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Thorpe will be open 10-10 on May 19th - The Walking Dead: The Ride will be open exclusively for pass holders between 5pm and 10pm too. https://www.thorpepark.com/blog/need-a-place-to-celebrate-on-may-19th

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Thanks! Oooh interesting (and also half arsed of Thorpe at the same time!) Maybe the SAW IP is finally going?

I don’t know how long this sign was outside Big Top for, but it was there at some point in early September before it was taken away. Photo credit: Kieran Adams

This could very easily be a fake video, but if not then this could be the start of something exciting! The whole vibe of the video is Saw. The barbed wire, the text... Saw Alive revamp? There was a sign outside The Big Top last year during construction with the words 'Legacy' '0?' and '2018'. It didn't make much sense at the time but this video could be another hint. The working title for Jigsaw was Saw Legacy so it's entirely possible Saw could be getting revamped. That would mean that the summer opening could be like a final sendoff for the maze, after 9 years of operation. Also, Wasn't there a 27 and a ? on the Blair Witch Shed during the 2016 construction? Like I said, this could easily be fake, but from the looks of it, a lot of time and effort was put into it. I guess we'll have to wait and see. If it is real, it's exciting! I would have preferred the introduction of a new original concept maze but if Saw Alive does get changed, it'll be good to see: it's been the same for so long now.

Got to ride Wickerman on Friday at Towers - I was very concerned we weren't going to get on after travelling 200 miles to get to Towers - but, fair play to Merlin, as despite being down from 1.30 ish, they re-opened at 3.45 with officially 15 minutes of queue-open time remaining - and then stayed open until 4.45pm. In the morning - the ride didn't open until AFTER ERT (oops) and the queues in the morning were peaking at 60-80 minutes so we decided to wait until the afternoon and do the 0 minute queue rides instead, which nearly ended in our downfall Anyway - have to say that I think Merlin are on to a winner with Wickerman here. The queueline is the best I've been in some time in terms of setting you up for the ride, the Wickerman statue looks awesome, and the coaster as a whole is stunning. It really does roar round <3 The pre-show was spot on and sets the scene perfectly. The ride itself I loved (got to ride twice!) - screamed and laughed around the track, fantastic stuff - you can really feel it slide into the corners and it's pretty relentless, and picks up decent speed - it's pitched perfectly if you ask me, a properly fun and thrilling ride, that looks incredible and rides just as well. Great attraction to the lineup, and glad it's come to fruition as I wonder if it was close to getting shelved due to the Smiler accident. Well done Towers - now just fingers crossed the Wickerman starts behaving itself and has less down-time.

Back from the dead ooooh. Popped over to Venice for Gardaland and Mirabilandia over the last few days. Mainly to get the B&M but also to get in a bit of culture. Garda is a great theme park. It does suffer from Merlinism's such as effects being off or odd operations. Raptor and Oblivion ran an empty train nearly all day for some reason and only loaded them towards the end of the day. Raptor remains a great wing rider. It's definitely more unusual compared to the Swarm but has much better near miss effects such as the support on the first inversion or the destroyed platforms over the station. Oblivion the Black Hole is pretty unusual. It's a ride that would be far more effective at night as somehow entering a black hole in pure sunlight is unusual. I like this ride but I don't love it. It's my fourth dive machine and by now, I think they are the most dependable B&M ride type. Always enjoyable, aways know exactly what you are getting. I especially liked the air time in the bunny hop. Real floater air time, felt like I was out of seat for ages. It's odd that the drop is almost hidden away from the footpaths though and I'm not so sure the effects driven queueline works that well. Felt like the Smilers stage four room on acid. So yeah, I liked. (look at the joy) Gardaland itself has a lot going for it. Great dark rides (the Pirate ride is fantastic) and the work they've done on Shaman makes the ride very rideable if you get on with Vekomas. And then Mirabilandia. Katun is fantastic. I always wondered if it would remain so good seven years on but it really does. A properly fast, old school B&M with massive inversions, pops of air time throughout, intensity and speed which all come together to make the second best B&M in Europe. Nemesis still beats it but it's close. iSpeed is excellent truth be told. A forceful and fast blitz coaster that feels relentless without ever suffering from Intamin tropes like roughness and poor reliability. It's pretty lucky for this park they just happen to have two of the best rides in Europe almost by accident. Final big ride is Divertical. This things pretty horrendous and yet somehow it isn't terrible. It's soaking and the rollercoaster itself is mediocre but it is perfect in the Italian sun. Both parks had staggered opening just to note. And so concludes this mini trip report. If you can get to these two parks do it. As well as the nice weather and the great rides, Italians are so relaxed and it makes visiting their parks very enjoyable.

The biggest problem with this refurbishment is they seem to have spend the money in all the wrong places. Of all the ride’s flaws, why’d they bother fixing up the zombie tomb at the entrance? It’s looked cheap since the beginning of time, reparing part of it wasn’t going to fix that. Demolishing it really would’ve been better, as it makes the ride seem super tacky, hence most guests don’t bother riding. The space it’s in would serve much better as a proper entrance sign. Likewise, the money for those TV’s in the queue was a huge waste, they’re too bright, and distracting from the proper portraits. While on their own they’re a nice touch, they certainly should not have been a priority. The lighting in most places is still tragic, especially the timing. The great hall demon is only lit up towards the end of its movement, yet we see the whole thing reset. The same can be said for plenty of the effects. I think the only one that disappeared on time was electric bill? On the topic of the ride’s exterior- while it’s pleasing to see they’re now diverting guests though the woodland queue, rather than just shoving them though by the side of the house, the entrance really could benefit from having a proper sign to make it stand out, it sort of just seems like a gap in the hedge at the minute. Oh, and please change the name. No guest reads “Duel” and thinks ‘ghost train’. If it had a name that actually told you what the ride was, maybe it’d be more popular

Something that is cheap and would be easy to build at short notice.. I think we all know now what Thorpe are getting for their next large scale roller coaster.. At least it would a better investment that the Ghost Train.. Edit: would also fit into the length and height 'requirements' in the MTDP