Marc

https://www.merlinentertainments.biz/C24B1AD7-9B59-4C19-BE0A-98EBAB02911C.CFILE Abit more on this here- they plan to reduce capital spending at their resort theme parks by 100 million over the next 3 years and spend that money on hotels, which could actually be good for TP if it means we get the planned Waterside Hotel. Intresting over 70% of their profits are from outside of the UK.

PA is a bit of a weird one for me - I think as a resort they are pretty spot on, ride wise i think the park has a great offering, Shambarla and Khan are great and I admit I love baco (dont ask!!) Really enjoyed Ferrari land too - although feel this could do with more over time. Ive stayed in Hotel PA, El Paso twice, and Gold River and have never had a single issue on any of my stays. The food offerings are a bit limited i would agree, id say the food on park was generally quite good, but the hotels offer little more other than the expensive buffet options although the Italian place at Hotel PA is really nice. Never personally had an issue with the staff being rude or unhelpful, but realize this can all be down to luck, on my last trip after a few rides on Baco the ride staff were actually really nice talking to be (probably wondering why I wanted to keep riding it!) but yes, there operations are poor, they are slow and very understaffed, i'd never visit the place without getting the express pass.

Have to disagree with you on X - previously rides on X would be a bit of a "gamble", some rides you'd have a great track to ride along with, other times a not so great one, would really make a difference to the ride - it was always abit inconsistent, along with that the lights now syncing up with the music means you'll get the same experience no matter when you ride. And its the same for all rides, they all have their own themes which are exactly the same every ride and as long as the musics good i dont see an issue with that sort of consistency. I think changing the Colossus music was always going to split opinion - ive not noticed it to be repetitive but again things like this are all down to personal taste.

To the every day guest who visits once or twice a year it will be subtle, many of the tracks are alot longer than the previous ones too (The Lost City track for example) which previously played a portion of the Colossus music which cant have been no longer than 5 minutes, the new one must be at least 15 minutes, if anything making it if anything less repetitive. Same works for X, the music lasts about as long as your ride will be on it, most visitors to the park will ride it no more than 3/4 times a year (total guess at the numbers here!).

Dont be concerned - are you spending the whole day there? If so you'll be fine to get all the rides in, the gates open at dead on 10, Swarm is usually where a lot of people head early, in previous trips ive gone over to Stealth first thing got that done and then Inferno straight after with minimal queues. After that if you have the TP App it has the queue times on, check out if Saw / Colossus or Swarm are busy and head to the quieter. The park will be busy but you'll have no issue getting in everything you want to, especially if your not planning to do the mazes - although If you get chance would recommend giving them a go - especially Big Top!

I wouldn't expect to instantly walk on things but you should easily be able to do everything you want to do with the ultimate fastracks - enjoy!

It’s not unusual for them to start sending through bigger groups more often when queues get very long - the groups on quieter days are almost always smaller than those on the peak packed out days - there’s a fine balance between keeping the queues at a reasonable length / keeping the groups smaller for a better experience. Did notice the mazes opened at 12 again yesterday which was originally only planned for Half term , which should help abit on the busier days.

Unfortunately it’s always the same for Fright Nights - the park has been very busy (which let’s be honest is good!) and queues do get very long. Reading some of them though I’m sure some are a bit OTT - one I read from Friday on about queues being 3 hours and only seeing one actor in big top I don’t beleve that for a second! As you said you’ll get a much calmer atmosphere on services day!!

I wouldn't personally say that the music is taking away any atmosphere - I think since earlier in the year a couple of the speakers along the colossus bridge have stopped working - one these are back working so you can hear it across the entire Colossus area I think that will help a lot. On the same subject of new music - heard more of the new jungle theme at the weekend playing in pizza pasta, it sounded pretty good, I quite like how they've managed to incorporate the Nemesis Inferno music into it too.

It probably has more to do with staffing than maintenance, Stealth and Swarm at least require extra staff to run at full capacity, not sure on the others. I think you raise a good point on the queue times - as enthusiasts i recon we have less tolerance to queues on 1 train vs the GP - for me id not like to queue 30 mins for a ride on one train where as the GP would be more than happy to wait that.

I would assume it will open as normal in March - they've already started closed season work on it, Tidal Wave closed just before Fright Nights a couple of years ago for extended maintenance too and has ran all year since.

I think both the trains have had some work - have ridden both of them over the last couple of weeks and am sure it is noticeably smoother and a lot quieter too.

Realistically it will make little / no difference to budgets for the European resort parks, they are completely different markets - if anything it will be good for those off to Florida as you'll no doubt get better entry deals if your a Merlin pass holder!

Think I spotted one to go up near the Saw Store too.. although maybe wrong!

Think referring to this one - this is part of the Thorpe Shark theme.

Shame to hear there was a lack of actors tonight - it’s wrong to suggest the mazes are only at their best on press nights thought - there were a number of improvements / tweaks + actors in new places on the Friday over the Thursday press evening.

Audio isn’t a main part of these rides - where as for X it’s audio is a big part of the experience - I can understand why it’s not changed for fright Nights (and hasn’t been since it was redeveloped for music and lights to become such a big part of the ride).

Did notice this, It’s on the restriction board that swearing is part of the attraction too.

What with previews starting last night and press night tonight this is the perfect opportunity to create a topic containing spoilers. Saw some reports last night and its sounding promising - also from this picture from Cupcakes and Coasters looks like Platform 15 has seen some pretty significant changes!

Theres a new 1 minute or so mix which plays as the park opens now and includes a countdown. Sounds imascoreish with a mix of music from across the park including Stealth, Saw, Swarm, Colosussus and Inferno - Theresa also a video on the big screen which plays along with it, was a nice touch!

Try get there for 9:30ish and get through the security queues as soon as possible - hit what ever major coasters open first whilst keeping an eye on Ghost train (it usually opens before 11) and if i was you id ride it as early as possible. This way ive managed to get all the major coasters done within the first hour and in the queue for Ghost Train by just gone 11. As for mazes its hard to tell but id expect Walking Dead Living Nightmare to be the busiest, often people will start to queue up to an hour before they open so that maybe a good option (will be shorter than the queues later on!) Platform 15 / Walking Dead Sanctum will likely be better done at night.

Lumber Jump also has been added!

As I said - I live around 15 mins from the park and it was very windy here yesterday - fence panels blown in etc so I’m not too surpirsed the park was badly effected - they also had a message on their website stating they are expecting ride availability to be affected by bad weather the night before - not sure what more could be done. For me it’s all about how they try rectify this for the affected guests - hopefully everyone affected is able to claim free return tickets for the inconvenience.

Stealth has stalled at the top before. It was empty but it has happened.