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Genuinely wouldn't surprise me if they put something in the end of season/here's to 2023 video to be honest, where the people who created the promo can then speculate about what it means even though they know already.

Chessington Buzz update Now going full steam ahead. It looks so beautiful to me. 😍

It's just not going to happen. Thorpe Park have always had history with Flying Fish - considering it was their very first rollercoaster investment, it makes perfect sense that it should be preserved for as long as possible. Rocky Express is just a generic Mack flat ride that - yes, has been around for a long time - but was never a significant investment to the park, and therefore I can't imagine anyone from the management team really caring about its fate. The area by Wet Wet Wet would benefit much better from a new permanent stage setup than it would a relocation of Rocky Express, especially considering the park's intentions to keep Mardi Gras, Carnival, Oktoberfest and Fright Nights as their staple event lineup. More events means more entertainment, and at the moment the park is seriously lacking a permanent stage setup and the best place for that stage at the moment is looking to be the old Wet Wet Wet location. Alternatively, unlike its other flatride partners from Old Town, Rocky Express requires a hell of a lot more operational headache to move than its counterparts Lumber Jump and Timber Tug Boat. For a start the ride is embedded in the ground unlike the other two which can just be picked up and moved. Additionally, the other two rides are essentially just one unit which makes them super easy to just pick up and relocate. Rocky Express would need to be totally dismantled into multiple different parts, relocated elsewhere, have another hole dug in the ground, rebuilt inside of the hole, add new theming etc. It just doesn't make logistical and financial sense to move it, when they can just get another brand new flat ride and install it elsewhere in the park for significantly less money. More logisitical headaches moving the ride means more people that Thorpe would need to employ to get the ride moved, which brings the cost of the ride relocation up even more. It's not happening. Rocky Express is dead and buried, and will very likely be demolished within the upcoming weeks/months.

It still feels mental seeing this at Chessington. B&M track. At Chessington. Like wake me up I must be having a fever dream, right?

You joke, but the toilets by Slammer definitely need refurbishment! All other toilets on park have seen upgrades in the past few years (Swarm aside, but they're new and seemingly hardly ever used), so the Old Town ones could certainly do with a refresh. Especially since 2024 the area will be much busier. So certainly wouldn't mind seeing them upgraded next year.. Thorpe had posters on park stating their intention to have Mardi Gras, Carnival, Oktoberfest and Fright Nights as their core event line up. So it doesn't feel like there will be any new events. Given the park's continued focus, growth and success with events, it would be good to have a permanent stage area with seating set up. This allows the park's event line up to grow in quality too. The Wet Wet Wet / beach site is an obvious location. The Saw Alive pathway could work too, albeit with more work (and more expensive work at that). 2023 really could do with a new ride. The last time a 'new' ride was added to the park was 2017, and that was in the form of Timber Tug and Lumber Jump. The last time a new 'ride experience' was added was 2018, with Walking Dead The Ride. In the years since, we've had events and a maze. And yes, we've got Exodus coming in 2024 (or 2025...). But the park needs something new and fresh, and just generally extra support. I don't expect it to happen, but that's what I want to happen. 2023 also has a big question: What do you do with Derren Brown's Ghost Train? As I understand it, the IP contract is either up, or in its final year. In terms of upkeep and technology, it feels like it's falling apart...in the case of the headsets, completely so. They could easily keep the experience the same and drop Derren from it (effectively just record a new pre show with some crazy psychology professor, and call it Professor FakeName's Ghost Train). They could drop the VR and go for in-train screens possibly, but that would be expensive. They could rip it out and put something new in. But those options get exponentially more expensive. Whatever happens, one thing I know for certain: if Ghost Train continues to run and operate the way it did towards the latter half of this season, it would be shambolic in my opinion. In any case, here's what I think we might see happen: -Some progress towards a permanent, custom-made event space -Drawn out Exodus teasers -New Fright Nights maze to replace Creek Freak -Possible new toilets -Generic minor improvements across the park

You believe that removing Slammer is 'unlikely', yet your equally made up and unfounded opinion that Rocky Express will be relocated is something you 'expect'. OK

I expect to see Rocky Express refurbished and relocated to Amity Beach. To be precise I think Rocky Express will be located in the area formerly occupied by Wet Wet Wet. I also expect to see some track that has arrived for Project Exodus. This is unlikely but I hope Slammer would’ve been removed. Slammers been SBNO for over 5 years.

Colossus has currently had all the track along the inlines removed, possible reasons ? -support work -track repainting /replacement any ideas ?

I'm back again! A new Merlin consultation can only mean one thing... a new version of the attendance graph updated with 2021 attendance! Here is the new graph for your viewing pleasure: I've had a play about with the new graph, and I've managed to extrapolate some figures! I should firstly note that I have restated a few of the previous figures following closer examination of this new graph. I apologise for my earlier error; the mistakes have been rectified in my opening post. The most notable thing I discovered are the 2021 figures for each Merlin park, as well as some seemingly altered 2020 figures and the 2022 figure for Chessington. Final 2020 Figures Alton Towers - 968,750 (-61.3%) Legoland Windsor - 687,500 (-66.7%) Thorpe Park - 562,500 (-62.5%) Chessington - 500,000 (-69.8%) 2021 Figures Alton Towers - 2,343,750 (+141.9%) Legoland Windsor - 1,562,500 (+127.3%) Chessington - 1,281,250 (+156.3%) Thorpe Park - 1,218,750 (+116.7%) Interestingly, Chessington also had a 2022 figure given. In 2022, the park received 1,468,750 guests, a change of +14.6% on 2021. Now we have this information, we can work out... which park recovered the best from COVID in 2021? There are multiple metrics by which we can establish this. The first potential metric to use is the percentage increases in attendance that each park registered in 2021... Percentage Increases Chessington - +156.3% (1,281,250 in 2021 vs 500,000 in 2020) Alton Towers - +141.9% (2,343,750 in 2021 vs 968,750 in 2020) Legoland Windsor - +127.3% (1,562,500 in 2021 vs 687,500 in 2020) Thorpe Park - +116.7% (1,218,750 in 2021 vs 562,500 in 2020) This metric would suggest that Chessington had the strongest recovery while Thorpe Park had the weakest recovery. However, this is not a perfect metric. This is because the parks' attendance decreased by marginally different amounts in 2020; while all parks were under the same COVID restrictions, some parks were affected more than others. For instance, Chessington's percentage decrease in 2020 was nearly 70%, while Alton Towers' was barely above 60%. This is important because if a park is coming from a more diminished base compared to 2020 in the first place, then its percentage increase is bound to be higher. A more reliable metric to use is the net percentage decrease from 2019 to 2021... Net Percentage Decreases Between 2019 and 2021 Alton Towers - -6.3% (2,343,750 in 2021 vs 2,500,000 in 2019) Thorpe Park - -18.8% (1,218,750 in 2021 vs 1,500,000 in 2019) Chessington - -22.6% (1,281,250 in 2021 vs 1,656,250 in 2019) Legoland Windsor - -24.2% (1,562,500 in 2021 vs 2,062,500 in 2019) This metric would suggest that Alton Towers had by far the strongest recovery in 2021, while Legoland Windsor had the weakest. Alton Towers' recovery in 2021 was miles stronger than that of all the other parks; Alton's 2021 attendance was only 6% lower than its 2019 attendance, while Thorpe Park's was close to 20% lower, Chessington's was over 20% lower, and Legoland's was nearly 25% lower. Why this could be is anyone's guess... I'm certainly stumped by it, as every park was hit by the same COVID restrictions in 2021. It should be noted that 2021 was still not an entirely COVID-free season, however, as the parks opened nearly a month late and attendance was still somewhat capped until July. With this in mind, 2022 attendance, when it is available for all parks, may be a better indicator... for what it's worth, Chessington's 2022 attendance remains approximately 11.3% lower than its 2019 attendance, so even in 2022, it has not recovered as strongly as Alton Towers managed to in 2021. Finally, I should remind you that all of this data is viewable in a Google Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T3bmW5I9gyq6AgqogFJ6xSppi8vRw-y2SWoRZPpfdzg/edit?usp=sharing I hope you find this interesting! I know I certainly found it interesting to compile... I'll hopefully see you again some time soon when the 2022 attendance is made available for all parks!

Only very likely eh? Still a chance then 😉

Bye Bye Apocalypse.