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Wow, I joined this forum almost six years ago and after a two year long hiatus I am back, maybe? In true me style my laptop died as I went to start writing this post x starting as I intend to go on I am now a perpetually stressed chemistry student but I still like the rolling coasters, and unlike me 4 years ago, I have been to Alton Towers. I have actually been to Alton Towers several times this year and haven't visited Thorpe once HAHA!! It's funny how I mentioned trying to get my friends into theme parks, I took my flatmate to Alton Towers along with ScARyCoAStErBoY (lol) and she said Hex was boring, but it is progress. BUT HI GUYSSS, looking forward to annoying you all with my wrong opinions again when I find the time 😙✌️

Probably also helped with the general "thrill park" image, but it's hard to argue that the thrill line up at Thorpe is a problem... It's just everything else that is

Demon costume broke and couldn't be repaired by all accounts, but it should make a splash back soon.

The shop ending used to be cool until it was replaced with a man in a shirt.

*sigh*

How many threads do you need the same post in ???

>Theme park reduces opening hours to save money >Less people visit theme park because of reduced opening hours >Theme park keeps reduced opening hours because less people visit them >People continue not to visit because of reduced opening hours This is the problem with looking at attendance figures for deciding opening hours.

Well brace yourself here is my enthusiast level park count: Thorpe Park x3 Alton towers x1 Asterix Park x1 (review still in progress...) Disneyland Paris x1 (3 days and both parks though...) Tulleys (if it counts) x1 Next year I hope to add Europa Park or another European park to that list. Can't wait to go back to Asterix when their new ride opens Florida is still the plan in a few years.

Fixed that for you

Are they?

I have limited sympathies though as it still relates to the design of the ride in the first place. When a pirate in Pirates of the Caribbean breaks the ride is still pretty much a good experience. The experience does not lean heavily on one animatronic. If the demon suit breaks or VR doesn't work (or the train crash scene fails and is replaced by metal fences) then the entire DBGT experience is ruined instantly. At the end the day the attraction is essentially a projection of Derren Brown, a hanging train set piece, 2 videos, a bunch of metal fences and a man jumping out at you.

Valhalla has had lots of issues this year. Boats sinking with riders in on more than one occasion, there was one instance where riders had to evacuate themselves from the boat due to the water being waste deep! Bumps between boats, this does happen from time to time but it shouldn't do with Valhalla's ride system, also bearing in the mind the ride hardware was designed to run 20+ boats and bumps when running 8, not good. I have experienced a few bumps and it can be quite brutal, bearing in mind how heavy the boats are. Issues with the block system around the first turntable (I experienced this first hand). The ride hardware is knackered, all of the above have come from publicly posted reports/pictures and/or my own experiences on the ride. Effects have been dreadful this year, most of the fire has been down all year (I have heard due to the splash from the final drop flooding the sensors), ice room not working at all, I could write an endless list of how poor it has been on my rides but I'll just say that it has essentially been a clunky oversized log flume in the dark this year. I do not believe the rumour that the ride will be SBNO next year until it's confirmed reliably, but at the same time, there are reasons why it might have to be.

Could he speak any slower. Painful listen. So a 20min video to say it's shut next year with an intention to open it the year after having been renovated in some way. What I don't understand is if the real problem is the running cost, which I primarily take to mean energy consumption, then how can that be meaningfully improved? Pumping that volume of water around will always be expensive and burning that volume of gas each ride cycle will always be expensive. You can't stop pumping the water and if you stop burning the gas you have lost its one real point of interest.

Now that Merlin have officially been taken over and the park have hopefully spent the year creating an LTDP that will actually return the park back to its former glory (its fair to say since The Swarm has been installed the park has become progressively worse with each passing year) one can presume that the changes in said LTDP will be implemented starting next year so unlike for the 2018-2019 closed season which we knew wouldn't have anything major happening hopefully we can see interesting reports of things happening at the park this winter till next year.

Moved out of my mum's house, into a flat with a couple of old TPM members and got a side job to help get extra money whilst at uni this past week. Pretty decent week.

So, Untamed then. I've always been wary of the RMC hype train, but it's fair deserved. Can only imagine how ridiculous Steel Vengeance is if Untamed can feel like it's going to violently eject you out the front row at 11am. At night after it rained a chunk it became obscenely ridiculous. Should be illegal really. Didn't mind the shin guards as much as I thought.

I'm as cynical as the next guy so therefore I think your post is a bit much. New ride breaks down, not to be unexpected, worlds best description given by a lot of people who have ridden but are likely to be swayed by 'exclusivity' and 'the hype train' and frankly, its Disney World around the holiday season. Flight of Passage was sporting a four hour queue last week. None of this is any surprise.

There's been a lot of crazy out there announcements this year, but I think this one takes the prize for the top one... Vulcania, a French educational 'theme park' (that currently has no rides) about 90 miles from Lyon (ie - middle of nowhere) have put in plans to install an Intamin launch coaster with a drop track section! Vulcania is all about, unsurprisingly, volcanoes and other natural disasters like earthquakes, and features 4D cinemas and interactive experiences, but no rides. These "edutainment" style parks are really popular in France, and they're slowly expanding into the 'proper' theme park more. The coaster is the first step into the theme park set up for Vulcania, with drops towers and rapids planned for the next decade too. The launch coaster has a launch speed of 34mph (lol, but keeps with the style of the park I guess), max height of 16m, and a drop track of about 5m in height. It'll be themed to (surprise) volcanoes. Here's the plan: Despite the unimpressive stats in comparison to other coasters, it still seems a perfect fit for the park. Also, Intamins aren't cheap, so it's a statement of intent if nothing else. In other news, Bosnia and Herzegovina - a country not known for theme parks - look to be getting a theme park! Little details are known, however the park are going for a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter and a Vekoma sit down looping coaster: Hard to know whether this will actually happen, but that Vekoma looks pretty damn good!

voted

Is it going to have a pond filled in with concrete does anyone know?

LOL

Personal Reviews: Did Hangover for the first time this year. Have to say the view was absolutely stunning (even if it was a bit foggy). That said this is only my 2nd drop tower and having ridden Detonator so many times the drop did feel really underwhelming. The speed and length certainly do feel much faster and longer when you're on Hangover than on Detonator so that was certainly a positive. The ride operator though was quite engaging to watch and probably was why I stood outside the entrance watching it for a few cycles before going on. It's only sad you can only just about hear him when you're at the top of the tower. TL;DR: Acceleration was slower than Detty but ride lasts much longer and is faster and has stunning views. 10/10 would recommend going on if it was a few £ cheaper. An assortment of other rides I did + reviews: Next I did Air. Love somersaulting on this and is deffo much better than "Flying Circus" (Mondial Top Scan). Just wish longer cycles were given for the price and that it was faster. XXL - the only ride I did that actually made me feel scared. (Vortex at Thorpe, another KMG marvel is also the only ride at the resort that makes me feel scared). When you're offride if you look at the right places you can see the entire structure being pushed towards the ground when the gondola is at the bottom of the swing at full speed. KMG certainly do know how to make rides that get your heart pumping even though the restraints keep you firmly in place. The Waltzers - at HPWW George Irvin pull out all the stops to really make sure you're spinning as fast as you can possibly go. At £5 pp and therefore being one of the cheaper rides there I'd personally choose over many of the other rides at the event (there are 2 Waltzers at the event, make sure you choose the one closest to the Hyde Park Corner entrance).

Excellent leak here by Vikki courtesy of the MAP group.

Absolutely, going there in a couple weeks time along with the likes of the dungeons too

Shall we call it Colossus? The real question is will I fit?

Where it's coming from is my time working there, more specifically my final season in 2018. I'll explain with a true story: Imagine working with people who are expected to be "friendly and nice" towards guests, so they do so on that end...but behind the scenes, some simply don't care about you or your mental health issues...while one in particular thinks it's funny to screw you over and quite honestly just mentally destroy you. And now imagine you're explaining your situation to others in hopes of them understanding how it's making you feel, and they reply with "Oh 'this person'? She's lovely! She's very caring and I'm sure she didn't mean it etc.". And what's more is that even after I left (and seemingly escaped), I was made aware of a bullying incident where a lot of staff from my area were generally being really horrible about others, especially the kind-hearted ones. And surprisingly, these also included people I'd previously thought were really nice! It's not nice when you're the only one who knows the truth about someone through experience and everyone else thinks differently, it's selfish. And that's why I'm writing this post, not to be controversial, but simply to point out that following a lot of trauma I was put through, the last thing I need to hear is of the same select people who made my last season there miserable getting recognised for being something they're not.

Carters Steam Fair X 1 Thorpe X 1 The end. Even that was something of an achievement. Yeah, you try being an enthusiast with a new born!

I dunno, the rides are pretty thrilling tbh...

Because nothing screams "thrilling day out" more than dogsh*te operations, rude staff and total lack of care!! I've had bigger thrills on a broken swing set...

TP wins an award this year for "best thrills"

And this is why we quote hilarious typos Charlie 😢 I wouldn't expect anything crazy though Matt. I fully expect that it's just a grab and go sweet treat place with a name to match the theme of the area.

Hey at least they're still open in most off-peak weekdays, some places across the world don't even do that... Perhaps if there was a balance between later opening hours in busier times, but I'm not sure that there's a real appetite culturally for 10pm summer closes for example... Thorpe's events were an attempt but the weird implementation possibly confused visitors...

Perspective though, The Southern parks have better transport links to London (ie 8 million potential customers from Central alone), they are also cheaper to run being smaller and require less staffing budget and therefore are able to budget 5pm closes. Towers has never had that kind of flex, in all my time visiting theme parks, Towers has always had these restricted visiting hours. The Smiler incident only really highlighted how much more restricted they can go. That isn't reality though. Even on 5pm closes, a lot of people have already left and the park is dead, people wishing to avoid the rush hour traffi, the only exception is when its very hot. That's when the park should stay open later. In an ideal world, yeah the park would be fully staffed and all rides open, full availability, 6pm closures. But we don't live in that world.

Its a simple case of supply vs demand. Want the park to be open longer, then visit more on the 4pm close off peak day. 6Hours is enough time to get all the rides done when they are walk on. Besides its always the same people who have no plan on visiting in these off peak days who love to complain about the opening hours.

Been a brilliant year for me park-wise. Plenty of new parks and only one familiar (yet brilliant) one. And the best thing? Not a M£rlin park in sight. Blackpool Pleasure Beach: x1 Kolmarden: x1 Liseberg: x4 Efteling: x2 Phantasialand: x2 Toverland x1 Highlight for me this year was undoubtedly Efteling as not only was it my first solo trip abroad (which, for one thing, gave me plenty of me-time after an awful week) but it was a weekend shared with the amazing Planet Coaster community which not only made my first couple of times at Efteling really memorable, but also finally turned tables on my mental health for the better. While it doesn't quite have the same lineup Liseberg offers, it's still a beautifully themed and kept park with some incredible dark rides.

This is actually probably about 98% accurate, let's be honest

Seems Amanda Thompson herself has put the rumours to rest.

I'D SAY WE FIGHT!

Only ride that on Queue Time app which doesn't say "Returns 2020" Yes I know it's 99.999% nothing that exciting.

How it is today, rushing past the train in a blocky room where you only see the floor beneath you for a few seconds (if you bother to look over the side while you get the chance), is really not the best way the illusion could have been designed. It may not be possible to stand directly underneath, but they designed themselves into a corner with the whole thing really. There's always other techniques when it comes to illusion to give the impression there's more than there really is. With DBGT its the other way round, things are so badly thought through that you actually miss the best bits. For all that effort and an amazing concept, how it turned out is almost pointless in my opinion. Much like the whole ride.

In theory, I guess yeah. But it would either mean reusing the old site and killing off Platform 15 (a bit of track at the start of the maze is workable, track throughout the whole maze much harder), killing off Creek Freak Massacre or building the track over water (very expensive). So not impossible, but just very impractical / expensive however they did it. We're in Closed Season - of course it's time for pointless conversations!

@StevenVig

If I wanted cultivated plants... I agree the railway should still be in use, by which I mean it should never have been retired not that there is any prospect of them restoring it.

Last weekend I had my first visit to Plopsa, which was certainly one of my more interesting trips this year but maybe not for all the right reasons. Day started fairly well. Entrance area looks pretty and reminds me a bit of Parc Asterix in some ways. The hotel on the right hand side is coming along nicely. We did the World Of Plop dark ride, which was simply charming and reminded me of attractions such as Dream Flight and Elf Ride. Even Matt Wise liked it. Sadly things didn’t continue this way as the weather got considerably worse and remained wet and windy for almost the whole day. This resulted in Anubis and Heidi (amongst other attractions) being closed. We did a couple of attractions including the water coaster, which was ok before having a lunch remembered for the wrong reasons. We chose the Pirate Grill, where we waited ages to get served and there was no clear instructions either. I went for a burger and it was disgusting, thought I was going to be sick eating it. Probably the most expensive yet dreadful park meal I have had to date. Maybe tops P.A now. We did some other rides including Victor’s race and K3, these were ok with the latter being my favourite “Operating” coaster. We also did another wave surfer type ride and Draak, which took ages to load. Plopsa had some of the worst park operations I have seen, least when I went. Some big rides had just one staff member doing everything. The dinosaur flume though is great. I love the theming, scenery and rockwork they have done here and the landscaping around there is great. One of my favourite flume rides out there and probably my favourite thing I did in the park. The teacup castle looks great too. As the day went on, we kept checking to see if either major ride were to open, but we were out of luck. They stayed closed almost all day, not only down to poor weather, but they also used their respective areas for scare zones. This doesn’t seem logical. The one around Heidi was the better of the two scare zones, but they were both poor and make last year’s Fright Night mazes look like Tulleys Farm. we left the park an hour early in the end as there wasn’t any reason to stay as we’d done everything else we wanted. I don’t know if I have been very unlucky, but I was somewhat disappointed by Plopsa when I visited. The park had it’s redeeming features, but there were so many negatives too, including operations, quality and experience. Despite this I will probably go back again one day, but not until they open the spinner. Maybe I’m in the minority here. Least we had Peaj’s teacup though.

Seeing Thorpe on The Apprentice last night, I had no idea the chairs in the 4D cinema were able to move so much. Or is that just me not being a true #themeparkfan? Anyone been down Monk's Walk yet to see what exciting developments are in store for 2020?

I definitely started riding it later than others, but Ramesis was definitely an impressive attraction, especially in it’s day. You could almost enjoy watching as much as riding. The ride’s departure after 24 years of service not only means the end of Chessington’s last inverting attraction but the UK’s last (permant) Top Spin. Hopefully it’s replacement will be worthy.

I think proper work to make the park more presentable would be nice. If they’re not getting anything new for the next few years, at least they can take some proper steps toward improving what already stands. Hence the next few points are just suggestions on which bits need cleaning up the most. - The area around Amity Cove and Tidal Wave is a big ol’ mess right now, and could do with cleaning up. So many games and garish temporary buildings blocking the view. You basically have to go round the back of the coke freestyle thing to even find the entrance to TW. - Remove ABL. Obviously don’t remove the rides. But the theme of the area as it stands is a big ‘wtf’ moment for every guests no doubt. And I feel the park would benefit no end by cleaning up and getting rid of this garish area. Theme it back to Amity Cove. - Removal of Saw Alive building. Just imagine if you were a first-time guest and saw that dilapidated, literally abandoned shed suck to the side of the park in plain view as you were coming in. It looks awful and needs to go. - Continue the painting work done begun on Stealth and Rumba Rapids. - Complete overhaul of the food offering at Fins. This should be the park’s proper restaurant. Not whatever tf it is right now.

I know this hasn't been used in donkeys but hello everyone! I've been a reader of TPM for years but only just made an account as I wanted to get involved with the community a bit more. Aiming to be at the Fright Nights meet but thats very dependent on work.