JoshC.

But anyone can visit any park in the world and only come away by going on a handful of rides. Remember last year when Legoland quoted their official park data as showing that guests, on average, go on 5 - FIVE - rides in a day (and that people are content with that number). If you want to maximize the number of (different) rides you get on one day, you have to do a bit of forward planning. And, by and large for basically any park, there's usually one certain way (or two, depending on size of park) that you can do that. I tend to find the ones who get in two rides in a standard day are the ones who faff about for 30 minutes deciding where to have lunch after deciding 'we're having lunch', spend an hour eating lunch, walk all the way round the park looking for one ride when it was right next to them, etc. No wonder you only got two rides when you spend half the time treating the park like a shopping centre.

Sorry for not splitting the post up into sections, but just a couple of things.. -Inferno's dispatching has been terrible this year I agree. The operator talking on the phone could have been for any reason though (speaking the management, engineering, H&S, etc), and they can't dispatch the train until they say that silly safety announcement, so can't send a train till they've finished on the phone. It's stupid though, I agree. -Long wait between Ghost Train disptaches could have been down to a short delay (which wasn't announced to the queue), overbatching in the building (see below) or reduced capacity (which it can, but I'd be surprised if it did yesterday). -Quantum has been closed basically all the season. It's about time they mentioned it online / on advance. I miss their daily 'resort information' tweet which they did last season, telling you opening hours, known closures, weather and hints/tips for the day. -I'm glad that others see it as a 'free event' too. This is a rearranged day for the preview event that Thorpe weren't really under obligation to do. Far too many passholders see these things as a right of passage where everything must be perfect. Obviously it's not good that things didn't go to plan for the event, and reliability was poor, but yeah, it's an added bonus where people at least got the chance to do some night rides a few months early. That sounds like an issue of too many people being batched into the building in the first place. It will be down to broken headsets, but staff who batch you in will be told how many to batch in based on the number of working headsets. If too many are batched in, or another headset breaks during a cycle, you'll have an overbatch so will naturally leave people waiting. If this is done a couple of times it really causes a nightmare. In other words, the fact you waited so long inside the building is more likely down to poor staff than headsets breaking.

Fire effects have worked on some days this season. The explosion noise has always been there, and would normally go off the same time as the fire (not really sure why to be honest!). Water effects haven't been on all season; I've heard they received / are receiving extra work and haven't been signed off yet.

Yes, both talks were fantastic and really insightful. It's fantastic to see the park trying these sorts of things, and I really hope they do something similar in the future. The fact it was a lot busier than they ever anticipated (and there was a long queue all the way round the marquee to get in!) clearly shows there's demand for this.

Interesting that you didn't like the corridors between pre show and the station. I felt that it built things up quite well (especially with the triggered audio effects). It is simple, but it works in my opinion. Wonder how much the open fire door made a difference for you? The post-ride thing needs more clarity and work. I don't think it needs an actor, and I think it's totally fine to have just a themed area with effects that finish off the story. I guess the main trouble for me is the story disappears at the ride end - you make it out alive, but you're still in danger, then what?

Mystery River retheme is still a work in progress. The park originally had an end-of-April opening date target, but they're pushing that back due to the weather. Here's a fun little before and after visual of a major theming element: Before: After:

Double post, because who cares about 2018 investments when 2020 is on the horizon... https://m.facebook.com/testingattractions/posts/1686960904725676 First visuals of the RMC and multi-launch, water-based coaster, which will, unsurprisingly, be from Vekoma (putting to bed any chance of Aquatrax 2.0 or Mack). Highlights: This park

Posted by PabloA on Coasterforce...

What sort of price differences are we talking about here (genuinely curious)? I'm partially surprised because I'd have expected all their tills to run on the same system and same prices simply for sake of convenience from a back-end perspective. But one can't deny that's a clever way to squeeze more money out of people..

You misspelled Brühl... But yeah, is anyone surprised the Dahl family were against / opposed this? Dahl had high standards and was never a fan of his stuff be remade into any other medium, so his family will be equally against it..

Look at this Takabisha clone in all of its clone-like goodness: This clone of Takabisha opens next year in America. The clone will be intertwined with a Gerstlauer spinning coaster (which as previously established, will not be a clone ). Can't wait to see the rest of this clone build up. The green colour suits the clone well. Clone.

I don't disagree that it's poor the park close earlier than their "earliest closing time", and I totally think they're opening themselves up to criticism. This past week has shown they need to reword because they simply can't honour that. But I think you'd be surprised about the number of people who would be accepting of the fact that a park closes early. There's always people who question 'will the park close early if it's too quiet / weather is very bad', and they're always surprised if a park says 'no, we'll honour our closing time regardless'. Naturally there will be those who are disappointed or unhappy, but a lot of people are also accepting that sometimes these things happen. As I say, sometimes these things aren't as black and white as they're made out to be.

I'm wondering how common this (closing parks earlier than advertised online) is across smaller parks in Europe. When I went to Bobbejaanland, they closed an hour earlier because it was so quiet. Definitely made no sense for them to stay open longer from an operational perspective. It wouldn't surprise me if this is a common thing across smaller parks who set optimistic opening hours but change them if the numbers aren't what they expect. Anyone else got any experiences? Just out of interest Coaster, would you say your standard guest did have gotten everything major done by 5pm? Would those extra 2 hours have actually helped people do the whole park, or just given rerides and the chance to do smaller stuff? These things can't always be black and white. (Though in saying that, I do agree that if you're explicitly advertising an "earliest possible closing" time, it's poor not to stand by that. They should reword that).

For those who are avoiding my review of the new thing, I had some musings about X, which I'll share here too... I can't help but wonder what Thorpe could have done with X if they had the budget TWD had. Or even half the budget. They really could have created an attraction where you rode "on a wave of light (and sound)", went through tunnels of light, etc. I imagine that having the trains 'chase' lit up track, with lasers and smoke effects around, along with an extended original soundtrack would have been more than possible, along with some fun lighting effects in the entrance and exit walkways. I reckon I'd have loved that, as would a large majority of people. I know it's not as easy to market, and Thorpe's research shows there isn't the demand for a family coaster with a disco rave theme. But with the money spent, they really could have created something truly original and fun, and turned X into the pyramid-shaped gem of Thorpe Park.

So, I figured I may as well give a bit more insight about my views on The Walking Dead - The Ride. I know plenty of people have pretty much written it off already, and it's almost trendy to hate the idea, but I do think it's worth going into this with an open mind. The overall experience is good, well themed, and does justice to what the ride and building was designed to achieve. The entrance portal is nice. It is standard run down Thorpe style, but it is still good. The queue is, again, standard Thorpe in that it's "how much queue can we fit in one space", with just little nuggets of theming - in the way of themed signage and Easter Eggs to the show - to go with it. There's no extensions or anything, so on quiet days, you will have to walk through the whole thing, which is a pain.. Audio in the area is nice and creepy, and the watchtower looks alright to be fair. Bag room is now outside the building, and is clearly unfinished at the moment. Hopefully it can be themed up, especially to the standard of the inside of the ride. After that, groups of 20 (so 2 trains worth) get batched into pre-show. The pre-show is extremely basic - a minute long video featuring a character talking to you, encouraging you to make your way through the building because we're under attack. It's well done, and I don't think it will get tedious during re-riding, but I feel like they could have done more here. Some big special effect, to give you the personal reason to get moving, rather than some guy on a screen telling you... The walkway to the station is exceptionally well themed. You go through different areas of 'the safe zone', and as you go through them, audio is triggered saying how those zones are under attack, encouraging you to keep moving. The tone is perfect here, and really sets up the experience well. The ride itself is themed to a 'transit system' in the safe zone, and is being used to transport you to safety. It's clever, and gives you a reason to be on the ride. From there, it is just X, with special effects, and I don't think that can be stressed enough. I really hope that people have ended up being ignorant the OTT "it's the scariest thing ever" marketing approach, or are able to just look past it, else it sets the ride up to fail. In saying that, the special effects that are there are good, and really do enhance the ride experience. There aren't any animatronics, just zombie mannequins (which aren't the greatest, but to a casual rider will more than do the job). There's also screens, smoke, audio and lighting effects, all of which are used very well. The one stop during the ride is a real highlight actually, fitting in with the story perfectly, and just being a lot of fun! The ride ends with us still being under attack; everywhere in the safe zone is overrun with zombies. The post-ride experience happens, in the form of a loud noise, and is...just a bit naff? There's terrible noise bleed from there to the waiting bit before the station, so if you've been unfortunate with timings, it does spoil it somewhat. There is more to it, but I believe that tweaks were still being made, so I don't know what to say / expect from that for now. There is a lot of potential there, but it needs a bit more direction. So yeah, to round it all up... +Fantastically themed experience +A fun ride experience, with good special effects +An experience that stays true to what the original X:\No Way Out aimed to do +A cohesive story which is easy to understand -Pre-show could do with a bit more oompf -Post-show needs a bit of clarity / more direction But before I go - One final thought. I like this, I won't deny that. I also liked X. I haven't decided whether I like this more than X or not, but that's neither here nor there for now. Personally, I think X is the better thing for Thorpe now; it had potential to be a fun ride which was accessible to all. I can't help but wonder what Thorpe could have done with X if they had the budget this had. Or even half the budget. They really could have created an attraction where you rode "on a wave of light (and sound)", went through tunnels of light, etc. I imagine that having the trains 'chase' lit up track, with lasers and smoke effects around, along with an extended original soundtrack would have been more than possible, along with some fun lighting effects in the entrance and exit walkways. I reckon I'd have loved that, as would a large majority of people.

I don't get why people are against this? Yes, they're the same signs X had, but they don't feel out of place, because they've been styled to fit in. I'd rather that than them spend money on new signs instead of something else.. I haven't watched any POVs so can't comment on it exactly, but don't use that to judge. There is audio during the first half (it was quiet and I believe that's one thing they're looking at tweaking to get right), and there are some effects. However, it is fair to say the second half of the ride has a lot more effects, audio and theming, and is indeed stronger and more exciting.

Python reopens today... Reworked entrance and queue area, with single rider and turnstiles for their Reserve n Ride style system. Would indicate that virtual queueing is here to stay...

As I say, it's something they can "re-evaluate"... the posh term for cut.. I tried out Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon: Venture into the Tunnel (DBGTROTDVITT) yesterday. I don't really like it. The new mid scene makes no sense - we're evacuating a train, because of gas and all that which is outside the carriage and leaking in. We then do through some random mesh tunnel, passing a couple of trains despite never really walking on train tracks, then some random projection of a demon on a high up wall knocks a moving train carriage down a hole. There's no logic there. Genuinely, the scene would have been a lot better if you were led into the area, told it's a safe place whilst workers clear an emergency route, then have the lights go off and a couple of demon noises from various areas of the room. Gives you reason to be in, explains what the area is, and gives you a reason to get out.

Yes, there is that. And that could be a major shot in the foot for themselves if people remember and believe that. From a personal perspective, I know anything like that is pure hyperbole, so I always have my own expectations. If people at least know / understand this is still the same old X, just with more theming, that'll be half the battle won for getting people to like the ride.

No one posted any of our updates here? Wow, I am disappointed guys. I am tired so can't be bothered uploading them here now, but a couple of quick words from me: -The queue is very nicely themed. -The ride has theming and effects dotted throughout. It varies between real effects, screens, lighting, smoke, etc -There is a post show, but it's rather lacking in my eyes - it's basically just a loud noise. -It shouldn't be forgotten that this is just X with a new theme. Don't go in there expecting some super scary thing. It is still a low-thrill ride with scary theming around it. And that's fine, so long as that's what you expect. For anyone who's done them, I'd say this ride takes leaves out of the books of Platform 13 at Walibi Holland and Van Helsing's Factory at Movie Park Germany. Think of X merged together with those two rides and you've got a good idea of what the experience is like.

We finally have a lift hill!

The park have shown off the cars, they look very angry... https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10156117460221276&id=20116456275 Opening is now set for April 7th (a week Saturday)!

Tonight is the Media Preview Event for The Walking Dead - The Ride, ahead of Saturday's official opening. Spoilers will no doubt appear sooner or later, so please post them here! This thread will also be used going forward to discuss the ride, etc. For anyone interested in following updates tonight, you can get the best from our Facebook page..

I imagine one of the reasons for getting an actor to play the demon as opposed to an animatronic is cost. A full animatronic would require a lot of money being spent to look realistic, hiding mechanical components, etc, as well as making sure it's kept working. Hiring an actor means you just need to pay for a good costume (which is comparatively cheaper) and staff, and you get life like movements and no mechanics to hide. I'd imagine in the long term an animatronic would be cheaper, but what's more appealing - a large sum up front for something that will last for 10 years, or chunks of money each year for a few years, after which you can re-evaluate and change the scenes?

So instead of having to wait several years to finally spend a day with you (during a cold and wet day in murky Southend no less), you're telling me all I had to do was spend a couple of hundred quid at Thorpe? Darn it!