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Awesome video of CWoA in 1997. Some good footage of rides and areas, with Vampire, Bubbleworks, Dragon River and Terror Tomb looking good in particular.

I heard it was about to be refurbed and receive sponsorship to a TV show unsuitable for familys with a run down theme.

Well, it’s better than nothing.

Sod it, I’m off to Kaatsheuvel! Strangely there’s been a consecutive chain with the Dahl family detesting attractions based on their IP’s. First it happened to COTCF at Towers and now looks like it’s happened again here. Apparently they also disliked the 1971 Willy Wonka film too. Fingers crosses this new attraction can add something to a park which has been badly struggling for years.

That footage of the Vampire station...

I think we all just need to move to Rust, Germany.

I wouldn't worry about the lights at this stage, it's still in the testing stages don't forget. The trains do indeed have strip lights, and in addition spotlights under the seats. Of course, we can moan when they're broken a few weeks after the ride opens

Okay I know its only April but fu** you I'm writing this review. So the London Bridge and Tombs is an attraction that has always been on my radar- whether it be the rave reviews from Scaretour or walking past it when the Dungeons was down the road. So after a trek down to London I thought I might as well experience it for myself- does it compare to The Dungeons? (apologies for these straight outta snapchat photos ) **Mild Spoilers** The London Bridge Experience So after a somewhat overly long intro video- you are ushered into the London Bridge Experience. Overall I found this experience to overall be well themed, well acted, well scripted, and educational- but sadly I feel like a lot of scenes and rooms lacked the crescendo or 'oomph' that the Dungeons has. For example there is a scene in a pub here which the landlord discusses a bunch of murders which references Jack The Ripper. You then hear a scream to which you are ushered out of the pub by the landlord to find a corpse. But then after you see the bloody mannequin- you abruptly move on to the next scene. This scene in particular had a lot of tension and it constantly felt like something big or Dungeons esque would happen- but it doesn't. I felt like they really could of added some more dramatic reveal to seeing the bloody mannequin too- we really just walked past it. This was a issue for many scenes- in particular 'the fight verses the Romans' scene had a great script and seemed to be building up to something jumpy- but then it just kinda fizzled out and next minute we were on the next scene.. I do have to give credit for some scenes within the experience though- there is a huge scare involving a large moving animatronic that made me jump out of my skin towards the beginning of the experience. I also really enjoyed the incredibly disorientating spinning tunnel towards the end- it was even worse than the one at Tulleys! I think London Bridge with some more special effects could easily match the Dungeons- but for now I think it really lacks the 'oompth' and the finales of The Dungeon's scenes. Despite that though- the theming is brilliant and perhaps even greater than The Dungeons. The acting was also top class and the groups were much more intimate than the 30+ groups that The Dungeons has. The Tombs After nearly throwing up from the spinning tunnel you are warned about the intense scare attraction that awaits you- after a photo opportunity and a intro video, you enter the lifts.. This lift scene built up tension perfectly and the lift had some nice special effects to make it feel like you were actually going down! Once out of the lifts, you form a conga line and you enter the main maze. The main maze itself was nicely themed and had a huge variety of scenes. A hospital, a Chop Shop style room, a prison style room, and even a clown section- you name it, its in The Tombs. The maze overall has tonnes of variety within its long layout- I never quite knew what the next room would bring. The acting was brilliant throughout, with actors using various hiding spaces to come out of nowhere or harass us. My only problem was there was quite a few rooms that were sparse on actors- but the theming and animatronics kinda made up for it. Overall The Tombs was a long and varied scare attraction that I think really made the trip worth it. Conclusion Overall I think The London Bridge Experience and Tombs are both well themed and acted experiences- though if you want a educational and witty trip back in time I think The Dungeon's is a much more polished and superior experience- though if you want to get sh** scared then The Tombs makes the trip down to Tooley Street more than worth it. The groups in both The Bridge and The Tombs are also much more intimate so you don't have to deal with the overcrowding that The Dungeons has. Anyway sorry for the six month early post

I can't say how pleased I am that Wicker Man has made such a positive impression on so many people here who had originally dismissed it. I'm still yet to ride it myself, but based on such positive reviews, I have no doubt that it'll be a great experience, from the moment the pre show beings till the moment the train re enters the station after the ride has finished.

I didn't think much of Troy to be honest, strange to see you'd rank it the best. Wodan's great, it just falls into the "I can't really remember it" haze that comes with most of Europa Park. The large GCIs have dead spots, where you are waiting for things to start getting good again, the smaller ones (Wicker & Draak), don't waste time faffing about and just kick more ass.

I've got no problem admitting I was wrong and I'm very happy to report that I was most certainly wrong and too quick to cast judgement on Wicker Man. Never again will I doubt GCI, their track record is still perfect. Now while I still agree that Alton Towers could and should have done more with the UK's first modern wooden roller coaster, what we have ended up with is great. The Story: Wicker Man's story about the creepy cult of weirdos, worshipping the Wicker Man for years in the forest and bringing him sacrifices in return for one day him returning their favour and gifting them with freedom and safety, is simple, effective and quite unnerving, I like it. Theming & Effects: Those involved have done a great job with the theming. The Wicker Man himself, in person looks damn impressive. The sheer amount of fire, mist and smoke effects used (please keep these running for the life of the ride) is so overwhelming and surprising and really adds to the experience. Not only that but the buildings (preshow and station) inside and out are incredibly well done. As a package, as present, Wicker Man is probably the best themed roller coaster in the UK. Queueline: After a couple of switchbacks to begin with, the queue ends up becoming a nice swooping semi circle which provides great views of the coaster layout and really helps build excitement. This style of queue over the crap that is Smiler's queue anyday, much appreciated. Preshow: I really enjoyed this, it's creepy, gets you hyped for what's about to transpire and in all honesty is alot of fun to watch. The Coaster: This little GCI is great. Great laterals, a few pops of good airtime, 1 insane ejector moment, that perfect amount of out of control that all woodies need and a real sense of speed. Also to my surprise, it's alot longer than I was expecting, so you get a decent length ride out of it. If you're into ranking things, after 2 laps, I'd probably put Wicker Man above Wodan and Troy, just below Draak, which I feel is a stronger layout and the racing aspect adds so much fun to the experience. I really feel Wicker Man is going to do great things for Alton Towers and I really hope they can quickly improve the up time and maintain both the coaster and effects to the quality they were on opening.

I'm not trying to sugarcoat things really. It's easy (and true) to look at Thorpe and go 'so many rides are closed, this isn't good enough, what on earth is going on??'. But there is a more balanced viewpoint to things rather than just going 'Thorpe have got loads of closed rides, they're doing everything wrong, everything will be terrible'. But in fairness, Loggers is now all but a memory and Slammer is an ornament. It doesn't look good on the park - especially when so many ask about Loggers and many will question Slammer when Fright Nights comes - but there's only so many times their closures can be bought up at every point before you tire of it a bit. They're gone, and it's time to accept that and move on. I'm a Celeb is something that will never open at Fright Nights. Staffing the Fright Nights mazes is tricky, adding in a non-scare attraction to the mix makes things harder. There's also been a large worry that people will expect it to be 'Fright Night-afied' and be scary. And no matter how hard you try to tell the masses 'We have loads of scary mazes around, but this isn't a scary maze, it's a family fun maze', the masses will not listen. Which then leads to disappoint, etc. There is the question about whether it closes too early, but all the actors / staff associated with it pretty much straight away focus on Fright Nights (set up, rehearsals, etc), so the manpower is put to use. So effectively we have lost 2 rides for this Fright Nights (okay, you can argue 3 compared to last FN, but 2 rides compared to standard operating this season). It simply isn't good enough. But Rush is clearly down for essential maintenance and something outside of Thorpe's control (something which doesn't make a blind bit of difference to the average guest, granted, but something that enthusiasts should at least be understanding of), and Rumba is a mystery (the official word they're saying on their Twitter at the mo is that it's a "seasonal attraction this year", but if we're being realistic it's likely down to budget...but more on that later). I understand where you're coming from at the moment as it can seem that way, but it really isn't. I think maybe you're over-stating Rumba's place in the line up, as despite the general consensus here, Rumba is completely overshadowed by Storm Surge. Not saying it doesn't have a place, but I think over the coming months, it won't be as missed by the public as you think. That's not to say that that makes it a good decision or anything; simply saying it's not AS bad as you think it'll be. Whilst true it did stay open until 10pm in the past, that did change to 'close at dusk', and in a time where Merlin are so over-zealous on H&S, it's not something I could have seen changing back. But with Platform existing, it basically makes the argument null and void since Loggers would have closed when Platform opened. My point was more that the attraction line up hasn't reduced in number. Loggers left, DBGT came. So the line up hasn't been reduced. And during Fright Nights, people are going to be more interested by Ghost Train than Loggers. I haven't forgotten that at all - but you were the one who mentioned that FN days were going to be hell, so that's why the conversation is geared to FN. Honestly, I think it's ludicrous that there hasn't been even a couple of quid knocked off ticket prices given that there's 2 rides which are closed which shouldn't be (3 if you include I'm a Celeb, but I won't since they've been upfront from the get-go this year it wouldn't be open in September). They can dress it up all they like with 'closed for planned maintenance', 'this is a seasonal attraction', 'rides are subject to availability', but it's not good enough, and a small gesture like that would probably go a longer way than they think. Certainly was only recently that they said they would close it early and actually did (I think it was only last season?), but they have said since about 2012 they'd close it early (just rarely followed through with it). But in all honesty, following the Drayton incident and once again Merlin's current over-zealous H&S approach, I couldn't see them wanting to keep it open in the dark now. Again though, I think you're making a bigger deal out of a rapids ride not being open. During Fright Nights in particular, there will be very few people who go saying "The rapids ride is one I must do". And there won't be a large number of people who stick it on their list to do anyway. It will be a 'we'll do it if we get time' or a 'we'll do it after lunch' ride. With it closed, the majority of people will just move on with their day (and probably gravitate towards Storm Surge). Again, I'm not saying it isn't an issue - if a park has a ride to offer, they should offer it! If they don't, it will cause disappointment, even if it's slight, to some guests, which is something they shouldn't do. But I don't think it's as big an issue as people on here think. One thing to note is that the "lifeguards" on Rumba aren't lifeguards; they are just normal rides hosts in certain positions. Their job is to tell people to remain seat, sit back down if they do stand back up, and act as another set of eyes to keep track of guests in case of an incident (so that the ride can be e-stopped as quickly as possible). They won't do 'lifeguard duties' of jumping in the water to save people if someone falls in; something which loads of people actually think they will do! However, it is true that the staffing costs have risen considerably. Following the Drayton incident, extra staff were dotted around the course and a second operator was introduced. Storm Surge and Tidal Wave also received extra staff to watch guests in case they tried to jump out of the boats (something which was very common on Storm Surge in particular). Slowly the staff numbers were reduced, by Rumba in particular still has many more staff than it was budgeted for at the start of season. From what I've been made aware, because Thorpe were overspending so much on these extra staff for H&S, they did try to get the extra budget to fund it, but ultimately it was rejected. Thus leaving Thorpe with the conundrum of whether to cut back to the original staffing levels (which staff and management didn't feel comfortable with), or continue overspending until money dried up. Given the number of extra staff required over the season, it'd make sense that it's around now that they simply don't have the money. So that would at least explain the situation Rumba is currently in. Of course not excusable to your average guest who will be disappointed to see rumba closed, but at least in some way understandable that Thorpe tried and were doing things for the right reason.

Correct. Slight waste of effort and money but hey, what can you do