JoshC.

Your review from last opening weekend scrapes the definition of fine, and part of it masked by the poor weather. Blackpool's opening weekend always gets a negative reception, yet going there is becoming more popular with the enthusiast community. And they whine when it's negative as if they expected something different.

It's the same every year though, isn't it. Blackpool attract the most attention for being the first park to open the largest proportion of their park. But the park is never ready, and 3 months isn't long enough for the park to do winter maintenance and get everything back to full capacity, so they can't handle the crowds. It's just been a case that the bad weather for opening weekend had helped masked the opening weekend issues the last couple of years. Thorpe had the exact same heat on them when they had February Half Term events, and they had the exact same issues. It should come as no surprise, and anyone expecting anything different is living in false hope frankly.

I'm very confused by the layout too tbh. The ride seems to leave the station to the right in the images above, up a lift hill, round the circuit, up another lift hill, then into a launch into the spike after a drop. Just feels very odd, and would surely have been better to start with a reverse launch spike, then have a lift hill mid-ride if so desired. --- In other Belgian news, Bobbejaanland have announced the name of their Gerstlauer triple launch as Fury, and will be part of new area called Land of Legends, which will feature the park's gyro swing and Eurofighter. Some very tasty looking concept art too... I'm not a fan of Bobbejaanland, but damn, that looks good. Oh, and IMAScore are making the music for the area too.

Very much out of nowhere, Bellewaerde in Belgium have put in plans for a new coaster... http://pretparken.be/NL/article/2067/Bellewaerde plant nieuwe familie-achtbaan Potentially a Gerstlauer, similar to Pegasus at Asterix. Features a couple of lift hills and a random launch into a spike at the end. The park have done some big investing lately, with their random and pointless duelling alpine coasters they opened in 2017 (that make zero use of a terrain since the park is largely flat, and cost a hefty €4m), and a water park opening this year. There's no word on when this, and a much needed car park redevelopment, will open, but I'd hazard a guess at 2020..

Step up under flip is such a silly name for an inversion, especially since it's effectively just a bloody barrel roll. Still loving the update and the series though. Maybe it's because we don't know the layout and it's such an exciting development, but this feels like the best Dutch making of series there's been from a park.

The latest winter update reveals that the water underneath Colossus has been infilled, which is giving engineers easier access to the supports around parts of the ride. I imagine something like that isn't exactly cheap. And regardless of what they do, it'll look nicer than the murky water underneath areas like the vertical loop that was there in the past.

Interesting tweet from the Tornado Springs account, basically confirming a May 2020 opening... The bigger question is what rides will there be? Certainly some interesting hints...

Of my Top 20 coasters, 5 are Intamin, 4 are Mack, 4 are B&M, 2 are GCI, 2 are Vekoma, 2 are Gerstlauer and 1 is Schwarzkopf. So that would at least suggest some order. But going more with a gut feeling... 1=) Mack. Yet to make a bad ride arguably. All their stuff looks interesting and fun, and they like to push boundaries and innovate. 1=) Intamin. Close one this to Mack, but I think maybe Mack just pips it for now. All their new stuff looks amazing, but for all their new stuff, they've got a lot of garbage old stuff. Their future stuff looks fantastic though, and again they like to push boundaries and innovate. 3) B&M. B&M are slowly slipping down the list for me. Their rides just captivate me less. Yes, they're guaranteed to make good rides, but there's no ride they've made in the past 3 years where I've thought 'Wow, this is something I simply must do' (unless the theming elevates the ride). I'm still happy in the safe knowledge I'll get a good ride, but it just doesn't captivate me like any others in this list do. 4) GCI. I wasn't sure between this and Vekoma for 4th. But ultimately I think, for now, GCI pips them. Again, like B&M, always make good rides, but some of their newer stuff has intrigued me more. I simply just haven't ridden enough of them. 5) Vekoma. New Vekoma looks incredible, and once a few more of their newer bits are done, and I've had the chance to go on them, I can really see them climbing up the list. Still have yet to do an RMC, and I'm still 50/50 whether what they make are my type of rides, so I look forward to trying some out. But realistically, that's the only manufacturer I could see breaking into the Top 5 any time soon.

And I'm going to double post within 3 hours just to be annoying and show another concept image of not-Wicker Man...

Concept art with the new theming feature Looks good!

This is the proposed location of thew retirement home: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cemex+House,+Coldharbour+Ln,+Egham+TW20+8TD/@51.4083884,-0.5216377,534m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x48767721c5ad4327:0x761f1c38214c6e0a!8m2!3d51.4096667!4d-0.5208182 It's very close to a major back of house service road used by the park, as well as the island behind Stealth/Swarm which will probably have a new coaster put on it the next 20 years (hopefully..) It has been discussed since last summer, and is clearly a bad idea given it's proximity to the park and it's service roads. I wouldn't be keen to live there; why would people needing a retirement home want to? Quotes from Thorpe's representative taken from their letter of objection letter to the council... It further mentions that the noise assessment carried out by those planning the retirement home (which says the noise levels would be fine) were carried out improperly, and probably understate the amount of standard noise. That could cause major issues if the development went ahead.

Have ridden Speed at Energylandia (effectively a clone of Divertical, just with the MCBR somehow removed), I wouldn't mind something like that at Thorpe actually. I feel like I'm in the minority of enthusiasts who really enjoy it, it's a solid queue eater and just really good fun. I don't think the Loggers location would work for it (as explained above). And I'd be surprised if Thorpe would ever invest in something like it. The Loggers location would still be perfect for a flyer in my opinion, as was originally planned before Saw became a thing. Interactions with the lake and trees would be it a great, fun ride. And with Vekoma getting back into the flyer game, that could be a very interesting option to pursue..

An interesting tweet from the Tornado Springs account... Purely speculation from my part, but... -'Valid until 5pm 14th Feb 2019'. Potential announcement? -Storm Mac. Hint to Mack? -55mph winds. Launch coaster, 55mph? -Tornado Springs / Storm Chaser. Spinner? As I say, shameless speculation, and I could just be following a false trail the park are laying. But it certainly would be an ambitious step for the park to take, and really solidify them as a perfect family park.

Three new dates added to FN - total of 28 days now Crazy number really!

I had a look and apparently we don't have an IoA thread? How? I'll just drop this leaked concept art of the new Potter coaster that's replacing Duelling Dragons, and maybe fill in some more details later...