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This has now been confirmed to be 'The World of David Walliams': https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/whats-on/alton-towers-world-david-walliams-3434435.amp I'd expect a full Press release from the park today. Actually a pretty good choice for an IP in my opinion. Relevant and contemporary, whilst also having enough sticking power to be a classic. Seems to suggest a brand new ride plus rethemes are coming. Of course, there's questions as to whether the park should be relying on another IP and such. However, if they HAD to go for one, I can't think of any better choice. Also, it's nice this has been officially confirmed, after Walliams accidentally leaked it himself 18 months ago...

*Blows dust away* 2013 fright nights (and as a year in general) was an incredible year, the park needs to bring fright nights back to how it was around this time. Every maze was good rather than 1 great maze and the rest mediocre.

Legoland says hi

Who remembers the last time time Thorpe Park had a new permanent addition that wasn't some second hand rides? It's getting a touch ridiculous now. DBGTROTD has evidently emptied their pockets and left them with their proverbial pants down. To keep it on topic - good to see a dead area of the park having some investment at Towers.

Chessington seem to specialise in low capacity attractions now. If I were being cynical I’d say it’s done on purpose to boost Fastrack sales. I remember once going on the Scorpion on a quiet day and getting on before the people in the RAPs / Fastrack queue!

To my understanding, the H&S sign offs of a maze include: -LTC signing off before the maze opens to the public (and, I believe, before actors are allowed to even rehearse in the space). Like with rides, that has to happen every year. -Tech team do daily sign offs: they'll check that all the effects work, the area is safe (ie, no nails poking out, no loose flooring, etc) and so forth -Sign off from the Entertainments team, ensuring there's enough staff, all areas that should be locked are locked, all fire exits are clear, see if there's any potential hazards which may have been missed, etc. As has been said, if a problem arises, it should be flagged immediately to someone working at the maze or nearby. That way it can be checked by actors / staff and appropriate action can be taken (Benin's right in that it's basically only tech/maintenance teams who can use a hammer). Actors should also look out for these things, but they don't always notice them immediately given everything else they have to do as well. It's the same with a roller coaster imo: if you were to catch yourself on a belt buckle which somehow has a sharp bit, for example, it would be something you should mention. Staff should also look out for that but it's not something they would necessarily spot immediately given how many other things they have to do too. Don't quote me on this, but until you get quite high up, I don't think there's no specific qualifications you need. Obviously, standard experience and courses you can take to learn how to write risk assessments, understand H&S investigations, etc, which are advantageous to have prior to being in those roles, but there's not formal qualifications required. Going higher up you need them (stuff from IOSH), though most people will undertake those qualifications whilst in a H&S in the first place as a way of stepping up. I guess this is the major discussion point. Mazes naturally receive a lot of wear and tear at an accelerated rate. In the space of a group of 15 people, you can go from a nail being firmly in place to sticking out ever so slightly. And that can progress slowly as each group goes through. Of course the park has a duty of care and is responsible for whatever happens, but at what point should a line be drawn and we can rationally say 'The park aren't in wrong'? Or - to circle back to where this discussion stems from - how can we rationally say it's "horrendous that these things aren't checked"? Not that there's a clear cut answer to either of those questions, just musing..

This is nothing like the situation that lead to the Wild Mouse's closure. No similarity whatsoever. I agree that a lot of new measures are OTT but in this case it clearly isn't the fault of the guest, if a nail is sticking out of the floor and able to cut into someone's leg in the pitch black I think that is quite serious.

I don't know, I thought it was rubbish from day 1 and so did most people who went in it apparently.

Did someone say Top Spin at Thorpe?

It's reasons like this that have led to the ridiculous OTT health and safety measures that end up being why we can't have fun these days. Petit things like this that lead to these things then getting closed down. I mean, it was this attitude that led to the closure of the Wild Mouse for goodness sakes. Injuries can and will happen everywhere!

Thorpe probably needs less closed SBNO flat rides to be honest.

Hi all, if you're interested in the original Haunted House: I'm doing a Kickstarter campaign to realistically recreate lost scenes from the Haunted House (and two Chessington rides), as part of an upcoming book about attraction designer Keith Sparks and the Sparks studios. More about the book in the video on the Kickstarter page. After exhausting every lead, I traced most the finished Haunted House ride photos to a fire that destroyed most the Sparks archive some years ago. However hundreds of production records, flash photos, workshop pictures and videotapes did surface, meaning we now have reference for almost every detail in the original ride. This is special because the Haunted House was changed a lot within just 2-3 weeks of opening in 1992 (not many know about this because it was changed so fast). We even found outtakes from when the ride was photographed but not the full lighting pictures. Matching the material with technical layouts, it's now possible to recreate the missing scenes with 3D modelling and digital lighting. The renders will appear alongside any surviving real photos and be checked by the original lighting designers. If you've seen something like Virtual Towers Online you'll see how realistic this can look. So why let a fire keep a piece of British theme park history lost forever?! By funding this Kickstarter we can record these classic attractions to complete the book on Sparks. Any further volunteers will also be extremely welcome! We need to beat the target to get the funds, otherwise no donations will go ahead and the recreation project will have to be called off. The book should be ready summer next year but the plan is you wont have to buy the book to see the recreations. Thanks for reading! I can answer any questions.

God you're miserable.