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The seatbelts serve 2 main purposes: Purpose 1 - In case of an evacuation, it gives greater control to staff. 'Please don't undo your safety belt', etc. Purpose 2 - A visual check for guests to know they're secure. As time has gone on, Purpose 2 has become more redundant as guests generally know they're safe. But 20-odd years ago, seeing a seat belt was a big thing. Purpose 1 only truly matters when there's people sat in the seat. Plenty of parks around the world don't bother doing seat belts on empty seats. And within Merlin, it's a ride-by-ride thing. This is not an example of H&S standard slipping. The only thing that's extremely shocking here is the amount of time you must have dedicated to try and find another crazy thing at Thorpe to complain about.

Looks like someone has done no growing up in the last 5 years.

Waiting for Thorpes 2020 attractions alongside Towers new area, Chessingtons new area and Legolands new attractions like...

It's for that RMC opening this year!

Me when Thorpe opens an RMC like that’s gonna happen ever, let alone soon!

Yeah this has been happening for years; hell I remember not doing seatbelts up on empty seats on Vampire when working on it... Closed season really gets to some people I guess... This is something that happens worldwide...

We un-immerse you from an immersive experience..

You know you’re digging beyond the bottom of the barrel when a multi-billion quid company thinks (presumably) splashing a 33-year old kids ride with rainbow-coloured tartan paint is enough to call it a “first-ever”...

Moan at guest services about the claustrophobic rooms?

You're telling someone to grow up on here when all you do is come on here and whine about what people post? The words 'pot', 'kettle' and 'black' come to mind...

What a car crash of a thread.

It did at Weymouth...

I believe there is a maximum age to ride this. Adults can accompany children.

Someone saw someone with a pot of paint, doubt it's anything much. The brown fences are probably continuing to be repainted as some of those were touched up a little towards the end of closed season. What upsets me is the care for the boats (and other ride vehicles in closed season), they just get left in the outside vulnerable to all sorts of weather. If this park actually bothered covering ride vehicles they wouldn't be in their awful aesthetic condition.

The, reasonably reliable, rumour floating around is that the ride hardware was originally bought for a midway attraction somewhere in Europe, but for some reason, didn't happen. Walliams World was always planned to have a brand new indoor attraction as far as I'm aware, but the plan of what is was exactly changed a few times.

They are nothing alike , pirate falls is a proper log flume, just not a massive drop

I am one that does love Millenium Force, my second favourite ride on park. It does have airtime, yet people say it doesn't and it just flies around most of the course, which is what I love. That soundtrack however, bloody annoying!

Can you not just use pre existing threads?

Personally the Eddie Hall collection was a much better fit for me. I mean I guess its not a surprise that a strongman can't fit on many rides, even a retired and slimmed down one lol. Just the sort of publicity the park needs though. When is boohooman x Derren Brown coming out.

Merlin Parks aren't just able to invest money at will, without a business case, which is what they did in the early 2000's era. Currently Merlin's interests are in Asia as that's where the emerging markets are. If the British consumer, spent more money in the parks, and stopped complaining about the excellent value of the MAP looking for the cheapest options to the point of Merlin practically giving tickets away, share the fun, trade, promos etc, then perhaps they would invest more into the UK markets but currently Lego is the asset with the greatest return, hence why it will be getting a new land next year. On the second to Disney comment, it's the truth however you have to look at the business as a whole for example the Midway clusters and Legoland parks generating millions in weekly revenue.

Technically no. Because that's a Chinese themed area... But yes, a lot of European parks go all in on theming and immersion. Phantasialand is one of the best.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/10734560/chessington-new-rides-2020/ Images from Chessington via The Sun

Don't know about you guys but I love all my Deno clothes, bloody good lad he is. One of the huge success stories of 2019. EDIT: Just been on boohooMan x Deno page and they don't have any stock left, bad times.... ahem https://www.boohooman.com/mens/collections/boohooman-deno

The crowd calendar on that website is based on previous dates, however it doesn’t have any data from last January so the predictions are likely to be very inaccurate. I’ll also be there Wednesday-Friday and we booked those dates as was expecting it to be quiet, but the park has been getting progressively busier towards the end of wintertraum so may be busier than normally a midweek school day would be. If last thursday and friday are anything to go by though, it shouldn’t be too bad.

Definitely due to visiting midweek. I was there Friday and the park was significantly quieter (queues no longer than 30mins) compared to the weekend. The park is of course extremely busy during the 12 days of Christmas, then dies down again for their open weekdays afterwards, but the weekends hugely pick up again.

Attendance was down 5.8% in Icon's first season, however the loss was 1.2 million compared with 1.6 million the previous year. https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/business/losses-fall-at-blackpool-pleasure-beach-as-poor-weather-reduces-visitor-numbers-1-10189718 In my opinion, it's very concerning that after such a long wait for a new coaster, it didn't draw in any more guests. Improved turnover could be attributed to things like all the new merchandise, increased fees etc - but if the overall gate figures are down in the year a 16 million pound coaster opens... I don't think things will improve until the park stop blaming external factors and start focusing on what they can actually do to improve.

I certainly did not pay for them at WW. I stood with you whilst the rich lot went on! 🤑 Like I say anyway it will be good for the younger audience, not me whether short or not.

I think I did - weren't you in the UV bit of The Wreckoning?

I don't think anyone is getting too excited here, which is of course sensible. The park usually do things like this, and it can be for a variety of reasons: 1) It is good practice to keep these not used areas reasonably tidy so that they can be accessed when needs be 2) It gives the Landscaping team something to do to test out new equipment / train new staff with low pressure, or to give them something to do during quiet periods. 3) To test the land We saw them go some tidying of the grassy areas by Loggers last year which of course meant naff all. The fact this happened in June and so few people noticed when on park shows that this is not as noticeable or extreme as Google Maps suggest either. Of course, if the park were to open a new coaster, that space is one of the most obvious spaces to go for. But at this stage, we don't know how far away that could be, so who knows.

You better visit when I'm working this year! It was a shame I couldn't throw shade at you last year 😂

Indeed, that is true. But in can be used for as a paper trail too if needs be. Ideally, there shouldn't be many copies printed and a missing copy shouldn't be shrugged off as nothing, but what happens in an ideal world isn't always reality!

It's for that RMC opening this year!

He does now. I also appreciate the last post before Josh C was 10 and a half years ago.

The bit where they mention about crane and containers near the site of the proper hotel is also used regularly for storing, well, 'stuff'. Could literally be anything at this stage, especially without seeing what it was. Over closed season, there's plenty of cranes and containers making the rounds at the park.

I saw this topic in Coaster Force and though this could prove interesting. ‐----- For me the 2010s mean quite a few things depending upon which country or continent or even park I look at.Europe:The Good:I am extremely pleased that parks are developing more coasters which are focused on providing thrills rather than trying to break records or out-do other parks. Rides like the Smiler and Formula Rossa appear to outliers, and I'm pleased to see rides like Taron, Lost Gravity, Baron 1898, Wicker Man etc. being opened.Generally mainland Europe's parks have been doing well with some of my favourite major parks expanding with an array of different ride types and not just coasters. The likes of Symbolica, Popcorn Revenge, Maus Au Chocolat, Pulsar and Chiapas suggest that other rides are improving, not just coasters.The Bad:The UK....oh, the UK. It's not been great has it? The 2010s have been bad over here. There have been great coasters added to some parks (Wicker Man, Icon), but on the whole the 2010s have been about the closure of classic rides and the decline in quality of others. Many of those lost were already butchered in the 2000s (Bubbleworks), whilst others were ruined and closed within the decade (Loggers Leap). Alton Towers was the only park to see successful major additions, whilst others saw mostly rethemes or the odd coaster. Compared to the 1990s boom (2000s boom for Thorpe) this was pretty shocking.The Ugly:I hope the trend of VR dies with the decade. Derren Brown's Ghost Train was at first an admirable disaster as it attempted something new, but now it has declined within 3 years to become an utter catastrophe of a ride. VR additions to other rides have also added very little beyond cheap CGI and longer wait times.

Attraction doesn't mean maze necessarily. I'd more expect a second sit down show over a new maze right now.

This. I think some people have rose coloured glasses when talking about Stealth, maybe because it was their first big ride, hence how DARE you say its not a world class coaster or in the top 100 in Mitch Hawker's polls.. It is a good ride yes, but its not even the best in Thorpe IMO, let alone the UK.

Most people don't travel from that far frankly; I reckon at least 90% of people visiting live under a 2hr drive from the park. Leaving at 8am is hardly an unreasonable hour. The trouble with closing later is a culture thing. British culture very much revolves around 'get in early, get out early' so people can do other things with their evenings. Convincing people to stay at a park later in the UK is difficult and, to date, the only thing that really works is Halloween / firework events. Outside of that, it's tricky to convince people to stay. Is there a difference between cleaning the park before it's open as opposed to after its closed? Either way you're having to pay for staff to be there for the same amount of time.

Well my 2020 just became even less interesting now. Guess I might just to have to settle for the Flume on South Pier now. Oh, wait.

The park doesn't wonder that. They think they are on the international stage when in actual fact they are a local regional theme park. And that's pretty irrelevant to the rules they choose to enforce.

Mate, I need to know what plane you're catching to do that.

no need to be racist. he may be black but doesn’t mean he smokes pot...

Having had 30 rides on Untamed, I can now safely say that in my opinion it is easily the best coaster in Europe and was it not for the excellence of Steel Vengeance then it would have been my number one all together. This coaster is seriously incredible from start to finish and I mean “from start to finish”. The ride does not relent from the second you come off that chain lift until the second you hit those breaks. The pacing this ride has is flawless. I am a huge fan of Wildfire, but one thing that bothers me with it is the fact that there are several moments on it where it loses its momentum massively. Those issues are not present with Untamed one single iota!! It is none stop action the whole way round. Like Wildfire, it DOES get better as the day goes on. Unlike Wildfire however which is underwhelming on its first couple of hours of opening until it becomes a beast in the afternoon after warming up, Untamed is STILL incredible regardless of what time you ride it. However whilst it is incredible when it opens, by the time I was getting my night rides on it the damn thing felt like it was trying to eject me from my seat in the back row and all the way into the heart of Amsterdam!. As a result, the night rides on offer from Untamed are simply unmissable. The elements on this ride are unworldly. The first drop may not be particularly tall but man does it back a serious punch. The inversions on this ride are well taken and offer some pretty incredible hang time especially the first and last inversions. The airtime moments are aggressive and very much reminded me of being back on Steel Vengeance. For those who don’t have either the time or money to go to Cedar Point to ride Steel Vengeance, believe me when I say that this ride is the closest you will get to Steel Vengeance without actually flying across the Atlantic to experience Steel Vengeance and that is largely because of the relentless airtime on offer with Untamed. The finale of this ride is sensational. The airtime hills with all the headchoppers around followed by that barrel roll which gives incredible hangtime really do absolutely steal the show with this ride. In terms of the coaster layout, I can’t for the life of me find a single flaw. In terms of the whole “restraints” debate with Untamed and indeed RMC in general I will say this. Yes after 30 goes I myself was in some pain, but that pain was no different to other coasters with masses of airtime and I felt no pain on my shins at all. Obviously other body types will have that issue though whereas fortunately I do not. I do wish the shin guards was not present for the sake of other riders enjoyment but personally the shin guards cause me no comfort at all having now ridden 3 RMCs. For those of you still sceptical on how good these rides can be and want to know if the “hype” is real, seriously get yourself on a flight (or Eurostar!!) to Amsterdam and go and ride Untamed. The coaster layout is flawless and is just the most amount of fun you could have on any coaster on the continent. I mean it’s not like we are getting an RMC hybrid on these shores anytime soon!! RMC have really worked their magic again in converting Robin Hood into Untamed. I know a lot of people are against what RMC do to wooden coasters so I’ll just voice what I personally think on the matter. RMC do NOT convert true classic wooden coasters. They convert relatively modern wooden coasters so I do think it’s a total myth that they “destroy classics!!”. If RMC did convert true heritage wooden coasters then I personally would be very against that. Hypothetically speaking if Blackpool announced they was changing Grand National or Big Dipper into an RMC then I would be the first to protest it as those rides are true classics with a long history and as such should be preserved. If RMC ever changed the likes of Wodan or Troy then I’d also be uncomfortable with that as those two are amazing modern day wooden coasters that deliver great experiences. IF however Portaventura announced Stampida was getting the conversion, I would be on the first flight out there when it opens. Because it’s a dire ride and does not have the same heritage as true classics. To those who think RMC are “killing wooden coasters” I ask you this. What exactly did the likes of Gwazi, Robin Hood and Mean Streak actually contribute to the industry? They did not have long histories, they was universally disliked in the community and generally was seen as awful rickety rides. So what did they have going for them that should have given them a stay of execution?. In short, rides like the Blackpool woodies should NEVER have the conversion because they are treasured heritage, rides like the modern good GCI and Intamin wooden coasters shouldn’t either because they are great whilst sticking to what made wooden coasters great to begin with. However, the likes of Gwazi,Robin Hood and Mean Streak are fair game as far as I’m concerned. Untamed - 10/10

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.

For anyone interested in Vampire and Bubble Works in their old days, I'm currently attempting to recreate the interiors in 3D for a book on Sparks, the studio that created them. Also the Alton Towers Haunted House (see the Duel topic). This after sadly most the photo archives on the two classic rides (when they were first built) were destroyed by a fire some years ago. To raise funds to recreate the missing scenes to a photo-realistic standard, from all the original production records and plans, I'm doing a Kickstarter campaign this month. It would be brilliant if anybody wanted to contribute, if we beat the target the recreation will be able to go ahead. For more information on the book see the Kickstarter video on the link!

I did the trip there via public transport and here’s how you get there. Once you know the station names, it’s quite straight-forward to get there directly from the airport: 1. From Amsterdam train stations (central, airport etc), take a service to ‘Harderwijk’, which is about a 70 minute train journey with one or two changeovers. About €15 each way, any route can be used. 2. At Harderwijk station, there is a bus station area right next to the tourist information building with about 8 different bays. Go to stop ‘G’ and take service 247 or 247a which says “Walibi” on the sign. 3. The times that depart in the morning to the park from this stop are the following: 9:22am, 9:52am, 10:22am and 10:52am for the first four. After that, it’s pretty much every 30 minutes all day. It’s €9 exactly for a return ticket. This bus will take you directly to the park entrance plaza and the last bus back after park closure from memory was at 20:33 for the 8pm summer days. Be aware that the bus is pretty packed, similar to the Thorpe ones and they only take card payments or a travel card similar to oysters (which is aimed more for the locals than tourists). Cash will not be accepted at all and yes, the buses do support Visa, MasterCard and Maestro contactless, including Revolut cards which was extremely handy in my case. As for the trains, I would advise you to use their smartphone app called “NS Reisplanner Xtra” on either iOS or Android to book tickets and show the QR code to the conductor onboard when asked like I did. It is in English too this app so no translation problems. I stayed at a hotel in Harderwijk for a couple of nights and from there, it’s pretty easy to get to the park, so the important bit is to make sure you reach Harderwijk bus station in all this.

I have... But of course, you'd never get anything wrong. ?

Beautiful!! 🤩🤩

For me its people who compare everything to Disney like its the best thing since sliced bread. The GP seem to view Disney with rose coloured glasses, they seem to forget about the overcrowding, long queues, overpriced crap, and how the park really is no different from the same crap we experience at your average theme park.