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Hello last spring. Surprised it wasn't mentioned after this post, but the theming element is no longer missing although you'd be hard pressed to notice it wasn't. Really, it is tiny sitting atop this ride, the scale is all wrong. It just looks bizarre, with some big sort of padding thing below it and a relatively tiny motif on top. The base has colourful stones in sections, but this is full of detritus from the trees so just looks messy. The ride itself is also quite broken, with a couple of elephants (including the yellow one I found myself on) very obviously not able to make it more than a couple of feet off the ground. When small but IP led retheme investments are this bad you know something is deeply wrong at the heart of what is happening here.

They were doing some filming on it today, so maybe they'll post something soon. There was someone (probably who has been on love island or only way is Essex, not a clue) standing outside with a filming crew saying they were going to be the first ones on it. I do agree its odd they don't seem to be promoting it apart from the signs outside saying its opening on the 21st.

I thought this too, but seems odd when Alton Towers have been pushing Gangsta Granny quite hard for a good couple of weeks now. Obviously very different situations and different parks and all that, but it feels like a weak reason to not be actively promoting it. Or even a mention on the website that doesn't require one to dig around. Given it's *checks notes* 10 days until opening and they now have all the confirmation that it can open, one would assume something will happen soon. How effective, we'll see.

I have been told by a friend that works there that actually the park audio is having a big overhaul at the moment and over last the closed season. Still a work in progress but I believe there has been a lot of dead spots sorted (with some more to go) and the backend systems have been replaced and changed to a new setup.

Bobbejaanland is bit rubbish (although it's 6 years since I visited, so can't comment on Fury), although it's convenience within that trip is hard to deny. Walibi Holland isn't too much further away from anything you're doing really, and with the likes of Untamed, Lost Gravity and Goliath, you get a huge bump in quality. Another one worth looking at is Bellewaerde - not huge and no must-do big rides, but a nice little park with a nice zoo to at least do once at some point, and again, not far from that route. In any case, that's still a very solid trip with some very good parks and rides. Just down to taste (and cred counting if that's what you're into) whether you include or ignore the likes of Bobb, WalHol and Belle. As a little aside: that's a bit of a weird route for a road trip, no? How are you planning on getting to/from mainland Europe? If you're getting ferry/tunnel, you end up having a long drive from Germany back there.. Might be worth considering turning it into a loop to make the drive times smaller?

Fake news, didn't see this in Jack Silkstone's videos, sorry.

Visited Thorpe twice this season. It's still very much possible to have a fun day at Thorpe (provided you visit on a quiet, off peak day) but wow some areas are just sad at the moment. Visiting Chessington and then this place one after the other is such a stark contrast, one looks better than it ever has in the fairly short time I've been going, whereas Thorpe is almost exactly the same as it was last season. The only real changes I noticed were the interesting Tidal Wave changes, which I'm honestly not sure if they're good or bad, and on the second visit some leaves had been cleared from a fence at Colossus. It is worth noting that on the second visit, lots of effects were fixed. Off the top of my head, the water effect on the heartline roll on Saw was working (I've only ever seen that work once or twice if ever), Inferno had it's mist back, Swarm's plane, fire engine and helicopter had mist (no water or fire though 🙁), and the water tower at Tidal Wave. Nemesis Inferno has been brilliant every time I've ridden it this year, I honestly think it's just as good as Nemesis now, although that may be recency bias as I've not ridden Nemesis in a while. It also has it's old soundtrack back, with the new one playing in the station, which is good. Audio all around the park was very loud, sometimes too loud. It's basically impossible to have a conversation around Colossus, Saw and Stealth. Old Town is in a really sad state, with Slammer more visible than last season, the rotting corpse of Loggers behind a fence, and with quite a bit of Creek Freak theming still up. The tents over the picnic benches have 'Creek Woods Sawmill' on, and there's wanted posters everywhere. I saw from Samurai that there's still some bears up around Loggers, except one has fallen over, which is sad and kind of a metaphor for the whole area. Black Mirror Labrynth has a cool sign but the building isn't pretty. Overall, I still think Thorpe can be quite fun on quiet days, but, and I know I'm stating the obvious here, the park is crying out for some TLC and most importantly something new.

Yep Thorpe's sound system upgrade is amazing! I hope when lockdown restrictions ease they turn the sound cannons in infernos station up a bit more like in the summer last year when they were pumping, you could even feel the base outside of the station! Does anyone know what plays through the speakers at saws drop? I’ve always wondered what is supposed to play through them!

This ride also has lights on the underside of the trains. I'm not sure if there are any other inverts with a similar feature?