EdwinOkli

It's odd that Thorpe uploaded this photo on the ride page on their website. Earlier version of the photo up there before they had started making it up presumably. I like that they made sure that they had just enough finished to make the video. I think it's a beautiful building. Can't wait to see what it all turns out to be.

I have too found the "final" clue. Mainly by rooting around in the source. But once you observe something strange about a particular part of the website, it's not difficult to put two and two together.

It would be easy to conclude that it's a maze, what with Thorpe's eternal love of mazes. A maze would suit anything that Derren could come up with, especially the "re-rideability" of the attraction. But we know that it's a major investment, so it certainly won't be a maze. Whatever the attraction is, it's bound to be quite trippy, thrilling. There are no tracks, but there has to be a way of moving around the building that presumably is more sophisticated (more expensive) than using your legs. Has anything actually gone inside the building yet? I like how they chose a specific brick, with those dark speckles. Clearly there's some thought behind it.

I'll be outside an exam hall, quaking in my boots, too preoccupied to consider the dark ride's secrets. I'm sure I'll make time for it afterwards, in between crying and focusing on my next exam. I'd really like to be surprised and excited by a dark ride.

I'll be outside an exam hall, quaking in my boots, too preoccupied to consider the dark ride's secrets. I'm sure I'll make time for it afterwards, in between crying and focusing on my next exam. I'd really like to be surprised and excited by a dark ride.

I'm a bit disappointed by the idea that they can't be bothered to theme the ride in reality, so they'll stick a screen in front of your eyes and convince you that it's better themed. It's a dire future for theme parks if everything is plain steel and concrete with "virtual theming".

Note that the time jumps backwards (inconsistently) whenever the man appears. And he seems to be checking a pocket watch. The man walking outside the window is probably just a builder wearing a high-vis jacket. It's very eerie, though.

Perhaps they are appreciating the superior theming.

"Get on board…" I think it's very clear that it's going to be London Underground themed. Kind of strange considering the park is neither in London nor near any Tube station. But OK.

I am expecting something very Hex-esque but with a more intense psychological aspect. But it has to be something that works on 100% of people 100% of the time, otherwise people will just walk off disappointed and call it a waste of time. I am very excited regardless. Derren Brown specials have always been something I've looked forward to so even if he does feature heavily in the attraction, it won't bother me.

Does this really seem family friendly?

Well, advertising a new dark ride with darkness cannot be much of a surprise. Derren Brown has tweeted again, by the way: Something New is Brewing, Derren Brown, 2015, Choccy Dusting on Coffee

The default response on social media now seems to be: "As you may have already seen we have said we would like to reopen The Smiler but the final decision will only be made after we’ve undertaken all necessary steps." Nothing surprising but there you go.

Well, I think it was decided pretty early that this ride absolutely must be for the family market but the marketing is a little… serious. The website has been updated to include a sign up for a 7 puzzle challenge with a prize draw! There's also a 27-day countdown.

Surely they can't build the building and then secretly deliver the ride and install it through the entrance? We must be getting something a little more conspicuous soon. Unless the ride is actually just walking around a building.

It does look like they're going to have a lot of space to play with but I'm not expecting anything spectacular, just something to divert some of the queue from X. I'm expecting some element to be a "world's first" even if it's a rubbish first.

Your link is to a local file... you might want to upload it to the internet.

What's the hate for top spins about?

Whatever it is, it's been in the works for long enough to be something big. There's the potential that the manufacturer of WC16 and the coaster after will be the same. Merlin like their deals. Other than that, hmm, it'll probably try to fit in with The Swarm's theme and we'll finally get a new well-planned area. Hopefully something that won't look as out-of-place as The Swarm does behind Depth Charge.

Seems likely that it'll be another B&M, no? Hopefully it's delayed for the sake of delivering a new model. Well...

Alton Towers trending on Twitter with people calling for the park to close. Really ridiculous.

One time I decided not to use it yesterday, I was walking to the merge point and a few RnR users were put in front of me. I laughed. I only really knew to activate RnR in the Dome from here. I entered the Dome and there were some reps but it wasn't clear where I was supposed to go. They had some leaflets but they weren't actively advertising the system.

14/06/2015 So... today was my first day in the park in a whole 6 years. That didn't mean a whole lot in term of changes with the obvious exception of the first ride of my trip: The Swarm Managed a total of 7 rides on The Swarm. We went directly to it when we entered the park and didn't bother using RnR for it since the standby queue was so short. This didn't change on any of our rides. Went on backwards first time when absolutely no one was queuing for the back seats. Also did front-left and 4 in a row to round up the day. (I believe they were joking about pushing the few of us who were riding it nonstop off the ride. Can't be uncommon.) Queuing Pretty quiet day. Most of the rides were advertising 5 minute or 10 minute queues. Indeed, X was, rather misleadingly, advertising a 10 minute queue time at around 4 o'clock. This proved to be false, and the queue was longer than when we had walked into the pyramid earlier to check out what the 40 minute queue looked like. I approve of the new X, but the queuing experience is just unbearable. We reckon they were running on 2 trains (incidentally, all of the roller coasters were running on 2 trains all day, it seemed). RnR Pretty pointless most of the time because of where the merge point is. On Stealth, however, it is the only way that you should be queuing. 0 minute virtual queues meant you practically walked straight onto the ride no matter how long the standby queue was. One time I reserved a ride on Stealth I got a message that my reservation had become ineffective because Stealth was "closed and full". I told this to the RnR guy and he just sort of dismissed it. The QR reading isn't a particularly smooth experience. A couple of times I was told that I missed my reservation because the scanners weren't reading the codes properly. It would be quicker just to see the screen and let you proceed. Flats, all the flats I hadn't in the past managed to get on any of the flat rides because I was too preoccupied queuing for the roller coasters for hours. Today, that all changed. Samurai was my first and it seemed to be on a pretty decent setting, definitely not disappointing given what I've read on this site recently. Vortex is my favourite of the flats. It looks so innocent and yet it didn't fail to make me feel sick both times I rode on it. Rush was surprisingly good and Slammer was more intimidating than it was pleasurable. The general state of things One thing I definitely have to say; Rumba Rapids is the most pathetic excuse for a water ride ever. Even if it's not meant to get you soaked, it should at least try to splash you a little. The women we were bundled with found it a hoot for some reason and actively tried to avoid any semblance of a splash. They didn't need to try. Another thing that won't surprise anyone; bottles everywhere. Visitors treat the whole park like a giant bin and there's not much anyone can do about it while trying to keep things running normally. Oh, and the weather was fine... despite the clouds. It was a pretty brilliant day. Ride count: 7 times: The Swarm 2 times: Nemesis Inferno, Stealth, Vortex 1 time: (Almost everything else) Colossus, Samurai, Slammer, Rush, Zodiac, Quantum, Detonator, Tidal Wave, Loggers Leap, Rumba Rapids, X, ...

More mounds of dirt.

I still don't understand why constantly naming those on the ride is necessary. It's not really any of our business.