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Had the pleasure of seeing the Tiger Talk today. Was really interesting to see the tigers up close and how they train them - they use a whistle like thing on the end of a long stick, so the tiger has to follow the whistle and blow into it to get his or her food. A couple of times they made her stand up and my god, those things are much bigger than they look. They also spoke a bit about Wildfire at Kolmarden - they explained how the tigers wouldn't be bothered by the noise of the log flume, because they were situated by the main drop of the ride back in Sweden, so they're used to it by now.

Yesterday’s trip was great fun. Kudos to Matt Wise and Marc for organising this trip. Double the parks, double the fun. Too many highlights to count, but that group ride on Tidal Wave was tonnes of fun (though very wet).

The Walking Dead Ride is definitely an attraction, which the more times I go on, the more enjoyable it becomes. Definitely great to notice little tweaks/improvements being made in places throughout, such as the horn etc. Live actors also helps enhance it. Only criticisms again are the issue Stuntman mentioned above, which just needs some sorting out and the house lights seem to be switched on a lot just after the train leaves the station. Something to do with resetting after a shutdown?

After a second go yesterday, I really think the ride keeps getting better! First just want to point out a criticism regarding safety. The lights going out in the corridor make it very dark. I assume this caused someone to run into the wall where the folding chairs are in the dark as they were lying on the floor. (They were ok) I’d put some bright black and yellow stripes or something around the corners so you can still see where you’re going. There’s been some tweaks to the exit canteen corridor. Having live actors here makes a huge difference! The horn of the truck was much louder and made you jump when it went off. The last walker sticking out the roof before the exit gives you one good last scare. I think one thing that would make the corridors better would be the sound of a group of walkers playing in the compromised sections of the entry and along the exit corridor. Overall, I genuinely like the ride, just keep making a few more improvements and get some full time actors or animatronics for the canteen.

Blackpool's marketing have really mucked this up here, as you're not the first person I've seen confused about this. They are currently selling the VIP boarding pass, which gives access for one ride early (IE, yesterday, today, tomorrow or Tuesday). They're now priced at £25(?) You then have the boarding pass for when the ride opens, which gives you access to the park, one ride on Icon and a special certificate, priced at £16. I think that lets you ride before the ride opens to everyone in the morning too. However, Icon is included in wristbands for all ride access. They have not made this clear whatsoever, making it sound like you have to buy an extortionately priced boarding pass to ride. No doubt the marketing push is there to make as much money as possible, but it really has left a lot of people confused.

Popped in for a few hours today as I had a meeting in Heathrow that was done by 10am and I was really pleasantly surprised! At the entrance staff were doing a good job separating people with bags for security search and the new turnstiles scan passes much more quickly than the old ones. Coasters were all running two trains and Saw had plenty of cars on. Really efficient team on Swarm with no stacking going on, and Nemesis Inferno not too bad but seemed to be having a few issues with restraints. Didn't ride Colossus but this seemed to be struggling to despatch with any urgency. Two boats on Tidal Wave. Queue times were bizarre and it seemed like a lot of people in the park were going round in a huge group; at one point in the day Colossus' queue time was indicated as 50 minutes, and later on Stealth was going out with empty seats while at the same time Nemesis Inferno's queue was reaching the second cattle pen! Swarm's fire effect was going off on every other train, but sadly still no water effects. Also the new fencing in the queue line while sturdy is totally out of theme - seems they got a job lot as the same stuff is used (in different colours) at the park entrance and in a few other places around the park. Stealth's smoke effects are back but still one of the green lights is out. On Saw the indoor drop and the bit with the arrows/air blasts is in total darkness for some reason. Vortex and Samurai both closed but work visibly going on to fix both of them. Generally a really nice atmosphere on park - plenty of people around but mostly small queues and good ops and it seemed lots of people were taking the opportunity to enjoy a beer or an ice cream in the sun. On my visits to Thorpe Park this year even on quiet days it's felt like it has some life and vibrancy and that it's being run fairly creatively (events, promotions, minor refurbs etc) - so why does Alton Towers with its brand new major coaster feel like an exercise in managed decline?

Well it beats Tomb Blaster's shed tbh.