JoshC.

Another nice overview, also showing the Tiki Trail, from Walactu's Facebook...

The 3 closed rides aside from TWDTR are weird one. Rush closed early and was having work done before season ended, and Quantum and Rocky are just... odd. Presumably the latter two are down to parts not arriving in time more than anything else?

Yes.

I am led to believe that there was a press / media event planned for this Wednesday for Wickerman, which would have included riding off the coasters, etc. However, due to the forecasted snow, this has now been postponed/cancelled. Presumably means the ride is literally ready to open in its complete form though!

From previous experiences, the most recent ones seem to be reasonably limited. It's far from busy, probably about half as busy as your standard weekend in Spring I'd say...probably a bit less actually. Of course, there's always a few more hiccups than normal, with staff being a bit slower as they find their feet, maybe a couple more engineering issues, but on the whole it is usually a very relaxed day, for lack of a better word. This season's one might be better, since it's the first one in a good couple of years that will have the Big 6 (7 including Ghost Train I s'pose) open.

Got excited at first because I thought it was going to be new Hyperion pictures.. :'( I know the park have been planning accommodation, but I didn't realise they were getting this before a proper hotel. The proper hotel, which will be Venician in style, is due for around 2020 I believe. Lovely to see this get a theme and style; hope that translates into real life. Especially since it's meant to open this year in time for summer and construction hasn't started.. Western isn't really my thing though, and a Venician hotel sounds amazing anyways. Wonder what the prices for this will be... But yeah, rapid expansion is rapid. The park clearly are setting themselves up for the future. They've got rich people behind the scenes too, so when the EU subsidiaries stop coming in, they should be more than a good enough situation to continue development and bring in visitors, and money, for years to come.

It's funny because I think the whole overgrown vines and such worked really well. Say what you want about it being such a common trait amongst Merlin attractions these days, but there are cases where this does work, and really well at that too - Duel was one of them. It's good to see they've only half trimmed them back, giving a good mix of that natural, overrun feel, whilst still showing off the fab themed façade.

If you mean in terms of whether it'll be open, I see no reason why it wouldn't be. Project seems to be on or ahead of schedule and could probably open to the public tomorrow if they wanted. Of course, still expect the odd teething problem as with any new thing, and expect it to be busy and swarming with enthusiasts. But I'd be very confident of you being able to go and ride it and enjoying a day at the park..

That launch track is a lot shorter than I expected (even taking into account perspective and whatnot). From my experience of Mack launches, their acceleration on the launches is always a bit of a minus point, but this looks like it could buck that trend.

A nice overview of Tiki Waka, featuring a completed lift hill... Image from Wonder World's Facebook I'm also under the impression that the layout will differ slightly to the video linked a while back, but that's not confirmed..

Couple of construction images from Toverland Fansite's Twitter... Overview of Avalon. Left hand side is Fenix's station, middle build is the new restaurant, building near the bottom is the boat ride's station. Given there's just over 4 months till this is scheduled to be open, I'm a bit concerned. Though B&Ms always seem to fly up these days.. The entrance area is coming along nicely though, with theming already showing. Feel a bit more confident that that may be ready come July 7th...

Quoting this so we can bathe in Steven's wrongness in a little over 3 weeks' time.

The park have given a sneak peek of the TUNNEL... Oh also, there's more supports.

Optimistic but realistic too. The VIP holders are too busy in the marquee enjoying their free dinner buffet and what have you to really bother with the rides. On these days there's usually quite a lot about, but you don't really notice them..

Fastrack is there for hotel guests, but that's only till 11am as per normal. And the VIP holders will have little impact Fastrack-wise.

There'll also be no Fastrack sold on the AP day. In other news, parking now costs £7 per car this season.

I think this is a point which can't be stated enough. X was a ride which could be enjoyed by children pretty much from 3-4 upwards. That has now been taken away, and actively replaced by something for 13+. Even during Thorpe's thrill capital / fathead days, things which were for the younger audience remained, it was just the less important attractions that remained. X is a huge ride for the younger audience, so having taken away is more damaging than any previous investment that knocked the younger audience. The plans said there would be no changes to the roller coaster inside. So there'll be no retracking, trick track or anything like that. We might get new trains, or at the very least a new design to cover the existing trains, but that'd be it. The Year of The Walking Dead is there to encourage people to visit multiple times, what with the combination of special events and super cheap Thorpe Annual Pass. If it gets more people buying Annual Passes this year, a percentage increase in visitors that is better than, say, 2010->2011 or 2013->2014 (the year after the 2 year push of a major addition has finished), then it's been successful. If so, it then gives Thorpe more leverage to say "look, having special events and later openings at the park works - we need more money for this!". If that's how it plays out, I'd see that as a good thing in the long run. I think this is also another issue which people here seemed to forget. In its X incarnation, there was no clear market for the ride. It had a 1m height restriction, which instantly meant to the more thrill-oriented people dismissed it even before riding it. But the loud music, the lack of explanation as to what it was made families more cautious of taking younger visitors on it. Many people had no clue what it was at all, in a bad way. Though it was an 'all ages' attraction, there was a lot of reasons why anyone of any age would be sceptical or avoiding of the attraction, especially as a first time visitor. There's potential for this to be a good experience for the scare seeking market. X:\NWO was designed as a 1.4m attraction which had multiple sections to it, including pre and post ride experiences. The roller coaster was only ever meant to a part of that. By bringing in other experiences to the ride, even if it's just a pre show and special effects on the brakes, they could create something which brings the ride more in line to its first plan. Of course, that does nothing to help the fact it reduces the family line up, but it could still be good in its own right.

Looking forward to seeing what other special effects are to come - but that does look very nice!

Another tweet: This comes off the back of Thorpe saying they're announcing the "headliner" for The Year of The Walking Dead on Tuesday.

I believe that the final part of the coaster (ie the part that is on the car park in that visual) is being re-landscaped, and there'll be a pond / splash effect around that bit. So makes it a bit better.

Six consecutive posts in one thread is surely a new record for me...Guess I'm the only one excited HYPEd for this hear... Anyways, more track: And a slightly older visual showing how it's progressed: Both from SkyScraperCity forums.

Source - https://twitter.com/veilstrup/status/965176738002161664

Whoops. Turns out the area will be called 'Exotic World'. Along with Tiki Waka and Tiki Trail, which will also go other the park's boat ride, the façades for the arena (still-disused) and Challenge of Tutankhamon will get makeovers to fit in with the area. There's also going to be a new juice and cocktail bar, and new music by IMA score, the second time the park have worked with them, after Pulsar. In other news, there's no news regarding the 2021 mega coaster - any layouts shown are just to give a rough indication of what is expected, and no manufacturer has been confirmed. But it is still going to happen.. Also, the Coccinelle kiddie coaster, which was removed to make way for Tiki Waka and meant to go next to the park's woodie this year, is apparently now going to be put in storage until that area is rethemed in 2021. So one cred in, one cred out. Unacceptable.

Great minds think alike...or at least that's how I've convinced myself to steal your thoughts... The trials were met with the same confusion that Thorpe had really, along with a fair few technical hitches. In some ways it was worse because people couldn't join a normal queue if they wanted, but it was at least all inclusive thanks to the machines outside the ride. But I guess Efteling have enough faith in the system to continue with it. Or invested too much money that they don't want to give it up so quickly.

But when some are going to the level of rolling their eyes at the 'first woodie in 20+ years' or saying it's not true because one was rebuilt, it is that level. It's a clear, legitimate fact which will capture people's attention. Why shouldn't they use that, regardless of how it looks? I get why people have concerns, and I share a few of them myself. My biggest one still remains about are we getting another Th13teen, in that people will expect too much and be disappointed. Because if they are, it'll bring success for one year, then leave a lull for a year or two where people don't bother with the park, which is the last thing Towers or Merlin want. Who knows, but we'll see. As Robert.W said, it's been mentioned on other forums that the effects are planned to be looked after by the same team who build and maintain the Scarefest attractions. Assuming they've got enough resources, this means there's a better chance they'll be operational more often, and takes the pressure off the engineers (who would normally do it). Fortunately that hype hasn't spilled over here as much. But it's crazy how people hear one person (who's probably staff at the park anyway) say 'it's got more airtime than Wodan' or 'it's the best thing since sliced bread', believe them and then set expectations higher than the moon...