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Don't forget to see the sights such as THE WORLDS ONLY REMAINING SKY SWAT or the log flume that DIANA princess of Wales rode thirty years ago. I hear there's the BRAND NEW FOR 2020 PRIPYAT EXPERIENCE next to DB's ghost train but there's been very few reviews of this new walkthrough so far.

I was on park yesterday for the first time this season and had a pretty good day. Social disancing IMO was handled really well, and props to all the staff who were awesome, working so hard to keep the rides clean and the queues moving as best they could. Although there have been none of the larger scale refurbishments that the park has needed for a while, many areas look somewhat refreshed and cleaner than usual. I actually quite like the refresh of the dome, and the entrance plaza and bridge look much brighter and more welcoming. The car park improvements will really help when the park eventually gets busy, too. It's disappointing to see Slammer hasn't been removed though. The space could really be used for a queue/plaza area for Black Mirror. MAJOR work has been done on audio across the park. Thorpe seem to have bought RCF's entire stock of outdoor speakers 😂 Really not exaggerating here, almost every speaker has been replaced across most areas of the park, with only those that were already relatively new and working being left in place such as Swarm Island and DBGT. Audio has been introduced to areas where there was previously none, too. It's clearly an ongoing project, as there were a few new speakers that have been mounted but not wired in yet, and the volume levels in some areas are lower than they should be, with announcements from ride staff being way too loud. Hopefully now they can measure ambient noise with guests in the park, they can fine tune the levels that aren't where they need to be. RCF isn't a brand I've noticed being used in a UK park before. It's good to see they've bought some really high quality equipment which will hopefully last for many years to come. They've clearly invested a LOT of money here as audio has been due an overhaul for a long time, and the speakers that were setup yesterday and at the correct volumes sounded awesome.

So I actually had a good day today, I’ll admit after the first hour everything felt a bit weird, but after that getting more used to things I actually enjoyed it. Carrying on from above, the arcade from that angle does look bad - I’ve no idea I can only assume it had to be done very quickly for some reason or work wasn’t able to be completed due to corona - I do hope something is done to improve it as it don’t look great. On a more positive note - Firstly with the social distancing I think the park did really well - there are markers literally everywhere spaced out 2 m anywhere there would be a queue - there are sanitiser stations everywhere and I didn’t find one which had ran out all day, on rides there’s social distancing where it’s needed - some rides seem odd such as quantum which literally runs 3 rows - others do make sense, but obviously this is new and will be tweaked over the next few weeks. There’s signage everywhere - again it’s all been done professionally and properly, proper signage throughout, information videos on screens and park wide announcements. For guests following it it’s a mixed bag - some queue lines seemed to follow it better than others, ride ops did step in at times and make announcements reminding people which jogged memories and people would then distance out more. Did notice some not wearing masks on The Swarm, at the same time someone at stealth didn’t have a mask and the staff quickly found one, disposable masks are also on sale in the shops as well as Thorpe branded ones. Entrance to the park was efficient- those without bags skip security queue and go straight to temperature check - the ticket window queue to the right of the entrance is repurposed info a holding queue for those waiting to get in before park opens to allow people to be socially distancing whilst waiting. Park audio has had so much work, probably more than its ever had, its not finished but it’s already significantly better, queues like colossus which have needed work for so long have had it, areas which never had audio before now have it, its really so much better. A few tweaks are needed with some volumes too loud or quiet but that will come over time - you need the general noise of the park to get these levels right. Ride availability wasn’t bad - rides in old town were closed along with rumba, I expect these to open over the next Few weeks, as expected Ghost train and walking dead closed. Shutdown wise only actually saw Stealth and Vortex go down which isn’t bad for “first day” of season - all rides full capacity too which is obviously more important now with reduced seating. New brand signage around entrance / dome looks good - much more professional and suits the park well - Infinity looks really good too, sadly they seemed to have some struggles in there today so didn’t get to try it but definitely will soon! New car park system was good - passes scanned quickly, I do wonder if eventually pass holders will be able to register a car reg? Was also happy to see fastrack not on sale - they easily could have sold it, and people would have bought it - but not selling it definitely is a big plus for guest experience especially when staff are getting used to the new procedures on rides. All in all I had a good day - it was rough around the edges in some places but open day ALWAYS is - with the added part of the vast majority of staff spending the last few months on furlough along with all the new procedures needed it ran significantly smoother than i thouht it would - am happy the parks able to reopen!

Hi guys, just to let everyone know I'm heading to THE ISLAND LIKE NO OTHER on Monday with my mate, we have paid full price of £39 each online to ensure the ongoing financial stability of our beloved MERLIN ENTERTAINMENTS ❤️ We have even paid for our CAR PARKING up front too. Bit gutted that Rush is currently dead, can't lie, but excited for my first Stealth fix of the year - will try not to break it.