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Well that's yet another massive insult to Slammer's glorious legacy...

All hinting to next years X re-retheme. AH AH AH AH AHH

The park are now open until 5pm this Thursday and Friday (instead of 4pm), due to the good weather. Shame that 5pm isn't the standard of course, but good to see they're extending.

It's almost as if the high winds had something to do with the amount of major rides opening at Cedar Point...........

Interesting report. Big Sheep sounds a lovely little park and the others don’t sound half bad either. I believe Flambards are the new owners of Lightwater, so hopefully they can turn around that place somewhat. Rampage used to operate at the now defunct Metroland until 2008, where it was known as the New Roller Coaster. It’s interesting to see how they’ve worked out the landscaping for what was once a completely indoors coaster.

Of course they should get preferential treatment though, surely? I'd be naturally livid if I'd booked a ticket for a day and paid for that specific day, to be turned away because people who could visit any day of the year decided to rock up that day. If the AP holders are so determined to visit that day they should book with the tiny fee, and this is coming from an AP holder.

So I've just come back from Chessington, where I had three goes on Tiger Rock. Here are my thoughts: Area As many have said, "Land of the Tiger" features many high fences. To be honest, though, it wasn't all too noticeable, as the Tiger Rock itself draws most of your attention. The area around the drop and main entrance to the area, is themed around a conservation site, with the wooden fences decorated as large supply crates. There's some nice theming around the enclosures near the drop (I didn't go too far down where Peeking Heights was), with some crates, shovels, binoculars, all that stuff. The bridge going over the flume itself has a new bridge running alongside it for the tigers (although, I personally didn't see any of the tigers on any of the bridges, one came close but walked off). The area where the Buddha is has all sorts of signs, about some festival, and also signs directing you to "Tiger Cave" "Tiger Pool" and of course, "Tiger Rock". The sign pointing to Tiger Rock is pointing to the theming feature, and not the ride, which could cause confusion. The panning for gold thing has been changed to a doughnuts and churros stand. Now, as you've probably seen, unfortunately, the dragon has been covered up and honestly, it looks awful in person, you can easily see where it was the dragon and some of the green paint remains. The ride entrance is pretty much the same, but painted up in a tiger pattern and with a new sign. Finally, the music is absolutely fantastic, really atmospheric and honestly makes the area. It doesn't sound like anything Chessington have done before. Ride Experience The queue in the station remains, there's some signs explaining the story, how you're in the "Tiger Temple", you're travelling down the "Amur River" and you're "Connecting with the Spirit of the Tiger". There's also a scene up on the wall, and a show sequence plays every so often with a tiger over your head. The ride is mostly the same until you get to the former Dragon tunnel. As you exit the tunnel, you catch your first glimpse of the tiger rock on the ride. You pass by the old Chan's Cycles and Lee's Laundry, which are now painted all red and completely bare which I think is a shame. There's some nice audio as you go up the lift and when you're on the top. As you go through the tiger head you're sprayed with mist, like Wicker Man, which means you get wetter than on Dragon Falls. The old photo kiosk is now a tiny gift shop selling mostly just generic tiger stuff, some Tiger Rock bears, cups and pin badges. The old food kiosk is now the photo kiosk. Overall This review is getting long so I'll keep this short: Overall, I thought Tiger Rock and Land of the Tiger was alright. Not much has changed to be honest, and I was disappointed with some of the theming being removed. I am happy that the ride is back as I felt a part of Chessie was missing without Dragon Falls, without it it was just repeat rides on Fury, Vampire and Rattlesnake.