Marc
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Everything posted by Marc
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Depth Charge (3)Detonator: Bomb's Away (3)Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (3)Nemesis Inferno (3)Quantum (3)Rumba Rapids (2)Rush (3)Samurai (3)Stealth (3)Storm in a Teacup (3)The Swarm (4)Tidal Wave (3)Vortex (3) Swarm + 1 Rumba - 1
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Probably significantly less than they were a couple months ago! Hope your friend is alright - sooner this is all over the better for us all!
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Audio and Lighting is a lot better - agree odd they’ve left disabled targets in places a lot of people did seem confused but overall much better! Airgates in the station too help with loading are a good addition.
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Portaventura have delayed opening now.
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Looks like all Premier League and EFL games are suspended till 3rd April at least - be surprised if the start of the theme park season isn’t affected.
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Yes they did - and there’s plenty of things they’ve done to improve the mess left of which IMO is more important , especially at CWOA than the vampire station for example - things like The Gruffalo retheme, Scorpion Express and Tiger Rock renovations were all things which they’ve done well IMO which really did need doing - don’t get me wrong there not perfect but think they are not all bad too!
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To be fair Vampires had more than just some Maplin LED’s thrown up at it - the organist is back to working better than I’ve personally ever seen - the lighting effects have all been properly synced up with the music track - the station it’s self is sounding great too. Even if done internally - it’s been done by skilled people, not someone who’s just plugged in a few lights. Merlin get a lot of flack - but remember lots of these things fell into disrepair from years of neglect during the latter parts of the tussauds years.
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The thing with music is it’s literally down to opinion - the old track was very good, a lot of people will feel some nostalgia towards it too. The new track is also very good, suits the ride just as much IMO. Other than the music the stations looking nice - glad to see the colourful LED lights gone it was pretty atmospheric in there today.
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On a hot summers day it’s not unreasonable to assume there would be a couple hundred people on park who are eligible for an access pass - 90% of eligible guests would be arriving in the morning so there would be bound to be an initial surge of people all collecting their passes at the same time. The system isn’t perfect, and I’m not sure a “perfect” solution even exists - but it’s hardly one of Thorpes / Merlins top issues.
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Yes 😛 but that was marketing speak - I think merlin announced in an investors call once that they see IP’s as a big pull to getting guests visiting their attractions.
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Merlin working with Netflix could potentially be huge for them - whilst I know IP’s are not everyone’s cup of tea merlin have publicly stated they see them as the future - and if done well there’s no reason why they can’t be as good as original ideas.
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I don’t think you can include the Galactica overlay at towers as a new coaster personally. Thorpes at a funny stage at the moment - its all well and good wanting Merlin to throw money at it but their next move HAS to be right or god knows the consequences... We all know the problems DBGT had for various reasons, which was the parks last “big” investment and it didn’t deliver, before that, The Swarm, it also didn’t deliver the return which was expected. Thorpes next “big” investment will probably be the most important one the park has had to date - the future of the park will be banking on it being right - they really can’t afford to get it wrong a 3rd time - fingers crossed we will start to see / hear things on this soon but it’s not something they should rush into till they are certain both it’s the right time and the right investment.
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As others have mentioned - sadly we won’t see a new ride at Thorpe this year - but credit where it’s due - it’s good of Nick to write back to fans like that - Merlin get a lot of slack (and yeah sometimes it’s deserved) but things like this are nice to see!
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It can’t make it any worse - only better. The current readers are not the best and they really struggle to read barcodes when it’s sunny (ok that’s not too often!) if the majority book in advance and ANPR opens the barrier automatically, where the others can just swipe a contactless card at the barrier it will only be a vast improvement on what’s there now.
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Water rides use a lot of electricity- big pumps to keep them going are pretty power hungry without the expensive effects in there.
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The Blue Barnacle (Previously Black Buccaneer)
Marc replied to themeparkmad's topic in Chessington World of Adventures
It depends I guess - if the ride is *exactly* the same and requires no / little ground work etc I can’t really see it taking long atall to construct I guess if ground work is needed maybe a bit longer - it could be ready for March I guess we will see construction soon from the zoo days! -
The bulletin posted earlier in the topic don’t suggest the seatbelts are needed anymore - it suggests more regular checks are needed which Thorpe no doubt carry out. Seatbelts are often left undone on empty seats - it’s not a H&S breach. As for rust on supports, it’s not a major structural hazard, these things will all be checked, it’s purely cosmetic.
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12 could work for later nights such as fright nights but not sure if a normal day day a 12pm opening would really suit the park.
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I don’t think Thorpe claim to be on the international stage - none of our merlin parks make any real effort to advertise them selves abroad as far as I know.
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March will be here before you know it! Till then there’s always winter wonderland or the merlin attractions in London to help pass the time!
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Yes in all fairness Thorpe have a very good line up of thrill rides IMO.
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I see both sides of this tbf - I have visited on a 4pm close and I was bored by 2 - had done everything as many times as I had wanted and not really into reriding the same things all day, on the other hand I can see why people especially those with long travelling distance may not be keen on visiting on a 4pm close.. but that won’t improve till these days are busy enough to warrant it.. I guess it’s a vicious circle in that respect!
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Thorpe x loads Chessington x 3 Alton Towers x 4 Legoland x 1 Phantasialand x 2 Toverland x 2 Heide Park x 2 Hansa Park x 1 Seaworld Orlando x 4 Magic Kingdom x 1 Hollywood Studios x 2 Epcot x 1 Animal Kingdom x 2 Volcano Bay x 1 Universal Orlando x 3 Islands of Adventure x 3 Busch Gardens Tampa x 1
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While obviously not official, Rumours Attraction Images have heard say Valhalla will be SBNO for 2020 - as I said not official but at the same time it wouldn’t surprise me either.. Hopefully the rumour is rubbished quickly!
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It was open last day of the season!
