous queue to get to the runway because this country takes decades to make a decision on where a new runway is going to be. It's now 17:45. Plane finally takes off. Some idiot decides now is the time he wants to get up and go to the toilet. Staff bombard him saying how unsafe it is to get up during take off, but he doesn't care for he is English and he is made off stronger stuff. Plane lands, everything is fine. The other country is fantastic with little queue for passport checks and you're swiftly on your way. A few days later Naturally its home time and on this occasion the plane back home is now four hours delayed so now you're stuck at Gothenburg airport, all the shops and food places are closed so now there's nothing. Just empty time. You finally get on the plane just that little bit irritable. Pilot announces due to bad weather conditions at Gatwick, air traffic controller is advising another hour delay whilst they find a landing slot. You now want to kill everyone. Thank god you are on your way, but this time you have to face the dreaded passport checks at Gatwick. Plane lands. The seatbelt sign is turned off. Everyone decides to get up to get their luggage and just stand there waiting for the door to open to disembark. This takes ten minutes. You try to get through passport control quickly but unfortunately the plane is taxied as far away from the terminal as possible so after fifteen minutes of walking you finally make it. Due to Tory cuts only one border enforcer is working. You get through, now ready for suicide but unfortunately the door to the luggage compartment on the plane has frozen shut or your luggage has ended up in Lisbon. If you have managed to get through all that, the real nightmare begins as you either have to get a Southern service from Gatwick or the Piccadilly line from Heathrow.

Why is everyone now thinking swarm is getting vr? It's a sign just showing some merchandise is discounted...

Havin a Nice in New York n tha' - Six Flags New England, Lake Compounce & Coney Island Just come back from spending 2 and a bit weeks in America. Fantastic time to say the least. Coney Island itself is a bit of a wreck. Picture a depressed, ran down Adventure Island, and then bunch a whole ton of Russian and mob gangsters there, and a touch of history. Voila, you got Coney Island. The old parachute drop makes a real cool impression from the beach, can be seen all over the island. Thunderbolt was odd.. I really enjoyed it but have come to learn that's a controversial opinion. The restraints are a bit of a red herring, on the drop you forget the 'ostrs' are just slack seat belts, so I fully thought I was going to fall out as we went over the top. Cyclone was really good fun. I'd recently shaved my head so I had a few shocked faces when I took my cap off to ride. It's cool seeing a 90 year old coaster run so well, and it had some proper air time to it. New York is cool. I really like the city, there's so much to see. We went to a place called Do, where they sold cookie dough as if it was ice cream. That was really cool. Also, I recommend going up the rockefeller tower if you're looking to go up a tall tower. We did the freedom tower last time and it's not as good, on the rockefeller you're open to the elements and get the view of the empire state and the rest of the city much more nicely. Went and crashed at my uncles place for the rest of the time, and he live right near by Lake Compounce, so it'd be rude not to ride boulder dash.. Rode a lot less well then I remembered, disappointingly. Still masses of fun and craziness, but there was absolutely nill air time for me this time. I remember being absolutely thrown out of my seat 3 years ago, but they've changed the trains a fair bit and the rides been retracked I believe, and its left it an a disappointing state compared to previously. That, and I've developed a better stomach for forces now. Maybe I'm immune. That's sad Those premier off the shelf thingies are fun. Spent a couple days catching waves on a tube on a nearby lake, and entered on a quest to get diabetes. Then, to finish off the trip, off to Six Flag New England! I've heard horror stories about these parks, but I really liked it! Headed straight to Wicked Cyclone. What. a. ride. Pandemonium was alright I guess, but we quickly skipped over this and thunderbolt and headed to the world renowned Superman!!!...... which...was... an intamin pmbo. First drop, incredible. Thereafter, utterly disappointing. Done this in a vary of seating arrangements throughout the day (the same with boulder dash) and nothing changed. I was actually really disappointed by this. Very little airtime throughout the hills, especially compared to the intensity of Expedition Geforce, it's little sister! Fed up we headed over to the Joker. One of those icky S&S 4D things, which was actually a barrel of laughs. Really intense, good fun! Mind Eraser. Now, this is an SLC with the new vekoma restraints, so I gave it a go. Regretted it instantly. Whilst the vests are extremely comfortable and prevent headbanging, I'm fairly sure the lap bar shook the nerves in my thighs so aggressively I'll suffer from some sort of muscle deterioration later in life. Did my first floorless - Batman. It was alright, very B&My, with a super intense zero G. Other then that it was a bit meh. Only ride with bad ops throughout the whole trip. These Americans are efficient! Grabbed some really expensive lunch, and then went and whored out Wicked cyclone for the rest of the day! If there's one thing I got from SFNE it's an RMC cred that I am so thankful for. Before riding this I thought the stall looked stupidly awkward, and it makes a few noises that are... unsettling, but it's probably the smoothest, best flowing ride I've ever been on, and it was so, so intense. It has a small height restriction too which made me laugh, because 4 hours after our final ride I was still having blood rushes in my legs. In the back row you truly get thrown over the drop, and dragged relentlessly through every inversion and air time hill. Soooo intense, so fun, and utterly ridiculous and unparalleled by any other cred I have. I absolutely fell in love with the back row. I'm already gagging to go again. The upside down, side ways, inside out air time is unique, and brilliant. I urge everyone who can to get to an RMC. I am so eager and excited to try one of those big ones. They look cool. Thanks for reading, here's a dodge ass video you can watch that I made.

The sticks could also be from American Horror Story: Roanoake. They make more sense than Blair Witch returning out of nowhere, although the hat indicates that it will come back

Ahh I loved tulleys last year - imo the haunts are a lot better than Thorpe's overall. Not sure if I'll be able to drag anyone there this year or not as they'll probably say been there done that haha. I went on a Friday (14th October) and apart from the hayride didn't have to queue for anything! Chop shop was a personal favourite, I found I was more scared in the later parts of that maze than I have been for a while (excluding Tom Spindler mazes if anyone was lucky enough to go in those) the actors were terrifying!

Steel Vengeance announced at Cedar Point, looks awesome. Some facts mentioned in the live video on Cedar Points FB page: 205ft Tall with 200ft drop making it the only hyper hybrid 90 degree drop 74mph 5,740ft long 4 inversions. A phenomenal 27.2 seconds of airtime making it have more airtime than any other coaster The ride breaks many records for the park as a whole as well including: Most coaster track in 1 park: 11.4 miles Most steel track in 1 park: 11 miles Most coasters over 200ft: 6 Most rides in 1 park: 71 Most coasters in 1 park with 90 degree or more drops: 5 Really hope I can get out to Cedar Point next year. The park have partnered with Planet Coaster and there will be an update at 5:30 containing the Steel Vengeance coaster.

They're really struggling to get any interest on this. Merlin really are dragging their heels on everything their parks have to give these days. A new woodie at Alton, in the UK should be a massive thing.

I went to Walygator Parc the other day. I've heard awful things about the place. Truly awful. Whether its the closed down rides, the chipped paint, the queues, the roughness of the rollercoasters, Walygator has it all. I thought it was okay. To get there, we stayed in Luxembourg city and travelled down by train which takes about 45 minutes. (OFF WE GO TO FRANCE'S PREMIER ALLIGATOR THEMED THEME PARK) Our first port of call was Monster, the B&M inverter that originated in Expoland, Japan in 1996 and moved to France in 2010 after Expoland closed down. Now, unlike every other B&M inverter in Europe, Monster has no theming whatsoever. It is a B&M in field, a solitary patch of grass leading to the ride. The ride retains its white and pink livery that it had in Japan except now the pink has faded considerably. There are plans afoot for Monster to receive a theme change in the future, the ride to be painted brown and themed around pirates. Whether this happens or not remains to be seen. (who needs themed environments anyway?) The station is bare minimum which I'm fine with and loading is okay for a park of this type. They wait for the train to stop and empty before loading into batching lanes. Not sure why. Also, I hate that there is no front row queue and that fastpass people can choose any row meaning we just missed out on a front row ride. Damn. So the ride.. well one thing I love about Monster is its length. Whilst Nemesis, Black Mamba and Nemesis Inferno are great rides, they are short and for the time you queue, it doesn't always feel worth it. Monster goes on forever. Starts off with a very traditional inverter layout, which is forceful in a way that new B&M's just aren't. The snappiness the train darts through the inline twist or the top of the cobra roll are very enjoyable. Reminds me of Dragon Khan. At this point the ride does a few tight turns into the mid course break run. Which has no breaks because Walygator never intends to run three trains (they only own two and that might seem a stretch here!) and so the trim breaks were never built when it moved. This allows the train to speed along through the rest of its layout in a way that Katun, Montu, even its clone equivalent Raptor at Cedar Point can only dream of. The intensity of the two left hander corkscrews is pretty high and the train at full speed rushes through the final helix that is probably my favourite element of the attraction. So when it comes to it, how would I rate Monster? Thats a difficult question as I'm a huge fan of themed attractions, they do far more for me because the imagination that goes into a ride like Oz'Iris or Nemesis is far more fulfilling then a ride shoved into a field on a perimeter of a theme park. I do like Monster though, its nice to ride an older ride that has a bit of punch to it and you get a lengthy ride out of it. Suffice to say, it's better then larger American B&M's like Montu and Silver Bullet but doesn't quite match up to what we already have over here. A solid B rating probably fits. What is the longest ride in Europe? Derren Brown features up there, as does Temple of the Knight Hawk or many omnimovers.. The winner though is the fantastically named Walyboats which lasts for a rather spectacular 25 minutes. Exploring some countries around the world, this slowly paced ride will take up a good chunk of your day. It's not worth it. Brilliant. Anaconda is the parks second in command rollercoaster, this woodie had an horrendous reputation for its roughness in the past. No longer the case as its pretty smooth now but my god its boring. The ride has no airtime, it has no speed, the train just goes through the motions creating much no sensations or feeling. We came off not really feeling anything or having much to say about it. The parks other big rollercoaster is Comet, a Vekoma sit down attraction which was perfectly acceptable. I'm sure it has a bad rep but we thought it did its job without much fuss. The parks final rollercoaster turned out to be 250th rollercoaster. It was the perfect choice. Introducing.. Family Coaster We loved it. Here's hoping my 300th is something a little bit more memorable. We didn't bother with the rapids and log flume as they seemed to be running two boats each and 45 minutes for each seemed a tad excessive. There was a few spinning rides such as an Air race which did bad things to my stomach or a random swinging carousel which I'd never seen before. That was okay. So Walygator is very much a red park. Its not a terrible place but it clearly is the weakest park in France. The place just needs some loving from its owners to bring it up to standard. Monster is a great ride but it somehow doesn't fit with the other rides in the place.

Nothing official from Thorpe themselves so it's still 'speculation' Majority of Big Top's tent is up now! Including *real* fire doors where the flaps were last year.

This does tickle me Next time I go to Thorpe I'm going to wear an empty Kellogs box round my neck so people know I paid "half price" to get in.

£100 says the new mazes will use old theming from Miss Hippos Fungle Safari and Chief Rangers Carousel

Has anyone actually got any conformation on this whole AHS rumour? Call me pessimistic, but I highly doubt we'll be seeing two new IP's this year, especially of such a large magnitude. They're not even owned by the same studio so they can't make a Lionsgate deal. Just a pre-warning, I think it will be one IP and from the promo art I think it's pretty clear what that is. I personally predict a maze in Cabin and roaming actors around the park. What I want to know, is what the hell is happening to Containment. It seems to have been totally forgotten (understandable considering how poor it is). Remember the days it was rumoured to be going year round? Whatever happened to that?! In all honesty I'd love to see it gutted and transformed into something different. The acting as with all Thorpe attractions is top notch, but the puzzles (if you can even call them that) are absolutely dire! All the puzzles seem to lack logic, the path to solve them seems to be through luck and guesswork rather than any actual sense. I've done quite a few escape rooms by now and Containment is by far the absolute worst. Thorpe really need to up their game if they are to bring it back. As for the others, Saw Alive has progressively been getting better year on year on year. I would love to see a change up in the scenery, but that's never going to happen. It will be great, they just need to ensure they get another fab show captain (please dear god get the one from 2016 back) and we'll be onto another solid year. Big Top will be great again, but as mentioned they do need to resolve batching. Though I think the two biggest issues for me were the lack of actors and the fact the tents let in light during the strobe scene. As long as these two issues are solved it will be great! And Platform... woah boy this is a tough one to fix. The concept is fantastic, but I just think the execution was appalling last year. I would honestly say the maze should be shorter. They're never going to have enough actors to fill that humungous duration, so why bother making it that long. There should be more setpieces/theming/indoor sections. Also they really need to think about providing the actors with more hiding spaces. It's all well and good hosting a maze out in the open, but if actors are visible for long stretches, there aren't going to be any scares. Also dear god does the finale need sorting out, puppet conductor was shocking. I think reversing the layout and having the superb sleeper express alongside a full on assault from the sleepers may be a better option. And brave it alone? Just make it more theatrical, it's never going to be Cracked or Snuffhouse so they shouldn't try make it too extreme (not that merlin would want that anyway) my Saw Alive run was at it's best when they got theatrical and utilised creative means to immerse me in the traps from the films. The brave it alone's are great, but would be amazing if there were more theatrics. With all that said, I'm super optimistic about Thorpe this year. I know this get's said every year, but I seriously think this could be the year everything gets turned around. Please Thorpe, don't prove me wrong! *Damn I am heavily opinionated about Fright Nights*

Had a listen of the Colossus soundtrack yesterday and personally I prefer the old one. It is too slow paced, echoey, overplays the island melody and it just sounded blander. Shame as I love the island soundtrack. Who knows it may grow on me. I guess Nemesis Inferno will be next so made the most of listening to that yesterday, even if it did keep cutting out. Yes, noticed yesterday, Tidal Wave area of Amity was much louder than before, a big improvement. As Marc said, it is good to still be noticing dead zones and speakers that haven't worked for a long time getting sorted out, so good job to the team:)

I think I may be the only one who thinks this, but in my opinion saw is always the most hands on/intense maze at fright nights, and 99% of the time is the scariest and most jumpy as well. I know a lot of you on these forums always slate saw alive and will think I'm a fool for saying this, but for the past 3 years it genuinely has been the scariest maze. Yes big top and cabin were more enjoyable, but scares wise were not anywhere near, if I don't do saw on a visit to fright nights I usually come home with the event failing to scare me.

Honestly Lap bars wouldn't save the coaster, its the track (mainly because the ride is built on reclaimed land which has settled over the years) track creates the roughness, new trains would help for a few months but wouldn't save it, really what they done so far (walls and concrete around support bases to reduce any more settling) is the best they could do without replacing the whole ride. Similar situation for Saws sudden left then right neck snap at the bottom of the main drop, can be fixed easily personal opinon if you want to make Colossus less painful, just wrap the restaints and seats in foam padding, help alot Also main reason looping coasters don't have lap bars is because the GP are not used to that idea. It be perfectly safe, but the public would be nervous as there used to over the shoulder for anything going upside down (you would get a similar fear from the GP if a inverting RMC appeared in this country) Also first post

I'm still amazed that's the OFFICIAL image more than anything... Maybe Merlin told Microsoft they'd go to Apple if they killed off Paint?

The post states it relates to Chessington. https://www.facebook.com/pg/VIPmerlinannualpass/posts/?ref=page_internal

Rollback - never wanted one as it would be ride time wasted. Today, a guy sat next to me asked if it had rolled back recently as he had heard it does it once in one hundred and fifty launches - rubbish I say, and bring him "up to date" with the increase in propulsion loading about four years ago - we got off the train. I stood on the platform and watched the next train launch, AND ROLLBACK! About 5.45pm.. this evening.

They have emptied everything out of containment... https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=474842939575174&id=349936782065791

Double post, apologies. Here are my theories/hopes as to what Tulleys will do this year. Hayride: They won't touch it. It's classic and it's very unique and I'm sure they will want to keep it that way. Creepy Cottage: Again, I don't think that they will do anything with CC as it is meant to be the tame maze that the park have. Coven: Possibly could be extended, and hopefully has more actors added into it (I saw a max. of 6 on my run). Chop Shop: Hopefully extended, as the section before the chainsaws was far too short imo. Colony: A change of the ending to fit the theme and more actors Cellar: Left untouched. Still the best maze there. Pandemonium: Remove the 3D element as it was pointless and didn't add to the maze at all Hellements: Replaced by the new medieval maze.

This hunk o' iron's been busy, busy, busy...in the middle of Egypt apparently! Here, take a gander. Anyway onto the real star of the show. A behemoth of a coaster which handles throughput well, interacts with scenery and terrain and most importantly tells a story...and yes it's a huge inspiration off Taron in case you haven't worked out already. Horus (below) tells a rather sophisticated story; In the Egyptian desert not far from civilization, early archaeologists spent days digging in the burning sun...until a mere few grains of sand gave way and revealed an ancient tomb buried under mountains of sand and rock for centuries. This is no ordinary tomb however. It in fact holds a rather troubling history; Thousands of years ago, a ferocious battle raged between Horus, god of sky and justice, and Oziris, god of the damned. The fray abruptly ended however when a mysterious artifact, known to many as the Eye of Horus, was brought into the chaos by the pharaoh Rameses, locked away in an ancient tomb. This legendary emerald has the power...and beauty to keep the two gods apart and civil...as long as it remained untouched, undisturbed...and very well hidden away. Over the centuries, this legendary tale will become entombed within the burning Egyptian sands...until today - the day the tomb was uncovered once again. And within it...the legendary Eye of Horus itself. Tourism was a rapidly growing industry within the Forbidden Dunes so within months after the tomb's rediscovery, people were flocking in vast numbers to venture inside this harrowing realm. Using specially designed transit, tourists would dive deeper into the depths of the unknown...and unknown indeed, to all, is a glowing shrine locked away...and it's chilling purpose. With great curiosity comes great exploration - could a battle of a thousand years be about to resurface?

Thanks to everyone for the help, you all have been wonderful. We have decided to skip Thorpe Park on this trip, and just head to Warner Brothers after our flight. It is the easier and safer option. We are just going to book some tickets in the middle of the afternoon to play it safe. I appreciate all of the help from this lovely forum. I hope to get back to Thorpe (and other regional parks) one day. I will say, that I am working on talking her into adding another 2-3 days on our trip for a quick trip to Disneyland Paris. Again, thank all of you for the wealth of knowledge! Much appreciated!