JoshC.

Farup Sommerland, Denmark, have released a POV on their new Vekoma Junior Boomerang. This is one of the first 'stretched out' layouts of these boomerangs, along with Volldampf at Tripsdrill: This is also the same layout as the new Boomerang going to Energylandia, which will open in the Aqualantis zone. That one will seemingly feature a splashdown, being the first Boomerang to feature one.

MOD POWER. To try and bring this nonsense to an end and stop people moaning about how long it's taking, I'm activating my special mod power and TAKING 2 POINTS OFF EVERY RIDE PERMANENTLY. This means that whenever a round is reset, all points go to 3. This means the leaderboard is as follows: Depth Charge (3)Detonator: Bomb's Away (3)Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (2)Nemesis Inferno (3)Quantum (4)Rumba Rapids (3)Rush (4)Samurai (3)Saw - The Ride (3)Stealth (3)Storm in a Teacup (3)The Swarm (3)The Walking Dead - The Ride (1)Tidal Wave (3)Vortex (4) I then use my turn (since mod power does not count as a turn) to regrettably kill off Walking Dead: Depth Charge (3)Detonator: Bomb's Away (3)Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (3)Nemesis Inferno (3)Quantum (4)Rumba Rapids (3)Rush (4)Samurai (3)Saw - The Ride (3)Stealth (3)Storm in a Teacup (3)The Swarm (3)The Walking Dead - The Ride (0)Tidal Wave (3)Vortex (4) Monkey's + Walking Dead - And so we reset: Depth Charge (3)Detonator: Bomb's Away (3)Mr. Monkey's Banana Ride (3)Nemesis Inferno (3)Quantum (3)Rumba Rapids (3)Rush (3)Samurai (3)Saw - The Ride (3)Stealth (3)Storm in a Teacup (3)The Swarm (3)Tidal Wave (3)Vortex (3) Play nice everyone 😊 Kinda difficult to talk about a place that is closed with no sign of reopening any time soon. Rest assured the team behind TPM are aware the forum is quiet, but until we get even a whisper of anything happening with theme parks reopening, there's little we can do realistically do to liven things up. That being said, we have some ideas, so watch this space. Also keep an eye on our social media pages for fun things!

Playing along with the game, if you're an American there's a mix if you want to do the quality that Europe has to offer, the uniqueness of some attractions and then some weird European things. I'll try and avoid most hypers given to an American, they'll probably just be seen as 'smaller than our stuff'.. Quality Attractions Taron, Phantasialand Taiga, Linnanmaki Untamed, Walibi Holland Helix, Liseberg Nemesis, Alton Towers Lech Coaster, Legendia Black Mamba, Phantasialand Balder, Liseberg Fluch von Novogrod, Hansa Park Troy, Toverland Don't think any of these need any explanation. More Unique Attractions Pulsar, Walibi Belgium. One opening in America this year (Covid-pending), but the original and damn good. Lost Gravity, Walibi Holland. There's another one in Germany, but again, the original and damn good. Vliegende Hollander (aka Flying Dutchman), Efteling. The perfect coaster to capture Efteling's charm, and everyone needs to experience Efteling's charm. Van Helsing's Factory, Movie Park Germany. Not the best, but really damn good fun and - for an American - shows that size doesn't matter. Karnan, Hansa Park. If you know, you know. If you don't, don't look into it. Arthur, Europa Park. Not totally unique, but not in America, and like with Dutchman at Efteling, it captures Europa Park's charm, which should be experienced. Juvelen, Djurs Sommerland. Again, not unique, but from what I hear, damn good fun and something different. Weird European Attractions K2, Karls-Erlebnis Dorf Elstal. This is just a really fun ride with a weird and wacky dark ride section which shows some of the weird surprises European parks can throw up. Tranan, Skara Sommarland. World's only S&S Free Fly. Haven't done it, heard it's a bit naff, but looks quirky, and one to add to the list. Rodelbaan, De Waarbeek. World's oldest steel coaster. If you're an American roller coaster person doing a trip with no limitations, you should chuck it in for the bragging rights if nothing else.

Work is still ongoing at Rookburgh, despite the current situation. A front-facing look at the hotel entrance: The rust-look had grown on me, but now, I'm not so sure. Also, the 4th (and presumably final) train arrived on site this past week.

If we ever get another day at Thorpe, looks like we'll get to see some drones!

In the longest delay yet, Legoland New York are now planning to open in 2021, rather than July 4th 2020:

Nice! This is wildly off-topic but oh well: have you considered trying to do the original Duel music? Would love to see your take on that if you have the chance!

Not sure how appropriate it is to post this, but feel it deserves a mention.. Any stock that Thorpe Park had bought that they expected to use during the time they're closed has been donated to the NHS. No doubt plenty of other parks and companies are doing similar if possible, but it's great to see all the same.

As is the case with all parks that offer Annual Passes, Merlin are extending the validity of all passes appropriately: https://www.merlinannualpass.co.uk/coronavirus Effectively, if the attractions are closed for up to 1 month, you get 1 month added on, up to 2 months, 2 months added on, etc. Only goes up to 3 months, so presumably if the closures end up being longer, there could be other options.

As a PhD student, life goes on as a normal, except instead of going into the office to work, I work from home most days (I'll likely need to pop in once a week to print stuff off, use more powerful computers, etc). My part time job on the side isn't classed as key work so it means I'm losing out on extra money, but with parks closed and me travelling less, it's not exactly like I need it. I guess in theory I could get a temp contract at a supermarket, but frankly there's people in much worse situations than me who no doubt would appreciate the extra hours more than me. I haven't had to self-isolate yet, but when that time comes around (I fully expect the majority of the population will end up having to self-isolate at one point sooner or later), I'll still be able to work, but will probably ease off that for a bit, spend a bit of time finally ticking off stuff on my Netflix watch list (I've already managed to watch the entirety of Stranger Things!), and a couple of random projects. Fun times.

On a separate, coronavirus-related, on topic point: Paultons Park today contacted Coaster Force, asking them to postpone their planned meet which was due to take place in early June, as the park "do not expect to be open at that point". Shows how much uncertain, long-term planning we are in for with parks.

The key point is the 'on average, over a 17 week period'. Most businesses in the customer service industry acknowledge that some stuff will work more than 48 hours per week at peak periods. Peak periods very rarely last more than a couple of weeks for more businesses though, so whilst you may end up working 50 hours a week for s couple of weeks, after that you'll end up back down to your standard contracted hours, or less to make up for it. In contracts for Merlin at least, the standard is that you accept you may occasionally work more than 48 hours a week, but it will be sorted so that you won't work more than that on average over any 17 week period (ie - you'll never do more than 816 hours of work over 17 weeks). You can choose to opt out of that if you want. I don't think there's any 4 month period at Thorpe, or any Merlin attraction, where any front line worker would be expected to work over 48 hours every week. They're simply not THAT busy.

Plenty of people work over the maximum (especially within the theme park industry), but you can't be contracted to work more than 48 hours per work / work more than 48 hours per week on average over any given 17 week period. Working hours is something Merlin has to be very hot on. (Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. Working at a theme park is not one of them)

Not doubting the fact they may have been put on a zero hour contract, but given the legal maximum in the UK for working hours per week is 48, I think they might be overexaggerating their initial contract just a smidge....

Personally I'm expecting an announcement tonight or tomorrow morning saying that Merlin will close all their attractions from Saturday morning onwards. Just not enough people to justify the hassle and money they're spending to run the attractions.