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Who remembers BooHoo Man's hit "Who Let The Dog's Out", what a classic.

First time ride for me today. - It's really well hidden and has broken the flow around the area. No approach from Storm Surge, cut off the walkway around the store, and actual entrance isn't even in view when you commit to the path that only goes to it. All for an 'exit through the shop' opportunity? - Pre-show is OK, doesn't rely too heavily on having to know TWD already. - Long smelly corridors on entrance and exit remain long and smelly. No actors today. - Requiring two riders per row remains an incredibly dumb and troublesome rule. - The little scenes you shoot through are passable, the last one with the screens is the best but hardly breathtaking. - The ride is too light throughout to be dark. Highlights the overall poor nature of the hardware the dark can disguise quite well. It's so obviously a kiddie/family coaster with an adult theme. That being a thing is still just mental. Overall? Meh. It was far more enjoyable in its previous guise as a pointless but straight up cheesy fun rave coaster in the dark. I'd happily ride X a couple of times any visit, I'm not sure I'd want to bother going back on TWD ever again really.

It's cheap and easy. Thorpe rely on their night time riding to pull in visitors for Fright Nights, which is a shame as it shouldn't be. Cutting back on some rides like flying fish, tidal wave, storm surge, zodiac, depth charge, banana ride, tea cups. (how many of those are open I'm not too sure..) But closing them at 5 and using that operational budget to fund two actual decent scare zones, followed by 7-8 mazes would be the right direction in my eyes. I love that a brand new maze, not even finished yet, is being advertised as their most intense maze ever. Once again, Thorpe will sell an attraction as something its not (just like Derren Brown). Why did Big top do so well? Because there was no expectations, no one knew what was to come.

Just saw this - Josh, you never said you were going on a Sanbrooke style M E G A T R I P. Gotta say, I'm gassed for you.

Second ever ride on the train for me today, first in its ROTD guise. It's fair to say there have been improvements over the first effort. - The sound is hugely better and isolating - The graphics seem smoother, if just as low quality - The second ride VR section is much better than playstation 1 apocalypse - The post show incident gives the ride its only opportunity to provide an actual scare, and goes some way to delivering it But it is nowhere near enough to save this utter turkey - Throughput is minuscule, queuing is ssllllooooowwwww and not close to worth the reward of riding - The staff approach is all over the place. Real aggressive introduction about phone use, not sure if that is supposed to be a 'character' or just a real obnoxious way to make a point? - The second room 'pre-show' immediately prior to the train entrance is downright bizarre. A stumbling attempt to be jokey, bring someone from the front to the back, do nothing with them, clap them(?), bang a door, go through the door. WOT? A pre-boarding stall I imagine, but just in every way possible from pacing to storytelling to atmosphere to point, utterly wrong. - The 'middle-show' is immeasurably worse. The old concept of being in a tunnel with no obvious way out and simulate a train approaching was actually a really good idea poorly done. Walking into a dark room where nothing happens before being turned round to walk back out of it is a really bad idea poorly done. Getting on and off the train doesn't even make sense in the narrative any more. - The second VR I can't quite get my head around. Augmented reality would have been hugely better rather than pretend augmented reality, but whatever. This breaks the fourth wall of suspension of belief the ride is asking us to make; the whole point seemed to be that the hyper reality of the simulation of being on a train would be the driver behind messing with your mind in that relate-able, mundane situation. You are now looking at people, like you, who are clearly on a theme park ride of a train, not an actual underground train. What am I supposed to do with this in the context of the narrative? - While we are on the second VR, the image quality as a whole is better than it was, but why is the main character we are supposed to scared of so poorly defined? For the most part it is an indistinguishable fuzzy blob floating around the screen about as menacingly as a rain cloud. - The laboured situation and 'acting' to hold people in the post-show goes a long way to ruining an otherwise decent effect. They may as well put up a big flashing sign saying 'wait a mo, something else is going to happen'. There must be a better, more natural way. Overall, there is no getting away from the fact that the whole thing is an ACTUAL TRAIN SIMULATOR. Not a rocket to the moon. Not a flight on an X wing. Not dive in a submarine. Not a time travelling jump in a Delorean. Why? I can get on a train, I don't need it simulated. I want fantasy. There is nothing fantastical about this Ghost Train. I honestly do not think it is rescuable. It's sad, but the whole concept is so deeply flawed I really feel the best thing to do would be to rip it out and start again. At the moment it is just a very expensive way to damage your brand and reputation.

COASTERS: 1. Helix (Liseberg) 2. Taron (Phantasialand) 3. Shambhala (PortAventura) 4. Black Mamba (Phantasialand) 5. Montu (Busch Gardens Tampa) 6. Valkyria (Liseberg) 7. SheiKra (Busch Gardens Tampa) 8. Nemesis (Alton Towers) 9. Joris en de Draak (Efteling) 10. Balder (Liseberg) DARK RIDES: 1. Symbolica (Efteling) 2. The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (Islands of Adventure) 3. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (Islands of Adventure) 4. Villa Volta (Efteling) 5. Droomvlucht (Efteling) 6. Revenge of The Mummy (Universal Studios Orlando) 7. Hex - The Legend of the Towers (Alton Towers) 8. Fata Morgana (Efteling) 9. Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts (Universal Studios Orlando) 10. Skull Island: Reign of Kong (Islands of Adventure) WATER RIDES: 1. Chiapas - DIE Wasserbahn (Phantasialand) 2. Flying Dutchman (Efteling) 3. Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls (Islands of Adventure) 4. Popeye and Bluto's Bildge-Rat Barges (Islands of Adventure) 5. Kallerado (Liseberg) 6. Jurassic Park River Adventure (Islands of Adventure) 7. Djengu River (Toverland) 8. Congo River Rapids (Busch Gardens Tampa) 9. Splash Mountain (Magic Kingdom) 10. Flumeride (Liseberg) Honourable Mentions: 1. Baron 1898 (Efteling): Incredible level of detail and storytelling 2. The Smiler (Alton Towers): All-round great coaster experience 3. Fenix (Toverland): Brilliant coaster with lovely level of theming

"We're not getting enough people through the gates to make money. What should we do?" "Use the park as an advertising space, make extra money that way. Doesn't matter what we advertise tbh" "BRILLIANT!"

The new coaster will be called the Duplo Dream Coaster https://www.legoland.co.uk/duplo2020/

Legal obligation? I can't even.... I mean if this was for Slammer I'd have given it very slightly more time and acknowledgment being that that was the last of it's type in the world and all that (despite turning into a money pit, and Thorpe doing their best to keep it alive). But a 24 year old Top Spin (that - don't get me wrong, I have fond memories of) that is on it's last legs and has a penchant for locking people in to the ride resulting in the harnesses being cut away?l - give me strength....!

Will ensure I wear my Smiler hoodie again for maximum "interaction" in Twisted Clowns haha

That might kill some poor men! I think that would cause way too many heart attacks! I actually worked there last year and I live down the road, its pretty much my halloween home 😂

One of the beauties of Big Top was the fact it changed in each of its three years. Of course, 2015 to 2016 was the biggest change, but 2016 to 2017 saw quite a few changes too. And I'm sure they could have kept chop and changing if they wanted. And even if they had a completely different design team, they could still reinvent it (the quality is a different matter, mind), and it would still be Big Top. If you have a good core idea, you can keep it fresh and keep it for a long period of time. Some of the best received events in Europe have staple mazes that have been their for years. They still receive new experiences and the staples get tweaked too. And it's that long lasting consistency which makes it good. There's always a time and a place for the big attractions to go and for something new to come along. Big Top really hadn't reached that time yet.

I think having one or two “signature” or “headline” mazes can help an event if they are given slight tweaks here and there. Asylum,Cellar and Terror Of The Towers being the 3 prime examples I can think of. The Cellar still holds up well even against the Tulleys newer mazes as did Asylum against thorpes newer mazes when that was around. This was helped with each event tweaking and making slight changes to each maze. It can also depend on how stale said mazes get. Terror of the Towers for the first few years with the “what lies within” story arc generally was the best maze at the event. However as the years went by and Alton bought in the much more extreme Sub Species and Altonville Mine Tour, Terror of the Towers all of a sudden looked very dated in comparison. Keeping a whole bunch of the same mazes with no changes however can make an event grow stale quite quickly.

Christ, this change sounds horrendous. Cringey. Bloody awful. Hex is one of my favourite things about Towers, and always a highlight when I visit. It’s sad and frustrating to hear that they’re destroying the atmosphere in there with annoying, cheesy “Come this way guys!” stuff, which it was doing absolutely fine without. What’s more, this is an attraction that relies so strongly on the atmosphere, whilst also creating its own atmosphere (I.e by utilising the Towers themselves). You can’t just plonk shouty staff members in there. Also, it hardly ever has a queue - so what’s the issue if the odd guest is a bit slow to leave the Octagon scene anyway? I can hardly imagine people have actually been left behind in there! (Or maybe they have, and Towers are now retrieving their skeletons, hence the ride closure.)